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SPRING:

THE FIRST PASTORAL,*

OR

DAMON.

TO SIR WILLIAM TRUMBALL.+

FIRST in these fields I try the sylvan strains,
Nor blush to sport on Windsor's blissful plains:
Fair Thames, flow gently from thy sacred spring,
While on thy banks Sicilian Muses sing;
Let vernal airs through trembling osiers play, 5
And Albion's cliffs resound the rural lay.

You, that too wise for pride, too good for power, Enjoy the glory to be great no more,

* These Pastorals were written at the age of sixteen, and then passed through the hands of Mr. Walsh, Mr. Wycherley, G. Granville afterwards lord Lansdowne, sir William Trumball, Dr. Garth, lord Halifax, lord Somers, Mr. Mainwaring, and others. All these gave our author the greatest encouragement, and particularly Mr. Walsh, whom Mr. Dryden, in his Postscript to Virgil, calls the best critic of his age.-P.

+ Sir William Trumball. Our author's friendship with this gentleman commenced at very unequal years; he was under sixteen, but sir William above sixty, and had lately resigned his employment of secretary of state to king William.-P.

1 First in these fields. Prima Syracosio dignata est.'- Virg.

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Stow low the kind, ou query Mooming spray
Cia urinis mind wake the dawning day!
I si ve mue, when marly Sanets sing,
When wachting Zhiomoi slutes the spring?
Wir sit we suis, when Phosphor shines so clear,
And ivisò. Nature yans the purple year?

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Sing them, and Damon shall attend the strain, While you slow oxen turn the furrow'd plain. 30 Here the bright crocus and blue violet glow; Here western winds on breathing roses blow.

In your native shades. Sir W. Trumball was born in indar-forest, to which he retreated, after he had resigned that of secretary of state of King William III.-P. Lavish Nature. Spenser,

There lavish Nature, in her best attire,

Pours forth sweet odors, and alluring sights.

I'll stake yon lamb that near the fountain plays, And from the brink his dancing shade surveys.

DAPHNIS.

And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines, 35 And swelling clusters bend the curling vines: Four figures rising from the work appear, The various seasons of the rolling year;

And what is that, which binds the radiant sky, Where twelve fair signs in beauteous order lie? 40

DAMON.

Then sing by turns, by turns the Muses sing: Now hawthorns blossom, now the daisies spring; Now leaves the trees, and flowers adorn the ground:

Begin; the vales shall every note rebound.

STREPHON.

Inspire me, Phoebus, in my Delia's praise, With Waller's strains, or Granville's moving

lays!

A milk-white bull shall at your altars stand, That threats a fight, and spurns the rising sand.

DAPHNIS.

O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize, And make my tongue victorious as her eyes: 50 No lambs or sheep for victims I'll impart; Thy victim, Love, shall be the shepherd's heart.

36 And swelling clusters.

Lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis.-Virg.

Warton gives it, on the authority of Collins, that Thomson had taken the first idea of writing the Seasons' from the titles of the four Pastorals.

46 Granville. George Granville, afterwards lord Lansdowne, known for his poems, most of which he composed very young; and proposed Waller as his model.-P.

And carrying with you all the world can boast,
To all the world illustriously are lost!

O, let my Muse her slender reed inspire,
Till in your native shades you tune the lyre :
So, when the nightingale to rest removes,
The thrush may chant to the forsaken groves;
But, charm'd to silence, listens while she sings,
And all the aerial audience clap their wings.

10

16

Soon as the flocks shook off the nightly dews, Two swains, whom love kept wakeful, and the

Muse,

20

Pour'd o'er the whitening vale their fleecy care,
Fresh as the morn, and as the season fair:
The dawn now blushing on the mountain's side,
Thus Daphnis spoke, and Strephon thus replied :-

DAPHNIS.

25

Hear how the birds, on every blooming spray, With joyous music wake the dawning day! Why sit we mute, when early linnets sing, When warbling Philomel salutes the spring? Why sit we sad, when Phosphor shines so clear, And lavish Nature paints the purple year?

STREPHON.

Sing then, and Damon shall attend the strain, While yon slow oxen turn the furrow'd plain. 30 Here the bright crocus and blue violet glow; Here western winds on breathing roses blow.

12 In your native shades. Sir W. Trumball was born in Windsor-forest, to which he retreated, after he had resigned the post of secretary of state of King William III.-P. 28 Lavish Nature. Spenser,

There lavish Nature, in her best attire,

Pours forth sweet odors, and alluring sights.

I'll stake yon lamb that near the fountain plays, And from the brink his dancing shade surveys.

DAPHNIS.

And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines, 35 And swelling clusters bend the curling vines: Four figures rising from the work appear, The various seasons of the rolling year;

And what is that, which binds the radiant sky, Where twelve fair signs in beauteous order lie? 40

DAMON.

Then sing by turns, by turns the Muses sing: Now hawthorns blossom, now the daisies spring; Now leaves the trees, and flowers adorn the ground:

Begin; the vales shall every note rebound.

STREPHON.

Inspire me, Phœbus, in my Delia's praise, 45 With Waller's strains, or Granville's moving lays!

A milk-white bull shall at your altars stand, That threats a fight, and spurns the rising sand.

DAPHNIS.

O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize, And make my tongue victorious as her eyes: No lambs or sheep for victims I'll impart; Thy victim, Love, shall be the shepherd's heart.

36 And swelling clusters.

50

Lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis.-Virg. Warton gives it, on the authority of Collins, that Thomson had taken the first idea of writing the Seasons' from the titles of the four Pastorals.

46 Granville. George Granville, afterwards lord Lansdowne, known for his poems, most of which he composed very young; and proposed Waller as his model.-P.

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