Between his cankered teeth a venomous toad,
That all the poison ran about his chaw;

But inwardly he chawéd his own maw

At neighbour's wealth, that made him ever sad,
For death it was, when any good he saw;

And wept, that cause of weeping none he had: But when he heard of harm he waxéd wondrous glad. 9. All in a kirtle of discoloured say

He clothed was, ypainted full of eyes;
And in his bosom secretly there lay
An hateful snake, the which his tail upties
In many folds, and mortal sting implies.
Still as he rode, he gnashed his teeth to see
Those heaps of gold with griple covetise;
And grudgéd at the great felicity
Of proud Lucifera, and his own company.
10. He hated all good works and virtuous deeds,
And him no less, that any like did use;

And, who with gracious bread the hungry feeds,
His alms for want of faith he doth accuse.
So every good to bad he doth abuse:
And eke the verse of famous poets' wit
He does backbite, and spiteful poison spues
From leprous mouth on all that ever writ:
Such one vile Envy was, that fifth in row did sit.
-Edmund Spenser (1552(?)—1598).

Flora, the goddess of flowers and spring, among the Romans.

Juno, the queen of the Roman gods, wife of Jupiter-here designated Jove. Usually the peacock is represented as standing by Juno's side, not yoked to her chariot.

Argus had a hundred eyes, some of which were always awake. His eyes were transplanted to the tail of the peacock.

six unequal beasts, i.e., unlike each other. The beasts were taught to obey the behests or commands of the six counsellors who

sat upon them, representing, along with Pride their queen, the seven deadly sins. The commands suited the characteristics of the several animals.

habit is a dress: amis or amice, a square linen cloth fastened round the neck and spread over the shoulders.

portesse, a small portable prayer-book: wain, waggon or carriage. pelf here means money. Originally it meant the scraps or shreds left by tailors and skinners, which of course were little accounted of. yplaced, placed: compare, to procure: thorough through: covetiɛe covetousness: eke, also or likewise: chaw=chew (jaw is the same word): say, silk: imply, to fold in or envelop: griple, grasping.

ANGELS.

1. And is there care in heaven?

And is there love

In heavenly spirits to these creatures base,

That may compassion of their evils move?

There is: else much more wretched were the case
Of men than beasts. But O! the exceeding grace
Of Highest God that loves his creatures so,
And all his works with mercy doth embrace,
That blessed Angels he sends to and fro,
To serve to wicked man, to serve his wicked foe.
2. How oft do they their silver bowers leave,

To come to succour us that succour want!
How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
The flitting skies, like flying Pursuivant,
Against foul fiends to aid us militant!
They for us fight, they watch and duly ward,
And their bright Squadrons round about us plant;
And all for love, and nothing for reward.

O! why should heavenly God to men have such regard?

-Edmund Spenser.

THE PLEASURE ARISING FROM VICISSITUDE.

1. Now the golden Morn aloft

Waves her dew-bespangled wing,

With vermeil cheek and whisper soft

She woos the tardy Spring:
Till April starts, and calls around
The sleeping fragrance from the ground,
And lightly o'er the living scene
Scatters his freshest, tenderest green.

But chief, the sky-lark warbles high
His trembling thrilling ecstasy;
And lessening from the dazzled sight,
Melts into air and liquid light.

3. Yesterday the sullen year

Saw the snowy whirlwind fly;
Mute was the music of the air,
The herd stood drooping by:
Their raptures now that wildly flow
No yesterday nor morrow know;
'Tis Man alone that joy descries
With forward and reverted eyes.

4. Smiles on past Misfortune's brow
Soft Reflection's hand can trace,
And o'er the cheek of Sorrow throw
A melancholy grace;

While Hope prolongs our happier hour,
Or deepest shades, that dimly lour
And blacken round our weary way,
Gilds with a gleam of distant day.

5. Still, where rosy Pleasure leads,
See a kindred Grief pursue;
Behind the steps that Misery treads
Approaching Comfort view:

The hues of bliss more brightly glow
Chastised by sabler tints of woe,
And blended form, with artful strife,
The strength and harmony of life.
6. See the wretch that long has tost
On the thorny bed of pain,
At length repair his vigour lost

And breathe and walk again:

The meanest floweret of the vale,
The simplest note that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies,

To him are opening Paradise.

-Thos. Gray (1716–1771).

BABYLON.

1. Whoever may have been the founder of Babylon, it was Nebuchadnezzar and Nitocris that made it one of the wonders of the world. Herodotus, "the Father of History," who appears to have seen with his own eyes some of its gigantic ruins, asserts that its walls were 300 feet high and 80 broad; while the compass of the city was little less than sixty miles.

2. The walls, "artificial mountains" rather, surrounded the city in the form of a square. They were built of bricks cemented by a glutinous slime or bitumen, which still issues in great abundance from the ground at some distance from the site formerly occupied by the city. This bitumen binds more firmly than lime, and soon becomes harder even than the bricks or stones which it unites. The walls, moreover, were defended on the outside by a vast moat or ditch lined with bricks that it might be capable of being filled with water.

3. In each of the four sides of the city were twenty-five gates of solid brass with brazen lintels and side-posts. From each of them a street passed in a straight line to the gate directly over against it on the opposite side. The whole number of streets was fifty, each fifteen miles long, whereof twenty-five went one way and twenty-five the other, crossing one another at right angles. Round the