Pope's "Windsor Forest." THE SUBJECT STATED; GRANVILLE. — EDEN. — VARIETY OF And kings more furious and severe than they; WINDSOR FOREST. - OAKS. THY forests, Windsor! and thy green retreats, At once the monarch's and the muse's seats, Invite my lays. Be present, sylvan maids! Unlock your springs, and open all your shades. Granville commands; - your aid, O muses, bring!— What muse for Granville can refuse to sing! The groves of Eden, vanished now so long, And where, though all things differ, all agree. OLYMPUS; PAN; POMONA; FLORA; CERES; INDUSTRY; PEACE PLENTY; THE STUART. Not proud Olympus yields a nobler sight, Though gods assembled grace his towering height, Than what more humble mountains offer here, Where, in their blessings, all those gods appear. See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crowned; Here blushing Flora paints the enamelled ground; Here Ceres' gifts in waving prospect stand, And, nodding, tempt the joyful reaper's hand; Rich industry sits smiling on the plains, And peace and plenty tell, a Stuart reigns. WINDSOR FOREST UNDER THE SAVAGE WILLIAMS. Not thus the land appeared in ages past, Who claimed the skies, dispeopled air and floods, TYRANNY OF WILLIAM I.; HE DEPOPULATED THE COUNTRY TO What wonder, then, a beast or subject slain Were equal crimes in a despotic reign? Both, doomed alike, for sportive tyrants bled; But while the subject starved, the beast was fed. Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase began; A mighty hunter, and his prey was man : Our haughty Norman boasts that barbarous name, And makes his trembling slaves the royal game. The fields are ravished from the industrious swains; From men their cities, and from gods their fanes : 1 The levelled towns with weeds lie covered o'er; The hollow winds through naked temples roar; Round broken columns clasping ivy twined; O'er heaps of ruins stalked the stately hind; The fox obscene to gaping tombs retires; And savage howlings fill the sacred quires. Awed by his nobles, by his commons curst, The oppressor ruled tyrannic where he durst; Stretched o'er the poor and church his iron rod, And served alike his vassals and his God. Whom even the Saxon spared, and bloody Dane, The wanton victims of his sport remain. But see, the man who spacious regions gave A waste for beasts, himself denied a grave! Stretched on the lawn, his second hope survey, At once the chaser, and at once the prey : Lo! Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart, Bleeds in the forest, like a wounded hart. GRADUAL CULTIVATION. LIBERTY. Succeeding monarchs heard the subjects' cries, Nor saw displeased the peaceful cottage rise. Then gathering flocks on unknown mountains fed; O'er sandy wilds were yellow harvests spread; 1 William the Conqueror, though he had sixty-eight royal forests, laid waste a vast tract in Hampshire, filled with villages and churches, for the New Forest. Windsor Forest was a part of this. His sons Richard and Rufus were killed there while hunting. The forests wondered at the unusual grain, SNARING PARTRIDGES; SOLDIERS; PHEASANT. Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your And purer spirits swell the sprightly flood, [blood, Now range the hills, the gameful woods beset, Wind the shrill horn, or spread the waving net When milder Autumn Summer's heat succeeds, And in the new-shorn field the partridge feeds, Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds, Panting with hope, he tries the furrowed grounds; But when the tainted gales the game betray, Couched close he lies, and meditates the prey: Secure, they trust the unfaithful field beset, Till, hovering o'er 'em, sweeps the swelling net. Thus (if small things we may with great compare) When Albion sends her eager sons to war, Some thoughtless town, with ease and plenty blest, Near and more near the closing lines invest; Sudden they seize the amazed, defenceless prize, And high in air Britannia's standard flies. See! from the brake the whirring pheasant springs, And mounts, exulting, on triumphant wings: Short is his joy; he feels the fiery wound, Flutters in blood, and panting beats the ground. Ah! what avails his glossy varying dyes, His purple crest, and scarlet circled eyes! The vivid green his shining plumes unfold, His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold! HUNTING THE HARE IN WINDSOR FOREST. THE FOWLER AND HIS GUN. Nor yet, when moist Arcturus clouds the sky, The woods and fields their pleasing toils deny. To plains with well-breathed beagles we repair, And trace the mazes of the circling hareBeasts, urged by us, their fellow-beasts pursue, And learn of man each other to undo:With slaughtering guns the unwearied fowler roves, When frosts have whitened all the naked groves, Where doves in flocks the leafless trees o'ershade, And lonely woodcocks haunt the watery glade. He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye; Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky: Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath, The clamorous lapwings feel the leaden death: Oft, as the mounting larks their notes prepare, They fall, and leave their little lives in air. WINDSOR FOREST IN SPRING. ANGLING. In genial Spring, beneath the quivering shade, Where cooling vapors breathe along the mead, The patient fisher takes his silent stand, Intent, his angle trembling in his hand : With looks unmoved, he hopes the scaly breed, And eyes the dancing cork and bending reed. Our plenteous streams a various race supply, The bright-eyed perch, with fins of Tyrian dye, The silver eel, in shining volumes rolled, STAG-HUNTING IN WINDSOR FOREST.QUEEN ANSE. Now Cancer glows with Phoebus' fiery car: The youth rush eager to the sylvan war, Swarm o'er the lawns, the forest walks surround, Rouse the fleet hart, and cheer the opening hound. The impatient courser pants in every vein, And, pawing, seems to beat the distant plain : Hills, vales, and floods appear already crossed, And, ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost. See the bold youth strain up the threatening steep, Rush through the thickets, down