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Here shall I try the sweet Alexis' strain,
That call'd the listening Dryads to the plain?
Thames heard the numbers as he flow'd along 1,
And bade his willows learn the moving song.

LYCIDAS.

So may kind rains their vital moisture yield, And swell the future harvest of the field. Begin; this charge the dying Daphne gave, And said, "Ye shepherds, sing around my grave ! Sing, while beside the shaded tomb I mourn, And with fresh bays her rural shrine adorn.

THYRSIS.

Ye gentle Muses, leave your crystal spring,
Let nymphs and sylvans cypress garlands bring;
Ye weeping Loves, the stream with myrtles hide,
And break your bows, as when Adonis died;
And with your golden darts, now useless grown,
Inscribe a verse on this relenting stone i
"Let nature change, let heaven and earth deplore,
"Fair Daphne's dead, and love is now no more!"
'Tis done, and nature's various charms decay,
See gloomy clouds obscure the cheerful day!
Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear,
Their faded honours scatter'd on her bier.
See, where on earth the flowery glories lie,
With her they flourish'd, and with her they die.
Ah what avail the beauties nature wore ?
Fair Daphne's dead, and beauty is no more!
For her the flocks refuse their verdant food,
The thirsty heifers shun the gliding flood,
The silver swans her hapless fate bemoan,
In notes more sad than when they sing their own;
In hollow caves sweet Echo silent lies,
Silent, or only to her name replies;

Her name with pleasure once she taught the shore,
Now Daphne's dead, and pleasure is no more!
No grateful dews descend from evening skies,
Nor morning odours from the flowers arise;
No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field,
Nor fragrant herbs their native incense yield.

i

h "Audiit Eurotas, jussitque ediscere lauros."-VIRG. "Inducite fontibus umbras

Et tumulum facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen."

The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death,
Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath;
The industrious bees neglect their golden store!
Fair Daphne's dead, and sweetness is no more!

No more the mounting larks, while Daphne sings,
Shall, listening in mid-air, suspend their wings;
No more the birds shall imitate her lays,

Or, hush'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays:
No more the streams their murmurs shall forbear,
A sweeter music than their own to hear;
But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal shore,
Fair Daphne's dead, and music is no more!
Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze,
And told in sighs to all the trembling trees;
The trembling trees, in every plain and wood,
Her fate remurmur to the silver flood;
The silver flood, so lately calm, appears

Swell'd with new passion, and o'erflows with tears;
The winds, and trees, and floods, her death deplore,
Daphne, our grief! our glory now no more!

But see! where Daphne, wondering, mounts on high
Above the clouds, above the starry sky!
Eternal beauties grace the shining scene,
Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green!
There, while you rest in amaranthine bowers,
Or from those meads select unfading flowers,
Behold us kindly, who your name implore,
Daphne, our goddess, and our grief no more!

LYCIDAS.

How all things listen, while thy muse complains! Such silence waits on Philomela's strains, In some still evening, when the whispering breeze Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees. To thee, bright goddess, oft a lamb shall bleed *, If teeming ewes increase my fleecy breed.

While plants their shade, or flowers their odours give, Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise shall live!

THYRSIS.

But see, Orion sheds unwholesome dews;

j

k

"Miratur limen Olympi,

Sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera Daphnis."-VIRG.

"Illius aram

Sæpe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus."-VIRG.

m

Arise! the pines a noxious shade diffuse1;
Sharp Boreas blows, and nature feels decay,
Time conquers all, and we must Time obey
Adieu, ye vales, ye mountains, streams, and groves,
Adieu, ye shepherds' rural lays and loves;
Adieu, my flocks; farewell, ye sylvan crew
Daphne, farewell; and all the world adieu"!

MESSIAH,

A SACRED ECLOGUE IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S POLLIO.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In reading several passages of the prophet Isaiah, which foretell the coming of Christ and the felicities attending it, I could not but observe a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts, and those in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not seem surprising, when we reflect, that the eclogue was taken from a Sibylline prophecy on the same subject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line by line, but selected such ideas as best agreed with the nature of pastoral poetry, and disposed them in that manner which served most to beautify his piece. I have endeavoured the same in this imitation of him, though without admitting any thing of my own; since it was written with this particular view, that the reader, by comparing the several thoughts, might see how far the images and descriptions of the Prophet are superior to those of the Poet. But as I fear I have prejudiced them by my management, I shall subjoin the passages of Isaiah, and those of Virgil, under the same disadvantage of a literal translation.

1

YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:

To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus and the Aonian maids,
Delight no more-O Thou my voice inspire
Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire!

"Solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra,

Juniperi gravis umbra."-VIRG.

m

"Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori."

Vid. etiam SANNAZARII Ecl. et SPENSER'S Calendar. "These four last lines allude to the several subjects of the four Pastorals, and to the several scenes of them, particularised before in each.

Rapt into future times, the bard begun :
A Virgin shall conceive °, a Virgin bear a Son!
From Jesse's P root behold a branch arise,

Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies :
The ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic Dove.
Ye heavens from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower!
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail;
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;

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S

Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,

And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn!
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring:

• "A Virgin shall conceive.-All crimes shall cease," &c.
"Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna;
Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto-
Te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri,
Irrita perpetuâ solvent formidine terras-
Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem."
VIRG. Ecl. iv. ver. 6.

"Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is sent down from high heaven. By means of thee, whatever reliques of our crimes remain shall be wiped away, and free the world from perpetual fears. He shall govern the earth in peace, with the virtues of his father."

"Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son."-Isaiah, ch. vii. ver. 14. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; the Prince of Peace of the increase of his government, and of his peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to establish it, with judgment, and with justice, for ever and ever.”Ch. ix. ver. 6, 7.

P Isa. ch. xi. ver. 1.
Ch. xxv. ver. 4.

9 Ch. xlv. ver. 8.
Ch. ix. ver. 7.

t "At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu,
Errantes hederas passim cum baccare tellus,
Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho-
Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores."

VIRG. Ecl. iv. ver. 18.

"For thee, O child, shall the earth, without being tilled, produce her early offerings; winding ivy, mixed with Baccar, and Colocasia, with smiling Acanthus. Thy cradle shall pour forth pleasing flowers about thee."

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."-Isa. ch. xxxv. ver. 1. "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy sanctuary." -Ch. lx. ver. 13.

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See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance :
See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise,

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And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way "! a God, a God appears :
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rise;
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way;
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold !
Hear him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eyeball pour the day :
'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear:
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear,
From every face he wipes off every tear.
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound.
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air,
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects,

Isaiah, ch. xxxv. ver. 2.

"Aggredere ô magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores,
Cara deûm soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum-"
VIRG. Ecl. iv. ver. 46.

"Ipsi lætitiâ voces ad sidera jactant

Intonsi montes, ipsæ jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa sonant arbusta, Deus, Deus ille Menalca!"

Ecl. iv. ver. 62.

"Oh come and receive the mighty honours; the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, O great increase of Jove! The uncultivated mountains send shouts of joy to the stars, the very rocks sing in verse, the very shrubs cry out, A God, a God!"

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make straight in the desert a high way for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." Isaiah, ch. xl. ver. 3, 4. "Break forth into singing, ye mountains! O forest, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Israel."-Ch. iv. ver. 23. Ch. xliii. ver. 18-ch. xxxv. ver. 5, 6. Ch. xl. ver. 11.

W

Isaiah, ch. xl. ver. 3, 4.

y Isa. ch. xxv. ver. 8.

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