Bleft Thames's shores the brightest beauties yield,
Feed here my lambs, I'll seek no diftant field.

DAPHNIS.
Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves;

65 Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves ; If Windsor-shades delight the matchless maid, Cynthus and Hybla yield to Windfor-shade.

STRE PHON. All nature mourns, the skies relent in show'rs, Hush'd are the birds, and clos'd the drooping flow'rs; If Delia smile, the flow'rs begin to spring, 71 The skies to brighten, and the birds to sing.

DA.

a

VARIATIONS.
Then die; and dying teach the lovely Maid
How soon the brightest beauties are decay de

D'A PH N I S.
Go, tuneful bird, that pleas'd the woods so long,
Of Amaryllis learn a sweeter song ;
To Heav'n arising then her notes convey,

For Heav'n alone is worthy such a lay.
Ver. 69. etc. These verses were thus at first :
All nature mourns, the birds their songs deny,
Nor wasted brooks the thirsty flow'rs supply.;
If Delia smile, the flow'rs begin to spring,
The brooks to murmur, and the birds to fing. P.

IMITATIONS.
VER. 58. She runs, but hopes.] Imitation of Virgil,

Malo me Galatea petit, lafciva puella,
Et fugit ad falices, fed fe cupit ante videri. P.

69. All nature mourns,] Virg.

Aret ager, vitio moriens fitit aëris herba, etc.
Phyllidis adventu noftræ nemus omne virebit. P!

VER.

DAPHNI S. All nature laughs, the groves are fresh and fair, The Sun's mild lustre warms the vital air; If Sylvia smiles, new glories gild the shore, 75 And vanquish'd nature seems to charm no more.

S T RE PHO N. In spring the fields, in autumn hills I love, At morn the plains, at noon the shady grove, But Delia always; absent from her fight, Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight. 80

DA P HN I S.
Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May,
More bright than noon, yet fresh as early day;
Ev'n spring displeases, when she shines not here;
But blest with her, 'tis spring throughout the year.

STRE PHO N.
Say, Daphnis, say, in what glad foil appears,
A wond'rous Tree that sacred Monarchs bears :
Tell me but this, and I'll disclaim the prize,
And give the conquest to thy Sylvia's eyes.

88
DAPHNIS.
Nay tell me first, in what more happy fields
The Thistle springs, to which the Lilly yields :

And

Ver. 86. A wondrous Tree that facred Monarchs bear..] An allusion to the Royal Oak, in which Charles II. had been hid from the pursuit after the battle of Worcester. P.

IMITATIONS. VER. 90. The Thifle Springs to wbich the Lilly yields, Alludes to the device of the Scots Monarchs, the Thistle, worn by Queen Anne ; and to the arms of France, the 1

Fleur

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And then a nobler prize I will resign;

91 For Syivia, charming Sylvia shall be thine.

DAMO N.
Cease to contend, for, Daphnis, I decree,
The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee:
Blest Swains, whose Nymphs in ev'ry grace

excel; Bleft Nymphs, whose Swains those graces sing so

well !
Now rise, and haste to yonder woodbine bow'rs,
A soft retreat from sudden vernal show'rs;
The turf with rural dainties shall be crown'd,
While op'ning blooms diffuse their sweets around.
For see! the gath’ring flocks to shelter tend, IOI
And from the Pleiads fruitful show'rs descend,

96

VARIATIONS.
Ver. 99. was originally,

The turf with country dainties shall be spread,
And trees with twining branches shade your head. P.

IMITATIONS.
Fleur de lys. The two riddles are in imitation of those
in Virg. Ecl. li.

Dic quibus in terris infcripti nomina Regum
Nafcantur Flores, & Phyllida solus habeto. P.

VOL. I.

с

SUM

,

Where dancing sun-beams on the waters play'd,
And verdant alders form'd a quiv'ring Thade.
Soft as he mourn'd, the streams forgot to flow, 5
The focks around a dumb compassion show,

The

a

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Ver. 3. The Scene of this Pastoral by the river's fide ; suitable to the heat of the season; the time noon. P.

VARIATIONS.
Ver. 1, 2, 3, 4. were thus printed in the first edition:

A faithful swain, whom Love had taught to fing,
Bewail'd his fate beside a silver spring ;
Where gentle Thames his winding waters leads

Thro' verdant forests, and thro' fow'ry meads. P.
Ver. 3. Originally thus in the MS.

There to the winds he plain'd his hapless love,
And Amaryllis fill'd the vocal grove.

The Naiads wept in ev'ry watry bow'r,
And Jove consented in a filent show'r.

Accept, O GARTH, the Muse's early lays,
That adds this wreath of Ivy to thy Bays; 10
Hear what from Love unpractis'd hearts endure,
From Love, the sole disease thou canst not cure.

Ye shady beeches, and ye cooling streams,
Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams,
To you I mourn, nor to the deaf I sing, 15
The woods shall answer, and their echo ring.
The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay,
Why art thou prouder and more hard than they?
The bleating sheep with my complaints agree,
They parch'd with heat, and I inflam'd by thee. 20
The sultry Sirius burns the thirsty plains,
While in thy heart eternal winter reigns.

Where stray ye Muses, in what lawn or grove,
While your Alexis pines in hopeless love?
In those fair fields where sacred Isis glides, 25
Or else where Cam his winding vales divides?

As

C 2

Ver. 9] Dr. Samuel Garth, Author of the Dispensary, was one of the first friends of the Author, whose acquaintance with him began at fourteen or fifteen. Their friendship continued from the year 1703 to :718, which was that of his death. P.

Ver. 16. The woods shall answer, and their echo ring,]
Is a line out of Spenser's Epithalamion, P.

IMITATIONS.
Ver. 8. And Jove consented]

Jupiter et læto defcendet plurimus imbri. Virg. P.
Ver. 15. nor to the deaf I sing,]

Non canimus jurdis, respondent omnia sylve. Virg. P.
Ver. 23. Where stray je Mufes, etc.]
Quæ nemora, aut qui vos jeltus habuere, puelle

Nuïdes,