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No more fhall nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,

MESSIAH,

A SACRED ECLOGUE.

IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S POLLIO.

E Nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:

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The moly fountains and the fylvan fhades, The dreams of Pindus and th' Aonian maids, Delight no more-O thou my voice inspire Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!

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Rapt into future times, the Bard begun : A Virgin fhall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son! From Jeffe's root behold a branch arife, Whofe facred flower with fragrance fills the fkies: Th' Ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move, And on its top defcends the myftic Dove, Ye Heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour, And in foft filence fhed the kindly shower! The fick and weak the healing plant fhall aid, From ftorms a fhelter, and from heat a fhade. All crimes fhall ceafe, and ancient frauds fhall fail; Returning Juftice lift aloft her fcale; Pence o'er the world her olive wand extend, And white-rob'd Innocence from heaven defcend. Swift Hy the years, and rife th' expected morn! Oh fpring to light, aufpicious Babe, be born! See, Nature haftes her earliest wreaths to bring, With all the inceufe of the breathing spring: See lofty Lebanon his head advance, See nodding forefts on the mountains dance : See fpicy clouds from lowly Saron rife, And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skics!

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Sees lilies fpring, and fudden verdure rife;
And ftarts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Wafte fandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and shapely box adorn :

To leaflefs fhrubs the flowery palms fucceed, 75
And odorous myrtle to the noifome weed.
The lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant
mead,

And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead:
The fteer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet. 80
The fmiling infant in his hand fhall take
The crefted bafilifk and speckled snake,
Pleas'd, the green luftre of the fcales furvey,
And with their forky tongue fhall inuocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long race thy fpacious courts adorn;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every fide arife,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;

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See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,

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And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs!
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heaven its sparkling portals wide difplay,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rifing Sun fhall gild the morn,
Nor evening Cynthia fll her filver horn;
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
Oerflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The feas fr all wafte, the flies in fmoke decay, 105
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving power remains;
Thy real for ever lafts, thy own MESSIAH
reigns!

The groves of Eden, vanifh'd now fo long, Live in defeription, and look green in fong; Thefe, were my breaft infpir'd with equal flame, Like them in beauty, fhould be like in fame. Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water feem to ftrive again: Not Chaos-like together crufh'd and bruis'd, But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd; Where order in variety we fee,

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And where, though all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a chequer'd fcene difplay,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;
As fome coy nymph her lover's warm addrefs
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite reprefs.
There, interfperfed in lawns and opening glades,
Thin trees arife that fhun each other's fhades.
Here in full light the ruffet plains extend;
There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills afcend.
Ev'n the wild heath difplays her purple dics,
And 'midft the defert, fruitful fields arife,
That, crown'd with tufted trees and fpringing

corn,

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Than what more humble mountains offer here, 35
Where, in their bleflings, all those Gods appear.
See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd,
Here blufhing Flora paints th' enamel❜d ground,
Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpect stand,
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand; 407
Rich Industry fits smiling on the plains,
And peace and plenty tell, a Stuart reigns.
Not thus the land appear'd in ages paft,

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A dreary defert, and a gloomy wafte,
To favage beafts and favage laws a prey,
And kings more furious and fevere than they;
Who claim'd the fkies, difpeopled air and floods,
The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods :
Cities laid wafte, they ftorm'd the dens and caves
(For wifer brutes were backward to be flaves). o
What could be free, when lawless beafts obey'd,
And even the elements a tyrant fway'd?

In vain kind feafons fwell'd the teeming grain, Soft fhowers diftill'd, and funs grew warm, in vain;

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The fwain with tears his fruftrate labour yields,
And famifh'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields,
What wonder then, a beaft or fubject flain
Were equal crimes in a despotic reign?
Both doom'd alike, for sportive Tyrants bled,
But, while the fubject ftarv'd, the beaft was fed.
Proud Nimrod firft the bloody chace began,
A mighty hunter, and his prey was man :
Our haughty Norman boasts that barbarous name,
And makes his trembling flaves the royal game.
The fields are ravish'd from th' induftrious Iwains,
From men their cities, and from Gods their
fanes :
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The level'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er ;
The hollow winds through naked temples roar;
Round broken columns clasping ivy twin'd;
O'er heaps of ruin ftalk'd the fiately hind;
The fox obfcene to gaping tombs retires,
And favage howlings fill the facred quires.
Aw'd by his Nobles, by his Commons curft,
Th' Oppreflor rul'd tyrannic where he durft,
Stretch'd o'er the Poor and Church his iron rod, 75
And ferv'd alike his Vaffals and his God.
Whom ev'n the Saxon fpar'd, and bloody Dane,
The wanton victims of his fport remain.
But fee, the man who fpacious regions gave
A wafte for beafts, himfelt deny'd a grave! 80
Stretch'd on the lawn his fecond hope furvey,
At once the chacer, and at once the prey:
Lo Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart,
Bleeds in the forefi like a wounded hart.
Succeeding monarchs heard the fubjects' cries, 85
Nor faw difpleas'd the peaceful cottage rife.
Then gathering flocks on unknown mountains fed,
O'er fandy wilds were yellow harvefts fpread,
The forefts wonder'd at th' unufual grain,
And fecret tranfport touch'd the unconfcious
fwain!

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Fair Liberty, Britannia's Goddess, rears
Her cheerful head, and leads the golden years.
Ye vigorous fwains! while youth ferments your
blood,

And purer fpirits fa ell the fprightly flood,
Now range the hills, the gameful woods befet, 05
Wind the forili horn, or ipread the waving ret.

When milder autumn fummer's heat fucceeds,
And in the new-fhorn field the partridge feeds;
Before his lord the ready fpaniel bounds,
Panting with hope, he tries the furrow'd grounds;
But when the tainted gales the game betray, 101
Couch'd clofe he lies, and meditates the prey:
Secure they trust th' unfaithful field befet,
Til hovering o'er them fweeps the fwelling net.
Thus (if fmall things we may with great compare)
When Albion fends her eager fons to war, 106
Some thoughtless Town, with cafe and plenty
bleit,

Near and more near, the clofing lines inveft;
Sudden they feize th' amaz'd, defencelefs prize,
And high in air Britannia's ftandard flies.
See! from the brake the whirring pheafant
fprings,

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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 moift Arcturus clouds the sky,
The woods and fields their pleafing toils deny. 120
To plains with well-breath'd beagles we repair,
And trace the mazes of the circling hare
(Beats, urg'd by us, their fellow beafts purfue,
And learn of man each other to undo):
With flaughtering guns th' unweary'd fowler

roves,

125 When frofls have whiten'd all the naked groves; Where doves in flocks the leafless trees o'erfhade, And lonely woodcocks haunt the watery glade. He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye; Strait a fort thunder breaks the frozen fky: 130 Oft as in airy rings they kim the heath, The clamorous lapwings 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 quivering fade, Where cooling vapours breathe along the mead, The patient frer takes his flent fland, Jotent, his angle trembling in his hand : With looks unmov'd, he hopes the fcaly breed, And eyes the dancing cork and bending reed. 140 Our plenteous freams a various race fupply, The bright-ey'd perch with fins of Tyrian dye, The filver all, in frining volumes roll'd, The yellow carp, in fcales bedropp'd with gold, Swift trouts, diverfify'd with crimson ftains, 145 And pikes, the tyrants of the watery plains.

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Now Cancer glows with Phoebus' fiery car. The youth rufh eager to the fylvan war, Swarm o'er the lawns, the foreft walks furround, Rouze the fleet hart, and chear the opening hound. Th'impatient courfer pants in every vein, And, pawing, feems to beat the diftant plain: Hills, vales, and floods, appear already crofs'd And, ere he ftarts, a thoufand feps are loft. Sce the bold youth firain up the threatening fteep, Ruth through the thickets, down the valleys fweep,

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Hang o'er their courfers heads with eager fpeed,
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 Goddefs, and as chafte a QUEEN;
Whofe care, like her's, protects the filvan reign,
The Earth's fair light, and Emprefs of the main.

