BOOK I .

What soil the Apple loves, what care is due
To Orchats, timeliest when to press the fruits,
Thy gift, Pomona! in Miltonian verse
Adventrous I presume to sing, of verse
Nor shrill'd nor studious; but my native soil
Invites me, and the theme, as yet unsung.
Ye Ariconian Knights and fairest Dames,
To whom propitious Heav'n these blessings grants,
Attend my lays! nor hence disdain to learn
How Nature's gifts may be improv'd by art.
And thou, O Mostyn! whose benevolence
And candour, oft experienc'd, me vouchsaf'd
To knit in friendship growing still with years,
Accept this pledge of gratitude and love:
May it a lasting monument remain
Of dear respect, that when this body frail
Is moulder'd into dust, and I become
As I had never been, late times may know —
I once was bless'd in such a matchless friend.
Whoe'er expects his labouring trees should bend
With fruitage, and a kindly harvest yield,
Be this his first concern, to find a track
Impervious to the winds, begirt with hills
That intercept the Hyperborean blasts
Tempestuous and cold Eurus' nipping force,
Noxious to feeble buds; but to the west
Let him free entrance grant; let Zephyrs bland
Administer their tepid genial airs:
Nought fear he from the west, whose gentle warmth
Discloses well the earth's all-teeming womb,
Invigorating tender seeds, whose breath
Nurtures the orange and the citron groves,
Hesperian fruits, and wafts their odours sweet
Wide through the air, and distant shores perfumes
Nor only do the hills exclude the winds,
But when the blackening clouds in sprinkling show'rs
Distil from the high summits down the rain
Runs trickling; with the fertile moisture cheer'd
The Orchats smile; joyous the farmers see
Their thriving plants, and bless the heavenly dew.
Next, let the planter with discretion meet
The force and genius of each soil explore,
To what adapted, what it shuns averse:
Without this necessary care in vain
He hopes an Apple vintage, and invokes
Pomona's aid in vain. The miry fields,
Rejoicing in rich mould, most ample fruit
Of beauteous form produce, pleasing to sight,
But to the tongue inelegant and flat.
So Nature has decreed; so oft we see
Men passing fair in outward lineaments,
Elaborate less inwardly exact.
Nor from the sable ground expect success,
Nor from cretaceous, stubborn and jejune;
The must of pallid hue declares the soil
Devoid of spirit: wretched he that quaffs
Such wheyish liquors! oft with colic pangs,
With pungent colic pangs, distrest he'll roar,
And toss, and turn, and curse the' unwholesome draught.
But, farmer, look where full-ear'd sheaves of rye
Grow wavy on the tilth; that soil select
For Apples; thence, thy industry shall gain
Tenfold reward; thy garners thence with store
Surcharg'd shall burst; thy press with purest juice
Shall flow, which in revolving years may try
Thy feeble feet and bind thy faltering tongue.
Such is the Kentchurch, such Dantzeyan ground,
Such thine, O learned Brome! and Capel such,
Willisian Burlton, much-lov'd Geers his Marsh,
And Sutton acres, drench'd with regal blood
Of Ethelbert, when to the' unhallow'd feast
Of Mercian Offa he invited came
To treat of spousals: long connubial joys
He promis'd to himself, allur'd by fair
Elfrida's beauty, but deluded died
In height of hopes — Oh hardest fate, to fall
By show of friendship and pretended love!
I nor advise nor reprehend the choice
Of Marcley-hill; the Apple no where finds
A kinder mould: yet 'tis unsafe to trust
Deceitful ground: who knows but that once more
This mount may journey, and his present site
Forsaking, to thy neighbour's bounds transfer
The goodly plants, affording matter strange
For law debates? if therefore thou incline
To deck this rise with fruits of various tastes,
Fail not by frequent vows to' implore success;
Thus piteous Heav'n may fix the wandering glebe.
But if (for Nature doth not share alike
Her gifts) an happy soil should be withheld,
If a penurious clay should be thy lot,
Or rough unwieldy earth, nor to the plough
Nor to the cattle kind, with sandy stones
And gravel o'erabounding, think it not
Beneath thy toil; the sturdy pear-tree here
Will rise luxuriant, and with toughest root
Pierce the obstructing grit and restive marl.
