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A WINTER PIECE.

By Mr. PHILIPS.

Addreffed to the DUKE of DORSET.

ROM frozen climes, and endless tracts of snow,

FRO

From ftreams that northern winds forbid to flow;

What present shall the mufe to Dorset bring,
Or how,. fo near the pole, attempt to fing?
The hoary winter here conceals from fight,
All pleasing objects that to verfe invite.
The hills and dales, and the delightful woods,
The flow'ry plains, and filver streaming floods,
By fnow difguis'd in bright confufion lie,
And with one dazzling wafte fatigue the eye.

No gentle breathing breeze prepares the spring,
No birds within the defart region fing.

The ships unmov'd the boist'rous winds defy,
While rattling chariots o'er the ocean fly.
The vast leviathan wants room to play,
And fpout his waters in the face of day,
The starving wolves along the main fea prowl,
And to the moon in icy vallies howl.
For many a fhining league the level main
Here spreads itself into a glaffy plain:
There folid billows of enormous fize,
Alps of green ice in wild diforder rife.

And

And yet but lately have I feen ev'n here,
The winter in a lovely dress appear.
E'er yet the clouds let fall the treasur❜d fnow,
Or winds begun through hazy skies to blow.
At ev❜ning a keen eastern breeze arose ;
And the descending rain unsully'd froze.
Soon as the filent fhades of night withdrew,.
The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view
The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd ev'ry object to my eyes:
For ev'ry fhrub, and every blade of grafs,
And ev'ry pointed thorn, feem'd wrought in glafs,
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show,
While through the ice the crimson berries glow.
The thick-sprung reeds the wat'ry marshes yield,
Seem polif'd lances in a hoftile field.
The stag in limpid currents with furprize,
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise.

The spreading oak, the beach, and tow'ring pine,
Glaz'd over,
in the freezing æther shine.

The frighted birds the rattling branches fhun,
That wave and glitter in the diftant fun.

When, if a fudden guft of wind arise,

The brittle foreft into atoms flies:

The crackling wood beneath the tempeft bends,
And in a fpangled fhow'r the prospect ends.
Or, if a fouthern gale the region warm,
And by degrees unbind the wint'ry, charm,

The

The traveller a miry country fees,

And journies fad beneath the dropping trees.

Like fome deluded peasant, Merlin leads

Thro' fragrant bow'rs, and through delicious meads; While here enchanted gardens to him rife,

And airy fabricks there attract his eyes,

His wand'ring feet the magic paths pursue ;
And, while he thinks the fair illufion true,
The trackless scenes disperse in fluid air,
And woods and wilds, and thorny ways appear.
A tedious road the weary wretch returns,
And as he goes, the tranfient vifion mourns.

Copenhagen,

March 9, 1709.

On

On the Friendship betwixt SACHARISSA and

TE

AMORET.

By Mr. WALLER.

ELL me, lovely loving pair!
Why fo kind, and fo fevere?

Why fo careless of our care,
Only to yourselves fo dear?

By this cunning change of hearts,
You the pow'r of love controul;
While the boy's deluded darts

Can arrive at neither foul.

For in vain to either breaft

Still beguiled Love does come :

Where he finds a foreign gueft;
Neither of your hearts at home.

Debtors thus with like defign,

When they never mean to pay, That they may the law decline, To fome friend make all away.

Not the filver doves that fly,

Yok'd in Cytherea's car;

Not the wings that lift so high;

And convey her son so far

Are

Are fo lovely, fweet, and fair,

Or do more ennoble love;

Are fo choicely match'd a pair,
Or with more confent do move.

T

On a GIRDLE.

By the fame.

HAT which her flender waist confin'd,

Shall now my joyful temples bind:
No monarch but would give his crown,
His arms might do what this has done.

It was my heav'n's extremeft sphere,
The pale which held that lovely deer:
My joy, my grief, my hope, my love,
Did all within this circle move!

A narrow compass! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair: Give me but what this ribbon bound, Take all the reft the fun goes round.

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