Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Where now the fkies high Holland-House invades,
And fhort-liv'd Warwick fadden'd all the fhades,
Thy dwelling flood: nor did in him afford
A nobler owner, or a lovelier lord.

For thee a hundred fields produc'd their store,
And by thy name ten thousand vaffals swore;
So lov'd thy name, that, at their monarch's choice,
All fairy shouted with a general voice.

Oriel alone a fecret rage supprest,

That from his bofom heav'd the golden veft.
Along the banks of Thame his empire ran,
Wide was his range, and populous his clan.
When cleanly fervants, if we truft old tales,
Befide their wages had good fairy vails,

Whole heaps of filver tokens, nightly paid
The careful wife, or the neat dairy-maid,

Sunk not his ftores. With fimiles and powerful bribes
He gain'd the leaders of his neighbour tribes,
And ere the night the face of heaven had chang`d,
Beneath his banners half the fairies rang'd.

Mean-while, driven back to earth, a lonely way The chearless Albion wander'd half the day,

A long, long journey, choak'd with brakes and thorns
Ill-meafur'd by ten thousand barley-corns.

Tir'd out at length, a spreading ftream he spy'd
Fed by old Thame, a daughter of the tide :

Twas then a fpreading ftream, though now, its fame
Obfcur'd, it bears the Creek's inglorious name,
And creeps, as through contracted bounds it strays,
A leap for boys in thefe degenerate days.

On

On the clear crystal's verdant bank he stood, And thrice look'd backward on the fatal wood,

And thrice he groan'd, and thrice he beat his breast, And thus in tears his kindred gods addrest.

If true, ye watery powers, my lineage came From Neptune mingling with a mortal dame;

⚫ Down to his court, with coral garlands crown'd,

[ocr errors]

Through all your grottoes waft my plaintive found, And urge the god, whofe trident shakes the earth, To grace his offspring, and affert my birth.' He faid. A gentle Naiad heard his prayer, And, touch'd with pity for a lover's care, Shoots to the fea, where low beneath the tides Old Neptune in th' unfathom'd deep refides. Rouz'd at the news, the fea's ftern fultan fwore Revenge, and scarce from present arms forbore : But firft the nymph his harbinger he fends,

And to her care the favourite boy commends.

As through the Thames her backward course the guides, Driv'n up his current by the refluent tides, Along his banks the pygmy legions spread She spies, and haughty Oriel at their head. Soon with wrong'd Albion's name the host she fires, And counts the ocean's god among his fires; The ocean's god, by whom shall be o'erthrown, (Styx heard his oath) the tyrant Oberon. • See here beneath a toadstool's deadly gloom Lies Albion: him the fates your leader doom. Hear, and obey; 'tis Neptune's powerful call, By him Azuriel and his king shall fall.' P

She

:

She faid. They bow'd and on their fhields up-bore With fhouts their new faluted emperor.

Ev'n Oriel fmil'd: at leaft to fimile he ftrove,
And hopes of vengeance triumph'd over love,
See now the mourner of the lonely shade
By gods protected, and by hofts obey'd,
A flave, a chief, by fickle fortune's play,
In the fhort courfe of one revolving day.
What wonder if the youth, fo ftrangely bleft,
Felt his heart flutter in his little breaft!
His thick embattled troops, with fecret pride,
He views extended half an acre wide;

More light he treads, more tall he feems to rife,
And fruts a ftraw-breadth nearer to the skies.

O for thy Mufe, great Bard*, whofe lofty strains
In battle join'd the Pygmies and the Cranes !
Each gaudy knight, had I that warmth divine,
Each colour'd legion in my verfe should shine.
But fimple I, and innocent of art,
The tale, that footh'd my infant years, impart,
The tale I heard whole winter-eves, untir'd,
And fing the battles, that my nurse inspir'd.

Now the fhrill corn-pipes, echoing loud to arms, To rank and file reduce the ftraggling fwarms. Thick rows of fpears at once, with fudden glare, A grove of needles, glitter in the air; Loofe in the winds fmall ribbon ftreamers flow, Dipt in all colours of the heavenly-bow, And the gay hoft, that now its march pursues, Gleams o'er the meadows in a thoufand hues.

*Mr. Addifon..

On

:

On Buda's plains thus formidably bright, Shone Afia's fons, a pleasing dreadful fight. In various robes their filken troops were feen, The blue, the red, and prophet's facred green When blooming Brunfwick, near the Danube's flood, Firft ftain'd his maiden fword in Turkish blood. Unfeen and filent march the flow brigades Through pathlefs wilds, and unfrequented fhades. In hope already vanquish'd by furprize, In Albion's power the fairy empire lies; Already has he feiz'd on Kenna's charms, And the glad beauty trembles in his arms.

The march concludes: and now in profpect near, But fenc'd with arms, the hoftile towers appear. For Oberon, or Druids falfely fing,

Wore his prime vifier in a magic ring,

A fubtle spright, that opening plots foretold
By fudden dimnefs on the beamy gold.
Hence, in a crefcent form'd, his legions bright
With beating bofoms waited for the fight;

To charge their foes they march, a glittering band,
And in their van doth bold Azuriel ftand.

What rage that hour did Albion's foul poffefs,
Let chiefs imagine, and let lovers guefs!
Forth iffuing from his ranks, that ftrove in vain
To check his course, athwart the dreadful plain
He ftrides indignant and with haughty cries
To fingle fight the fairy prince defies.

Forbear! rafh youth, th' unequal war to try ;:
Nor, fprung from mortals, with immortals vie.

No god ftands ready to avert thy doom,

Nor yet thy grandfire of the waves is come.
My words are vain-no words the wretch can move,
By beauty dazzled, and bewitch'd by love :
He longs, he burns, to win the glorious prize,
And fees no danger, while he fees her eyes.
Now from each hoft the eager warriors start,
And furious Albion flings his hafty dart.
'Twas feather'd from the bee's tranfparent wing,
And its fhaft ended in a hornet's fting;
But, toft in rage, it flew without a wound,
High o'er the foe, and guiltless pierc'd the ground.
Not fo Azuriel's: with unerring aim,

Too near the needle-pointed javelin came,

Drove through the feven-fold fhield, and filken veft,
And lightly ras'd the lover's ivory breast.
Rouz'd at the smart, and rifing to the blow,
With his keen fword he cleaves his fairy foe,
Sheer from the fhoulder to the wafte he cleaves,
And of one arm the tottering trunk bereaves.

His ufelefs fteel brave Albion wields no more,
But fternly fmiles, and thinks the combat o'er :
So had it been, had aught of mortal strain,
Or less than fairy, felt the deadly pain.
But empyreal forms, howe'er in fight
Gash'd and dismember'd, easily unite.
As fome frail cup of China's purest mold,
With azure varnish'd, and bedropt with gold,
Though broke, if cur'd by fome nice virgin's hands,
In its old ftrength and pristine beauty stands ;

The

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »