Page:Hesperides Vol 2.djvu/338

326 The Elves prepare to quench his thirst,

In pure seed pearl of infant dew

Brought and sweetened with a blue

And pregnant violet; which done,

His killing eyes begin to run

Quite o'er the table, where he spies

The horns of watered butterflies,

Of which he eats, but with a little

Neat cool allay of cuckoo's spittle.

Next this the red-cap worm that's shut

Within the concave of a nut.

Moles' eyes he tastes, then adders' ears;

To these for sauce the slain stags' tears,

A bloated earwig, and the pith

Of sugared rush he glads him with.

Then he takes a little moth,

Late fatted in a scarlet cloth,

A spinner's ham, the beards of mice,

Nits carbonadoed, a device

Before unknown; the blood of fleas,

Which gave his Elveship's stomach ease.

The unctuous dew-laps of a snail,

The broke heart of a nightingale

O'ercome in music, with the sag

And well-bestrutted bee's sweet bag.

Conserves of atoms, and the mites,

The silk-worm's sperm, and the delights

Of all that ever yet hath blest

Fairy-land: so ends his feast."

On the next page is printed: "Orpheus. Thrice excelling, for the finishment of this Feast, thou must music it so that the Deities may descend to grace it."