*

Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn ;

To leafless shrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed,
And od❜rous myrtle to the noisome weed.

The + lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead,
And boys in flow'ry bands the tyger lead;
The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,
And harmless ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake,
Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales furvey,
And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial || Salem rife!
Exalt thy tow❜ry head, and lift thy eyes!

VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.]

VIRG. E. 4. ver. 21. Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capella
Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones-

Occidet & ferpens, & fallax herba veneni
Occidet.

75

Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordó!

toto furget gens aurea mundo! —incipient magni procedere menfes !

Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo! &c.

The reader needs only turn to the paffages of Ifaiah, here cited.

The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders distended with milk: nor fball the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent shall die, and the berb that conceals prifon fhall die.

* Ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. lv. ver. 13.

+ Ch. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8.

Ch. 63. ver. 25.

Ch. lx. ver. 1.

85

ISAIAH, ch. xi. ver. 16, &c. The wolf ball dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them •And the lion shall eat firaw like And the fucking child shall play on the bole of the afp, and the weaned child shalt put his band on the den of the cockatrice.

tbe ox.

Ver. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, &c.]

The thoughts of Isaiah, which compose the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thofe general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftieft parts of his Pollio.

See,

See, a long * race thy spacious courts adorn ;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crouding ranks on ev'ry fide arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barb'rous + nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs !
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,

And feeds of gold in Ophyr's mountains glow.
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rifing || Sun fhall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn,
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The § feas fhall wafte, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Meffiah reigns!

Ch, lx. ver. 4. + Ch. Ix. ver. 3.

Ch. lx. ver. 6.

Ch. lx. ver. 19, 20.

§ Ch. li. ver. vi. and ch. liv. ver. 10.

90

95 *

100

105

WINDSOR

WINDSOR FOREST.

To the Right Honourable

GEORGE Lord LANSDOWN.

Non injuffa cano: te noftræ, Vare, myricæ,
Te Nemus omne canet; nec Phobo gratior ulla eft,
Quam fibi quæ Vari præfcripfit pagina nomen.

VOL. I.

F

VIRG.

WINDSOR FOREST.

To the Right Honourable

GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN.

TH

HY forefts, Windfor! and thy green retreats,
At once the Monarch's and the Mufe's feats,
Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids!
Unlock your fprings, and open all your shades.
Granville commands; your aid O Mufes bring!
What Muse for Granville can refuse to fing?

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

And where, tho' all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a checquer'd scene difplay,
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 opening glades,
Thin trees arise that fhun cach other's fhades.

5

10

15

20

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 Pastorals: the latter part was not added till the year 1710, in which it was pub lifhed.

F 2

Here