Wafte fandy * valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, The spiry fir and shapely box adorn ; To leafless shrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed, 75 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. And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play. VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.] VIRG. E. 4. ver. 21. Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capella Occidet & ferpens, & fallax herba veneni Occidet. The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diffended with milk: nor foall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent shall die, and the berb that conceals poifon shall die. 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 fhalt put bis band on the den of the cockatrice. the ox. Ver. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, &c.] The thoughts of Isaiah, which compofe 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. Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordó! --toto furget gens aurea mundo! --—incipient magni procedere menses! Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæcio! &c. The reader needs only turn to the paffages of Ifaiah, here, cited. * Ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. lv. ver. 13. + Ch. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8. Ch. 63. ver. 25. 3 See, * See, a long race thy fpacious courts adorn ; See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings, For thee Idume's spicy forests blow, And feeds of gold in Ophyr's mountains glow. 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. ୨୦ 95 100 105 WINDSOR WINDSOR FOREST. To the Right Honourable GEORGE Lord LANSDOWN. Non injuffa cano: te noftræ, Vare, myrice, Te Nemus omne canet; nec Phebo gratior ulla eft, VOL. I. F VIRG. WINDSOR FOREST. To the Right Honourable GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN. HY forefts, Windfor! and thy green retreats, THY The groves of Eden, vanifh'd now fo long, And where, tho' all things differ, all agree. 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 Paftorals: the latter part was not added till the year 1710, in which it was pub lifhed. |