DECLINING Phabus, as he larger grows,
(Taxing proud folly gentler waxeth ftill;
Never lefs fierce, than when he greatest shows:
When Thirfil on a gentle rifing hill.

(Where all his flock he round might feeding
view)

Sits down, and circled with a lovely crew Of nymphs, and shepherd-boys, thus 'gan his fong

Arenew.

II.

Now was this ifle pull'd from that horrid main, Which bears the fearful looks, and name of death;

And fettled new with blood and dreadful pain By Him who twice had giv'n (once forfeit) breath:

A baser state than what was first affign'd; Wherein (to curb the too-aspiring mind) The better things were loft, the worst were left behind:

III.

That glorious image of himself was raz'd;

Ah! fcarce the place of that beft part we find: And that bright fun-like knowledge much defac'd; Only fome twinkling ftars remain behind :

Then mortal made; yet as one fainting dies, Two other in its place fucceeding rife; And drooping ftock, with branches fresh immortalize.

IV.

So that lone bird, in fruitful Arabie,

(g) A vein is a veffel, long, round, bollow, rifing from the liver, appoiated to contain, concoct, and diftribute the blood: it bath but one tunicle, and that thin; the colour of this blood is purple.

(b) An artery is a vessel long, round, bollow, formed for conveyance of that more, sprightly blood, which is elaborate in the heart.-This blood is frothy, yellowish, full of fpirits, therefore compaffed with a double tunicle, that it might not exhale or fweat out by reason of the thinnefs.

(i) A nerve is a Spermatical part rifing from the brain and the pith of the back-bone: the outfide fkin, the infide full of pith; carrying the animal fpirits for fenfe and motion, and therefore doubly skinned, as the brain; none of them fingle, but run in couples.

(k) The veins convey the nourishment from the liver; the arteries, life, and beat from the heart; the nerves, fenfe, and motion from the brain: will commands, the nerve brings, and the part executes the mandate, all alsoft in an inflant.

XIV.

The whole ifle, parted in three regiments (1),
By three metropolis's jointly fway'd;
Ord'ring in peace and war their governments,
With loving concord, and with mutual aid:
The lowest hath the worst, but largest fee;
The middle lefs, of greater dignity:
The highest leaft, but holds the greatest fov'reignty.

XV.

Deep in a vale doth that firft province lie,
With many a city grac'd, and fairly town'd;
And for a fence from foreign enmity, round;
With five strong builded walls (m) encompass'd
Which my rude pencil will in limning stain;
A work, more curious than which poets feign
Neptune and Phœbus built, and pulled down again.

XVI.

The first of thefe, is that round spreading fence (#),
Which like a fea, girts th' ifle in ev'ry part;
Of fairest building, quick, and nimble sense,
Of common matter fram'd with special art;
Of middle temper, outwardest of all,
To warn of ev'ry chance that may befall:
The fame a fence, and spy; a watchman and a
wall.

XVII.

His native beauty is a lily white (0);

Which ftill fome other colour'd ftream infecteth; Left like itself, with divers stainings dight, The inward difpofition it detecteth:

If white, it argues wet; if purple, fire; If black, a heavy cheer, and fix'd defire; Youthsul and blithe, if suited in a rosy tire.

XVIII.

It cover'd ftands with filken flourishing (P), Which as it oft decays, renews again,

(1) The whole body may be parted into three regions the loweft, or belly; the middle, or breaft; the bigbeft, or bead in the lorveft the liver is fovereign, whofe regiment is the wideft, but meanest. In the middle, the heart reigns, moft neceffary. The brain obtains the bigbefi place, and is, as the leaft in compass, fo the greateft in dignity.

(m) The parts of the lower region, are either the contained or containing; the containing either common or proper; the common are the fkin, the fiefoy panicle, and the fat; the proper are the muscles of the belly-piece, or the inner rim of the belly.

(n) The fkin is a membrane of all the reft the most large, and thick, formed of the mixture of feed and blood; the covering and ornament of parts that are under it: the temper moderate, the proper organ of outward touching (fay Phyficians).

Where melan

(o) The native colour of the fkin is white, but (as Hippocrates changed into the fame colour which is brought by the bumour predominant. choly abounds, it is fwartby; where phlegm, it is white and pale; where choler reigns, it is red and fiery; but in fanguine, of a rofy colour.

(p) The fkin is covered with the cuticle, or flourifbing of the fkin; it is the mean of touching, without which we feel, but with pain. It polifbeth the fkin, which many times is changed, and (as it is with fuakes) put off, and a new and more amiable brought in.