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WINDSOR-FOREST.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN.

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

VIRG.

E 4

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 1713, in which it was published.

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HY forests, Windfor! and thy green retreats,

THY

At once the Monarch's and the Muse's feats,
Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids!
Unlock your fprings, and open all your shades.
Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring!
What Mufe for Granville can refuse to fing?
The groves of Eden, vanifh'd now fo long,
Live in description, and look green in song ;
These, were my breast inspir'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 crush'd and bruis'd,
But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd:
Where order in variety we see,

And where, though all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a chequer'd scene display,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;

VARIATION.

Ver. 3. &c. Originally thus,

Chafte goddess of the woods,

Nymphs of the vales, and Naiads of the floods,

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10

15

As

Lead me thro' arching bow'rs, and glimm'ring glades,

Unlock your springs

As fome coy nymph her lover's warm address
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite reprefs.

There, interspers'd in lawns and opening glades,
Thin trees arife that fhun each other's fhades.
Here in full light the ruffet plains extend:
There, wrapt in clouds the bluish hills afcend.
Ev'n the wild heath displays her purple dyes,
And 'midft the defert, fruitful fields arise,

That, crown'd with tufted trees and springing corn,
Like verdant ifles the fable waste adorn,

Let India boast her plants, nor envy we
The weeping amber, or the balmy tree,

While by our oaks the precious loads are born,
And realms commanded which those trees adorn.
Not proud Olympus yields a nobler fight,
Though Gods affembled grace his towering height,
Than what more humble mountains offer here,
Where, in their bleffings, all those Gods appear.
See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd,
Here blushing Flora paints th' enamel'd ground,
Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpe& stand,
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand
Rich Induftry fits filing on the plains,
And peace and plenty tell, a Stuart reigns,

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VARIATION.

Not

Ver. 25. Originally thus ;

Why fhould I fing our better funs or air,
Whofe vital draughts prevent the leach's care,
While thro' fresh fields th' enliv'ning odours breathe,
Or spread with vernal blooms the purple heath?

Not thus the land appear'd in ages past,
A dreary defert, and a gloomy waste,
To favage beafts and favage laws a prey,

And kings more furious and fevere than they;
Who claim'd the skies, difpeopled air and floods,
The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods:
Cities laid wafte, they storm'd the dens and caves
(For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves).
What could be free, when lawless beasts obey'd,
And ev'n the elements a Tyrant sway'd?

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In vain kind seasons fwell'd the teeming grain,

Soft showers diftill'd, and funs grew warm in vain ;

The fwain with tears his frustrate labour yields,

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And famish'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields.
What wonder then, a beast or subject slain
Were equal crimes in a defpotic reign?
Both doom'd alike for fportive Tyrants bled,
But, while the subject starv'd, the beaft was fed.
Proud Nimrod firft the bloody chace began,

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A mighty hunter, and his prey was man :

Our haughty Norman boasts that barbarous name,
And makes his trembling flaves the royal game.

The

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 49. Originally thus in the MS.

From towns laid wafte, to dens and caves they ran (For who first stoop'd to be a flave was man).

Ver. 57, &c.

No wonder favages or fubjects flain

e fed.

But fubjects ftarv'd, while favages were f

It was originally thus, but the word Savages is not properly applied to beafts but to men; which occafioned the alteration,

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