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'Twas, where yon Beech's crouding branches clos'd,
What time the Dog-ftar's flames intenfely burn,
In gentle indolence compos'd,
Reclin'd upon thy trickling urn,

Slumb'ring thou lay'ft, all free from fears;
No friendly dream foretold thine harm;
When sudden, fee, the tyrant Art appears,
To fnatch the liquid treasures from thine arm.
Art, gothic Art, has feiz'd the darling vase:
That vafe which filver-flipper'd Thetis gave,
For fome foft ftory told with grace,
Among th' affociates of the wave;
When, in fequefter'd coral vales,
While worlds of waters roll'd above,
The circling fea-nymphs told alternate tales
Of fabled changes, and of flighted love.
Ah! lofs too juftly mourn'd: for now the Fiend
Has on yon fhell-wrought terras pois'd it high;
And thence he bids its streams defcend,
With torturing regularity.

From ftep to ftep, with fullen found,
The forc'd cafcades indignant leap;
Now finking fill the bafon's meafur'd round;
There in a dull ftagnation doom'd to fleep.
Where now the vocal pebbles gurgling fong?
The rill flow-dripping from his rocky spring?
What free meander winds along,

Or curls when Zephyr waves his wing?
Alas, thefe glories are no more:
Fortune, O give me to redeem

The ravish'd vafe; O give me to restore
Its ancient honours to this hapless stream.

Then,

Then, Nymph, again, with all their wonted eafe,
Thy wanton waters, volatile and free,

Shall wildly warble, as they pleafe,
Their foft, loquacious harmony.

Where Thou and Nature bid them rove,
There will I gently aid their way;
Whether to darken in the fhadowy grove,

Or, in the mead, reflect the dancing ray.
For thee too, Goddefs, o'er that hallow'd spot,
Were first thy fount of chryftal bubbles bright,
These hands fhall arch a ruftic grot,
Impervious to the garish light.

I'll not demand of Ocean's pride
To bring his coral fpoils from far:

Nor will I delve yon yawning mountain's fide,
For latent minerals rough, or polish'd fpar:
But antique roots, with ivy dark o'ergrown,
Steep'd in the bofom of thy chilly lake,

Thy touch shall turn to living stone;
And these the fimple roof fhall deck.
Yet grant one melancholy boon:
Grant that, at evening's fober hour,
Led by the luftre of the rifing moon,
My ftep may frequent tread thy pebbled floor.
There, if perchance I wake the love lorn theme,
In melting accents querulously flow,

Kind Naiad, let thy pitying ftream
With wailing notes accordant flow:
So fhalt thou footh his heaving heart,
That mourns a faithful Virgin loft;

So fhall thy murmurs, and my fighs impart
Some share of penfive pleasure to her ghoft.

ODE

*O DE III.

To an*

*EOLUS's HARP.

Sent to Mifs SHEPHEARD.

ES, magic Lyre! now all complete
Thy flender frame refponfive rings;

While kindred notes, with undulation sweet,
Accordant wake from all thy vocal ftrings.
Go then to her, whofe foft request
Bad my bleft hands thy form prepare:
Ah
go, and sweetly footh her tender breast
With many a warble wild, and artless air.

For know, full oft, while o'er the mead
Bright June extends her fragrant reign,
The flumb'ring Fair fhall place thee near her head,
To court the gales that cool the fultry plain.

Then shall the Sylphs, and Sylphides bright,
Mild Genii all, to whofe high care

Her virgin charms are giv'n, in circling flight
Skim sportive round thee in the fields of air.

Some,

NOTES.

*This inftrument was first invented by Kircher about the year 1649. See his Mufurgia Univerfalis five ars confoni & diffoni, lib. ix. After having been neglected above a hundred years it was again accidentally difcovered by Mr. Ofwald.

Some, flutt'ring thro' thy trembling ftrings,
Shall catch the rich melodious spoil,
And lightly brush thee with their purpled wings
To aid the Zephyrs in their tuneful toil;
While others check each ruder gale,
Expel rough Boreas from the sky,

Nor let a breeze its heaving breath exhale,
Save fuch as foftly pant, and panting die.
Then, as thy fwelling accents rise,
Fair Fancy, waking at the found,
Shall paint bright vifions on her raptur'd eyes,
And waft her fpirits to enchanted ground;
To myrtle groves, Elyfian greens,

In which fome fav'rite Youth shall rove,
And meet, and lead her thro' the glittering scenes,
And all be Mufic, Extacy, and Love.

ODE

O DE IV.
OD

To INDEPENDENCY.

Τ.

ERE, on my native fhore reclin'd,
While Silence rules this midnight hour,

I woo thee, GODDESS. On my musing mind
Defcend, propitious Power !

And bid thefe ruffling gales of grief fubfide:
Bid my calm'd foul with all thy influence shine;
As yon chafte Orb along this ample tide

Draws the long luftre of her filver line,

While the hufh'd breeze its last weak whisper blows,
And lulls old HUMBER to his deep repose.

II.

Come to thy Vot'ry's ardent prayer,
In all thy graceful plainnefs dreft:
No knot confines thy waving hair,
No zone thy floating veft;

Unfullied Honour decks thine open brow,
And Candour brightens in thy modest eye:
Thy bluth is warm Content's etherial glow ;
Thy fmile is Peace; thy ftep is Liberty:
Thou scatter'st bleffings round with lavish hand,
As Spring with careless fragrance fills the land.

C

A$

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