Paradise, A Paradise in Greeke, signifieth a garden of pleasure, or place of delights. So hee compared the soyle, wherein Hobbinoll made abode, to that earthly Paradise, in Scripture called Eden, wherein Adam in his first creation was placed; which of the most learned is thought to be in Mesopotamia, the most fertile pleasant countrey in the world (as may appeare by Diodorus Syculus description of it, in the historie of Alexanders conquest thereof,) lying betweene the two famous Rivers (which are said in Scripture to flow out of Paradise) Tygris and Euphrates, whereof it is so denominate.

Forsake the soyle. This is no Poeticall fiction, but unfeynedly spoken of the Poet selfe, who for speciall occasion of private affaires (as I have beene partly of himselfe informed) and for his more preferment, remooved out of the North partes, [and] came into the South, as Hobbinoll indeed advised him privately.

Those hilles, that is in the North countrey where he dwelt.

Nis, is not.

The dales. The South parts, where he now abideth, which though they be full of hilles and woods (for Kent is very hilly and woody, and therefore so called, for Kantsh in the Saxons toong signifieth woody,) yet in respect of the North parts they be called dales. For indeed the North is counted the higher countrey.

Night Ravens, &c. By such hatefull byrdes, hee meaneth all misfortunes (whereof they be tokens) flying every where.

Friendly Faeries. The opinion of Faeries and Elfes is very olde, and yet sticketh very religiously in the mindes of some. But to roote that rancke opinion of Elfes out of mens harts, the truth is, that there be no such thing, nor yet the shadowes of the things, but onely by a sort of balde Fryers and knavish shavelings so faigned, which as in other things, so in that, sought to nousel the common people in ignorance, least, being once acquainted with the truth of things, they would in time smell out the untruth of their packed pelfe and Masse-peny religion. But the soothe is, that when all Italy was distract into the Factions of the Guelfes and the Gibelyns, being two famous houses in Florence, the name began through their great mischiefes and many outrages, to be so odious or rather dreadfull in the peoples eares, that, if their children at any time were froward and wanton, they would say to them that the Guelfe or the Gibelyne came. Which words now from them (as many things else) be come into our usage, and, for Guelfes and Gibelynes, we say Elfes and Goblyns. No otherwise then the Frenchmen used to say of that valiant captaine, the veric scourge of Fraunce, the Lorde Thalbot, afterward Earle of Shrewsbury, whose noblenesse bred

such a terror in the harts of the French, that oft times even great armies were defaicted and put to flight at the onely hearing of his name. In so much that the French women, to affray their children, would tell them that the Talbot commeth.

Many Graces, though there be indeed but three Graces or Charites (as afore is said) or at the utmost but foure, yet, in respect of many gifts of bountie, there may be said more. And so Musæus saith, that in Heroes either eye there sat a hundred Graces. And, by that authoritie, this same Poet in his Pageants saith " An hundred Graces on her eyelid sat," &c.

Heydeguies, A countrey daunce or round. The conceipt is, that the Graces and Nymphs do daunce unto the Muses and Pan his musicke all night by Moonelight. To signifie the pleasantnesse of the soyle.

Peeres. Equals and fellow shepheards.

Queene-apples unripe, imitating Virgils verse:

Midas for their iudge. Who, being corrupted with partiall affection, gave the victory to Pan undeserved: for which Phoebus set a paire of Asses eares upon his head, &c.

Tityrus That by Tityrus is meant Chaucer, hath bene already sufficiently sayd, and by this more plaine appeareth, that he saith, he told mery tales. Such as be his Canterbury tales, whom he calleth the God of the Poets for his excellencie, so as Tully calleth Lentulus, Deum vitæ suæ, s. the God of his life.

To make, to versifie.

O why, A prety Epanorthosis or correction. Discurtesie: hee meaneth the falsenesse of his lover Rosalinde, who forsaking him had chosen another.

Point of worthie wite, the pricke of deserved blame. Menalcas, the name of a shepheard in Virgil: but heere is meant a person unknowne and secret, against whom he often bitterly inveyeth.

