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To right and left the martial wings display
Their shining arms, and stand in close array.
Behold! four archers, eager to advance,
Send the light reed, and rush with sidelong glance;
Through angles, ever, they assault the foes,
True to the colour, which at first they chose.
Then four bold knights,for courage famed and speed,
Each knight exalted on a prancing steed:
Their arching course no vulgar limit knows,*
Transverse they leap, and aim insidious blows,
Nor friends, nor foes, their rapid force restrain,
By one quick bound two changing squares they
gain;

From varying hues renew the fierce attack,
And rush from black to white, from white to black.
Four solemn elephants the sides defend;
Beneath the load of ponderous towers they bend:
In one unalter'd line they tempt the fight;
Now crush the left, and now o'erwhelm the right.
Bright in the front the dauntless soldiers raise
Their polish'd spears; their steely helmets blaze:
Prepared they stand the daring foe to strike,
Direct their progress, but their wounds oblique.
Now swell th' embattled troops with hostile rage,
And clang their shields, impatient to engage;
When Daphnis thus: " A varied plain behold,
Where fairy kings their mimic tents unfold,
As Oberon, and Mab, his wayward queen,
Lead forth their armies on the daisied green.
No mortal had the wondrous sport contrived,
By gods invented, and from gods derived;
From them the British nymphs received the game,(†)
And play each morn beneath the crystal Thame;
Hear then the tale, which they to Colin sung,
As idling o'er the lucid wave he hung

"A lovely Dryad ranged the Thracian wild,
Her air enchanting and her aspect mild;
To chase the bounding hart was all her joy
Averse from Hymen, and the Cyprian boy;
O'er hills and valleys was her beauty famed,
And fair Caissa was the damsel named.
Mars saw the maid; with deep surprise he gazed,
Admired her shape, and every gesture praised:
His golden bow the child of Venus bent,
And through his breast a piercing arrow sent:
The reed was Hope; the feathers, keen Desire;
The point, her eyes; the barbs, ethereal fire.
Soon to the nymph he pour'd his tender strain;
The haughty Dryad scorn'd his amorous pain:
He told his woes, where'er the maid he found,
And still he press'd, yet still Caïssa frown'd;

But e'en her frowns (ah, what might smiles have done!)

Fired all his soul, and all his senses won.
He left his car, by raging tigers drawn,
And lonely wander'd o'er the dusky lawn;
Then lay desponding near a murmuring stream,
And fair Caïssa was his plaintive theme.
A Naiad heard him from her mossy bed,
And through the crystal raised her placid head
Then mildly spake: "O thou whom love inspires,
Thy tears will nourish, not allay thy fires.
The smiling blossoms drink the pearly dew;
And ripening fruit the feather'd race pursue;
The scaly shoals devour the silken weeds!
Love on our sighs, and on our sorrow feeds.
Then weep no more; but, ere thou canst obtain
Balm for thy wounds and solace to thy pain,
With gentle art thy martial look beguile;
Be mild, and teach thy rugged brow to smile.
Canst thou no play, no soothing game devise,
To make thee lovely in the damsel's eyes?
So may thy prayers assuage the scornful dame,
And ev'n Caissa own a mutual flame."

Kind nymph, (said Mars,) thy counsel I approve;
Art, only art, her ruthless breast can move.
But when? or how? Thy dark discourse explain:
So may thy stream ne'er swell with gushing rain;
So may thy waves in one pure current flow,
And flowers eternal on thy border blow!"

