And starts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murin'ring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrufh nods.
Wafte+ fandy vallies, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and fhapely box adorn!

To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed,
And od rous myrtle to the noifome weed.

The lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead;

The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,

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And harmlefs || ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet;
The fmiling infant in his hand fhall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake,
Pleas'd, the green luftre of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial * Salem, rise! 85
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!

See a long § race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future fons and daughters, yet unborn,
In crouding ranks on every fide arife,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!

IMITATIONS.

90

"The fields fhall grow yellow with ripened ears, and the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks fhall diftil honey like dew." "Ifaiah, chap. xxxv. ver. 7. "The parched ground fhall become a pool, and the thirty lands fprings of water: in the habitation where dragons lay, hall be grafs, and reeds, and rushes." Ch. lv. ver. 13. "Instead of the thora fhall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier fhall come up the myrtle-tree.'

P.

Ver 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 21.

Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capellæ

Ubera, nec magnos inetuent armenta leones--

Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni

Occidet.

"The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diftended with milk: nor fhall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent fhall die, and the herb that conceals poifon fhall die."

"Ifaiah, chap. xi. ver. 6, &c. The wolf fhail dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall ly down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child fhall lead them. And the lion fhall eat raw like the ox. And the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the af, and the weaned child fhall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice." P. Ver. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife!] The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compofe the latter part of the Poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thofe general exclainations of Virgil, which make the loftient parts of his Pollio.

Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordo!
---toto furget gens aurea mundo!

---incipient magni procedere menfes !

Afpice, venturo lateatur ut omnia fæclo! &c.

The reader needs only to turn to the paffages of Ifaiah here cited. P.
Ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. iv. ver. 13.

ver. 25

Ch. ix. ver. I.

Ch. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8, Ch. 1x, Ch. Ix. ver. 4.

See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan || fprings!
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,

And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day.
No more the rifing § fun fhall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn;
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze

O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!

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The feas fhall wafte, the skies in fmoak decay, 105
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving power remains;
Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own MESSIAH reigns!

Ch. Ix. ver. 3. Ch. Ix. ver. 6. Ch. Ix. ver. 19, 20
‡‡ Ch. l. ver. 6. and Ch. liv. ver. 10.

To the Right Honourable

GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN.

Non injuffa caro: te noftre. Vare, myricæ,

e nemus omne canet: nec Phoebo gratior ulla eft, Quam fibi quæ Vari præfcripfit pagina nomen. Virg.

THY foreft, Windfor! and thy green retreats,

At once the Monarch's and the Mufes' feats,
Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan Maids!
Unlock your fprings, and open all your fhades.
Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring :
What muse for Granville can refufe to fing?

The groves of Eden, vanish'd now fo long,
Live in defcription, and look green in fong:
Thefe, were my breaft infpir'd with equal flame,
Like them in beauty, fhould be like in fame.
Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water seem to ftrive again;
Not chaos-like, together crush'd and bruis'd,
But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd ;`
Where order in variety we fee,

And where, tho' all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a chequer'd fcene display,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;
As fome coy nymph her lover's warm address,
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite reprefs.
There interfpers'd in lawns and op'ning glades,
Thin trees arife that fhun each others fhades.
Here in full light the ruffet plains extend;
There wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills afcend.
E'en the wild heath difplays her purple dyes,
And 'midst the defert fruitful fields arife,

That, crown'd with tufted trees and fpringing corn,
Like verdant ifles, the fable wafte adorn.
Let India boaft her plants, nor envy we
The weeping amber of the balmy tree,

20

25

30

While by our oaks the precious loads are borne,
And realms commanded which thofe trees adorn.
Not proud Olympus yields a nobler fight,
Tho' gods affembled grace his tow'ring height,
Than what more humble mountains offer here,
Where, in their bleffings, all thofe gods appear.
See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd;
Here blushing Flora paints th' enamell'd ground;
Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpect stand,
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand;
Rich induftry fits fmiling on the plains,
And peace and plenty tell, a Stuart reigns.
Not thus the land appear'd in ages past,

A dreary defert and a gloomy waste,
To favage beafts and favage laws a prey,
And kings more furious and fevere than they;
Who claim'd the skies, difpeopled air and floods;
The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods:
Cities laid wafte, they ftorm'd the dens and caves,
(For wifer brutes were backward to be flaves.)
What could be free, when lawless beasts obey'd,
And e'en the elements a tyrant.fway'd?

35

40

45

૩૦

In vain kind feafons fwell'd the teeming grain,
Soft fhow'rs diftill'd, and funs grew warm in vain :
The swain with tears his frustrate labour yields,
And famish'd dies amidft his ripen'd fields.
What wonder then, a beaft or subject flain
Were equal crimes in a defpotic reign?
Both doom'd alike, for sportive tyrants bled;
But while the subject starv'd, the beast was fed.
Proud Nimrod first the bloody chace began,
A mighty hunter, and his prey was man :
Our haughty Norman boafts that barb'rous name,
And makes his trembling flaves the royal game.
The fields are ravish'd from th' induftrious fwains, 65
From men their cities, and from gods their fanes :
The levell'd towns with weeds ly cover'd o'er;
The hollow winds thro' naked temples roar;
Round broken columns clafping ivy twin'd;
O'er heaps of ruin ftalk'd the ftately hind;
VOL. I.

I

F

70

The

The fox obfcene to gaping tombs retires,
And favage howlings fill the facred quires.
Aw'd by his nobles, by his commons curft,
Th' oppreffor rul'd tyrannic where he durft,
Stretch'd o'er the poor and church his iron rod,
And ferv'd alike his vaffals and his God.
Whom e'en the Saxon fpar'd, and bloody Dane,
The wanton victims of his fport remain.
But fee the man, who fpacious regions gave
A wafte for beafts, himfelf deny'd a grave!
Stretch'd on the lawn his fecond hope furvey,
At once the chafer, and at once the prey:
Lo Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart,
Bleeds in the foreft like a wounded hart.
Succeeding monarchs heard the fubjects' cries,
Nor faw difpleas'd the peaceful cottage rife:

Then gath'ring flocks on unknown mountains fed,
O'er fandy wilds were yellow harvests spread;
The foreft wonder'd at th' unufual grain,

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85

95

And fecret tranfports touch'd the confcious fwain. 90
Fair Liberty, Britannia's goddefs, rears
Her cheerful head, and leads the golden years.
Ye vig'rous fwains! while youth ferments your
And purer fpirits fwell the fprightly flood, [blood
Now range the hills, the gameful woods befet,
Wind the thrill horn, or fpread the waving net.
When milder autumn fummer's heat fucceeds,
And in the new-fhorn field the partridge feeds,
Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds;
Panting with hope, he tries the furrow'd grounds;
But when the tainted gales the game betray,
Couch'd clofe he lies, and meditates the prey;
Secure they truft th' unfaithful field befet,
'Till hov'ring o'er 'em fweeps the fwelling net.
Thus (if fmall things we may with great compare)
When Albion fends her eager fons to war,
Some thoughtlefs town, with cafe and plenty bleft,
Near, and more near, the cloting lines inveft;
Sudden they feize th' amaz'd, defencelefs prize,
And in high air Britannia's ftandard flies.

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110 See !