TRANSLATED FROM SECUNDUS.
WHEN Venus, in the sweet Idalian shade,
A violet couch for young Afcanius made,
Their opening gems th' obedient rofes bow'd,
And veil'd his beauties with a damask cloud:
While the bright goddess, with a gentle shower
Of nectar'd dews, perfum'd the blissful bower.
Of fight infatiate, she devours his charms,
Till her foft breast rekindling ardour warms;
New joys tumultuous in her bosom roll,
And all Adonis rusheth on her foul :
Transported with each dear resembling grace,
She cries, Adonis !---fure I see thy face!
Then stoops to clafp the beauteous form, but fears
He'd wake too foon, and with a figh forbears ;
Yet, fix'd in filent rapture, stands to gaze,
Kiffing each flowering bud that round her plays :
Swell'd with her touch, each animated rofe
Expands, and strait with warmer purple glows;
Where infant kisses bloom, a balmy store!
Redoubling all the bliss she felt before.
Sudden her swans career along the skies,
And o'er the globe the fair celestial flies;
Then, as where Ceres pass'd, the teeming plain
Yellow'd with wavy crops of golden grain,
So fruitful kisses fell where Venus flew,
And by the power of genial magic grew;
A plenteous harvest! which she deign'd ť impart
To footh an agonizing love-fick heart.
All hail, ye roseate kisses ! who remove
Our cares, and cool the calentures of love.
Lo! I your poet, in melodious lays
Bless your kind power, enamour'd of your praise; Lays! form'd to last till barbarous time invades The Mufes' hill, and withers all their shades. Sprung from the * guardian of the Roman name, In Roman numbers live, secure of fame.
S the young enamour'd vine
Round her elm delights to twine,
As the clafping ivy throws
Round her oak her wanton boughs,
So close, expanding all thy charms,
Fold me, my Chloris, in thy arms !
Closer, my Chloris, could it be,
Would my fond arms incircle thee.
The jovial friend shall tempt in vain With humour, wit, and brisk champaigne;
In vain shall Nature call for fleep,
We 'll Love's eternal vigils keep :
Thus, thus for ever let us lie,
Diffolving in excess of joy,
Till fate shall with a fingle dart
Transfix the pair it cannot part.
Thus join'd, 'we 'll fleet like Venus' doves,
And feek the blest Elysian groves ;
Where Spring in rosy triumph reigns
Perpetual o'er the joyous plains :
There, lovers of heroic name,
Revive their long-extinguish'd flame,
And o'er the fragrant vale advance
In shining pomp to form the dance,
Or fing of Love and gay Defire,
Refponfive to the warbling lyre;
Reclining foft in blissful bowers,
Purpled sweet with springing flowers;
And cover'd with a filken fhade,
Of laurel mix'd with myrtle made :
Where, flaunting in immortal bloom,
The musk-rofe fcents the verdant gloom;
Through which the whifpering Zephyrs fly
Softer than a virgin's figh.
When we approach those blest retreats,
Th' afsembly strait will leave their feats,
Admiring much the matchless pair,
So fond the youth, the nymph so fair!
Daughters and mistresses to Jove,
By Homer fam'd of old for love;
In homage to the British Grace,
Will give pre-eminence of place.
Helen herself will foon agree
To rife, and yield her rank to thee.
"Omnia me tua delectant; fed maximè, maxima cùm " fides in amicitiâ, confilium, gravitas, constantia; "tum lepos, humanitas, literæ."
CICERO, Ep. xxvii. Lib. xi.
SLOW though I am to wake the fleeping lyre,
Yet should the Muse some happy fong inspire,
Fit for a friend to give, and worthy thee,
That favourite verse to Lambard I decree :
Such may the Muse inspire, and make it prove
A pledge and monument of lasting love !
Meantime intent the fairest plan to find,
To form the manners, and improve the mind;
Me the fam'd wits of Rome and Athens please,
By Orrery's indulgence wrapt in ease;
Whom all the rival Muses strive to grace
With wreaths familiar to his letter'd race.
Now Truth's bright charms employ my ferious thought,
In flowing eloquence by Tully taught:
Then from the shades of Tusculum I rove,
And studious wander in the Grecian grove;
While wonder and delight the foul engage
To found the depths of Plato's facred page;
Where Science in attractive fable lies,
And, veil'd, the more invites her lover's eyes.
Transported thence, the flowery heights I gain
Of Pindus, and admire the warbling train,
Whose wings the Muse in better ages prun'd,
And their sweet harps to moral airs attun'd.
As night is tedious while, in love betray'd,
The wakeful youth expects the faithless maid;
As weary'd hinds accuse the lingering fun,
And heirs impatient with for twenty-one:
So dull to Horace * did the moments glide,
Till his free Muse her sprightly force employ'd
To combat vice, and follies to expose,
In easy numbers near ally'd to profe :
Guilt blush'd and trembled when she heard him fing,
He fmil'd reproof, and tickled with his sting.
With fuch a graceful negligence expreft,
Wit, thus apply'd, will ever stand the teft:
But he, who blindly led by whimsy strays,
And from grofs images would merit praise,
When Nature fets the noblest stores in view,
Affects to polish copper in Peru:
So while the feas on barren fands are cast,
The faltness of their waves offends the taste:
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