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To whom the maid replied with smiling mien:
Above the palace of the Paphian queen

| Love's brother dwells, a boy of graceful port,
By gods named Euphron. and by mortals Sport;
Seek him; to faithful ears unfold thy grief,
And hope, ere morn return, a sweet relief.
His teraple hangs below the azure skies;
Seest thou yon argent cloud? 'Tis there it lies."
This said, she sunk beneath the liquid plain,
And sought the mansion of her blue-hair'd train.
"Meantime the god, elate with heart-felt joy,
Had reach'd the temple of the sportful boy;
He told Caïssa's charms, his kindred fire,
The Naiad's counsel, and his warm desire.
"Be swift, (he added) give my passion aid;
A god requests."-He spake, and Sport obey'd.
He framed a tablet of celestial mould,
Inlaid with squares of silver and of gold;
Then of two metals form'd the warlike band,
That here, compact, in show of battle stand;
He taught the rules that guide the pensive game,
And call'd it Cassa from the Dryad's name :
(Whence Albion's sons, who most its praise con-
fess,

on which the success of the game in great measure Approved the play, and named it thoughtful Chess.) depends, though it seems to be omitted by the very accu-The god, delighted, thank'd indulgent Sport; rate Vida.

IMITATIONS.

Il cavallo leggier per dritta lista, Come gli altri, parringo unqua non fende, Ma la lizza attraversa, e fiero in vista Curvo in giro, e lunato il salto stende, E sempre uel saltar due case acquista, Quel colore abbandona, e questo prende.

Marino, Adone. 15.

+ Quæ quondam sub aquis gaudent spectacla tueri Nereides, vastique omnis gens accola ponti; Siquando placidum mare, et humida regna quierunt.

Vida

Then grasp'd the board, and left his airy court.
With radiant feet he pierced the clouds; nor stay'd
Till in the woods he saw the beauteous maid.
Tired with the chase the damsel sat reclined,
Her girdle loose, her bosom unconfined.
He took the figure of a wanton faun,
And stood before her on the flowery lawn;

Ecco d'astuto ingegno, e pronta mano Garzon, che sempre scherza, e vola ratto, Gioco s'apella, ed e d'amor germano. Marino, Adone. 15

Then show'd his tablet; pleased, the nymph sur- | Whilst her lost castle leaves his threatening height,

vey'd

The lifeless troops, in glittering ranks display'd;
She ask'd the wily sylvan to explain
The various motions of the splendid train;
With eager heart she caught the winning lore,
And thought e'en Mars less hateful than before:
"What spell (said she) deceived my careless mind?
The god was fair, and I was most unkind."
She spoke, and saw the changing faun assume
A milder aspect, and a fairer bloom;
His wreathing horns, that from his temples grew,
Flow'd down in curls of bright celestial hue;
The dappled hairs, that veil'd his loveless face,
Blazed into beams, and show'd a heavenly grace;
The shaggy hide, that mantled o'er his breast,
Was soften'd to a smooth transparent vest,
That through its folds his vigorous bosom show'd,
And nervous limbs, where youthful ardour glow'd:
(Had Venus view'd him in those blooming charms
Not Vulcan's net had forced her from his arms.)
With goatlike feet no more he mark'd the ground,
But braided flowers his silken sandals bound.
The Dryad blush'd; and, as he press'd her, smiled,
Whilst all his cares one tender glance beguiled."
He ends: To arms, the maids and striplings cry;
To arms, the groves and sounding vales reply.
Sirena led to war the swarthy crew,
And Delia those that bore the lily's hue.
Who first, O muse, began the bold attack;
The white refulgent, or the mournful black?
Fair Delia first, as favouring lots ordain,
Moves her pale legions toward the sable train:
From thought to thought her lively fancy flies,
Whilst o'er the board she darts her sparkling eyes.
At length the warrior moves with haughty
strides ;

Who from the plain the snowy king divides;
With equal haste his swarthy rival bounds;
His quiver rattles, and his buckler sounds:
Ah! hapless youths, with fatal warmth you burn;
Laws, ever fix'd, forbid you to return.
Then from the wing a short-lived spearman flies,
Unsafely bold, and see! he dies, he dies:
The dark-brow'd hero, with one vengeful blow,
Of life and place deprives his ivory foe.
Now rush both armies o'er the burnish'd field,
Hurl the swift dart, and rend the bursting shield.
Here furious knights on fiery coursers prance,
Here archers spring, and lofty towers advance.
But see the white-robed Amazon beholds
Where the dark host its opening van unfolds:
Soon as her eye discerns the hostile maid,
By ebon shield, and ebon helm betray'd:
Seven squares she passes with majestic mien,
And stands triumphant o'er the falling queen,
Perplex'd, and sorrowing at his consort's fate,
The monarch burn'd with rage, despair, and hate;
Swift from his zone th' avenging blade he drew,
And, mad with ire, the proud virago slew.
Meanwhile, sweet smiling Delia's wary king
Retired from fight behind his circling wing.

Long time the war in equal balance hung;
Till, unforeseen, an ivory courser sprung,
And, wildly prancing, in an evil hour,
Attack'd at once the monarch and the tower:
Sirena blush'd, for, as the rules required,
Her injured sovereign to his tent retired;

And adds new glory to th' exulting knight.

At this, pale fear oppress'd the drooping maid, And on her cheek the rose began to fade: A crystal tear, that stood prepared to fall, She wiped in silence, and conceal'd from all; From all but Daphnis: he remark'd her pain, And saw the weakness of her ebon train; Then gently spoke: "Let me your loss supply, And either nobly win, or nobly die; Me oft has fortune crown'd with fair success, And led to triumph in the fields of chess." He said the willing nymph her place resign'd, And sat at distance on the bank reclined. Thus, when Minerva call'd her chief to arms, And Troy's high turret shook with dire alarms, The Cyprian goddess, wounded, left the plain, And Mars engaged a mightier force in vain.

Straight Daphnis leads his squadron to the field;
(To Delia's arms 'tis e'en a joy to yield.)
Each guileful snare and subtle art he tries,
But finds his art less powerful than her eyes;
Wisdom and strength superior charms obey:
And beauty, beauty, wins the long-fought day.
By this a hoary chief, on slaughter bent,
Approach'd the gloomy king's unguarded tent:
Where, late, his consort spread dismay around,
Now her dark corse lies bleeding on the ground.
Hail, happy youth! thy glories not unsung
Shall live eternal on the poet's tongue;
For thou shalt soon receive a splendid change,
And o'er the plain with nobler fury range.
The swarthy leaders saw the storm impend,
And strove in vain their sovereign to defeud :
Th' invader waved his silver lance in air,
And flew like lightning to the fatal square;
His limbs, dilated, in a moment grew

To stately height, and widen'd to the view;
More fierce his look, more lion-like his mien,
Sublime he moved, and seem'd a warrior queen.
As when the sage on some unfolding plant
Has caught a wondering fly, or frugal ant,
His hand the microscopic frame applies,
And lo! a bright-hair'd monster meets his eyes;
He sees new plumes in slender cases roll'd
Here stain'd with azure, there bedropp'd with gold;
Thus, on the alter'd chief both armies gaze,
And both the kings are fix'd with deep amaze.
The sword, which arm'd the snow-white maid
before,

He now assumes, and hurls the spear no more;
Then springs indignant on the dark-robed band,
And knights and archers feel his deadly hand.
Now flies the monarch of the sable shield,
His legions vanquish'd, o'er the lonely field.
So when the morn, by rosy coursers drawn,*
With pearls and rubies sows the verdant lawn,
Whilst each pale star from heaven's blue vault
retires,

Still Venus gleams, and last of all expires.

IMITATIONS.

-Medio rex æquore inermis Constitit amissis sociis: velut æthere in alto Expulit ardentes flammas ubi lutea bigis Luciferis Aurora, tuus pulcherrimus ignis Lucet adhuc, Venus, et cœlo inox ultimus exit. Vida, ver. 601.

He hears, where'er he moves, the dreadful sound; | To warm the traveller numb'd with winter's cold; Check the deep vales, and Check the woods

rebound :

No place remains: he sees the certain fate,
And yields his throne to ruin, and check-mate.