Here, too, 'tis fung, of old Diana ftray'd 165
And Cynthus' top forfook for Windfor fhade;
Here was the feen o'er airy waites to rove,
Seek the clear fpring, or haunt the pathless grove;
Here arm'd with filver bows, in early dawn,
Her bufkin'd Virgins trac❜d the dewy lawn. 170
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 the fings fhall latt). Scarce could the Goddefs from her nymph be known,

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But by the crefcent, and the golden zone.
She fcorn'd the praise of beauty, and the care;
A belt her waift, a fillet binds her hair;
A painted quiver on her foulder founds,
And with her dart the flying deer the wounds, 180
It chanc'd, as, eager of the chace, the maid
Beyond the foreit's verdant limits ftray'd,
Pan faw and lov'd, and burning with defire
Purfued her flight; her flight increas'd his fire.
Not half fo fwift the trembling doves can fly, 135
When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid fky;
Not half fo fwiftly the fierce eagle moves,
When through the clouds he drives the trembling
doves;

As from the God she flew with furious pace,
Or as the God, more furious, urg'd the chace. 190
Now fainting, finking, pale, the nymph appears;
Now close behind, his founding fteps the hears;
And now his fhadow reach'd her as the run,
His fhadow lengthen'd by the fetting fun;
And now his fhorter breath, with fultry air, 195
Pants on her neck, and fans her parting hair.
In vain on father Thames fhe calls for aid,
Nor could Diana help her injur❜d maid.
Taint, breathlefs, thus fhe pray'd nor pray'd in
vain;

“Ah, Cynthia! ah-though banish'd from thy

<< train,

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"Let me, O let me, to the fhades repair,
"My native fhades! there weep, and murmur
"there!"

She faid, and, melting as in tears the lay,
In a foft filver ftream diffolv'd away.
The filver ftream her virgin coldnefs keeps, 205
For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps;
Still bears the name the haplefs virgin bore,
And bathes the foreft where the rang'd before.
In her chate current oft the Goddess laves,
And with celeftial tears augments the waves. 210
Oft in her glass the mufirg fhepherd fpies
The headlong mountains and the downward kies,
The watery landskip of the pendent woods,
Ard abfent trees that tremble in the floods;
In the clear azure gleam the fiocks are seen, 215
And floating forests paint the waves with green;

225

Thou, too, great father of the British floods! With joyful pride furvey our lofty woods; 220 Where towering oaks their growing honours rear, And future navies on thy hores appear. Not Neptune's felf from all her ftreams receives A wealthier tribute, than to thine he gives. No feas fo rich, fo gay no banks appear, No lake fo gentle, and no fpring fo clear. Nor Po fo fwells the fabli g Poet's lays, While led along the kies his current ftrays, As thine, which visits Windfor's fam'd abodes, To grace the manufon of our earthly Gods: 230 Nor all his ftars above a luftre fhow, Like the bright Beauties on thy banks below; Where jove, fubdued by mortal paffion ftill, Might change Olympus for a nobler hill. Happy the man whom this bright Court ap

proves,

His Sovereiga favours, and his Country loves: Happy next him, who on thefe fhades retires, Whom Nature charms, and whom the Mufe infpires,

Whom humbler joys of home-felt quiet please, Succeffive ftudy, exercife and ease.

240

He gathers health from herbs the foreft yields,
And of their ragrant phyfic fpoils the fields;
With chymic art exalts the mineral powers,
And draws the aromatic fouls of flowers:
Now marks the courfe of rolling orbs on high;
O'er figur'd worlds now travels with his eye; 246
Of ancient writ unlocks the learned store,
Confults the dead, and lives paft ages o'er :
Or wandering thoughtful in the flent wood,
Attends the duties of the wife and good,
T'obferve a mean, to be himfelf a friend,
To follow nature, and regard his end;

250.

