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Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful * Son
Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd Sire begun ;
Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield,
And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field.
The swain in barren † defarts with furprize

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See lillies fpring, and sudden verdure rise;
And starts, amidst the thirfty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear,
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrufh nods.
Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn :

To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed,
And od❜rous myrtle to the noisom weed.
The

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lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead,

And boys in flow'ry bands the tyger lead;

IMITATIONS.

The

VER.67. The fwain in barren defarts] Virg. E. iv. v. 28.
Molli paulatim flavefcet campus arifta,
Incultifque rubens pendebit fentibus uva,

Et dure quercus fudabunt rofcia mella.

The fields fhall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oak fhall diftill honey like dea.

ISAIAH, Ch. xxxv. v. 7. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: In the habitations where dragons lay, fall be grafs, and reeds, and rushes. Ch. lv. v. 13. Instead of the thorn fhall come up the fir-tree, and inflead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree.

P.

VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, etc.] Virg. E. iv. v. 21.
Ipia latte domum referent diflenta capella

Ubera,

* Ch. lxv. v. 21, 22.

+ Ch. xxxv. V. 1, 7.

Ch. xli. v. 19. andCh. lv. v. 13. Ch. xi. v. 6, 7, 8.

The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,

And harmless* ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet. 80
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled snake,
Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales furvey,
And with their forky tongue shall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial † Salem, rife! 85
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!

See, a long race thy fpacious courts adorn;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,

In

IMITATIONS.

Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones
Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni

Occidet.

The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diftended with milk: nor fhall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent fhall die, and the kerb that conceals poison fhall

die.

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ISAIAH, Ch. xi. v. 16, etc. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child fhall lead them. And the lion fhall eat fraw like the ox. And the fucking child shall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice. P.

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 parts of his Pollio.

Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordo!
toto furget gens aurea mundo!
-incipient magni procedere menfes !

Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo! etc. The reader needs only to turn to the paffages of Ifaiah, here cited. P.

* Ch. lxv. v. 25. † Ch. Ix. v. 1. ‡ Ch. lx. v. 41

In crouding ranks on ev'ry fide arife,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barb'rous *nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings
And heap'd with products of † Sabæan springs!
For thee Idume's fpicy forests blow,

And feeds of gold in Ophyr's mountains glow.
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rifing + Sun fhall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn;
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze

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O'erflows thy courts: the Light himself fhall fhine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!

The feas fhall waste, the skies in smoke decay, 105
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own MESSIAH reigns!

Ch. lx. v. 3. + Ch Ix. v. 6. Ch. Ix. v. 19, 20Ch. li. v. 6. and Ch liv. v. 10.

WINDSOR-FOREST.

To the Right Honourable

GEORGE Lord LANSDOWN.

Non injuffa cano: Te noftræ, Vare, myricæ,
Te Nemus omne canet; nec Phœbo gratior ulla est,
Quam fibi quæ Vari præfcripfit pagina nomen.

VIRG.

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