at loss.
How patiently hot irons they did take,
In crooked trannels[215] crispy curls to make.
I cried, "'Tis sin, 'tis sin, these hairs to burn,
They well become thee, then to spare them turn.
Far off be force, no fire to them may reach,
Thy very hairs will the hot bodkin teach." 30
Lost are the goodly locks, which from their crown,
Phoebus and Bacchus wished were hanging down.
Such were they as Diana[216] painted stands,
All naked holding in her wave-moist hands.
Why dost thy ill-kembed tresses' loss lament?
Why in thy glass dost look, being discontent?
Be not to see with wonted eyes inclined;
To please thyself, thyself put out of mind.
No charmed herbs of any harlot scathed thee,
No faithless witch in Thessal waters bathed thee. 40
No sickness harmed thee (far be that away!),
No envious tongue wrought thy thick locks' decay.
By thine own hand and fault thy hurt doth grow,
Thou mad'st thy head with compound poison flow.
Now Germany shall captive hair-tires send thee,
And vanquished people curious dressings lend thee.
Which some admiring, O thou oft wilt blush!
And say, "He likes me for my borrowed bush.
Praising for me some unknown Guelder[217] dame,
But I remember when it was my fame." 50
Alas she almost weeps, and her white cheeks,
Dyed red with shame to hide from shame she seeks.
She holds, and views her old locks in her lap;
Ay me! rare gifts unworthy such a hap!
Cheer up thyself, thy loss thou may'st repair,
And be hereafter seen with native hair.

FOOTNOTES:

[210] Not in Isham copy or ed. A.

[211] The original has "colorati Seres."

[212] So ed. B.--Ed. C "And."

[213] "Temere."

[214] Old eds. "They."

[215] Cunningham and the editor of 1826 may be right in reading
"trammels" (_i.e._ ringlets). "Trannel" was the name for a bodkin. (The
original has "Ut fieret torto flexilis orbe sinus.")

[216] "Nuda _Dione_."

[217] "Nescio quam pro me laudat nunc iste _Sygambram_."

ELEGIA XV.

Ad invidos, quod fama poetarum sit perennis.

Envy, why carp'st thou my time's spent so ill?
And term'st[218] my works fruits of an idle quill?
Or that unlike the line from whence I sprung[219]
War's dusty honours are refused being young?
Nor that I study not the brawling laws,
Nor se