ODE XXXI.

THE VIOLET.

HAIL, blooming daughter of the youthful year, Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight! How does thy presence gloomy nature cheer, And fill the bosom with a soft delight!

At thy approach stern rugged winter flies,
To pour his anger on the frozen north;
While balmy zephyrs fill our peaceful skies,
And call the buds and genial blossoms forth.

The lark, high-mounting at the rise of day, Salutes the blushing morn with gladsome notes; The little warblers hop from spray to spray,

And trill wild music thro' their tuneful throats.

The shepherd counts his flock, the rustic ploughs, The farmer views with joy his springing corn, The milk-maid drains the sweetly-smelling cows, And sings the pleasures of the April morn.

Now, lovers, now, the golden minute seize,
In every word express a gen'rous care;
In every act be studious how to please,

And weave the flowery chaplet for the fair.

Pleas'd with the beauties of the rifled mead,
Their smell her sense, their colours strike her eye;
Snow-drops, like innocence, in white array'd,
And violets glowing with a purple die.

Should ye, ambitious, strive to gain her ear,
In softest words the moving tale convey;
The moving tale shall gain a pitying tear,
If it be true what antient poets say.

Nature assum'd her loveliest, fairest look,

Cold chilling frosts and noxious damps were fled,

When jolly Spring his native skies forsook,

To woo fair Flora to his fertile bed.

Gay drest in all the colours of the bow,

He sought the goddess in her fair abode ;

Quick winds and hasty show'rs his coming show,
But his bright beams proclaim the present god.

The fanning gales convey a grateful smell,
From where the hyacinth and crocus blow ;
With sudden life the buds around him swell,

And where he treads, all flow'rs promiscuous grow.

The feather'd songsters full of joy appear,

And chant his nuptial bliss through every grove; Spring, the gay god, that leads the smiling year, And Flora, queen of beauty, and of love.

From this unblam'd, this chaste delight, arose
An offspring worthy of their mutual flame;
Invok'd Lucina eas'd the mother's throes,
And Violetta was the daughter's name.

Whate'er enraptur'd poets have design'd
Of wit, youth, beauty, or excelling grace,
The nymph enjoy'd in person, and in mind,
So bright her wit, so beauteous was her face.

Alas! what ills must careless nymphs betide,
Since prudence nought avails to guard the dame!
Lascivious Pan the blooming virgin eyed,
And vow'd by force to gratify his flame.

The virtuous fair his loath'd embraces flies,
The amorous god pursues with equal speed,
The plains around re-echo to her cries,

While every pow'r is absent from her aid.

Fatigu'd, her panting bosom heaves for breath,
Her trembling legs refuse the tedious race,
She faints, she sinks into the arms of death,

And a cold paleness overspreads her face.

Her melancholy fate the mother mourns,
With tears fast-flowing in a gentle shower;
The much-lamented child to life returns,
No more a virgin, but a purple flower.

As long as grief for innocence distrest,

As long as tears from gentle hearts shall flow, So long her fate shall melt the feeling breast, With generous pity, and with virtuous woe.

The gentle nymph the mournful story hears,
Within her bosom various passions move,
Soft pity melts her tender soul to tears,
And virtuous pity is a friend to love.

ODE XXXII.

ΤΟ

A CHILD OF FIVE YEARS OLD.

BY DR. COTTON.

FAIREST flower, all flowers excelling,
Which in Eden's garden grew;
Flowers of Eve's imbower'd dwelling
Are, my Fair-one, types of you.
Mark, my Polly, how the roses
Emulate thy damask cheek;
How the buds its sweets discloses ;
Buds thy opening bloom bespeak.
Lilies are, by plain direction,
Emblems of a double kind;
Emblems of thy fair complexion,

Emblems of thy fairer mind.

But, dear girl, both flowers and beauty
Blossom, fade, and die away;

Then pursue good sense and duty,
Ever greens, that ne'er decay.