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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 the native incense yield.
The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death,
Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath;
The' industrious bees 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!

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But see! where Daphne wondering mounts on 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!

Lyc. 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.
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!
Thyr. But see, Orion sheds unwholesome dews;
Arise, the pines a noxious shade diffuse;

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;
Adieu, my flocks; farewell, ye silvan crew;
Daphne, farewell; and all the world adieu!

MESSIAH.

A SACRED ECLOGUE.

IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S POLLIO.

ADVERTISEMENT.

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 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 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.

Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains, and the silvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus, and the' Aonian maids,
Delight no more-O thou my voice inspire
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!

Rapt into future times, the bard begun ;
A virgin shall conceive, a virgin bear a son 1!
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,

2

Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies;
The' ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic dove.
Ye heavens 3! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly show'r!
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail!
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;

Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-rob'd Innocence from Heav'n descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the' expected morn!
O spring to light, auspicious babe! be born.

1 Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 6.

IMITATIONS.

Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna;
Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto.

Te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri,
Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras
Pacatumque 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 relics 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.' Isaiah, ch. vii. ver. 14, 'Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.'-Chap. ix. ver. 6, 7: Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the Prince of Peace of the increase of his government, and of his peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to establish it, with judgment, and with justice, for ever and ever.' 2 Isa. xi. ver. 1. 3 Ch, xiv ver. 8. 4 Ch. xxv. ver. 4. 5 Ch. ix. ver. 7.

See Nature hastes her earliest wreathes to bring 6,
With all the incense of the breathing spring;
See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance :
See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise,
And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers *;
Prepare the way?! a God, a God appears!

6

IMITATIONS.

Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 18.

At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu,
Errantes hederas passim cum baccare tellus
Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho-
Ipsa 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 colocasia, with smiling acanthus. Thy cradle shall pour forth pleasing flowers, about thee.'

Isaiah, ch. xxxv. 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 comè unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy sanctuary."

7 Chap. xxxv. ver. 2.

8 Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 46.

Aggredere O magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores,
Cara deum soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum—
Ipsi lætitia voces ad sidera jactant

Intonsi montes, ipse jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa sonant arbusta, Deus, Deus ille Menalca!

Ecl. v. ver. 62.

"O come and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, 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, chap. xl. ver. 3, 4. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make straight

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