A fhaggy hide was o'er his shoulder spread,
And wreaths of noxious darnel bound his head;
Unfhorn his beard, and tangled was his hair,
He rudely walk'd, and thus addrefs'd the fair:
"My kids I fondle, and my lambs I kifs;
"Ah! grant, fweet maid, a more delightful blifs."
The damfels blush with anger and difdain,
And turn indignant from the fhameless swain ;
To Pan in filence, and to Love, they pray,
To make his mufick hateful as his lay.
The gods affent: the flute he roughly takes,
And scarce with pain a grating murmur makes;
But when in jarring notes he forc'd his fong,
Juft indignation fir'd the rural throng:
Shame of Arcadia's bowers! the youths exclaim,
Whofe tunelefs lays difgrace a fhepherd's name!
fhe gave him the pipe. He fnatched it from her, but with great difficulty made it found; which was in fuch harsh and jarring notes, that the fhepherds cried one and all that he underfood no mufick. He was immediately ordered to the most craggy parts of Arcadia to keep the goats, and commanded never to touch a pipe any more.
By this a hoary chief, on flaughter bent,
Approach'd the gloomy king's unguarded tent;
Where, late, his confort spread dismay around,
Now her dark corfe lies bleeding on the ground.
Hail, happy youth! thy glories not unfung
Shall live eternal on the poet's tongue;
For thou fhalt foon receive a splendid change,
And o'er the plain with nobler fury range.
The fwarthy leaders faw the ftorm impend,
And ftrove in vain their fovereign to defend:
Th' invader wav'd his filver lance in air,
And flew like lightning to the fatal fquare;
His limbs dilated in a moment grew
To ftately height, and widen'd to the view;
More fierce his look, more lion-like his mien,
Sublime he mov❜d, and feem'd a warriour queen.
As when the fage on fome unfolding plant
Has caught a wandering fly, or frugal ant,
His hand the microscopick frame applies,
And lo! a bright-hair'd monfter meets his eyes;
He fees new plumes in flender cases roll'd ;
Here ftain'd with azure, there bedropp'd with gold;
Thus, on the alter'd chief both armies gaze,
And both the kings are fix'd with deep amaze.
The fword, which arm'd the fnow-white maid before,
He now affumes, and hurls the spear no more;
Then fprings indignant on the dark-rob'd band,
And knights and archers feel his deadly hand.
Now flies the monarch of the fable shield,
His legions vanquifh'd, o'er the lonely field:
* So when the morn, by rofy coursers drawn,
With pearls and rubies fows the verdant lawn,
Whilft each pale ftar from heaven's blue vault retires,
Still Venus gleams, and laft of all expires.
He hears, where'er he moves, the dreadful found;
Check the deep vales, and Check the woods rebound.
No place remains: he sees the certain fate,
And yields his throne to ruin, and Checkmate.
A brighter blush o'erspreads the damsel's cheeks,
And mildly thus the conquer'd stripling speaks:
"A double triumph, Delia, haft thou won,
66 By Mars protected, and by Venus' fon;
IMITATIONS.
Medio rex æquore inermis
Conftitit amiffis fociis; velut æthere in alto
Expulit ardentes flammas ubi lutea bigis
Luciferis Aurora, tuus pulcherrimus ignis
Lucet adhuc, Venus, et cœlo mox ultimus exit.
"The firft with conqueft crowns thy matchlefs art, "The second points those eyes at Daphnis heart.” She fmil'd; the nymphs and amorous youths arife, And own, that beauty gain'd the nobler prize.
Low in their cheft the mimick troops were lay'd, * And peaceful flept the fable hero's fhade.
A parody of the last line in Pope's tranflation of the Iliad, "And peaceful flept the mighty Hector's fhade:"
Tides ut agros dulce gemmatos lavet
Argenteus rivi latex ;
Virides ut aura ftridulo modulamine
Arundines interstrepat :
Sic, fic, amceno cincte virtutum choro
Princeps, amabiliter nites.
Ut maximo labore, & arte maximâ
Effingit artifex ebur,
Sic ad benignitatem amica civium
Blandè figuras pectora.
Ut delicata gemmulam expolit manus
Fulgore lucentem aureo,
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