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 70 Above the clouds, above the starry sky! LYCIDAS. 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," 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.". 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; 1 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. WINDSOR FOREST. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE LORD "Non injussa cano: Te nostræ, Vare, myricæ, Virg. WINDSOR FOREST.1 HY forest, Windsor and thy green retreats, At once the Monarch's and the Invite my lays. Be present, sylvan maids! Here earth and water, seem to strive again; Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised, But, as the world, harmoniously confused: Where order in variety we see, 15 And where, though all things differ, all agree. Here waving groves a chequered scene display, And part admit, and part exclude the day; "This poem was written at two different times: the first part of it, which relates to the country, in the year 1704, at the same time with the Pastorals; the latter part was not added till the year 1713, in which it was published.”—P." |