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Here his first lays majestic DENHAM sung:

There the last numbers flow'd from COWLEY's* tongue.
Oh, early lost! what tears the river shed,
When the sad pomp along his banks was led!
His drooping swans on every note expire,
And on his willows hung each Muse's lyre.

Since fate relentless stopp'd their heavenly voice.
No more the forests ring, or groves rejoice;

Who now shall charm the shades, where COWLEY strung
His living harp, and lofty DENHAM sung?

But hark! the groves rejoice, the forest rings!
Are these revived? or is it GRANVILLE sings?
'Tis yours, my Lord, to bless our soft retreats,
And call the Muses to their ancient seats;
To paint anew the flowery silvan scenes,
To crown the forest with immortal greens,
Make Windsor-hills in lofty numbers rise,
And lift her turrets nearer to the skies;
To sing those honours you deserve to wear,
And add new lustre to her silver star.

Here noble SURREY+ felt the sacred rage,
SURREY, the GRANVILLE of a former age;
Matchless his pen, victorious was his lance,
Bold in the lists, and graceful in the dance:
In the same shades the Cupids tuned his lyre,
To the same notes, of love's RESISTLESS FIRE:
Fair Geraldine, bright object of his vow,
Then fill'd the groves, as heavenly Mira now.

Oh, wouldst thou sing what heroes Windsor bore,
What kings first breathed upon her winding shore,
Or raise old warriors, whose adored remains
In weeping vaults her hallow'd earth contains!
With Edward's acts adorn the shining page,
Stretch his long triumphs down through every age,
Draw monarchs chain'd, and Crecy's glorious field,
The lilies blazing on the regal shield:

Then, from her roofs when Verrio's colours fall,
And leave inanimate the naked wall,

Still in thy song should vanquish'd France appear,
And bleed for ever under Britain's spear.

Let softer strains ill-fated Henry§ mourn,

And palms eternal flourish round his urn.

Here o'er the Martyr-King the marble weeps,

And, fast beside him, once-fear'd Edward || sleeps:

*Mr Cowley died at Chertsey, on the borders of the forest, and was from thence conveyed to Westminster.

+ Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, one of the first refiners of the English poetry, who flourished in the time of Henry VIII.

Edward III. was born here.

§ Henry VI.

Il Edward IV.

Whom not the extended Albion could contain,
From old Belerium to the northern main,
The grave unites; where e'en the great find rest,
And blended lie the oppressor and the oppress'd !
Make sacred Charles's tomb for ever known,
(Obscure the place, and uninscribed the stone.)
Oh, fact accurst! what tears has Albion shed,
Oh, what new wounds! and how her old have bled!
She saw her sons with purple death expire,
Her sacred domes involved in rolling fire,
A dreadful series of intestine wars,
Inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars.

At length great ANNA said-" Let discord cease!"
She said, the world obey'd, and all was peace!
In that blest moment, from his oozy bed

Old Father Thames advanced his reverend head;
His tresses dropp'd with dews, and o'er the stream
His shining forms diffused a golden gleam;
Graved on his urn appear'd the moon, that guides
His swelling waters and alternate tides;
The figured streams in waves of silver roll'd,
And on her banks Augusta* rose in gold.
Around his throne the sea-born brothers stood,
Who swell with tributary urns his flood,
First the famed authors of his ancient name,
The winding Isis and the fruitful Thame:
The Kennet swift, for silver eels renown'd;
The Loddon slow, with verdant alders crown'd;
Cole, whose dark streams his flowery islands lave;
And chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave;
The blue, transparent Vandalis appears;
The gulfy Lee his sedgy tresses rears;
And sullen Mole, that hides his diving flood;
And silent Darent, stain'd with Danish blood.
High in the midst, upon his urn reclined
(His sea-green mantle waving with the wind)
The god appear'd; he turn'd his azure eyes
Where Windsor domes and pompous turrets rise;
Then bow'd and spoke; the winds forget to roar,
And the hush'd waves glide softly to the shore.

