Nor
envy, Windfor! fince thy fhades have seen
As bright a Goddess, and as chaste a Queen ;
Whose care, like hers, protects the fylvan reign,
The Earth's fair light, and Emprefs of the Main.
Here too, 'tis fung, of old Diana ftray'd,
And Cynthus' top forfook for Windfor fhade;
Here was she feen o'er airy waftes to rove,
Seek the clear spring, or haunt the pathless grove;
Here arm'd with filver bows, in early dawn,
Her bufkin'd Virgins trac'd the dewy lawn.
Above the rest a rural nymph was fam'd,
Thy offspring, Thames! the fair Lodona nam'd;
(Lodona's fate, in long oblivion caft,

The Muse shall fing, and what fhe fings fhall laft.) Scarce could the Goddefs from her nymph be known,

But by the crefcent and the golden zone.

She scorn'd the praise of beauty, and the care;

A belt her waist, a fillet binds her hair;

165

170

175

A painted

NOTES.

VER. 162. Queen ANNE.

VER. 171. Dr. Warton fays, "that Johnson seems to have paffed too fevere a cenfure on this epifode of Lodona, and that a tale in a descriptive poem has a good effect." Johnson does not object to a tale in a descriptive poem, he objects only to the tritenefs of fuch a tale as this.

VER. 175.

IMITATIONS.

"Nec pofitu variare comas; ubi fibula veftem,
Vitta coërcuerat neglectos alba capillos."

Ovid.

180

A painted quiver on her fhoulder founds,
And with her dart the flying deer fhe wounds.
It chanc'd, as eager of the chace, the maid
Beyond the foreft's verdant limits stray'd,
Pan faw and lov'd, and burning with defire
Pursu'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 through the clouds he drives the trembling
doves;

As from the God fhe 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 fhe hears;
And now his fhadow reach'd her as fhe run,
His fhadow lengthen'd by the setting fun;

185

199

And

NOTES.

VER.179.] From the fourth book of Virgil, who copied it from Homer's beautiful figure of Apollo, Iliad, b. i. ver. 46. But, as Dr. Clark finely and acutely obferves, even Virgil has loft the,

IMITATIONS,

VER. 185, 188.

"Ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbæ,
Ut folet accipiter trepidas agitare columbas."

VER. 193, 196.

"Sol erat a tergo: vidi præcedere longam

Ante pedes umbram; nifi fi timor illa videbat.
Sed certe fonituque pedum terrebar; et ingens
Crinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris."

Moft of the circumftances in this tale are from Ovid.

beauty

Ovid.

And now his fhorter breath, with fultry air,
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.

195

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

"Let me, O let me, to the fhades repair,

201

205

My native fhades-there weep, and murmur there." She faid, and melting as in tears fhe lay, In a foft, filver ftream diffolv'd away. The filver stream her virgin coldness keeps, For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps ; Still bears the name the hapless virgin bore, And bathes the foreft where fhe rang'd before. In her chaste current oft the Goddess laves, And with celeftial tears augments the waves.

210

Oft

NOTES.

beauty and the propriety of the original. Homer fays, the arrows founded in the quiver because the step of the God was hafty and irregular, as of an angry perfon. Irati defcribitur inceffus, paulo utique inæquabilior. WARTON.

VER. 207. Still bears the name] The River Lodon.

VER. 210. And with celeftial tears, &c.] The idea of " augmenting the waves with tears,' was very common among the carliest English Poets; but perhaps the most ridiculous use ever made of this combination, was by Shakespeare. Speaking of the drowned Ophelia, Laertes fays:

"Too much of water hadit thou, poor Ophelia,

And therefore I forbid my tears

יין

215

Oft in her glass the mufing fhepherd spies
The headlong mountains and the downward fkies.
The watʼry landskip of the pendant woods,
And abfent trees that tremble in the floods;
In the clear azure gleam the flocks are feen,
And floating forefts paint the waves with green,
Through the fair scene roll flow the ling'ring streams,
Then foaming pour along, and rush into the Thames,
Thou, too, great father of the British floods!
With joyful pride furvey'ft our lofty woods;
Where tow'ring oaks their growing honours rear,
And future navies on thy fhores appear.

Not Neptune's felf from all her streams 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 fabling Poet's lays,
While led along the fkies his current strays,
As thine, which vifits Windfor's fam❜d abodes,
To grace the mansion of our earthly Gods:

Nor all his stars above a lustre show,

Like the bright beauties on thy banks below;

220

225

230

NOTES.

Where

VER. 211. Oft in her glass, &c.] Thefe fix lines were added

after the first writing of this poem.

And in truth they are but puerile and redundant.

POPE.

WARTON.

VER. 227. Very ill expreffed; efpecially the river's fwelling

the lays.

WARTON.

Where Jove, fubdu'd by mortal paffion still,

Might change Olympus for a nobler hill.

Happy the man whom this bright Court approves,

His Sov'reign favours, and his country loves:

Happy next him, who to these shades retires,

236

Whom Nature charms, and whom the Muse inspires:
Whom humbler joys of home-felt quiet please,
Succeffive study, exercise, and ease.

He gathers health from herbs the forest yields,
And of their fragrant phyfic fpoils the fields:

240

With

VARIATIONS.

VER. 233. It flood thus in the MS.

And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover ftill,
To change Olympus, &c.

VER. 235.

Happy the man, who to these shades retires,

But doubly hay, if the Muse infpires!

Bleft whom the fweets of home-felt quiet please ;
But far more bleft, who study joins with ease.

POPE.

NOTES.

VER. 237. Happy next him, &c.] Dr. Warton obferves, that this paffage resembles one in Phillips's Cyder. The paffage is

this:

He to his labour hies,

Gladfome, intent on fomewhat that may eafe
Unhealthy mortals, and with curious fearch
Examines all the properties of herbs,

Foffils, and minerals, &c.

or elfe his thoughts

Are exercis'd with speculations deep,

Of good, and juft, and meet, and th' wholesome rules
Of temperance, and ought that may improve

The moral life; &c.