Pastorals Epistles Odes (1748)/Third Pastoral

by Ambrose Philips

For other versions of this work, see Third Pastoral (Philips).

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THE

THIRD PASTORAL.

 

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ALBINO.
HEN Virgil thought no shame the Dorick reed
To tune, and flocks on Mantuan plains to feed,
With young Augustus' name he grac'd his song:
And Spenser, when amid the rural throng 4
He carol'd sweet, and graz'd along the flood
Of gentle Thames, made every sounding wood
With good Eliza's name to ring around;
Eliza's name on every tree was found: 8
Since then, through Anna's cares at ease we live,
And see our cattle unmolested thrive,
While from our Albion her victorious arms
Drive wasteful warfare, loud in dire alarms, 12
Like them will I my slender musick raise,
And teach the vocal valleys Anna's praise.
Mean-time, on oaten pipe a lowly lay,
As my kids browse, obscure in shades I play: 16
Yet, not obscure, while Dorset thinks no scorn
To visit woods, and swains ignobly born.

 Two valley swains, both musical, both young,
Tn friendship mutual, and united long; 20
Retire within a mossy cave, to shun
The crowd of shepherds, and the noon-day sun.
A gloom of sadness overcasts their mind:
Revolving now, the solemn day they find, 24
When youg Albino died, His image dear
Bedews their cheeks with many a trickling tear:
To tears they add the tribute of their verse;
These Angelot, those Palin, did rehearse. 28

ANGELOT.
 Thus, yearly circling, by-past times return;
And yearly, thus, Albino's death we mourn.
Sent into life, alas! how short thy stay:
How sweet the rose! how speedy to decay! 32
Can we forget, Albino dear, thy knell,
Sad-sounding wide from every village-bell?
Can we forget how sorely Albion moan'd,
That hills, and dales, and rocks, in echo groan'd, 36
Presaging future woe, when, for our crimes,
We lost Albino, pledge of peaceful times,
Fair boast of this fair Island, darling joy
Of Nobles high, and every shepherd-boy? 40
No joyous pipe was hear'd, no flocks were seen,
Nor shepherd found upon the grassy green,
No cattle graz'd the field, nor drank the flood,
No birds were hear'd to warble through the wood. 44
In yonder gloomy grove out-stretch'd he lay,
His lovely limbs upon the dampy clay;
On his cold cheek the rosy hue decay'd,
And, o'er his lips, the deadly blue display'd: 48
Bleating around him ly his plaintive sheep;
And mourning shepherds come, in crowds, to weep.
Young Buckhurst comes: and, is there no redress?
As if the grave regarded our distress! 52
The tender virgins come, to tears yet new,
And give, aloud, the lamentations due.
The pious mother comes, with grief opprest:
Ye trees, and conscious fountains, can attest 56
With what sad accents, and what piercing cries,
She fill'd the grove, and importun'd the skies,
And every star upbraided with his death,
When, in her widowed arms, devoid of breath, 60
She clasp'd her son: nor did the Nymph, for this,
Place in her dearling's welfare all her bliss,
Him teaching, young, the harmless crook to wield,
And rule the peaceful empire of the field. 64
As milk-white swans on streams of silver show,
And silvery streams to grace the meadows flow,
As corn the vales, and trees the hills adorn,
So thou, to thine, an ornament wast born. 68
Since thou, delicious youth, didst quit the plains,
Th' ungrateful ground we till with fruitless pains,
In labour'd furrows sow the choice of wheat,
And, over empty sheaves, in harvest sweat, 72
A thin increase our fleecy cattle yield;
And thorns, and thistles, overspread the field.
How all our hope is fled, like morning-dew!
And scarce did we thy dawn of manhood view. 76
Who, now, shall teach the pointed spear to throw,
To whirl the sling, and bend the stubborn bow,
To toss the quoit with steady aim, and far,
With sinewy force, to pitch the massy bar? 80
Nor dost thou live to bless thy mother's days,
To share her triumphs, and feel her praise,
In foreign realms to purchase early fame,
And add new glories to the British name: 84
O, peaceful may thy gentle spirit, rest!
The flowery turf ly, light upon thy breast;
Nor shrieking owl, nor bat, thy tomb fly round,
Nor midnight goblins revel o'er the ground, 88

PALIN.
 No more, mistaken Angelot, complain:
Albino lives; and all our tears are vain:
Albino lives, and will, for ever live
With Myriads mixt, who never know to grieve, 92
Who welcome every stranger-guest, nor fear
Ever to mourn his absence with a tear,
Where cold, nor heat, nor irksome toil annoy,
Nor age, nor sickness, comes to damp their joy: 96
And now the royal Nymph, who bore him, deigns
The land to rule, and shield the simple swains,
While, from above, propitious he looks down:
For this, the welkin does no longer frown, 100
Each planet shines, indulgent, from his sphere,
And we renew our pastimes with the year.
Hills, dales, and woods, with thrilling pipes resound;
The boys and virgins dance, with chaplets crown'd, 104
And hail Albino blest: the valleys ring
Albino blest! O now, if ever, bring
The laurel green, the smelling eglantine,
And tender branches from the mantling vine, 108
The dewy cowslip, which in meadow grows,
The fountain-violet, and the garden-rose,
Marsh-lillies sweet, and tufts of daffadil,
With what ye cull from wood, or verdant hill, 112
Whether in open sun, or shade, they blow,
More early some, and some unfolding flow,
Bring, in heap'd canisters, of every kind,
As if the summer had with spring combin'd, 116
And nature, forward to assist your care,
Did no profusion for Albino spare.
Your hamlets strew, and every publick way;
And consecrate to mirth Albino's day: 120
Myself will lavish all my little store,
And deal about the goblet flowing o'er:
Old Moulin there shall harp, young Myco sing,
And Cuddy dance the round amid the ring, 124
And Hobbinol his antick gambols play:
To thee these honours, yearly, will we pay;
Nor fail to mention thee in all our chear,
And teach our children the remembrance dear, 128
When we or shearing-feast, or harvest, keep,
To speed the plow, and bless our thriving sheep.
While willow kids, and herbage lambs, pursue,
While bees love thyme, and locusts sip the dew, 132
While birds delight in woods their notes to strain,
Thy name and sweet memorial shall remain.