Thus nought is useless made; nor is there land
But what or of itself or else compell'd
Affords advantage. On the barren heath
The shepherd tends his flock, that daily crop
Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf
Sufficient; after them the cackling goose,
Close grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want.
What should I more? Ev'n on the cliffy height
Of Penmenmaur, and that cloud-piercing hill
Plinlimmon, from afar the traveller kens
Astonish'd, how the goats their shrubby browse
Gnaw pendent; nor untrembling canst thou see
How from a scraggy rock, whose prominence
Half overshades the ocean, hardy men,
Fearless of rending winds and dashing waves,
Cut samphire, to excite the squeamish guest
Of pamper'd luxury. Then let thy ground
Not lie unlabour'd; if the richest stem
Refuse to thrive, yet who would doubt to plant
Somewhat that may to human use redound,
And penury, the worst of ills, remove?
There are who fondly studious of increase
Rich foreign mould on their ill-natur'd land
Induce laborious, and with fattening muck
Besmear the roots in vain. The nursling grove
Seems fair a-while, cherish'd with foster earth,
But when the alien compost is exhaust,
Its native poverty again prevails.
Though this art fails despond not; little pains
In a due hour employ'd great profit yield.
The' industrious, when the sun in Leo rides
And darts his sultriest beams portending drought,
Forget not at the foot of every plant
To sink a circling trench, and daily pour
A just supply of alimental streams,
Exhausted sap recruiting; else false hopes
He cherishes, nor will his fruit expect
The' autumnal season, but in summer's pride,
When other Orchats smile, abortive fail.
Thus the great light of Heav'n, that in his course
Surveys and quickens all things, often proves
Noxious to planted fields, and often men
Perceive his influence dire; sweltering they run
To grots and caves, and the cool umbrage seek
Of woven arborets, and oft the rills
Still streaming fresh revisit, to allay
Thirst inextinguishable: but if the spring
Preceding should be destitute of rain,
Or blast septentrional with brushing wings
Sweep up the smoky mists and vapours damp,
Then woe to mortals! Titan then exerts
His heat intense, and on our vitals preys;
Then maladies of various kinds and names
Unknown, malignant fevers, and that foe
To blooming beauty, which imprints the face
Of fairest nymph, and checks our growing love,
Reign far and near; grim Death in different shapes
Depopulates the nations; thousands fall
His victims; youths and virgins in their flower
Reluctant die, and sighing leave their loves
Unfinish'd, by infectious Heaven destroy'd.
Such heats prevail'd when fair Eliza, last
Of Winchcomb's name, (next thee in blood and worth,
O fairest St. John!) left this toilsome world
In beauty's prime, and sadden'd all the year:
Nor could her virtues nor repeated vows
Of thousand lovers the relentless hand
Of Death arrest; she with the vulgar fell,
Only distinguish'd by this humble verse.
But if it please the sun's intemperate force
To know, attend; whilst I of ancient fame
The annals trace, and image to thy mind
How our forefathers, (luckless men!) ingulft
By the wide-yawning earth, to Stygian shades
Went quick, in one sad sepulchre enclos'd.
In elder days, ere yet the Roman bands
Victorious this our other world subdued,
A spacious city stood, with firmest walls
Sure mounded, and with numerous turrets crown'd,
Airial spires and citadels, the seat
Of kings and heroes resolute in war,
Fam'd Ariconium! uncontroll'd and free
Till all-subduing Latian arms prevail'd.
