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WINDSOR-FOREST.

To the Right Honourable

GEORGE Lord LANSDOWN.

HY forefts, Windfor! and thy green retreats,

ΤΗ

At once the Monarch's and the Mufe's feats, Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids! Unlock your springs, and open all your shades. GRANVILLE Commands; your aid, O Mufes bring! What Mufe for GRANVILLE can refufe to fing! 6

VARIATIONS.

VER. 3, etc. Originally thus,

Chafte goddess of the woods,

Nymphs of the vales, and Naïds of the floods,

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

NOTES.

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

VER. 6.

IMITATIONS.

neget quis carmina Gallo?

Virg.

The Groves of Eden vanish'd now fo long, Live in defcription, and look green in song: Thefe, were my breast infpir'd with equal flame, Like them in beauty, fhould be like in fame. Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water feem to ftrive again; Not Chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd, But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd: Where order in variety we fee,

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15

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And where, tho' all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a chequer'd scene display,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;
As fome coy nymph her lover's warm address
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite reprefs.
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 blueifh hills afcend.
Ev'n the wild heath displays her purple dyes,
And 'midst the defert fruitful fields arife,
That crown'd with tufted trees and springing corn,
Like verdant ifles the fable wafte adorn.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 25. Originally thus ;

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

25

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 those trees adorn.
Not proud Olympus yields a nobler fight,

30

Tho' Gods affembled grace his tow'ring height,
Than what more humble mountains offer here, 35
Where, in their bleffings, all thofe Gods appear.
See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd;
Here blufhing Flora paints th' enamel'd ground,
Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpect ftand,
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand;
Rich Induftry fits fmiling on the plains,
And peace and plenty tell, a STUART reigns.
Not thus the land appear'd in ages past,

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45

A dreary defert, and a gloomy waîte,
To favage beafts and favage laws a prey,
And kings more furious and fevere than they;
Who claim'd the skies, difpeopled air and floods,
The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods:
Cities laid wafte, they ftorm'd the dens and caves,
(For wifer brutes were backward to be flaves,)

VARIATIONS.

VER. 49. Originally thus in the MS.

From towns laid wafte, to dens and caves they ran
(For who firft ftoop'd to be a flave was man.)

NOTES.

VER. 45. favage laws] The Foreft Laws.

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What could be free, when lawless beasts obey'd,
And ev'n the elements a Tyrant fway'd?

In vain kind seasons swell'd the teeming grain,
Soft fhow'rs diftill'd, and funs grew warm in vain;
The fwain with tears his fruftrate labour yields, 55
And famifh'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields.
What wonder then, a beast or subject flain
Were equal crimes in a defpotic reign?
Both doom'd alike, for fportive Tyrants bled,
But while the fubject ftarv'd, the beaft was fed. 60
Proud Nimrod firft 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. 64
The fields are ravish'd from th' induftrious fwains,
From men their cities, and from Gods their fanes:

VER. 57, etc.

VARIATIONS.

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 beafts but to men ;, which occafioned the alteration.

NOTES.

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

IMITATIONS.

VER. 65. The fields are ravish'd from th' industrious fwains, From men their cities, and from Gods their fanes :]Translated from Templa adimit divis, fora civibus, arva colonis,

an old monkish writer, I forget who.

70

The levell'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er;
The hollow winds thro' naked temples roar;
Round broken columns clafping ivy twin'd;
O'er heaps of ruin ftalk'd the stately hind;
The fox obfcene to gaping tombs retires,
And favage howlings fill the facred quires.
Aw'd by his Nobles, by his Commons curft,
Th' Oppreffor rul'd tyrannic where he durft,
Stretch'd o'er the Poor and Church his iron rod, 75
And ferv'd alike his Vaffals and his God.
Whom ev'n the Saxon fpar'd, and bloody Dane,
The wanton victims of his sport remain.
But fee, the man, who fpacious regions gave
A wafte for beafts, himself deny'd a grave!
Stretch'd on the lawn his fecond hope survey,
At once the chafer, and at once the prey :
Lo Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart,
Bleeds in the foreft like a wounded hart.
Succeeding monarchs heard the fubjects cries, 85
Nor faw difpleas'd the peaceful cottage rife,
Then gath'ring flocks on unknown mountains fed,
O'er fandy wilds were yellow harvests spread,
The forests wonder'd at th' unusual grain,
And fecret tranfport touch'd the confcious fwain.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 72. And wolves with howling fill etc.]

80

The Author thought this an error, wolves not being common in England at the time of the Conqueror.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 89. Miraturque novas frondes et non fua poma. Virg,

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