COLIN CLOUT's COME HOME AGAIN.
To the Right Worthy and Noble Knight
Captain of her Majefty's Guard, Lord Warden of the Stanneries, and Liem. nant of the County of Cornwall.
THAT HAT you may fee that I am not always idle, as ye think, though not greatly well occupied, altogether undutiful, though not precisely officious, I make you prefent of this fimple Paftera, unworthy of your higher conceipt for the meanness of the ftile, but agreeing with the truth circumftance and matter; the which I humbly beseech you to accept in part of payment of de infinite debt in which I acknowledge myself bounden unto you (for your fingular favours fundry good turns fhewed to me at my late being in England), and with your good countman: protect against the malice of evil mouths, which are always wide open to carp at and miss ftrue my fimple meaning. I pray continually for your happiness.
From my boufe at Kilcolman, Dec. 27. 1591.
THE fhepherd's boy (best knowen by that name) | One of thofe grooms (a iolly groom was he,
That after Tityrus first fung his lay,
Lays of fweet love, without rebuke or blame,
Sate (as his custom was) upon a day
Charming his oaten pipe upon his peers;
The fhepherd fwains, that did about him play,
Who all the while with greedy listful cars,
Did ftand aftonifh'd at his curious skill,
Like heartless deere, difmay'd with thunder's
found;
At last, whenas he piped had his fill,
He refted him, and fitting then around,
As ever piped on an oaten reed,
And lov'd this fhepherd deareft in degree,
Hight Hobbinol) 'gan thus to him arced:
Colin, my Life! my Life! how great
Had all the thepherds' nation by thy lack?
And I, poor fwain! of many greatest cross,
That fith thy Mufe firft fince thy turning
back
Was heard to found, as he was wont on high,
Haft made us all fo bleffed and fo blythe.
Whilst thou waft hence, all dead in dole did lie,
The woods were heard to wail full many a fylkitų
And all their birds with filence to complain;
The fields with faded flowers did seem to mourn,
And all their flocks from feeding to refrain;
The running waters wept for thy return,
And all their fish with langour did lament;
But now both woods, and fields, and floods revive,
Sith thou art come, their caufe of merriment,
That us late dead haft made again alive.
But were it not too painful to repeat
The paffed fortunes which to thee befel
In thy late voyage, we would thee intreat,
Now at thy leifure, them to us to tell.
To whom the fhepherd gently answer'd thus;
"Hobbin, thou tempteft me to that I covet,
For of good paffed newly to difcufs,
By double ufury doth twife renew it:
And fince I faw that angel's bleffed eye,
Her world's bright fun, her heaven's faireft light,
My mind, full of my thought's fatiety,
Doth feed on fweet contentment of that fight:
Since that fame day in nought I take delight,
Ne feeling have in any earthly pleasure,
But in remembrance of that glory bright,
My life's fole blifs, my heart's eternal treasure.
Wake, then, my Pipe my fleepy Muse! awake,
Till I have told her praifes lafting long;
Hobbin defires thou mayft it not forfake;
Hark, then, ye jolly fhepherd's! to my fong."
With that they all 'gan throng about him neare,
With hungry ears to hear his harmony,
The whiles their flocks, devoid of danger's fear,
Did round about them feed at liberty.
"One day (quoth he) I fate (as was my trade)
Under the foot of Mole, that mountain hore,
Keeping my fheep amongst the cooly shade
Of the green alders by the Mulla's fhore;
There a ftrange fhepherd chaunc'd to find me out,
Whether allured with my pipe's delight,
Whofe pleafing found yfhrilled far about,
Or thither led by chance, I know not right;
Whom when I afked from what place he came,
And how he hight? himself he did ycleep
The Shepherd of the Ocean by name,
And said he came far from the main-fea deep.
He fitting me beside in that same shade,
Provoked me to play fome pleasant fit;
And when he heard the musick which I made,
He found himfelf full greatly pleas'd at it;
Yet, æmuling my pipe, he took in hond
My pipe, before that æmuled of many,
And plaid thereon, (for well that skill he cond)
Himfelf as fkilful in that art as any.
He pip'd, I fung; and when he sung I piped,
By change of turns each making other merry,
Neither envying other, nor envied;
So piped we until we both were weary."
There interrupting him, a bonny fwain,
That Cuddy hight, him thus atween befpake;
"And fhould it not thy ready courfe reftrain,
I would request thee, Colin, for my fake,
To tell what thou didst fing when he did play;
For well I ween it worth recounting was,
Whether it were fome hymn or moral lay,
Or sarol made to praife thy loved lafs ?"
Nor of my love, nor of my lafs," quoth he,
"I then did fing, as then occafion fell;
For love had me forlorn, forlorn of me,
That made me in that defart choose to dwell;
But of my river Bregog's love I fong,
Which to the fhiny Mulla he did bear,
And yet doth bear, and ever will, so long
As water doth within his banks appear."
"Of fellowship," said then that bonny boy,
"Record to us that lovely lay again,
The stay whereof shall nought these ears annoy,
Who all that Colin makes do covet fain."
"Hear then," quoth he, "the tenor of my
tale,
In fort as I it to that shepherd told;
No leafing new, nor grandame's fable stale,
But antient truth, confirm'd with credence old.
"Old Father Mole, (Mole hight that mountain
That walls the north-fide of Armulla dale)
He had a daughter fresh as flower of May,
Which gave that name unto that pleasant vale;
Mulla, the daughter of old Mole, fo hight
The nymph, which of that water-courfe has
charge,
That fpringing out of Mole doth run down right
To Buttevant, where, spreading forth at large,
It giveth name unto that antient city
Which Kilnemullah cleeped is of old,
Whose cragged ruines breed great ruth and pity
To travellers which it from far behold.
Full fain fhe lov'd, and was belov'd full fain
Of her own brother river, Bregog hight,
So hight because of this deceitful train
Which he with Mulla wrought to win delight;
But her old fire, more careful of her good,
And meaning her much better to prefer,
Did think to match her with the neighbour
flood,
Which Alla hight, Broad-water called far,
And wrought fo well with his continual pain,
That he that river for his daughter won;
The dowre agreed, the day affigned plain,
The place appointed where it fhould be done.
Nath'lefs the nymph her former liking held,
For Love will not be drawn, but must be led,
And Bregog did fo well her fancy weld,
That her good-will he got her first to wed;
But for her father, fitting still on high,
Did warily ftill watch which way she went,
And eke from far obferv'd with jealous eye
Which way his course the wanton Bregog bent
Him to deceive for all his watchful ward,
The wily lover did devise this flight;
First into many parts his ftream he fhar'd,
That whilft the one was watch, the other might
Pafs unefpy'd to meet her by the way;
And then befides thofe little ftreams, fo broken,
He under ground fo clofely did convey,
That of their passage doth appear no token,
Till they into the Mulla's water flide:
So fecretly did he his love enjoy,
Yet not fo fecret but it was defcride,
And told her father by a fhepherd's boy,
Who, wondrous wroth for that fo foul defpight,
In great avenge did roll down from his hill
Huge mighty ftones, the which encomber might
His paffage, and his water-courfes fpill;
So of a river, which he was of old,
He none was made, but scatter'd all to nought,
And, loft among thofe rocks into him rold,
Did lose his name: fo dear his love he bought."
Which having faid, him Theftylis befpake."
Now by my life this was a merry lay,
Worthy of Colin's felf, that did it make;
But read now eke, of friendship I thee pray,
What ditty did that other shepherd fing;
For I do covet moft the fame to hear,
As men use moft to covet foreign thing."
"That fhall I eke," quoth he, 66 to you
His fong was a lamentable lay
Of great unkindnefs, and of ufage hard
Of Cynthia, the lady of the fea,
Which from her prefence faultleffe him debarr'd;
And ever and anon, with fingults rife,
He cried out, to make his underfong,
"Ah! my loves queen, and goddess of my life,
Who fhall me pity when thou doft me wrong?"