Then also, though to foreign yoke submiss,
She undemolish'd stood, and ev'n till now
Perhaps had stood, of ancient British art
A pleasing monument, not less admir'd
Than what from Attic or Etruscan hands
Arose, had not the heavenly powers averse
Decreed her final doom; for now the fields
Labour'd with thirst, Aquarius had not shed
His wonted showers, and Sirius parch'd with heat
Solstitial the green herb; hence 'gan relax
The ground's contexture; hence Tartarian dregs,
Sulphur and nitrous spume, enkindling fierce,
Bellow'd within their darksome caves, by far
More dismal than the loud disploded roar
Of brazen enginery, that ceaseless storm
The bastion of a well-built city, deem'd
Impregnable: the' infernal winds till now
Closely imprison'd, by Titanian warmth
Dilating, and with unctuous vapours fed,
Disdain'd their narrow cells, and their full strength
Collecting, from beneath the solid mass
Upheav'd, and all her castles rooted deep
Shook from their lowest seat; old Vaga's stream
Forc'd by the sudden shock her wonted track
Forsook, and drew her humid train aslope,
Crankling her banks: and now the lowering sky
And baleful lightning, and the thunder, voice
Of angry gods, that rattled solemn, dismay'd
The sinking hearts of men. Where should they turn
Distrest? whence seek for aid, when from below
Hell threatens, and ev'n Fate supreme gives signs
Of wrath and desolation? Vain were vows,
And plaints, and suppliant hands, to Heav'n erect:
Yet some to fanes repair'd, and humble rites
Perform'd to Thor and Woden, fabled gods,
Who with their votaries in one ruin shar'd,
Crush'd and o'erwhelm'd. Others in frantic mood
Run howling through the streets; their hideous yells
Rend the dark welkin; Horror stalks around,
Wild-staring, and his sad concomitant,
Despair, of abject look: at every gate
The thronging populace with hasty strides
Press furious, and too eager of escape
Obstruct the easy way; the rocking town
Supplants their footsteps; to and fro they reel
Astonish'd, as o'ercharg'd with wine; when lo!
The ground adust her riven mouth disparts,
Horrible chasm, profound! with swift descent
Old Ariconium sinks and all her tribes,
Heroes and senators, down to the realms
Of endless night. Meanwhile the loosen'd winds
Infuriate molten rocks and flaming globes
Hurl'd high above the clouds, till all their force
Consum'd her ravenous jaws the' earth satiate clos'd.
Thus this fair city fell, of which the name
Survives alone; nor is there found a mark
Whereby the curious passenger may learn
Her ample site save coins and mouldering urns,
And huge unwieldly bones, lasting remains
Of that gigantic race, which as he breaks
The clotted glebe the ploughman haply finds
Appall'd. Upon that treacherous track of land
She whilom stood; now Ceres in her prime
Smiles fertile, and with ruddiest freight bedeck'd
The Apple-tree by our forefathers' blood
Improv'd, that now recalls the devious Muse,
Urging her destin'd labours to pursue.
The prudent will observe what passions reign
In various plants (for not to man alone
But all the wide creation Nature gave
Love and aversion.) Everlasting hate
The vine to ivy bears, nor less abhors
The colewort's rankness, but with amorous twine
Clasps the tall elm. The Paestan rose unfolds
Her bud more lovely near the fetid leek,
(Crest of stout Britons) and enhances thence
The price of her celestial scent. The gourd
And thirsty cucumber when they perceive
The' approaching olive, with resentment fly
Her fatty fibres, and with tendrils creep
Diverse, detesting contact, whilst the fig
Contemns not rue nor sage's humble leaf
Close neighbouring. The' Herefordian plant
Caresses freely the contignous peach,
Hazel and weight-resisting palm, and likes
To' approach the quince, and the' elder's pithy stem,
Uneasy seated by funereal yew
Or walnut, (whose malignant touch impairs
All generous fruits) or near the bitter dews
Of cherries: therefore weigh the habits well
Of plants, how they associate best, nor let
Ill neighbourhood corrupt thy hopeful graffs.
Wouldst thou thy vats with generous juice should froth?
Respect thy Orchats: think not that the trees
Spontaneous will produce an wholesome draught.
Let art correct thy breed: from parent bough
A scion meetly sever; after, force
A way into the crabstock's closewrought grain
By wedges, and within the living wound
Enclose the foster twig: nor overnice
Refuse with thy own hands around to spread
The binding clay: erelong their differing veins
Unite, and kindly nourishment convey
To the new pupil: now he shoots his arms
With quickest growth; now shake the teeming trunk,
Down rain the' impurled balls, ambrosial fruit!
Whether the wilding's fibres are contriv'd
To draw the' earth's purest spirit, and resist
Its feculence, which in more porous stocks
Of Cider-plants finds passage free, or else
The native verjuice of the crab, deriv'd
Through the' infix'd graff, a grateful mixture forms
Of tart and sweet; whatever be the cause
This doubtful progeny, by nicest tastes
Expected, best acceptance finds, and pays
Largest revenues to the Orchat lord.
