[Page 116]

The DREAM: Or, CELADON's Complaint of MORPHEUS to the Assembly of the GODS.

1 TO thee, Supreme Almighty Iove,
2 And all the Parliament above,
3 My just Complaint I here address,
4 Griefs by complaining are made less;
5 Whilst those that silence trys to tame
6 Break soonest out into a Flame,
7 The spiteful Morpheus I accuse,
8 That in our Mid-Night Slumbers shews
9 False Scenes of Pleasure to molest
10 The tortur'd Lover from that Rest;
11 Which Heaven and Nature does prepare,
12 As Cordial for all Mortal Care.
13 Reliev'd by five succeeding years,
14 My sighs dispers'd, and dry my Tears,
[Page 117]
15 Which daily had my Eyes bedew'd,
16 Through Cynthia's strange Ingratitude:
17 As in my Bed I sleeping lay,
18 Tir'd with the Troubles of the Day;
19 Prepar'd that Ease to have enjoy'd,
20 Which restless Love had long deny'd,
21 The God from whom all slumbers fall,
22 Decre'd I should have none at all;
23 But with strange Visions wrack'd my Brain,
24 And Dreams ridiculous and vain:
25 Methought, with wings fix'd on to fly,
26 I strangely soar'd up to the Sky;
27 Where on a Lucid Cloud in State,
28 A Reverend hoary Elder sat,
29 Bearing a Shield, that stil'd him Fate;
30 His Head and Beard as white as when
31 The Winter Snow does Sheet the Plain;
32 His Brow austere, his Eye as bright
33 As Venus in a starry Night:
[Page 118]
34 And though some Furrows did appear,
35 Dig'd by the Cares of many a year,
36 The awful Wrinkles did presage
37 The effects of Wisdom more than Age:
38 On his left hand were lesser fates,
39 Employ'd in ordering Crowns and States,
40 And on huge Iron Wheels enjoin'd
41 To spin the Lives of Humankind;
42 And in his Lap large Bundles were,
43 The Dooms of many a forespent year,
44 Long scrowls containing wondrous things,
45 The downfals of unlucky Kings;
46 Swift turns of Nobles into slaves,
47 The Luck of Fools and Rise of Knaves;
48 And Man's inevitable hour
49 Of Good or Ill was in his power;
50 Thus whilst I trembling fix'd my Eye
51 Upon this more than Deity:
52 Methought I saw a numerous Crowd
53 All thronging up, and crying loud,
[Page 119]
54 For an immediate redress
55 Of all their several Grievances;
56 Emperial Heads with Crown and Ball,
57 Prelates in Robes Episcopal;
58 Traders, Physicians, Lawyers come,
59 All crowching to revoke their Doom,
60 The Muses also thither press'd,
61 And mine, methought, amongst the rest;
62 Nay, Beauty too her Interest try'd,
63 But was as sullenly deny'd;
64 In vain a Monarch here disclos'd
65 His Suit whom fate had late depos'd,
66 As vainly Priests large Sums prepare,
67 Aspiring to the Papal Chair;
68 Or sordid Clowns infest our Schools,
69 Born and predestin'd to be Fools,
70 Who dully Rich, would States-men grow,
71 By Nature moulded for the Plow;
72 As vainly too he seeks for Ore,
73 Dam'd to the Curse of being Poor.
[Page 120]
74 As Travellers in Forrests stray,
75 He ever takes the Erring way;
76 Thus Good or Evil destiny,
77 Waits on Fates absolute decree.
78 As to my Eyes these Wonders came,
79 Methought a burst of dreadful Flame
80 Crack'd the vast Cloud, and to my sight
81 Shew'd the dark Cave of endless Night,
82 Dismal as Chaos when all Nature lay
83 Confus'd in one huge Lump of Clay,
84 When Earth's prodigious bulk was seen
85 To quake with Air enclos'd within,
86 And muddy Floods foam'd with desire,
87 To combat their old Foe the Fire,
88 From its wide Mouth breath'd forth a Yell,
89 That soon confirm'd this place was Hell;
90 And by some flakes of blewish Flame,
91 That from a glowing Furnace came,
92 Unseen I could discern with ease,
