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What eyes but hers, alas, have power to move! And is there magic but what dwells in love?

Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful strains! I'll fly from thepherds, flocks, and flowery plains. From fhepherds, flocks, and plains, I may remove, Forfake mankind, and all the world-but love! I know thee, Love on foreign mountains bred, Wolves gave thee fuck, and favage tigers fed. 90 Thou wert from Ætna's burning entrails torn, Got by fierce whirlinds, and in thunder born!

Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful lay! Farewell, ye woods, adieu the light of day! One leap from yonder cliffs fhall end my pains; No more, ye hills, no more refound my strains! Thus fung the fhepherds till th' approach of

night,

The skies yet blushing with departing light, When falling dews with fpangles deck'd the glade, And the low fun had lengthen'd every shade. 100

WINTER.

THE FOURTH PASTORAL, OR DAPHNE.

TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. TEMPEST.

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'Tis done, and nature's various charms decay: See gloomy clouds obfcure the cheerful day! 30 Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear, Their faded honours fcatter'd on her bier. See where, on earth, the flowery glories lie! 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 haplefs fate bemoan, In notes more fad than when they fing their own;

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In hollow caves fweet Echo filent lies,
Silent, or only to her name replies;
Her name with pleasure once the taught the fhore,
Now Daphne's dead, and pleasure is no more

No grateful dews defcend from evening skies,
Nor morning odours from the flowers arife;
No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field,
Nor fragrant herbs their native incenfe yield.
The balmy zephyrs, filent fince her death,
Lament the ceafing of a fweeter breath;
Th' industrious bees neglect their golden ftore;
Fair Daphne's dead, and sweetness is no more!

VARIATIONS.

!

50

Ver. 29. Originally thus in the MS. 'Tis done, and nature's chang'd fince you are gone;

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MESSIAH.

A SACRED ECLOGUE.

IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S POLLIO.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In reading several paffages of the prophet Isaiah, which foretel the coming of Chrift, and the felicities attending it, I could not but obferve a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts, and those in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not seem surprising, when we reflect, that the Eclogue was taken from a Sibylline prophecy on the fame subject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line for line; but felected fuch ideas as beft agreed with the nature of Paftoral Poetry, and difpofed them in that manner which served most 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 particular view, that the reader, by comparing the several thoughts, might see how far the images and defcriptions of the prophet are fuperior to those of the poet. But as I fear I have prejudiced them by my management, I shall fubjoin the passages of Isaiah, and those of Virgil, under the fame difadvantage of a literal translation.

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+ Cb xiv. ver. 8.

All crimes fhall ceafe, and ancient frauds shall fail, | A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,

Returning Juftice lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-rob'd Innocence from heaven descend. 20
Swift fly the years, and rise th' 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 forests on the mountains dance :
See fpicy clouds from lowly Saron rife,
And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely defert cheers;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!

IMITATIONS.

30

Ifaiah, Ch. vii. ver. 14. "Behold a Virgin " fhall conceive and bear a Son-Chap. ix. ver. "6, 7. Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son " is given; the Prince of Peace: of the increase " of his government, and of his peace, there shall "be no end: Upon the throne of David, and up"on his kingdom, to order and to establish it, "with judgment and with justice, for ever and " ever."

Ver. 23. See nature haftes, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 18.

At tibi prima, puer, nullo munufcula cultu,
Errantes hederas paffim cum baccare tellus,
Mixtaque ridenti colocafia fundet acantho-
Ipfa tibi blandes fundent cunabula flores..

"For thee, O Child, fhall the earth, without "being tilled, produce her early offerings; wind"ing ivy, mixed with Baccar, and Colocaffia with "fmiling Acanthus. Thy cradle fhail pour forth "pleafing flowers about thee."

Ifaiah, Ch. xxxi. ver. 1. "The wilderness and "the folitary place fhall be glad, and the desert "fhall rejoice and bloffom as the rofe." Ch. Ix. ver. 13. The glory of Lebanon fhall come un"to thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the hox "together, to beautify the place of thy fanctu

"ary."

Ver. 29. Hark! a glad voice, &c.

Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 46.

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The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending fkies;
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye vallies, rife;
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be finooth, 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: 40
'Tis he th' obftructed paths of found fhall clear,
And bid new mufic 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 every face he wipes off every tear.
In adamantine chains fhall 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 wandering fheep 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 bofom 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 fteel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more:
But ufelefs lances into fcythes fhall bend,
And the broad falchion in a ploughfhare end.
Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful¶ Son
Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd Sire begun;
Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield,
And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field.
The fwain in barren ++ deferts with surprise
Sees lilies fpring, and sudden verdure rise;

IMITATIONS.

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"the very rocks fing in verfe; the very fhrubs cry out, A God, a God!"

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Ifaiah, Ch. xl. ver. 3. 4. " The voice of hina "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 fhall be "exalted, and every mountain and hill fhall be "made low, and the crooked fhall be made

ftraight, and the rough places plain." Ch. iv, ver. 23. "Break forth into finging, ye mountains; "O foreft, and every tree therein, for the Lord "hath redeemed Ifeael."

Ver. 67. The fwain in barren deferts] Virg.

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Ch. lxv. ver. 21, 22. tt Ch. xxxv, ver. 1. 7.

Cb. xl. ver. II.
Ch. ii. ver. 4.

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And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrufh nods.
Waste fandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and shapely box adorn :
To leaflefs fhrubs the flowery palms fucceed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed.

The lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant
mead,

And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead:
The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,

The fmiling infant in his hand fhall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake,
Pleas'd, the green luftre of the fcales survey,
And with their forky tongue fhall innocently
play.

Rife, crown'd with light, imperial * Salem, rife!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long + race thy fpacious courts adorn;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every fide arife,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,

And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet. 80 Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;

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"of water:

Ifaiah, Ch. xxxv. ver. 7. « The parched ground
"fhall become a pool, and the thirfty land fprings
In the habitations where dragons
"lay, fhall be grafs, and reeds and rushes." Ch.
Iv. ver. 13.
"Inftead of the thorn fhall come up
"the fir-tree, and inftead of the brier fhall come
86 the myrtle-tree."
up

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

Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capella
Übera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones-
Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni
Occidet.

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

Ifaiah, Ch. xi. ver. 6, &c. "The wolf fhall "dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie "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 straw like

"the ox. And the fucking child fhall play on "the hole of the afp, and the weaned child fhall "put his hand on the den of the cockatrice."

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100

See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of § Sabean fprings,
For thee Idume's fpicy forests blow,
And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heaven its sparkling portals wide difplay,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rifing || fun fhall gild the morn,
Nor evening 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!
The feas fhall wafte, the fkies in fioke decay,
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!

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Sa lem, rife!] The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compofe the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thofe general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftieft part of his, Pollio.

Magnis ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordo!
-toto furget gens aurea mundo!
-incipient magni procedere menfes!
Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo! &c.

The reader needs only to turn to the paffages of Ifaiah, here cited.

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