Will the fierce Unicorn obey thy call, Enflav'd to man, and patient of the stall? Say, will he stubborn stoop thy yoke to bear, And thro' the furrow drag the tardy share? Say, canft thou think, O wretch of vain belief, His lab'ring limbs will draw thy weighty sheaf? Or canft thou tame the temper of his blood With faithful feet to trace the deftin'd road? Who paints the Peacock's train with radiant eyes, And all the bright diverfity of dies?

Whose hand the stately Oftrich has fupply'd With glorious plumage, and her fnowy pride? Thoughtless she leaves amid the dufty way Her eggs, to ripen in the genial ray;

Nor heeds, that fome fell beast, who thirfts for blood,

Or the rude foot, may crush the future brood.
In her no love the tender offspring fhare,
No foft remembrance, no maternal care :
For God has steel'd her unrelenting breast,
Nor feeling fenfe, nor inftinct mild imprefs'd,
Bade her the rapid-rushing steed despise,

Outstrip the rider's rage, and tow'r amidst the fkies.

Didft thou the Horfe with ftrength and beauty deck?

Haft thou in thunder cloth'd his nervous neck?

Will he, like groveling grashoppers afraid,
Start at each found, at ev'ry breeze dismay'd?
A cloud of fire his lifted noftrils raise,
And breathe a glorious terror as they blaze.
He paws indignant, and the valley fpurns,
Rejoicing in his might, and for the battle burns.
When quivers rattle, and the frequent fpear
Flies flashing, leaps his heart with languid fear?
Swallowing with fierce and greedy rage the ground,
"Is this," he cries," the trumpet's warlike found?"
Eager he scents the battle from afar,

And all the mingling thunder of the war.
Flies the fierce Hawk by thy fupreme command,
To feek foft climates, and a fouthern land?
Who bade th' afpiring Eagle mount the fky,
And build her firm aerial neft on high?
On the bare cliff, or mountain's fhaggy steep,
Her fortrefs of defence fhe dares to keep;
Thence darts her radiant eye's pervading ray,
Inquifitive to ken the distant prey;

Seeks with her thirsty brood th' enfanguin'd plain, There bathes her beak in blood, companion of the flain.

A PASTORAL

IN THE MANNER OF SPENSER.

FROM THEOCRITUS,

IDYLL. XX.

I.

As late I ftrove LUCILLA's lip to kifs,
She with difcurtefee reprov'd my will;
Doft thou, she said, affect so pleasant bliss,
A fimple fhepherd, and a lofell vile?

Not Fancy's hand fhould join my courtly lip 5
To thine, as I myself were fast asleep.

II.

As thus she spake, full proud and boasting laffe, And as a peacocke pearke, in dalliance

From Theocritus.] This is not a translation, but rather a paraphraftic imitation of the 20th Idyllium of Theocritus. The ftanza is the fame with that in Spenfer's Shepherd's Calendar; January and December.

V. 4. —a lofell vile?] A good-for-nothing fellow.

V. 8. —as a peacocke pearke,] Spenfer's Shepherd's Calendar, February:

They wont in the wind wag their wriggle tails,
Pearke as a peacocke.

She bragly turned her ungentle face,

And all difdaining ey'd my shape askaunce: 10
But I did blush, with grief and shame yblent,
Like morning-rofe with hoary dewe besprent.
III.

Tell me, my fellows all, am I not fair?
Has fell enchantress blasted all my charms?
Whilom mine head was fleek with treffed hayre, 15
My laughing eyne did shoot out love's alarms:
E'en KATE did deemen me the faireft fwain,
When erft I won this girdle on the plain.

V. 10. -ey'd my fhape afkaunce:] Par. Loft, iv. 502:
Afide the Devil turn'd

For envy, and with jealous leer malign
Eyed them afkance.

See also Spenfer, F. Q. III. xii. 15:

Under his eyebrows looking still afkaunce.

V. 11.yblent,] blinded, confounded. So in F. 2. I. ii. 5: The eie of reason was with rage yblent.

V. 12. Like morning-rose with hoary dewe besprent.] Shepherd's Calendar, December :

My head befprent with boarie froft I fynde.

V. 15. with treffed hayre,] Shepherd's Cal. April:
He plung'd in vaine his treffed lockes doth teare.

Drayton has" his treffed locks." Ecl. II. vol. iv. p. 1391.

V. 16. My laughing eyne] This expreffion does not occur in the 20th Idyll, but is elsewhere used by Theocritus: Oppati μsidown. vii. 20. and by Mofchus,

πριν

VOL. I.

μειδίσωντι συν ομματι φαιδρος ιδέσθαι. iii. 97.

I

IV.

My lip with vermil was embellished,
My bagpipes notes loud and delicious were,
The milk-white lily, and the rose so red,
Did on my face depeinten lively cheere,
My voice as foote as mounting larke did fhrill,
My look was blythe as MARG'RET's at the mill.

V.

20

But she forfooth, more fair than MADGE or KATE, A dainty maid, did deign not shepherd's love; Nor wift what THENOT told us fwains of late, That VENUS fought a fhepherd in a grove;

V. 19. My lip with vermil was embellished,] For this and ver. 16, fee Comus, ver. 753:

What need a vermeil-tinctur'd lip for that,

Love-darting eyes, or treffes like the morn?

V. 20. My bagpipes notes] The bagpipe is the Shepherd's mufic in Spenfer's Auguft.

V. 21. The milk-white lily, and the rose so red,

Did on my face depeinten lively cheere,]

Shep. Cal. April:

The red rofe medled with the white yfere

In either cheeke depeinten lively cheere.

V. 23. My voice as foote as mounting larke did fhrill,] Step. Cal. October :

Would mount as high, and fing as foote as fwan. "Soote" for fweet is the common word from Chaucer down to William Browne. "To fhrill" for " to found fhrilly" is ufed by Spenfer. E. G. Faerie Queen, I. v. 6: A brilling trompett."

V. 27.THENOT] The name of an old fhepherd in Spenfer's Shep. Cal. February.