The journeying peafant, thro' the fecret fade,Ợ Heard their foft lyres engage his lift'ning ear; c. £ And haply deem'd fome courteous angel play'd; 3 No angel play'd-but might with transport hear.

For these the founds that chase unholy trife!

Solve envy's charm, ambition's wretch release!
Raife him to fpurn the radiant ills of life o
To pity pomp, to be content with peace.

Farewel, pure fpirits! vain the praise we give,
The praise you fought from lips angelic flows;
Farewel! the virtues which deferve to live,

Deserve an ampler bliss than life bestows.

Laft of his race, PALEMON, now no more!!
The modest merit of his line display'd;
Then pious HOUGH VIGORNIA'S mitre wore
Soft fleep the duft of each deferving fhade.

3 T

ELE GY XVI.

He fuggefts the advantages of birth to a perfon of merit, and the folly of a fuperci. liousness that is built upon that fole foundation.

HEN genius grac'd with lineal fplendor glows, When title fhines with ambient virtues crown'd, Like fome fair almond's flow'ry pomp it fhews; The pride, the perfume of the regions round.

Then learn, ye fair! to foften fplendor's ray;

Endure the fwain, the youth of low degree; Let meeknefs join'd its temperate beam difplay; 'Tis the mild verdure that endears the tree.

Pity the fandal'd fwain, the fhepherd's boy;
He fighs to brighten a neglected name;
Foe to the dull appulfe of vulgar joy,

He mourns his lot; he wifhes, merits fame.

In vain to groves and pathless vales we fly';
Ambition there the bow'ry haunt invades ;
Fame's awful rays fatigue the courtier's eye,
But gleam ftill lovely thro' the che quer'd fhades.

Vainly, to guard from love's unequal chain,
Has fortune rear'd us in the rural grove;
Shou'd ****

's eyes illume the desart plain, Ev'n I may wonder, and ev'n I must love.

Nor unregarded fighs the lowly hind;

Tho' you contemn, the gods refpect his vow; Vindictive rage awaits the scornful mind,

And vengeance, too fevere! the gods allow.

On SARUM's plain I met a wand'ring fair;

The look of forrow, lovely ftill the bore: Loofe flow'd the foft redundance of her hair,

And, on her brow, a flow'ry wreath she wore.

Oft stooping as she stray'd, she cull'd the pride
Of ev'ry plain; fhe pillag'd ev'ry grove!
The fading chaplet daily she supply'd,

And ftill her hand fome various garland wove.

Erroneous fancy fhap'd her wild attire;

From BETHLEM's walls the poor lymphatic ftray'd; Seem'd with her air her accent to confpire,

When, as wild fancy taught her, thus fhe faid:

"Hear me, dear youth! oh hear an hapless maid, Sprung from the scepter'd line of ancient kings! Scorn'd by the world, I afk thy tender aid;

Thy gentle voice fhall whisper kinder things.

The

The world is frantic-fly the race profane→
Nor I, nor you, fhall its compaffion move;
Come friendly let us wander, and complain,
And tell me, thepherd! haft thou seen my love?

My love is young-but other loves are young;
An other loves are fair, and fo is mine;
An air divine discloses whence he sprung;
He is my love, who boasts that air divine.

No vulgar DAMON robs me of my reft,
IANTHE liftens to no vulgar vow;

A prince, from gods defcended, fires her breast;
A brilliant crown distinguishes his brow.

What, fhall I ftain the glories of my race?
More clear, more lovely bright than HESPER's beam ?
The porc'lain pure with vulgar dirt debafe?
Or mix with puddle the pellucid ftream ?

See thro' these veins the saphire current shine!
"Twas Jove's own nectar gave th' etherial hue :
Can base plebeian forms contend with mine!
Difplay the lovely white, or match the blue ?

The painter ftrove to trace its azure ray ;

He chang'd his colours, and in vain he strove;
He frown'd-I fmiling view'd the faint essay;
Poor youth! he little knew it flow'd from Jove.

E 3

Pitying

Pitying his toil, the wond'rous truth I told;

How am'rous Jove trepann'd a mortal fair; How thro' the race the generous current roll'd, And mocks the poet's art, and painter's care.

Yes, from the gods, from earlift Saturn, fprung
Our facred race; thro' demigods, convey'd ;
And he, ally'd to PHOEBUS, ever young,

My god-like boy, muft wed their duteous maid.

Oft, when a mortal vow profanes my ear,

My fire's dread fury murmurs thro' the sky; And thou'd I yield-his instant rage appears, He darts th' uplifted vengeance-and I die.

Have you not heard unwonted thunders roll!
Have you not feen more horrid light'nings glare!
'Twas then a vulgar love enfnar'd my foul:
"Twas then-I hardly fcap'd the fatal fnare.

Twas then a peafant pour'd his amorous vow,
All as I listen'd to his vulgar strain ;-
Yet fuch his beauty-wou'd my birth allow,
Dear were the youth, and blissful were the plain,

But oh! I faint! why waftes my vernal bloom,
In fruitless fearches ever doom'd to rove?
My nightly dreams the toilfome path refume,
And I fhall die-before I find my love.

When