Some think the quince and Apple would combine
In happy union; others fitter deem
The sloe-stem, bearing silvan plums austere.
Who knows but both may thrive? howe'er, what loss
To try the powers of both, and search how far
Two different natures may concur to mix
In close embraces, and strange offspring bear?
Thou'lt find that plants will frequent changes try
Undamag'd, and their marriageable arms
Conjoin with others. So Silurian plants
Admit the peach's odoriferous globe,
And pears of sundry forms: at different times
Adopted plums will alien branches grace,
And men have gather'd from the hawthorn's branch
Large medlars, imitating regal crowns.
Nor is it hard to beautify each month
With files of party colour'd fruits, that please
The tongue and view at once. So Maro's Muse,
Thrice sacred Muse! commodious precepts gives
Instructive to the swains not wholly bent
On what is gainful. Sometimes she diverts
From solid counsels, shows the force of love
In savage beasts, how virgin face divine
Attracts the hapless youth through storms and waves,
Alone in deep of night; then she describes
The Scythian winter, nor disdains to sing
How under ground the rude Riphaean race
Mimic brisk Cider with the brake's product wild,
Sloes pounded, hips, and servis' harshest juice.
Let sage Experience teach thee all the arts
Of grafting and ineyeing, when to lop
The flowing branches, what trees answer best
From root or kernel: she will best the hours
Of harvest and seed time declare: by her
The different qualities of things were found
And secret motions, how with heavy bulk
Volatile Hermes, fluid and unmoist,
Mounts on the wings of air. To her we owe
The Indian weed unknown to ancient times,
Nature's choice gift, whose acrimonious fume
Extracts superfiuous juices, and refines
The blood distemper'd from its noxious salts;
Friend to the spirits, which with vapours bland
It gently mitigates; companion fit
Of pleasantry and wine; nor to the bards
Unfriendly, when they to the vocal shell
Warble melodious their well-labour'd songs.
She found the polish'd glass, whose small convex
Enlarges to ten millions of degrees
The mite, invisible else; of Nature's hand
Least animal, and shows what laws of life
The cheese inhabitants observe, and how
Fabric their mansions in the harden'd milk,
Wonderful artists! But the hidden ways
Of Nature wouldst thou know, how first she frames
All things in miniature? thy specular orb
Apply to well-dissected kernels: lo!
Strange forms arise, in each a little plant
Unfolds its boughs: observe the slender threads
Of first-beginning trees, their roots, their leaves,
In narrow seeds describ'd, thou'lt wondering say
An inmate Orchat every Apple boasts.
Thus all things by experience are display'd,
And most improv'd. Then sedulously think
To meliorate thy stock; no way nor rule
Be unassay'd; prevent the morning-star
Assiduous, nor with the western sun
Surcease to work. Lo! thoughtful of thy gain,
Not of my own, I all the livelong day
Consume in meditation deep, recluse
From human converse, nor at shut of eve
Enjoy repose, but oft at midnight lamp
Ply my brain-racking studies, if by chance
Thee I may counsel right, and oft this care
Disturbs me slumbering. Wilt thou then repine
To labour for thyself, and rather choose
To lie supinely, hoping Heaven will bless
Thy slighted fruits, and give thee bread unearn'd?
'Twill profit when the stork, sworn foe of snakes,
Returns to show compassion to thy plants
Fatigu'd with breeding. Let the arched knife
Well sharpen'd now assail the spreading shades
Of vegetables, and their thirsty limbs
Dissever; for the genial moisture due
To Apples, otherwise mispends itself
In barren twigs, and for the' expected crop
Nought but vain shoots and empty leaves abound
When swelling buds their odorous foliage shed,
And gently harden into fruit, the wise
Spare not the little offsprings if they grow
Redundant, but the thronging clusters thin
By kind avulsion, else the starveling brood,
Void of sufficient sustenance, will yield
A slender autumn, which the niggard soul
Too late shall weep, and curse his thrifty hand,
That would not timely ease the pondrous boughs.
It must conduces all the cares to know
Of gardening, how to scare nocturnal thieves,
And how the little race of birds, that hop
From spray to spray, scooping the costliest fruit
Insatiate, undisturb'd. Priapus' form
Avails but little; rather guard each row
With the false terrors of a breathless kite.
