With trembling hand he threw. "Bathe on, my fair, "Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye

"Of faithful love: I go to guard thy haunt;

"To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot,
"And each licentious eye." With wild furprize,
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense,
A stupid moment motionless she stood:

So stands the statue that enchants the world;
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting GREECE.

1350

1345

RECOVERING, swift she flew to find those robes Which blissful EDEN knew not; and, array'd

1350

In careless haste, th' alarming paper snatch'd.
But, when her DAMON's well-known hand she saw,

Her terrors vanish'd, and a softer train

Of mixt emotions, hard to be describ'd,

Her sudden bosom seiz'd: shame void of guilt; 1355

The charming blush of innocence; esteem

And admiration of her lover's flame,

By modesty exalted: ev'n a sense

Of self-approving beauty stole across

Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm

1360

Hushed by degrees the tumult of her foul;

And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream
Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen

Of rural lovers this confession carv'd,

Which soon her DAMON kiss'd with weeping joy: 1365

"Dear youth! sole judge of what these verses mean; "By fortune too much favour'd, but by love,

"Alas! not favour'd less; be still as now
"Discreet; the time may come you need not fly."

THE sun has lost his rage: his downward orb 1370 Shoots nothing now but animating warmth,

And vital lustre; that, with various ray,

Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of HEAVen,
Incessant roll'd into romantic shapes,

The dream of waking fancy! Broad below,
Cover'd with ripening fruits, and swelling fast
Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth
And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour
Of walking comes: for him who lonely loves,
To seek the distant hills, and there converse
With Nature; there to harmonize his heart,

1375

1380

Now call'd abroad enjoy the falling day:
Now to the verdant PORTICO of woods,

To Nature's vast LYCEUM, forth they walk;

1395

By that kind School where no proud master reigns,
The full free converse of the friendly heart,
Improving and improved. Now from the world,
Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal,
And pour their souls in transport; which the SIRE
Of love approving hears, and calls it good.

1399

1405

WHICH WAY, AMANDA, shall we bend our course? The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we chuse ? All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind Along the streams? or walk the smiling mead? Or court the forest-glades? or wander wild Among the waving harvests? or ascend, While radiant SUMMER opens all its pride, Thy hill, delightful Shene? Here let us sweep The boundless landskip: now the raptur'd eye, Exulting swift, to huge AUGUSTA send; Now to the Sister-Hills that skirt her plain; To lofty Harrow now, and now to where Majestic Windfor lifts his princely brow.

1410

1415

In lovely contrast to this glorious view,
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn
To where the silver THAMES first rural grows.
There let the feasted eye unwearied stray:
Luxurious, there, rove thro' the pendant woods
That nodding hang o'er HARRINGTON's retreat;
And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks,

Beneath whose shades in spotless peace retir'd,
With HER the pleasing partner of his heart,

1420

The worthy QUEENSB'RY yet laments his GAY;
And polish'd CORNBURY Wooes the willing Muse.
Slow let us trace the matchless VALE of THAMES;
Fair-winding up to where the Muses haunt

1425

In Twitnam's bowers, and for their POPE implore
The healing God; to royal Hampton's pile;
To Clermont's terrass'd height; and Esher's groves;
Where in the sweetest solitude, embrac'd

By the soft windings of the silent Mole,

1430

From courts and senates PELHAM finds repose.

Inchanting vale! beyond whate'er the Muse

Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung!

O vale of bliss! O softly-swelling hills!

On which the power of cultivation lies,

1435

And joys to see the wonders of his toil.

HEAVENS! what a goodly prospect spreads around, Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires, And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all The stretching landskip into smoke decays! Happy BRITANNIA! where the QUEEN of ARTS, Inspiring vigour, LIBERTY abroad

Walks, unconfin'd, even to thy farthest cots,

And scatters plenty with unsparing hand.

1440

RICH is thy soil, and merciful thy clime;

1445

Thy streams unfailing in the the SUMMER's drought;

1450

Unmatch'd thy guardian-oaks; thy valleys float
With golden waves: and on thy mountains flocks
Bleat numberless; while, roving round their sides,
Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves.
Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd
Against the mower's scythe. On every hand
Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth;
And property assures it to the swain,

Pleas'd and unwearied in his guarded toil.

1455

FULL are thy cities with the sons of art;

And trade and joy, in every busy street,

Mingling are heard: even Drudgery himself,

As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews

The palace-stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports,

BOLD, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth,

By hardship sinew'd, and by danger fir'd;

Scattering the nations where they go; and first

Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas.

Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plans

1470

Of thriving peace thy thoughtful fires preside;

In genius, and substantial learning, high;
For every virtue, every worth, renown'd;