Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear,
Their faded honours fcatter'd on her bier.
See, where on earth the flow'ry glories ly;
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 refufe their verdant food,
The thirsty heifers fhun the gliding flood,
The filver fwans her hapless fate bemoan,
In notes more fad than when they fing their own;
In hollow caves fweet Echo filent lies,
Silent, or only to her name replies;
Her name with pleasure once the taught the shore ;
Now Daphne's dead, and pleasure is no more!
No grateful dews defcend from ev'ning skies,
Nor morning odours from the flow'rs arise;
No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field,
Nor fragrant herbs their native incense yield.
The balmy zephyrs, filent fince her death,
Lament the ceafing of a sweeter breath;
Th' induftrious bees neglect their golden ftore!
Fair Daphne's dead, and sweetness is no more!
No more the mounting larks, while Daphne fings,
Shall, lift'ning in mid air, fufpend their wings;
No more the birds shall imitate her lays,
Or, hush'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays:
No more the ftreams their murmurs fhall forbear,
A fweeter mufic than their own to hear,
But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal shore,
Fair Daphne's dead, and mufic is no more!
Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze,
And told in fighs to all the trembling trees;
The trembling trees, in ev'ry plain and wood,
Her fate remurmur to the filver flood;
The filver flood, fo lately calm, appears
Swell'd with new pallion, and o'erflows with tears;
The winds, and trees, and floods, her death deplore,
Daphne, our grief, our glory now no more!
But fee! where Daphne wond'ring mounts on high
Above the clouds, above the ftarry sky!
E 3
Eternal beauties grace the fhining scene,
Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green!
There while you reft in amaranthine bow'rs,
Or from those meads select unfading flow'rs,
Behold us kindly, who your name implore,
Daphne, our goddefs, and our grief no more!
Lyc. How all things liften, while thy mufe com-
Such filence waits on philomela's strains, [plains!
In fome ftill ev'ning, when the whisp'ring breeze
Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees.
To thee, bright Goddefs, oft a lamb fhall bleed,
If teeming ewes increase my fleecy breed.
While plants their shade, or flow'rs their odours give,
Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise fhall live!
Thyr. But fee, Orion fheds unwholesome dews;
Arife, the pines a noxious fhade diffuse;
Sharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels decay;
Time conquers all, and we muft 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!
A SACRED ECLOGUE,
IN IMITATION OF
VIRGIL's POLLIO.
In reading feveral paffages of the Prophet Ifaiah, which foretel the coming of Christ, and the felicities attending it, I could not but obferve a remarkable pa rity between many of the thoughts and thole in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not feem fur, rifing, when we refect, that the Eclogue was taken from a Sibylline prophefy on the fame fubject. One may judge that Virgil did not Copy i lite by line, but felected fuch ideas as beit agreed with the nature of paftoral poetry, and difiofed then in that manner which ferved moft to beautify his piece. I have endeavoured the fame in this Imitation of him, though without admitting any thing of my own; fince it was written with this part.cular view, that the reader, by comparing the feveral thoughts, might fee how far the images and defcriptions of the Prophet are fuperior to thote of the Poet. But as I fear I have prejudiced them by my management, I fhall fubjoin the paffages of Ifaiah, and thofe of Virgil, under the fame difadvantage of a lite ral tranflation. P.
YE Nymphs of Solyma! begin the fong:
To heav'nly themes fublimer strains belong.
The moffy fountains, and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus, and th' Aonian maids,
Delight no more-O thou my voice infpire
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!
Rapt into future times, the bard begun :
A Virgin fhall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son!
From Jeffe's root behold a branch arise,
Whofe facred flow'r with fragrance fills the skies:
Th' ætherial Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top defcends the myftic dove.
Yet Heav'ns! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly show'r!
Ver. 8. A Virgin fhall cor ceive---All crimes fhall ceafe, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 6.
Jam edit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna;
Jam nova progenies cælo demittitur alto.
Te duce, fi qua manent fceleris veftigia noftri,
Irrita perpetua folvent formidine terras-
Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbern.
"Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is fent down from high heaven. By means of thee, whatever relics of our crimes remain fhall be wiped away, and free the world from perpetual fears. He fhall govern the earth in peace, with the virtues of his fatlier." Ifaiah,
The fick and weak the healing plant fhall aid,
From ftorms a fhelter, and from heat a fhade.
All crimes fhall ceafe, and ancient fraud fhall fail
Returning || Juftice lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-rob'd Innocence from heav'n defcend.
Swift fly the years, and rife the expected morn!
Oh fpring to light, aufpicious Babe! be born.
See Nature haftes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incenfe of the breathing spring;
See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forefts on the mountains dance;
See fpicy clouds from lowly Saron rife,
And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely defert cheers;
Prepare the way §! a God, a God appears!
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply;
The rocks proclaim th' approaching deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye Mountains, and ye Vallies rife ;
Ifaiah, ch. vii. ver. 14. "Behold, a virgin fhall conceive and bear a fon." Chap. ix. ver. 6, 7. Unto us a child is born, unto us a fon is given, the Prince of Peace: of the increase of his government, and of his peace, there fhall be no ed: upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to ef tablish it, with judgment, and with juftice, for ever and ever." P. Ver. 23. Sce Nature hatres, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. 18.
At tibi prima, puer, nullo munufcula cultu,
Errantes hederas paffim cum baccare tellus.
Mixtaque ridenti colocafia fandet acantho----
Ipfa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores.
"For thee, O Child, fhall the earth, without being tilled, produce her early "offerings; winding ivy, mixed with baccar, and colocafia with fmiling acanthus. Thy cradle fhall pour forth pieafing flowers about thee."
Ifaiah, ch. xxxv. ver 1. "The wilderness and the folitary place fhall be glad, "and the defert fhall rejoice and bloifon as the rofe. Ch. ix. ver. 13.
glory of Lebanon fhall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy fanctuary.'
Ver. 29. Hark! a glad voice, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 46.
Aggredere O magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores,
Cara deum foboles, magnum Jovis incrementum
Ipfi lætitia voces ad fydera jactant
Intonfi montes, ipfe jam carmina rupes,
Ipfa fosant arbusta, Deus, Deus ille Menalca! Ecl. v. ver. 62.
"Oh come and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the gods, O great increafe of Jove! The uncultivated mountains fend fhouts of joy to the stars, the very rocks fing in verfe, the very fhrubs cry out, A Go., a God!"
Ifaiah, chap. xl. ver. 3, 4. 66 he voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make ftraight in the defert a high way for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be mate low, and the crooked thall be made ftraight, and the rough places plain." Chap. v. ver. 23. Break forth into finging, yé Mountains! O Foreft, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Ifrael." Ch. xxv. ver. 4.
Ch. ix. ver, 7. *Chap. xxxv. ver. 2. Ch. xl. ver. 3, 4
With heads declin'd, ye Cedars, homage pay;
Be fmooth, 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 fhall purge the visual ray,
And on the fightlefs eye-ball pour the day:
'Tis he th' obftructed paths of found shall clear,
And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb fhall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh, no murmur the wide world fhall hear,
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good + fhepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks fresheft pafture and the pureft air,
Explores the loft, the wand'ring sheep directs,
By day o'erfees them, and by night protects;
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;
Thus fhall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd father ‡ of the future age.
No more fhall || nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into fcythes fhall bend,
And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end.
Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful § son
Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd fire begun;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field.
The swain in barren ** deferts with surprise
Sees lilies fpring, and fudden verdure rife;
Ver. 67. The fwain in barren deferts.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 28.
Molli paulatim flavefcet campus arifta,
Incultifque rubens pendebit fentibus uv3,
Et duræ quercus fudabunt rofcida mella.
++ Ch. xliii. ver. 18. and Ch. xxxv. ver. 5, 6. * Ch. xxv. ver. 8. Ch. xh ver. 11.
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