And that the winds their bellowing throats would try,
When redd'ning clouds reflect his blood-shot eye.
All their remarks on Nature's laws require
More lines than would e'en Alpin's readers tire.
This fect in facred veneration held
Opinions by the Samian fage reveal'd;
That matter no annihilation knows,

But wanders from thefe tenements to thofe :
For when the plaftick particles as gone,
They rally in fome fpecies like their own.
The felf-fame atoms, if new jumbled, will
In feas be restlefs, and in earth be still;
Can, in the truffle, furnish out a feast,
And nauseate, in the fcaly fquill, the taste.
Thofe falling leaves that wither with the year,
Will in the next on other stems appear;
The fap that now forfakes the bursting bud,
In fome new shoot will circulate green blood;
The breath to-day that from the jasmine blows,
Will, when the feafon offers, fcent the rofe;
And those bright flames that in carnations glow,
Ere long will blanch the lily with a fnow.

They hold, that matter must be ftill the fame,
And varies but in figure and in name ;

And that the foul not dies, but fhifts her feat,
New rounds of life to run, or past repeat.

Thus, when the brave and virtuous ceafe to live,

In beings brave and virtuous they revive:

Again fhall Romulus in Naflau reign

Great Numa, in a Brunswick prince, ordain

Good laws, and halcyon years shall hufh the world again.
The truths of old traditions were their theme,

Or gods defcending in a morning dream,
Paft acts they cited, and to come foretold,

}

And could events not ripe for fate unfold.

Beneath

Beneath the fhady covert of an oak,

In rhymes uncouth, prophetick truths they spoke.
Attend then, Clare! nor is the legend long ;
The ftory of thy villa is their song.

• The fair Montano, of the Sylvan race,
Was with each beauty blefs'd, and ev'ry grace
His fire, green Faunus, guardian of the wood;
His mother, a swift Naïad of the flood;
• Her filver urn supply'd the neighb'ring ftreams,
A darling daughter of the bounteous Thames.
Not lovelier feem'd Narciffus to the eye,

• Nor when a flow'r could boaft more fragrancy. His skin might with the down of swans compare;

* More smooth than pearl, than mountain-snow more fair; *In shape so poplars or the cedars please ;

• But those are not so straight, nor graceful these.
His flowing hair in unforc'd ringlets hung;
* Tuneful his voice, perfuafive was his tongue;
The haughtieft fair scarce heard without a wound,
• But funk to softness at the melting sound.

The fourth bright luftre had but just begun
• To shade his blushing cheeks with doubtful down:
All day he rang'd the woods, and spread the toils,
And knew no pleasures but in fylvan fpoils.
In vain the nymphs put on each pleafing grace;
Too cheap the quarry feem'd, too fhort the chace :
For tho' poffeffion be th' undoubted view,

* To feize is far lefs pleasure than pursue.

Those nymphs that yield too soon, their charms impair,
And prove at last but despicably fair;

• His own undoing glutton Love decrees,
And palls the appetite he meant to please :
His flender wants too largely he supplies,
Thrives on fhort meals, but by indulgence dies.

A grot there was, with hoary moss o'ergrown,
Rough with rude fhells, and arch'd with mould'ring ftone;

2 H

* Sad

Sad filence reigns within the lonesome wall,
And weeping rills but whisper as they fall:
The clafping ivys up the ruin creep,
And there the bat and drowzy beetle sleep.

This cell fad Echo chofe, by Love betray'd,
A fit retirement for a mourning maid.
Hither, fatigu'd with toil, the fylvan flies,
To fhun the calenture of fultry skies,

But feels a fiercer flame; Love's keeneft dart
Finds thro' his eyes a paffage to his heart.
• Penfive the virgin fat with folded arms,
• Her tears but lending luftre to her charms:
With pity he beholds her wounding woes,
• But wants himself the pity he bestows.

