*

Gay-motley'd pinks, and sweet jonquils, the chofe, The violet blue that on the moss-bank grows:

All fweet to fenfe, the flaunting rofe was there :
The finish'd chaplet well adorn'd her hair.

Great Abbas chanc'd that fated morn to stray,
By love conducted from the chace away ;
Among the vocal vales he heard her fong,
And fought the vales and echoing groves among :
At length he found, and woo'd the rural maid;
She knew the monarch, and, with fear, obey'd.

"Be every youth like royal Abbas mov'd, And every Georgian maid like Abra lov'd! The royal lover bore her from the plain; Yet fill her crook and bleating flock remain: Oft, as fhe went, fhe backward turn'd her view, And bad that crook and bleating flock adieu. Fair happy maid! to other scenes remove, To richer scenes of golden power and love! Go, leave the fimple pipe, and fhepherd's ftrain: With love delight thee, and with Abbas reign. "Be every youth like royal Abbas mov'd, And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!" Yet, midft the blaze of courts, fhe fix'd her love On the cool fountain, or the fhady grove; Still, with the fhepherd's innocence, her mind To the fweet vale, and flowery mead, inclin'd: And, oft as fpring renew'd the plains with flowers, Breath'd his foft gales, and led the fragrant hours,

*That these flowers are found in very great abundance in fome of the provinces of Perfia; fee the Modern History of Mr. Salmon.

With fure return fhe fought the fylvan scene,
The breezy mountains, and the forefts green.
Her maids around her mov'd, a duteous band!
Each bore a crook, all-rural, in her hand:
Some fimple lay, of flocks and herds, they fung;
With joy the mountain and the forest rung.

"Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,
And every Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!"
And oft the royal lover left the care
And thorns of ftate, attendant on the fair;
Oft to the fhades and low-roof'd cots retir'd,
Or fought the vale where firft his heart was fir'd;
A ruffet mantle, like a fwain, he wore,
And thought of crowns and bufy courts no more.

"Be every youth like royal Abbas mov'd, And every Georgian maid like Abra lov'd !" Bleft was the life that royal Abbas led : Sweet was his love, and innocent his bed. What if in wealth the noble maid excel; The fimple fhepherd girl can love as well. Let those who rule on Perfia's jewell'd throne Be fam'd for love, and gentleft love alone; Or wreathe, like Abbas, full of fair renown, The lover's myrtle with the warrior's crown. O happy days! the maids around her fay; O hafte, profufe of bleflings, hafte away!

"Be ev'ry youth, like royal Abbas, mov'd; And every Georgian maid, like Abra, lov'd!”

N fair Circaffia, where, to love inclin❜d,

IN

Each fwain was blefs'd, for ev'ry maid was kind; At that ftill hour when awful midnight reigns, And none, but wretches, haunt the twilight plains; What time the moon had hung her lamp on high, And past, in radiance, thro' the cloudless sky; Sad o'er the dews two brother shepherds fled, Where wildering fear and defperate forrow led: Faft as they prefs'd their flight, behind them lay Wide ravag'd plains, and vallies ftole away. Along the mountain's bending fides they ran, Till faint and weak Secander thus began:

SECANDER.

O ftay thee, Agib, for my feet deny, No longer friendly to my life, to fly.

Friend

Friend of my heart, O turn thee, and furvey,
Trace our fad flight, thro' all its length of way!
And, first, review that long-extended plain,
And yon wide groves, already past with pain!
Yon ragged cliff, whofe dangerous path we try'd!
And, laft, this lofty-mountain's weary side!

A GIB.

Weak as thou art, yet, hapless, must thou know The toils of flight, or some severer woe!

Still as I hafte the Tartar fhouts behind,

And fhrieks and forrows load the faddening wind:
In rage of heart, with ruin in his hand,
He blafts our harvefts, and deforms our land.
Yon citron grove, whence first in fear we came,
Droops its fair honours to the conquering flame:
Far fly the fwains, like us, in deep despair,
And leave to ruffian bands their fleecy care.

SECANDER.

Unhappy land, whofe bleffings tempt the fword, In vain, unheard, thou call'ft thy Perfian lord! In vain thou court'ft him, helpless, to thine aid, To fhield the fhepherd, and protect the maid! Far off, in thoughtless indolence refign'd, Soft dreams of love and pleasure soothe his mind: 'Midft fair fultanas loft in idle joy;

No wars alarm him, and no fears annoy.

А с 1 в.

Yet thefe green hills, in fummer's fultry heat, Have lent the monarch, cft, a cool retreat. Sweet to the fight is Zabran's flowery plain, And once by maids and fhepherds lov'd in vain! No more the virgins fhall delight to rove By Sargis' banks, or Irwan's fhady grove ; On Tarkie's mountain catch the cooling gale, Or breathe the sweets of Aly's flowery vale: Fair fcenes! but, ah! no more' with peace poffeft, With ease alluring, and with plenty bleft. No more the fhepherds' whitening tents appear, Nor the kind products of a bounteous year; No more the date with fnowy blossoms crown'd But Ruin spreads her baleful fires around.

SECANDER.

In vain Circaffia boasts her spicy groves, For ever fam'd for pure and happy loves: In vain fhe boafts her faireft of the fair, 'Their eye's blue languish, and their golden hair! Those eyes in tears their fruitless grief must send ; Those hairs the Tartar's cruel hand fhall rend.

AGI B.

Ye Georgian fwains, that, piteous, learn from far Circaffia's ruin, and the waste of war;

Some weightier arms than crooks and staffs prepare,

To fhield your harvests, and defend your fair:
The Turk and Tartar like defigns pursue,

Fix'd to destroy, and stedfast to undo.