WINTER: THE FOURTH PASTORAL, OR DAPHNE. TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. TEMPEST,1 LYCIDAS. HYRSIS, the music of that murmuring spring Is not so mournful as the strains you sing. 5 Nor rivers winding through the vales below, THYRSIS. Behold the groves that shine with silver frost, Their beauty withered, and their verdure lost. 10 Here shall I try the sweet Alexis' strain, That called the listening Dryads to the plain? 1 This lady was of an ancient family in Yorkshire, and particularly admired by the author's friend, Mr. Walsh, who, having celebrated her in a Pastoral Elegy, desired his friend to do the same, as appears from one of his letters, dated Sept. 9, 1706: " Your last Eclogue being on the same subject with mine on Mrs. Tempest's death, I should take it very kindly in you to give it a little turn, as if it were to the memory of the same lady." Her death, having happened on the night of the great storm in 1703, gave a propriety to this Eclogue, which in its general turn alludes to it. The scene of the Pastoral lies in a grove; the time at midnight.-P. Thames heard the numbers, as he flowed along,1 And bade his willows learn the moving song. LYCIDAS. 16 So may kind rains their vital moisture yield, And swell the future harvest of the field. Begin; this charge the dying Daphne gave, And said, "Ye shepherds, sing around my grave!" Sing, while beside the shaded tomb I mourn, And with fresh bays her rural shrine adorn. 20 THYRSIS. Ye gentle Muses, leave your crystal spring, Let Nymphs and Sylvans cypress garlands bring; Ye weeping Loves, the stream with myrtles hide," deplore, 26 Fair Daphne's dead, and love is now no more!" 'Tis done, and nature's various charms decay, See gloomy clouds obscure the cheerful day! 30 Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear, Their faded honours scattered on her bier. See, where on earth the flowery glories lie, With her they flourished, and with her they die. Ah what avail the beauties nature wore ? Fair Daphne's dead, and beauty is no more! 1 "Audiit Eurotas, jussitque ediscere lauros." 2 "Inducite fontibus umbras Virg.-P. 35 Et tumulum facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen." Virg.-P. 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, 40 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, 45 Nor morning odours from the flowers arise; sings, 50 Shall listening in mid air suspend their wings; sprays: 55 No more the streams their murmurs shall for bear, A sweeter music than their own to hear, 60 Her fate is whispered 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 Swelled with new passion, and o'erflows with 65 tears; The winds and trees and floods her death de plore, Daphne, our grief! our glory now no more! But see! where Daphne wondering mounts on high 1 Above the clouds, above the starry sky! Eternal beauties grace the shining scene, Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green ! There while you rest in Amaranthine bowers, Or from those meads select unfading flowers, Behold us kindly, who your name implore, Daphne, our goddess, and our grief no more! LYCIDAS. 70 75 How all things listen, while thy Muse complains! Such silence waits on Philomela's strains, In some still evening, when the whispering breeze Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees. 80 To thee, bright goddess, oft a lamb shall bleed,2 If teeming ewes increase my fleecy breed. While plants their shade, or flowers their odours give, Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise shall live! THYRSIS. But see, Orion sheds unwholesome dews; 85 Arise, the pines a noxious shade diffuse ;3 1 2 3 "Miratur limen Olympi, Sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera Daphnis. Virg.-P. "Illius aram Sæpe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus.' Virg.-P. "Solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra, Juniperi gravis umbra."-Virg.-P. Sharp Boreas blows, and nature feels decay, Time conquers all, and we must time obey. Adieu, ye vales, ye mountains, streams and groves; Adieu, ye shepherds' rural lays and loves; 90 1 These four last lines allude to the several subjects of the four Pastorals, and to the several scenes of them particularized before in each.-P. |
