Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

"Sad Dido's love, and Venus' wand'ring fon,

"The Latians vanquish'd, and Lavinia won:
"And thou, O Colin, heav'n-defended youth,
"Shalt hide in fiction's veil the charms of truth,
"Thy notes the fting of forrow shall beguile,
"And smooth the brow of anguifh till it smile;
"Notes, that a sweet Elyfian dream can raise,
"And lead th' enchanted foul through fancy's maze;
"Thy verfe fhall fhine with Gloriana's name,

"And fill the world with Britain's endless fame,"

*To Tit'rus then he gave the facred flute,

And bade his fons their blushing brides falute;
Whilft all the train a lay of triumph fung,

Till mountains echo'd, and till valleys rung.

IMITATIONS.

*The good old man leaped from his throne, and, after he had embraced him, prefented him to his daughter, which caufed a general acclamation.

* While thus with mirth they tun'd the nuptial strain,

A youth, too late, was haft'ning o'er the plain,

Clad in a flowing vest of azure hue;

Blue were his fandals, and his girdle blue ;

A flave, ill-drefs'd and mean, behind him bore
An ofier basket fill'd with fifhy ftore;

The lobster with his fable armour bold,

The tasteful mullet deck'd with scales of gold,
Bright perch, the tyrants of the finny breed,
And greylings sweet, that crop the fragrant weed;

IMITATIONS.

* While they were in the midst of their joy, they were furprised with a very odd appearance. A perfon, in a blue mantle, crowned with fedges and rufhes, ftepped into the midst of the ring. He had an angling-rod in his hand, a pannier upon his back, and a poor meagre wretch in wet clothes carried fome oyfters before him. Being asked, whence he came, and what

NOTE.

See Sannazaro, Ongaro, Phineas Fletcher, and other writers of pifcatory eclogues.

he

Among them fhells of

many a tint appear,

*The heart of Venus, and her pearly ear,
The nautilus, on curling billows born,

And scallops, by the wand'ring pilgrim worn,
Some drop'd with filver, fome with purple dye,
With all the race that feas or ftreams fupply:
A net and angle o'er his shoulder hung,

Thus was the stranger clad, and thus he fung;
"Ah! lovely damfel, leave thy fimple sheep;
"'Tis fweeter in the fea-worn rock to fleep:

IMITATIONS.

he was, he told them he was come to invite Amaryllis from the plains to the fea-fhore; that his fubitance confifted in feacalves; and that he was acquainted with the Nereids and Naiads."Art thou acquainted with the Naiads? faid Menal

[ocr errors]

cas, to them fhalt thou return." The fhepherds immediately hoifted him up as an enemy to Arcadia, and plunged him in the river, where he funk, and was never heard of fince.

NOTE.

Fexus's heart and Venus's ear are the names of two very beautiful shells.

[ocr errors][merged small]

"There shall thy line the scaly fhoals betray,
"And fports, unknown before, beguile the day,
"To guide o'er rolling waves the dancing skiff,
"Or pluck the famphire from th' impending cliff:
My rapt'rous notes the blue-ey'd Nereids praife,
“And filver-footed Naiads hear my lays."

"To them, Menalcas faid, thy numbers pour;
" Infult our flocks and blissful vales no more."
He spake; the heralds knew their fov'reign's will,
And hurl'd the fisher down the floping hill:
Headlong he plung'd beneath the liquid plain,
(But not a nymph receiv'd the falling swäin,)
Then dropping rofe; and like the rushing wind
Impetuous fled, nor caft a look behind:

*He fought the poplar'd banks of winding Po,

But shun'd the meads where Ladon's waters Aow.

NOTE.

* This alludes to the Latin compofitions of Sannazarius, which have great

merit in their kind.

Ere

* Ere through nine radiant figns the flaming fun
His course refplendent in the Zodiack run,
The royal damfels, bashful now no more,
Two lovely boys on one glad morning bore;
From blooming Daphne fair Alexis fprung,
And Colinet on Hyla's bofom hung;

Both o'er the vales of sweet Arcadia reign'd,
And both the manners of their fires retain'd:
Alexis, fairer than a morn of May,
In glades and forests tun'd his rural lay,

1

IMITATIONS.

Amyntas and Amaryllis lived a long and happy life, and governed the vales of Arcadia. Their generation was very longlived, there having been but four defcents in above two thoufand years. His heir was called Theocritus, who left his dominions to Virgil. Virgil left his to his fon Spenfer, and Spenfer was fucceeded by his eldeft-born Philips.

[blocks in formation]
« ПредишнаНапред »