THIS Poem was written at two different times: the firft part of it, which relates to the country in the year 1704, at the fame time with the Paftorals: the latter part was not added till the year 1713, in which it was published,

WINDSOR-FOREST.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN.

THY forefts, Windfor! and thy green retreats,

fhades.

At once the Monarch's and the Mufe's feats,
Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids!
Unlock your fprings, and open all your
Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring!
What Muse for Granville can refuse to fing?

The groves
of Eden, vanish'd now fo long,
Live in description, and look green in song;
These, were my breast inspir'd with equal flame,
Like them in beauty, fhould be like in fame.
Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water feem to ftrive again;
Not Chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd,
But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd:
Where order in variety we fee,

And where, though all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a chequer'd scene display,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;

VARIATION.

Ver. 3. &c. Originally thus,

Chafte goddess of the woods,

Nymphs of the vales, and Naiads of the floods,

Lead me thro' arching bow'rs, and glimm'ring glades,

Unlock your fprings

As fome coy nymph her lover's warm address
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite reprefs.
There, interfpers'd in lawns and opening glades,
Thin trees arise that shun each other's fhades.
Here in full light the russet plains extend:
There, wrapt in clouds the bluish hills ascend.
Ev'n the wild heath displays her purple dyes,
And 'midft the defert, fruitful fields arise,

That, crown'd with tufted trees and springing corn,
Like verdant ifles the fable waste adorn.
Let India boast her plants, nor envy we

The weeping amber, or the balmy tree,

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While by our oaks the precious loads are born,
And realms commanded which thofe trees adorn.
Not proud Olympus yields a nobler fight,
Though Gods affembled grace his towering height,
Than what more humble mountains offer here,
Where, in their bleffings, all thofe Gods appear.
See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd,
Here blushing Flora paints th' enamel'd ground,
Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpect ftand,
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand;
Rich Induftry fits fmiling on the plains,
And peace and plenty tell, a Stuart reigns.

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VARIATION.

Not

Ver. 25. Originally thus ;

Why should I fing our better funs or air,
Whofe vital draughts prevent the leach's care,
While thro' freth fields th' enliv'ning odours breathe,
Or fpread with vernal blooms the purple heath?

Not thus the land appear'd in ages past,
A dreary defert, and a gloomy waste,
To favage beasts and savage laws a prey,
And kings more furious and fevere than they;
Who claim'd the skies, difpeopled air and floods,
The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods:
Cities laid waste, they storm'd the dens and caves
(For wifer brutes were backward to be slaves).
What could be free, when lawless beafts obey'd,
And ev'n the elements a Tyrant sway'd?
In vain kind seasons fwell'd the teeming grain,

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Soft showers diftill'd, and funs grew warm in vain ;
The swain with tears his fruftrate labour yields,

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And famish'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields.
What wonder then, a beast or subject flain
Were equal crimes in a defpotic reign?
Both doom'd alike for sportive Tyrants bled,
But, while the fubject starv'd, the beast was fed.
Proud Nimrod first the bloody chace began,
A mighty hunter, and his prey was man :
Our haughty Norman boasts that barbarous name,
And makes his trembling flaves the royal game.

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 49. Originally thus in the MS.

From towns laid wafte, to dens and caves they ran (For who first stoop'd to be a flave was man).

Ver. 57, &c.

No wonder favages or fubjects flain

But fubjects starv'd, while favages were fed.

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The

It was originally thus, but the word Savages is not properly applied to beafts but to men; which occafioned the alteration,

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The fields are ravish'd from th' industrious swains, 65
From men their cities, and from Gods their fanes :
The level'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er;
The hollow winds through naked temples roar;
Round broken columns clasping ivy twin'd;
O'er heaps of ruin stalk'd the stately hind;
The fox obfcene to gaping tombs retires,
And favage howlings fill the facred quires.
Aw'd by his Nobles, by his Commons curft,
Th' Oppreffor rul'd tyrannic where he durft,
Stretch'd o'er the Poor and Church his iron rod,
And ferv'd alike his Vaffals and his God.
Whom ev'n the Saxon fpar'd, and bloody Dane,
The wanton victims of his sport remain.
But fee, the man who fpacious regions gave
A wafte for beafts, himself deny'd a grave!
Stretch'd on the lawn his fecond hope furvey,
At once the chacer, and at once the prey :
Lo Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart,
Bleeds in the foreft like a wounded hart.
Succeeding monarchs heard the fubjects cries,
Nor faw difpleas'd the peaceful cottage rife.
Then gathering flocks on unknown mountains fed,
O'er fandy wilds were yellow harvests spread,
The forefts wonder'd at th' unusual grain,
And fecret tranfport touch'd the confcious fwain.

VARIATION.

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Fair

Ver. 72. And wolves with howling fill, &c.] The Author thought this an error, wolves not being common in England at the time of the Conqueror.