Who vifits with a gun, prefents you birds, Then gives a fmacking bufs, and cries,-no words! Or with his hound comes hallowing from the ftable, Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table; Whofe laughs are hearty, tho' his jefts are coarse, And loves you best of all things-but his horfe. In fome fair ev'ning, on your elbow laid, You dream of triumphs in the rural shade ; In penfive thought recall the fancy'd scene, See coronations rife on every green; Before you país th' imaginary fights
Of lords, and earls, and dukes, and garter'd knights, While the fpread fan, o'er-fhades your clofing eyes; Then give one flirt, and all the vifion flies. Thus vanish fcepters, coronets and balls, And leave you in lone woods, or empty walls! So when your flave, at fome dear idle time, (Not plagu'd with head-achs, or the want of rhyme) Stands in the ftree:s, abftracted from the crew, And while he feems to ftudy, thinks of you; Juit when his fancy points your fprightly eyes, Or fees the blush of soft Parthenia rife,
Gay pats my fhoulder, and you vanish quite, Streets, chairs, and coxcombs rufh upon my fight; Vex'd to be ftill in town, I knit my brow, Look four, and hum a tune, as you may now.
CHA P. XIII.
Of Defcriptive POETRY.
DEfcripfive Poetry is of univerfal ufe, fince there is
nothing in nature but what may be defcribed. As poems of this kind, however, are intended more to delight, than inftruct, great care fhould be taken to make them agreeable. The error which young people are most likely to run into is that of dwelling too long on minute circumftances; which not only renders the piece tedious, and trifling, but deprives the reader of the pleasure he would have in making little discoveries of his own; for in defcriptions that are intended as ornamental, the poet fhould never
fay fo much but that the reader may perceive he was capable of faying more, and left fome things unobserved in compliment to his fagacity. Milton's L'Allegro and II Penferofo are to be admir'd on this account, as well as others, for in these every thing paffes as it were in a review before you, and one thought starts a hundred. Defcriptive Poems are made beautiful by fimilies properly introduced, images of feigned perfons, and allufions to ancient fables, or hiftorical facts; as will appear by a perusal of the best of these poems, especially thofe of Milton abovemention'd, Denham's Cooper's Hill, and Pope's Windsor Foreft. The L'Allegro and Il Penferofo we shall introduce as examples, but the others are too long for our purpose.
L'ALLEGRO Or the lively Pleasures of Mirth.
Hence loathed melancholy,
Of Cerberus and blackest midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn
'Mongft horrid shapes, and shrieks and fights unholy, Find out fome uncouth cell,
Where brooding darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night raven fings;
There under ebon fhades, and low brow'd rocks, As ragged as thy locks.
In dark Cimmerian defert ever dwell: But come thou goddess fair and free, In heav'n ycleap'd Euprofyne, And by men, heart-eafing mirth, Whom lovely Venus at a birth, With two fifter Graces more To ivy crowned Bacchus bore; Or whether (as fome fages fing) The frolic wind that breathes the spring, Zephyr with Aurora playing,
As he met her once a maying,
There on beds of violets blue, And fresh-blown roses wash'd in dew, Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair, So buxom, blithe, and debonair; Hafte thee, nymph, and bring with thee Jeft and youthful Jollity,
Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles, Nods and becks, and wreathed fmiles,
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, And love to live in dimple fleek; Sport that wrinkled care derides, And Laughter holding both his fides. Come, and trip it as you go On the light fantastic toe,
And in thy right hand lead with thee, The mountain nymph sweet Liberty; And if I give thee honour due, -Mirth, admit me of thy crew
To live with her, and live with thee, In unreproved pleasures free
To hear the lark begin his flight, And fingling startle the dull Night, From his watch tow'r in the fkies, Till the dapple Dawn doth rife; Then to come in fpite of forrow, And at my window bid good morrow, Through the sweet-briar, or the vine, Or the twisted eglantine:
While the cock with lively din Scatters the rear of Darkness thin, And to the ftack, or the barn.door, Stoutly ftruts his dames before: Oft lift'ning how the hounds and horn Chearly roufe the flumb'ring Morn, From the fide of fome hoar hill, Through the high wood echoing thrill: Sometime walking not unseen
By hedge-row elms, or hillocks green, Right against the eastern gate, Where the great Sun begins his ftate, Rob'd in flames and amber light, 'The clouds in thousand liveries dight, While the plow-man near at hand Whiftles o'er the furrow'd land, And the milk-maid fingeth blithe, And the mower whets his fcythe, And every fhepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale. Strait mine eye hath caught new pleasures Whilft the landfkip round it measures,
Ruffet lawns, and fallows gray, Where the nibbling flocks do ftray, Mountains on whofe barren breaft The lab'ring clouds do often reft, Meadows trim with daifies pied, Shallow brooks, and rivers wide: Towers and battlements it fees Bofom'd high in tufted trees, Where perhaps fome beauty lies, The Cynofure of neighb'ring eyes. Hard by, a cottage chimney fmokes. From betwixt two aged oaks, Where Corydon and Thyrfis met, Are at their favory dinner fet
Of herbs, and other country meffes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dreffes; And then in hafte her bow'r fhe leaves, With Theftylis to bind the fheaves; Or if the earlier feafon lead
To the tann'd haycock in the mead. Sometimes with fecure delight The upland hamlets will invite When the merry bells ring round, And the jocond rebecks found
To many a youth, and many a maid, Dancing in the chequer'd thade; And young and old come forth to play On a funfhine holy-day,
Till the live-long day-light fail; Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, With ftories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the junkets eat;. She was pincht, and pull'd, the faid, And he by friar's lanthorn led ; Tells how the drudging goblin fweat, To earn his cream-bowl duly fet, When in one night, ere glimpfe of morn, His fhadowy flail had thresh'd the corn, That ten day-lab'rers could not end ;' Then lays him down the lubber fiend, And ftretch'd out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy ftrength,
And crop-full out of doors he flings, Ere the first cock his matin rings, Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, By whifp'ring winds foon lull'd afleep. Towered cities please us then, And the bufy hum of men,
Where throngs of knights and barons bold In weeds of peace high triumphs hold, With ftore of ladies whofe bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize Of wit, or arms, while both contend To win her grace, whom all commend. There let Hymen oft appear
In faffron robe, with taper clear, And pomp, and feast, and revelry, With mask, and antique pageantry, Such fights as youthful poets dream On fummer eves by haunted ftream. Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Johnson's learned foek be on, Or fweeteft Shakespear, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild; And ever against eating cares, Lap me in foft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verfe,
Such as the meeting foul may pierce In notes, with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out, With wanton heed, and giddy cunning, The melting voice through mazes running, Untwisting all the chains that tye The hidden foul of harmony; That Orpheus felf may heave his head From golden flumber on a bed
Of heapt Elyfian flow'rs, and hear
Such ftrains as would have won the ear
Of Pluto, to have quite fet free His half-regain'd Eurydice. Thefe delights if thou canft give, Mirth with thee I mean to live.
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