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city_n call_v country_n great_a 9,130 5 3.1873 3 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A58871 Amaryllis to Tityrus being the first heroick harangue of the excellent pen of Monsieur Scvdery, a witty and pleasant novel / Englished by a person of honour. Scudéry, Madeleine de, 1607-1701.; Person of honour. 1681 (1681) Wing S2143; ESTC R10262 26,814 97

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gently as you may easily see all the Fish which are at the bottom of these Waters which are as Clear as Peaceable some of 'em swim with precipitation to seek their Food others elevate themselves above the Water whilst some of the more fearful go to hide themselves at the least Noise that they understand But if from the bottom of this Chrystal you will consider the Surface you shall see it all covered with Swans you may admire Shepherd the whiteness of their Plumage the Gravity that they observe in swimming and the Noble Pride which appears in their Eyes Say they not that they despise all those who behold ' em and say they not also that they have hovers in which they have a design to please when they make Sayls of their Wings to divert 'em and that they swim not but to be admir'd Ah Sheph●●d how far are the Inhabitants of Rome from these innocent pleasures their tumultuous Life robs 'em of these Delicacies I am not yet at the end of the description of the Places where we inhabit I must therefore conduct you upon one of these high Mountains from whence you may discover at once Rivers Forrests Plains and Pasturage whereof the view is so boundless as if the Objects seemed to efface and shut up themselves and as if the Sky touch'd the farthest part of the Earth you descry But perhaps you love not a Prospect so extensive Suffer then that I bring you to some of our little Hills or into some of our Valleys to the end to make you avow that their Abundance ought to be preferred to the Sterility of the seven Hills of Rome These little Corners of the Earth are so much favoured of Heaven that they seem to be intirely covered from all the injuries of the Air The Wind seldom blows the Hail spoileth not the Grapes the Verdure is eternal there and I think what they cultivate not the Sun onely does it and makes 'em grow and ripen and does all that which Agriculture produces elsewhere with so much care and pain And not to forget that which shews the Liberality of our Shepherds and that which is the innocent Love of our Shepherdesses Can you put in comparison the Perfumes at Rome with the amiable Odor of our Violets Roses and Gilli-flowers there is at lest this difference that the one satisfies but the Sense of Smelling and the other besides their agreeable Odour please the Sight infinitely in effect can you see any thing finer than this prodigious Quantity of Flowers wherewith our Gardens are replenish'd be it for their Form for their lovely shining Colors or for that pleasing Variety that 's found amongst ' em Believe me Shepherd the Magnificent Tapistries of Rome shews you nothing so marvellous the Purple in them is not so fair as the incarnat of our Roses the Pearls of our Crowns Imperial are better than those of the Orient and the least of our Flowers is more worthy of Admiration than all that which Humane Art can invent After that I have made you see that which I call the chief Work of the Sun let me conduct you into the next Grove it is there where you shall find that which one can never find at Rome it is there where you shall understand what they never understood in any City it is there that you shall be constrain'd to avow that one must be insensible of Pleasure not to prefer the Countrey Life to that of the Court. See then I conjure you this great number of Shepherds and Shepherdesses who whilst the great Heat of the Day continues have conducted their Flocks to graze in the shadow under the thickest part of the Grove and admire the good meen of the one and the Beauty of the other though this is not yet the place where I ought to speak of it and hear onely that which they hear I would say this great quantity of Birds who by their different Notes make such an agreeable consort They say to those that understand their Songs that they dispute amongst themselves who shall carry the prize of the Victory But above the rest admire this knowing Master of Musick who by the least of his Songs surmounts all others the rest have a sense of their feebleness and they refrain by impuissance or by Respect and the Nightingales are those onely which come with equal Arms and assay to vanquish or to be overcome the one of the other Hear how admirably this here passes his Cadences how he falls his Voice and upholds it again and inforces it there and with what justness he animates his Songs He who answers him hath a particular Charm he is more languishing and more Amorous but as he is more feeble than the other I think he will be overcome Hear how they redouble their Efforts you may discern the Joy in him who find himself to have the Advantages and the Dolor and the Anger of it in him who feels his Forces diminish Behold Shepherd when he can no more his passages are no less just though they 're more frequent the sweetness of his Voice changeth it self and he sings no more but by Despair I discern through the traverse of these leaves his Feet can no more embrace the Branch that upholds him and I see him fall with despight and in falling he yet murmurs some languishing Notes and he had almost rather lose his life then his voice Behold Shepherd the only Ambition of our Campaigns and compare it I conjure you wi●h that at Rome Though the condition of this poor Bird be worthy of Pitty I avow 't is better that Ambition make Nightingals dye than that it should Reverse Thrones and Empires In summ Shepherd It is not only in the Spring the Summer and the Autumne that we have the advantage of the City the Winter as dreadful and as Horrid as it is deciph'red hath something amidst its Rigors of fine and magnificent in our Campaigns The Snow which in the City loses all its Whiteness as it falls and conceives it there only on the tops of the Houses It makes here Rich Plumes with with the Branches of our Cypress of our Cedars and of our Firs These Trees I say of whom the leaves fall not mingles their verdure with its Whiteness and makes without doubt such an agreeable object as the Summer cannot show us and when the Ice and sharpness of our Frosts have converted all our Rivers into Chrystal we see all our Trees Loaden with Diamonds But you 'll say to me perhaps that these Diamonds enrich us not and that the Sun takes from us what the Cold hath given us But Shepherds if these Diamonds enrich us not at least they do not make us Criminals we cannot suborn the fidelity of any person with 'em neither can they be employed to so many sordid uses as you know they do theirs at Rome There is yet one thing in the City which seemeth to me insupportable it is that they say