Again with patrons and with friends she roves, Oh! ill forsaken for Boeotian air; She deems no flood reflects so bright a beam, And with no cheerful accent cries-Farewell! Where circling rocks defend some pathless vale, Where shall I find the silent scenes I love? Bear me, ye winds! indulgent to my pains, Near some sad ruin's ghastly shade to dwell; There let me fondly eye the rude remains, And from the mouldering refuse build my cell. Genius of Rome! thy prostrate pomp display, Trace every dismal proof of Fortune's power; Let me the wreck of theatres survey, Or pensive sit beneath some nodding tower. Or where some duct, by rolling seasons worn, Convey'd pure streams to Rome's imperial wall; Near the wide breach in silence let me mourn, Or tune my dirges to the water's fall. Genius of Carthage! paint thy ruin'd pride; Towers, arches, fanes, in wild confusion strown; Let banish'd Marius', louring by thy side, Compare thy fickle fortunes with his own. Ah no! thou monarch of the storms! forbear; My trembling nerves abhor thy rude control, And scarce a pleasing twilight sooths my care, Ere one vast death-like darkness shocks my soul. Forbear thy rage—on no perennial base Is built frail Fear, or Hope's deceitful pile; My pains are fled-my joy resumes its place, Should the sky brighten, or Melissa smile. 14 Inopemque vitam in tugurio ruinarum Carthaginensium toleravit, cum Marius inspiciens Carthaginem, illa intuens Marium, alter alteri possent esse solatio.' Liv. EXPLANATION. Marius endured a life of poverty under shelter of the Carthaginian ruins; and while he contemplated Carthage, and Carthage beheld him, they might be said mutually to resemble and account for each other. HE REPEATS THE SONG OF COLIN, A DISCERNING SHEPHERD LAMENTING THE STATE OF THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTORY. And Ergo omni studio glaciem ventosque nivales, Thou, therefore, in proportion to their lack VIRG. NEAR Avon's bank, on Arden's flowery plain, I'll add the myrtle for Ophelia's sake. Shivering beneath a leafless thorn he lay, [tongue: 1 Mr. Somervile. 'Adieu, my flocks! (he said) my wonted care, Ah! what avails the timorous lambs to guard, Though nightly cares with daily labours join, If foreign sloth obtain the rich reward, If Gallia's craft the ponderous fleece purloin? For this I led them from the pointed thorn? Their fleece adorns an haughty foe's domains. Ill-fated flocks; from cliff to cliff they stray; Far from their dams, their native guardians, far Where the soft shepherd, all the livelong day, Chants his proud mistress to his hoarse guitar. But Albion's youth her native fleece despise ; Unmoved they hear the pining shepherd's moan; In silky folds each nervous limb disguise, Allured by every treasure but their own. 66 Oft have I hurried down the rocky steep, Anxious to see the wintry tempest drive; [sheep! Preserve, (said I,) preserve your fleece, my Ere long will Phillis, will my love, arrive." 'Ere long she came : ah, woe is me! she came, Robed in the Gallic loom's extraneous twine; For gifts like these they give their spotless fame, Resign their bloom, their innocence resign. Will no bright maid, by worth, by titles known, Give the rich growth of British hills to fame? And let her charms, and her example, own That Virtue's dress and Beauty's are the same? Will no famed chief support this generous maid? Once more the patriot's arduous path resume? And, comely from his native plains array'd, Speak future glory to the British loom? 'What power unseen my ravish'd fancy fires? I pierce the dreary shade of future days? Sure 'tis the Genius of the land inspires, To breathe my latest breath in ****; 's praise. 'O might my breath for * * *'s praise suffice, How gently should my dying limbs repose! O might his future glory bless mine eyes, My ravish'd eyes! how calmly would they close! was born to spread the general joy; By virtue rapt, by party uncontroll'd; Britons for Britain shall the crook employ ; Britons for Britain's glory shear the fold.' *** |