228 THE LOVE OF DOM DIEGO AND GYNEURA.[R. L[inche "O look, fair Love! as in the springing plant, one branch entwines and grows within another, So grow my griefs! which makes my heart to pant when thick-fetched sighs my vital breath doth smother. I, spoiled by Cruelty, am adjudged to death, Thus all alone to yield my living breath." "Thou hast the fairest face that e'er was seen! Dislodge thy hate, and thy disdain remove!" "But, all in vain, I speak unto the wind! then should they carry these my plaints unto her; Methinks, thou still shouldst bear a gentle mind, 'dear-loving ZEPHYR! pray, intreat, and woo her! Tell her, 'twere pity I should die alone Here in these woods, where none can hear me moan."" 66 But 'tis no matter, She is pitiless! like the Sicilian stone, that more 'tis beat Doth wax the harder. Stones are not so ruthless which smallest drops do pierce, though ne'er so great. If seas of tears would wear into her heart; I had, ere this, been easèd of my grief!" Thus, in these speeches, would DIEGO sit, R. L[inche? THE LOVE OF DOM DIEGO AND GYNEURA. 229 1596. Ne'er had the world a truer loving heart! the only man that e'er Hate's force did prove! Thy changeless love hath close enrolled thy name In steel-leaved Book of ever-living Fame. That wide-mouthed Time, which swallows good deserts, There, is a sacred place reserved for thee! So long lived poor DIEGO in this case, that, at the length, he waxed somewhat bold To search the wood, where he might safely chase (necessity, thy force cannot be told!) The fearful hare, the coney, and the kid: This young-yeared hermit, one day among the rest, as he was busily providing meat, Which was, with Nature's cunning, almost dresst Enraged upon a sudden; throws away "O cruel stars, stepmothers of my good! and you, you ruthless Fates! what mean you thus So greedily to thirst for my heart's blood? why joy you so, in ununiting us? Great Powers, infuse some pity in her heart, That thus hath, causeless, caused in me this smart!" 230 THE LOVE OF DOM DIEGO AND GYNEURA.[R. L[inche?! "I ne'er was wont to use such cookery, to drudge and toil when peasants take their pleasure; My noble birth scorns base-born slavery, this easeless life hath neither end nor measure. Thou great SoSIPOLIS, look upon my state! Be of these ne'er-heard griefs compassionate!" "I feel my long-thought life begin to melt "Sweet Love, behold those pale cheeks washed in woe! that so my tears may as a mirror be; Thine own fair shadow lively for to show and portrait forth thy angel-huèd beauty. NARCISSUS-like then, shouldst thou my face kiss, More honey sweet than VENUS gave ADONIS.” "Fear not, GYNEURA! fair NARCISSUS' hap, thy neck, thy breast, thy hand is lily-white, They all are lilies ta'en from FLORA's lap : ne'er be thou changed, unless to Love, from Spite! O that thou wert but then transformèd so, My summer's bliss would change my winter's woe." "If thou didst know, in what a loathsome place, thou wouldst exile this thy conceived hate. This hemisphere is dark; for Sol him shrouds ! My sighs do so conglomerate the clouds." R. Linche? THE LOVE OF DOM DIEGO AND GYNEURA. 231 1596. "I told thee, I, thou Cruel too severe ! when Hate first 'gan to rise, how I was guiltless! Thine ears were deaf, thou wouldst not hearken ere! thy heart was hardened, rocky, pitiless! O had mine eyes been blind, when first they viewed thee!" Would God I had been tongueless, when I sued thee!" "But thou wast then as ready to receive as I to crave. O great inconstancy! O'twas that fatal hour did so bereave my blissful soul of all tranquility! Thou then didst burn in love, now freeze in hate, "Look, as the crazen tops of armless trees, or latest downfall of some agèd buildings, Do tell thee of the North wind's boisterous furies, and how that EOLUS lately hath been stirring: So in my thin-cheeked face, thou well mayst see The furious storm of thy black cruelty!" "But thou inexorable art, ne'er to be won! which thinks for this, thou ever shalt be famed. "If thou didst know, how grievous 'tis to me to live in this unhabited abode, Where none, but Sorrow, keeps me company: I know thou wouldst thy heart's hate then unload! O, I did ne'er deserve this misery! For to deny the truth were heresy." 232 THE LOVE OF DOM DIEGO AND GYNEURA.[R. Linche?] "I tell thee, Love! when secret-tonguèd night My wrangling Woes within themselves do fight! they murder Hope! which makes their Captain wail; And wailing so, can never take his rest, That keeps such unruled soldiers in his breast." "So when the clear night's-faults-disclosing day In these laments, did Dom DIEGO live long time; till, at the last, by powerful Fate, A wandering huntsman, ignorance did drive unto the place whence he returned but late: Who viewing well the print of human steps, Directly followed them, and for joy leaps. At last, he came unto DIEGO's cave in which he saw a savage man, he thought, Who much did look like the Danubian slave, such deep-worn furrows in his face were wrought. DIEGO, much abashed at this sight, Came running forth, him in his arms to plight. For glad he was, God knows! to see a man, who, wretch! in two years' space, did ne'er see any. 1596. |