Now Cancer glows with Phoebus' fiery car:
The youth rush eager to the fylvan war,
Swarm o'er the lawns, the forest walks furround,
Rouze the fleet hart, and chear the opening hound.
Th' impatient courfer pants in ev'ry vein,
151
And pawing, feems to beat the distant plain :
Hills, vales, and floods appear already cross'd,
And e'er he ftarts, a thousand steps are loft.
See the bold youth ftrain up the threat'ning steep,
Rush thro' the thickets, down the valleys sweep,
Hang o'er their courfers heads with eager speed,
And earth rolls back beneath the flying fteed.
Let old Arcadia boaft her ample plain,

154

Th' immortal huntress, and her virgin-train ; 160
Nor envy, Windfor! fince thy fhades have seen
As bright a Goddess, and as chafte a QUEEN;
Whofe care, like hers, protects the fylvan reign,
The Earth's fair light, and Emprefs of the Main.
Here too, 'tis fung, of old Diana ftray'd, 165
And Cynthus' top forfook for Windsor shade;
Here was the feen o'er airy waftes to rove,

Seek the clear spring, or haunt the pathless grove;

NOTES.

VER. 162. Queen ANNE.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 151. Th' impatient courfer, etc.] Tranflated from Statius,

Stare adeo miferum eft, pereunt veftigia mille

Ante fugam, abfentemque ferit gravis ungula campum,

Here arm'd with filver bows, in early dawn,
Her bufkin'd Virgins trac'd the dewy lawn.
Above the reft a rural nymph was fam'd,
Thy offspring, Thames! the fair Lodona nam'd;
(Lodona's fate, in long oblivion cast,
The Mufe fhall fing, and what she fings fhall laft.)
Scarce could the Goddefs from her nymph be known,
But by the crefcent and the golden zone. 176
She fcorn'd the praise of beauty, and the care;
A belt her waift, a fillet binds her hair;
A painted quiver on her fhoulder sounds,
And with her dart the flying deer she wounds.
It chanc'd, as eager of the chace, the maid
Beyond the foreft's verdant limits ftray'd,
Pan faw and lov'd, and burning with defire
Purfu'd her flight, her flight increas'd his fire.
Not half fo fwift the trembling doves can fly,
When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid fky;
Not half fo fwiftly the fierce eagle moves,
When thro' the clouds he drives the trembling doves;
As from the God fhe flew with furious pace,
Or as the God, more furious, urg'd the chace.

185

IMITATIONS.

VER. 175.

Nec pofitu variare comas; ubi fibula veftem,
Vitta coercuerat neglectos alba capillos.

Ovid.

VER. 183, 185.

Ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbæ,
Ut folet accipiter trepidas agitare columbas,

Ovid.

170

180

Now fainting, finking, pale, the nymph appears;
Now close behind, his founding fteps the hears;
And now his fhadow reach'd her as fhe run,
His fhadow lengthen'd by the setting fun;
And now his fhorter breath, with fultry air,
Pants on her neck, and fans her parting hair.
In vain on father Thames fhe calls for aid,
Nor could Diana help her injur'd maid.
Faint, breathlefs, thus fhe pray'd, nor pray'd in vain;
"Ah Cynthia! ah—tho' banish'd from thy train,
"Let me, O let me, to the shades repair,

195

201

My native fhades-there weep, and murmur there. She faid, and melting as in tears the lay, In a foft, filver ftream diffolv'd away. The filver ftream her virgin coldness keeps, For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps; Still bears the name the hapless virgin bore, And bathes the foreft where fhe rang'd before. In her chafte current oft the Goddess laves, And with celeftial tears augments the waves.

66

NOTES.

VER. 205. Still bears the name] The River Loddon.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 191, 194.

Sol erat a tergo: vidi præcedere longam

Ante pedes umbram: nifi fi timor illa videbat.

Sed certe fonituque pedum terrebar; et ingens
Crinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris.

191

205

211

Oft in her glafs the mufing fhepherd spies
The headlong mountains and the downward skies,
The wat'ry landskip of the pendant woods,
And abfent trees that tremble in the floods;
In the clear azure gleam the flocks are seen,
And floating forefts paint the waves with green,
Thro' the fair scene roll flow the ling ring ftreams,
Then foaming pour along, and rufh into the Thames.

Thou too, great father of the British floods !
With joyful pride furvey'ft our lofty woods;
Where tow'ring oaks their growing honours rear,
And future navies on thy fhores appear,
Not Neptune's felf from all her ftreams receives
A wealthier tribute, than to thine he gives.
No feas fo rich, fo
gay no banks appear,
No lake fo gentle, and no fpring fo clear.
Nor Po fo fwells the fabling Poet's lays,
While led along the fkies his current ftrays,
As thine, which vifits Windfor's fam`d abodes,
To grace the mansion of our earthly Gods:

VARIATIONS.

VER. 233.

Happy the man, who to the fhades retires,

But doubly happy, if the Mufe inspires!

Bleft whom the sweets of home-felt quiet pleafe ;

But far more bleft, who ftudy joins with ease,

220

225

NOTES.

VER. 209. Oft in her glass, etc.] These fix lines were added after the first writing of this poem.

Nor all his ftars above a luftre fhow,
Like the bright beauties on thy banks below; 230
Where Jove, fubdu'd by mortal paffion ftill,
Might change Olympus for a nobler hill.

Happy the man whom this bright Court approves, His Sov'reign favours, and his country loves: Happy next him, who to the fhades retires, 235 Whom Nature charms, and whom the Mufe infpires: Whom humbler joys of home felt quiet pleafe, Succeffive ftudy, exercife, and ease.

He gathers health from herbs the foreft yields,
And of their fragrant phyfic spoils the fields:
With chemic art exalts the min'ral pow'rs,
And draws the aromatic fouls of flow'rs:
Now marks the course of rolling orbs on high;
O'er figur'd worlds now travels with his eye;
Of ancient writ unlocks the learned ftore,
Confults the dead, and lives paft ages o'er:
Or wand'ring thoughtful in the filent wood,
Attends the duties of the wife and good,
T'observe a mean, be to himself a friend,
To follow nature, and regard his end;

VARIATIONS.

VER. 231. It food thus in the MS,
And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover still,
To change Olympus, etc.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 249, 250. Servare modum finemque tenere,

240

245

250