Or else I fear that I one day shall see Thee fall into some dangerous lethargy. 130 But come, fond braggart, crown thy brows with bay, Intrance thyself in thy sweet ecstasy; Come, manumit thy plumy pinion, And scour the sword of elvish champion; Or else vouchsafe to breathe in wax-bound quill, And deign our longing ears with music fill; Or let us see thee some such stanzas frame, That thou mayst raise thy vile inglorious name. Summon the Nymphs and Dryades to bring Some rare invention, whilst thou dost sing 140 So sweet that thou mayst shoulder from above The eagle from the stairs of friendly Jove,[398] And lead sad Pluto captive with thy song, Gracing thyself, that art obscured so long. Come, somewhat say (but hang me when 'tis done) Worthy of brass and hoary marble stone; Speak, ye attentive swains, that heard him never, Will not his pastorals[399] endure for ever? Speak, ye that never heard him ought but rail, Do not his poems bear a glorious sail? 150 Hath not he strongly justled from above The eagle from the stairs of friendly Jove? May be, may be; tut! 'tis his modesty; He could, if that he would: nay, would, if could, I see. Who cannot rail, and with a blasting breath Scorch even the whitest lilies of the earth? Who cannot stumble in a stuttering style, And shallow heads with seeming shades beguile? Cease, cease, at length to be malevolent To fairest blooms of virtues eminent; 160 Strive not to soil the freshest hues on earth With thy malicious and upbraiding breath. Envy, let pines of Ida rest alone, For they will grow spite of thy thunder-stone; Strive not to nibble in their swelling grain With toothless gums of thy detracting brain; Eat not thy dam, but laugh and sport with me At strangers' follies with a merry glee. Let's not malign our kin. Then, satirist, I do salute thee with an open fist.[400] 170 [388] The allusion in the following lines is to Hall's Satires, i. 8. See _Introduction_, vol. i.--Grillus was one of Ulysses' companions who were turned into swine. When the others rejoiced at resuming their human shape, Grillus preferred to remain a swine. [389] An allusion to Southwell's poems _Saint Peter's Complaint_ and _The Virgin Mary to Christ on the Cross_. [390] The allusion is to Sylvester's once famous translations of Du Bartas. [391] James in his _Poetical Exercises_ (1591) published a translation of Du Bartas' poem _The Furies_; but there seems also to be a reference to the metrical translation of the psalms (first published in 1631), on which James was known to be engaged. [392] Dash. [393] Often used for _sometime_. [394] In Hall's Satires, i. 5, the _Mirror of Magistrates_ is ridiculed.