By folitude and deep furrounding shades,
But more by bashful modefty, conceal'd.
Together thus they fhunn'd the cruel fcorn
Which virtue, funk to poverty, would meet
From giddy paffion and low-minded pride :
Almoft on Nature's common bounty fed;
Like the gay birds that fung them to repofe,
Content, and careless of to-morrow's fare.
Her form was fresher than the morning rofe,
When the dew wets its leaves; unftain'd and pure,
As is the lily, or the mountain fnow.

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The modeft virtues mingled in her eyes,

Still on the ground dejected, darting all

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Their humid beams into the blooming flowers:
Or when the mournful tale her mother told,
Of what her faithless fortune promis'd once,
Thrill'd in her thought, they, like the dewy star
Of evening, fhone in tears.
A native grace
Sat fair-proportion'd on her polish'd limbs,
Veil'd in a fimple robe, their best`attire,
Beyond the pomp of drefs; for loveliness
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament,
But is when unadorn'd adorn'd the most.
Thoughtless of beauty, the was beauty's felf,
Reclufe amid the close-embowering woods.
As in the hollow breast of Appenine,
Beneath the fhelter of encircling hills,

A myrtle rifes, far from human eye,

And breathes its balmy fragrance o'er the wild;

So flourish'd blooming, and unseen by all,
I

VOL. I.

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The

The sweet Lavinia; til, at length, compel'd
By ftrong Neceffity's fupreme command,
With fmiling patience in her looks, she went
To glean Palemon's fields. The pride of swains
Palemon was, the generous, and the rich;
Who led the rural life in all its joy
And elegance, fuch as Arcadian fong
Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times;
When tyrant custom had not shackled man,
But free to follow nature was the mode.
He then, his fancy with autumnal scenes
Amusing, chanc'd befide his reaper-train
To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye;
Unconscious of her power, and turning quick
With unaffected blushes from his gaze:
He faw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modefty conceal'd.
That very moment love and chaste defire
Sprung in his bosom, to himself unknown;
For ftill the world prevail'd, and its dread laugh,
Which scarce the firm philofopher can scorn,

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Should his heart own a gleaner in the field:

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And thus in fecret to his foul he figh❜d.

"What pity! that fo delicate a form,

"By beauty kindled, where enlivening fenfe

"And more than vulgar goodness seem to dwell, "Should be devoted to the rude embrace

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"Of fome indecent clown! She looks, methinks,

"Of old Acafto's line; and to my mind

"Recalls that patron of my happy life,

"From

"From whom my liberal fortune took its rise; "Now to the duft gone down; his houses, lands, 245 "And once fair-spreading family, dissolv'd.

"Tis faid that in fome lone obfcure retreat,

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"Urg'd by remembrance fad, and decent pride, "Far from those scenes which knew their better days, "His aged widow and his daughter live, "Whom yet my fruitlefs fearch could never find. "Romantic wifh! would this the daughter were !" When, ftrict enquiring, from herself he found She was the fame, the daughter of his friend, Of bountiful Acafto; who can speak

The mingled paffions that furpriz'd his heart,

And through his nerves in shivering transport ran ?
Then blaz'd his fmother'd flame, avow'd, and bold;
And as he view'd her, ardent, o'er and o'er,
Love, gratitude, and pity, wept at once.
Confus'd, and frighten'd at his fudden tears,
Her rifing beauties flush'd a higher bloom,
As thus Palemon, paffionate and just,
Pour'd out the pious rapture of his foul.

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"And art thou then Acafto's dear remains?

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"She, whom my restless gratitude has fought

"So long in vain? O, heavens! the very fame,

"The foften'd image of my noble friend,

"Alive his every look, his every feature,

"More elegantly touch'd. Sweeter than Spring! 270 "Thou fole furviving bloffom from the root "That nourish'd up my fortune! Say, ah where, "In what fequefter'd defert, haft thou drawn

"The kindest aspect of delighted Heaven?'

"Into fuch beauty spread, and blown so fair;
"Though poverty's cold wind, and crushing rain,
"Beat keen, and heavy, on thy tender years?
"O let me now, into a richer foil,

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"Transplant thee safe! where vernal funs, and showers, "Diffuse their warmeft, largest influence; "And of my garden be the pride, and joy! "Ill it befits thee, oh, it ill befits

"Acafto's daughter, his whofe open stores,
"Though vaft, were little to his ampler heart,
"The father of a country, thus to pick

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"The very refuse of those harvest-fields,

"Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy. "Then throw that shameful pittance from thy hand, "But ill apply'd to fuch a rugged task;

"The fields, the mafter, all, my fair, are thine; 290 "If to the various bleffings which thy house "Has on me lavish'd, thou wilt add that blifs, "That dearest blifs, the power of bleffing thee!" Here ceas'd the youth, yet ftill his speaking eye Exprefs'd the facred triumph of his foul, With confcious virtue, gratitude, and love, Above the vulgar joy divinely rais'd. Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm Of goodness irresistible, and all

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In fweet diforder loft, the blush'd confent.
The news immediate to her mother brought,

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While, pierc'd with anxious thought, fhe pin'd away

The lonely moments for Lavinia's fate;

Amaz'd,

Amaz'd, and scarce believing what she heard,
Jov feiz'd her wither'd veins, and one bright gleam
Of fetting life fhone on her evening hours:
Not lefs enraptur'd than the happy pair;
Who flourish'd long in tender blifs, and rear'd
A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves,
And good, the grace of all the country round.
Defeating oft the labours of the year,
The fultry fouth collects a potent blast.
At first, the groves are fcarcely feen to ftir

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Their trembling tops; and a ftill murmur runs
Along the foft-inclining fields of corn.

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But as th' aerial tempeft fuller fwells,
And in one mighty stream, invisible,
Immenfe, the whole excited atmosphere,
Impetuous rufhes o'er the founding world:
Strain'd to the root, the ftooping forest pours
A ruffling shower of yet untimely leaves,
High-beat, the circling mountains eddy in,
From the bare wild, the diffipated storm,
And fend it in a torrent down the vale.
Expos'd, and naked, to its utmost rage,
Through all the sea of harvest rolling round,
The billowy plain floats wide; nor can evade,
Though pliant to the blaft, its feizing force;
Or whirl'd in air, or into vacant chaff

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Shook waste. And fometimes too a burst of rain, 330 Swept from the black horizon, broad, defcends

In one continuous flood. Still over head

The mingling tempest weaves its gloom, and still