A God, a God! the vocal hills reply; In adamantine chains shall Death be bound, IMITATIONS. in the desert a high way for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and bill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.' Chap. iv. ver. 23: 'Break forth into singing, ye mountains. O forest, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Israel.' 9 Isa. xl. ver. 3, 4. 10 Ch. xliii. ver. 18, ver. 8. Ch. xxxv. ver, 5, 6, 12 Ch. xl. ver. 11. 11 Ch. XXV. 13 Ch. ix, ver. 6. No more shall 14 nation against nation rise, 14 Isa. ii. ver. 4. 16 Ch. xxxv. ver. 1. 7. 15 Ch. lxv. ver. 21, 22. IMITATIONS. 17 Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 23. Molli paulatim flavescet campus arista, The fields shall grow yellow with ripened ears, and the red grape shall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks shall distil honey like dew.' Isaiah, chap. xxxv. ver. 7. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty lands springs of water in the habitation where dragons lay, shall be grass, and reeds, and rushes. Chap. Iv. ver. 13: Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myr tle-tree.' 18 Ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. Iv. ver. 13. 20 To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed, 19 Isa. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8. IMITATIONS. Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 1. Ipsæ lacte domum referent distenta capella Occidet. 'The goats shall bear to the fold their udders distended with milk: nor shall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The serpent shall die, and the herb that conceals poison shall die.' Isaiah, chap. xi. ver. 16, &c. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.-And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice.' 21 Ch. lxv. ver. 25. 22 Ch. Ix. ver. 1. 23 The thoughts of Isaiah, which compose the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above those general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftiest parts of bis Pollio. Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo! -toto surget gens aurea mundo! -incipient magni procedere menses ! Adspice, venturo lætentur ut omnia sæclo! &c. The reader needs only to turn to the passages of Isaiah here cited. See a long race 24 thy spacious courts adorn; And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. 24 Isa. Ix. ver. 4. 26 Ch. Ix. ver. 6. 25 Ch. Ix. ver. 3. 27 Ch. Ix. ver. 19, 20. 28 Ch. li. ver. 6. and Ch. liv. ver. 10. WINDSOR-FOREST. TO THE RT. HON. GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN. Non injussa cano: te nostræ, Vare, myricæ, THY forest, Windsor! and thy green retreats, At once the Monarch's and the Muse's seats, Invite my lays Be present, silvan maids! Unlock your springs, and open all your shades, Granville commands: your aid, O Muses, bring! What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing? The groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long, Live in description, and look green in song: These, were my breast inspir'd with equal flame, Like them in beauty, should be like in fame. Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water seem to strive again; Not chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd, But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd: Where order in variety we see, And where, though all things differ, all agree. Here waving groves a chequer'd scene display, And part admit, and part exclude the day; |