To fome dark covert his retreat had made,

Where nor man's eye, nor heaven's fhould invade
His foft repofe; when th' unexpected found

Of dogs, and men, his wakeful ear does wound :
Rouz'd with the noife, he scarce believes his ear,
Willing to think th' illufions of his fear

Had given this false alarm, but ftreight his view
Confirms, that more than all he fears is true.
Betray'd in all his ftrengths, the wood befet;
All inftruments, all arts of ruin met;

He calls to mind his ftrength, and then his speed,
His winged heels, and then his armed head;
With these t'avoid, with that his fate to meet :
But fear prevails, and bids him trust his feet.
So faft he flies, that his reviewing eye
Has loft the chafers, and his ear the cry;
Exulting, till he finds their nobler fenfe
Their difproportion'd speed doth recompenfe ;
Then curfes his confpiring feet, whose scent
Betrays that fafety which their swiftnefs lent.
Then tries his friends; among the bafer herd,
Where he fo lately was obey'd and fear'd,
His fafety feeks the herd, unkindly wife,
Or chafes him from thence, or from him flies,
Like a declining statesman, left forlorn
To his friends' pity, and purfuers' scorn,
With shame remembers, while himself was one
Of the fame herd, himself the fame had done.
Thence to the coverts and the confcious groves,
The scenes of his past triumphs, and his loves;

Sadly

Sadly furveying where he rang'd alone
Prince of the foil, and all the herd his own;
And like a bold knight-errant did proclaim
Combat to all, and bore away the dame;
And taught the woods to echo to the stream
His dreadful challenge and his clashing beam.
Yet faintly now declines the fatal ftrife,
So much his love was dearer than his life.
Now every leaf, and every moving breath
Prefents a foe, and every foe a death.
Weary'd, forfaken, and purfued, at laft
All fafety in defpair of fafety plac'd,
Courage he thence refumes, refolv'd to bear
All their affaults, fince 'tis in vain to fear.
And now too late he wishes for the fight
That ftrength he wafted in ignoble flight:
But when he fees the eager chace renew'd,
Himself by dogs, the dogs by men pursued :
He straight revokes his bold resolve, and more
Repents his courage, than his fear before;

Finds that uncertain ways unfafest are,

And doubt a greater mischief than despair.

Then to the ftream, when neither friends, nor force,

Nor fpeed, nor art avail, he shapes his course;
Thinks not their rage fo defperate to essay
An element more merciless than they.
But fearless they purfue, nor can the flood

Quench their dire thirst; alas, they thirst for blood.
So towards a fhip the oar-finn'd gallies ply,
Which wanting sea to ride, or wind to fly,
C

Stands

Stands but to fall reveng'd on those that dare
Tempt the last fury of extreme despair.

So fares the ftag, among th' enraged hounds,
Repels their force, and wounds returns for wounds.
And as a hero, whom his bafer focs

In troops furround, now these assails, now those,
Though prodigal of life, difdains to die
By common hands; but if he can defcry
Some nobler foe approach, to him he calls,
And begs his fate, and then contented falls.
So when the king a mortal shaft lets fly,
From his unerring hand, then glad, to die,
Proud of the wound, to it refigns his blood,
And ftains the crystal with a purple flood.
This a more innocent, and happy chace,
Than when of old, but in the self-fame place,
Fair liberty pursued, * and meant a prey
To lawless power, here turn'd, and stood at bay.
When in that remedy all hope was plac'd,
Which was, or fhould have been at least, the last.
Here was that charter feal'd, wherein the crown
All marks of arbitrary power lays down:
Tyrant and flave, thofe names of hate and fear,
The happier ftile of king and fubject bear:
Happy, when both to the fame center move,
When kings give liberty, and fubjects love.
Therefore not long in force this charter stood;
Wanting that feal, it must be feal'd in blood.

* Runny Mead.

The

The fubjects arm'd, the more their princes gave,
Th' advantage only took, the more to crave:
Till kings, by giving, give themselves away,
And even that power, that should deny, betray,:
"Who gives constrain'd, but his own fear revilės,
"Not thank'd, but fcorn'd; nor are they gifts, but fpoils."
Thus kings, by grafping more than they could hold,
First made their fubjects, by oppreffion, bold:
And popular fway, by forcing kings to give
More than was fit for fubjects to receive,
Ran to the fame extremes; and one excess
Made both, by striving to be greater, less.
When a calm river rais'd with fudden rains,
Or fnows diffolv'd, o'erflows th' adjoining plains,
The husbandmen with high-rais'd banks fecure
Their greedy hopes, and this he can endure.
But if with bays and dams they strive to force
His channel to a new, or narrow courfe;
No longer then within his banks he dwells,
First to a torrent, then a deluge fwells:
Stronger and fiercer by restraint he roars,

And knows no bound, but makes his power his fhores.

The first Book speaks of Æneas's voyage by fea, and how, being cast by tempeft upon the coast of Carthage, he was received by Queen Dido, who, after the feast, defires him to make the relation of the deftruction of Troy; which is the Argument of this Book.

filence and attention wait, Thus fpeaks Æneas from the bed of state;

WHILE all with

Madam, when you command us to review

Our fate, you make our old wounds bleed anew,
And all thofe forrows to my
fense restore,

Whereof none faw fo much, none fuffer'd more:

Not the most cruel of our conquering foes
So unconcern'dly can relate our woes,
As not to lend a tear; then how can I
Reprefs the horror of my thoughts, which fly

The