This done the timorous flock with swiftest wing
Scud through the air; their fancy represents
His mortal talons and his ravenous beak
Destructive; glad to shun his hostile gripe
They quit their thefts, and unfrequent the fields.
Besides, the filthy swine will oft invade
Thy firm enclosure, and with delving snout
The rooted forest undermine: forthwith
Halloo thy furious mastiff: bid him vex
The noxious herd, and print upon their ears
A sad memorial of their past offence.
The flagrant Procyon will not fail to bring
Large shoals of slow house-bearing snails that creep
O'er the ripe fruitage, paring slimy tracks
In the sleek rinds, and unprest Cider drink.
No art averts this pest; on thee it lies
With morning and with evening hand to rid
The preying reptiles; nor, if wise, wilt thou
Decline this labour, which itself rewards
With pleasing gain, whilst the warm limbec draws
Salubrious waters from the nocent brood.
Myriads of wasps now also clustering hang
And drain a spurious honey from thy groves,
Their winter food; though oft repuls'd again
They rally undismay'd: but fraud, with ease
Ensnares the noisome swarms: let every bough
Bear frequent vials, pregnant with the dregs
Of moyle or mum, or treacle's viscous juice;
They by the' alluring odour drawn, in haste
Fly to the dulcet cates, and crowding sip
Their palatable bane. Joyful thou'lt see
The clammy surface all o'erstrown with tribes
Of greedy insects, that with fruitless toil
Flap filmy pennons oft to extricate
Their feet, in liquid shackles bound, till death
Bereave them of their worthless souls. Such doom
Waits luxury, and lawless love of gain!
Howe'er thou may'st forbid eternal force,
Intestine evils will prevail. Damp airs
And rainy winters to the centre pierce
Of firmest fruits, and by unseen decay
The proper relish vitiate: then the grub,
Oft unobserv'd, invades the vital core;
Pernicious tenant! and her secret cave
Enlarges hourly, preying on the pulp
Ceaseless; meanwhile the Apple's outward form
Delectable the witless swain beguiles,
Till with a writhen mouth and spattering noise
He tastes the bitter morsel, and rejects
Disrelisht; not with less surprise than when
Embattled troops with flowing banners pass
Through flow'ry meads delighted, nor distrust
The smiling surface, whilst the cavern'd ground,
With grain incentive stor'd, by sudden blaze
Bursts fatal, and involves the hopes of war
In fiery whirls; full of victorious thoughts,
Torn and dismember'd they aloft expire.
Now turn thine eye to view Alcinous' groves,
The pride of the Phaeacian isle, from whence,
Sailing the spaces of the boundless deep,
To Ariconium precious fruits arriv'd,
The pippin, burnish'd o'er with gold; the moyle,
Of sweetest honey'd taste; the fair pearmain,
Temper'd like comeliest nymph with red and white,
Salopian acres flourish with a growth
Peculiar, styl'd the Ottley. Be thou first
This Apple to transplant: if to the name
Its merit answers, no where shalt thou find
A wine more priz'd or laudable of taste.
Nor does the eliot least deserve thy care,
Nor John-apple, whose wither'd rind entrencht
With many a furrow, aptly represents
Decrepit age, nor that from Harvey nam'd,
Quick-relishing. Why should we sing the thrift,
Codling, or pomeroy, or of pimpled coat
The russet, or the cat's-head's weighty orb,
Enormous in its growth, for various use
Though these are meet, though after full repast
Are oft requir'd, and crown the rich dessert?
What though the pear-tree rival not the worth
Of Ariconian products; yet her freight
Is not contemn'd, yet her wide branching arms
Best screen thy mansion from the fervent Dog,
Adverse to life. The wintry hurricanes
In vain employ their roar, her trunk unmov'd
Breaks the strong onset, and controls their rage;
Chiefly the Bosbury, whose large increase
Annual in sumptuous banquets claims applause;
Thrice acceptable beverage! could but art
Subdue the floating lee, Pomona's self
Would dread thy praise, and shun the dubious strife.
Be it thy choice when summer heats annoy
To sit beneath her leafy canopy,
Quaffing rich liquids; oh how sweet to' enjoy
At once her fruits and hospitable shade!