A brighter blush o'erspreads the damsel's cheeks,
And mildly thus the conquer'd stripling speaks:
"A double triumph, Delia, hast thou won,
By Mars protected, and by Venus' son;
The first with conquest crowns thy matchless art,
The second points those eyes at Daphnis' heart."
She smiled; the nymphs and amorous youths arise,
And own, that Beauty gain'd the nobler prize.
Low in their chest the mimic troops were laid,
And peaceful slept the sable hero's shade.*

SOLIMA.

AN ARABIAN ECLOGUE.

"YE maids of Aden! hear a loftier tale
Than e'er was sung in meadow, bower, or dale.
-The smiles of Abelah, and Maia's eyes,
Where beauty plays, and love in slumber lies;
The fragrant hyacinths of Azza's hair,
That wanton with the laughing summer-air;
Love-tinctured cheeks, whence roses seek their
bloom,

And lips, from which the zephyr steals perfume;
Invite no more the wild unpolish'd lay,
But fly like dreams before the morning ray.
Then farewell, love! and farewell, youthful fires!
A nobler warmth my kindled breast inspires.
Far bolder notes the listening woods shall fill;
Flow smooth, ye rivulets; and, ye gales, be still.
See yon fair groves that o'er Amana rise,

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And with their spicy breath embalm the skies;
Where every breeze sheds incense o'er the vales,
And every shrub the scent of musk exhales!
See through yon opening glade a glittering scene,
Lawns ever gay, and meadows ever green;
Then ask the groves, and ask the vocal bowers,
Who deck'd their spiry tops with blooming flowers,
Taught the blue stream o'er sandy vales to flow,
And the brown wild with liveliest hues to glow?
Fair Solima! the hills and dales will sing;
Fair Solima! the distant echoes ring.†
But not with idle shows of vain delight,
To charm the soul or to beguile the sight;
At noon on banks of pleasure to repose,
Where bloom entwined the lily, pink, and rose;
Not in proud piles to heap the nightly feast,
Till morn with pearls has deck'd the glowing east;
Ah! not for this she taught those bowers to rise,
And bade all Eden spring before our eyes:
Far other thoughts her heavenly mind employ
(Hence, empty pride! and hence, delusive joy !)
To cheer with sweet repast the fainting guest;
To lull the weary on the couch of rest;

A parody of the last line in Pope's translation of the Iliad:

"And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade." It was not easy in this part of the translation to avoid a turn similar to that of Pope in the known de. scription of the Man of Ross.

The young to cherish, to support the old ;
The sad to comfort, and the weak protect;
The poor to shelter, and the lost direct :-
These are her cares, and this her glorious task;
Can Heaven a nobler give, or mortals ask?
Come to these groves, and these life-breathing
glades,

Ye friendless orphans, and ye dowerless maids;
With eager haste your mournful mansions leave,
Ye weak, that tremble; and, ye sick, that grieve:
Here shall soft tents, o'er flowery lawns display'd,
At night defend you, and at noon o'ershade;
Here rosy health the sweets of life will shower,
And new delights beguile each varied hour.
Mourns there a widow, bathed in streaming tears?
Stoops there a sire beneath the weight of years?
Weeps there a maid, in pining sadness left,
Of tender parents and of hope bereft ?
To Solima their sorrows they bewail;
To Solima they pour their plaintive tale.
She hears; and, radiant as the star of day,
Through the thick forest gains her easy way;
She asks what cares the joyless train oppress,
What sickness wastes them, or what wants distress,
And, as they mourn, she steals a tender sigh,
Whilst all her soul sits melting in her eye:
Then with a smile the healing balm bestows,
And sheds a tear of pity o'er their woes,
Which, as it drops, some soft-eyed angel bears
Transform'd to pearl, and in his bosom wears.
"When chill'd with fear, the trembling pilgrim

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Live in our notes, and blossom in our lays!
And, like an odorous plant, whose blushing flower
Paints every dale, and sweetens every bower,
Borne to the skies in clouds of soft perfume
For ever flourish, and for ever bloom!
These grateful songs, ye maids and youths, renew,
While fresh blown violets drink the pearly dew;
O'er Azib's banks while love-lorn damsels rove,
And gales of fragrance breathe from Hagar's
grove."

