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Yet, notwithstanding all that the author has said concerning this external mark of reverence, he is sensible that there is a set of cynical philosophers, who are so far from paying it due regard, that they count it no better than a refined species of idolatry, and an abomination utterly unbecoming so noble and erect a creature as man. Upon these gentlemen it is not to be expected that the best bow which the author or his book could make, would have any effect; and therefore he shall decline that ceremony with them, to take them by the hand in a friendly manner, hoping that they will make some allowance for his having been taught against his own consent to dance, and scribble from his infancy.

He is aware likewise that there is another sect of philosophers, whom his ingenious friend Mr. G. author of the Spiritual Quixote, distinguishes by the name of censorious Christians, "who," as he expresses it," will not suffer a man to nod in his elbow-chair, or to talk nonsense without contradicting or ridiculing him."-But as the writer of this admirable work has shown himself so able and successful a casuist in a similar instance of a petulant and over officious zeal, he hopes these gentlemen will, in imitation of Mr. Wildgoose, for the future refrain from a practice so injurious to their neighbours' repose, and so contrary to all the laws of civility and good manners.

It is true, some of these literati may be considered under a more formidable character, from their custom of holding a monthly meeting, or office for arraigning the conduct of all whom they suspect of maintaining heretical opinions contrary to their jurisdiction. In this view these good fathers scruple not to put an author upon the rack for the slightest offence, and not content with their claims of inspiration and infallibility, will torture his own words to prove his guilt. In the execution of this office they judge all men by their own standard, and, like the tyrant Procrustes, regardless of the acute pain they inflict at every stroke, will lop off a foot, or any other portion of an author's matter, or lengthen it out, as best suits their purpose, to bring him to their measure.

But to the inexpressible comfort of himself, and of every free-born English writer, the author reflects that the competence of such a court cannot be admitted in a protestant country: and to speak the truth, from experience, its power, as exercised amongst us, though still very tremendous, is tempered with a gentleness and moderation unknown to those of Spain and Portugal.

But though the author is not without hopes, by his complaisance and condescension, to conciliate the affections of all those various sects of the learned in every part of the world, yet his principal dependence is upon the gentle and humane, whose minds are always open to the feelings of others, as well as to the gratification of their own refined taste and sentiments; and to these he makes his appeal, which he hopes they will accept as a tribute due to their superior merit, and a testimony of the profound respect with which he is their

most obedient,

humble servant,

THE AUTHOR.

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PREFACE.

THE following poem takes its name from a ridge of hills, which is the boundary between the counties of Oxford and Warwick, and remarkable for its beautiful and extensive prospect, of which the latter forms a considerable part. This circumstance afforded the writer an opportunity, very agreeable to him, of paying a tribute to his native country, by exhibiting its beauties to the public in a poetical delineation; divided, by an imaginary line, into a number of distinct scenes, corresponding with the different times of the day, each forming an entire picture, and containing its due proportion of objects and colouring.

In the execution of this design, he endeavoured to make it as extensively interesting as he could, by the frequent introduction of general reflections, historical, philosophical, and moral; and to enliven the description by digressions and episodes, naturally arising from the subject.

EDGE-HILL. BOOK I. MORNING.

ARGUMENT.

The subject proposed. Address. Ascent to the hill. General view. Comparison. Philosophical account of the origin and formation of mountains, &c. Morning view, comprehending the southwest part of the scene, interspersed with elements and examples of rural taste; showing, at the same time, its connection with, and dependence upon civil government; and concluding with an historical episode of the Red-horse.

RITANNIA'S rural charms, and tranquil scenes, Far from the circling ocean, where her fleets, Like Eden's nightly guards', majestic ride, I sing; O may the theme and kindred soil Propitious prove, and to th' appointed hill Invite the Muses from their cloister'd shades, With me to rove, and harmonize the strain!!

Nor shall they, for a time, regret the loss Of their lov'd Isis, and fair Cherwel's stream, While to the north of their own beauteous fields The pictur'd scene they view, where Avon shapes His winding way, enlarging as it flows, Nor hastes to join Sabrina's prouder wave. Like a tall rampart! here the mountain rears Its verdant edge; and, if the tuneful maids Their presence deign, shall with Parnassus vie. Level and smooth the track, which thither leads! Of champaign bold and fair! its adverse side Abrupt and steep! Thanks, Miller 2! to thy paths, That ease our winding steps! Thanks to the fount,

1 Milton. Paradise Lost, book iv. * Sanderson Miller, esq. of Radway.

The trees, the flow'rs, imparting to the sense
Fragrance or dulcet sound of murm'ring rill,
And stilling ev'ry tumult in the breast!
And oft the stately tow'rs, that overtop
The rising wood, and oft the broken arch,
Or mould'ring wall, well taught to counterfeit
The waste of time, to solemn thought excite,
And crown with graceful pomp the shaggy hill.
So Virtue paints the steep ascent to Fame 3:
So her aerial residence displays.

Still let thy friendship, which prepar'd the way,
Attend, and guide me, as my ravish'd sight
O'er the bleak hill or shelter'd valley roves.
Teach me with just observance to remark
Their various charms, their storied fame record,
And to the visual join the mental search.
The summit 's gaiu'd ! and, from its airy height,
The late-trod plain looks like an inland sea,
View'd from some promontory's hoary head,
With distant shores environ'd; not with face
Glassy and uniform, but when its waves
Are gently ruffled by the southern gale,
And the tall masts like waving forests rise.

Such is the scene! that, from the terrac'd hill,
Displays its graces; intermixture sweet
Of lawns and groves, of open and retir'd.
Vales, farms, towns, villas, castles, distant spires,
And hills on hills, with ambient clouds enrob'd,
In long succession court the lab'ring sight,
Lost in the bright confusion. Thus the youth,
Escap'd from painful drudgery of words,
Views the fair fields of science wide display'd;
Where Phebus dwells, and all the tuneful Nine;
Perplex'd awhile he stands, and now to this,
Now that blest seat of harmony divine
Explores his way, with giddy rapture tir'd:
Till some sage Mentor, whose experienc'd feet
Have trod the mazy path, directs his search,
And deads him wond'ring to their bright abodes.
Come then, my friend! guide thou th' advent'rous
Muse,

And with thy counsel regulate her flight.
Yet, ere the sweet excursion she begins,
O listen, while, from sacred records drawn,
My daring song unfolds the cause, whence rose
This various face of things-of high, of low-
Of rough and smooth. For with its parent Earth
Coeval not prevail'd what now appears
Of hill and dale; nor was its new-form'd shape,
Like a smooth polish'd orb, a surface plain,
Wanting the sweet variety of change,
Concave, convex, the deep, and the sublime:
Nor, from old Ocean's watry bed, were scoop'd
Its neighb'ring shores; nor were they now depress'd,
Now rais'd by sudden shocks; but fashion'd all
In perfect harmony by laws divine+,
On passive matter, at its birth impress'd.

* See Lord Shaftsbury's Judgment of Hercules. ✦ Amongst the many fanciful conceits of writers on the subject, a learned divine, in his Confutation of Dr. Burnett's Theory, supposes that hills and mountains might be occasioned by fermentation, after the manner of leaven in dough; while others have attributed their production to the several different causes mentioned above.

The following solution, by the descent of water from the surface of the Earth to the centre, seemed most easy and natural to the author, and is therefore adopted. Vide Warren's Geologiæ, 1698.

When now two days, as mortals count their time, Th' Almighty had employ'd on man's abode; To motion rous'd the dead, inactive mass, The dark illumin'd, and the parts terrene Impelling each to each, the circle form'd, Compact and firm, of Earth's stupendous orb, With boundless seas, as with a garment cloth'd, On the third morn he bade the waters flow Down to their place, and let dry land appear; And it was so. Straight to their destin'd bed, From every part, th' obedient waters ran, Shaping their downward course, and, as they found Resistance varying with the varying soil, In their retreat they form'd the gentle slope, Or headlong precipice, or deep-worn dale, Or valley, stretching far its winding maze, As further still their humid train they led, By Heav'n directed to the realms below3.

