Invites me, and the theme as yet unfung. 3 Ye Ariconian Knights and fairest Dames, To whom propitious Heaven thefe bleffings grants, Attend my lays; nor hence difdain to learn, How nature's gifts may be improv'd by art. And thou, O Moftyn, whose benevolence, And candor, oft experienc'd, me vouchfaf'd ΙΟ His Though our Author speaks of Herefordshire as his "native foil," he was born, December 30, 1676, at Bampton, in Oxfordshire, of which place, Dr. Stephen Philips his father, was minifter. But he was of a Herefordshire family, who had an eftate at Withington, in that county. His great-grandfather was a confiderable clothier at Ledbury. grandfather was a canon refidentiary of the cathedral church of Hereford, and vicar of Lugwardine. His father was born, at Lugwardine, September 30, 1638, and had the archdeaconry of Salop, in the diocese of Hereford. 7. Ye Ariconian Knights and faireft Dames,] ARICONIUM was the old name for the principal city of Herefordfhire, which tradition relates to have been deftroyed by an earthquake. Where it stood has been a queftion much agitated among Antiquaries. 11. And thou, O Moftyn] John Moftyn, the intimate friend, cotemporary, and fellow collegian of Philips, at the time he began his Poem, was third brother to Sir Roger Moftyn, of Moftyn in Flintshire; and was educated, on the foundation, at Westminster School, from whence he was elected Student of Christ Church in Oxford, where he took the degree of Master of Arts March 22d, 1704. Sir Roger Moftyn, his Grandfather, was created a Baronet at the Restoration. His attachment to Charles I. and the fervices he rendered that Prince at the frequent hazard of his life, and to the material detriment of his fortune, entitled him to every grateful return. Poffibly the part he took in the great national quarrel, and the political opinions he tranfmitted down to his defcendants, may be affigned as one caufe which procured his Grandfon the friendship of our Poet, and the dedication of the first book of his Poem-a poem in which, though the compliments paid to particular perfons were probably justified by their immediate deferts, we cannot but trace a violent prejudice of Party governing not only the fentiments of the Author on public matters, but rivetting, if not forming his private attachments. To knit in friendship growing still with years, 15 Of dear respect, that when this body frail Let him free entrance grant, let Zephyrs bland 25 Naught fear he from the West, whose gentle warmth Discloses well the earth's all-teeming womb, 20. This is Horace's his laboring trees fhould bend, c.] -nec jam fuftineant onus SYLVE LABORANTES 30 27. L. i. Ode 9: Let Zephyrs bland Adminifter their tepid genial airs; Naught fear be from the Weft, whofe gentle warmth We cannot well doubt but, when our Author wrote thefe lines, he had in his mind the following paffage in Virgil's charming defcription of the Spring. Parturit The weft wind of Herefordshire is by no means a warm and vind. That county, being bounded on the weft by Brecknockshire, ely open on that fide to the Welch mountains, which are not only ly covered with fnow all the winter, but often remain fo until the fpring. The weft wind therefore, blowing over a confiderable f high frozen land directly upon Herefordshire, has a peculiar fs, and much more resembles the Ionian Zephyr of Homer (fee 's Effay on Homer, p. 24) which blew upon that coaft from the ian mountains, than it does the genial weft wind of Italy, as ated by Virgil and the other Roman Poets. is is fo much the cafe, that the Herefordshire farmer fears no wind than that which blows from the weft; and accordingly, in planting op-yards or Orchards, will prefer almost any fituation to a Western Here then our Poet betrays his Imitation by one of its most in marks, as laid down by a moft able and judicious Critic," the ing the properties of one Clime, or Country, to another." 31. Te See Bp. Hurd, ON THE MARKS OF IMITATION Nurtures the orange and the citron groves, Hefperian fruits, and wafts their odors fweet We may here perhaps trace our Poet to the following charming paffage is Mafter's PARADISE LOST. B. iv. 156. Now gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, difpenfe Sabean Nor only do the hills exclude the winds: 35 But, when the blackening clouds in fprinkling fhowers The force and genius of each foil explore, Sabean odors from the fpicy fhore Of Araby the bleft; with fuch delay Well pleafed they flack their courfe, and many a league 39. The orchats fmile ;] RIDET AGER, veftitur humus Martial, L. x. Ep. 51. Milton alfo, in a paffage cited in the preceding note, has, Old Ocean SMILES. The fame image alfo occurs in the Hymn to Ceres, difcovered a few fince in the library at Moscow, and attributed to Homer. years Narciffus, a plant formed by magic, is thus described. Τι και απο ρίζης εκατον καρα εξεπεφύκει Γαια τε πασ', εγελασε και αλμυρον οίδμα θαλασσης. From the deep roots an hundred branches fprung, Which lightly wafted on the wings of air, The gladden'd earth, and heaven's wide circuit fhare. And Ocean's briny fwell with fmiles is crown'd. The Thefe lines are from the very able Verfion of Mr. Hole; who has not always confined himself to the labor of tranflation, but has lately made an Epic effort, with a boldness of defign, and correctnefs of execution, that the present times have feldom witneffed. His Arthur, or the Northern Enchantment, would do honor to any age of poetry. 42. The force and genius of each foil explore, To what adapted, what it fbuns averfe:] Thus Virgil, GEORGIC, i. 50. At BOOK I. CIDER. Without this neceffary care, in vain So nature has decreed; fo oft we see Nor from the fable ground expect fuccefs, At prius ignotum quam ferro fcindimus æquor, Ventos et varium cœli prædifcere morem. 7 45 50 Cura fit, AC PATRIOS CULTUSQUE HABITUSQUE LOCORUM, Be first the clime, the wind and weather fhewn; What each refufes, what in plenty yields. 47. Rejoicing in rich mold] WARTON. This is Virgil's DULCIQUE ULIGINE LETA, GEORGIC. ii. 190. 51. Men paffing fair, in outward lineaments Elaborate, lefs inwardly exact.] From Milton, P. L. viii. 537. At least on her beftow'd SHEW Too much of ornament, IN OUTWARD 53. Nor from the fable ground expect fuccefs, Virg. GEORGIC. V. 212. |