THE

TEMPLE OF APOLLO.

POVERTY.

human
Thou great infpirer of the poet's fong!
In vain APOLLO dictates, and the Nine
Attend in vain, unlefs thy mighty hand
Direct the tuneful lyre. Without thy aid
The canvas breathes no longer. Mufic's charms,
Uninfluenc'd by thee, forget to pleafe:

Thou giv'ft the organ found; by thee the flute
Breathes harmony; the tuneful viol owns
Thy pow'rful touch. The warbling voice is thine:
Thou gav'ft to Nicolini every grace,

And every charm to Farinelli's fong.

By thee the lawyer pleads. The foldier's arm
Is nerv'd by thee. Thy pow'r the gownman feels,
And, urg'd by thee, unfolds heav'n's myftic truths.
The haughty fair, that fwells with proud difdain,
And fmiles at mifchiefs which her eyes have made,
Thou humbleft to fubmit and blefs mankind.

Hail, pow'r omnipotent! me uninvok'd
Thou deign'ft to vifit, far, alas! unfit
To bear thy awful prefence. O, retire!
At diftance let me view thee; left too nigh,
I fink beneath the terrors of thy face.
B

MAY.

ETHEREAL daughter of the lufty fpring,
And fweet Favonius, ever gentle MAY!
Shall I, unblam'd, prefume of thee to fing,
And with thy living colours gild my lay
Thy genial spirit mantles in my brain;
My numbers languifh in a fofter vein:
I pant, too emulous, to flow in Spenser's strain.
Say, mild Aurora of the blooming year,

With ftorms when winter blackens nature's face When whirling winds the howling forest tear,

And shake the folid mountains from their bafe: Say, what refulgent chambers of the sky

Veil thy beloved glories from the eye,

For which the nations pine, and earth's fair children die?

Where Leda's twins, forth from their diamond tow'r,
Alternate o'er the night their beams divide;
In light embofom'd, happy, and fecure

From winter rage, thou choofeft to abide.
Bleft refidence! for, there, as poets tell,
The pow'rs of poetry and wifdom dwell;
Apollo wakes the arts; the mufes ftrike the fhell.
Certes o'er Rhedicyna's laurell'd mead,

(For ever fpread, ye laurels, green and new!) The brother ftars their gracious nurture shed, And fecret bleffings of poetic dew.

They bathe their horfes in the learned flood,
With flame recruited for the ethereal road,
And deem fair Ifis' fwans fair as their father god.
No fooner APRIL, trimm'd with garlands gay,
Rains fragrance o'er the world, and kindly fhow'rs;
But, in the eastern pride of beauty, MAY,

To gladden earth, forfakes her heav'nly bow'rs, Reftoring nature from her palfy'd state.

APRIL, retire; ne longer nature wait;

Soon may fhe iffue from the morning's golden gate.

Come, bounteous MAY! in fulness of thy might,
Lead brifkly on the mirth-infufing hours,
All-recent from the bofom of delight,

With nectar nurtur'd; and involv'd in flow'rs: By fpring's fweet blush; by nature's teeming womb; By Hebe's dimply fmile; by Flora's bloom; By Venus' felf (for Venus' felf demands thee) come! By the warm fighs, in dewy even-tide,

Of melting maidens in the woodbine groves, To pity loofen'd, foften'd down from pride; By billing turtles, and by cooing doves; By the youth's plainings ftealing on the air, (For youths will plain, though yielding be the fair) Hither to blefs the maidens and the youths repair. With dew befpangled, by the hawthorn buds, With freshness breathing, by the daify'd plains, By the mix'd mufic of the warbling woods,

And jovial roundelays of nymphs and fwains; In thy full energy, and rich array,

Delight of earth and heaven! O'bleffed MAY! From heav'n defcend to earth: on earth vouchsafe to stay.

She comes!-a filken camus, em'ral'd-green,
Gracefully loofe, adown her fhoulders flows,
(Fit to enfold the limbs of Paphos' Queen)
And with the labours of the needle glows,
Purfled by nature's hand! the amorous air
And mufky western breezes faft repair,

Her mantle proud to fwell, and wanton with her hair.

Her hair (but rather threads of light it seems)
With the gay honours of the fpring entwin'd,
Copious, unbound, in nectar'd ringlets ftreams,
Floats glitt'ring on the fun, and fcents the wind,
Love-fick with odours !-Now to order roll'd,
It melts upon her bofom's dainty mould,

Or, curling round her waste, difparts its wavy gold.

Young circling rofes, blufhing round them throw
The fweet abundance of their purple rays,
And lilies, dipp'd in fragrance, freshly blow,
With blended beauties in her angel face.
The humid radiance beaming from her eyes
The air and feas illumes, the earth and fkies;
And open, when the fmiles, the fweets of Paradise.
On Zephyr's wing the laughing goddess view,
Diftilling balm. She cleaves the buxom air,
Attended by the filver-footed dew,

The ravages of winter to repair.
She gives her naked bofom to the gales,
Her naked bofom down the ether fails;

Her bofom breathes delight; her breath the spring exhales.

All as the phoenix in Arabian skies,

New-burnish'd from his fpicy funeral pyres, At large, in rofeal undulation flies;

Ilis plumage dazzles and the gazer tires: Around their king the plumy nations wait, Attend his triumph, and augment his ftate: He tow'ring, claps his wings, and wins th' ethereal height.

So round this phoenix of the gaudy year,

A thoufand, nay, ten thousand fports and smiles, Fluttering in gold, along the hemifphere,

Her praifes chaunt: her praifes glad the ifles. Confcious of her approach (to deck her bow'rs) Earth from her fruitful lap and bofom pours A wafte of fpringing fweets, and voluntary flow'rs. Narciffus fair, in fnowy velvet gown'd;

Ah foolish! fill to love the fountain-brim : Sweet hyacinth, by Phoebus erfi bemoan'd; And tulip, flaring in her powder'd trim. Whate'er, Armida, in thy gardens blew; Whate'er the fun inhales, or fips the dew; Whate'er compofe the chaplet on IANTHES' brow

He who undaz'd can wander o'er her face,
May gaze upon the folar blaze at noon!-
What more than female fweetness and a grace
Peculiar! fave, IANTHE, thine alone,
Ineffable effufion of the day!

So very much the fame, that lovers say,
MAY IS IANTHE; or the dear IANTHE, MAY.
So far as doth the harbinger of day

The leffer lamps of night in theen excel;
So far in sweetness and in beauty MAY,
Above all other months, doth bear the bell;
So far as MAY doth other months exceed,
So far in virtue and in goodlihead,

Above all other nymphs, IANTHE bears the meed.
Welcome! as to a youthful poet, wine,
To fire his fancy and enlarge his foul:
He weaves the laurel-chaplet with the vine,
And grows immortal as he drains the bowl.
Welcome! as beauty to the love-fick fwain,
For which he long had figh'd, but figh'd in vain;
He darts into her arms; quick vanishes his pain.
The drowsy elements, arouz'd by thee,

Roll to harmonious measures, active all!
Earth, water, air, and fire, with feeling glee,
Exult to celebrate thy festival.

Fire glows intenfer; fofter blows the air,

More fmooth the waters flow; earth fmiles more

fair:

Earth, water, air, and fire, thy glad'ning impulfe fhare.

What boundless tides of fplendour o'er the fkies,
O'erflowing brightness! ftream their golden rays!
Heav'n's azure kindles with the varying dies,
Reflects the glory, and returns the blaze.
Air whitens; wide the tracts of ether been
With colours damask'd rich, and goodly fheen,
And all above is blue, and all below is green.