}

And whirling up the fkies, his chariot drove
Thro' Taurus, and the lightsome realms of love;
Where Venus from her orb descends in show'rs,
To glad the ground, and paint the fields with flow'rs:
When firft the tender blades of grafs appear,
And buds, that yet the blast of Eurus fear,
Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the
year:
Till gentle heat, and foft repeated rains,
Make the green blood to dance within their veins:
Then, at their call, embolden'd out they come,
And fwell the gems, and burft the narrow room;
Broader and broader yet, their blooms display,
Salute the welcome fun, and entertain the day.
Then from their breathing fouls the sweets repair
To scent the skies, and purge th' unwholesom air:
Joy spreads the heart, and, with a general fong,
Spring iffues out, and leads the jolly months along.
In that sweet season, as in bed I lay,

And fought in fleep to pafs the night away,
I turn'd my weary'd fide, but ftill in vain,
Tho' full of youthful health, and void of pain:

H 4

Cares

Cares I had none, to keep me from my reft,
For love had never enter'd in my breast;
I wanted nothing fortune could supply,
Nor did fhe flumber till that hour deny.
I wonder'd then, but after found it true,
Much joy had dry'd away the balmy dew:
Seas wou'd be pools, without the brushing air,
To curl the waves; and fure some little care
Shou'd weary nature so, to make her want repair.
When Chanticleer the fecond watch had fung,
Scorning the fcorner fleep, from bed I fprung;
And dreffing, by the moon, in loose array,
Pafs'd out in open air, preventing day,

And fought a goodly grove, as fancy led my way.
Straight as a line in beauteous order stood
Of oaks unfhorn a venerable wood;
Fresh was the grass beneath, and ev'ry tree,
At distance planted in a due degree,
Their branching arms in air with equal space
Stretch'd to their neighbours with a long embrace:
And the new leaves on ev'ry bough were seen,
Some ruddy colour'd, fome of lighter green.
The painted birds, companions of the fpring,
Hopping from fpray to spray, were heard to fing.
Both eyes and ears receiv'd a like delight,
Enchanting mufic, and a charming fight.
On Philomel I fix'd my whole defire;
And liften'd for the queen of all the quire;
Fain would I hear her heavenly voice to fing;
And wanted yet an omen to the spring.

Attending long in vain, I took the way,
Which through a path, but scarcely printed, lay;
In narrow mazes oft it feem'd to meet,
And look'd, as lightly prefs'd by fairy feet.
Wandring I walk'd alone, for ftill methought
To fome frange end fo frange a path was wrought:

} }

At

At laft it led me where an arbour food,
The facred receptacle of the wood:

This place unmark'd, tho' oft I walk'd the green,
In all my progress I had never feen:

And feiz'd at once with wonder and delight,
Gaz'd all around me, new to the transporting fight.
'Twas bench'd with turf, and goodly to be seen,
The thick young grafs arofe in fresher green:
The mound was newly made, no fight could pass
Betwixt the nice partitions of the grass;
The well-united fods fo clofely lay;

And all around the shades defended it from day,
For fycamores with eglantine were spread,
A hedge about the fides, a covering over head.
And fo the fragrant brier was wove between,'
The fycamore and flow'rs were mix'd with green,
That nature feem'd to vary the delight;

And satisfy'd at once the smell and fight.
The mafter workman of the bow'r was known
Through fairy-lands, and built for Oberon;
Who twining leaves with fuch proportion drew,
They rose by measure, and by rule they grew;
No mortal tongue can half the beauty tell:
For none but hands divine could work fo well.
Both roof and fides were like a parlour made,
A foft recefs, and a cool fummer fhade;
The hedge was fet fo thick, no foreign eye
The perfons plac'd within it could espy:
But all that pafs'd without with eafe was feen,
As if nor fence nor tree was plac'd between.
'Twas border'd with a field; and fome was plain
With grafs, and fome was fow'd with rising grain.
That (now the dew with fpangles deck'd the ground)
A fweeter fpot of earth was never found.

I look'd and lock'd, and ftill with new delight;
Such joy my foul, fuch pleafures fill'd my fight:

And

And the fresh eglantine exhal'd a breath,
Whose odours were of pow'r to raise from death.
Nor fullen discontent, nor anxious care,

Ev'n tho' brought thither, could inhabit there:
But thence they fled as from their mortal foe;
For this fweet place could only pleasure know.
Thus as I mus'd, I caft afide my eye,
And faw a medlar-tree was planted nigh.
The spreading branches made a goodly show,
And full of opening blooms was ev'ry bough:
A goldfinch there I faw with gawdy pride
Of painted plumes, that hopp'd from fide to fide,
Still pecking as the pafs'd; and still she drew
The fweets from ev'ry flow'r, and fuck'd the dew:
Suffic'd at length, fhe warbl'd in her throat,
And tun'd her voice to many a merry note,
But indiftinct, and neither sweet nor clear,
Yet fuch as footh'd my foul, and pleas'd my ear.
Her fhort performance was no fooner try'd,
When the I fought, the nightingale, reply'd':
So fweet, fo fhrill, fo variously she fung,
That the grove echo'd, and the valleys rung:
And I fo ravish'd with her heavenly note

I ftood intranc'd, and had no room for thought,
But all o'er-power'd with ecftafy of bliss,
Was in a pleafing dream of paradife;

At length I wak'd, and looking round the bow'r
Search'd ev'ry tree, and pry'd on ev'ry flow'r,
If any where by chance I might efpy,
The rural poet of the melody:

For fill methought the fung not far away:
At last I found her on a laurel fpray.
Close by my fide fhe fat, and fair in fight,
Full in a line, against her oppofite;

Where ftood with eglantine the laurel twin'd;
And both their native sweets were well conjoin'd.

On the green bank I fat, and listen'd long;
(Sitting was more convenient for the fong :)
Nor till her lay was ended could I move,
But wifh'd to dwell for ever in the grove.
Only methought the time too swiftly pafs'd,
And ev'ry note I fear'd would be the last.
My fight and fmell, and hearing were employ'd,
And all three fenfes in full guft enjoy'd.
And what alone did all the rest surpass,
The sweet poffeffion of the fairy place;
Single, and confcious to myfelf alone
Of pleasures to th' excluded world unknown:
Pleasures which no where else were to be found,
And all Elyfium in a fpot of ground.

Thus while I fat intent to fee and hear,
And drew perfumes of more than vital air,
All fuddenly I heard th' approaching found
Of vocal mufic, on th' inchanted ground:
An hoft of faints it feem'd, fo full the quire;
As if the blefs'd above did all confpire
To join their voices, and neglect the lyre.
At length there iffued from the grove behind
A fair affembly of the female kind:
'A train less fair, as ancient fathers tell,
Seduc'd the fons of heaven to rebel.

I pafs their form, and ev'ry charming grace,
Lefs than an angel wou'd their worth debase:
But their attire, like liveries of a kind,
All rich and rare, is fresh within my mind.
In velvet white as fnow the troop was gown'd,
The feams with sparkling emeralds fet around;
Their hoods and fleeves the fame; and purfled o'er
With diamonds, pearls, and all the fhining ftore
Of eastern pomp: their long defcending train,

With rubies edg'd, and faphires, fwept the plain:
High on their heads, with jewels richly fet,
Each lady wore a radiant coronet.

}