21

Now setting Phæbus shone serenely bright,
And fleecy clouds were streak’d with purple light;
When tuneful Hylas with melodious moan, 15
Taught rocks to weep, and made the mountains groan.

Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away!
To Delia's ear the tender notes convey.
As some sad turtle his lost love deplores,
And with deep murmurs fills the founding shores;
Thus, far from Delia, to the winds I mourn,
Alike unheard, unpity'd, and forlorn.

Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs along !
For her, the feather'd quires neglect their song :
For her, the limes their pleasing fhades deny;
For her, the lilies hang their heads, and die.
Ye flow’rs that droop, forsaken by the spring,
Ye birds that, left by summer, cease to sing,
Ye trees that fade when autumn-heats remore,
Say, is not absence death to those who love?

30
Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away!
Curs'd be the fields that cause my Delia's stay ;
Fade ev'ry blossom, wither ev'ry tree,
Die ev'ry flow'r, and perifh all, but she.
What have I said? where'er my Delia flies, 35
Let spring attend, and sudden flow'rs arise ;

Let

25

REMARKS. VcR. 25.) This rich assemblage of very pleasing pastorak images, is yet excelled by Shenfton's beautiful Pastoral Ballad in

WARTON. Line 17, to 30. Go, gentle gales, &c.] These lines are very beautiful, tender, and melodious.

four parts

Let op'ning roses knotted oaks adorn,
And liquid amber drop from ev'ry thorn.

Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs along !
The birds shall cease to tune their ev’ning song, 40
The winds to breathe, the waving woods to move,
And streams to murmur, ere I cease to love.
Not bubbling fountains to the thirsty swain,
Not balmy sleep to lab'rers faint with pain,

Not

REMARKS. VER. 43. Not bubbling] The turn of these four lines is evi. dently borrowed from Drummond of Hawthornden, a charming but neglected Poet. He was born 1585, and died 1649. His verses are as smooth as Waller's, whom he preceded many years, having written a poem to King James, 1617 ; whereas Waller's first composition was to Charles I, 1625. His Sonnets are exquisitely beautiful and correct. He was one of our first, and belt imitators of the Italian Poets, and Milton had certainly read and admired him, as appears by many passages that might be quoted for that purpose. The four lines mentioned above follow :

To virgins flow'rs, to fun-burnt earth the rain,
To mariners fair winds amid the main,
Cool shades to pilgrims, whom hot glances burn,

Are not so pleasing as thy bleft return.
And afterwards again our author borrows in Abelard ;

The grief was common, common were the cries. I will just add, that Drayton's Pastorals, and his Nymphidia, do not seem to be attended to so much as they deserve. WARTON,

IMITATIONS.

6 Aurea duræ Mala ferant quercus ; narcisfo floreat alnus, Pinguia corticibus fudent electra myricæ.

Virg. Ecl. viii.

P.. VER. 43, &c. * Quale fopor feffis in gramine, quale per æstum Dulcis aquæ saliente fitim restinguere rivo." Ecl. v. P.

VER. 37

Not show'rs to larks, nor sun-shine to the bee, 45 Are half so charming as thy sight to me.

Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! Come, Delia, come; ah, why this long delay? Thro' rocks and caves the name of Delia sounds, Delia, each cave and echoing rock rebounds. 50 Ye pow’rs, what pleasing phrenzy fooths my mind ! Do lovers dream, or is my Delia kind ? She comes, my Delia comes !-Now cease my lay, And cease, ye gales, to bear my sighs away!

Next Ægon fung, while Windsor groves admir'd; Rehearse, ye Muses, what yourselves inspir'd.

56 Resound, ye hills, refound my mournful strain ! Of perjur'd Doris, dying I complain : Here, where the mountains, less'ning as they rise, Lose the low vales, and steal into the skies : 60

While

VARIATIONS.

VER. 48. Originally thus in the MS.

With him through Lybia's burning plains I'll go,
On Alpine mountains tread th’ eternal snow :
Yet feel no heat but what our loves impart,
And dread no coldness but in Thyrfis' heart.

WARBURTON.

IMITATIONS.
Ver. 52. “ An qui amant, ipfi fibi fomnia fingunt ?”

Id. viii. P. Ver. 59 to 64. Here, where the mountains, &c.] The « lab'. ring” ox, “ in his loose traces,” is from Milton's Comus.

- What time the labor'd ox
In his loose traces from the furrow came.

While labʼring oxen, spent with toil and heat,
In their loose traces from the field retreat :
While curling smoaks from village-tops are seen,
And the fleet shades glide o'er the dusky green.

Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! 65
Beneath yon' poplar oft we past the day:
Oft on the rind I carv'd her am'rous vows,
While she with garlands hung the bending boughs :
The garlands fade, the vows are worn away ; :
So dies her love, and so my hopes decay.

70 Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strain ! Now bright Arcturus glads the teeming grain, Now golden fruits on loaded branches shine, And grateful clusters swell with floods of wine ; Now blushing berries paint the yellow grove; 75 Just Gods! shall all things yield returns but love?

Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful lay! The shepherds cry, “ Thy flocks are left a prey”Ah! what avails it me, the flocks to keep, Who lost my heart while I preservd my sheep. 80

Pan

REMARK S.

VER. 68. While she with garlands hung the bending bows : ] This line forcibly recalls the beautiful description of the " Poor Ophelia.”

There with fantastic garlands did she come,
Of crow-flow'rs, nettles, daisies, and long-purples;
There on the pendant weeds, her coronet weeds,
Clamb’ring to hang, an envious fliver broke. STEVENS,

Pan came, and ask'd, what magic caus'd my smart,
Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart ?
What eyes but hers, alas, have pow'r to move !
And is there magic but what dwells in love! 84

Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strains !
I'll fly from shepherds, flocks, and flow'ry plains,
From shepherds, flocks, and plains, I may remove,
Forsake mankind, and all the world—but love!
I know thee, Love! on foreign mountains bred,
Wolves gave thee fuck, and favage tigers fed. go
Thou wert from Ætna's burning entrails torn,
Got by fierce whirlwinds, and in thunder born!

Resound, ye hills resound my mournful lay! Farewel, ye woods, adieu the light of day! One leap from yonder cliff shall end my pains, 95 No more, ye hills, no more resound my strains !

Thus sung the shepherds till th' approach of night, The skies yet blushing with departing light,

When

REMARKS. Ver. 82. dart?] It should be darted; the present tense is used for the sake of the rhyme.

WARTON. Ver. 97. Thus fung] Among the multitude of English Poets who wrote Pastorals, Fairfax, to whom our Versification is thought to be so much indebted, ought to be mentioned. He wrote ten

or IMITATIONS, VER. 82. Or what ill eyes)

“ Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos." VER. 89. “ Nunc fcio quid fit Amor : duris in cotibus illum," &c.'

P. This from Virgil is much inferior to the passage in Theocritus, from whence it is taken.

WARTON. 3