the valleys sweep. Hang o'er their coursers' heads with eager speed; And earth rolls back beneath the flying steed. Let old Arcadia boast her ample plain, The immortal huntress, and her virgin-train ; Nor envy, Windsor, since thy shades have seen As bright a goddess, and as chaste a queen : Whose care, like hers, protects the sylvan reign; The earth's fair light, and empress of the main. DIANA IN WINDSOR FOREST; THE NYMPH LODONA AND GOD PAN. Here too, 't is sung, of old Diana strayed, And Cynthus' top forsook for Windsor shade; Here was she seen o'er airy wastes to rove, Seek the clear spring, or haunt the pathless grove; Here, armed with silver bows, in early dawn, Her buskined virgins traced the dewy lawn. Above the rest a rural nymph was famed, The Muse shall sing, and what she sings shall last. PURSUIT OF PAN; LODONA CHANGED INTO A COLD STREAM. PRAISE OF THE RIVER THAMES. Thou, too, great father of the British floods! Not Neptune's self from all her streams receives THE BRITISH COURT.- RURAL COMPETENCE, STUDY AND QUIET. - THE HERBALIST, ASTRONOMER, SCHOLAR, SAGE. Happy the man whom this bright court approves, His sovereign favors, and his country loves: Happy next him, who to these shades retires, Whom Nature charms, and whom the Muse inspires: Whom humble joys of home-felt quiet please, Successive study, exercise, and ease. He gathers health from herbs the forest yields, And of their fragrant physic spoils the fields: With chemic art exalts the mineral powers, And draws the aromatic souls of flowers: Now marks the course of rolling orbs on high, O'er figured worlds now travels with his eye; Of ancient writ unlocks the learned store, Consults the dead, and lives past ages o'er : Or wandering thoughtful in the silent wood, Attends the duties of the wise and good, RURAL SCENES; COOPER'S HILL. — DENHAM. — COWLEY. Ye sacred Nine! that all my soul possess, Whose raptures fire me, and whose visions bless, Bear me, O bear me to sequestered scenes, The bowery mazes, and surrounding greens; To Thames's banks which fragrant breezes fill, Or where ye, Muses, sport on Cooper's Hill. On Cooper's Hill eternal wreaths shall grow, While lasts the mountain, or while Thames shall I seem through consecrated walks to rove, [flow. I hear soft music die along the grove: Led by the sound, I roam from shade to shade, Here his first lays majestic Denham sung; There the last numbers flowed from Cowley's tongue. Since fate relentless stopped their heavenly voice, TRIBUTE TO GRANVILLE AND SURREY. But, hark! the groves rejoice, the forest rings! Are these revived? or is it Granville sings? "T is yours, my lord, to bless our soft retreats, And call the Muses to their ancient seats; To paint anew the flowery sylvan scenes, To crown the forests with immortal greens, Make Windsor hills in lofty numbers rise, And lift her turrets nearer to the skies; To sing those honors you deserve to wear, And add new lustre to her silver star. With Edward's acts adorn the shining page, Still in thy song should vanquished France appear, Let softer strains ill-fated Henry mourn, And palms eternal flourish round his urn. She saw her sons with purple deaths expire, At length great Anna said, 'Let discord cease!' THE GLORIES Of queen anne'S REIGN. THAMES, ITS RIVERS ; In that blest moment, from his oozy bed, Old father Thames advanced his reverend head; His tresses dropped with dews, and o'er the stream His shining horns diffused a golden gleam : Graved on his urn appeared the moon, that guides His swelling waters and alternate tides; The figured streams in waves of silver rolled, And on her banks Augusta rose in gold; Around his throne the sea-born brothers stood, Who swelled with tributary urns his flood! First, the famed authors of his ancient name, The winding Isis and the fruitful Thame : The Kennet swift, for silver eels renowned; The Loddon slow, with verdant alders crowned; Cole, whose dark streams his flowery islands lave ; And chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave: The blue, transparent Vandalis appears; The gulfy Lee his sedgy tresses rears; And sullen Mole that hides his diving flood; And silent Darent, stained with Danish blood. High in the midst, upon his urn reclined His sea-green mantle waving with the windThe god appeared he turned his azure eyes Where Windsor domes and pompous turrets rise! Then bowed, and spoke; the winds forgot to roar, And the hushed waves glide softly to the shore. SPEECH OF FATHER THAMES; APOSTROPHE TO FEACE; BRITISH WARS; LONDON AND ITS BUILDINGS; THE ARTS. Hail, sacred Peace! hail, long-expected days, That Thames's glory to the stars shall raise! Though Tiber's streams immortal Rome behold, Though foaming Hermus swells with tides of gold, From heaven itself though seven-fold Nilus flows, WINDSOR-FOREST OAKS; SHIP-BUILDING; TRIUMPHS OF BRIT- Thy trees, fair Windsor! now shall leave their And half thy forests rush into the floods, The pearly shell its lucid globe infold, O stretch thy reign, fair Peace! from shore to shore, Till conquest cease, and slavery be no more! Till the freed Indians in their native groves THE POET'S MODEST CLAIMS. Here cease thy flight, nor with unhallowed lays Touch the fair fame of Albion's golden days: Tusser's "August's Husbandry.' ** THRY fallow1 once ended, go strike by and by Good huswives in summer will save their own seeds, Though parson neglecteth his duty for this, 1 After thry-fallowing (third ploughing) it is best to harrow (strike) the land, to root up weeds, before manure (compas), which would nourish them, is applied. 2 Ferns, or brakes, constitute a light firing, in Norfolk, England; if cut early, the tender grass is allowed to spring up for additional feed. 3 July 22 and Aug. 15. 4 Soller is an upper room. The mowing of barley, if barley do stand, Corn carried, let such as be poor go and glean, In harvest-time, harvest-folks, servants and all, Once ended thy harvest, let none be beguiled, child; Thus doing, with alway such help as they can, 1 Corn in England means small grain, particularly wheat; in Scotland, oats; in the United States, maize. |