Underfong, undermine and deceive by false suggestion.

EMBLEME.

You remember, that [in] the first Aeglogue Colins Poesie was Anchora speme: for that as then there was hope of favour to be found in time. But now being cleane forlorne and reiected of her, as whose hope, that was, is cleane extinguished and turned into despaire, he renounceth all comfort and hope of goodnesse to come; which is all the meaning of this Embleme.

But, if thee lust to holden chat

With seely shepheardes swayne,
Come downe, and learne the little what,
That Thomalin can sayne.

Mor. Syker thous but a leasie loord,
And rekes much of thy swinck,

That with fond termes, and witlesse wordes,
To blere mine eyes doest thinke.

In evill houre thou hentst in hond

Thus holy hilles to blame,

For sacred unto saints they stond,
And of them han their name.

St. Michels Mount who does not know,
That wardes the Westerne coast?

And of St. Brigets Bowre I trow

All Kent can rightly boast:

And they that con of Muses skill

Sayne most-what, that they dwell

Beside a learned well.

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(As gote-heardes wont) upon a hill,

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With dogges of noysome breath,

Whose balefull barking bringes in hast
Pyne, plagues, and dreerie death.

Against his cruell scortching heate,
Where thou hast coverture,

The wastefull hilles unto his threate
Is a plaine overture:

Mor. Beside, as holy Fathers sayne, There is a holy place

Where Titan riseth from the mayne

To renne his dayly race,

Upon whose toppe the starres bene stayed, And all the skie doth leane;

There is the cave where Phoebe layed

The shepheard long to dreame.

Whylome there used shepheardes all
To feede theyr flockes at will,
Till by his folly one did fall,
That all the rest did spill.

And, sithens shepheards bene foresayd
From places of delight,

For-thy I weene thou be afrayd

To clime this hillës height.

Of Synah can I tell thee more,

And of our Ladyes Bowre;

But little needes to strow my store,
Suffice this hill of our.

Here han the holy Faunes recourse,
And Sylvanes haunten rathe;
Here has the salt Medway his sourse,
Wherein the Nymphes doe bathe;
The salt Medway, that trickling stremes
Adowne the dales of Kent,

Till with his elder brother Themes
His brackish waves be meynt.
Here growes melampode every where,
And teribinth, good for gotes;
The one my madding kids to smere,
The next to heale their throates.
Hereto, the hilles bene nigher heaven,
And thence the passage ethe;

Now with a kidd, now with a sheepe,

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The altars hallowing.

So lowted he unto his Lord,

Such favour couth he finde,

That never sithens was abhord

The simple shepheards kinde.

And such, I weene, the brethren were
That came from Canaän,

The brethren Twelve, that kept yfere
The flockes of mightie Pan.

But nothing such thilke shepheard was
Whom Ida hill did beare,

That left his flocke to fetche a lasse,
Whose love he bought too deare.
For he was proud, that ill was payd,
(No such mought shepheards be!)
And with lewd lust was overlaid ;

Tway things doen ill agree.

But shepheard mought be meek and mild, Well-eyed, as Argus was,

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As well can proove the piercing levin,

That seldcme falles beneath.

With fleshly follies undefiled,

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And stoute as steede of brasse.

They han the fleece, and eke the flesh,
(O seely sheepe the while!)
The corne is theyrs, let other thresh,
Their handes they may not file.
They han great store and thriftie stockes,
Great friendes and feeble foes;
What neede hem caren for their flockes,
Theyr boyes can looke to those.
These wisards welter in wealths waves,
Pampred in pleasures deepe;
That han fat kernes, and leany knaves,
Their fasting flockes to keepe.
Sike mister men bene all misgone,
They heapen hilles of wrath;

Sike syrlie shepheards han we none,

They keepen all the path.

Mor. Here is a great deale of good matter

Lost for lacke of telling;

Now sicker I see thou dost but clatter,

Harme may come of melling.

