Which fhade and shelter from the hill derives,
While the kind river wealth and beauty gives;
And in the mixture of all these appears
Variety, which all the reft indears.
This fcene had fome bold Greek, or British bard,
Beheld of old, what ftories had we heard,
Of fairies, fatyrs, and the nymphs their dames,
Their feafts, their revels, and their am'rous flames?
'Tis ftill the fame, altho' their airy shape
All but a quick poetic fight efcape.
There Faunus and Sylvanus keep their courts,
And thither all the horned hoft reforts,
Το graze the ranker mead; that noble herd,
On whofe fublime and fhady fronts is rear'd
Nature's great mafter-piece, to fhew how foon
Great things are made, but fooner are undone.
Here have I feen the king, when great affairs
Gave leave to flacken and unbend his cares,
Attended to the chafe by all the flow'r
Of youth, whofe hopes a noble prey devour:
Pleasure with praise, and danger they would buy,
And with a foe that would not only fly.
The ftag, now confcious of his fatal growth,
At once indulgent to his fear and sloth,
To fome dark covert his retreat had made,
Where nor man's eye, nor Heaven's fhould invade
His foft repofe; when th' unexpected found
Of dogs, and men, his wakeful ear does wound:
Rouz'd with the noife, he fcarce believes his ear,
Willing to think th’illufions of his fear
Had giv'n this falfe alarm, but ftraight his view
Confirms, that more than all he fears is true.
Betray'd in all his ftrengths, the wood befet,
All inftruments, all arts of ruin met;
He calls to mind his strength, and then his speed,
His winged heels, and then his armed head;
With these t'avoid, with that his fate to meet :
But fear prevails, and bids him trust his feet.
So faft he flies, that his reviewing eye
Has loft the chafers, and his ear the cry;
Exulting, 'till he finds, their nobler sense
Their difproportion'd speed does recompenfe;
Then curfes his confpiring feet, whofe fcent
Betrays that fafety which their fwiftnefs lent.
Then tries his friends among the bafer herd,
Where he fo lately was obey'd and fear'd,
His safety seeks: the herd, unkindly wife,
Or chafes him from thence, or from him flies;
Like a declining statesman, left forlorn,
To his friends pity, and purfuers scorn,
With fhame remembers, while himself was one
Of the fame herd, himself the same had done.
Thence to the coverts, and the conscious groves,
The scenes of his past triumphs, and his loves;
Sadly furveying where he rang'd alone
Prince of the foil, and all the herd his own;
And, like a bold knight-errant, did proclaim
Combat to all, and bore away the dame;
And taught the woods to echo to the stream
His dreadful challenge, and his clashing beam.
Yet faintly now declines the fatal ftrife;
So much his love was dearer than his life.
Now ev'ry leaf, and every moving breath,
Presents a foe, and ev'ry foe a death.
Weary'd,. forfaken, and purfu'd, at last,
All fafety in despair of safety plac'd;
Courage he thence refumes, refolv'd to bear
All their affaults, fince 'tis in vain to fear.
And now, too late, he wishes, for the fight,
That ftrength he wafted in ignoble flight:
But, when he fees the eager chace renew'd,
Himself by dogs, the dogs by men purfa'd,
He ftrait revokes his bold refolve, and more
Repents his courage, than his fear before;
Finds that uncertain ways unfafest are,
And doubt a greater mischief than despair.
Then to the stream, when neither friends, nor force,
Nor speed, nor art avail, he fhapes his courfe;
Thinks not their rage fo defp'rate, to affay
An element more mercilefs than they.
But, fearless, they purfue, nor can the flood.
Quench their dire thirst; alas, they thirst for blood.
So tow'rds a fhip the oar-finn'd gallies ply,
Which wanting sea to ride, or wind to fly,
Stands but to fall reveng'd on those that dare
Tempt the laft fury of extreme defpair.
So fares the ftag among th' enraged hounds,
Repels their force, and wounds returns for wounds.
And as a hero, whom his bafer foes
In troops surround, now these affail, now thofe,
Though prodigal of life, difdains to die
By common hands; but, if he can defcry
Some nobler foe approach, to him he calls,
And begs his fate, and then contented falls.
So when the king a mortal shaft lets fly
From his unerring hand, then, glad to die,
Proud of the wound, to it refigns his blood,.
And ftains the crystal with a purple flood.
This a more innocent, and happy chase
Than when of old, but in the self-fame place,
Fair Liberty, purfu'd, and meant a prey
To lawless power,
* here turn'd, and stood at bay.
When in that remedy all hope was plac'd,
Which was, or fhould have been at leaft, the laft.
Here was that charter feal'd, wherein the crown
All marks of arbitrary pow'r lays down:
Tyrant and flave, thofe names of hate and fear,
The happier ftile of king and fubject bear :
Happy, when both to the fame center move,"
When kings give liberty, and fubjects love.
Therefore not long in force this charter flood;
Wanting that feal, it must be feal'd in blood.
The subjects arm'd, the more their princes gave,
Th' advantage only took, the more to crave:
'Till kings, by giving, give themselves away,
And ev'n that pow'r, that should deny, betray.
"Who gives conftrain'd, but his own fear reviles,
Not thank't, but fcorn'd; nor are they gifts, but
spoils."
Runnimede; where that great charter was first fealed.
Thus kings, by grafping more than they could hold,
First made their fubjects, by oppreffion, bold;
And popular sway, by forcing kings to give
More than was fit for fubjects to receive,
Ran to the fame extremes; and one excess
Made both, by striving to be greater, less.
When a calm river, rais'd with fudden rains,
Or fnows diffolv'd, o'erflows th' adjoining plains,
The hufbandmen with high-rais'd banks fecure
Their greedy hopes, and this he can endure.
But if with bays and dams they strive to force
His channel to a new, or narrow, courfe ;
No longer, then, within his banks he dwells,
First to a torrent, then a deluge, fwells:
Stronger and fiercer by restraint he roars,
And knows no bound, but makes his pow'r his fhores.
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