Now first was seen the variegated face Of Earth's fair orb shap'd by the plastic flood: Now smooth and level like its liquid plains, Now, like its ruffled waves, sweet interchange Of hill and dale, and now a rougher scene, Mountains on mountains lifted to the sky. Such was her infant form, yet unadorn'd! And in the naked soil the subtle stream❝ Fretted its winding track. So he ordain'd! Who form'd the fluid mass of atoms small, The principles of things! who moist from dry, From heavy sever'd light, compacting close The solid glebe, stratum of rock, or ore, Or crumbling marl, or close tenacious clay, Or what beside, in wondrous order rang'd, Orb within orb, Earth's secret depths contains. So was the shapely sphere, on ev'ry side, With equal pressure of surrounding air Sustain'd, of sea and land harmonious form'd. Nor beauteous covering was withheld, for straight, At the divine command, the verd'rous grass Upsprang unsown, with ev'ry seedful herb, Fruit, piant, or tree, pregnant with future store; God saw the whole-And lo! 't was very good. But man, ungrateful man! to deadly ill Soon turn'd the good bestow'd, with horrid crimes Polluting Earth's fair seat, his Maker's gift! Till mercy could no more with justice strive.

Then wrath divine unbarr'd Heav'n's watry gates, And loos'd the fountains of the great abyss. Again the waters o'er the Earth prevail'd. Hills rear'd their heads in vain. Full forty days The flood increas'd, nor, till sev'n Moons had wan'd, Appear'd the mountain tops. Perish'd all flesh, One family except! and all the works Of art were swept into th' oblivious pool. In that dread time what change th' avenging flood Might cause in Earth's devoted fabric, who Of mortal birth can tell? Whether again

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'T was to its first chaotic mass reduc'd",
To be reform'd anew? or, in its orb,

What violence, what disruptions it endur'd 8 ?
What ancient mountains stood the furious shock?
What new arose? For doubtless new there are,
If all are not; strong proof exhibiting
Of later rise, and their once fluid state,
By stranger-fossils, in their inmost bed
Of looser mould, or marble rock entomb'd,
Or shell marine, incorp'rate with themselves:
Nor less the conic hill 9, with ample base,
Or scarry slope 9 by rushing billows torn,
Or fissure deep 9, in the late delug'd soil
Cleft by succeeding draught, side answering side,
And eurve to adverse curve exact oppos'd,
Confess the watry pow'r; while scatter'd trains,
Or rocky fragments, wash'd from broken hills,
Take up the tale, and spread it round the globe.
Then, as the flood retir'd, another face
Of things appear'd, another, and the same!
Taurus, and Libanus, and Atlas, feign'd

To prop the skies! and that fam'd Alpine ridge,
Or Appenine, or snow-clad Caucasus,
Or Ararat, on whose emergent top.

First moor'd that precious bark, whose chosen crew
Again o'erspread Earth's universal orb.
For now, as at the first, from ev'ry side
Hasted the waters to their ancient bounds,
The vast abys! perhaps from thence ascend,
Urg'd by th' incumbent air, through mazy clefts
Beneath the deep, or rise in vapours warm,
Piercing the vaulted Earth, anon condens'd
Within the lofty mountains' secret cells,

Confirming, with persuasive eloquence Drawn from the rocky mount or watry fen, Those sacred pages, which record the past, And awfully predict its future doom.

Now, while the Sun its heav'nly radiance sheds Across the vale, disclosing all its charms, Emblem of that fair light, at whose approach The Gentile darkness fled! ye nymphs, and swains! Come haste with me, while now 't is early morn, Through Upton's airy fields 2, to where yon point Projecting hides Northampton's ancient seat 13, Retir'd, and hid amidst surrounding shades: Counting a length of honourable years, And solid worth; while painted Belvideres, Naked, aloft, and built but to be seen, Shrink at the Sun, and totter to the wind.

So sober sense oft shuns the public view, In privacy conceal'd, while the pert sons Of folly flutter in the glare of day.

Hence, o'er the plain, where, strip'd with alleys

green,

The golden harvest nods, let me your view
Progressive lead to Verney's sister walls '4,
Alike in honour, as in name allied!
Alike her walls a noble master own,
Studious of elegance. At his command,
New pillars grace the dome with Grecian pomp
Of Corinth's gay design. At his command,
On hill, or plain, new culture clothes the scene
With verdant grass, or variegated grove;
And bubbling rills in sweeter notes discharge
Their liquid stores. Along the winding vale,
At his command, observant of the shore,

Ere they their summits gain, down their steep sides The glitt'ring stream, with correspondent grace,

To trickle in a never-ceasing round 10.

So up the porous stone, or crystal tube,
The philosophic eye with wonder views
The tinctur'd fluid rise; so tepid dews
From chymic founts in copious streams distil.

