Then, with him, o'er hills and mountains,
Free from fetters, might I rove :
Fearless taste the cryftal fountains;

Peaceful fleep beneath the grove.

Ruftics had been more forgiving;
Partial to my virgin bloom :
None had envy'd me when living;
None had triumph'd o'er my tomb."

ODE

ODE to a Young Lady,

Somewhat too follicitous about her manner

SUR

of expreffion.

URVEY, my fair! that lucid stream
Adown the fmiling valley ftray;

Would art attempt, or fancy dream,
To regulate its winding way?

So pleas'd I view thy fhining hair
In loose difhevel'd ringlets flow:
Not all thy art, not all thy care
Can there one fingle grace beftow.

Survey again that verdant hill,

With native plants enamel'd o'er;
Say, can the painter's utmost skill
Inftruct one flow'r to please us more?

As vain it were, with artful dye,

To change the bloom thy cheeks disclose;

And oh may LAURA, ere fhe try,

With fresh vermilion paint the rofe.

Hark, how the wood-lark's tuneful throat

Can every study'd grace excel;

Let art constrain the rambling note,

And will fhe, LAURA, please fo well?

Oh ever keep thy native ease,

By no pedantic law confin'd!

For LAURA's voice is form'd to please,
So LAURA's words be not unkind.

NANCY

NANCY of the VALE.

A BALLA D.

Nerine Galatea! thymo mihi dulcior Hyble!
Candidior cygnis, bederâ formofior albâ!

When from an hazle's artless bower

Soft-warbled STREPHON'S tongue;
He bleft the scene, he bleft the hour,
While NANCY's praise he fung.

"Let fops with fickle falfhood range
The paths of wanton love,

While weeping maids lament their change,

And fadden every grove:

But endless bleffings crown the day

I faw fair ESHAM'S dale!

And every bleffing find its way

To NANCY of the Vale.

'Twas

'Twas from AVONA's banks the maid

Diffus'd her lovely beams

;

And every shining glance display'd

The naiad of the streams.

Soft as the wild-duck's tender young,
That float on Avon's tide;
Bright as the water-lily, fprung,
And glittering near its fide.

Fresh as the bordering flowers, her bloom:
Her eye, all mild to view;
The little halcyon's azure plume

Was never half fo blue.

Her fhape was like the reed fo fleek,

So taper, ftrait, and fair;

Her dimpled fmile, her blufhing cheek,
How charming fweet they were!

Far in the winding Vale retir'd,
This peerless bud I found;

And shadowing rocks, and woods confpir'd
To fence her beauties round.

That nature in fo lone a dell

Should form a nymph fo fweet!

Or fortune to her fecret cell

Conduct my wandering feet!

Gay