But how with equal numbers shall we match
The musk's surpassing worth, that earliest gives
Sure hopes of racy wine; and in its youth,
Its tender nonage, loads the spreading boughs
With large and juicy offspring, that defies
The vernal nippings and cold syd'ral blasts?
Yet let her to the redstreak yield, that once
Was of the silvan kind, unciviliz'd,
Of no regard, till Scudamore's skilful hand
Improv'd her, and by courtly discipline
Taught her the savage nature to forget,
Hence styl'd The Scudamorian-Plant; whose wine
Whoever tastes let him with grateful heart
Respect that ancient loyal house, and wish
The noble peer, that now transcends our hopes
In early worth, his country's justest pride,
Uninterrupted joy and health entire.
Let every tree in every garden own
The redstreak as supreme, whose pulpous fruit,
With gold irradiate and vermilion, shines
Tempting, not fatal; as the birth of that
Primeval interdicted plant, that won
Fond Eve, in hapless hour, to taste and die.
This, of more bounteous influence, inspires
Poetic raptures, and the lowly Muse
Kindles to loftier strains; ev'n I perceive
Her sacred virtue. See! the numbers flow
Easy, whilst cheer'd with her nectareous juice
Her's and my country's praises I exalt.
Hail Herefordian Plant! that dost disdain
All other fields: Heaven's sweetest blessing, hail!
Be thou the copious matter of my song,
And thy choice nectar, on which always waits
Laughter and sport, and care-beguiling wit,
And friendship, chief delight of human life.
What should we wish for more? or why in quest
Of foreign vintage, insincere and mixt,
Traverse the' extremest world? why tempt the rage
Of the rough ocean, when our native glebe
Imparts, from bounteous womb, annual recruits
Of wine delectable, that far surmounts
Gallic or Latin grapes, or those that see
The setting sun near Calpe's towering height?
Nor let the Rhodian nor the Lesbian vines
Vaunt their rich must, nor let tokay contend
For sovereignty: Phanaeus' self must bow
To the' Ariconian vales. And shall we doubt
To' improve our vegetable wealth, or let
The soil lie idle, which with fit manure
Will largest usury repay, alone
Empower'd to supply what Nature asks
Frugal, or what nice appetite requires?
The meadows here, with battening ooze enrich'd,
Give spirit to the grass; three cubits high
The jointed herbage shoots; the' unfallow'd glebe
Yearly o'ercomes the granaries with store
Of golden wheat, the strength of human life:
Lo! on auxiliary poles the hops
Ascending spiral, rang'd in meet array:
Lo! how the arable with barley-grain
Stands thick, o'ershadow'd, to the thirsty hind
Transporting prospect. These, as modern use
Ordains, infus'd, an auburn drink compose
Wholesome, of deathless fame. Here to the sight
Apples of price and plenteous sheaves of corn
Oft interlac'd occur, and both imbibe
Fitting congenial juice; so rich the soil,
So much does fructuous moister o'erabound!
Nor are the hills unamiable, whose tops
To Heaven aspire, affording prospect sweet
To human ken; nor at their feet the vales
Descending gently, where the lowing herd
Chew verdurous pasture; nor the yellow fields
Gaily interchang'd, with rich variety
Pleasing; as when an emerald green, enchas'd
In flamy gold, from the bright mass acquires
A nobler hue, more delicate to sight.
Next, add the silvan shades and silent groves,
(Haunt of the druids) whence the earth is fed
With copious fuel, whence the sturdy oak,
A prince's refuge once, the' eternal guard
Of England's throne, by sweating peasants fell'd,
Stems the vast main, and bears tremendous war
To distant nations, or with sovereign sway
Awes the divided world to peace and love.
Why should the Calybes or Bilboa boast
Their harden'd iron, when our mines produce
As perfect martial ore? Can Tmolus' head
Vie with our saffron odours? or the fleece
Baetic or finest Tarentine compare
With Lemster's silken wool? Where shall we find
Men more undaunted, for their country's weal
More prodigal of life? In ancient days
The Roman legions and great Caesar found
Our fathers no mean foes, and Cressy plains
And Agincourt, deep ting'd with blood, confess
What the Silures' vigour unwithstood
Could do in rigid fight; and chiefly what
Brydges' wide-wasting hand, first garter'd knight,
Puissant author of great Chandos' stem,
High Chandos! that transmits paternal worth,
Prudence, and ancient prowess, and renown,
To' his noble offspring. O thrice happy peer!