Then 'gan a gentle bonny lafs to speak, That Martine hight." Right well he fure did 'plain,
That could great Cynthia's fore displeasure break,
And move to take him to her grace again.
But tell on further, Colin, as befel
"Twixt him and thee, what thee did hence diffuade?"
"When thus our pipes we both had wearied well,"
Quoth he, "and each an end of finging made,
He 'gan to caft great liking to my lore,
And great difliking to my luckless lot,
That banish'd had myself like wight forelore,
Into that waste, where I was quite forgot;
The which to leave thenceforth he counsel'd
Unmeet for man in whom was ought regardful, And wend with him, his Cynthia to fee,
Whose grace was great, and bounty most rewardful,
Befides her peerless skill in making well,
And all the ornaments of wondrous wit,
Such as all womankind did far excell,
Such as the world admir'd and praised it :
So that with hope of good, and hate of ill,
He me perfuaded forth with him to fare:
Nought took I with me but mine oaten quill,
Small needments elfe need fhepherds to prepare:
So to the fea we came; the sea, that is,
A world of waters heaped up on high,
Bolling like mountains in wild wilderness,
Horrible, hideous, roaring with hoarse cry."
"And is the fea," quoth Coridon, "fo fear-
"ful?"
"Fearful much more," quoth he," than heart can fear;
Thousand wild beafts, with deep mouths gaping direful,
Therein ftill wait, poor paffengers to tear.
Who life doth loath, and longs death to behol
Before he die, already dead with fear,
And yet would live with heart half ftony cold,
Let him to fea, and he fhall fee it there:
And yet as ghaftly dreadful as it feems,
Bold men, prefuming life for gain to fell,
Dare tempt that gulf, and in those wandring
ftreams
Seek ways unknown, ways leading down to hell:
For as we ftood there waiting on the firond,
Behold, an huge great veffel to us came,
Dancing upon the waters back to lond,
As if it fcorn'd the danger of the fame;
Yet was it but a wooden frame, and frail,
Glewed together with fome fubtile matter;
Yet had it arms, and wings, and head and tail,
And life to move itself upon the water.
Strange thing! how bold and swift the monar
was!
That neither car'd for wind, nor hail, nor rain,
Nor fwelling waves, but through them did país
So proudly, that she made them rore again.
The fame aboord us gently did receave,
And without harm us far away did bear,
So far, that land, our mother, us did leave,
And nought but fea and heaven to us appear.
Then heartless quite, and full of inward fear,
That fhepherd I befought to me to tell
Under what sky, or in what world, we were,
In which I faw no living people dwell;
Who me recomforting all that he might,
Told me that that fame was the regiment
Of a great fhepherdess that Cynthia hight,
His liege, his lady, and his life's regent.
If then, quoth I, a fhepherdefs the be, Where be the flocks and herds which the do keep?
And where may I the hills and pastures fee,
On which the ufeth for to feed her sheep?
These be the hills, quoth he, the furges high,
On which fair Cynthia her herds doth feed;
Her herds be thousand fishes with their fry,
Which in the bofom of the billows breed:
Of them the shepherd which has charge in chief
Is Triton, blowing loud his wreathed horn,
At found whereof they all for their relief
Wend to and fro at evening and at morn.
And Proteus, eke with him does drive his heard
Of flinking feales and porcpifces together,
With hoary head and dewy dropping beard
Compelling them which way he lift, and whi
And I, among the reft of many leaft,
Have in the ocean charge to me affign'd,
Where I will live or die at her beheast,
And ferve and honour her with faithful mind.
Befides, an hundred nymphs, all heavenly born,
And of immortal race, do ftill attend
To wash fair Cynthia's fheep when they be
fhorn,
And fold them up when they have made end,
Thofe be the Chepherds which my Cynthia serve
At fea, befides a thousand more at land;
For land and fea my Cynthia doth deferve
To have in her commandement at hand.
Thereat I wonder much, till wondering more
And more, at length we land far off defcryde
Which fight much gladed me; for much afore
I feard left land we never should have eyde :
Thereto our fhip her courfe directly bent,
As if the way the perfectly had known.