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Or looks on heaven with more than mortal eyes;
Bids his free foul expatiate in the skies,
Amid her kindred ftars familiar roam,
Survey the region, and confefs her home!
Such was the life great Scipio once admir'd,
Thus Atticus, and Trumbull thus retir'd.
Ye facred Nine! that all my foul potefs,
Whofe raptures fire me, and whofe vifions blefs,
Bear
oh bear me to fequefter'd scenes,
The bowery mazes, and furrounding greens;
To Thames's banks which fragrant breezes fill,
Or where ye Mufes fport on Cooper's Hill;
(On Cooper's Hill eternal wreaths fhall grow, 265
While lafts the mountain, or while Thames fhall
flow):

me,

I feem through confecrated walks to rove,
I hear foft mufc die along the grove :
Led by the found, I roam from hade to fhade,
By god-like poets venerable made:
Here his first lays majestic Denham fung;

270

There the laft numbers flow'd from Cowley's tongue.

O carly loft! what tears the river fhed,
When the fad pomp along his banks was led !
VOL. VI.

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275

His drooping fwans on every note expire,
And on his willows hung each Mufe's lyre.
Since fate relentless fopp'd their heavenly
voice,

No more the forefts ring, or groves rejoice; Who now fhall charm the thades, where Cowley ftrung

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285

His living harp, and lofty Denham fung? But hark! the groves rejoice, the foreft rings! Are thefe revivid? or is it Granville fings! 'Tis yours, my Lord, to blefs our foft retreats, And call the Mufes to their ancient feats; To paint anew the flowery filvan scenes, To crown the forefts with immortal greens, Make Windfor hills in lofty numbers rife, And lift her turrets nearer to the fkies; To fing thofe honours you deserve to wear, And add new luftre to her filver ftar. Here noble Surrey felt the facred rage, Surrey, the Granville of a former age: Matchlefs his pen, victorious was his lance, Bold in the lifts, and graceful in the dance: In the fame fhades the Cupids tun'd his lyre, 295 To the fame notes, of love, and foft defire: Fair Geraldine, bright object of his vow, Then fill'd the groves, as heavenly Mira now. Oh wouldst thou fing what heroes Windfor bore,

290

What kings firft breath'd upon her winding fhore,
Or raise old warriors, whofe ador'd remains
In weeping vaults her hallow'd earth contains!
With Edward's acts adorn the fhining page,
Stretch his long triumphs down through every
age;

Draw monarchs chain'd, and Creffi's glorious field,

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The lilies blazing on the regal fhield:
Then, from her roofs when Verrio's colours fall,
And leave inanimate the naked wall,
Still in thy fong shouldvanquish'd France appear,
And bleed for ever under Britain's spear,

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Let fofter strains ill-fated Henry mourn, And palms eternal Rourish round his ura. Here o'er the martyr-King the marble weeps, And, faft behind him, once-fear'd Edward fleeps: Whom not th'extended Albion could contain, 315 From old Belerium to the northern main, The Grave unites; where ev'n the Great find rest, And blended lie th' oppreffor and th' oppreft!

Make facred Charles's tomb for ever known (Obfcure the place, and uninfcrib'd the frone); Oh fact accurs d! what tears has Albion fhed! 321Heavens, what new wounds! and how her old have bled!