That blest with hoary vigour view'st thyself
Fresh blooming in thy generous son, whose lips
Flowing with nervous eloquence exact
Charm the wise senate, and attention win
In deepest councils. Ariconium pleas'd,
Him as her chosen worthy first salutes;
Him on the' Iberian, on the Gallic shore
Him hardy Britons bless'd; his faithful hand
Conveys new courage from afar, nor more
The general's conduct than his care avails.
Thee also, glorious branch of Cecil's line
This country claims; with pride and joy to thee
Thy Alterennis calls; yet she endures
Patient thy absence, since thy prudent choice
Has fix'd thee in the Muses' fairest seat
Where Aldrich reigns, and from his endless store
Of universal knowledge, still supplies
His noble care: he, generous thoughts instils
Of true nobility, their country's love,
(Chief end of life) and forms their ductile minds
To human virtues: by his genius led
Thou soon in every art pre-eminent
Shalt grace this isle, and rise to Burleigh's fame.
Hail highborn peer! and thou great nurse of arts
And men from whence conspicuous patriots spring,
Hanmer and Bromley! thou to whom with due
Respect, Wintonia bows, and joyful owns
Thy mitred offspring; be for ever blest
With like examples, and to future times
Proficuous, such a race of men produce
As in the cause of virtue tirm may fix
Her throne inviolate. Hear, ye gods! this vow
From one the meanest in her numerous train;
Though meanest, not least studious of her praise.
Muse! raise thy voice to Beaufort's spotless fame,
To Beaufort! in a long descent deriv'd
From royal ancestry, of kingly rights
Faithful asserters: in him centering meet
Their glorious virtues, high desert from pride
Disjoin'd, unshaken honour, and contempt
Of strong allurements. O illustrious prince!
O thou of ancient faith! exulting, thee
In her fair list this happy land enrols.
Who can refuse a tributary verse
To Weymouth, firmest friend of slighted worth
In evil days? whose hospitable gate,
Unbarr'd to all, invites a numerous train
Of daily guests, whose board with plenty crown'd
Revives the feast-rites old; meanwhile his care
Forgets not the afflicted, but content
In acts of secret goodness, shuns the praise
That sure attends. Permit me, bounteous lord!
To blazon what though hid will beauteous shine,
And with thy name to dignify my song.
But who is he that on the winding stream
Of Vaga first drew vital breath, and now
Approv'd in Anna's secret councils sits,
Weighing the sum of things, with wise forecast
Solicitous of public good? How large
His mind, that comprehends whate'er was known
To old or present time! yet not elate,
Not conscious of its skill. What praise deserves
His liberal hand that gathers but to give,
Preventing suit? O, not unthankful Muse,
Him lowly reverence that first deign'd to hear
Thy pipe, and skreen'd thee from opprobrious tongue;
Acknowledge thy own Harley, and his name
Inscribe on every bark; the wounded plants
Will fast increase, faster thy just respect.
Such are our heroes, by their virtues known,
Or skill in peace and war. Of softer mould
The female sex with sweet attractive airs
Subdue obdurate hearts. The travellers oft,
That view their matchless forms with transient glance,
Catch sudden love, and sigh for nymphs unknown,
Smit with the magic of their eyes. Nor hath
The daedal hand of Nature only pour'd
Her gifts of outward grace; their innocence
Unfeign'd, and virtue most engaging, free
From pride or artifice, long joys afford
To the' honest nuptial bed, and in the wane
Of life rebate the miseries of age.
