65

DAPHNIS.
Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves;
Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves,
If Windsor Shades delight the matchless maid,
Cynthus and Hybla yield to Windfor-Made.

STREPHON.
All nature mourns, the skies relent in show'rs,
Huth'd are the birds, and clos'd the drooping flow'rs;
If Delia smile, the flow'rs begin to spring, 71
The skies to brighten, and the birds to fing.

DAPHNIS.
All nature laughs, the groves are fresh and fair,
The fun's mild lulire warms the vital air;
If Sylvia smiles, new glories gild the shore,
And vanquilli'd nature seems to charm no more.

STREPHON.
In spring the fields, in autumn hills I love,
At morn the plains, at noon the shady grove,
But Delia always; absent from her fight,
Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight. 80

DAPHNIS. Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May, More bright than noon, yet fresh as early day; E’en spring displeases, when she shines not here ; But bless'd with her, 'tis spring throughout the year.

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VARIATIONS,
VER. 69. &c. These verses were thus at first :

All nature mourns, the birds their songs deny,
Nor wasted brooks the thirsty flow'rs lupply ;
If Delia smile, the flow'rs begin to spring,
The brooks to murmur, and the birds to fing.

IMITATIONS.
VER. 69. All nature mourns,]

Aret ager, vitio moriens litit aëris herba, &c.
PhyHidis adventu noftræ nemus omne virebit. Virg.

STRE PHON. Say, Daphnis, say, in what glad foil appears,, 85 A wond'rous Tree that sacred Monarchs bears : Tell me but this, and I'll disclaim the prize, And give the conquest to thy Sylvia's eyes.

DAPHNIS. Nay, tell me first, in what more happy fields The Thistle springs, to which the Lily yields : SO And then à noble prize I will resign ; For Sylvia, charming Sylvia, shall be thine.

DAMON. Cease to contend, for Daphnis, I decree, The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee. Bleft Swains, whose Nymphs in ev'ry grace excel ; 95 Bleft Nymphs, whose Swains those graces ling so well! Now rise, and hale to yonder woodbine bow'r3, A soft retreat from sudden vernal show'rs; The turf with rural dainties shall be crown'd, While op’ning blooms diffuse their sweets around. 100 For see! the gath'ring flocks to shelter tend, And from the Pleiads fruitful Show'rs descend.

VER. 86. A wond'rous Tree that sacred Monarcbs bears :] An allusion to the Royal Oak, in which Charles II, had been hid from the pursuit after the battle of Worcester,

IMITATIONS.

VER. 90. Tbe Thistle springs to wbich the Lily yields :) Alludes to the device of the Scots Monarchs, the Thistle, worn by Queen Anne; and to the arms of France, the Fleur de lys. The two riddles are in imitation of those in Virg. Ecl, iii.

Dic quibus in terris infcripti nomina Regum
Nascantur Flores, et Phyllida solus haleto.

VARIATIONS.

VIR. 99. was originally,

The turf with country dainties shall be spread,
And trees with twining branches fhade your head,

A Shepherd's Boy (he seeks no better name)

Led forth his flocks along the filver Thame,
Where dancing sun-beams on the waters play'd,
And verdant alders form’d a quiv'ring shade.
Soft as he mourn'd, the streams forgot to flow,
The flocks around a dumb compassion Now,
The Naïads wept in ev'ry wat'ry bow's,
And Jove consented in a filent Mow'r.

Accept, O Garth, the Muse's early, lays,
That adds this wreath of ivy to thy bays;

10 Hear what from Love unpractis'd hearts-endure, From Love, the sole disease thou canst not cure.

Ye shady beeches, and ye cooling streams, Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams, To you I mourng, nor to the deaf I fing, 152 The woods shall answer, and their echo.ring, The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay, Why art thou prouder and more hard than they The bleating sheep with my complaints agree, They parch'd with heat, and I'infiam'd by thee: The sultry Sirius burns the thirsty plains, While in thy heart eternal winter reigns.

Where ftray ye, Mufes, in what lawn or grove; While your Alexis pines in hopeless-love ? In those fair fields where facred Ifis glides, 25 Or else where Cam his winding vales divides :

201

NOT S.

VER. 9. Dr. Samuel Garth, Author of the Difpenfary, was one of the first friends of the Authot, whose acquaintance with him began at fourteen or fifteen. Their friendshig continued from the year 1703 to 1718, which was that of his death.

VER. 16. The woods fall answer, and their ecbo ring.] Is a lins out of Spenser's Epithalamion.

IMITATIONS, VER. 8. And Jove consented]

Jupiter et læto defcendet plurimus imbri. Virg. VER. 15. nor to the deaf I sing.)

Non canimus surdis, respondent omnia fylvä. Virg.
VIR. 23. Where fray ye, Muses, etc.)

Quæ nemora, aut qui vos faltus habuere, puellæ
Naïdes, indigno cum Gallus amore periret ?
Nam ne neque Parnassi vobis juga, nam neque Pindi
Ulla moram fecere, neque Aonia Aganippe.

Virg, out of Tbeoce.

As in the crystal spring I view my face,
Fresh rising bluses paint the wat’ry glass;
But since those graces please thy eyes no more,
I fhun 'the fountains which I fought before. 30
Once I was skill'd in ev'ry herb that grev,
And ev'ry plant that drinks the morning dew;
Ah, wretched shepherd, what avails thy art,
To cûre thy lambs, but not to heal thy heart!
Let other swains attend the rural care,

35
Feed fairer flocks, or richer fleeces theer:
But nigh yon' mountain let me tune my lays,
Embrace my Love, and bind my brows with bays,
That fute is mine which Colin's tuneful breath
Inspir'd when, living, and bequeath'd in death: 40
He said; Alexis, take this pipe, the same
That taught the groves my Rosalinda's name:
But now the reeds shall hang on yonder tree,
For ever filent, fince despis'd by thee.
Oh! were I made by some transforming pow'r 45
The captive bird that fings within thy bow'r!

VARIATIONS.

VER, 27.

Oft in the crystal spring I cast a view,
And equall'd Hylas, if the glass be true;
But since those graces meet my eyes no more,
I shun, &c.

IMITATIONS,

VER. 27. Virgil again from the Cyclops of Theocritus,

nuper me in littore vidi,
Cum placidum ventis ftaret mare ; non ego Daphnim,

Judice te, mecuam, fi nunquam fallat imago.
VER. 40. bequeath'd in death, &c.] Virg. Ecl. ii.

Eft mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutis
Fistuld, Damætas dono mihi quam dedit olim,
Et dixit moriens, Te nunc habet ifta fecundum.

N O T F. S. VER. 39. Colin.] The name taken by Spenser in his Eclogues, where his mistress is celebrated under that of Rosalinda,