Plate II. Vol.I. facing p-49 That not in Fancy's Maze he wanderd long but stoopd to Truth and moraliz'd his Song. Ep. to D Arbuthnot. WINDSOR-FOREST. To the RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE Lord LANSDOWN. THY foreft, Winfdor! and thy green retreats, At once the Monarch's and the Mufe's feats, Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids! VARIATION S. VER. 3, etc. originally thus, Chafte goddess of the woods Nymphs of the vales, and Naïads of the floods, NOTES. This Poem was written at two different times: the firft part of it, which relates to the country, in the year 1704, at the fame time with the Pastorals; the latter part was not added till the year 1713, in which it was published. P. VER. 6. IMITATION S. neget quis carmina Gallo? Virg. " Thefe, were my breast inspir'd with equal flame, Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water seem to strive again; Not Chaos-like together crufh'd and bruis'd, 10 15 20 And where, tho' all things differ, all agree. Let India boat her plants, nor envy we 25 The weeping amber or the balmy tree, 30 While by our oaks the precious loads are born, VARIATIONS. VER: 25 Originally thus ; Why should I fing our better funs or air, Not proud Olympus yields a nobler fight, Tho' Gods affembled grace his tow'ring height, 40 45 And kings more furious and severe than they ; VARIATIONS. VER. 49. Originally thus in the MS. From towns laid waste, to dens and caves they ran (For who first stoop'd to be a slave was man.) NOTES. VER. 33. Not proud Olympus, etc.] Sir J. Denham, in his Cooper's Hill, had said, Than which a nobler weight no mountain bears, The comparison is childish, as the taking it from fabulous hiftory destroys the compliment. Our Poet has fhewn more judgment: he has made a manly use of as fabulous a circumftance by the artful application of the mythology. What could be free, when lawless beasts obey'd, In vain kind seasons fwell'd the teeming grain, 55 Both doom'd alike, for fportive Tyrants bled, Our haughty Norman boafts that barb'rous name, VER. 57, etc. VARIATIONS. No wonder favages or fubjects flain But fubjects ftarv'd, while savages were fed. It was originally thus, but the word favagès is not properly applied to beasts but to men; which occafioned the alteration. P. NOTES. Where, in their bleffings, all thofe Gods appear, etc. Making the nobility of the hills of Windfor-forest to confift in fupporting the inhabitants in plenty. VER. 45. favage laws.] The Foreft Laws.. VER. 65. The fields are ravished, etc.] Alluding to the deftruction made in the New Foreft, and the Tyrannies exercised there by William I. P. IMITATIONS. V. 65. The fields were ravish'd from th' indufirious fwains, From men their cities, and from Gods their fanes:] |