Such is the structure, such the wave-worn face Of Earth's huge fabric! beauteous to the sight, And stor❜d with wonders", to the attentive mind

7 According to Mr. Hutchinson and his followers. 8 According to Dr. Burnett's Theory.

There are some remarkable traces of the great event here treated of, in each of these kinds, at Welcombe, near Stratford upon Avon, formerly a seat of the Combe family, the whole scene bearing the strongest marks of some violent conflict of Nature, and particularly of the agency of water.

10 May not the ebbing and flowing of the sea, to whatever cause it is owing, tend to assist this operation, as the pulsation of the heart accelerates the circulation of the blood in animal bodies?

The reader may see this hypothesis very ably supported by Mr. Catcot, in his Essay on the Deluge, second edit., together with many respectable Dames, ancient and modern, by whom it is patronised. The following passage from Lucretius is quoted by him, as well expressing their general meaning:

Partim quod subter per terras diditur omnes. Percolatur enim virus, retroque remanat Materies humoris, et ad caput amnibus omnis Convenit, unde super terras fluit agmine dulci, Quà via secta semel liquido pede detulit undas. "Trees of a very large size, torn up by the roots, and other vegetable and animal bodies, the spoils of VOL. XVII.

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Its course pursues, and o'er th' exulting wave
The stately bridge a beauteous form displays.
On either side, rich as th' embroider'd floor
From Persia's gaudy looms, and firm as fair,
The chequer'd lawns with count'nance blithe pro-
claim

The Graces reign. Plains, hills, and woods reply
"The Graces reign," and Nature smiles applause,
Smile on, fair source of beauty, source of bliss!
To crown the master's cost, and deck her path
Who shares his joy, of gentlest manners join'd
With manly sense, train'd to the love refin’d
Of Nature's charms in Wroxton's beauteous groves 15,
Thy neighb'ring villa's ever open gate,
And festive board, O Walton 16! next invite
The pleasing toil. Unwilling, who can pay
To thee the votive strain? For Science here
And Candour dwell, prepar'd alike to cheer
The stranger-guest, or for the nation's weal
To pour the stores mature of wisdom forth,
In senatorial councils often prov'd,

the Deluge, are found in every part of the Earth, but chiefly in fens, or bogs, or amongst peat-earth, which is an assemblage of decayed vegetables.

See Woodward's Nat. Hist. of the Earth, &c. 12 Upton, the seat of Robert Child, esq. 13 Compton-Winyate, a seat of the right hon. the earl of Northampton, at the foot of Edge-Hill. 14 Compton-Verney, a seat of the right hon. lord Willoughby de Broke.

15 Wroxton, the seat of the right hon. the earl of Guilford, father of lady Willoughby de Broke.

16 Walton, the seat of sir Charles Mordaunt, bart. many years a member of parliament for the county of Warwick.

U

And, by the public voice attested long,
Long may it be! with well-deserv'd applause.
And see beneath the shade of full-grown elm,
Or near the border of the winding brook,
Skirting the grassy lawn, her polish'd train
Walk forth to taste the fragrance of the grove,
Woodbine, or rose, or to the upland scene
Of wildly-planted hill, or trickling stream
From the pure rock, or moss-lin'd grottos cool,
The Naiads' humid cell! protract the way
With learned converse, or ingenuous song.

The search pursue to Charlecote's fair domain '7,
Where Avon's sportive stream delighted stravs
Through the gay smiling meads, and to his bed,
Hele's gentle current wooes, by Lucy's hand
In ev'ry graceful ornament attir'd,
And worthier, such, to share his liquid realms !
Near, nor unmindful of th' increasing flood,
Stratford her spacious magazines unfolds,
And hails th' unwieldly barge from western shores,
With foreign dainties fraught, or native ore
Of pitchy hue, to pile the fuel'd grate
In woolly stores, or husky grain repay'd.

To speed her wealth, lo! the proud bridge 18 extends
His num'rous arches, stately monument
Of old munificence, and pious love

Of native soil! There Stower exulting pays
His tributary stream, well pleas'd with wave
Auxiliary her pond'rous stores to waft;
And boasting, as he flows, of growing fame,
And wondrous beauties on his banks display'd-
Of Alcot's swelling lawns 1, and fretted spires
Of fairest model, Gothic or Chinese-

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Of Eatington's, and Tolton's verdant meads,
And groves of various leaf, and Honington 24,
Profuse of charms, and attic elegance;
Nor fails he to relate, in jocund mood,
How liberally the masters of the scene
Enlarge his current, and direct his course
With winding grace-and how his crystal wave
Reflects th' inverted spires and pillar'd domes-
And how the frisking deer play on his sides,
Pict'ring their branched heads, with wanton sport,
In his clear face. Pleas'd with the vaunting tale,
Nor jealous of his fame, Avon receives
The prattling stream, and, towards thy nobler flood,
Sabrina fair, pursues his length'ning way.

