Where'er you tread, the blushing flow'rs fhall rife,
And all things flourish where you turn your eyes.
Oh! how I long with you to pass my days,
Invoke the Muses, and refound your praise!
Your praise the birds fhall chant in ev'ry grove,
And winds fhall waft it to the pow'rs above. 80
But would you fing, and rival Orpheus' strain,
The wond'ring forefts foon fhould dance again,
The moving mountains hear the pow'rful call,
And headlong streams hang lift'ning in their fall!

But fee, the shepherds fhun the noon-day heat, The lowing herds to murm'ring brooks retreat, 86 To closer shades the panting flocks remove; Ye Gods! and is there no relief for Love?

VER. 79, 80.

VARIATIONS.

1

Your praise the tuneful birds to heav'n fhall bear,
And lift'ning wolves grow milder as they hear.

So the verses were originally written. But the author, young as he was, foon found the abfurdity which Spenfer himself overlooked, of introducing wolves into England. P.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 80. And winds fhall waft, etc.]

Partem aliquam, venti, divûm referatis ad aures !

Virg. P.

VER. 88. Ye Gods! etc.]

Me tamen urit amor, quis enim modus adfit amori?

Idem. P.

But foon the fun with milder rays defcends

To the cool ocean, where his journey ends: 90
On me love's fiercer flames for ever prey,
By night he scorches, as he burns by day.

VARIATIONS.

VER. QI. Me love inflames, nor will his fires allay. P.

(64)

AUTUM N.

THE

THIRD PASTORAL,

OR

HYLAS and EGON.

To Mr. WY CHERLEY.

B

Eneath the shade a spreading Beech displays, Hylas and Ægon fung their rural lays; This mourn'd a faithlefs, that an abfent Love, And Delia's name and Doris' fill'd the Grove. Ye Mantuan nymphs, your facred fuccour bring; 5 Hylas and Ægon's rural lays I fing.

Thou, whom the Nine with Plautus' wit inspire, The art of Terence, and Menander's fire;

REMARK S.

This Paftoral confifts of two parts, like the viiith of Virgil: The Scene, a Hill; the Time at Sun-fet. P.

VER. 7. Thou, whom the Nine,] Mr. Wycherley, a famous

Whofe fenfe inftructs us,and whofe humour charms,
Whose judgment sways us, and whose spirit warms!
Oh, skill'd in Nature! fee the hearts of Swains, I I
Their artless paffions, and their tender pains.
Now fetting Phoebus fhone ferenely bright,
And fleecy clouds were streak'd with purple light;

REMARK S.

author of Comedies; of which the most celebrated were the Plain-Dealer and Country-Wife. He was a writer of infinite fpirit, fatire, and wit. The only objection made to him was that he had too much. However he was followed in the fame way by Mr. Congreve; tho' with a little more correctness. P.

VER. 8. The art of Terence and Menander's fire;] This line alludes to that famous character given of Terence, by Cæfar:

Tu quoque, tu in fummis, ô dimidiate Menander,
Poneris, et merito, puri fermonis amator:
Lenibus atque utinam fcriptis adjuncta foret vis
Comica.

So that the judicious critic fees he fhould have faid with Menander's fire. For what the Poet meant, was, that his Friend had joined, to Terence's art, what Cæfar thought wanting in Terence, namely the vis comica of Menander. Befides, --- and Menander's fire is making that the Characteristic of Menander which was not. He was diftinguished for having art and comic spirit in conjunction, and Terence having only the first part, is called the half of Menander:

VER. 9. Whofe fenfe inftructs us] He was always very carefull in his encomiums not to fall into ridicule, the trap which weak and proftitute flatterers rarely escape. For, fenfe, he would willingly have faid, moral; propriety required it. But this dramatic poet's moral was remarkably faulty. His plays are all shamefully profligate both in the Dialogue and Action.