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III.

Thefe feats our fires, a hardy kind,
To the fierce fons of war confin'd,
The flower of chivalry, who drew
With finew'd arm the ftubborn yew:
Or with heav'd pole-ax clear'd the field;
Or who, in jufts and tourneys skill'd,
Before their ladies' eyes renown'd,
Threw horfe and horfeman to the ground.

IV.

In after-times, as courts refin'd,
Our patriots in the lift were join'd.
Not only Warwick ftain'd with blood,
Or Marlborough near the Danube's flood,
Have in their crimson croffes glow'd;
But, on juft lawgivers beftow'd,

'Thefe emblems Cecil did invest,

And gleam'd on wife Godolphin's breast.

V.

So Greece, ere arts began to rife,
Fix'd huge Orion in the fkies,
And ftern Alcides, fam'd in wars,
Befpangled with a thousand stars;
Till letter'd Athens round the pole
Made gentler conftellations roll;
In the blue heavens the Lyre the ftrung,
And near the Maid the * Balance hung.

*Names of Conftellations.

VI. Then,

VI.

Then, Spencer, mount amid the band,
Where knights and kings promiscuous stand.
What though the hero's flame reprefs'd
Burns calmly in thy generous breaft!
Yet who more dauntless to oppose
In doubtful days our home-bred foes !
Who rais'd his country's wealth fo high,
Or view'd with lefs defiring eye!

VII.

The fage who large of foul furveys
The globe, and all its empires weighs,
Watchful the various climes to guide,
Which feas, and tongues, and faiths divide,
A nobler name in Windfor's fhrine

Shall leave, if right the Muse divine,
Than fprung of old, abhorr'd and vain,
From ravag'd realms and myriads flain.
VIII.

Why praife we, prodigal of fame,
The rage that fets the world on flame?
My guiltless Mufe his brow fhall bind
Whofe godlike bounty fpares mankind.
For thofe, whom bloody garlands crown,
The brafs may breathe, the marble frown,
To him, through every refcued land,
Ten thousand living trophies ftand.

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'Midft greens and sweets, a regal fabric, stands,
And fees each spring, luxuriant in her bowers,
A fnow of bloffoms, and a wild of flowers,
The dames of Britain oft in crowds repair
To gravel walks, and unpolluted air.

Here, while the town in damps and darkness lies,
They breathe in fun-fhine, and see azure skies;
Each walk, with robes of various dyes bespread,
Seems from afar a moving tulip-bed,
Where rich brocades and gloffy damasks glow,
And chints, the rival of the fhowery bow.

Here England's daughter, darling of the land,
Sometimes, furrounded with her virgin band,
Gleams through the fhades. She, towering o'er the reft,
Stands fairest of the fairer kind confest,

Form'd to gain hearts, that Brunfwick's caufe deny'd,
And charm a people to her father's fide.

Long have thefe groves to royal guests been known,
Nor Naffau first prefer'd them to a throne.
Ere Norman banners wav'd in British air;
Ere lordly Hubba with the golden hair
Pour'd in his Danes; ere elder Julius came;
Or Dardan Brutus gave our ifle a name;
A prince of Albion's lineage grac'd the wood,
The fcene of wars, and ftain'd with lovers' blood.

You,

You, who through gazing crowds, your captive throng, Throw pangs and paffions, as you move along,

Turn on the left, ye fair, your radiant

Where all unlevel'd the gay garden lies:

If generous anguish for another's pains

eyes,

Ere heav'd your hearts, or fhiver'd through your veins, Look down attentive on the pleafing dale,

And listen to my melancholy tale.

That hollow fpace, where now in living rows
Line above line the yew's fad verdure grows,
Was, ere the planter's hand its beauty gave,
A common pit, a rude unfashion'd cave.
The landkip now fo fweet we well may praise :
But far, far sweeter in its antient days,

Far fweeter was it, when its peopled ground

With fairy domes and dazzling towers was crown'd.
Where in the midst those verdant pillars fpring,
Rofe the proud palace of the Elfin king;
For every hedge of vegetable green,

In happier years a crowded street was seen ;
Nor all thofe leaves that now the profpect grace,
Could match the numbers of its pygmy race.
What urg'd this mighty empire to its fate,
A tale of woe and wonder, I relate.

When Albion rul'd the land, whofe lineage came
From Neptune mingling with a mortal dame,
Their midnight pranks the fprightly fairies play'd
On every hill, and danc'd in every shade.
But, foes to fun-fhine, moft they took delight
In dells and dales conceal'd from human fight:

There

There hew'd their houses in the arching rock;
Or fcoop'd the bofom of the blasted oak;
Or heard, o'ershadow'd by some shelving hill,
The diftant murmurs of the falling rill.

They, rich in pilfer'd spoils, indulg'd their mirth,
And pity'd the huge wretched fons of earth.
Ev'n now, 'tis faid, the hinds o'erhear their strain,
And strive to view their airy forms in vain :
They to their cells at man's approach repair,
Like the fhy leveret, or the mother-hare,
The whilft poor mortals startle at the found
Of unseen footsteps on the haunted ground.
Amid this garden, then with woods o'ergrown,
Stood the lov'd feat of royal Oberon.
From every region to his palace-gate
Came peers and princes of the fairy state,
Who, rank'd in council round the facred fhade,
Their monarch's will and great behefts obey'd.
From Thames' fair banks, by lofty towers adorn'd,
With loads of plunder oft his chiefs return'd:
Hence in proud robes, and colours bright and gay,
Shone every knight and every lovely fay,
Whoe'er on Powell's dazzling ftage difplay'd,
Hath fam'd king Pepin and his court survey'd,
May guess, if old by modern things we trace,
The pomp and fplendor of the fairy-race.

By magic fenc'd, by fpells encompass'd round,
No mortal touch'd this interdicted ground;
No mortal enter'd, thofe alone who came
Stol'n from the couch of fome terreftrial dame :

For

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