Hail, beauteous Avon, hail! on whose fair banks
The smiling daisies, and their sister tribes,
Violets, and cuckoo-buds, and lady-smocks,
A brighter dye disclose, and proudly tell
That Shakspeare, as he stray'd these meads along,
Their simple charms admir'd, and in his verse
Preserv'd. in never-fading bloom to live.

And thou, whose birth these walls unrival'd boast, That mock'st the rules of the proud Stagyrite, And learning's tedious toil, hail, mighty bard! Thou great magic an, hail! Thy piercing thought Unaided saw each movement of the mind, As skilful artists view the small machine,

17 Charlecote, the seat of George Lucy, esq. 18 This bridge was built in the reign of king Henry VII. at the sole cost and charge of sir Hugh Clopton, knt. lord mayor of the city of London, and a native of this place.

19 The seat of James West, esq.

20 The seat of the hon. George Shirley, esq.
21 The seat of sir Henry Parker, bart.
22 The seat of Joseph Townsend, esq.

The secret springs and nice dependencies,
And to thy mimic scenes, by fancy wrought
To such a wondrous shape, th' impassion'd breast
In floods of grief or peals of laughter bow'd,
Obedient to the wonder-working strain,
Like the tun'd string responsive to the touch,
Or to the wizard's charm, the passive storm.
Humour and wit, the tragic pomp, or phrase
Familiar, flow'd spontaneous from thy tongue,
As flowers from Nature's lap.-Thy potent spells
From their bright seats aerial sprites detain'd,
Or from their unseen haunts, and slumb'ring shades,
Awak'd the fairy tribes, with jocund step
The circled green and leafy hal to tread:
While, from his dripping caves, old Avon sent
His willing Naiads to their harmless rout.

Alas! how languid is the labour'd song,
The slow result of rules and tortur'd sense,
Compar'd with thine! thy animated thought,
And glowing phrase! which art in vain essays,
And schools can never teach. Yet, though deny'd
Thy pow'rs, by situation more allied,

I court the genius of thy sportive Muse
On Avon's bank, her sacred haunts explore,
And hear in ev'ry breeze her charming notes.
Beyond these flow'ry meads, with classic streams
Enrich'd, two sister rills their currents join,
And Ikenild displays his Roman pride.
There Alcester 23 her ancient honour boasts.
But fairer fame, and far more happy lot
She boasts, O Ragley 24! in thy courtly train
Of Hertford's splendid line! Lo! from these shades,
Ev'n now his sov'reign, studious of her weal,
Calls him to bear his delegated rule

To Britain's sister isle. Hibernia's sons
Applaud the choice, and hail him to their shore
With cordial gratulation. Him, well-pleas'd
With more than filial rev'rence to obey,
Beauchamp attends. What son, but would rejoice
The deeds of such a father to record !
What father, but were blest in such a son!
Nor may the Muse omit with Conway's name 25
To grace her song. O! might it worthy flow
Of those her theme involves! The cider land,
In Georgic strains by her own Philips sung,
Should boast no brighter fame, though proudly

grac'd

With loftiest-titled names-The Cecil line,
Or Beaufort's, or, O Chandos'! thine, or his
In Anna's councils high, her fav'rite peer,
Harley! by me still honour'd in his race.

See, how the pillar'd isles and sately dome Brighten the woodland shade! while scatter'd hills, Airy and light, in many a conic form,

A theatre compose, grotesque and wild,
And, with their shaggy sides, contract the vale
Winding, in straiten'd circuit, round their base.
Beneath their waving umbrage Flora spreads
Her spotted couch, primrose, and hyacinth
Profuse, with ev'ry simpler bud that blows
On hill or dale. Such too thy flow'ry pride,

23 So called from its situation on the river Alenus, or Alne, and from its being a Roman station on the Ikenild-street.

24 A seat of the right hon the earl of Hertford. 25 The right hon. Henry Seymour Conway, esq. one of his majesty's princpal secretaries of state, and brother to the right hon. the earl of Hertford.

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