46
EPISTLES.
Long in the melancholy grove she said, 180
And taught the pensive Druids in the shade;
In solemn and instructive notes they sung
From whence the beauteous frame of Nature sprung,
Who polish'd all the radiant orbs above,
And in bright order made the planets move; 185
Whence thunders roar, and frightful meteors fly,
And comets roll unbounded thro' the sky;
Who wing'd the winds, and gave the streams to flow,
And rais'd the rocks, and spread the lawns below;
Whence the gay spring exults in flow'ry pride, 190
And autumn with the bleeding grape is dy'd;
Whence summer suns imbrown the lab’ring swains,
And shiv'ring winter pines in icy chains;
And prais'd the Pow'r Supreme, nor dar'd advance
So vain a theory as that of Chance. 195
But in this isle she found the nymphs so fair,
She chang'd her hand, and chose a softer air,
And Love and Beauty next became her care.
Greece, her lov'd country, only could afford
A Venus and a Helen to record; 200
A thousand radiant nymphs she here beheld,
Who match'd the goddess, and the queen excell'd:
T' immortalize their loves she long essay'd,
But still the tongue her gen'rous toil betray'd.
Chaucer had all that beauty could inspire, 205
And Surrey's numbers glow'd with warm desire:
And taught the pensive Druids in the shade;
In solemn and instructive notes they sung
From whence the beauteous frame of Nature sprung,
Who polish'd all the radiant orbs above,
And in bright order made the planets move; 185
Whence thunders roar, and frightful meteors fly,
And comets roll unbounded thro' the sky;
Who wing'd the winds, and gave the streams to flow,
And rais'd the rocks, and spread the lawns below;
Whence the gay spring exults in flow'ry pride, 190
And autumn with the bleeding grape is dy'd;
Whence summer suns imbrown the lab’ring swains,
And shiv'ring winter pines in icy chains;
And prais'd the Pow'r Supreme, nor dar'd advance
So vain a theory as that of Chance. 195
But in this isle she found the nymphs so fair,
She chang'd her hand, and chose a softer air,
And Love and Beauty next became her care.
Greece, her lov'd country, only could afford
A Venus and a Helen to record; 200
A thousand radiant nymphs she here beheld,
Who match'd the goddess, and the queen excell'd:
T' immortalize their loves she long essay'd,
But still the tongue her gen'rous toil betray'd.
Chaucer had all that beauty could inspire, 205
And Surrey's numbers glow'd with warm desire:
