See* lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forefts on the mountains dance:
See fpicy clouds from lowly Saron rife,
And Carmel's flowery top perfames the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely defert chears;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears:

IMITATIONS.

25

30

A God,

"For thee, O Child, fhall the earth, without being "tilled, produce her early offerings; winding ivy, mix"ed with Baccar, and Colocaffia with fmiling Acan"thus. Thy cradle fhail pour forth pleafing flowers

"about thee."

ISAIAH, Ch. xxxi. ver. 1. " The wilderness and the "folitary place fhall be glad, and the defert fhall re"joice and bloffom as the rofe." Ch. lx. ver. 13. "The "glory of Lebanon fhall come unto thee, the fir-tree, "the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy fanctuary."

Ver. 29. Hark! a glad voice, &c. Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 46.

Aggredere ô magnos (aderit jam tempus) honores, Cara deûm foboles, magnum Jovis incrementum Ecl. v. ver. 62.

Ipfi lætitiâ voces ad fidera jactant

Intonfi montes, ipfæ jam carmina rupes,

Ipfa fonant arbufta, Deus, Deus ille Menalca!

"O come and receive the mighty honours: the time "draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, O great increase of Jove! The uncultivated mountains "fend fhouts of joy to the stars, the very rocks fing in "verfe, the very fhrubs cry out, A God, a God!"

ISAIAH, Ch. xl. ver. 3, 4. "The voice of him that "cryeth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the + Ch. xl. ver. 3, 4°.

* Ch. xxxv. ver. 2. VOL. I.

E

"Lord!

A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye vallies, rife;
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be fmooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold :
Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films fhall purge the visual ray,
And on the fightless eye-ball pour the day:
"Tis he th' obftructed paths of found shall clear,
And bid new mufic charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb fhall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh, no murmur, the wide world fhall hear,
From every face he wipes off every tear.
In § adamantine chains fhall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good || fhepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture, and the pureft air,
Explores the loft, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'erfees them, and by night protects,

IMITATIONS.

The

"Lord! make straight in the desert a high-way for our "God! Every valley fhall be exalted, and every moun"tain and hill fhall be made low, and the crooked shall "be made ftraight, and the rough places plain." Ch. iv. ver. 23. "Break forth into finging, ye moun"tains; O forest, and every tree therein! for the Lord " hath redeemed Ifrael."

Ch. xliii. ver. 18. Ch. xxxv. ver. 5, 6. XXV. ver. 8. || Ch. xl. ver. 1 I..

$ Ch.

The tender lambs he raises in his arms,

Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms ;
Thus fhall mankind his guardian care engage,

55

The promis'd * father of the future age.
No more shall † nation against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into scythes fhall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow-share end.
Then palaces fhall rise; the joyful

Son

60

Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd Sire begun ;

Their vines a fhadow to their race shall yield,

65

And the fame hand that fow'd, shall reap the field.

The fwain in barren § deferts with furprize,

Sees lilies fpring, and sudden verdure rife;

IMITATIONS.

And

Ver. 67. The fwain in barren deferts]. Virg. E. iv.

ver. 28.

Molli paulatim flavefcet campus aristâ,
Incultifque rubens pendebit sentibus uva:
Et duræ quercus fudabunt roscida mella.

"The fields fhall grow yellow with ripened ears, and "the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and "the hard oaks fhall diftil honey like dew."

ISAIAH, Ch. xxxv. ver. 7. "The parched ground "fhall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of "water: In the habitations where dragons lay, shall « be grass, and reeds and rushes." Ch. lv. ver. 13. "Inftead of the thorn fhall come up the fir-tree, and "instead of the briar fhall come up the myrtle-tree." *Ch. ix. ver. 6. + Ch. ii. ver. 4. + Ch. lxv. ver. 21, 22. § Ch. xxxv. ver. 1. 7.

And starts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,

The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste fandy* valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and fhapely box adorn:

To leaflefs fhrubs the flowery palms fucceed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed.

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75

The † lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead:

The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,

And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.

IMITATIONS.

80

The

Ver. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.] Virg. E. iv.

ver. 21.

Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capella
Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones-
Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni

Occidet.

"The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders dif"tended with milk: nor fhall the herds be afraid of "the greatest lions. The ferpent fhall die, and the "herb that conceals poifon fhall die."

ISAIAH, Ch. xi. ver. 6, &c. "The wolf fhall dwell "with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with "the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fat"ling together; and a little child shall lead them.-And "the lion fhall eat ftraw like the ox. And the fucking "child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the wean"ed child fhall put his hand on the den of the cocka-. «trice."

*Ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. lv. ver. 13. + Cho xỉ. ver. 6, 7, 8. ‡ Ch. lxv, ver. 25.

The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake,

Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales furvey,

And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial * Salem rife!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long † race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crouding ranks on every fide arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;

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See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of § Sabæan springs!
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,

95

And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!

No

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife!] The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compofe the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thofe general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftieft part of his Pollio.

Magnis ab integro fæclorum nascitur ordo!
-toto furget gens aurea mundo!

-incipient magni procedere menfes !

Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo! &c.

The reader needs only to turn to the paffages of

Ifaiah, here cited.

* Ch. lx. ver. 1. ver. 3. § Ch. lx. ver. 6.

85