ROACH'S BEAUTIES OF THE POETS N*XXII
WINDSOR FOREST. by Mex. Pope Esq.
Select Extracts from Leonidas. by Glover. ECSTACY. by Thomas Parnell.
On Liberty and in Praise of M. Howard. by Cowper. &c. &c.
Printed by & for I. Roach, at the Britannia Printing Office. Woburn Street New Drury Theatre Royal May 1.1795.
To the Rt. Hon. George Lord Lansdown.
THY forefls, Windfor! and thy green retreats,
At once the Monarch's and the Mufes feats,
Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids! Unlock your fprings, and open all your fhades. Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring! What Mufe for Granville can refuse to fing? groves of Eden, vanifh'd now fo long, Live in defcription, and look green in fong; Thefe, were my breast infpir'd with equal flaine, Like them in beauty, fhould be like in fame. Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water feem to frive again! Not chaos-like, together crush'd and bruis'd, But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd Where order in variety we see,
And where, tho' all things differ, all agree. Here waving groves a chequer'd fcene display, And part admit, and part exclude the day;
As fome coy nymph her lover's warm addrefs Nor quite indulges, nor can quite reprefs. There, interfpers'd in lawns and op'ning glades, Thin trees arife that fhun each other's fhades: Here in full light the ruffet plains extend
There, wrapt in clouds, the bluifh hills afcend.ed"} Ev'n the wild heath difplays her purple dyes, bir འི་ཚ And 'midft the defart fruitful fields arife,
That crown'd with tufted trees and fringing corn, ful Like verdant ifles, the fable wafle adorndyw
Let India boaft her plants, nor envy web brake The weeping amber or the balmy tree, diabzon dad N While by our oaks the precious loads are borne, And realms commanded which thofe trees adorn, Not proud Olympus yields a nobler fight,en pluie maci Tho' gods affembled grace his tow'ring height, Than what more humble mountains offer here, er Where, in their bleffings, all thofe gods appear. I See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'do;' Here blushing Flora paints th' enamell'd ground; Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpect ftand, And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand; Rich Industry fits fmiling on the plains, And peace and plenty tell, a Stuart reigns. Not thus the land appear'd in ages past,
A dreary defart, and a gloomy waste ; To favage beafls and favage laws a prey;
And kings more furious and severe than they ;
Who claim'd the fkies, difpeopled air and floods, The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods:
Cities laid waffe, they florin'd the dens and caves, (For wifer brutes were backward to be flaves). What could be free, when lawless beafts obey 'd, And ev❜n the elements a tyrant fwäy'd ? In vain kind feafons fwell'd the teeming grain, Soft fhow'rs diftill'd, and funs grew warm in vain ; The fwain with tears his fruftrate labour yields, And famifh'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields. What wonder then, a beaft or fubject flain Were equal crimes in a defpotic reign P Both doom'd alike for fportive tyrants bled; But while the fubject farv'd, the beaft was fed, Proud Nimrod firft the bloody chace began; A mighty hunter, and his prey was man; Our haughty Norman boasts that barb'rous name, And makes his trembling flaves the royal game. The fields are ravish'd from th' induftrious swains, From men their cities, and from gods their fanes The levell'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er; The hollow winds thro' naked temples roar Round broken columns clafping ivy twin'd; O'er heaps of ruin ftalk'd the stately hind; The fox obfcene to gaping tombs retires; And favage howlings fill the facred quires, Aw'd by his nobles, by his commons curft, Th' oppreffor rul'd tyrannic where he durft ;
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