And for I was in thilke same looser yeares,
(Whether the Muse so wrought me from my
birth,

Or I tomuch beleeued my shepherd peres)
Somedele ybent to song and musicks mirth.
A good olde shephearde, Wrenock was his

name,

4I

Made me by arte more cunning in the same. Fro thence I durst in derring doe compare With shepheards swayne, what euer fedde in field:

And if that Hobbinol right iudgement bare,
To Pan his owne selfe pype I neede not yield.
For if the flocking Nymphes did folow Pan,
The wiser Muses after Colin ranne.

But ah such pryde at length was ill repayde,
The shepheards God (perdie God was he none)
My hurt lesse pleasaunce did me ill vpbraide,
My freedome lorne, my life he lefte to mone.
Loue they him called, that gaue me check-
mate,

But better mought they haue behote him
Hate.

Tho gan my louely Spring bid me farewel,
And Sommer season sped him to display
(For loue then in the Lyons house did dwell)
The raging fyre, that kindled at his ray.

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A comett stird vp that vnkindly heate, That reigned (as men sayd) in Venus seate. Forth was I ledde, not as I wont afore, When choise I had to choose my wandring waye: But whether luck and loues vnbridled lore Would leade me forth on Fancies bitte to playe, The bush my bedde, the bramble was my bowre,

The Woodes can witnesse many a wofull

To make fine cages for the Nightingale,
And Baskets of bulrushes was my wont : 80
Who to entrappe the fish in winding sale
Was better seene, or hurtful beastes to hont?
I learned als the signes of heauen to ken,
How Phœbe fayles, where Venus sittes and
when.

And tryed time yet taught me greater thinges,
The sodain rysing of the raging seas:
The soothe of byrds by beating of their wings,
The power of herbs, both which can hurt and

ease:

And which be wont t'enrage the restlesse sheepe,

91

And which be wont to worke eternall sleepe. But ah vnwise and witlesse Colin cloute, That kydst the hidden kinds of many a wede: Yet kydst not ene to cure thy sore hart roote, Whose ranckling wound as yet does rifelye bleede.

Why liuest thou stil, and yet hast thy deathes wound?

Why dyest thou stil, and yet aliue art founde?

Thus is my sommer worne away and wasted,
Thus is my haruest hastened all to rathe:
The eare that budded faire, is burnt and
blasted,

And all my hoped gaine is turnd to scathe. 100
Of all the seede, that in my youth was sowne,
Was nought but brakes and brambles to be

Deigne) voutchsafe.

Cabinet) Colinet) diminutiues.

Now leaue ye shepheards boyes your merry glee, My Muse is hoarse and weary of thys stounde: Here will I hang my pype vpon this tree, 141 Was neuer pype of reede did better sounde.

Winter is come, that blowes the bitter blaste, And after Winter dreerie death does hast.

Gather ye together my little flocke,

My little flock, that was to me so liefe: Let me, ah lette me in your folds ye lock, Ere the breme Winter breede you greater griefe. Winter is come, that blowes the balefull breath,

And after Winter commeth timely death. Adieu delightes, that lulled me asleepe, 151 Adieu my little Lambes and loued sheepe, Adieu my deare, whose loue I bought so deare: Adieu ye Woodes that oft my witnesse were: Adieu good Hobbinol, that was so true, Tell Rosalind, her Colin bids her adieu. Colins Embleme.

Mazie) For they be like to a maze whence it is hard to get out agayne.

Peres) felowes and companions.

Musick) that is Poetry as Terence sayth Qui artem tractant musicam, speking of Poetes. Derring doe) aforesayd.

Lions house) He imagineth simply that Cupid, which is loue, had his abode in the whote signe Leo, which is in middest of somer; a pretie allegory, whereof the meaning is, that loue in him wrought an extraordinarie heate of lust. His ray) which is Cupides beame or flames of Loue. A Comete) a blasing starre, meant of beautie, which was the cause of his whote loue. Venus) the goddesse of beauty or pleasure. Also a signe in heauen, as it is here taken. So he meaneth that beautie, which hath alwayes aspect to Venus, was the cause of all his vnquietnes in loue.