"Hail, sacred Peace! hail, long-expected days
That Thames's glory to the stars shall raise!
Though Tiber's streams immortal Rome behold,
Though foaming Hermus swells with tides of gold,
From heaven itself though sevenfold Nilus flows,
And harvests on a hundred realms bestows;
These now no more shall be the Muse's themes,
Lost in my fame, as in the sea their streams.
*London.

Let Volga's banks with iron squadrons shine,
And groves of lances glitter on the Rhine,
Let barbarous Ganges arm a servile train;
Be mine the blessings of a peaceful reign.
No more my sons shall dye with British blood
Red Iber's sands, or Ister's foaming flood:
Safe on my shore each unmolested swain
Shall tend the flocks, or reap the bearded grain ;
The shady empire shall retain no trace

Of war or blood, but in the silvan chase;

The trumpet sleep, while cheerful horns are blown,
And arms employ'd on birds and beasts alone.
Behold! the ascending villas on my side
Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide;
Behold! Augusta's glittering spires increase,
And temples* rise, the beauteous works of peace.
I see, I see, where two fair cities bend
Their ample bow, a new Whitehall ascend!
There mighty nations shall inquire their doom,
The world's great oracle in times to come;

There kings shall sue, and suppliant states be scen

Once more to bend before a BRITISH QUEEN.

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Thy trees, fair Windsor! now shall leave their woode

And half thy forests rush into thy floods,

Bear Britain's thunder, and her cross display,

To the bright regions of the rising day;

Tempt icy seas, where scarce the waters roll,

Where clearer flames glow round the frozen pole;
Or under southern skies exalt their sails,

Led by new stars and borne by spicy gales!
For me the balm shall bleed, and amber flow,
The coral redden, and the ruby glow,
The pearly shell its lucid globe infold,
And Phoebus warm the ripening ore to gold.
The time shall come, when free as seas or wind
Unbounded Thames shall flow for all mankind;
Whole nations enter with each swelling tide,
And seas but join the regions they divide;
Earth's distant ends our glory shall behold,
And the new world launch forth to seek the old.
Then ships of uncouth form shall stem the tide,
And feather'd people crowd my wealthy side,
And naked youths and painted chiefs admire
Our speech, our colour, and our strange attire
Oh, stretch thy reign, fair Peace! from shore to shore,
Till conquest cease, and slavery be no more;
Till the freed Indians in their native groves

Reap their own fruits, and woo their sable loves.
The fifty new churches.

Peru once more a race of kings behold,
And other Mexicoes be roof'd with gold.
Exiled by thee from earth to deepest hell,
In brazen bonds shall barbarous discord dwell;
Gigantic pride, pale terror, gloomy care,
And mad ambition shall attend her there;
There purple vengeance, bathed in gore, retires,
Her weapons blunted, and extinct her fires;
There hated envy her own snakes shall feel,
And persecution mourn her broken wheel;
There faction roar, rebellion bite her chain,
And gasping furies thirst for blood in vain."

Here cease thy flight, nor with unhallow'd lays
Touch the fair fame of Albion's golden days:
The thoughts of gods let GRANVILLE's verse recite
And bring the scenes of opening fate to light.
My humble muse, in unambitious strains,
Paints the green forests and the flowery plains,
Where peace, descending, bids her olive spring,
And scatters blessings from her dove-like wing.
Even I more sweetly pass my careless days,
Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise;
Enough for me, that to the listening swains
First in these fields I sung the silvan strains

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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 anything 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 I have prejudiced them by my management, I subjoin the passages of Isaiah, and those of Virgil, under the same disadvantage of a literal translation :—

"Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is sent down from high heaven. By means of tnee, whatever reliques 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."-VIRGIL, Ecl. iv.

"Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son."—ISAIAH, ch. vii. "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

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