The rosy morn long since left Tithon's bed
All ready to her silver coach to climb;
And Phoebus 'gins to show his glorious head.
Hark how the cheerful birds do chant their lays,
And carol of Love's praise!

The merry lark her matins sings aloft,

The thrush replies, the mavis descant plays,
The ouzel shrills, the ruddock warbles soft;
So goodly all agree with sweet consent
To this day's merriment.

Ah, my dear love, why do ye sleep thus long,
When meeter were that ye should now awake
To await the coming of your joyous make,
And hearken to the birds' love-learned song
The dewy leaves among?

For they of joy and pleasaunce to you sing,

That all the woods them answer, and their echo ring.

6. My love is now awake out of her dream;

And her fair eyes, like stars that dimmed were

With darksome clouds, now show their goodly beams
More bright than Hesperus his head doth rear.
Come now, ye damsels, daughters of delight,

Help quickly her to dight.

But first come ye fair Hours, which were begot
In Jove's sweet paradise of day and night;

Which do the seasons of the world allot,

And all that ever in this world is fair,

Do make and still repair.

And ye three handmaids of the Cyprian queen,

The which do still adorn her beauty's pride,

* Tithon, Tithonus, husband of Aurora, the morn. She was a goddess; he, a man. In youth he was wondrously beautiful, and she, becoming enamored, obtained immortality for him from Jove, but forgot to ask perpetual youth. So he grew old and shrivelled, and finally became a cicada, or locust. Aurora is represented as a nymph crowned with flowers, with a star above her head, a torch in one hand, in the other roses, which she scatters as she stands in her chariot drawn by winged steeds. According to Prof. Max Müller, Tithonus (from Ovýσкw, Té☺vηка, I die) signifies the dying day.-Coach (Gr. κóyyn, a muscle, a cockle; Lat. concha, a muscle-shell; Fr., Sp., coche; It. cocca, a vessel), a chariot, coach. Phoebus (Gr. Poîßos, the shining one, Apollo), the sun-god.-Mavis, the song thrush.-Ouzel, the bird known as the water-ouzel, or dipper.Shrills, utters a shrill note.-Ruddock (A. S. rudduc; W. rhuddog, having a redness, the redbreast; A. S. rudu, redness; rud, red; Gr. ¿pvepós; Lat. ruber; Ger. roth; Fr. rouge. See Grimm's law), redbreast.—Meeter, more meet, fitter.-Make, mate, consort. See Index.-Hesperus (Gr. "Éσnepos; Lat. Vesper), the evening, evening star.-Hours (Gr. "Opai; Lat. Horae), the Hours, or Seasons. They were three in number; though some name seven; others, ten; and later poets, twelve. Daughters of Jupiter and Themis (goddess of Justice and Law), they had charge of the gates of heaven, and presided over justice, peace, and order.-Jove (Gr. Zeús, Atós, root diF; Lat. divus, diovis, Jovis; Lith. devas; Lat. deus; Sans. dyo, dyu, the sky; akin to O. Eng. Tuisco), Jupiter, the supreme deity of the Romans, father of gods and men.-Cyprian queen, Venus, goddess of love and beauty, the Aphrodite of the Greeks. She sprang from the sea-foam near Cythera (now Cerigo). The soft west wind wafted her to Cyprus, where the goldfilleted Seasons received her, clothing her with immortal garments, and adorning her with a golden wreath, rings, and chains. She was worshipped chiefly at Cyprus and Cythera.-Handmaids, the three Graces, young and beautiful sisters, attendants of Venus. Their names were Aglaia (brightness), Euphrosyne (gladness), and Thalia (bloom). They may be regarded as an æsthetic conception of all that is beautiful in the physical as well as in the social world"

Help to adorn my beautifulest bride;
And as ye her array, still throw between
Some graces to be seen;

And, as ye use to Venus, to her sing;

The whiles the woods shall answer, and your echo ring.

7. Now is my love all ready forth to come.

Let all the virgins therefore well await;

And ye fresh boys, that tend upon her groom,*

Prepare yourselves, for he is coming straight.
Set all your things in seemly good array

Fit for so joyful day,

The joyfulest day that ever sun did see.
Fair sun! show forth thy favorable ray,
And let thy lifeful heat not fervent be,
For fear of burning her sunshiny face,
Her beauty to disgrace.

