A noble range it was, of many a rood, Walled round with trees, and ending in a wood: Indeed the whole was leafy; and it had A winding stream about it, clear and glad, That danced from shade to shade, and on its way The daisy, lovely on both sides,-in short, All the sweet cups to which the bees resort, With plots of grass, and perfumed walks between Of citron, honeysuckle and jessamine, With orange, whose warm leaves so finely suit, And look as if they shade a golden fruit; And midst the flowers, turfed round beneath a shade Of circling pines, a babbling fountain played, And 'twixt their shafts you saw the water bright, Which through the darksome tops glimmered with showering light. So now you walked beside an odorous bed Of gorgeous hues, white, azure, golden, red; Close and continuous, fit for lovers' talk And now pursued the stream, and as you trod Felt on your face an air, watery and sweet, And all about, the birds kept leafy house, And sung and sparkled in and out the boughs; Clearly was felt, or down the leaves laughed through; But 'twixt the wood and flowery walks, halfway, Of sloping shrubs, that mounted by degrees, Whose low sweet talking seemed as if it said Something eternal to that happy shade. The ground within was lawn, with plots of flowers Heaped towards the centre, and with citron bowers; And in the midst of all, clustered with bay And myrtle, and just gleaming to the day, Lurked a pavilion,—a delicious sight,— Small, marble, well-proportioned, mellowy white, And through the dome the only light came in, It was a beauteous piece of ancient skill, Spared from the rage of war, and perfect still By some supposed the work of fairy hands, Famed for luxurious taste, and choice of lands,Alcina, or Morgana,-who from fights And errant fame inveigled amorous knights, And lived with them in a long round of blisses, Built to the Nymphs that haunted there of old; By girls and shepherds brought, with reverend eyes, And goats with struggling horns and planted feet: And round about, ran on a line with this In like relief, a world of Pagan bliss, That shewed, in various scenes, the nymphs them selves; Some by the water side on bowery shelves Leaning at will,-some in the water sporting With sides half swelling forth, and looks of court ing, Some in a flowery dell, hearing a swain Play on his pipe, till the hills ring again,— Some tying up their long moist hair,-some sleeping Under the trees, with fauns and satyrs peeping, |