358 Searce Tracts, Xc. 
That few could equal him, one night being 
late 
Sporting i’ th’ sea, and thinking then his 
' mate 
Had been before him, caught him by the 
hair 
To drag him to the shore, when one most 
fair 
Appeard to him, and softly gaz’d at him : her 
head 
Seem’d as in golden wires apparelled ; 
And Jo quite naked she’s before him found, 
~ Save that her modest hair doth clothe her 
round. 
Astonish’d much to see so rare a creature, 
‘Richly accomplish’d both in face and 
feature, 
He views her still, and is surpriz’d at last, 
And over her his upper garment cast, 
So closely brought her home, and then 
convey'd: 
Her to a private chamber, where she stay’d 
So jong with him, that he with her had 
won 
Such grace, she was deliver’d of a son 
Within some forty weeks. But all this 
while, 
Though she had lent him many a pleasant 
smile, 
She never spake, nor one word could he 
hear 
Proceed from her, which did to him appear 
Something prodigious ; and it being known 
How this fair sea-born Venus first was 
shown, 
A friend of his said, he was much misled 
To entertain a spectre in his bed. 
At which words, both affrighted and inrag’d 
To think how desperately he had ingag’d 
Both soul and body, at the nymph he breaks 
Into loud terms, yet still she nothing speaks. 
At this, more angry to have no reply, 
He takes his sword, and son, then standing 
b 
And ori unless she tell him whence she 
came, 
To sacrifice the infant’s tender frames 
After some pause, the Succubus replied : 
6¢ Thou only seek’st to know what I would 
hide. 
Never did husband to himself more wrong, 
“Than thou in this, to make me use my 
tongue.” 
After which words she vanish’d, and no 
*" 4) More 
Was thenceforthseen. Thechild, threaten’d 
before, Be 
Some few years after, swimming in the 
place 
Where first the father saw the mother’s 
face, 
[May 1, 
Was from his fellows snatch'd away, and 
drownd 
By the same spirit, his body no where found. 
The ninth book is entitled Gabriel, 
or the Angel ; and professes to tell 
Of Robin Goodfellow, and of fairies, 
With many other strange vagaries 
Done by hobgoblins. 
It will be perceived from the foregoing 
Specimens, that the pauses are, as in 
blank verse, studiously remote from the 
end of the line; that the versification 
is natural but vulgar, easy but insipid, 
fluent but diffuse; and that it is not 
as a mine of diction, but only of fable, 
that this poem can be consulted with 
advantage by future writers. The notes, 
on the contrary, contain much curious 
information, marvellous anecdotes from 
forgotten writers, and moral common- 
places robed in that solemn antique 
garb which secures to usual truths a 
more than usual attention. The firmness 
of the author’s faith, will, in these days 
of scepticism, hardly be imagined with- 
out quoting his own words: book iv, 
p. 219. 
“‘T began the former tractate with the 
hierarchy of angels, their three classes, 
or ternions, their order and concatenae 
tion, in which I have proceeded with that 
plainness, that I hope they need no fur- 
ther demonstration. As also of the opi- 
nion of the Sadducees and others, who 
will allow no spirits or angels at all, 
their weak and unmomentary tenets 
being with much facility removed. 
Angels. were the first creatures God 
made, created pure as the light, ordained 
with the light to serve God, who is the 
lord of light. ‘They have charge te con- 
duct us, wisdom to instruct us, and grace 
to preserve us. They are the saints’ 
tutors, heaven’s heralds, and the body’s 
aud soul’s guardians. Furthermore, as 
Origen saith, every one’s angel that hath 
guided him in this life, shall at the last 
day produce and bring his charge forth, 
whom he hath governed. They, at ail 
times, and in all places, behold the ma~ 
jesty of the heavenly Father. And, - 
according to saint Augustin, they were 
created immortal, beautiful, innocent, 
good, free, and subtile, thus resembling 
afar off the essence of God himself,” 
Extracts 