O fairest Phoebus! father of the Muse!

If ever I did honor thee aright,

Or sing the thing that mote thy mind delight,

Do not thy servant's simple boon refuse.
But let this day, let this one day be mine:

Let all the rest be thine.

Then I thy sovereign praises loud will sing,

That all the woods shall answer, and their echo ring,

8. Hark! how the minstrels 'gin to shrill aloud
Their merry music, that resounds from far,
The pipe, the tabor, and the trembling crowd,
That well agree withouten breach or jar.
But most of all the damsels do delight,
When they their timbrels smite,

And thereunto do dance and carol sweet,

That all the senses they do ravish quite;

The whiles the boys run up and down the street,
Crying aloud with strong confused noise,
As if it were one voice.

"Hymen! Iö! Hymen! Hymen!" they do shout,
That even to the heavens their shouting shrill

* Groom (Lat. homo, man; humanus, of man; humus, ground; A. S. and Goth. guma, man; Scot. grome, man, lover), bridegroom.-Lifeful, full of life, life-giving. See lives, Index. Full is Gr. Taŋ in Tíuπànui, to fill; Lat. ple-nus, full; Ger. voll; A. S. and Sw. full; Goth. fulls; A. S. fyllan, to fill; Ger. füllen. See Grimm's Law.-Shrill (Sw. skrälla; Ger. schrillen), to utter in a sharp, shrill tone.-Tabor, a small drum. Fr. tambour; Ar. and Per. tumbûr, tambûr, a lute or guitar.-Crowd (Ir. and Gael. cruit; W. crwth), an ancient instrument of music with six strings, a kind of violin.-Withouten (O. Eng., fr. A. S. widh, with, and útan, out; widhûtan), without. See Index. The whiles, the intervening time, meanwhile, while. See the while, Index.-Hymen! Io! Hymen! Hymen! Huzza! Hymen! Part of a Lat. song. See Index.

To which the people, standing all about,
As in approvance, do thereto applaud,

And loud advance her laud.*

And evermore they "Hymen! Hymen!" sing,

That all the woods them answer, and their echo ring.

9. Lo! where she comes along with portly pace,

Like Phoebe, from her chamber in the east,
Arising forth to run her mighty race,

Clad all in white, that seems a virgin best.

So well it her beseems that you would ween
Some angel she had been.

Her long loose yellow locks like golden wire,
Sprinkled with pearl, and pearling flowers atween,

Do like a golden mantle her attire;

And being crowned with a girland green,

Seem like some virgin queen.

Her modest eyes, abashed to behold
So many gazers as on her do stare,
Upon the lowly ground affixed are;
Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold,
But blush to hear her praises sung so loud,
So far from being proud.

Natheless do ye still loud her praises sing,

That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.

10. Tell me, ye merchants' daughters, did ye see
So fair a creature in your town before?

So sweet, so lovely, and so mild as she,

Adorned with beauty's grace and virtue's store?
Her goodly eyes like sapphires shining bright,
Her forehead ivory white,

Her cheeks like apples which the sun hath rudded,

Her lips like cherries charming men to bite,

Her bosom like a bowl of cream uncrudded,

Her breasts like lilies budded,

Her snowy neck like to a marble tower,

And all her body like a palace fair,

* Laud (Lat. laus, laudis, praise; Fr. louer, to praise), praise.-Portly (Lat. portare; Fr. porter, to carry; port, carriage), dignified, noble.-Phoebe (fem. of Phœbus, for which see st. 5), the moon goddess, Diana.-Seems, beseems, befits.-Long, loose, etc. Note the alliteration, a subject well worthy of investigation. See the various treatises on Rhetoric. The comparison of a lady's auburn locks to golden wire is a favorite one with Spenser. Thus he says of Queen Elizabeth, in the Faerie Queene, Book II., canto iii., stanza 30: "Her yellow locks, crisped like golden wire." This simile seems to suggest Queen Elizabeth, who is mentioned four lines later.Girland. See st. 1.-Ne, nor, not.-Natheless, nevertheless. (Index.)-Ivory white. So in Faerie Queene, Book II., canto iii., stanza 24: "Her ivory forehead."-Rudded, made red. See ruddock, st. 5.-Uncrudded (Scot. crud; Gael. gruth; Ir. gruth, cruth, curd; Ir. cruthaim, I milk), uncurdled. This description of his bride is strikingly like that contained in his Sonnets, LXIV., LXXXI.

