From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies:
Th' ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic dove.
Ye heavens ! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower!
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storm a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail:
Returning justices lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend. 20
Swift fly the years, and rise th' expected morn!
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See, Nature hastes her earliest wreathes to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring;
See lofty Lebanon|| his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance :
See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise,
And Carmel's flowery top perfume the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way!¶ A God, a God appears!
Ver. 23. See, Nature hastes, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 18.
At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu,
Errantes hederas passim cum baccare tellus,
Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho
Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores.
For thee, O child, shall the earth, without being tilled, produce her early offerings; winding ivy, mixed with baccar, and colocassia with smiling acanthus. Thy cradle shall pour forth pleasing flowers about thee.'
Isaiah, ch. xxxv. ver. 1.-The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.' Ch. Ix. ver. 13.-The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy sanctuary."
Ver. 29. Hark! a glad voice, &c.]. Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 46. Aggredere 8 magnos (aderit jam tempus) honores,
Cara Deûm soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum!"
Ipsi lætitia voces ad sidera jactant
Intensi montes, ipsæ jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa sonant arbusta, Deus, Deus ille, Menalca!
* Isa. xi. ver. 1.
Ch. xxv. ver. 4.
Ch. xxxv. ver. 2.
+ Ch. xlv. ver. 8.
Ch. ix. ver. 7.
Ch. xl. ver, 3, 4.
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply;
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys, rise!
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way.
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold :
Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day:
'Tis he th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear;
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting, like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear; 45
From every face he wipes off every tear.
In adamantinet chains shall death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good shepherd; tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture, and the purest air;
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects;
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms:
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promised fathers of the future age.
No more shall nation|| against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
O come, and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the gods! O great increase of Jove! The uncultivated mountains send shouts of joy to the stars; the very rocks sing in verse; the very shrubs cry out, A God, a God!'
Isaiah, ch. xl. ver. 3, 4. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make straight in the desert a highway for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.' Ch. xliv. ver. 23. Break forth into singing, ye mountains; 0 forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Israel.'
* Ch. xliii. ver. 18, Ch. xxxv. ver. 5, 6. Ch. xl. ver. 11. 5 Ch. ix, ver. 6.
+ Ch. xxv. ver. 8.
Ch. ii. ver. 4.
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more:
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a plough-share end.
Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son
Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun ;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sow'd, shall reap the field.
The swain in barren deserts+ with surprise
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise;
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste, sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn:
To leafless shrubs the flowery palms succeed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed,
The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant
And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead.
Ver. 67. The swain in barren deserts.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 28.
Molli paulatim flavescet campus arista,
Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva,
Et dure quercus sudabunt roscida mella."
The fields shall grow yellow with ripened ears, and the red grape shall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks shall distil honey like dew.'
Isaiah, ch. xxxv. ver. 7.- The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitations where dragons lay, shall be grass, and reeds, and rushes.' Ch. Iv. ver. 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree.' Ver. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 21. Ipsæ lacte domum referent distenta capellæ Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones
Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni
The goats shall bear to the fold their udders distended with milk; nor shall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The serpent shall die, and the herb that conceals poison shall die." Isaiah, ch. xi. ver. 6, &c.-The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice.'
Ch. Lxv. ver. 21, 22.
Ch. xli. ver. 19. and ch. Iv. ver. 13.
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake,
Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongue shall innocently play.
Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem,+ rise!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long race; thy spacious courts adorn;
See future sons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabean springs!
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rising sun¶ shall gild the morn,
Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn;
But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away:
But fix'd his word, his saving power remains ;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns!
Ver. 85. Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise!] The thoughts of Isaiah, which compose the latter part of the poems, are wonderfully elevated, and much above those general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftiest parts of his Pollio. Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo!
-toto surget gens aurea mundo!
-Incipient magni procedere menses!
Aspice, venturo lætentur ut omnia sæclo! &c.
The reader needs only to turn to the passages of Isaiah, here
Ch. lx. ver. 4.
Ch. Ix. ver. 6.
§ Ch. Ix. ver. 3. Ch. Ix. ver. 19, 20.
** Ch. li. ver. 6. and ch. liv. ver. 10.
To the Right Hon. George Lord Lansdowne.
Non injussa cano; te nostre, Vare, myricæ.
Te nemus omne canet; nec Phobo gratior ulla est,
Quam sibi quæ Vari præscripsit pagina nomen.
THY forest, Windsor! and thy green retreats,
At once the Monarch's and the Muses' seats,
Invite my lays. Be present, sylvan maids!
Unlock your springs, and open all your shades.
Granville commands: your aid, O muses, bring!
What muse for Granville can refuse to sing?
The groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long,
Live in description, and look green in song;
These, were my breast inspired with equal flame,
Like them in beauty, should be like in fame.
Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water seem to strive again;
Not chaos-like together crush'd and bruised,
But, as the world, harmoniously confused;
Where order in variety we see,
And where, though all things differ, all agree.
Here waving groves a checquer'd scene display,
And part admit, and part exclude the day;
As some coy nymph her lover's warm address
Nor quite indulges, nor can quite repress.
There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades,
Thin trees arise that shun each other's shades,
Here in full light the russet plains extend:
There, wrapt in clouds, the blueish hills ascend.
E'en the wild heath displays her purple dyes,
And 'midst the desert, fruitful fields arise,
That, crown'd with tufted trees and springing corn,
Like verdant isles the sable waste adorn.
Let India boast her plants, nor envy we
The weeping amber, or the balmy tree,
While by our oaks the precious loads are borne, And realms commanded which those trees adorn. Not proud Olympus yields a nobler sight,
Though gods assembled grace his towering height,
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