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While Winds and Storms his lofty Forehead beat
The common Fate of all that's High or Great.
Low at his Foot a spacious Plain is plac'd,
Between the Mountain and the Stream embrac'd:
Which Shade and Shelter from the Hill derives,
While the kind river, Wealth and Beauty gives;
And in the mixture of all these appears
Variety, which all the rest indears.
This scene, had some bold Greek, or British Bard
Beheld of old, what Stories had we heard
Of Fairies, Satyrs, and the Nymphs, their Dames,
Their Feasts, their Revels, and their Amorous Flames?
'Tis still the same, altho' their airy Shape,
All but a quick Poetick Sight escape.
There Faunus and Sylvanus keep their Courts,
And thither all the horned Hoast resorts,
To graze the ranker Mead, that noble Heard
On whose sublime and shady Fronts is rear'd
Nature's great Master-Piece; to shew how soon
Great things are made, but sooner are undone.
Here have I seen the King, when great Affairs
Gave leave to slacken, and unbend his Cares,
Attended to the Chase by all the Flower
Of Youth, whose Hopes a nobler Prey devour:
Pleasure with Praise, and Danger, they would buy,
And wish a Foe that would not only fly.
The Stag now conscious of his fatal Growth,
At once indulgent to his Fear and Sloth,
To some dark Covert his Retreat had made,
Where no Man's Eye, nor Heaven's should invade
His soft Repose; when th' unexpected Sound
Of Dogs and Men, his wakeful Ear does wound:
Rouz'd with the Noise, he scarce believes his Ear;
Willing to think th’ Illusions of his Fear
had given this false Alarm, but strait his View
Confirms, that more than all he fears is true;
The common Fate of all that's High or Great.
Low at his Foot a spacious Plain is plac'd,
Between the Mountain and the Stream embrac'd:
Which Shade and Shelter from the Hill derives,
While the kind river, Wealth and Beauty gives;
And in the mixture of all these appears
Variety, which all the rest indears.
This scene, had some bold Greek, or British Bard
Beheld of old, what Stories had we heard
Of Fairies, Satyrs, and the Nymphs, their Dames,
Their Feasts, their Revels, and their Amorous Flames?
'Tis still the same, altho' their airy Shape,
All but a quick Poetick Sight escape.
There Faunus and Sylvanus keep their Courts,
And thither all the horned Hoast resorts,
To graze the ranker Mead, that noble Heard
On whose sublime and shady Fronts is rear'd
Nature's great Master-Piece; to shew how soon
Great things are made, but sooner are undone.
Here have I seen the King, when great Affairs
Gave leave to slacken, and unbend his Cares,
Attended to the Chase by all the Flower
Of Youth, whose Hopes a nobler Prey devour:
Pleasure with Praise, and Danger, they would buy,
And wish a Foe that would not only fly.
The Stag now conscious of his fatal Growth,
At once indulgent to his Fear and Sloth,
To some dark Covert his Retreat had made,
Where no Man's Eye, nor Heaven's should invade
His soft Repose; when th' unexpected Sound
Of Dogs and Men, his wakeful Ear does wound:
Rouz'd with the Noise, he scarce believes his Ear;
Willing to think th’ Illusions of his Fear
had given this false Alarm, but strait his View
Confirms, that more than all he fears is true;
Betray'd
