On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods;
Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn;

To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed.

The lambs1 with wolves shall graze the verdant mead,

And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead;2
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,

3

And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet;

IMITATIONS.

Isaiah, ch. xli. ver. 19, and ch. Iv. ver. 13.

1 Ch. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8.

2 Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 21.

Ipsæ lacte domum referent distenta capella
Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones....

Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni

Occidet.

The goats shall bear to the fold their udders distended with milk: nor shall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The serpent shall die, and the herb that conceals poison shall die.'

Isaiah, chap. xi. ver. 6. &c. The wolf also shall 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 straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.'

8 Ch. Ixv. ver. 25.

The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake,
Pleas'd, the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongue shall innocently play.
Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise!"
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!

6

See a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future sons and daughters, yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend!
See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs;
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow;

8

4 Isaiah, ch. lx. ver. 1.

IMITATIONS.

5 The thoughts of Isaiah, which compose the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above those general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftiest parts of his Pollio.

Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo
-toto surget gens aurea mundo!

-incipient magni procedere menses!

Aspice, venturo lætantur ut omnia sæclo! &c.

The reader needs only to turn to the passages of Isaiah here cited.

6 Ch. lx. ver. 4.

8 Ch. Ix. ver. 6.

7 Ch. lx. ver. 3.

See Heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn,
Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn;
But lost, dissolv'd in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts: the light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The seas1 shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his saving power remains ;-
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns!

9 Isaiah, ch. lx. ver. 19, 20.

1 Ch. li. ver. 6, and ch. liv. ver. 10.

WINDSOR FOREST.

TO THE

RIGHT HON. GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN.

Non injussa cano:

te nostræ, Vare, myricæ,

Te nemus omne canet: nec Phoebo gratior ulla est,
Quam sibi quæ Vari præscripsit pagina nomen.

VIRG.