written, and am very far from infinuating that I have the remoteft defign of performing any part of the task myself; for, to say the truth, I should not have fuffered even the following trifles to fee the light, if I were not very defirous of recommending to the learned world a fpecies of literature, which abounds with so many new expreffions, new images, and new inventions.

SOLI MA,

ΑΝ ARABIAN

ECLOGUE,

Written in the Year 1768.

E maids of Aden, hear a loftier tale

Y was

Than e'er was fung in meadow, bow'r, or dale,

The fmiles of Abelah, and Maia's eyes,

Where beauty plays, and love in flumber lies;

The fragrant hyacinths of Azza's hair,

That wanton with the laughing fummer-air;

Love-tinctur'd cheeks, whence roses seek their bloom,

And lips, from which the Zephyr steals perfume,
A

Invite

Invite no more the wild unpolish'd lay,

But fly like dreams before the morning ray.
Then farewel, love! and farewel, youthful fires!
A nobler warmth my kindled breast inspires.
Far bolder notes the lift'ning wood shall fill:
Flow smooth, ye riv'lets; and, ye gales, be ftill.

See yon fair

groves that o'er Amana rise,

And with their fpicy breath embalm the skies;
Where ev'ry breeze fheds incenfe o'er the vales,
And ev'ry fhrub the scent of musk exhales!
See through yon op'ning glade a glittring scene,
Lawns ever gay, and meadows ever green!
Then ask the groves, and ask the vocal bow'rs,
Who deck'd their spiry tops with blooming flow'rs,
Taught the blue ftream o'er fandy vales to flow,
And the brown wild with livelieft hues to glow?

Fair Solima! the hills and dales will fing,

Fair Solima! the diftant echoes ring.

*It was not eafy in this part of the tranflation to avoid a turn fimilar to that of Pope in the known description of the Man of Rofs.

But

But not with idle shows of vain delight,

To charm the foul, or to beguile the fight;

At noon on banks of pleasure to repose,

Where bloom intwin'd the lily, pink, and rose;
Not in proud piles to heap the nightly feast,

Till morn with pearls has deck'd the glowing east;
Ah! not for this she taught those bow'rs to rise,
And bade all Eden spring before our eyes :

Far other thoughts her heav'nly mind employ,
(Hence, empty pride! and hence, delufive joy !)
To cheer with fweet repaft the fainting gueft;

To lull the weary on the couch of rest;

To warm the trav'ler numb'd with winter's cold;
The young to cherish, to support the old;

The fad to comfort, and the weak protect;

The poor to fhelter, and the loft direct :

These are her cares, and this her glorious task;
Can heav'n a nobler give, or mortals ask?

Come to thefe groves, and thefe life-breathing glades,
Ye friendless orphans, and ye dow'rless maids !
With eager hafte your mournful' mansions leave,
Ye weak, that tremble, and, ye fick, that grieve;
Here fhall foft tents o'er flow'ry lawns display'd,
At night defend you, and at noon o'erfhade:
Here rofy health the sweets of life will show'r,
And new delights beguile each varied hour.
Mourns there a widow, bath'd in ftreaming tears?
Stoops there a fire beneath the weight of years?

Weeps there a maid in pining sadness left,
Of fondling parents, and of hope bereft ?
To Solima their forrows they bewail,
To Solima they pour their plaintive tale.
She hears; and, radiant as the star of day,
Through the thick foreft wins her easy way:
She asks what cares the joyless train opprefs,
What fickness waftes them, or what wants diftrefs;

And