O, more than all in powerful genius blest,
Come, take thine empire o'er the willing breast!
Whate'er the wounds this youthful heart shall feel,
Thy songs support me, and thy morals heal!
There every thought the poet's warmth may raise,
There native music dwells in all the lays.

O might some verse with happiest skill persuade
Expressive Picture to adopt thine aid!

106

What wondrous draughts might rise from every page! What other Raphaels charm a distant age!

Methinks ev'n now I view some free design, Where breathing Nature lives in every line:

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 101. This passage originally stood thus;
O, blest in all that genius gives to charm,
Whose morals mend us, and whose passions warm!
Oft let my youth attend thy various page,
Where rich invention rules th' unbounded stage:
There every scene the poet's warmth may raise,
And melting music find the softest lays:
O might the Muse with equal ease persuade
Expressive Picture to adopt thine aid!
Some powerful Raphael should again appear,
And arts consenting fix their empire here.
Ver. 111. This passage originally stood thus;

Methinks ev'n now I view some fair design,
Where breathing Nature lives in every line;
Chaste and subdu'd, the modest colours lie,
In fair proportion to th' approving eye :
And see where Anthony lamenting stands,
In fixt distress, and spreads his pleading hands:
O'er the pale corse, etc.

110

115

Chaste and subdu'd the modest lights decay,
Steal into shades, and mildly melt away.
And see where Anthony, in tears approv'd,
Guards the pale relics of the chief he lov❜d:
O'er the cold corse the warrior seems to bend,
Deep sunk in grief, and mourns his murder'd friend!
Still as they press, he calls on all around,

Lifts the torn robe, and points the bleeding wound.

But who1is he, whose brows exalted bear

121

A wrath impatient, and a fiercer air?

Awake to all that injur'd worth can feel,

On his own Rome he turns th' avenging steel;

Yet shall not war's insatiate fury fall

125

(So heaven ordains it) on the destin❜d wall.

See the fond mother, 'midst the plaintive train,

Hung on his knees, and prostrate on the plain!

VARIATION.

Ver. 122. This passage originally stood thus ;
A rage impatient, and a fiercer air?

Ev'n now his thoughts with eager vengeance doom
The last sad ruin of ungrateful Rome.
Till, slow advancing o'er the tented plain,
In sable weeds, appear the kindred train:
The frantic mother leads their wild despair,
Beats her swoln breast, and rends her silver hair;
And see, he yields! the tears unbidden start,

And conscious nature claims th' unwilling heart!
O'er all the man, etc.

* See the tragedy of Julius Cæsar.

Coriolanus. See Mr. Spence's Dialogue on the Odyssey.

Touch'd to the soul, in vain he strives to hide
The son's affection, in the Roman's pride:
O'er all the man conflicting passions rise;
Rage grasps the sword, while Pity melts the

eyes.

130

Thus, generous Critic, as thy Bard inspires, The sister Arts shall nurse their drooping fires; Each from his scenes her stores alternate bring, 135 Blend the fair tints, or wake the vocal string: Those sibyl-leaves, the sport of every wind, (For poets ever were a careless kind,)

By thee dispos'd, no farther toil demand,
But, just to Nature, own thy forming hand.

140

So spread o'er Greece, th' harmonious whole un

known,

Ev'n Homer's numbers charm'd by parts alone.
Their own Ulysses scarce had wander'd more,
By winds and waters cast on every shore:

When, rais'd by fate, some former Hanmer join'd
Each beauteous image of the boundless mind; 146
And badé, like thee, his Athens ever claim

A fond alliance with the Poet's name.

Oxford, Dec. 3,

1743.

VARIATIONS.

Ver., 136. Originally,

Spread the fair tints, etc.

Ver. 146. Originally,

Each beauteous image of the tuneful mind;

DIRGE IN CYMBELINE,

SUNG BY GUIDERUS AND ARVIRAGUS OVER FIDELE,
SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD.

To fair Fidele's grassy tomb

Soft maids and village hinds shall bring

Each opening sweet of earliest bloom,

And rifle all the breathing spring.

No wailing ghost shall dare appear
To vex with shrieks this quiet grove;
But shepherd lads assemble here,
And melting virgins own their love.

No wither'd witch shall here be seen;
No goblins lead their nightly crew:
The female fays shall haunt the green,
And dress thy grave with pearly dew!

VARIATIONS.*

10

Ver. 1. The Gentleman's Magazine (see notes on this poem)

reads;

To fair Pastora's grassy tomb

Ver. 7. The G. M. has;

But shepherd swains assemble here,

Ver. 12. In the G. M. thus;

And dress thy bed with pearly dew!

The redbreast oft, at evening hours,

Shall kindly lend his little aid, With hoary moss, and gather'd flowers,

To deck the ground where thou art laid.

When howling winds and beating rain,

In tempests shake the sylvan cell;

15

Or 'midst the chase, on every plain,

The tender thought on thee shall dwell;

20

Each lonely scene shall thee restore ;

For thee the tear be duly shed; Belov'd till life can charm no more, And mourn'd till Pity's self be dead.

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 17. In the G. M. thus ;

When chiding winds, and beating rain,

In tempest shake the sylvan cell;

Or 'midst the flocks, etc.

Ver. 21. In the G. M. thus;

Each lovely scene shall thee restore;

Ver. 23. Dodsley, in his Coll. of Poems, and Dr. Johnson, in

his edition of Shakspeare, read;

Belov'd till life could charm no more.