SENDING FORTH HIS SECOND PART. "79

ANSWER.

Fright not thyself, my book; for such bugbears
Are nothing else but ground for groundless fears.
My Pilgrim’s book has travelled sea and land,
Yet could I never come to understand
That it was slighted, or turned out of door,

By any kingdom, were they rich or poor,

In France and Flanders, where men kill each other,
My Pilgrim is esteemed a friend, a. brother.

in Holland, too, ’tis said, as I am told,
My Pilgrim is, with some, worth more than gold.
Highianders and wild Irish can agree
My Pilgrim should familiar with them be.

’Tis in New England under such advance,
Receives there so much loving countenance,

As to be trimmed, new clothed, and decked with gems,
That it might show its features and its limbs,

Yet more; so comely doth my Pilgrim walk,

That of him thousands daily sing and talk.

If you draw nearer home, it will appear
My Piigrim knows no ground of shame or fear.
City and country will him entertain
With, “ Welcome Pilgrim!” yea, they can’t refrain
From smiling, if my Pilgrim be but by,

Or shows his head in any company.

Brave gallants do my Pilgrim hug and love ;
Esteem it much; yea, value it above
Things of a greater bulk; yea, with delight,

Say, “ My lark’s leg is better than a kite.”

Young ladies and young gentlewomen, too,
Do no small kindness to my Pilgrim show:
Their cabinets, their bosoms, and their hearts
My Pilgrim has; ’cause he to them imparts
His pretty riddles in such wholesome strains,
As yield them profit double to their pains
Of reading; yea, I think I may be bold
To say, some prize him far above their gold.

The very children that do walk the street,
If they do but my holy Pilgrim meet,

Salute him will; will wish him well, and say,
He is the only stripling of the day.

They that have never seen him, yet admire
What they have heard of him, and much desire
To have his company, and hear him tell
Those Pilgrim stories which he knows so well.

Yea, some who did not love him at the first,
But called him fool and noddy, say they must,