We Lynday pafs, by that fame name is ment
An ifland which the first to west was shown;
From thence another world of land we kend,
Floating amid the fea in jeopardy,
And round about with mighty white rocks hend,
Against the fea's encroaching cruelty:
Thofe fame, the fhepherd told me, were the fields
In which Dame Cynthia her land-herds fed,
Fair goodly fields, than which Armulla yields
None fairer, nor more fruitful to be red:
The first of which we nigh approached was
An high head-land, thrust far into the sea,
Like to an horn, whereof the name it has,
Yet feem'd to be a goodly pleafant lea:
There did a lofty mount at firft us greet,
Which did a ftately heap of ftones uprear,
That feem'd amid the furges for to fleet,
Much greater than that frame which us did bear;
There did our fhip her fruitful womb unlade,
And put us all afhore on Cynthia's land."
"What land is that thou meanst?" then Cuddy
or that fame land much larger is than this, And other men, and beafts, and birds, doth feed: Their fruitful corn, fair trees, fresh herbage, is, And all things elfe that living creatures need. efides, most goodly rivers there appear, No wit inferior to thy Fanchins praise, Or unto Allo, or to Mulla clear;
Nought haft thou, foolish Boy! feen in thy days."
"But if that land be there," quoth he, " as here, And is their heaven likewife there all one? And if like heaver, be heavenly graces there, Like as in this fame world where we do wonne?" "Both heaven and heavenly graces do much more,"
Quoth he," abound in that fame land than
For there all happy peace and plenteous ftore
Confpire in one to make contented blifs;
No wailing there, nor wretchedness, is heard,
No bloody iffucs, nor no leprofies,
No griefly famine, nor no raging fweard,
No nightly bodrags, nor no hue and cries:
The fhepherds there abroad may safely fie
On hills and downs, withouten dread or danger; No ravenous wolves the goodman's hope destroy,
Nor outlaws fell affray the foreft-ranger :
There learned arts do flourish in great honour,
And poet' wits are had in peerless price;
Religion hath lay-powre to reft upon her,
Advancing vertue and fuppreffing vice.
For end, all good, all grace, there freely grows,
Had people grace it gratefully to use;
For God his gifts there plenteously bestows,
But graceless men them greatly do abuse."
"But fay on further, then," faid Corylas,
"The reft of thine adventures that betided."
"Forth on our voyage we by lend did pass," Quoth he, "as that fame fhepherd still us guided,
Until that we to Cynthia's prefence came,
Whofe glory, greater than my fimple thought,
I found much greater than the former famc;
Such greatnefs I cannot compare to ought:
But if I her like ought on earth might read,
I would her liking to a crown of lillies
Upon a virgin bride's adorned head,
With rofes dight, and goolds, and daffadilies;
Or like the circlet of a turtle true,
In which all colours of the rainbow be;
Or like fair Phoebe's girlond fhining new,
In which all pure perfection one may fee.
But vain it is to think by paragon
Of earthly things to judge of things divine:
Her power, her mercy, and her wifdom, none
Can deem, but who the Godhead can define.
Why then do I, bafe thepherd! bold and
blind,
Prefume the things fo facred to profane?
More fit it is t'adore with humble mind
The image of the heavens in fhape humane."
With that Alexis broke his tale afunder,
Saying, By wondring at thy Cynthia's praise,
Colin, thyself thou mak'ft us more to wonder,
And her upraifing dooft thyfelf upraise,
But let us hear what grace the shewed thee,
And how that shepherd ftrange thy cause ad-
vanc'd."
"The Shepherd of the Ocean (quoth he)
Unto that goddes' grace me first enhanc'd,
And to mine oaten pipe enclin'd her car,
That the thenceforth therein gan take delight,
And it defir'd at timely hours to hear,
All were my notes but rude and roughly dight;
For not by measure of her own great mind,
And wondrous worth, the mott my fimple fong,
But ioy'd that country fhepherd ought could
find
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