Thou meddlest more, then shall have thank,

To witen shepheards wealth;

When folke bene fat, and riches ranck,

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through which the sunne maketh his course in the moneth of July.

Lion, this is poetically spoken, as if the Sun did hunt a Lion with one dog. The meaning whereof is, that in Iuly the Sun is in Leo. At which time the Dogge star, which is called Syrius, or Canicula reigneth, with immoderate heate causing pestilence, drought, and many diseases.

Overture, an open place: the word is borrowed of the French, and used in good writers.

To holden chat, to talke and prate.

A loord, was wont among the old Britons to signifie a Lord. And therefore the Danes, that long time usurped their tyrannie here in Britaine, were called, for more dread then dignitie, Lurdanes, s. Lord danes. At which time it is said, that the insolencie and pride of that nation was so outragious in this realm, that if it fortuned a Briton to be going over a bridge, and saw the Dane set foote upon the same, he must returne backe, till the Dane were cleane over, or else abide the price of his displeasure, which was no lesse then present death. But being afterward expelled, the name of Lurdane became so odious unto the people, whom they had long oppressed, that even at this day they use, for more reproch, to call the quartane Ague the fever lurdane.

Recks much of thy swincke, countes much of thy paines. Weetelesse, not understoode.

S. Michaels Mount, is a promontorie in the West part of England.

A hill, Parnassus aforesaid. Pan, Christ.

Dan, one tribe is put for the whole nation per Synecdochen.

Where Tytan, the Sunne. Which storie is to be read in Diodorus Syc. of the hill Ida, from whence, he saith, all night time is to be seene a mightie fire, as if the skie burned, which toward morning beginneth to gather a rounde forme, and thereof riseth the Sunne, whom the Poets call Tytan.

The shepheard, is Endymion, whom the Poets faigne to have been so beloved of Phoebe. s. the Moone, that he was by her kept asleepe in a cave by the space of thirtie yeares, for to enjoy his companie.

There, that is, in Paradice, where, through errour of the shepheards understanding, he saith, that all shepheards did use to feede their flockes, till one, (that is) Adam, by his folly and disobedience, made all the rest of his ofspring be debarred and shut out from thence.

Synah, a hill in Arabia, where God appeared.
Our Ladies bowre, a place of pleasure so called.

Faunes, or Sylvanes, be of Poets faigned to be gods of the wood.

Medway, the name of a river in Kent, which, running by Rochester, meeteth with Thames, whom he calleth his elder brother, both because hee is greater, and also falleth sooner into the sea.

Meint, mingled.

Melampode and Terebinth, be hearbs good to cure diseased Gotes, of the one speaketh Mantuan, and of the other Theocritus:

"Terminthou tragoon eikaton acremona."

Nigher heaven: note the shepheards simplenesse, which supposeth that from the hilles is nearer way to heaven.

Levin, lightning, which he taketh for an argument to prove the nighnesse to heaven, because the lightning doth commonly light on high mountains, according to the saying of the Poet:

"Feriuntque summos fulmina montes."

Lorrell, a losell.

A borrell, a plaine fellow.

Narre, nearer.

Hale, for hole.

Yede, go.

Frowye, mustie or mossie.

Of yore, long ago.

Forewent, gone afore.

The first of shepheards, was Abell the righteous, who (as

Scripture saieth) bent his mind to keeping of sheep, as did
his brother Caine to tilling the ground.
His keepe, his charge, s. his flocke.
Lowted, did honour and reverence.

The brethren, the twelve sonnes of Iacob, which were sheep-maisters, and lived onely thereupon.

Whom Ida, Paris, which being the sonne of Priamus king of Troy, for his mother Hecubas dreame, which, beeing with childe of him, dreamed she brought forth a firebrand, that set the tower of Ilium on fire, was cast forth on the hill Ida, where being fostred of shepheards, he eke in time became a shepheard, and lastly came to the knowledge of his parentage.

