;

420

Before my view appear'd a structure fair,
Its site uncertain, if in earth or air;
With rapid motion turn'd the mansion round
With ceaseless noise the ringing walls resound;
Not less in number were the spacious doors,
Than leaves on trees, or sands upon the shores; 425
Which still unfolded stand, by night, by day,

Pervious to winds, and open ev'ry way.

As flames by nature to the skies ascend,

As weighty bodies to the centre tend,

As to the sea returning rivers roll,

430

And the touch'd needle trembles to the pole;

Hither, as to their proper place, arise

All various sounds from earth, and seas, and skies,

Or spoke aloud, or whisper'd in the ear;

Nor ever silence, rest, or peace, is here.

435

As on the smooth expanse of crystal lakes

The sinking stone at first a circle makes;

The trembling surface by the motion stirr'd,
Spreads in a second circle, then a third;

439

Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance, Fill all the wat❜ry plain, and to the margin dance :

IMITATIONS.

A thousand hoels and well mo,

To letten the soune out go;
And by day in every tide

Ben all the doors open wide,
And by night each one unshet;
No porter is there one to let,
No manner tydings in to pace:

Ne never rest is in that place."

P.

Ver. 428. As flames by nature to the, &c.] This thought is transferred hither out of the third book of Fame, where it takes up no less than one hundred and twenty verses, beginning thus:

Thus ev'ry voice and sound, when first they break,
On neighb'ring air a soft impression make;
Another ambient circle then they move;
That, in its turn, impels the next above;
Through undulating air the sounds are sent,
And spread o'er all the fluid element.

445

450

There various news I heard of love and strife,
Of peace and war, health, sickness, death, and life,
Of loss and gain, of famine and of store,
Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore,
Of prodigies and portents seen 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 mismanagements, taxations new:
All neither wholly false, nor wholly true.

Above, below, without, within, around,
Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found,

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 448. There various news I heard, &c.]

"Of werres, of peace, of marriages,

Of rest, of labour, of voyages,

Of abode, of dethe, and of life,

Of love and hate, accord and strife,
Of loss, of lore, and of winnings,
Of hele, of sickness, and lessings,
Of divers transmutations
Of estates and eke of regions,
Of trust, of drede, of jealousy,
Of wit, of winning, and of folly,
Of good, or bad government,
Of fire, and of divers accident."

Ver. 458. Above, below, without, within, &c.]
"But such a grete congregation

Of folke as I saw roam about
Some within, and some without,

455

P.

460

466

Who pass, repass, advance, and glide away;
Hosts raised by fear, and phantoms of a day:
Astrologers that future fates foreshew,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers, not a few;
And priests, and party-zealots, num'rous bands
With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands!
Each talk'd aloud, or in some secret place,
And wild impatience star'd in ev'ry face.
They flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told ;
And all who told it added something new,
And all who heard it, made enlargements too,
In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.
Thus flying east and west, and north and south,
News travell'd with increase from mouth to mouth S
So from a spark, that kindled first by chance, 475
With gath'ring force the quick'ning flames advance;
Till to the clouds their curling heads aspire,
And tow'rs and temples sink in floods of fire.

IMITATIONS.

Was never seen, ne shall be eft-
And every wight that I saw there
Rowned everich in others ear.

A new tyding privily,

Or else he told it openly

Right thus, and said, Knowst not thou

That is betide to night now?

No, quoth he, tell me what?

And then he told him this and that, etc.
Thus north and south

Went every tiding fro mouth to mouth,

And that encreasing evermo,

As fire is wont to quicken and go
From a sparkle sprong amiss,
Till all the citee brent up is."

i

470

When thus ripe lies are to perfection sprung, Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue,

480

Through thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow, And rush in millions on the world below.

485

Fame sits aloft, and points them out their course,
Their date determines, and prescribes their force :
Some to remain, and some to perish soon;
Or wane and wax alternate like the moon.
Around, a thousand winged wonders fly,

Born by the trumpet's blast, and scatter'd through the sky.

There, at one passage, oft you might survey, A lie and truth contending for the way;

490

And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent, Which first should issue through the narrow vent: At last agreed, together out they fly,

Inseparable now, the truth and lie;

The strict companions are for ever join'd,

495

And this or that unmix'd, no mortal e'er shall find,

NOTES.

Ver. 496. And this or that unmix'd,] The President Montesquieu observes (in his Grandeur of the Romans), that the rank or place which posterity bestows is subject, like all others, to the whim and caprice of fortune. Woolaston said, in his own epitaph, that he retired early from the world, propter iniqua hominum judicia.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 489. There, at one passage, &c.]

"And sometime I saw there at once,

A lesing and a sad sooth saw
That gonnen at adventure draw
Out of a window forth to pace---

And no man, be he ever so wrothe,

Shall have one of these two, but bothe," etc. P.

500

While thus I stood, intent to see and hear, One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear.ll What could thus high thy rash ambition raise ? Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise? 'Tis true, said I, not void of hopes I came, For who so fond as youthful bards of Fame? But few, alas! the casual blessing boast, #fo So hard to gain, so easy to be lost.

51505

IT

How vain that second life in others' breath,
Th' estate which wits inherit after death!
Ease, health, and life, for this they must resign,
(Unsure the tenure, but how vast the fine!)
The great man's curse, without the gains, endure, A
Be envy'd, wretched, and be flatter'd, poor;
All luckless wits their enemies profest,
And all successful, jealous friends at best.
Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favours call;

510

She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all. te odT But if the purchase cost so dear a price,

As soothing Folly, or exalting Vice:

Oh! if the Muse must flatter lawless sway,

515

And follow still where fortune leads the way to re Or if no basis bear my rising name,

But the fall'n ruins of another's fame;

520

Then teach me, Heav'n! to scorn the guilty bays, Drive from my breast that wretched lust of praise ;

NOTES.

Ver. 497. While thus I stood, &c.] The hint is taken from a passage in another part of the third book, but here more naturally made the conclusion, with the addition of a moral to the whole. In Chaucer he only answers, "he came to see the place;" and the book ends abruptly, with his being surprised at the sight of a Man of great Authority, and awakening in a fright. P.