Him heerewith shee forc'd

To come sit downe by her;

Shee his necke embracde,

gazing in his face:

Hee, like one transform'd,

stir'd no looke to eye her.

Euery hearbe did wooe him, growing in that place, Each bird with a dittie,

Prayed him for pitty,

In behalfe of beauties queene;

Waters' gentle murmour

Craved him to loue her,

Yet no liking could be seene.

Boy, shee say'd, looke on mee,

Still I gaze vpon thee;

Speake, I pray thee, my delight:

Coldly hee reply'd,

And in breefe deny'd

To bestow on her a sight,

I am now too young

to be wonne by beauty;

Tender are my yeeres;

I am yet a bud:

Fayre thou art, shee said;

then it is thy dutie,

Wert thou but a blossome,

to effect my good.

Every beauteous flower

Boasteth in my power,

Byrds and beasts my lawes effect;

Mirrha, thy faire mother,

Most of any other,

Did my louely hests respect.

Be with me delighted,

Thou shalt be requited,

Every Nimph on thee shall tend;

All the Gods shall loue thee,

Man shall not reproue thee,

Loue himselfe shall be thy freend.

Wend thee from mee, Venus,

I am not disposed;

Thou wringest mee too hard; pre-thee, let me goe;

Fie! what a paine it is

thus to be enclosed?

If loue begin with labour,
it will end in woe.
Kisse mee, I will leaue ;-
Heere, a kisse receiue ;-

A short kiss I doe it find:

Wilt thou leaue me so?
Yet thou shalt not goe;

Breathe once more thy balmie wind:

It smelleth of the Mirh-tree,

That to the world did bring thee;

Neuer was perfume so sweet.

When she had thus spoken,

She gave him a token,

And theyr naked bosoms meet.

Now, hee sayd, let's goe;

harke, the hounds are crying;

Grieslie boare is

vp,

huntsmen follow fast,

At the name of boare

Venus seemed dying:

Deadly-coloured pale

roses ouer cast.

Speake, sayd shee, no more

Of following the boare,

Thou unfit for such a chase:

Course the fearfull hare,

Venson doe not spare,

If thou wilt yeeld Venus grace.

Shun the boare, I pray thee,

Else I still will stay thee;

Herein he vow'd to please her minde :

Then her armes enlarged,

Loth shee him discharged;

Forth he went as swift as winde.

Thetis Phoebus' steedes

in the west retained;

Hunting sport was past,

Loue her loue did seeke:

Sight of him too soone

gentle Queene shee gained;

On the ground he lay,

blood had left his cheeke:

For an orped swine

Smit him in the groyne;

Deadly wound his death did bring :
Which when Venus found,

Shee fell in a swound,

And, awakte, her hands did wring.

Nimphs and Satires skipping

Came together tripping;

Eccho euery cry exprest:

Venus by her power

Turn'd him to a flower,

Which she weareth in her creast *.

H. C.

* in her CREAST.] I suspect this is a misprint, and that the poet wrote breast,

The word orped, which occurs in this stanza, and of which I know not the derivation, is used by Golding, (as an anonymous writer has observed,) in his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, 1587, b. viii.:

"Even maugre dame Diana's hart, confound this orped swine."

Again, in the thirteenth book:

"the orped giant Polypheme."

Terribilem Polyphemum.

Again, in A Herrings Tale: containing a poetical fiction of di- · verse matters worthy the reading, quarto, 1598:

66

Straight as two launces coucht by orped knights at rest.” Gower uses the word in like manner in his Confessio Amantis, 1554, b. i. fol. 22:

"That thei woll gette of their accord

"Some orped knight to sle this lord."

So also Gawin Douglas in his translation of Virgil, Æn. x. :
"And how orpit and proudly ruschis he

"Amid the Trojanis by favour of Mars, quod sche."
-Turnusque feratur

Per medios insignis equo tumidusque secundo

Marte ruat.

Orped seems to have signified, proud, swelling; and to have included largeness of size, as well as haughtiness and fierceness of demeanour. Skinner idly enough conjectures that it is derived from oripeau, Fr. leaf-brass, or tinsel; in consequence of which in Cole's and Kersey's Dictionaries the word has been absurdly interpreted gilded. MALONE.