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PASTORAL S.

See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forefts on the mountains dance:
See fpicy clouds from lowly Saron rife,
And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely defert chears;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears:

IMITATIONS.

Mixtaque ridenti colocafia fundet acantho-
Ipfa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores.

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"For thee, O Child, shall the earth, without being tilled, "produce her early offerings; winding ivy, mixed with Baccar, "and Colocafia with smiling Acanthus, Thy cradle shall pour "forth pleafing flowers about thee.

ISAIAH, Ch. xxxv. 1. "The wildernefs and the folitary place fhall be glad, and the defert shall rejoice and bloffom as "the rofe." Ch. lx. 13. "The glory of Lebanon shall come 66 unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, "to beautify the place of thy fanctuary.

VER. 29. Hark! a glad Voice, etc.]

VIRG. E. iv. ✯ 46.

Aggredere ô magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores,
Cara deûm foboles, magnum Jovis incrementum-
Ipfi lætitia voces ad fydera jactant

Intonfi montes, ipfæ jam carmina rupes,

Ipfa fonant arbufta, Deus, deus ille Menalca! E. v. y 62. "Oh come and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, O great encrease of Jove! The uncultivated mountains fend fhouts of joy to the ftars, the very rocks fing in verfe, the very shrubs cry out, A God, a God!

f Ch. xl. 3, 4.

e Ch, xxxv. 2.

A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rife;
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay; 35
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way !
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold :
Hear him, ye deaf, and, all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films fhall
the visual ray,
And on the fightlefs eye-ball pour the day:
"Tis he th' obftructed paths of found shall clear,
And bid new mufic charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb shall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh, no murmur the wide world fhall hear, 45
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.

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In hadamantine chains fhall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.

IMITATIONS.

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ISAIAH, Ch. xl. ✯ 3, 4. "The voice of him that cryeth in "the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make ftrait "in the defert a high way for our God! Every valley shall be "exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and

the crooked shall be made strait, and the rough places plain." Ch. iv. 23. "Break forth into finging, ye mountains! O "foreft, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Ifrael.

Ch. xlii. 18. Ch. xxxv. 5, 6. h Ch. xxv. 8.

As the good ifhepherds tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air,
Explores the loft, the wand'ring fheep directs,
By day o'erfees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,

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Feeds from his hand, and in his bofom warms;
Thus fhall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd father of the future age.
No more fhall nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming fteel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into scythes fhall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow-fhare end.
Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful m Son
Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd Sire begun ;
Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield, 65
And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field.
The swain in barren "deferts with furprize

See lilies fpring, and fudden verdure rife ;

IMITATION S.

VER. 67. The fwain in barren deferts] Virg. E. iv. 28. Molli paulatim flavefcet campus arifta,

Incultifque rubens pendebit fentibus uva,

Et duræ quercus fudabunt rofcida mella.

"The fields fhall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks "fhall diftill honey like dew.

i Ch. xl.

21, 22.

11.

k Ch. ix. 6. Ch. ii. 4. m Ch. lxv. n Ch. xxxv, 1, 7.

And ftarts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,

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The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste fandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn :

To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ry palms fucceed,
And od❜rous myrtle to the noisom weed.

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75

Thep lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead !

IMITATIONS.

ISAIAH, CH, Xxxv. † 7. "The parched ground fhall become "a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: In the habita <tions where dragons lay, shall be grafs, and reeds and rushes.” "Instead of the thorn fhall come up the fir tree, "and instead of the briar fhall come up the myrtle-tree.

Ch. lv.

13.

VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, etc.] Virg. E. iv. 21.
Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capelle

Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones-
Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni

Occidet.

"The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diftended with "milk: nor fhall the herds be afraid of the greateft lions. The "ferpent shall die, and the herb that conceals poifon shall die.

ISAIAH, Ch. xi. 16, etc." The wolf fhall dwell with the "lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid, and the calf " and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child

fhall lead them.- And the lion fhall eat ftraw like the ox. "And the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and "the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice. • Ch. xli. 19. and Ch. lv. 13. p Ch. xi. * 6, 7, 8.

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The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,
And harmless ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The fmiling infant in his hand shall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake,
Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife! 85
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!

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90

See, a long race thy fpacious courts adorn;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crouding ranks on ev'ry fide arife,
Demanding life, impatient for the kies!
See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs!
For thee Idume's spicy forefts blow,
And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.

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IMITATIONS.

VER. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife!} The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compose the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above those general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftiest part of his Pollio. Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordo!

toto furget gens aurea mundo!

- incipient magni procedere menfes !

Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo! etc.

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