"Oh! whether of a mortal born," he cries, "Or fome fair daughter of the distant skies, "That in compaffion leave your chrystal sphere, "To guard fome favour'd charge, and wander here; "Slight not my fuit, nor too ungentle prove, "But pity one, a novice yet in love. "If words avail not, fee my fuppliant tears, "Nor difregard thofe dumb petitioners !"

From his complaint the tyrant virgin flies,
Afferting all the empire of her eyes.

Full thrice three days he lingers out in grief,
• Nor feeks from fleep or fuftenance relief.
The lamp of life now cafts a glimm'ring light,
The meeting lids his fetting eyes benight:

• What force remains the hapless lover tries,

"Hafte, parents of the flood! your race to mourn,

"With tears replenish each exhausted urn:

"Retake the life you gave, but let the maid
"Fall a juft victim to an injur'd fhade."

• More he endeavour'd; but the accents hung
Half form'd, and stopp'd unfinish'd on his tongue.

• For

For him the Graces their fad vigils keep;
• Love broke his bow, and wish'd for eyes to weep.
What gods can do, the mournful Faunus tries,
A mount erecting where the fylvan lies:
The rural pow'rs the wond'rous pile furvey,
And piously their diff'rent honours pay.
Th' afcent with verdant herbage Pales fpread,
"And nymphs transform'd to laurels lent their fhade:
Her ftream a Naïad from the bafis pours,

‹ And Flora ftrews the summit with her flow'rs;
Alone Mount Latmos claims pre-eminence,
When filver Cynthia lights the world from thence.
• Sad Echo now laments her rigour more,

Than for Narciffus, her loose flame before;

• Her flesh to finew fhrinks, her charms are fled;
• All day in rifted rocks fhe hides her head;
• Soon as the ev'ning fhews a fky ferene,
• Abroad fhe ftrays, but never to be seen;
And ever as the weeping Naïads name
Her cruelty, the nymph repeats the fame.
• With them she joins her lover to deplore,
And haunts the lonely dales he rang'd before:
Her fex's privilege fhe yet retains,
And tho' to nothing wafted, voice remains.'
So fung the Druids-then, with rapture fir'd,
Thus utter what the Delphick god inspir'd.
• Ere twice ten centuries fhall fleet away,

A Brunswick prince fhall Britain's fceptre fway.
'No more fair Liberty fhall mourn her chains;
The maid is refcu'd, her lov'd Perfeus reigns.
From Jove he comes, the captive to restore,

Nor can the thunder of his fire do more.

Religion fhall dread nothing but disguise,

And Juftice need no bandage for her eyes.
Britannia fmiles, nor fears a foreign lord;
Her fafety to fecure, two pow'rs accord;
'Her Neptune's trident, and her monarch's fword.

• Like him shall his Auguftus fhine in arms,

• Tho' captive to his Carolina's charms:

Ages with future heroes she shall bless,

• And Venus once more found an Alban race.

Then shall a Clare in honour's cause engage;

• Example muft reclaim a graceless age.

• Where guides themselves for guilty views mislead,
And laws e'en by the legislators bleed,

• His brave contempt of state shall teach the proud,
• None but the virtuous are of noble blood:
For tyrants are but princes in difguife,
Tho' fprung by long defcents from Ptolemies.
• Right he shall vindicate, good laws defend,
The firmeft patriot, and the warmest friend.
Great Edward's Order early he shall wear,
New light restoring to the fully'd star.
Oft will his leisure this retirement chuse,
Still finding future fubjects for the Mufe;
And to record the Sylvan's fatal flame,

The place shall live in song, and Claremont be the name.”

B

BY DR. PERCY.

Libeat tibi Cynthia mecum

Rofcida mufcofis antra tenere jugis.

ENEATH an aged oak's embow'ring fhade,

PROPERT

Whose spreading arms with grey mofs fringed were, Around whofe trunk the clasping ivy stray'd,

A love-lorn youth oft penfive would repair.

Faft