93 'Twas th' Devils Court of Common Pleas,
[Page 121]
94 Where Souls in different Causes drudge,
95 And where Fate also sits as Judge:
96 Here Princes, Plowmen, Lords and Slaves,
97 Panders and States-men, Fools and Knaves,
98 Maids that ne'er bless'd with Men would be,
99 And Widows dam'd for having three
100 Made their Appeals — some Poets too,
101 But very fat and very few,
102 The noted dullest of the Crew,
103 Broil'd their next neighbors, these more curst,
104 Than all the Fiends were hated worst;
105 Who knowing Hell so hot a Place,
106 Came to augment it with their Grease;
107 Vast crowds of Pimps and Noseless Whores,
108 Rich Epicures and bloated Boors,
109 With Shoals of Baldpate Priests and Fryars,
110 Even clog'd the fiercest of the Fires.
111 Deaf with the Crys of those that mourn'd,
112 As I gaz'd on, the Court adjourn'd;
[Page 122]
113 Huge Gates of Jet methought were shut,
114 Nor knew I which way to get out,
115 Till from a secret dismal Room,
116 A hollow Voice methought did come,
117 That cry'd for forty Peter Pence,
118 I will (rash Mortal) lead thee hence:
119 Agreed, quoth I, with all my Soul,
120 Then straight one started from the hole,
121 That by his Robe and Stature Tall,
122 I knew to be a Cardinal,
123 That here on Earth lov'd Coin so well,
124 His Palm was itching for't in Hell;
125 But I no sooner had begun
126 To drive this hopeful bargain on,
127 When one of Fate's great Family
128 Came up and seiz'd me for a Spy,
129 Swearing I came by Fame's report
130 To learn the Practice of that Court;
131 Resolv'd to teach their Methods all,
132 To the Attournies of Guild-Hall:
[Page 123]
133 Fearing the Lash for taking Bribes,
134 My faithful Guide my Doom proscribes,
135 And like a through-pass'd Prelate swore,
136 He was attaching me before,
137 To bring me to the Throne of Fate,
138 Before whom I was hurried straight,
139 Through Regions vast of drery Night:
140 At last ascending up to Light,
141 The Judge his Reason did unlock,
142 And thus methought divinely spoke;
143 By Womans frailty, though undone,
144 Yet art thou still Apollo's Son,
145 Beauty may grieve thy Heart with pain,
146 But it shall never hurt thy Brain;
147 Thy Doom's revok'd, she not possess'd,
148 Go hence and slumber, and be bless'd.
149 As when some Wretch that chain'd does lye,
150 Expecting every hour to dye,
151 Hears the glad sound of a Reprieve,
152 And Royal Grant to let him live;
[Page 124]
153 His Heart that vast Content does cloy,
154 Faints at the blaze of sudden Joy,
155 Such Passion did my Soul possess,
156 Reflecting on approaching Bliss;
157 And now methought by Sacred Power
158 I was transported to a Bower,
159 Where the Indian Jessamine and Rose
160 Of Syria, lasting Sweets disclose,
161 Clear Rivolets that took their Vents
162 From flowry Mounts, made their descents,
163 And with small Pebbles troll'd along,
164 Making a pretty purling Song;
165 And thence in wild Meander's flow,
166 To bless the Verdant Meads below:
167 Tall Sons of Earth the leavy Trees,
168 All shook to make refreshing Breeze;
169 The lofty Pine, the Maple stronge,
170 The Laurel ever Green and Young;
171 The Oak, the Monarch of the Wood,
172 That had two hundred Winters stood.
[Page 125]
173 The fatal Ash, that wanting
* Alluding to an old erroneous Opinion of the Ancients, that the Ash not bearing her yearly Keys, as accustom'd, boded Revolutions of State, or the distress or death of some great Prince or Monarch.
Keys,
174 To Kingdoms bodes Calamities,
175 With th' Elm that high his Front doth raise,
176 Long flourish'd in that heavenly Place;
177 Nor did the mirthful Birds forbear
178 To keep their Evening Consort there;
179 The barb'rous Rape that had too long
180 Been Philomela's lonely Song;
181 The Thrush and Linnet skill'd in Arts,
182 Set to their Flutes, and sung in parts,
183 Whilst the wrong'd
† Porgne the Wife of Tereus, turn'd into a Swallow.
Swallow half the year.
184 Still hovers round their Heads to hear;
185 And the sad
‖ Itys her Son, turn'd into a Pheasant.
Pheasant takes no bliss
186 In his gay particolour'd dress;
187 As all my Cares here sleep did chase,
188 Who could have Cares in such a place?
189 To add to my excess of Joy,
190 This second Vision bless'd my Eye:
[Page 126]
191 Methought into this charming Grove,
192 Attir'd like the Queen of Love,
193 Cynthia approach'd, her Rosie Face
194 Might to the blushing Morn add grace,
195 And in her Shape and Mien was all
196 That Poets e'er could Beauty call,
197 Her fatal Eyes that us'd to kill,
198 Two kind repentant drops now fill,
199 Where Pitty in warm Bubbles shone,
200 To chear the Heart she had undone,
201 As Venus look'd when first she found
202 Her Darling bleeding on the Ground;
203 So Eloquent her Love appears
204 In the soft Language of her Tears.
205 Rapt with this vissionary Bliss,
206 This Scene of Perfect Happiness,
207 My throbbing Heart, and swelling Veins,
208 Scarcely the flood of Joy contains;
209 Whilst like Diana in her Chase,
210 Spreading her Arms with lovely Grace,
[Page 127]
211 Language at last a Passage broke,
212 And thus methought the Charmer spoke;
213 Oh too much wrong'd, for too much Love,
214 Thou blessing sent me from above;
215 Thou Treasure which my Erring Eyes,
216 Had never Light enough to prize;
217 Accept these Tears that hourly flow,
218 T' attone for my curs'd breach of Vow,
219 And take — Repenting Love as Fee,
220 For thy 'admir'd Fidelity.
221 Scarce she these Words had throughly spoke,
222 When sighing as my Heart had broke,
223 With eager Joy my Arms I stretch'd,
224 But nought, alas, but Air I cetch'd;
225 The God of sleep, as false as she,
226 Had with a Dream deluded me,
227 And caus'd fresh Pangs of lasting Pain,
228 And new clos'd Wounds to bleed again.
229 Revenge then all ye Powers above,
230 Revenge my Wrongs and injur'd Love,
[Page 128]
231 Let hated Morpheus Reign no more,
232 Nor o'er my peaceful sleeps have power,
233 My Soul henceforth let knowledg find,
234 Without one thought of Womankind;
235 Whose Heart's as wavering as the Wind;
236 Falshood may with Success pursue,
237 But none e'er prosper'd that was true.

Text

  • TEI/XML (XML - 738K / ZIP - 52K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
  • Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 8.3K / ZIP - 4.4K)

Facsimile (Source Edition)

(Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 1197 (1)].)

Images

PDF

All Images (PDF - 12M)

About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The DREAM: Or, CELADON's Complaint of MORPHEUS to the Assembly of the GODS.
Author: Thomas D'Urfey
Themes:
Genres:

Text view / Document view

Source edition

D'Urfey, Thomas, 1653-1723. New poems, consisting of satyrs, elegies, and odes together with a choice collection of the newest court songs set to musick by the best masters of the age / all written by Mr. D'Urfey. London: Printed for J. Bullord ... and A. Roper ..., 1690, pp. 116-128. [16],207,[1]p. (ESTC R17889) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 1197 (1)].)

Editorial principles

Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Thomas D'Urfey