On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes, To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed, The lambs1 with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead;2 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 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 6 See a long race thy spacious courts adorn; 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 -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, 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, VIRG. |