A lasse, Helena, the wife of Menelaus king of Lacede monia, was by Venus, for the golden apple to her given, then promised to Paris, who, thereupon with a sort of lustie Troyans, stole her out of Lacedemonia, and kept her in Troy, which was the cause of the ten yeares warre in Troy, and the most famous citie of all Asia lamentably sacked and defaced.

Argus, was of the Poets devised to be full of eyes, and therefore to him was committed the keeping of the transformed Cow, Io; so called, because that, in the print of the Cowes foote, there is figured an I in the middest of an 0.

His name, he meaneth Aaron: whose name, for more decorum, the shepheard saith he hath forgot, least his remembrance and skill in antiquities of holy writ should seeme to exceede the meanenesse of the person.

Not so true, for Aaron in the absence of Moses started aside, and committed idolatrie.

In purple, spoken of the Popes and Cardinals, which use such tyrannicall colours and pompous painting.

Belts, girdles.

Glitterand, glittering, a participle used sometime in Chaucer, but altogither in I. Gower

Their Pan, that is, the Pope, whom they count their God and greatest shepheard.

Palinode, a shepheard, of whose report he seemeth to speake all this.

Wisards, great learned heads.

Welter, wallow.

Kerne, a Churle or Farmer.

Sike mister men, such kinde of men.
Surly, stately and prowde.

Melling, medling.
Benempte, named.

Gree, for degree.

Algrind, the name of a shepheard aforesaid, whose mishap hee alludeth to the chaunce that happened to the Poet Eschylus, that was brained with a shell fish.

EMBLEME.

By this poesie Thomalin confirmeth that, which in his former speach by sundry reasons he had prooved; for being both himselfe sequestred from all ambition, and also abhorring it in others of his cote, he taketh occasion to praise the mean and lowly state, as that wherein is safetie without feare, and quiet without daunger; according to the saying of olde Philosophers, that vertue dwelleth in the midst, beeing environed with two contrarie vices; whereto Morrell replieth with continuance of the same Philosophers opinion, that albeit all bountie dwelleth in mediocritie, yet perfect felicitie dwelleth in supremacie. For they say, and most true it is, that happinesse is placed in the highest degree; so as if any thing bee higher or better, then that way ceaseth to be perfect happinesse. Much like to that which once I heard alledged in defence of humilitie, out of a great doctor. "Suorum Christus humillimus:" which saying a gentleman in the companie taking at the rebound, beate backe againe with a like saying of another doctor, as he sayde, "Suorum Deus altissimus."

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Or bene thy bagpypes renne farre out of frame?
Or hath the crampe thy ioynts benomd with ache?
Per. Ah! Willie, when the hart is ill assayde,
How can bagpype or ioynts be well apayde?
Wil. What the foule evill hath thee so bestad?
Whilom thou was peregall to the best,
And, wont to make the iolly shepheards glad,

With pyping and dauncing didst passe the rest. 10
Per. Ah! Willie, now I have learnd a new daunce;
My old musick mard by a new mischaunce.
Wil. Mischiefe mought to that mischaunce befall,
That so hath raft us of our meriment;
But rede me what paine doth thee so apall;

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Per. That shall I doe, though mochell worse I fared:

Never shall be sayde that Perigot was dared.
Wil. Then loe, Perigot, the pledge which I plight,
A mazer ywrought of the maple warre,
Wherein is enchased many a fayre sight

Of bears and tygers, that maken fiers warre;
And over them spred a goodly wilde vine,
Entrailed with a wanton yvy twine.

Thereby is a lambe in the wolves iawes;
But see, how fast renneth the shepheard swain
To save the innocent from the beastes pawes,

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And here with his sheepehooke hath him slain. Tell me, such a cup hast thou ever seene? Well mought it beseeme any harvest queene. Per. Thereto will I pawne yonder spotted lambe; Of all my flocke there nis sike another, For I brought him up without the dambe; But Colin Clout rafte me of his brother, That he purchast of me in the plaine field; Sore against my will was I forst to yeeld. Wil. Sicker, make like account of his brother; But who shall iudge the wager wonne or lost?

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