THE GARDEN cxv 



O'er all the vegetable World command ? 

 And the wild Giants of the Wood receive 

 What Law he's pleas'd to give ? 



He bids th' ill-natur'd Crab produce 



The gentle Apples Winy Juice ; 



The golden Fruit that worthy is 



Of Ga/etea's purple Kiss ; 



He does the savage Hawthorn teach 



To bear the Medlar and the Pear, 



He bids the rustick Plumb to rear 



A noble Trunk, and be a Peach, 



Ev'n Daphnes Coyness he does mock, 



And weds the Cherry to her stock, 



Though she refus'd Apollo's suit ; 



Ev'n she, that chast and Virgin-tree 



Now wonders at her self, to see 

 That she's a Mother made, and blushes in her fruit. 



ii. 



Methinks I see Great Diocletian walk 

 In the Salonian Gardens noble Shade, 

 Which by his own Imperial hands was made : 

 I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk 

 With the Ambassadors, who come in vain 



T' entice him to a Throne again : 

 If I, my Friends (said he) should to you show 

 All the Delights, which in these Gardens grow ; 

 'Tis likelier much, that you should with me stay, 

 Than 'tis that you should carry me away : 

 And trust me not, my Friends, if every day, 



I walk not here with more delight, 

 Than ever after the most happy fight, 

 In Triumph to the Capitol I rod, 

 To thank the gods, and to be thought my self almost a god. 



Abraham Cow ley. 



