"Yet unbeheld, save by the sacred eye "Of faithful love: I go to guard thy haunt,
"To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, "And each licentious eye." With wild surprise, As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, A stupid moment motionless she stood; So stands the statue* that enchants the world, So bending tries to veil the matchless boast, The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes Which blissful Eden knew not; and, arrayed In careless haste, th' alarming paper snatched. But when her DAMON's well-known hand she saw, Her terrors vanished, and a softer train
Of mixed emotions, hard to be described,
Her sudden bosom seized: shame, void of guilt,
The charming blush of innocence, esteem And admiration of her lover's flame,
By modesty exalted; ev'n a sense
Of self-approving beauty stole across
Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm
Hushed by degrees the tumult of her soul;
And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen
Of rural lovers, this confession carved,
Which soon her DAMON kissed with weeping joy: 1365 "Dear youth sole judge of what these verses mean, "By fortune too much favoured, but by love, "Alas! not favoured less, be still as now "Discreet: the time may come you need not fly." The sun has lost his rage: his downward orb
Shoots nothing now but animating warmth, And vital lustre ; that, with various ray,
Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of heaven, Incessant rolled into romantic shapes,
The dream of waking fancy! Broad below, Covered with ripening fruits, and swelling fast Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour Of walking comes: for him who lonely loves To seek the distant hills, and there converse With Nature; there to harmonize his heart, And in pathetic song to breathe around The harmony to others. Social friends, Attuned to happy unison of soul; To whose exalting eye a fairer world, Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse,
Displays its charms; whose minds are richly fraught With philosophic stores, superior light;
And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns
Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance : Now called abroad enjoy the falling day:
Now to the verdant Portico of woods, To Nature's vast Lyceum forth they walk;
By that kind school where no proud master reigns, The full free converse of the friendly heart, Improving and improved. Now from the world, Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, And pour their souls in transport, which the SIRE Of Love, approving hears, and " calls it good." Which way, AMANDA, shall we bend our course? The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we choose? All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind -Along the streams? or walk the smiling mead?
Or court the forest glades? or wander wild' Among the waving harvests? or ascend, While radiant summer opens all its pride, Thy hill delightful, Shene*? Here let us sweep The boundless landscape: now the raptured eye, Exulting swift to huge AUGUSTA send;
Now to the Sister Hills † that skirt her plain;
To lofty Harrow now, and now to where Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow. In lovely contrast to this glorious view Calmly magnificent, then will we turn
To where the silver Thames first rural grows. There let the feasted eye unwearied stray: Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods That nodding hang o'er HARRINGTON's retreat; And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks, Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace retired, With Her the pleasing partner of his heart, The worthy QUEENSB'RY yet laments his GAY, And polished CORNBURY WOOes the willing Muse, Slow let us trace the matchless Vale of Thames ; Fair-winding up to where the Muses haunt In Twit'nam's bowers, and for their POPE implore The healing God; to royal Hampton's pile, To Clermont's terrass'd height, and Esher's groves, Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced
By the soft windings of the silent Mole,
* The old name of Richmond, signifyng in Saxon Shining, or Splendour.
† Highgate and Hampstead.
In his last sickness.
Soil and Climate of Britain.
From courts and senates PELHAM finds repose. Enchanting vale! beyond whate'er the Muse Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung!
O vale of bliss! O softly-swelling hills! On which the Power of Cultivation lies, And joys to see the wonders of his toil.
Heavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around, Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires, || And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all The stretching landscape into smoke decays! Happy BRITANNIA! where the Queen of Arts, Inspiring vigour, Liberty abroad
Walks, unconfined, even to thy farthest cots, And scatters plenty with unsparing hand.
Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime; Thy streams unfailing in the Summer's drought; Unmatched thy guardian-oaks; thy valleys float With golden waves and on thy mountains flocks Bleat numberless; while, roving round their sides, Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves. Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise unquelled Against the mower's scythe. On every hand Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth; And property assures it to the swain,
Pleased, and unwearied, in his guarded toil.
Full are thy cities with the sons of art;' And trade and joy, in every busy street, Mingling are heard even Drudgery himself,
As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews
The palace-stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, 1460 Where rising masts an endless prospect yield,
With labour burn, and echo to the shouts
British Warriors and Statesmen.
Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves His last adieu, and loosening every sheet, Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind.
Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth, By hardship sinewed, and by danger fired, Scattering the nations where they go; and first, Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas.
Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plans
Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires preside; In genius, and substantial learning, high; For every virtué, every worth, renowned; Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind;
Yet like the muttering thunder when provoked, The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource Of those that under grim oppression groan. Thy Sons of Glory many! ALFRED thine, In whom the splendour of heroic war,
And more heroic peace, when governed well, Combine; whose hallowed name the virtues saint, And his own Muses love; the best of Kings! With him thy EDWARDS and thy HENRYS shine, Names dear to fame; the first who deep impressed On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, That awes her genius still. In Statesmen thou,
And Patriots, fertile. Thine a steady MORE,
Who, with a generous, tho' mistaken zeal, Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage, Like Cato firm, like Aristides just, Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor,
A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death. Frugal, and wise, a WALSINGHAM is thine; A DRAKE, who made thee mistress of the deep, And bore thy name in thunder round the world.
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