WINDSOR-FOREST.

To the RIGHT HONOURABLE

GEORGE Lord LANSDOWN.

HY foreft, Windfor! and thy green retreats,

TH

At once

the Monarch's and the Muse's feats, Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids! Unlock your fprings, and open all your fhades. GRANVILLE commands; your aid, O Muses, bring!

What Mufe for GRANVILLE can refuse to sing? 6

VARIATIONS.

VER. 3, etc. originally thus,

Chafte Goddess of the woods

Nymphs of the vales, and Naïads of the floods,

Lead me thro' arching bow'rs, and glimm'ring glades.
Unlock your fprings- P.

NOTES.

part

This Poem was written at two different times: the first of it, which relates to the country, in the year 1704, at the fame time with the Pastorals; the latter part was not added till the year 1713, in which it was published. P.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 6.

neget quis carmina Gallo? Virg.

The Groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long, Live in defcription, and look green in song : breast infpir'd with equal flame,

Thefe, were my
Like them in beauty, should be like in fame. 10
Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water feem to strive again;
Not Chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd,
But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd :
Where order in variety we fee,

15

20

And where, tho' all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a chequer'd fcene difplay,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;
As fome coy nymph her lover's warm addrefs.
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite repress.
There, interfpers'd in lawns and op'ning glades,
Thin trees arife that fhun each other's fhades.
Here in full light the ruffet plains extend:
There wrapt in clouds the blueish hills ascend.
Ev'n the wild heath displays her purple dyes, 25
And 'midst the defert fruitful fields arife,

VARIATIONS.

VER. 25. Originally thus ;

Why should I fing our better funs or air,
Whose vital draughts prevent the leach's care,
While thro' fresh fields th' enliv'ning odours breathe,
Or fpread with vernal blooms the purple heath? P.

30

That crown'd with tufted trees and fpringing corn,
Like verdant ifles the fable waste adorn.
Let India boast her plants, nor envy we
The weeping amber or the balmy tree,
While by our oaks the precious loads are born,
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, 35
Where, in their bleffings, all those Gods appear.
See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd,
Here blushing Flora paints th' enamel'd ground,
Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpect stand,
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand; 40
Rich Industry fits smiling 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,

NOTES.

VER. 33. Not proud Olympus, etc.] Sir J. Denham, in his Cooper's Hill, had faid,

Than which a nobler weight no mountain bears,
But Atlas only, which fupports the spheres.

The comparison is childish, as the taking it from fabulous history destroys the compliment. Our Poet has fhewn more judgment: he has made a manly use of as fabulous a circumftance by the artful application of the mythology.

To savage beasts and favage laws a prey,

45

And kings more furious and severe than they;
Who claim'd the skies, dispeopled air and floods,
The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods:
Cities laid waste, they storm'd the dens and caves,
(For wiser brutes were backward to be flaves,) 50
What could be free, when lawless beasts obey'd,
And ev❜n the elements a Tyrant sway'd?

In vain kind seasons fwell'd the teeming grain,
Soft show'rs diftill'd, and funs grew warm in vain ;
The swain with tears his frustrate labour yields, 55
And famish'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields.
What wonder then, a beast or subject flain
Were equal crimes in a defpotic reign?

VARIATIONS.

VER. 49. Originally thus in the MS.

From towns laid waste, to dens and caves they ran
(For who first stoop'd to be a flave was man.)

VER. 57, etc.

No wonder favages or fubjects flain

But fubjects ftarv'd, while favages were fed.

It was originally thus, but the word favages is not properly applied to beasts but to men; which occafioned the alteration. P.

NOTES.

Where, in their bleffings, all thofe Gods appear, etc. Making the nobility of the hills of Windfor-foreft to confift in fupporting the inhabitants in plenty.

VER. 45. favage laws.] The Forest Laws.

Both doom'd alike, for fportive Tyrants bled,
But while the fubject starv'd, the beast was fed. 60
Proud Nimrod first the bloody chace began,

A mighty hunter, and his prey was man :
Our haughty Norman boasts that barb'rous name,
And makes his trembling flaves the royal game.
The fields are ravish'd from th' induftrious fwains,
From men their cities, and from Gods their fanes :
The levell'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er ;
The hollow winds thro' naked temples roar;
Round broken columns clasping ivy twin'd;
O'er heaps of ruin stalk'd the stately hind; 70
The fox obfcene to gaping tombs retires,
And favage howlings fill the facred quires.
Aw'd by his Nobles, by his Commons curst,
Th' Oppreffor rul'd tyrannic where he durst,

VARIATIONS.

VER. 72. And wolves with howling fill, etc.] The author thought this an error, wolves not being common in England at the time of the Conqueror. P.

NOTES.

VER. 65. The fields are ravish'd, etc.] Alluding to the destruction made in the New Foreft, and the Tyrannies exercised there by William I. P.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 65. The fields are ravish'd from th' induftrious fwains, From men their cities, and from Gods their fanes:] Tranflated from

Templa adimit divis, fora civibus, arva colonis, an old monkish writer, I forget who. P.