*No 55 60 more the birds shall imitate her lays, Or hufh'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays: No more the ftreams their murmurs fhall forbear, A fweeter mufic than their own to hear, But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal fhore, Fair Daphne's dead, and music is no more! Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze, And told in fighs to all the trembling trees; The trembling trees, in ev'ry plain and wood, Her fate remurmur to the filver flood; The filver flood, fo lately calm, appears Swell'd with new paffion,and o'erflows with tears; Thewinds, and trees,and floods her death deplore, Daphne, our grief! our glory now no more! But fee! where Daphne wond'ring mounts on high Above the clouds, above the ftarry sky! Eternal beauties grace the fhining scene, Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green ! There while you reft in Amaranthine bow'rs, Or from those meads select unfading flow'rs, 65 70 Behold IMITATIONS. VER. 69, 70. "miratur limen Olympi, "Sub pedibufque videt nubes et fydera Daphnis." Virg. P. Behold us kindly, who your name imploré, 75 Daphne, our Goddefs, and our grief no more! LYCIDA S. How all things liften, while thy Mufe complains! Such filence waits on Philomela's trains, 80 In fome ftill ev'ning, when the whisp'ring breeze give, Thy name, thy honour, and thy praife fhall live! THYRSI S. But fee, Orion fheds unwholsome dews Arife, the pines a noxious fhade diffufe; Sharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels decay, Time conquers all, and we must Time obey. VER. 83. Originally thus in the MS. While vapours rife, and driving fnows defcend, VER. 81. IMITATIONS. ¡llius aram 85 Adieu, ર્ડ Saepe tener noftris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus." Virg. P "folet effe gravis cantantibus umbra, VER. 86. Juniperi gravis umbra.” VER. 88. Time conquers all, etc.] "Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori." Vid. etiam Sannazarii Ecl. et Spenfer's Calendar. Virg. P. Adieu,ye vales, ye mountains,ftreams, and groves, REMARK S. VER. 89, etc.] These four laft lines allude to the feveral fubjects of the four Paftorals, and to the several scenes of them, particularized before in each. P. The Sycophancy of A. Phillips, who had prejudiced Mr. Addison against Pope, occafioned these papers in the Guardian, written by the latter, in which there is an ironical preference given to the Paftorals of Phillips, above his own; in order to fupport the profound judgment of those who could not diftinguish between the rural and the ruftic; and on that account, condemned the Paftorals of Pope for wanting fimplicity. These papers were sent by an unknown hand to Steele, and the irony escaping him, he communicated them to Mr. Pope, declaring he would never publish any paper, where one of the Club was complimented at the expence of another. Pope told him he was too delicate, and infifted that the papers fhould be published in the Guardian. They were fo. And the pleafantry efcaped all but Addison: who, taking Pope afide, faid to him in his agreeable manner; You have put your friends here in a very ridiculous light, as will be seen, when it is understood, as it muft foon be, that you was only laughing at the admirers of Phillips. But this ill conduct of Phillips occafioned a more open ridicule of his Paftorals, in the mock poem called the Shephard's Week, written by Gay. But tho' more open, the object of it was ill understood by those who were ftrangers to the quarrel. These miftook the Shephard's Week for a Burlesque of Virgil's Paftorals. How far this goes towards a vindication of Phillips's fimple painting, let others judge. |