Thro' undulating air the founds are sent,
And spread o'er all the fluid element.
There various news I heard, of love and ftrife,
Of peace and war, health, ficknefs, death, and life,
Of lofs and gain, of famine and of store,
Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore,
Of prodigies, and portents feen in air,
Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,
Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,
The falls of fav'rites, projects of the great,
Of old mifmanagements, taxations new :
All neither wholly falfe, nor wholly true.
Above, below, without, within, around, Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found,
VER. 448. There various news I heard, &c.]
Of werres, of peace, of marriages,
Of reft, of labour, of voyages,
Of abode, of dethe, and of life,
Of love and hate, accord and ftrife,
Of lofs, of lore, and of winnings,
Of bele, of fickness, and leffings,
Of divers tranfmutations
Of eftates and eke of regions,
Of truft, of drede, of jealoufy,
Of witt, of winning, of folly,
of good, or bad government,
Of fire, and of divers accident.
VER. 458. Above, below, without, within, &c.]
But fuch a grete Congregation
Of folke as I faw rome about,
Who pass, repass, advance, and glide away;
Hofts rais'd by fear, and phantoms of a day:
Aftrologers, that future fates forefhew,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few ;
And priests, and party-zealots, num'rous bands
With home-born lyes, or tales from foreign lands; 465
Each talk'd aloud, or in some fecret place,
And wild impatience ftar'd in ev'ry face.
The flying rumors gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it, added fomething new,
And all who heard it, made enlargements too,
In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.
Thus flying eaft and weft, and north and south,
News travell'd with encrease from mouth to mouth.
Some within, and fome without,
Was never feen, ne shall be eft-
And every wight that I faw there i
Rowned everich in others ear
A new tyding privily,
Or elfe he told it openly
Right thus, and faid, Knowft not thou
That is betide to night now?
No, quoth he, tell me what?
And then he told him this and that, &c.
-Thus north and fouth
Went every tiding fro mouth to mouth,
And that encreafing evermo,
As fire is wont to quicken and
From a fparkle fprong amifs,
Till all the citee brent up is.
So from a spark, that kindled first by chance,
With gath'ring force the quick'ning flames advance;
Till to the clouds their curling heads afpire,
And tow'rs and temples fink in floods of fire.
When thus ripe lyes are to perfection sprung,
Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue,
Thro' thousand vents, impatient forth they flow,
And rush in millions on the world below.
Fame fits aloft, and points them out their course,
Their date determines, and prescribes their force:
Some to remain, and fome to perifh foon;
Or wane and wax alternate like the moon.
Around, a thousand winged wonders fly,
Born by the trumpet's blast, and scatter'd thro' the sky. There, at one paffage, oft you might furvey
A lye and truth contending for the way;
And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent,
Which firft fhould iffue thro' the narrow vent:
At laft agreed, together out they fly,
Infeparable now, the truth and lye;
The strict companions are for ever join'd,
And this or that unmix'd, no mortal e'er shall find.
VER. 489. There at one paffage, &c]
And fometime I saw there at once,
A lefing and a fad footh faw
gonnen at adventure draw
Out of a window forth to pace
And no man, be he ever fo wrothe,
Shall have one of these two, but bothe, &c.
While thus I ftood, intent to see and hear,
One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear:
What could thus high thy rash ambition raise ?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise?
'Tis true, faid I, not void of hopes I came,
For who fo fond as youthful bards of Fame?
But few, alas! the cafual bleffing boast,
So hard to gain, so easy to be loft.
How vain that fecond life in others breath,
Th' eftate which wits inherit after death!
Eafe, health, and life, for this they must resign,
(Unfure the tenure, but how vast the fine!)
The great man's curfe, without the gains, endure,
Be envy'd, wretched, and be flatter'd, poor;
All lucklefs wits their enemies profeft,
And all fuccefsful, jealous friends at best.
Nor Fame I flight, nor for her favours call;
She comes unlook'd for, if fhe comes at all.
But if the purchase cofts fo dear a price,
As foothing Folly, or exalting Vice:
Oh! if the Muse must flatter lawless sway,
And follow still where fortune leads the way;
VER. 497. While thus I flood, &c.] The hint is taken from a paffage in another part of the third book, but here more naturally made the conclufion, with the addition of a Moral to the whole. In Chaucer, he only anfwers" he came to fee the place; and the book ends abruptly, with his being furprized at the fight of a Man of great Authority, and awaking in a fright.
Or if no bafis bear my rifing name,
But the fall'n ruins of another's fame:
Then teach me, heav'n! to scorn the guilty bays,
Drive from my breast that wretched lust of praise,
Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown;
Oh grant an honeft fame, or grant me none !
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