So sung the youth, whose sweetly-warbled strains
Fair Mena heard, and Saba's spicy plains.
Sooth'd with his lay, the ravish'd air was calm,
The winds scarce whisper'd o'er the waving palm;
The camels bounded o'er the flowery lawn,
Like the swift ostrich, or the sportful fawn;
Their silken bands the listening rose-buds rent,
And twined their blossoms round his vocal tent:
He sung, till on the bank the moonlight slept,
And closing flowers beneath the night-dew wept;

Then ceased, and slumber'd in the lap of rest Till the shrill lark had left his low-built nest. Now hastes the swain to tune his rapturous tales In other meadows, and in other vales.

AN ODE IN IMITATION OF ALCEUS.

Ου λιθοι, «δε ξυλα, υδε

Τεχνη τεκτονων αἱ πόλεις εισιν Αλλ' όπυ ποτ' αν ωσιν ΑΝΔΡΕΣ Αὐτος σώζειν ειδότες,

Ενταυθα τείχη και πόλεις.

Alc. quoted by Aristides.

WHAT constitutes a state?
Not high-raised battlement or labour'd mound,
Thick wall or moated gate;

Not cities proud with spires and turrets crown'd;
Not bays and broad-arm'd ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride;
Not starr'd and spangled courts,

Where low-brow'd baseness wafts perfume to pride.
NO:-Men, high-minded men,

With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake, or den,

As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude;
Men, who their duties know,

But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain,
Prevent the long-aim'd blow,

And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain:
These constitute a state;

And sovereign law, that state's collected will,
O'er thrones and globes elate

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill :
Smit by her sacred frown

The fiend, discretion, like a vapour sinks,
And e'en th' all dazzling crown

Hides his faint rays, and at her bidding shrinks.
Such was this heaven-loved isle,

Than Lesbos fairer and the Cretan shore!
No more shall freedom smile?

Shall Britons languish, and be men no more?
Since all must life resign,

Those sweet rewards, which decorate the brave, "Tis folly to decline,

And steal inglorious to the silent grave.

Abergavenny, March 31, 1781.

AN ODE IN IMITATION OF CALLIS

TRATUS.

Εν μυρτο κλαδι το ξίφος φορησω,
Ώσπερ Αρμόδιος κ' Αρισογείτων,
Οτε τον τυραννον κτανετων
Ισονομες τ' Αθηνας εποιησάτην.
K. T. λ.

Quod si post Idus illias Martias e Tyrannoctonis quis. piam tale aliquod carmen plebi tradidisset inque Suburram et fori circulos et in ora vulgi intulisset, actum profecto fuisset de partibus deque dominatione Cæsarum; plus mehercule valuisset unum Appodes uedos quam Ciceronis Philippicæ omnes.-Lowth De Sacra Poesi, Præl. 1.

VERDANT myrtle's branchy pride
Shall my biting falchion wreathe;
Soon shall grace each manly side
Tubes that speak, and points that breathe.

Thus, Harmodius! shone thy blade; Thus, Aristogiton! thine:

Whose, when BRITAIN sighs for aid,
Whose shall now delay to shine?

Dearest youths, in islands bless'd,
Not, like recreant idlers dead,
You with fleet Pelides rest,
And with godlike Diomed.
Verdant myrtle's branchy pride
Shall my thirsty blade entwine:
Such, Harmodius! deck'd thy side;
Such, Aristogiton! thine.

They the base Hipparchus slew
At the feast of Pallas crown'd:

Gods!-how swift their poniards flew.
How the monster tinged the ground!
Then in Athens all was peace,
Equal laws and liberty:

Nurse of arts, and age of Greece!
People valiant, firm, and free!
Not less glorious was thy deed,
Wentworth! fix'd in virtue's cause;
Not less brilliant be thy meed,
Lenox! friend to equal laws.

