"How often have I said (but thou hadst found 666 What, hoa! my friend, -come lay thy task aside, "Haste, let us forth together, and beguile 66 6 The heat beneath yon whispering shades awhile, "Or on the margin stray of Colne's clear flood, "Or where Cassibelan's grey turrets stood! "There thou shalt cull me simples, and shalt teach "Thy friend the name and healing powers of each, 66 6 From the tall bluebell to the dwarfish weed, "What the dry land and what the marshes breed, 666 For all their kinds alike to thee are known, "And the whole art of Galen is thy own.' 66 Ah, perish Galen's art, and withered be "The useless herbs that gave not health to thee! "The reeds no sooner touched my lip, though new "My thoughts are all now due to other care. "Of Brutus, Dardan chief, my song shall be, "How with his barks he ploughed the British sea, "First from Rutupia's towering headland seen, 66 By Uther, in her husband's form disguised "(Such was the force of Merlin's art), became Pregnant with Arthur of heroic fame. "These themes I now revolve, and oh, if Fate "Proportion to these themes my lengthened date, "Adieu my shepherd's reed! yon pine-tree bough "Shall be thy future home; there dangle thou "Forgotten and disused, unless ere long "Thou change thy Latian for a British song; "A British?-even so,-the powers of man "Are bounded; little is the most he can : "And it shall well suffice me, and shall be "Fame, and proud recompense enough for me, "If Usa, golden-haired, my verse may learn. 200 210 220 230 240 "If Alain bending o'er his crystal urn, 66 Swift-whirling Abra, Trent's o'ershadowed stream, "Thames, lovelier far than all in my esteem, "Tamar's ore-tinctured flood, and, after these, "The wave-worn shores of utmost Orcades. 66 66 "Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare; My thoughts are all now due to other care. "All this I kept in leaves of laurel-rind "Enfolded safe, and for thy view designed This, and a gift from Manso's hand beside (Manso, not least his native city's pride), "Two cups that radiant as their giver shone, "Adorned by sculpture with a double zone. "The spring was graven there; here slowly wind "The Red-sea shores, with groves of spices lined; "Her plumes of various hues amid the boughs "The sacred, solitary Phoenix shows, 66 And, watchful of the dawn, reverts her head "To see Aurora leave her watery bed. 250 260 "In other part, the expansive vault above, "And there too, even there, the god of love; "With quiver armed he mounts, his torch displays 270 "A vivid light, his gem-tipt arrows blaze, "Around his bright and fiery eyes he rolls, "Hence forms divine, and minds immortal, learn "The power of Cupid, and enamoured burn. "Thou, also, Damon (neither need I fear "That hope delusive), thou art also there; "For whither should simplicity like thine 280 "Retire? where else such spotless virtue shine? "Thou dwellest not (thought profane) in shades below, "Nor tears suit thee;-cease then my tears to flow! Away with grief, on Damon ill bestowed! 66 66 Who, pure himself, has found a pure abode, "Has passed the showery arch, henceforth resides "With saints and heroes, and from flowing tides 66 Quaffs copious immortality and joy, "With hallowed lips!-Oh! blest without alloy, "In those ethereal mansions thou art known. 66 Thy blush was maiden, and thy youth the taste "Of wedded bliss knew never, pure and chaste: "The honours, therefore, by divine decree "The lot of virgin worth, are given to thee; 'Thy brows encircled with a radiant band, 290 300 "And the green palm-branch waving in thy hand, AN ODE ADDRESSED TO MR. JOHN ROUSE LIBRARIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, ON A LOST VOLUME OF MY POEMS, WHICH HE DESIRED ME TO REPLACE, THAT HE MIGHT ADD THEM TO MY OTHER WORKS DEPOSITED IN THE LIBRARY. This Ode is rendered without rhyme, that it might more adequately represent the original, which, as Milton himself informs us, is of no certain measure. It may possibly for this reason disappoint the reader, though it cost the writer more labour than the translation of any other piece in the whole collection.-C. STROPHE, My twofold book! single in show, Neat, but not curiously adorned, A poet gave, no lofty one in truth, ANTISTROPHE. Say, little book, what furtive hand Of my most learned friend, I sent thee forth, an honoured traveller, Cærulean sire; Where rise the fountains, and the raptures ring Durable as yonder spheres, And through the endless lapse of years STROPHE II. Now what god, or demigod, For Britain's ancient genius moved (If our afflicted land ΙΟ 20 Have expiated at length the guilty sloth Shall terminate our impious feuds, And discipline, with hallowed voice, recall? Driven from their ancient seats In Albion, and well-nigh from Albion's shore, Piercing the unseemly birds, Shall drive the harpy race from Helicon afar? ANTISTROPHE. But thou, my book, though thou hast strayed, Or indolent neglect, thy bearer's fault, To some dark cell, or cave forlorn, The chafing of some hard untutored hand, For lo! again the splendid hope appears The gulfs of Lethe, and on oary wings 30 40 Since now a splendid lot is also thine, With authors of exalted note, The ancient glorious lights of Greece and Rome. EPODE. Ye then, my works, no longer vain Gift of kind Hermes, and my watchful friend; And whence the coarse unlettered multitude Perhaps some future distant age, Less tinged with prejudice, and better taught, To judge more equally. Then, Malice silenced in the tomb, Thanks to Rouse, if aught of praise I merit, shall with candour weigh the claim. 70 80 90 TRANSLATIONS OF THE ITALIAN POEMS. SONNET. FAIR Lady! whose harmonious name the Rhine, That manifests a sweetness all divine, Nor knows a thousand winning acts to spare, |