183 IV. Winter; or Daphne. TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. TEMPEST. LYCIDAS. THYRSIS! the music of that murmuring spring That call'd the listening Dryads to the plain? LYC. So may kind rains their vital moisture yield, And swell the future harvest of the field. Begin this charge the dying Daphne gave, 'Let Nature change, let Heaven and Earth deplore, Silent, or only to her name replies; Her name with pleasure once she taught the shore No more the mounting larks, while Daphne sings, Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze, And told in sighs to all the trembling trees; The trembling trees, in every plain and wood, Her fate remurmur to the silver flood; The silver flood, so lately calm, appears Swell'd with new passion, and o'erflows with tears; The winds, and trees, and floods her death deplore, Daphne, our grief, our glory now no more! But see! where Daphne wondering mounts on Above the clouds, above the starry sky! Eternal beauties grace the shining scene, Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green There while you rest in amaranthine bowers, Or from those meads select unfading flowers, Behold us kindly, who your name implore, Daphne, our goddess, and our grief uo more! LYC. How all things listen, while thy Muse complains! [high ! Such silence waits on Philomela's strains, While plants their shade, or flowers their odours give, Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise shall live! THYR. But see, Orion sheds unwholesome Arise, the pines a noxious shade diffuse; [dews; Sharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels decay, Time conquers all, and we must Time obey. Adieu, ye vales, ye mountains, streams, and groves; Adieu, ye shepherds' rural lays and loves; Adieu, my flocks; farewell, ye silvan crew; Daphne, farewell; and all the world adieu! MESSIAH. A Sacred Eclogue. IN IMITATION of virgil's POLLIO. ADVERTISEMENT. In reading several passages of the prophet Isaiah, which foretell the coming of Christ, and the felicities attending it, I could not but observe a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts and those in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not seem surprising, when we reflect that the eclogue was taken from a sibylline prophecy on the same subject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line by line, but selected such ideas as best agreed with the nature of pastoral poetry, and disposed them in that manner which served most to beautify his piece. I have endeavoured the same in this imitation of him, though without admitting any thing of my own; since it was written with this particular view, that the reader, by comparing the several thoughts, might see how far the images and descriptions of the prophet are superior to those of the poet. But as I fear that I have prejudiced them by my management, I shall subjoin the passages of Isaiah, and those of Virgil, under the same disadvantage of a literal translation. YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song: Rapt into future times, the bard begun; Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, IMITATIONS. 1 Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 6. Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna; Now the virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is sent down from high heaven. By means of thee, whatever relics of our crimes remain shall be wiped away, and free the world from perpetual fears. He shall govern the earth in peace, with the virtues of his father.' Isaiah, ch. vii. ver. 14, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son'-Chap. ix. ver. 6,7: Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the Prince of Peace: of the increase of his government, and of his peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to establish it, with judgment, and with justice, for ever and ever.' 2 Isa. xi. ver. 1. 3 Ch. xiv. ver. 8. 4 Ch. xxv. ver. 4. 5 Ch. ix. ver. 7. |