Nor forms nor comets will my doom declare,
Nor figns on earth, nor portents in the air;
Unknown and filent will depart my breath,
Nor nature e'er take notice of my death.
Yet fome there are (ere spent my vital days)
Within whofe breafts my tomb I wish to raise.
Lov'd in my life, lamented in my end,
Their praise would crown me, as their
To them may these fond lines my name endear
Not from the Poet, but the Friend fincere.

precepts

mend:

AN ODE,

Written in the year, 1746.
By Mr. COLLINS.

OW fleep the brave, who fink to reft

How

By all their country's wishes bleft!
When Spring with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallow'd mould,
She there fhall dress a sweeter fod,
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.

By Fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unfeen their dirge is fung;
There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom fhall awhile repair,
To dwell a weeping hermit there!

ORIENTAL

ORIENTAL

ECLOGUES,

By Mr. COLLINS.

ECLOGUE 1.

Selim or, the Shepherd's Moral.

Scene, a Valley near Bagdat.-Time, the Morning.

Ε

YE Perfian maids, attend your Poet's lays,

And hear how fhepherds pafs their golden days.
Not all are bleft, whom Fortune's hand fullains
← With wealth in courts, nor all that haunt the plains:
Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell;
'Tis virtue makes the blifs, where'er we dwell,'
Thus Selim fung, by facred Truth infpir'd;
Nor praise but fuch as Truth bestow'd, defir'd;
Wife in himself, his meaning fongs convey 'd.
Informing morals to the fhepherd maid ;

Or taught the fwains that fureft blifs to find,
What groves nor freams beflow-a virtuous mind.
When fweet and blushing, like a virgin bride,
The radiant morn refum'd her orient pride;
When wantón gales along the vallies play,

Breathe on each flow'r, and bear their fweets away;

"

By Tygris' wandering waves he fat, "and fung

This ufeful leffon for the fair and

C 3

young:

Ye Perfian dames,' he faid, to you belong

(Well may they pleafe) the morals of my fong:
No fairer maids, I truft, than you are found,

• Grac'd with soft arts, the peopled world around !
• The morn that lights you, to your loves supplies
Each gentler ray, delicious to your eyes;
• For you thofe flow'rs her fragrant hands beflow,
• And yours the love that kings delight to know.
Yet think not thefe, all beauteous as they are,
The best kind bleffings Heaven can grant the fair:
Who truft alone in beauty's feeble ray,

Boaft but the worth Balfora's * pearls difplay!
• Drawn from the deep, we own the surface bright;
But, dark within, they drink no luftrous light.

• Such are the maids, and fuch the charms they boast, By fenfe unaided, or to virtue loft.

Self-flatt'ring fex! your hearts believe in vain

That Love fhall blind, when once he fires, the fwain ; "Or hope a lover by your faults to win,

As fpots on ermin beautify the fkin :

Who feeks fecure to rule, be firft her care
Each fofter virtue that adorns the fair;

Each tender passion man delights to find

The lov'd perfection of a female mind!

Bleft were the days when wisdom held her reign,
And fhepherds fought her on the filent plain;
With Truth fhe wedded in the fecret grove,

• Immortal Truth! and daughters bless'd their love.

O hafle,

* The Gulf of that name, famous for the Pearl Fishery.

O hafte, fair maids! ye Virtues, come away • Sweet Peace and Plenty lead you on your way! The balmy fhrub for you fhall love our shore, 6 By Ind excell'd, or Araby, no more.

Loft to our fields, for fo the fates ordain,

• The dear deferters fhall return again.

!

Come thou, whofe thoughts as limpid fprings are clear; • To lead the train, fweet Modefty, appear: Here make thy court amidst our rural scene, And fhepherd girls fhall own thee for their queen. With thee be chastity, of all afraid, Diftrufting all, a wife fufpicious maid;

" But man the moft-not more the mountain doe

• Holds the fwift falcon for her deadly foe,

• Cold is her breaft, like flowers that drink the dew:

A filken veil conceals her from the view.

No wild defires amidst thy train be known,
But Faith, whose heart is fix'd on one alone:
Defponding Meeknefs, with her downcaft eyes,
And friendly Pity, full of tender fighs;

And Love the laft. By thefe your hearts
Thefe are the virtues that muft lead to love."

approve;

Thus fung the fwain; and ancient legends fay,

The maids of Bagdat verified the lay:

Dear to the plains, the virtues came along ;

The fhepherds lov'd, and Selim blefs'd his fong.

ECLOGUE

ECLOGUE II.

Haffan: or, the Camel-Driver.

Scene, the Defart.-Time, Mid-Day.

'N filent horror o'er the boundless waste,

IN

The driver Haffan with his camels pafs'd: One crufe of water on his back he bore, And his light fcrip contain'd a fcanty flore; A fan of painted feathers in his hand, To guard his fhaded face from fcorching fand. The fultry fun had gain'd the middle fky, And not a tree, and not an herb, was nigh: The beafts with pain their dufty way pursue, Shrill roar'd the winds, and dreary was the view! With defperate forrow. wild, th'affrighted man Thrice figh'd, thrice ftruck his breaft, and thus began:: Sad was the hour, and lucklefs was the day,

• When firft from Schiraz' walls I took

my way
!

Ah! little thought I of the blafting wind, The thirst or pinching hunger that I find! • Bethink thee, Haffan, where fhall thirst affuage, • When fails this crufe, his unrelenting rage;

• Soon fhall this scrip its precious load resign ;

• Then what but tears and hunger fhall be thine ? • Ye mute companions of my toils, that bear

all my griefs a more than equal share !

• Here,