'To thee, to thee, my heaved-up hands appeal, Not to seducing lust, thy rash relier: I sue for exiled majesty's repeal; 640 Let him return, and flattering thoughts retire: And wipe the dim mist from thy doting eyne, 'Have done,' quoth he: my uncontrolled tide 645 To their salt sovereign, with their fresh falls' haste 650 'Thou art,' quoth she, 'a sea, a sovereign king; Thy sea within a puddle's womb is hearsed, 655 'So shall these slaves be king, and thou their slave; 660 Thou loathed in their shame, they in thy pride: The lesser thing should not the greater hide; The cedar stoops not to the base shrub's foot, 663 'So let thy thoughts, low vassals to thy state' 'No more,' quoth he; 'by heaven, I will not hear thee: Yield to my love; if not, enforced hate, Instead of love's coy touch, shall rudely tear thee; 670 675 680 That done, despitefully I mean to bear thee Unto the base bed of some rascal groom, This said, he sets his foot upon the light, The wolf hath seized his prey, the poor lamb cries; For with the nightly linen that she wears O, that prone lust should stain so pure a bed! But she hath lost a dearer thing than life, 665. low shrubs] Hyphened in Q, Q2. 666. state-] Malone. state.Sewell. state, Q1Q2Q5Q6Q7. state. Q3 Q4 668. to] not Q7. not,] to Q7. 669. Instead] Q7. In steed Qi Q2 Q3Q4 In stead Q5Q6. 671. the] some Q3. 675. blind concealing] blind-con- 679. lips'] Malone. lips Qq. 684. prone] Q.QzQ4. proud Q3. foule Q5Q6Q7. foul Gildon. 688. lose] Q3Q7. loose The rest. 685 690 Pure Chastity is rifled of her store, And Lust, the thief, far poorer than before. 695 Look, as the full-fed hound or gorged hawk, His taste delicious, in digestion souring, Devours his will, that lived by foul devouring. 700 O, deeper sin than bottomless conceit Can comprehend in still imagination! 705 And then with lank and lean discolour'd cheek, With heavy eye, knit brow, and strengthless pace, Feeble Desire, all recreant, poor and meek, 710 Like to a bankrupt beggar wails his case: The flesh being proud, Desire doth fight with Grace, The guilty rebel for remission prays. So fares it with this faultful lord of Rome, 715 Who this accomplishment so hotly chased; For now against himself he sounds this doom, That through the length of times he stands disgraced: She says, her subjects with foul insurrection 725 Which in her prescience she controlled still, But her foresight could not forestall their will. Even in this thought through the dark night he stealeth, A captive victor that hath lost in gain; 730 Bearing away the wound that nothing healeth, The scar that will, despite of cure, remain; Leaving his spoil perplex'd in greater pain. She bears the load of lust he left behind, 735 He like a thievish dog creeps sadly thence; She, desperate, with her nails her flesh doth tear; He faintly flies, sweating with guilty fear; 740 She stays, exclaiming on the direful night; He runs, and chides his vanish'd, loathed delight. He thence departs a heavy convertite; She there remains a hopeless cast-away; He in his speed looks for the morning light; 745 She prays she never may behold the day, For day,' quoth she, 'night's 'scapes doth open lay, 'They think not but that every eye can sce The same disgrace which they themselves behold; 722. insurrection] resurrection Q7. 729. dark night] Hyphened in Q, 740. sweating] swearing Q7. 747. night's 'scapes] nights scapes 750 And therefore would they still in darkness be, 755 And bids it leap from thence, where it may find 760 Some purer chest to close so pure a mind. Frantic with grief thus breathes she forth her spite 'O comfort-killing Night, image of hell! Dim register and notary of shame! 765 Black stage for tragedies and murders fell! 770 'O hateful, vaporous and foggy Night! Since thou art guilty of my cureless crime, Muster thy mists to meet the eastern light, Make war against proportion'd course of time; 775 His wonted height, yet ere he go to bed, 'With rotten damps ravish the morning air; Let their exhaled unwholesome breaths make sick 780 Ere he arrive his weary noon-tide prick; And let thy misty vapours march so thick |