Majestic monarchs, mortal gods,
Whofe power hath here no periods,
May all attempts against your crowns be vain!
But ftill remember by whose power you reign.
Let the wide world his praises fing,
Where Tagus and Euphrates spring,
And from the Danube's frosty banks, to those
Where from an unknown head great Nilus flows.
You that difpofe of all our lives,
Praise him from whom your power derives ; Be true and juft like him, and fear his word, As much as malefactors do your fword.
Praise him, old monuments of time;
O praise him in your youthful prime ;
Praife him, fair idols of our greedy sense;
Exalt his name, fweet age of innocence.
Jehovah's name fhall only last,
When heaven, and earth, and all is past: Nothing, great God, is to be found in thee, But unconceivable eternity.
Exalt, O Jacob's facred race,
The God of gods, the God of grace ; Who will above the ftars your empire raife, And with his glory recompenfe your praise.
His Royal Highness the DUKE of YORK,
OLLY and vice are easy to defcribe,
The common fubjects of our fcribbling tribe;
But when true virtues, with unclouded light,
All great, all royal, fhine divinely bright,
Our eyes are dazzled, and our voice is weak;
Let England, Flanders, let all Europe fpeak,
Let France acknowledge that her shaken throne
Was once fupported, Sir, by you alone:
Banish'd from thence for an ufurper's fake,
Yet trufted then with her laft defperate stake :
When wealthy neighbours ftrove with us for power,
Let the fea tell, how in their fatal hour,
Swift as an eagle, our victorious prince,
Great Britain's genius, flew to her defence;
His name ftruck fear, his conduct won the day,
He came, he faw, he feiz'd the struggling prey,
And while the heavens were fire and th' ocean blood,
Confirm'd our empire o'er the conquer'd flood.
O happy islands, if you knew your blifs!
Strong by the fea's protection, safe by his !
Express your gratitude the only way,
And humbly own a debt too vaft to pay:
Let Fame aloud to future ages tell,
None e'er commanded, none obey'd fo well;
While this high courage, this undaunted mind,
So loyal, fo fubmiffively refign'd,
Proclaim that fuch a hero never fprings,
But from the uncorrupted blood of kings.
On a young Lady who fung finely, and was afraid of a Cold.
WINTER, thy cruelty extend,
Till fatal tempefts fweil the fea.
In vain let finking pilots pray ;
Beneath thy yoke let Nature bend,
Let piercing froft, and lafting fnow,
Through woods and fields deftruction fow!
Yet we unmov'd will fit and fmile,
While you
thefe leffer ills create,
Thefe we can bear; but, gentle Fate,
And thou, bleft Genius of our isle,
From Winter's rage defend her voice,
At which the liftening Gods rejoice.
May that celestial sound each day
With extafy transport our fouls,
Whilft all our paffions it controls,
And kindly drives our cares away;
Let no ungentle cold deftroy,
All tafte we have of heavenly joy!
Two young fhepherds, Chromis and Mnafylus, having been often promifed a fong by Silenus, chance to catch him asleep in this Eclogue; where they bind him hand and foot, and then claim his promife. Silenus, finding they would be put off no longer, begins his fong, in which he defcribes the formation of the univerfe, and the original of animals, according to the Epicurean philofophy; and then runs through the most furprising transformations which have happened in Nature fince her birth. This Eclogue was defigned as a compliment to Syro the Epicurean, who inftructed Virgil and Varus in the principles of that philofophy. Silenus acts as tutor, Chromis and Mnafylus as the two pupils.
First of Romans stoop'd to rural strains,
Nor blufh'd to dwell among Sicilian fwains,
When my Thalia rais'd her bolder voice,
And kings and battles were her lofty choice,
Phoebus did kindly humbler thoughts infuse,
And with this whisper check th' aspiring Muse
A fhepherd, Tityrus, his flocks should feed,
And choose a subject suited to his reed.
Thus I (while each ambitious pen prepares
To write thy praises, Varus, and thy wars)
My paftoral tribute in low numbers pay,
And though I once prefum'd, only now obey.
But yet (if any with indulgent eyes
Can look on this, and fuch a trifle prize)
Thee only, Varus, our glad fwains fhall fing,
And every grove and every echo ring.
Phoebus delights in Varus' favourite name,
And none who under that protection came
Was ever ill receiv'd, or unfecure of fame.
Proceed my Muse.
Young Chromis and Mnafylus chanc'd to stray
Where (fleeping in a cave) Silenus lay,
Whose conftant cups fly fuming to his brain,
And always boil in each extended vein;
His trufty flaggon, full of potent juice,
Was hanging by, worn thin with age and ufc;
Drop'd from his head, a wreath lay on the ground;
In hafte they feiz'd him, and in haste they bound ;
Eager, for both had been deluded long
With fruitlefs hope of his instructive song :
But while with confcious fear they doubtful stood,
Ægle, the fairest Naïs of the flood,
With a vermilion dye his temples stain'd.
Waking, he fmil'd, and muft I then be chain'd?
Loofe me, he cry'd; 'twas boldly done, to find
And view a God, but 'tis too bold to bind.
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