Where I was) a fine discription of the chaunge of hys lyfe and liking; for all things nowe seemed to hym to haue altered their kindly course. Lording) Spoken after the maner of Paddocks and Frogges sitting which is indeed Lordly, not remouing nor looking once a side, vnlesse they be sturred.

Then as) The second part. That is his manhoode. Cotes) sheepecotes. For such be the exercises of shepheards.

Sale) or Salow a kind of woodde like Wyllow, fit to wreath and bynde in leapes to catch fish withall.

Phæbe fayles) The Eclipse of the Moone, which is

alwayes in Cauda or Capite Draconis, signes in heauen.

Venus) .s. Venus starre otherwise called Hesperus and Vesper and Lucifer, both because he seemeth to be one of the brightest starres, and also first ryseth and setteth last. All which skill in starres being conuenient for shepheardes to knowe as Theocritus and the rest vse.

Raging seaes) The cause of the swelling and ebbing of the sea commeth of the course of the Moone, sometime encreasing, sometime wayning and decreasing.

Sooth of byrdes) A kind of sooth saying vsed in elder tymes, which they gathered by the flying of byrds; First (as is sayd) inuented by the Thuscanes, and from them deriued to the Romanes, who (as is sayd in Liuie) were so supersticiously rooted in the same, that they agreed that euery Nobleman should put his sonne to the Thuscanes, by them to be brought vp in that knowledge.

Of herbes) That wonderous thinges be wrought by herbes, aswell appeareth by the common working of them in our bodies, as also by the wonderful enchauntments and sorceries that haue bene wrought by them; insomuch that it is sayde that Circe a famous sorceresse turned men into sondry kinds of beastes and Monsters, and onely by herbes: as the Poete sayth Dea sæua potentibus herbis &c.

Eare) of corne.

Kidst) knewest. Scathe) losse hinderaunce. Euer among) Euer and anone. Thus is my) The thyrde parte wherein is set forth his ripe yeres as an vntimely haruest, that bringeth little fruite.

The flagraunt flowres) sundry studies and laudable partes of learning, wherein how our Poete is seene, be they witnesse which are priuie to his study.

So now my yeere) The last part, wherein is described his age by comparison of wyntrye stormes. Carefull cold) for care is sayd to coole the blood. Glee) mirth.

Hoary frost) A metaphore of hoary heares scattred lyke to a gray frost.

Breeme) sharpe and bitter.

Adiew delights) is a conclusion of all. Where in sixe verses he comprehendeth briefly all that was touched in this booke. In the first verse his delights of youth generally. In the second, the loue of Rosalind, in the thyrd, the keeping of sheepe, which is the argument of all glogues. In the fourth his complaints. And in the last two his professed frendship and good will to his good

friend Hobbinoll.

Embleme.

The meaning wherof is that all thinges perish and come to theyr last end, but workes of learned wits and monuments of Poetry abide for euer. And therefore Horace of his Odes a work though ful indede of great wit and learning, yet of no so great weight and importaunce boldly sayth.

Exegi monimentum ære perennius,
Quod nec imber nec aquilo vorax &c.

Therefore let not be enuied, that this Poete in his Epilogue sayth he hath made a Calendar, that shall endure as long as time &c. folowing the ensample of Horace and Ouid in the like. Grande opus exegi quod nec Iouis ira nec ignis, Nec ferrum poterit nec edax abolere vetustas &c.

outweare:

Loe I haue made a Calender for euery yeare, That steele in strength, and time in durance shall And if I marked well the starres reuolution, To teach the ruder shepheard how to feede his It shall continewe till the worlds dissolution. And from the falsers fraud his folded flocke to sheepe, keepe

Goe lyttle Calender, thou hast a free passeporte, Goe but a lowly gate emongste the meaner sorte. Dare not to match thy pype with Tityrus hys style, Nor with the Pilgrim that the Ploughman But followe them farre off, and their high steppes playde a whyle:

adore,

The better please, the worse despise, I aske nomore. Merce non mercede.