Our voices let's raise
In Phœbus's praise,

Infpir'd by fo glorious a theme,

Our mufical words

Shall be join'd by the birds,

And we'll dance to the tune of the stream.

A

NOON-PIECE;

OR,

The MOWERS at Dinner.

O DE II.

Jam paftor umbras cum grege languido,
Rivumque feffus quærit, & horridi
Dumeta Silvani, caretque

Ripa vagis taciturna ventis.

HOR.

HE Sun is now too radiant to behold,

And vehement he sheds his liquid Rays of Gold; No cloud appears thro' all the wide expanse;

And fhort, but yet diftinct and clear,
To the wanton whistling air
The mimic fhadows dance.

C

Fat

Fat Mirth, and Gallantry the gay,
And romping Extafy 'gin play.
Now Myriads of young Cupids rife,
And open all their joy-bright eyes,
Filling with infant prate the grove,
And lip in fweetly-fault'ring love.
In the middle of the ring,
Mad with May, and wild of wing,
Fire-ey'd Wantonness shall fing.

By the rivulet on the rushes,
Beneath a canopy of bushes,
Where the ever-faithful Tray,
Guards the dumplings and the whey,
Colin Clout and Yorkshire Will
From the leathern bottle fwill.

Their scythes upon the adverse bank

Glitter 'mongst th' entangled trees, Where the hazles form a rank,

And court'fy to the courting breeze.

Ah! Harriot! fovereign mistress of my heart,
Could I thee to these meads decoy,
New grace to each fair object thou'dft impart,
And heighten ev'ry scene to perfect joy.

On

On a bank of fragrant thyme,
Beneath yon ftately, fhadowy pine,
We'll with the well-disguised hook
Cheat the tenants of the brook;
Or where coy Daphne's thickest shade
Drives amorous Phoebus from the glade,
There read Sydney's high-wrought stories
Of ladies charms and heroes glories;
Thence fir'd, the sweet narration act,
And kifs the fiction into fact.

Or fatiate with nature's random scenes,
Let's to the gardens regulated greens,

Where taste and elegance command
Art to lend her dædal hand,
Where Flora's flock, by nature wild,
To discipline are reconcil'd,
And laws and order cultivate,
Quite civiliz'd into a state.

From the fun, and from the fhow'r,
Hafte we to yon boxen bow'r,

Secluded from the teizing pry

Of Argus' curiofity:

There, while Phœbus' golden mean,

The gay meridian is seen,

Ere decays the lamp of light,

And length'ning fhades ftretch out to night---

C 2

Seize,

Seize, feize the hint---each hour improve
(This is morality in love)

Lend, lend thine hand---O let me view
Thy parting breasts, sweet avenue !
Then---then thy lips, the coral cell
Where all th' ambrofial kiffes dwell!
Thus we'll each fultry noon employ
In day-dreams of exftatic joy.

A

NIGHT-PIECE;

OR,

MODERN PHILOSOPHY.

ODE III.

Dicetur meritâ nox quoque nœniâ.

"Tw

AWAS when bright Cynthia with her filver car,
Soft ftealing from Endymion's bed,
Had call'd forth ev'ry glitt'ring ftar,

th' afcent of heav'n her brilliant hoft had led.

And up

Night, with all her negro train,
Took poffeffion of the plain;

HOR.

In