T

f

fwelling waters, and alternate tides;

340

gar'd reams in waves o Iver roll d, 335 And on their banks Auguila rofe i gold: red his throne the fea-bor. brothers tood Who fwell with tributary ur 15 his tood! Firs the fam'd authors of his a cienta ne, The windi g lus, and the fruital thame: The Kennet fwift, for fiver els re own'd; The Loddon flow, with verda it alder crowd; Cole, whofe dark freams his dowery i and lave; And Chalky Wey, that rolls a mil y wave: The bine, trapparent Vandalis appear; The gulphy lee ha fedgy treffe rears; And follen Mole, that hides his diving food; And flent Dare. t, fiain'd with Danish blood,

345

High in the midft, upon his ura reclin'd, (His fea-green mantle waving with the wind) 350 The God appear'd: he turn'd his azore eyes Where Windfor domes and pompous turret: rife; Then bow'd, and fpoke; the winds forget to

roar,

And the bush'd waves glide foftly to the fhore.

Hail, facred Peace! Mail, long-expected days, That Tha nes glory to the ftars fhail raie! 36 Though Tyber's tireams immortal Rome behold, Though foaming Hermus fweils with tides of gold,

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355

From heaven itfelf the feven-feld Nilus flows,
And harvests on a hundred realms beftows; 360
Thefe now no more thall be the Mufes' themes,
Loft in my fame, as in the fea their fireams,
Let Velga's banks with iron fquadrons fine,
And groves of lances glitter on the Rhine;
Let barbarous Ganges arin a fervile train:
Be mine the bleffings of a peaceful reign.
No more my fons fall dye with British blood
Red Iber's ands, or ifter's foaming dood:
Safe on my fhore each unmclefted Twain
Shall tend the flocks, or reap the bearded grain;
The fhady empire hall retain no trace 371
Of war or blood, but in the fylvan chace ;
The trumpet fleep, while carful horns are
blown,

391

395

Ied by new fars, and borne by fpicy gales!
For m the balry all bleed, and amber dow,
The coral redden, a d the ruby glow,
The pearly fell it- lucid globe unfold,
And Ph bus warm the ripening cre to gold.
The 'ime ft all come, when free as feas or wid
Unbounded Thames all tow for all ma kind,
Whole rations enter with each fwellig tide,
And feas but jom the regions they divide;
Parth's difiant e dour glory f 11 behold,
And the new world latech forth to feel the old,
Then flips t u couth for fall item the tide,
Ad feather'd people crowd my wealthy 1 de,
And aed youths ad pai ted chiefs admire 40;
Cur fpeech, our colour, and our forange attire!
Oh, fretch thy reign, lair Peace! from 2 ore to
fhore,

400

Till Conqueft ceafe, and Slavery be no more;
Till the freed Indians in their native grovs
Reap their own fruits, and woo their ale loves;
Peru once more a race of Lig behold,
And other Mexicos be roodd with gold.
Exil'd by thee from earth to deepe" heil,
In brazen bonds fall barbarous Pifcord dwell:

411

Gigantic pride, pale Terror, gloomy Care, 4:5

And mad Ambition, fall attend her there : There purple Vengeance bath'd in gøre retires, Hier weapons blunted, and extind her fres. There hateful Envy her own fa es fall feel, And Perfecution mourn her broken wheel: 429 There Faction roar, Rebellion bite her chain, And gafping Furies thirst for blood in vain.

Here ecafe thy fight, nor w ur hallow'd lays Touch the fair fame of Albio's golden days: The thoughts of Gods let Granville's verfe recite,

445

And bring the fcenes of opening fate to light:
My humble Mufe, in ur ambitious Prairs,
Paints the green fores and the towery rlains,
Where Peace defcending bids her olive fpring,
A: d fcatters bieffings from her deve-like wing:
Fv'n I more fweetly pafs my car lefs days, 431
Plea 'd is the lent fade with empty praise;
Frough for me, that to the lifening wains
Firft in thefe telds I fung the fylvan strains.

ODE FOR MUSIC

ON

St. CECILIA'S DAY.

I.

ESCEND, ye Nire! defcend, and fing;

DE

The breathing infruments infpire;

Wake into voice each lent ftring,
And fweep the founding lyre!

In a fadly-pleat ng frain
Let the warbling lute complain:
Let the loud trumpet found,
Till the roofs all around
The frill echoes rebound:

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