WINDSOR-FOREST. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN. « a HY foreft, Windfor! and thy green retreats, ΤΗ At once the Monarch's and the Mufe's feats, Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids! Unlock your springs, and open all your fhades. GRANVILLE VARIATIONS. VER. 3, &c. Originally thus, (and indeed much better;) Nymphs of the vales, and Naïads of the floods, Lead me through arching bow'rs, and glimm'ring glades, NOTES. P. This Poem was written at two different times: the first part of it, which relates to the country, in the year 1704, at the same time with the Paftorals; the latter part was not added till the year 1713, in which it was published. P. Notwithstanding the many praises lavished on this celebrated nobleman as a poet, by Dryden, by Addifon, by Bolingbroke, by our Author, and others, yet candid criticifm must oblige us to confefs, that he was but a feeble imitator of the feebleft parts of Waller. In his tragedy of Heroic Love, he feems not to have had a true relish for Homer whom he copied; and in the British Enchanters, very little fancy is to be found in a fubject fruitful of romantic imagery. It was fortunate for him, says Mr. Walpole in his Anecdotes, that in an age when perfecution raged fo fiercely against lukewarm authors, that he had an intimacy with the Inquifitor General; how elfe would fuch lines as these escape the Bathos; they are in his Heroic Love; Why thy Gods Enlighten thee to speak their dark decrees. His Progress of Beauty, and his Effay on Unnatural Flights in Poetry, feem to be the best of his pieces; in the latter are many good critical remarks and precepts, and it is accompanied with notes GRANVILLE Commands; your aid, O Mufes, bring! What Muse for GRANVILLE can refuse to fing? 6 The Groves of Eden, vanish'd now fo long, Live in defcription, and look green in fong: NOTES. notes that contain much agreeable inftruction. For it may be added, his profe is better than his verse. Witness a Letter to a Young Man on his taking Orders, his Observations on Burnet, and his Defence of his relation Sir Richard Grenville, and a Translation of fome parts of Demofthenes, and a Letter to his Father on the Revolution, written in October 1688. After having been Secretary at War 1710, Controller and Treasurer to the Household, and of her Majefty's Privy Council, and created a Peer 1711, he was feized as a fufpected person, at the acceffion of King George the First, and confined in the Tower, in the very chamber that had before been occupied by Sir Robert Walpole. But whatever may be thought of Lord Lanfdown as a poet, his character as a man, was highly valuable. His conversation was most pleasing and polite; his affability, and universal benevolence and gentleness, captivating; he was a firm friend, and a fincere lover of his country. This is the character I received of him from his near relation, and defcendant, the late excellent Mrs. Delany; who was herself a true judge of merit and worth; of which the poffeffed fo great a degree. Lord Lansdown was frequently the fubject of thofe entertaining converfations at which I had the honour and advantage of being fometimes prefent, both in London and Windfor; in both which places, fhe was enabled to pafs the remainder of a moft well-fpent life, with great eafe and comfort, by the kindness of royal munificence, bestowed on her with equal delicacy and generofity. VER. 7. A feeble and niggardly encomium on the Paradise Loft, which in truth was not much read when our young poet wrote this paffage. There is an inaccuracy in the ninth line, in making the flame equal to a grove. It might have been Milton's flame. In a great writer we can pardon nothing, leaft his blemishes should be copied. IMITATIONS. VER. 6. "neget quis carmina Gallo?" Virg. Thefe, These, were my breast inspir'd with equal flame, And where, tho' all things differ, all agree. VARIATIONS. VER. 25. Originally thus ; Why fhould I fing our better funs or air, Whofe vital draughts prevent the leach's care, While through fresh fields th' enliv'ning odours breathe, Or fpread with vernal blooms the purple heath? NOTES. VER. 15.] Evidently from Cooper's Hill; Form, order, beauty, thro' the universe. P. 10 15 20 25 VER. 19.] It is a falfe thought, and gives, as it were, fentiment to the groves. Let Let India boaft her plants, nor envy we The weeping amber or the balmy tree, 30 While by our oaks the precious loads are born, A dreary defert, and a gloomy waste, And kings more furious and severe than they; NOTES. 35 40 45 VER. 33. Not proud Olympus, &c.] Sir J. Denham, in his Cooper's Hill, had faid, "Than which a nobler weight no mountain bears, But Atlas only, which fupports the fpheres." The comparison is childish, as the taking it from fabulous history destroys the compliment. Our Poet has fhewn more judgment: he has made a manly use of as fabulous a circumstance by the artful application of the mythology, "Where, in their bleffings, all thofe Gods appear," &c. Making the nobility of the hills of Windfor-foreft to confift in fupporting the inhabitants in plenty. W. This appears an idle play on the word "fupporting." VER. 37.] The word crown'd is exceptionable; it makes Pan crowned with flocks. See the account VER. 45. Savage laws] The Foreft Laws. of them in Blackftone's excellent Lectures; the killing a deer, boar, or hare, was punished with the lofs of the delinquent's eyes. Who Who claim'd the fkies, difpeopled air and floods, In vain kind seasons fwell'd the teeming grain, vain; 50 The swain with tears his frustrate labour yields, 55 What wonder then, a beast or subject slain Both doom'd alike, for fportive Tyrants bled, A mighty hunter, and his prey was man : Our haughty Norman boasts that barb❜rous name, And makes his trembling flaves the royal game. 64 VARIATIONS. VER. 49. Originally thus in the MS. From towns laid wafte, to dens and caves they ran VER. 57, &c. No wonder favages or fubjects flain But fubjects ftarv'd, while favages were fed. It was originally thus, but the word "favages" is not properly applied to beasts, but to men; which occafioned the alteration. P. VOL. I. I The |