Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

то

MR. CONSTANTINE,

ON HIS

PAINTING S.

WHILE o'er the cloth thy happy pencil ftrays, And the pleas'd eye its artful course surveys, Behold the magick power of fhade and light! A new creation opens to our fight.

Here tufted groves rise boldly to the sky,

There spacious lawns more diftant charm the eye;
The cryftal lakes in borrow'd tinctures shine,
And misty hills the fair horizon join,
Loft in the azure borders of the day,

Like founds remote that die in air away.
The peopled profpect various pleafure yields,
Sheep grace the hills, and herds or fwains the fields;
Harmonious order o'er the whole prefides,

And Nature crowns the work, which Judgment guides.

Nor with lefs fkill difplay'd by thee appear
The different products of the fertile year;
While fruits with imitated ripeness glow,
And sudden flowers beneath thy pencil blow.
Such, and fo various, thy extenfive hand,
Oft in fufpence the pleas'd spectators stand,

Doubt

Doubtful to chufe, and fearing ftill to err,
When to thyself they would thyself prefer.
So when the rival gods at Athens ftrove,
By wondrous works their power divine to prove,
As Neptune's trident strook the teeming earth,
Here the proud horse upstarted to his birth;
And there, as Pallas blefs'd the fruitful scene,
The spreading olive rear'd its stately green ;
In dumb furprize the gazing crouds were loft,
Nor knew on which to fix their wonder most.

[blocks in formation]

That bears Urania from our eager eyes ;

Deaf to our call, the billows waft her o'er,

With speed obfequious to a distant shore;

A prize more rich than Spain's whole fleets could boast
From fam'd Peru, or Chili's golden coaft!
There the glad natives, on the crouded strand,
With wonder fee the matchlefs ftranger land;
Tranfplanted glories in her features fmile,
And a new dawn of beauty gilds their isle.

Se

So from the fea when Venus rofe ferene, And by the nymphs and tritons first was seen, The watery world beheld, with pleas'd fuprize, O'er its wide wafte new tracks of light arise; The winds were hufh'd, the floods forgot to move, And nature own'd th' aufpicious Queen of Love.

Henceforth no more the Cyprian ifle be nam'd, Though for th' abode of that bright goddess fam'd; Jamaica's happier groves, conceal'd fo long Through ages paft, are now the poets fong. The Graces there, and Virtues fix their throne; Urania makes th' adopted land her own.

The Mufe, with her in thought tranfported, fees The opening scene, the bloomy plants and trees, By brighter fkies rais'd to a nobler birth, And fruits deny'd to Europe's colder earth. At her approach, like courtiers doubly gay To grace the pomp of some lov'd prince's day, The gladden'd foil in all its plenty fhines,

New spreads its branching palms, and new adorns its pines;

With gifts prepares the shining guest to meet,

And

pours its verdant offerings at her feet. As in the fields with pleasure he appears,

Smiles on the labourers, and their labours cheers,
The luscious canes with sweeter juices flow,

The melons ripen, and the citrons blow,

The golden orange takes a richer dye,
And flaves forget their toil, while she is by.

Not

Not Ceres' felf more bleffings could display,

When through the earth fhe took her wandering way, Far from her native coaft, and all around

Diffus'd ripe harvests through the teeming ground.

Mean while our drooping vales deferted mourn,
Till happy years bring on her wish'd return;
New honours then, Urania, fhall be thine,
And Britain shall again the world outshine.

So when of late our fun was veil'd from fight
In dark eclipfe, and lost in sudden night,
A fhivering cold each heart with horror thrill'd,
The birds forfook the skies, the herds the field;
But when the conquering orb, with one bright ray,
Broke through the gloom, and reinthron'd the day,
The herds reviv'd, the birds renew'd their strains,
Unusual transports rais'd the chearful swains,
And joy returning echo'd through the plains.

}

THE

THE

FOLLOWING

SUPPLEMENT AND CONCLUSION

TO

Mr. MILTON's incomparable Poem, entitled, IL PENSEROSO, or THE PENSIVE MAN, was alfo writ by Mr. Hughes.

It seems neceflary to quote the eight foregoing lines for the right understanding of it.

ND may at last my weary age

Find out the peaceful hermitage,
out

The hairy gown and moffy cell,
Where I may fit, and rightly spell
Of every ftar that Heaven doth fhew,
And every herb that fips the dew;
• Till old experience do attain

To fomething like prophetic train.'
There let Time's creeping winter shed
His hoary fnow around my head ;
And while I feel, by faft degrees,
My fluggard blood wax chill, and freeze,
Let thought unveil to my fixt eye

The fcenes of deep eternity,

Till life diffolving at the view,

I wake, and find those visions true!

THE

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »