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Stretch'd on the lawn his * fecond hope furvey,
At once the chafer and at once the prey,
Lo Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart,
Bleeds in the foreft, like a wounded hart.
Succeeding Monarchs heard the fubjects cries,
Nor faw difpleas'd the peaceful cottage rife.
Then gath'ring flocks on unknown mountains fed,
O'er fandy wilds were yellow harvests spread;
The forefts wonder'd at th' unusual grain,
And fecret transport touch'd the confcious fwain.
Fair Liberty, Britannia's Goddess, rears

Her chearful head, and leads the golden years.

Ye vig'rous fwains! while youth ferments your

And purer fpirits fwell the sprightly flood,

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Now range the hills, the thickest woods befet,
Wind the fhrill horn, or spread the waving net.
When milder autumn fummer's heat fucceeds,
And in the new-fhorn field the partridge feeds,
Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds,
Panting with hope, he tries the furrow'd grounds,
But when the tainted gales the game betray,
Couch'd close he lies, and meditates the prey;

*William Rufus, fecond fon of William the Conqueror.

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Secure they truft th' unfaithful field, befet,

Till hov'ring o'er 'em fweeps the fwelling net.
Thus (if fmall things we may with great compare)
When Albion fends her eager fons to war,

Pleas'd, in the Gen'rals fight, the hoft lie down
Sudden, before fome unfufpecting town,

The captive race, one inftant makes our prize,
And high in air Britannia's standard flies.

See! from the brake the whirring pheafant springs,
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings.
Short is his joy; he feels the fiery wound,
Flutters in blood, and panting beats the ground.
Ah! what avail his gloffy, varying dies,
His purple creft, and fcarlet-circled eyes,
The vivid green his fhining plumes unfold,
His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold?
Nor yet, when moist Arcturus clouds the sky,
The woods and fields their pleafing toils deny :
To plains with well-bred beagles we repair,

And trace the mazes of the circling hare.
(Beafts taught by us, their fellow-beasts pursue,
And learn of man each other to undo.)

With daught'ring guns th' unweary'd fowler roves,
When frofts have whiten'd all the naked groves;

Where

Where doves in flocks the leaflefs trees o'er hade,
And lonely woodcocks haunt the wat'rey glade.
He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye;
Strait a short thunder breaks the frozen sky.
Oft', as in airy rings they fkim the heath,
The clam'rous plovers feel the leaden death:
Oft', as the mounting larks their notes prepare,
They fall, and leave their little lives in air.

In genial fpring, beneath the quiv'ring shade, Where cooling vapours breathe along the mead, The patient fisher takes his filent ftand, Intent, his angle trembling in his hand; With looks unmov'd, he hopes the fcaly breed, And eyes the dancing cork, and bending reed. Our plenteous ftreams a various race fupply; The bright-ey'd perch with fins of Tyrian die, The filver eel in fhining volumes roll'd, The yellow carp, in fcales bedrop'd with gold, Swift trouts, diverfify'd with crimson stains, And pykes, the tyrants of the wat'ry plains. Now Cancer glows with Phoebus' fiery car; The youth rufh eager to the fylvan war; Swarm o'er the lawns, the foreft walks furround, Rowze the fleet hart, and chear the op'ning hound.

Th' impatient courfer pants in ev'ry vein,
And pawing, feems to beat the distant plain;
Hills, vales, and floods appear already crofs'd,
And e're he ftarts, a thousand steps are loft.
See the bold youth ftrain up the threat'ning fteep,
Rush thro' the thickets, down the vallies fweep,
Hang o'er their courfers heads with eager speed,
And earth rolls back beneath the flying fteed.
Let old Arcadia boaft her ample plain,

Th' immortal huntrefs, and her virgin-train,
Nor envy, Windfor! fince thy fhades have feen
As bright a Goddess, and as chafte a Queen;"
Whose care, like hers, protects the fylvan reign,
The earth's fair light, and empress of the main.
Here, as old bards have fung, Diana ftray'd,
Bath'd in the springs, or fought the cooling fhade;

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Here arm'd with filver bows, in early dawn,

Her bufkin'd Virgins trac'd the dewy lawn.
Above the reft a rural nymph was fam'd,

Thy offspring, Thames! the fair Lodona nam'd,

(Lodona's fate, in long oblivion caft,

The Mufe fhall fing, and what fhe fings (hall laft;) Scarce could the Goddefs from her nymph be known, But by the crefcent and the golden zone:

She

She fcorn'd the praife of beauty, and the care;
A belt her waste, a fillet binds her hair,]

A painted quiver on her fhoulder founds,
And with her dart the flying deer the wounds.
It chanc'd, as eager of the chace the maid
Beyond the foreft's verdant limits ftray'd,
Pan faw and lov'd, and burning with defire
Purfu'd her flight, her flight increas'd his fire.
Not half fo fwift the trembling doves can fly,
When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid fky;
Not half fo fwiftly the fierce eagle moves,

When thro' the clouds he drives the trembling doves;
As from the God the flew with furious pace,
Or as the God, more furious, urg'd the chace.
Now fainting, finking, pale, the nymph appears;
Now close behind his founding steps she hears;
And now his shadow reach'd her as the run,
(His fhadow lengthen'd by the setting fun)
And now his fhorter breath, with fultry air,
Pants on her neck, and fans her parting hair.
In vain on father Thames the calls for aid,
Nor could Diana help her injur'd maid.

Faint, breathless, thus fhe pray'd, nor pray'd in vain ;
Ah Cynthia! ah-tho'banifh'd from thy train,

"Let

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