J

Let Volga's banks with iron squadrons shine,
And groves of lances glitter on the Rhine,
Let barbarous Ganges arm a servile train; 365
Be mine the blessings of a peaceful reign.
No more my sons shall dye with British blood
Red Iber's sands, or Ister's foaming flood:
Safe on my shore each unmolested swain
Shall tend the flocks, or reap the bearded
grain;

The shady empire shall retain no trace

370

Of war or blood, but in the sylvan chase;
The trumpet sleep, while cheerful horns are
blown,

375

And arms employed on birds and beasts alone.
Behold! the ascending villas on my side
Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide;
Behold! Augusta's glittering spires increase,
And temples rise, the beauteous works of peace.'
see, I see, where two fair cities bend 2

I

Their ample bow, a new Whitehall ascend! 380
There mighty nations shall inquire their doom,
The world's great oracle in times to come;
There kings shall sue, and suppliant states be

seen

Once more to bend before a British Queen.

Thy trees, fair Windsor! now shall leave their woods,

385

And half thy forests rush into thy floods,
Bear Britain's thunder, and her cross display,
To the bright regions of the rising day:
Tempt icy seas, where scarce the waters roll,
Where clearer flames glow round the frozen
pole;

1 The fifty new churches.-P.

390

2 The two cities are London and Westminster. Inigo Jones had prepared designs for a new palace at Whitehall.

395

Or under southern skies exalt their sails,
Led by new stars, and borne by spicy gales!
For me the balm shall bleed, and amber flow,
The coral redden, and the ruby glow,
The pearly shell its lucid globe infold,
And Phoebus warm the ripening ore to gold.
The time shall come, when free as seas or wind,
Unbounded Thames shall flow for all mankind,
Whole nations enter with each swelling tide,'
And seas but join the regions they divide; 400
Earth's distant ends our glory shall behold,
And the new world launch forth to seek the
old.

Then ships of uncouth form shall stem the tide,

And feathered people crowd my wealthy side, And naked youths and painted chiefs admire 405 Our speech, our colour, and our strange attire! O stretch thy reign, fair Peace! from shore to shore,

Till conquest cease, and slavery be no more; Till the freed Indians in their native groves Reap their own fruits, and woo their sable

loves,

410

Peru once more a race of kings behold,
And other Mexicos be roofed with gold.
Exiled by thee from earth to deepest hell,
In brazen bonds, shall barbarous Discord dwell:
Gigantic Pride, pale Terror, gloomy Care, 415
And mad Ambition shall attend her there:
There purple Vengeance bathed in gore retires,
Her weapons blunted, and extinct her fires :
There hateful Envy her own snakes shall feel,
And Persecution mourn her broken wheel: 420

1 A wish that London may be made a FREE PORT. -P.

There Faction roar, Rebellion bite her chain, And gasping Furies thirst for blood in vain." Here cease thy flight, nor with unhallowed lays

Touch the fair fame of Albion's golden days: The thoughts of gods let Granville's verse recite,

425

And bring the scenes of opening fate to light: My humble Muse in unambitious strains, Paints the green forests and the flowery plains, Where Peace descending bids her olive spring, And scatters blessings from her dove-like wing. Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days, 431 Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise; Enough for me, that to the listening swains First in these fields I sung the sylvan strains.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In reading several passages of the Prophet Isaiah, which foretell 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 Sibylline prophecy on the same subject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line by 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 anything 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.-P.