Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

Now fleeping flocks on their foft fleeces lie,
The moon, ferene in glory, mounts the sky,
While filent birds forget their tuneful lays,

Oh fing of Daphne's fate, and Daphne's praise!

THYRS I S.

Behold the groves that shine with filver frost,
Their beauty wither'd, and their verdure loft.
Here fhall I try the fweet Alexis' ftrain,

That call'd the lift'ning Dryads to the plain?
Thames heard the numbers as he flow'd along,
And bade his willows learn the moving fong.

REMARKS.

[ocr errors][merged small]

Letters, dated Sept. 9, 1706. "Your laft Eclogue being on the fame fubject with mine, on Mrs. Tempeft's death, I should take it very kindly in you to give it a little turn, as if it were to the memory of the fame lady." Her death having happened on the night of the great ftorm in 1703, gave a propriety to this eclogue, which in its general turn alludes to it. The fcene of the Pastoral lies in a grove, the time at midnight.

P.

I do not find any lines that allude to the great form of which the Poet fpeaks.

VER. 9. fhine with filver froft,] The image is a fine one, but improperly placed. The idea he would raise is the deformity of Winter, as appears by the following line: but this imagery contradicts it. It fhould have been--glare with hoary froft, or fome fuch expreffion: the fame inaccuracy in ver. 31, where he ufes pearls, when he should have faid tears.

W.

The alteration here proposed by Warburton, feems to be very injudicious and inelegant; and much refembles an alteration he wifhed to make in Love's Labour Loft; which was, to read-to paint the meadows much bedight,

inftead of the prefent reading,

-to paint the meadows with delight.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 13. Thames heard, &c.]

"Audiit Eurotas, juffitque edifcere lauros." Virg.

P.

So

1

LYCIDA S.

So may kind rains their vital moisture yield, 15
And fwell the future harvest of the field.

Begin; this charge the dying Daphne gave,
And faid, "Ye fhepherds fing around my grave!"
Sing, while befide the fhaded tomb I mourn,

And with fresh bays her rural shrine adorn.

THYRS IS.

Ye gentle Mufes, leave your crystal spring,
Let Nymphs and Sylvans cypress garlands bring;
Ye weeping Loves, the stream with myrtles hide,

And break your bows, as when Adonis dy'd;

20

And with your golden darts, now useless grown, 25
Inscribe a verse on this relenting stone:

"Let nature change, let heav'n and earth deplore,
"Fair Daphne's dead, and love is now no more!"
'Tis done, and nature's various charms decay,
See gloomy clouds obfcure the chearful day!
Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear,

Their faded honours scatter'd on her bier.

VARIATIONS.

VER 29. Originally thus in the MS.

'Tis done, and nature's chang'd fince you are gone;
Behold the clouds have put their mourning on.

Which are very bad lines indeed.

REMARKS.

W.

30

VER. 29. 'Tis done,] Thomson uses these very words at the end of his Winter.

'Tis done! Sc.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 23, 24, 25.

"Inducite fontibus umbras

Et tumulum facite, et tumulo fuperaddite carmen.”

G 3

P.

See,

See, where on earth the flow'ry glories lie,

With her they flourish'd, and with her they die.
Ah what avail the beauties nature wore?
Fair Daphne's dead, and beauty is no more!

For her the flocks refuse their verdant food,
The thirsty heifers fhun the gliding flood,
The filver fwans her hapless fate bemoan,

In notes more fad than when they fing their own;
In hollow caves fweet echo filent lies,
Silent, or only to her name replies;

Her name with pleasure once she taught the shore,
Now Daphne's dead, and pleasure is no more!

35

41

No grateful dews descend from ev'ning skies, 45 Nor morning odours from the flow'rs arise; No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field, Nor fragrant herbs their native incense yield. The balmy Zephyrs, filent fince her death, Lament the ceafing of a sweeter breath; Th' industrious bees neglect their golden store! Fair Daphne's dead, and sweetness is no more!

50

No more the mounting larks, while Daphne fings, Shall lift'ning in mid-air fufpend their wings;

No more the birds fhall imitate her lays,

Or hush'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays: No more the streams their murmurs fhall forbear, A fweeter mufic than their own to hear,

REMARKS.

55

VER. 41. Sweet echo] This expreffion of sweet echo is taken from Comus; as is another expreffion, loofe traces, Third Paft. v. 62. And he recommends these poems in high terms to Sir W. Trumball (fee the Letters) fo early as the year 1704.

But

But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal fhore,
Fair Daphne's dead, and mufic is no more!

Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze,
And told in fighs to all the trembling trees;
The trembling trees, in ev'ry plain and wood,
Her fate remurmur to the filver flood;
The filver flood, fo lately calm, appears

бо

65

Swell'd with new paffion, and o'erflows with tears; The winds, and trees, and floods, her death deplore, Daphne, our grief! our glory now no more!

70

But fee! where Daphne wond'ring mounts on high Above the clouds, above the starry sky! Eternal beauties grace the fhining scene, Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green! There while you rest in Amaranthine bow'rs, Or from those meads select unfading flow'rs, Behold us kindly, who your name implore, Daphne, our Goddefs, and our grief no more!

REMARKS.

75

VER. 70. Above the clouds,] In Spenfer's November, and in Milton's Lycidas, is the fame beautiful change of circumstances: in the latter most exquifite, from line 165.

Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more

Where other groves and other ftreams along,

With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves,

And hears the inexpreffive nuptial fong
In the bleft kingdoms meek of joy and love.

VER. 69, 70.

IMITATIONS.

"miratur limen Olympi,

Sub pedibufque videt nubes et fydera Daphnis." Virg. P.

[blocks in formation]

LY CIDA S.

How all things liften, while thy Muse complains! Such filence waits on Philomela's ftrains,

In some still ev'ning, when the whisp'ring breeze
Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees.
To thee, bright goddess, oft a lamb shall bleed,
If teeming ewes increase my fleecy breed.

80

While plants their fhade, or flow'rs their odours give, Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise fhall live!

THYRS I S.

But fee, Orion fheds unwholefome dews;

Arife, the pines a noxious fhade diffuse;

Sharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels decay,
Time conquers all, and we must Time obey.

VARIATIONS,

VER. 83. Originally thus in the MS.

While vapours rife, and driving fnows defcend,
Thy honour, name, and praife, fhall never end.

REMARKS.

85

VER. 85. unwholefome dews;] Obferve how the melody of those four verfes is improved, by the pure iambic foot at the end of each line, except the fecond,

unwholefomě dēws

děcay

ŏbey,

VER. 87.] If, according to fome critics, pleafing images alone are proper to be exhibited in paftoral poetry, it must be unfuitable, to the intent of this fort of poetry, to lay the scene in the feverities of winter.

VER. 81,

IMITATIONS.

❝ illius aram

VER. 86.

Saepe tener noftris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. Virg." P.

"folet effe gravis cantantibus umbra,

Juniperi gravis umbra." Virg.

P.

VER. 88. Time conquers all, &c.]

"Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori."

Vid. etiam Sannazarii Ecl. et Spenfer's Calendar,

Adieu,

« AnteriorContinuar »