Ascending up with many a stately stair,
To honor's seat and chastity's sweet bower.
Why stand ye still, ye virgins, in amaze,

Upon her so to gaze,

Whiles ye forget your former lay to sing,

To which the woods did answer, and your echo ring?

11. But if ye saw that which no eyes can see,

The inward beauty of her lovely spright,
Garnished with heavenly gifts of high degree,
Much more then would ye wonder at that sight,
And stand astonished, like to those which read *
Medusa's mazeful head.

There dwells sweet love, and constant chastity,
Unspotted faith, and comely womanhood,

Regard of honor, and mild modesty;

There virtue reigns as queen in royal throne,

And giveth laws alone,

The which the base affections do obey,
And yield their services unto her will;
Ne thought of things uncomely ever may
Thereto approach, to tempt her mind to ill.
Had ye once seen these her celestial treasures
And unrevealed pleasures,

Then would ye wonder, and her praises sing,

That all the woods should answer, and your echo ring.

12. Open the temple gates unto my love!

Open them wide that she may enter in;
And all the posts adorn as doth behove,
And all the pillars deck with girlands trim,
For to receive this saint with honor due
That cometh in to you.

With trembling steps and humble reverence
She cometh in, before the Almighty's view!
Of her, ye virgins, learn obedience,
When so ye come into those holy places,
To humble your proud faces.

Bring her to the high altar, that she may
The sacred ceremonies there partake,
The which do endless matrimony make;

And let the roaring organs loudly play

* Which read, who perused; who attentively observed.-Medusa, one of the three Gorgons. One legend makes her to have anciently been beautiful, and to have fascinated Neptune; but Minerva, angry because the lovers met in her temple, changed Medusa's locks into serpents, and made her head so horrible that whoever set eyes on it was instantly changed to stone. This head was cut off by the hero Perseus, and fixed upon the centre of Minerva's ægis or shield.-The which, which.-Ne, no, nor, not. Holy places, temples.

The praises of the Lord in lively notes;
The whiles with hollow throats,*

The choristers the joyous anthem sing,

That all the world may answer, and their echo ring.

13. Behold, whiles she before the altar stands,
Hearing the holy priest, that to her speaks,
And blesseth her with his two happy hands,
How the red roses flush up in her cheeks,
And the pure snow, with goodly vermeil, stain,
Like crimson dyed in grain!

That even the angels, which continually

About the sacred altar do remain,

Forget their service and about her fly,

Oft peeping in her face, that seems more fair

The more they on it stare.

But her sad eyes, still fastened on the ground,
Are governed with goodly modesty,

That suffers not one look to glance awry,

Which may let in a little thought unsound.

Why blush ye, love, to give to me your hand,

The pledge of all our band!

Sing, ye sweet angels! Alleluia sing!

That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.

14. Now all is done, bring home the bride again.

Bring home the triumph of our victory:
Bring home with you the glory of her gain;
With joyance bring her and with jollity.
Never had man more joyful day than this,

Whom Heaven would heap with bliss:

Make feast, therefore, now all this live-long day:

This day to me forever holy is.

Pour out the wine without restraint or stay;

Pour not by cups, but by the bellyful;

Pour out to all that wull,

And sprinkle all the posts and walls with wine,

That they may sweat and drunken be withall.

* Hollow throats, wide-open throats.-Happy hands. This is, perhaps, the finest passage in the poem. The whole stanza is well conceived and exquisitely expressed. The very hands of the priest are conscious of joy!-Vermeil (Lat. vermis, a worm, fr. vertere, to turn, to wind; vermiculus, a little worm; Fr. vermeil, a little worm that furnishes the scarlet color), vermilion, a bright red.--Grain (Lat. granum, a grain, seed, kernel), a reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes. Dyed in grain, dyed with the tint made from grain; dyed firmly; dyed in the wool or raw material.-Alleluia (Heb. halelu, praise; yah, Jehovah hallelujah, praise ye Jehovah).-Pour not by cups, etc. The stupid custom, now happily obsolescent, of swilling down wine at weddings, is of great antiquity.-Wull, will. See wolde, Index.