30

Ye weeping Loves, the stream with myrtles hide,
And break your bows, as when 'Adonis dy'd ;
And with your golden darts, now useless grown,
Infcribe a verse on this relenting tone: 26
"Let nature change, let heav'n and earth deplore,
"Fair Daphne's dead, and love is now no more!
'Tis done, and nature's various charms decay,
See gloomy clouds obfcure the chearful day!
Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear,
Their faded honours scatter'd on her bier,
See, where on earth the flow'ry glories lie,
With her they flourish'd, and with her they die.
Ah what avail the beauties nature wore ?
Fair Daphne's dead, and beauty is no more!
For her the flocks refuse their verdant food,
The thirsty heifers fhun the gliding flood.
The filver fwans her haplefs fate bemoan,
In notes more fad than when they fing their own;
In hollow caves fweet Echo filent lies,

Silent, or only to her name replies;

35

41

Her name with pleasure once the taught the fhore,

Now Daphne's dead, and pleafure is no more!

No grateful dews defcend from ev'ning fkies,

Nor morning odours from the flow'rs arife;

VARIATIONS.

VER. 29. Originally thus in the MS.

46

No

'Tis done, and nature's chang'd fince you are gone'; Behold the clouds have put their Mourning on.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 23, 24, 25.

Inducite fontibus umbras

Et tumulum facite, et tumulo fuperaddit carmen. P.

50

No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field,
Nor fragrant herbs their native incenfe yield.
The balmy Zephyrs, filent fince her death,
Lament the ceafing of a sweeter breath;
Th' industrious bees neglect their golden store !
Fair Daphne's dead, and sweetness is no more.!!
No more the mounting larks, while Daphne fings,
Shall lift'ning in mid air suspend their wings;
No more the birds fhall imitate her lays,

Or hufh'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays:
No more the streams their murmurs shall forbear,
A fweeter mufic than their own to hear,
But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal fhore,
Fair Daphne's dead, and mufic is no more!
Her fate is whifper'd by the gentle breeze,
And told in fighs to all the trembling trees;
The trembling trees, în ev'ry plain and wood,
Her fate remurmur to the filver flood;

The filver flood, so lately calm, appears

55

60

65

Swell'd with new paffion, and o'erflows with tears; The winds and trees and floods her death deplore, Daphne, our grief! our glory now no more!

But fee! where Daphne wond'ring mounts on high

Above the clouds, above the starry sky!
Eternal beauties grace the fhining scene,
Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green!
There while you reft in Amaranthine bow'rs,
Or from those meads select unfading flow'rs,

7༠

VER. 69, 70.

IMITATIONS.

miratur limen Olympi,

Behold

Sub pedibufque videt nubes et fydera Daphnis.Virg. P.

Behold us kindly, who your name implore,

Daphne, our Goddess, and our grief no more!

LYCIDAS.

33

75

80

How all things liften, while thy Muse complains! Such filence waits on Philomela's ftrains, In some still ev'ning, when the whisp'ring breeze Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees. To thee, bright goddefs, oft a lamb fhall bleed, If teeming ewes encrease my fleecy breed. While plants their shade, or flow'rs their odours give, Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise shall live!

THYRSIS.

But fee, Orion fheds unwholfome dews, Arife, the pines a noxious fhade diffuse; Sharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels decay, Time conquers all, and we muft Time obey.

85

Adieu,

VARIATIONS.

VER. 83. Originally thus in the MS.

While Vapours rife, and driving fnows defcend,
Thy honour, name, and praise shall never end.

VER. 81.

IMITATIONS.

illius aram

Sæpe tener noftris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. Virg. P.

VER. 86.

folet effe gravis cantantibus umbra,

Juniperi gravis umbra.

VER. 88. Time conquers all, etc.

Virg. P.

1

Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori.

Vid. etiam Sannazarii Ecl. et Spencer's Calendar.

90

Adieu, ye vales, ye mountains, ftreams and groves,
Adieu, ye fhepherd's rural lays and loves;
Adieu, my flocks, farewell ye fylvan crew,
Daphne, farewell, and all the world adieu,

VER. 89, etc.] Thefe four laft lines allude to the feveral fubjects of the four Paftorals, and to the several scenes of them, particularized before in each. P.

MESSI A H.

A

Sacred Eclogue,

In Imitation of

VIRGIL'S POLLIO.

D