Descending Gods have found Elysium here. In woods bright Venus with Adonis stray'd, And chaste Diana haunts the forest-shade. Come, lovely nymph, and bless the silent hours,

When swains from shearing seek their nightly bowers;

When weary reapers quit the sultry field,
And, crown'd with corn, their thanks to
Ceres yield.

This harmless grove no lurking viper hides,
But in my breast the serpent Love abides.
Here bees from blossoms sip the rosy dew,
But your Alexis knows no sweets but you.
O deign to visit our forsaken seats,
The mossy fountains, and the green re-
treats!

71

III

AUTUMN; OR, HYLAS AND ÆGON

TO MR. WYCHERLEY

No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field, Nor fragrant herbs their native incense yield.

The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death, Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath; 50 Th' industrious bees neglect their golden

store :

Fair Daphne's dead, and sweetness is no more!

No more the mountain larks, while

Daphne sings,

Shall, list ning in mid-air, suspend their

wings;

No more the birds shall imitate her lays, Or, hush'd with wonder, hearken from the

sprays;

No more the streams their murmurs shall forbear,

A sweeter music than their own to hear; But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal shore, Fair Daphne's dead, and music is no more !

60

Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze, And told in sighs to all the trembling trees;

The trembling trees, in every plain and wood,

Her fate remurmur to the silver flood;
The silver flood, so lately calm, appears
Swell'd with new passion, and o'erflows
with tears;

The winds and trees and floods her death deplore,

Daphne, our Grief, our Glory now no more! But see! where Daphine wond'ring mounts on high

Above the clouds, above the starry sky! 70 Eternal beauties grace the shining scene,