And is there found a wretch so base of mind,
That woman's powerful beauty dares condemn,
Exactest work of Heaven? he ill deserves
Or love or pity; friendless let him see
Uneasy tedious days, despis'd, forlorn,
As stain of human race; but may the man,
That cheerfully recounts the female's praise,
Find equal love, and love's untainted sweets
Enjoy with honour! O ye gods! might I
Elect my fate, my happiest choice should be
A fair and modest virgin, that invites
With aspect chaste, forbidding loose desire,
Tenderly smiling, in whose heavenly eye
Sits purest Love enthron'd; but if the stars,
Malignant, these my better hopes oppose,
May I at least the sacred pleasures know
Of strictest amity, nor ever want
A friend, with whom I mutually may share
Gladness and anguish, by kind intercourse
Of speech and offices! may in my mind
Indelible, a grateful sense remain
Of favours undeserv'd! — O thou! from whom
Gladly both rich and low seek aid, most wise
Interpreter of right, whose gracious voice
Breathes equity, and curbs too rigid law
With mild impartial reason, what returns
Of thanks are due to thy beneficence,
Freely vouchsaf'd when to the gates of Death
I tended prone? If thy indulgent care
Had not preven'd, among unbodied shades
I now had wander'd, and these empty thoughts
Of Apples perish'd; but uprais'd by thee
I tune my pipe afresh, each night and day
Thy unexampled goodness to extol
Desirous: but nor night nor day suffice
For that great task; the highly-honour'd name
Of Trevor must employ my willing thoughts
Incessant, dwell for ever on my tongue.
Let me be grateful; but let far from me
Be fawning cringe, and false-dissembling look,
And servile flattery, that harbours oft
In courts and gilded roofs. Some loose the bands
Of ancient friendship, cancel Nature's laws,
For pageantry and tawdry gewgaws: some
Renounce their sires, oppose paternal right
For rule and power, and others' realms invade
With specious shows of love: this traitorous wretch
Betrays his sovereign. Others destitute
Of real zeal, to every altar bend,
By lucre sway'd, and act the basest things
To be stil'd Honourable. The honest man,
Simple of heart, prefers inglorious want
To ill-got wealth: rather from door to door
A jocund pilgrim, though distress'd, he'll rove,
Than break his plighted faith: nor fear nor hope
Will shock his stedfast soul: rather debarr'd
Each common privilege, cut off from hopes
Of meanest gain, of present goods despoil'd,
He'll bear the marks of infamy contemn'd,
Unpitied; yet his mind, of evil pure,
Supports him, and intention free from fraud.
If no retinue with observant eyes
Attend him, if he can't with purple stain
Of cumbrous vestments labour'd o'er with gold,
Dazzle the crowd and set them all agape,
Yet clad in homely weeds from Envy's darts
Remote he lives, nor knows the nightly pangs
Of conscience, nor of spectres' grisly forms,
Demons and injur'd souls, at close of day
Annoy'd, sad interrupted slumbers finds;
But (as a child whose inexperienc'd age
Nor evil purpose fears nor knows) enjoys
Night's sweet refreshment, humid sleep sincere.
When chanticleer with clarion shrill recals
The tardy day he to his labours hies
Gladsome, intent on somewhat that may ease
Unhealthy mortals, and with curious search
Examines all the properties of herbs,
Fossils, and minerals, that the' embowell'd earth
Displays, if by his industry he can
Benefit human race; or else his thoughts
Are exercis'd with speculations deep,
Of good, and just, and meet, and the' wholesome rules
Of temperance, and aught that may improve
The moral life; not sedulous to rail,
Nor with envenom'd tongue to blast the fame
Of harmless men, or secret whispers spread
'Mong faithful friends, to breed distrust and hate:
Studious of virtue, he no life observes
Except his own; his own employs his cares,
Large subject; that he labours to refine
Daily, nor of his little stock denies
Fit alms to lazars, merciful and meek.
Thus sacred Virgil liv'd, from courtly vice
And baits of pompous Rome secure, at court
Still thoughtful of the rural honest life,
And how to' improve his grounds, and how himself:
Best poet! fit exemplar for the tribe
Of Phaebus, nor less fit Maeonides,
Poor eyeless pilgrim! and if after these,
If after these another I may name,
Thus tender Spenser liv'd, with mean repast
Content, deprest by penury and pine
In foreign realm, yet not debas'd his verse
By Fortune's frowns. And had that other bard,
Oh! had but he, that first ennobled song
With holy rapture, like his Abdiel been,
'Mong many faithless strictly faithful found,
Unpitied he should not have wail'd his orbs,
That roll'd in vain, to find the piercing ray,
And found no dawn, by dim suffusion veil'd:
But he — However let the Muse abstain,
Nor blast his fame from whom she learnt to sing
In much inferior strains, groveling beneath
The' Olympian hill, on plains and vales intent,
Mean follower! There let her rest a while,
Pleas'd with the fragrant walks and cool retreat.