Tho saw I stonde in a valey,
Under the castle faste by
A house, that Domus Dedali
That Labyrinthus cleped is,
Nas made so wonderly I wis,
Ne half so queintly ywrought;
And evermo, as swift as thought,
This queinte house aboute went,
That never more stille it stent—
And eke this house hath of entrees
As fele of leaves as ben on trees
In summer, when they grene ben;
And in the roof yet men may sene
A thousand holes, and well mo
To letten well the soune out go;
And by day in every tide
Ben all the doores open wide,
And by night each one unshet;
No porter is there one to let
No manner tydings in to pace:
Ne never rest is in that place.—Pope.
[121] This thought is transferred thither out of the second book of Fame, where it takes up no less than one hundred and twenty verses, beginning thus:
Geffray, thou wottost well this, &c.—Pope.
[122] From Chaucer:
If that thou
Throw on water now a stone,
Well wost thou it will make anon
A little roundel as a circle,
Paraunture broad as a covercle,
And right anon thou shalt see wele,
That circle will cause another wheel,
And that the third, and so forth, brother,
Every circle causing other,
And multiplying evermoe,
Till that it so far ygo
That it at bothe brinkes be.
* * * * * * * * * *
And right thus every word, ywis,
That loud or privy y-spoken is,
Moveth first an air about,
And of this moving, out of doubt,
Another air anon is moved,
As I have of the water proved
That every circle causeth other.
A "covercle" was the cover or lid of a pot.
[123] Dryden's version of Ovid, Met. xii.:
Whence all things, though remote, are viewed around
And hither bring their undulating sound.—Wakefield.
Of werres, of peace, of marriages,
Of rest, of labour, of voyages,
Of abode, of dethe, of life,
Of love and hate, accord and strife,
Of loss, of lore, and of winnings,
Of hele, of sickness, and lessings,
Of divers transmutations
Of estates and eke of regions,
Of trust, of drede, of jealousy,
Of wit, of winning, of folly,
Of good, or bad governement,
Of fire, and of divers accident.—Pope.