POEMS OF ALEXANDER POPE. PASTORALS. SPRING. THE FIRST PASTORAL, OR DAMON. TO SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL. FIRST in these fields I try the sylvan strains, You that, too wise for pride, too good for power, Soon as the flocks shook off the nightly dews, Two swains, whom love kept wakeful, and the Muse, Pour'd o'er the whitening vale their fleecy care, Fresh as the morn, and as the season fair: The dawn now blushing on the mountain's side, Thus Daphnis spoke, and Strephon thus reply'd. DAPHNIS. Hear how the birds, on every bloomy spray, STREPHON. Sing then, and Damon shall attend the strain, While yon slow oxen turn the furrow'd plain. Here the bright crocus and blue violet glow; Here western winds on breathing roses blow. I'll stake yon lamb, that near the fountain plays, And from the brink his dancing shade surveys. 34 DAPHNIS. And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines, And swelling clusters bend the curling vines : 36 Ver. 61. Originally thus in the MS. VARIATIONS. Ver. 34. The first reading was, And his own image from the bank surveys. Ver. 36, And clusters lurk beneath the curling vines. Go, flowery wreath, and let my Sylvia know, Compar'd to thine how bright her beauties show: Then die; and dying, teach the lovely maid How soon the brightest beauties are decay'd. 61 Blest Thames's shores the brightest beauties yield, DAPHNIS. Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves ; STREPHON. All Nature mourns, the skies relent in showers, DAPHNIS. All Nature laughs, the groves are fresh and STREPHON. In spring the fields, in autumn hills I love, DAPHNIS. Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May, More bright than noon, yet fresh as early day; Ev'n spring displeases, when she shines not here; But, bless'd with her, 'tis spring throughout the year. STREPHON. Say, Daphnis, say, in what glad soil appears, A wondrous tree that sacred monarchs bears : Tell me but this, and I'll disclaim the prize, And give the conquest to thy Sylvia's eyes. DAPHNIS. Nay, tell me first, in what more happy fields DAMON. do, tuneful bird, that pleas'd the woods so long, The turf with country dainties shall be spread, SUMMER THE SECOND PASTORAL, OR ALEXIS TO DR. CARTH. A SHEPHERD'S boy (he seeks no better name) 27. Ye shady beeches, and ye cooling streams, And yet my numbers please the rural throng, See what delights in sylvan scenes appear! AUTUMN. THE THIRD PASTORAL, OR HYLAS AND EGON. Whose sense instructs us,and whose humour charms, Now setting Phoebus shone serenciy bright, Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs along! Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs along! Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! Ye powers, what pleasing frenzy sooths my mind! Next Egon sung, while Windsor groves admir'd; Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! VARIATIONS. Ver. 48. Originally thus in the MS. With him through Libya's burning plains I'll go, Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strain! Now bright Arcturus glads the teeming grain; Now golden fruits on loaded branches shine, And grateful clusters swell with floods of wine; Now blushing berries paint the yellow grove; Just gods! shall all things yield returns but love! Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! The shepherds cry, "Thy flocks are left a prey." Ah! what awails it me the flocks to keep, Who lost my heart while I preserv'd my sheep? Pan came, and ask'd, what magic caus'd my smart, Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart? What eyes but hers, alas, have power to move! And is there magic but what dwells in love? Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strains! I'll fly from shepherds, flocks, and flowery plains. From shepherds, flocks, and plains, I may remove, Forsake mankind, and all the world--but love! I know thee, Love! on foreign mountains bred, Wolves gave thee suck, and savage tigers fed. Thou wert from Etna's burning entrails torn, Got by fierce whirlwinds, and in thunder born! Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! Farewell, ye woods, adieu the light of day! One leap from yonder cliff shall end my pains; No more, ye hills, no more resound my strains! Thus sung the shepherds till th' approach of night, The skies yet blushing with departed light, When falling dews with spangles deck the glade, And the low Sun had lengthen'd every shade. "Let Nature change, let Heaven and Earth deplore, Fair Daphne's dead, and Love is now no more!" "Tis done, and Nature's various charms decay: 29 See gloomy clouds obscure the cheerful day! Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear, Their faded honours scatter'd on her bier. See where, on earth, the flowery 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 shun the gliding flood: The silver swans her hapless fate bemoan, In notes more sad than when they sing their own; In hollow caves sweet Echo silent lies, Silent, or only to her name replies; Her name with pleasure once she taught the shore, Now Daphne's dead, and Pleasure is no more! No grateful dews descend from evening skies,. Nor morning odours from the flowers arise; No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field, Nor fragrant herbs their native incense yield. The balmy Zephyrs, silent since her death, Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath; Th' industrious becs neglect their golden store ; Fair Daphne's dead, and Sweetness is no more! No more the mounting larks, while Daphne sings, Shall, listening in mid air, suspend their wings; No more the birds shall imitate her lays, Or, hush'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays: No more the streams their murmurs shall forbear, A sweeter music than their own to hear; But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal shore, Fair Daphne's dead, and Music is no more! Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze, And told in sighs to all the trembling trees; The trembling trees in every plain and wood," Her fate remurmur to the silver flood: The silver flood, so lately calm, appears Swell'd with new passion, and o'erflows with tears; The winds, and trees, and floods, her death deplore, Daphne our grief! our glory now no more! In reading several passages of the prophet Isaiah, which foretel 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 Sibyline prophecy on the same subject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line for 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 any thing 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 shall subjoin the passages of Isaiah, and those of Virgil, under the same disadvantage of a literal translation. ? Ver. 8. A Virgin shall conceive-All crimes shall cease, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 6. Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna; Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto. Te duce, si qua maneant sceleris vestigia nostri, Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terrasPacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem. "Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is sent down from high Heaven. By means of thee, 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." From Jesse's' root behold a branch arise, IMITATIONS. 29 shall conceive and bear a Son--Chap. ix. ver. 6, Isaiah, ch. vii. ver. 14. "Behold a Virgin the Prince of Peace: of the increase of his 7. Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given; ment, and of his peace, there shall be no end: governUpon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, with justice, for ever and ever." to order and to establish it, with judgment and Ver. 23. See Nature hastes, &c.]. Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 18. At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu, Errantes hederas passim cum baccare tellus, Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acanthoIpsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores. "For thee, O Child, shall the Earth, without being tilled, produce her early offerings; winding ivy, mixed with baccar, and colocassia with smiling acanthus. Thy cradle shall pour forth pleasing flowers about thee." Isaiah. Ch. xxxi. ver. 1. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." Ch. Ix. ver. 13. "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy sanctuary." Ver. 29. Hark! a glad voice, &c. Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 46. Aggredere ô magnos (aderit jam tempus), honores, Cara deûm soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum→ Ecl. v. ver 62. Ipsa lætitiâ voces ad sidera jactant Intonsi montes, ipsæ jam carmina rupes, Ipsa sonant arbusta, Deus, Deus ille Menalca! "O come and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the gods! O great increase of Jove! The uncultivated mountains send shouts of joy to the stars; the very rocks sing in verse, the very shrubs cry out, A God, a God!" Isaiah, Ch. xl. ver. 3, 4. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make straight in the desert a highway for our God! Every valley shall be exalted Isai. xi. ver. 1. 2 Ch. xlv. ver. 8. 3 Ch. xxv. ver. 4. 4 Ch. ix. ver. 7. Ch. xxxv. ver. 2. Ch. xl. ver. 3, 4 |