But who can paint the lover, as he stood,
Pierc'd by fevere amazement, hating life,
Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe!
So, faint resemblance, on the marble tomb,
The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands,
For ever filent, and for ever fad.
As from the face of heaven the shatter'd clouds
Tumultuous rove, th' interminable sky
Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands
A purer azure. Nature, from the storm,
Shines out afresh; and thro' the lighten'd air
A higher luftre and a clearer calm,
Diffusive, tremble; while, as if in sign
Of danger paft, a glittering robe of joy,
Set off abundant by the yellow ray,
Invests the fields, yet dropping from distress.
'Tis beauty all, and grateful fong around, Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat Of flocks thick-nibbling thro' the clover'd vale. 1235 And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless Man,
Most-favour'd; who with voice articulate
Should lead the chorus of this lower world?
Shall he, fo foon forgetful of the hand
That husn'd the thunder, and serenes the sky, 1240
Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempeft wak'd,
That sense of powers exceeding far his own,
Ere yet his feeble heart has loft its fears ?
CHEAR'D by the milder beam, the sprightly youth Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth A fandy bottom shews. A while he stands Gazing th' inverted landskip, half afraid To meditate the blue profound below; Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. His ebon tresses, and his rosy cheek Instant emerge; and thro' th' obedient wave, At each short breathing by his lip repell'd, With arms and legs according well, he makes, As humour leads, an easy-winding path; While, from his polish'd fides, a dewy light
Effuses on the pleas'd spectators round.
THIS is the purest exercise of health, The kind refresher of the summer-heats; Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, Would I weak-shivering linger on the brink. 1260 Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserv'd, By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs Knit into force; and the fame Roman arm, That rose victorious o'er the conquer'd earth, 1265 First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave. Even, from the body's purity, the mind Receives a fecret sympathetic aid.
CLOSE in the covert of an hazle copse, Where winded into pleasing solitudes
Runs out the rambling dale, young DAMON fat,
Pensive, and pierc'd with love's delightful pangs.
There to the stream that down the distant rocks
Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play'd
Among the bending willows, falfely he
OF MUSIDORA's cruelty complain'd.
She felt his flame; but deep within her breaft,
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride,
The foft return conceal'd; fave when it stole
In fide-long glances from her downcast eye,
Or from her swelling foul in stifled fighs.
Touch'd by the scene, no stranger to his vows,
He fram'd a melting lay, to try her heart;
And, if an infant paffion struggled there,
To call that paffion forth. Thrice happy swain! 1285
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine.
For lo! conducted by the laughing Loves,
This cool retreat his MUSIDORA fought:
Warm in her cheek the fultry feason glow'd; 1290
And, robe'd in loose array, she came to bathe
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream.
What shall he do? In sweet confufion loft,
And dubious flutterings, he a while remain'd:
A pure ingenuous elegance of foul,
A delicate refinement, known to few,
Perplex'd his breaft, and urg'd him to retire :
But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say,
Say, ye severeft, what would you have done?
VOL. I.
Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest
Arcadian stream, with timid eye around
The banks surveying, strip'd her beauteous limbs,
To taste the lucid coolness of the flood.
Ah then! not Paris on the piny top
Of Ida panted stronger, when aside
The rival-goddesses the veil divine
Cast unconfin'd, and gave him all their charms,
Than, DAMON, thou; as from the snowy leg,
And flender foot, th' inverted filk she drew;
As the soft touch diffolv'd the virgin zone;
And, thro' the parting robe, th' alternate breaft,
With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze
In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth,
How durft thou risque the foul-distracting view ;
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white, 1315
Harmonious swell'd by Nature's finest hand,
In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn;
And fair-expos'd she stood, shrunk from herself,
With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze
Alarm'd, and starting like the fearful fawn ?
Then to the flood the rush'd; the parted flood
Its lovely guest with closing waves receiv'd;
And every beauty softening, every grace
Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed:
As shines the lily thro' the crystal mild;
Or as the rose amid the morning dew,
Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows.
While thus she wanton'd, now beneath the wave
But ill-conceal'd; and now with streaming locks,
That half-embrac'd her in a humid veil,
Rifing again, the latent DAMON drew
Such madning draughts of beauty to the foul,
As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptur'd thought
With luxury too-daring. Check'd, at last,
By love's respectful modesty, he deem'd
The theft profane, if aught profane to love
Can e'er be deem'd; and, struggling from the shade,
With headlong hurry fled: but first these lines,
Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank,
With trembling hand he threw. "Bathe on, my fair,
" Yet unbeheld fave 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 fenfe,
A stupid moment motionless she stood:
So stands the * statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boaft,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes 1350
Which blissful Eden knew not; and, array'd
In careless hafte, th' alarming paper fnatch'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 defcrib'd,
Her sudden bosom seiz'd: shame void of guilt,
|