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But nigh yon' mountain let me tune my lays,
Embrace my Love, and bind my brows with bays.
That flute is mine which Colin's tuneful breath
Infpir'd when living, and bequeath'd in death:
He faid; Alexis, take this pipe, the fame
That taught the groves my Rofalinda's name:

40

REMARKS.

VER. 38. Embrace my Love, &c.] It is not eafy to conceive a more harsh and clashing line than this. There is the fame imagery in Theocritus, but it is made more ftriking by the circumftances, and picturesque accompaniments, as well as by the extraordinary effect of the lines adapted to the fubject.

Αλλ υπό τα πετρα
τα δε ασομαι, αίκας έχων τυ,
Σύνομα μαλ έσορων ταν Σικελαν ες αλα !

Idyll. S. 1. 55,56.

VER. 39. Colin] The name taken by Spenfer in his Eclogues, where his mistress is celebrated under that of Rofalinda. POPE.

VER. 42. Rofalinda's] This is the Lady with whom Spenfer fell violently in love, as foon as he left Cambridge and went into the North; it is uncertain into what family, and in what capacity. Her name is an Anagram, and the letters of which it is composed will make out her true name; for Spenfer (fays the learned and ingenious Mr. Upton, his beft Editor) is an Anagrammatist in many of his names: thus Algrind tranfpofed is Archbishop Grindal; and Morel is Bishop Elmer. He is fuppofed to hint at the cruelty and coquettry of his Rofalind in B. 6. of the Fairy Queen, in the character of Mirabella. WARTON.

IMITATIONS.

VER.40. bequeath'd in death, &c.] Virg. Ecl. ii.
"Eft mihi difparibus feptem compacta cicutis
Fiftula, Damætas dono mihi quam dedit olim,

Et dixit moriens, Te nunc habet ifta fecundum" POPE.

But now the reeds fhall hang on yonder tree,
For ever filent, fince despis'd by thee.
Oh! were I made by fome transforming pow'r
The captive bird that fings within thy bow'r!
Then might my voice thy lift'ning ears employ,
And I those kiffes he receives enjoy.

And yet my numbers please the rural throng,
Rough Satyrs dance, and Pan applauds the song :
The Nymphs, forfaking ev'ry cave and spring,
Their early fruit, and milk-white turtles bring!
Each am'rous nymph prefers her gifts in vain,
On you their gifts are all bestow'd again.

For
you the swains their fairest flow'rs design,
And in one garland all their beauties join;
Accept the wreath which you deserve alone,
In whom all beauties are compriz'd in one.

45

51

55

бе

See what delights in fylvan scenes appear! Defcending Gods have found Elyfium here. In woods bright Venus with Adonis ftray'd, And chafte Diana haunts the foreft-fhade. Come, lovely nymph, and blefs the filent hours, When fwains from fheering feek their nightly bow'rs; When weary reapers quit the fultry field,

65

And crown'd with corn their thanks to Ceres yield.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 60. Defcending Gods have found Elyfium here.]

"Habitarunt Di quoque fylvas"-Virg.

"Et formofus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis.” Idem. Pors.

you.

70

This harmless grove no lurking viper hides,
But in my breast the ferpent Love abides.
Here bees from bloffoms fip the rofy dew,
But your Alexis knows no fweets but
O deign to vifit our forfaken feats,
The moffy fountains, and the green retreats!
Where'er you walk, cool gales fhall fan the glade,
Trees, where you fit, fhall croud into a fhade:
Where'er you tread, the blushing flow'rs fhall rife,
And all things flourish where you turn your eyes. 76
O! how I long with you to pass my days,

Invoke the Muses, and refound your praife!
Your praise the birds fhall chant in ev'ry grove,
And winds fhall waft it to the pow'rs above.
But would you fing, and rival Orpheus' strain,
The wond'ring forefts foon fhould dance again,

VER. 79, 80.

VARIATIONS.

Your praise the tuneful birds to heav'n fhall bear,
And lift'ning wolves grow milder as they hear.

80

So the verses were originally written. But the Author, young as he was, foon found the absurdity which Spenfer himself overlooked, of introducing wolves into England.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 80. And winds fhall waft, &c.]

POPE.

"Partem aliquam, venti, divûm referatis ad aures ?" Virg.

REMARKS.

POPE.

VER. 73. Where'er you walk, &c.] Very much like fome lines in Hudibras, but certainly no resemblance was intended :

Where'er you tread, your feet fhall fet
The primrose and the violet;

Nature her charter fhall renew,

And take all lives of things from you!

The

The moving mountains hear the pow'rful call,
And headlong streams hang list'ning in their fall!
But fee, the fhepherds fhun the noon-day heat,
The lowing herds to murm'ring brooks retreat,
To closer shades the panting flocks remove;
Ye Gods! and is there no relief for Love?
But foon the fun with milder rays defcends
To the cool ocean, where his journey ends.

REMARKS.

86

90

VER. 84. And headlong, &c.] Pope has carried the idea into extravagance, when he makes the ftream not only "listening," but hang listening in its headlong fall." Mr. Stevens in his MS. notes, quotes Lucan, in a paffage where the image is precisely the fame, though poffibly Pope never saw it:

-" de rupe pependit

Abfcifsâ fixus torrens !"

But as it is here ufed, it is too hyperbolical, and only allowable in a very young writer. An idea of this fort will only bear juft touching, if I may say fo; the mind then does not perceive its violence: if it be brought before the eyes too minutely, it becomes almoft ridiculous. This is often the fault of Cowley. Oldham has a paffage of the same stamp :

"For which the lift'ning ftreams forgot to run,
And trees lean'd their attentive branches down.”

How much more judiciously and poetically has Milton given the fame idea?

"Thirfis, whofe artful ftrains have oft delay'd

The huddling brook, to hear his madrigal,

And fweeten'd, &c.”

COMUS.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 88. Ye Gods, &c.]

"Me tamen urit amor, quis enim modus adfit amori ?"

Virg. POPE.

On

On me love's fiercer flames for ever prey,
By night he fcorches, as he burns by day.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 91. Me love inflames, nor will his fires allay.

REMARKS.

POPE.

VER. 92. By night, &c.] This is certainly the poorest of Pope's Paftorals; and it has many falfe thoughts and conceits, fuch as,

"The bleating flocks with my complaints agree,

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They parch'd with THIRST, and I inflam'd by thee.”

"This harmless grove no lurking viper hides,

"But in my breast the serpent love abides, &c."

"On me love's fiercer flames, &c."

But the ingenuous and candid critic will always bear in mind the early age in which they were written, and the false taste of Cowley at that time prevalent.

Speaking of the "Headlong ftream, that hangs lift'ning in its fall," Ruffhead fays, "Though it may be allowed that the new "images in these Pastorals are not frequent, yet it is too much to "say they do not contain a single image that is new! Let any " reader of fenfibility attend to the following lines:

"But would you fing, &c.

"The moving mountains hear your pow'rful call,

"And headlong freams hang lift'ning in their fall!”

"The laft line," he adds, "furely prefents a new image, and a "bold one too!!" bold indeed!

Virgil has,

Et mutata fuos requierunt flumina curfus.

But this idea is certainly not fo "hold!" and according to Mr. Ruffhead, Milton's image is very tamé in comparison of Pope's.

VOL. I.

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