These mighty peers placed in the gilded barge, Proud with the burden of so brave a charge, With painted oars the youths begin to sweep Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep; Which soon becomes the seat of sudden war Between the wind and tide that fiercely jar. As when a sort of lusty shepherds try Their force at football, care of victory Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast, That their encounters seem too rough for jest; They ply their feet, and still the restless ball, Tossed to and fro, is urged by them all: So fares the doubtful barge 'twixt tide and winds, And like effect of their contention finds. (WALLER: _Of the Danger his Majesty [being Prince] escaped in the Road at St. Andrews._ 1623?) Such is the mould that the blest tenant feeds On precious fruits, and pays his rent in weeds; With candied plantains, and the juicy pine, On choicest melons and sweet grapes they dine, And with potatoes fat their wanton swine; Nature these cates with such a lavish hand Pours out among them, that our coarser land Tastes of that bounty, and does cloth return, Which not for warmth but ornament is worn; For the kind spring, which but salutes us here, Inhabits there and courts them all the year; Ripe fruits and blossoms on the same trees live, At once they promise what at once they give; So sweet the air, so moderate the clime, None sickly lives, or dies before his time.... O how I long my careless limbs to lay Under the plantain's shade, and all the day With amorous airs my fancy entertain, Invoke the Muses, and improve my vein! (WALLER: _The Battle of the Summer Islands_, canto i. 1638.)