High in freedom's temple raised,
See Fitz-Maurice beaming stand,
For collected virtues praised,
Wisdom's voice, and Valour's hand!

Ne'er shall Fate their eyelids close.
They, in blooming regions bless'd,
With Harmodius shall repose:
With Aristogiton rest.

No, bless'd chiefs! a hero's crown
Let th' Athenian patriots claim :
You less fiercely won renown;
You assumed a milder name.

They through blood for glory strove,
You more blissful tidings brings;
They to death a tyrant drove,
You to fame restored a king.

Rise, BRITANNIA! dauntless rise!
Cheer'd with triple harmony,
Monarch good, and nobles wise
People valiant, firm, and free'

THE FIRST NEMEAN ODE OF PINDAR.

CALM breathing-place of Alpheus dead,
Ortygia, graceful branch of Syracuse renown'd,
Young Dina's rosy bed,

Sister of Delos, thee, with sweet, yet lofty, sound
Bursting numbers call, to raise

Of tempest-footed steeds the trophies glorious
(Thus Etnean Jove we praise ;)
While Chromius' car invites, and Nemea's plain,
For noble acts victorious

To weave the encomiastic strain.
From prospering gods the song begins;
Next hails that godlike man and virtue's holy meeds:

This ode is translated word for word with the original; those epithets and phrases only being necessarily added, which are printed in italic letters.

See Argument of the Hymns to Pacriti

He the flower of greatness wins,

Horror seized the female train,

Whom smiling fortune crowns; and vast heroic Who near Alcmena's genial couch attended :

deeds

Every muse delights to sing.

Now wake to that fair isle the splendid story, Which the great Olympian king,

Jove, gave to Proserpine, and waved his locks Vowing, that, supreme in glory,

Famed for sweet fruits, and nymph-loved rocks,

Sicilia's full nutritious breast

She, from agonizing pain

Yet weak, unsandall'd and unmantled rush'd,
And her loved charge defended,
Whilst he the fiery monsters crush'd.

Swift the Cadmean leaders ran

In brazen mail precipitately bold:
First Amphitryon, dauntless man,

Bared his raised falchion from its sheathing gold,

With tower'd and wealthy cities he would crown. While grinding anguish pierced his fluttering breast; Her the son of Saturn bless'd

With suitors brazen-arm'd for war's renown

By lance and fiery steed; yet oft thy leaves, Olympic olive! bind their hair

In wreathy gold. Great subjects I prepare: But none th' immortal verse deceives.

Oft in the portals was I placed

For private woes most keenly bite
Self-loving man; but soon the heart is light,
With sorrow not its own oppress'd.

Standing in deep amazement wild

With rapturous pleasure mix'd, he saw th' enormous force,

Saw the valour of his child:

Of that guest-loving man, and pour'd the dulcet And fated heralds prompt, as heaven had shaped

strain,

Where becoming dainties graced

His hospitable board; for ne'er with efforts vain
Strangers to his mansion came :

And thus the virtuous, when detraction rages,
Quench with liberal streams her flame.

Let each in virtue's path right onward press,
As each his art engages,

And, urged by genius, win success.

Laborious action strength applies,

And wary conduct, sense: the future to foresee
Nature gives to few, the wise.

Agesidamus' son, she frankly gave to thes
Powerful might and wisdom deep.

I see not in dark cells the hoarded treasure
Grovelling with low care to keep,

But, as wealth flows, to spread it, and to hear
Loud fame, with ample measure
Cheering my friends, since hope and fear

Assail disastrous men. The praise
Of Hercules with rapture I embrace
On the heights, which virtues raise,
The rapid legend old his name shall place;
For, when he brook'd no more the cheerless gloom,
And burst into the blaze of day,

The child of Jove with his twin brother lay,
Refulgent from the sacred womb.

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