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Or, growling horrid, as the brindled boar
Grins fell destruction, to the monster's heart
Let the dart lighten from the nervous arm.

THESE BRITAIN knows not; give, ye BRITONS, then Your sportive fury, pitylefs, to pour

Loofe on the nightly Robber of the Fold:

Him, from his craggy winding haunts unearth'd,
Let all the thunder of the chace purfue."

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Throw the broad ditch behind you; o'er the hedge High-bound, refiftlefs; nor the deep morafs

Refuse, but thro' the shaking wilderness

nice way;

480

Pick

your into the perilous flood Bear fearlefs, of the raging inftinct full; And as you ride the torrent, to the banks Your triumph found fonorous, running round, From rock to rock, in circling echos tost.

485

BUT if the rougher fex by this fierce sport
Is hurried wild, let not fuch horrid joy
E'er ftain the bofom of the BRITISH FAIR.
Far be the spirit of the chace from them!
Uncomely courage, unbefeeming skill;

To fpring the fence, to rein the prancing fteed;

490

The

The cap, the whip, the mafculine attire,
In which they roughen to the fenfe, and all
The winning foftness of their fex is loft.
In them 'tis graceful to diffolve at woe;
With every motion, every word, to wave
Quick o'er the kindling cheek the ready blush;
And from the smallest violence to shrink,
Unequal, then the lovelieft in their fears;

And by this filent adulation, foft,

To their protection more engaging Man. may their eyes no miferable fight,

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Save weeping lovers, fee! a nobler game,

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500

Thro' love's enchanting wiles purfued, yet fled, 505
In chace ambiguous. May their tender limbs
Float in the loofe fimplicity of drefs!

And, fashion'd all to harmony, alone
Know they to feize the captivated foul,

In rapture warbled from love-breathing lips;
To teach the lute to languifh; with smooth step,
Difclofing Motion in its every charm,

To swim along, and fwell the mazy dance;

510

To train the foliage o'er the fnowy lawn;

To guide the pencil, turn the tuneful page;

515

To lend new flavour to the fruitful year,

And

And heighten Nature's dainties; in their race
To rear their graces into fecond life;

To give fociety its highest tafte;

Well-order'd Home Man's best delight to make; 520 And by fubmiffive wisdom, modeft skill,

With every gentle care-eluding art,

To raise the virtues, animate the bliss,

And fweeten all the toils of human life:

525

This be the female dignity, and praise.

Yɛ fwains now haften to the hazel-bank; Where, down yon dale, the wildly-winding brook Falls hoarfe from fteep to fteep. In close array, Fit for the thickets and the tangling fhrub, Ye virgins come. For you their latest fong The woodlands raife; the cluftering nuts for you The lover finds amid the secret shade;

And, where they burnish on the topmost bough,

With active vigour crushes down the tree;
Or fhakes them ripe from the refigning husk,
A gloffy shower, and of an ardent brown,
As are the ringlets of MELINDA's hair:
MELINDA form'd with every grace compleat,

530

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Yet

Yet thefe neglecting, above beauty wise,

And far transcending fuch a vulgar praise.

540

HENCE from the bufy joy-refounding fields,
In chearful error, let us tread the maze
Of Autumn, unconfin'd; and tafte, reviv'd,
The breath of orchard big with bending fruit. 545
Obedient to the breeze and beating ray,

From the deep loaded bough a mellow fhower
Inceffant melts away. The juicy pear
Lies, in a foft profufion, scatter'd round.
A various sweetness fwells the gentle race;
By Nature's all-refining hand prepar'd;
Of temper'd fun, and water, earth, and air,
In ever changing compofition mixt.
Such, falling frequent thro' the chiller night,
The fragrant ftores, the wide projected heaps
Of apples, which the lufty-handed year,
Innumerous, o'er the blufhing orchard shakes.
A various fpirit, fresh, delicious, keen,

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555

Dwells in their gelid pores; and, active points 560
The piercing cyder for the thirsty tongue:
Thy native theme, and boon Infpirer too,
PHILLIPS, Pomona's bard, the second thou

Who

Who nobly durft, in rhyme-unfetter'd verfe,
With BRITISH freedom fing the BRITISH fong; 565
How, from Silurian vats, high-fparkling wines
Foam in tranfparent floods; fome ftrong, to cheer
The wintry revels of the labouring hind;
And tasteful fome, to cool the fummer-hours.

In this glad season, while his sweetest beams 570 The fun fheds equal o'er the meeken'd day; Oh lose me in the green delightful walks

575

Of, DODINGTON, thy feat, ferene and plain;
Where fimple Nature reigns; and every view,
Diffufive, fpreads the pure Dorfetian downs,
In boundless profpect; yonder fhagg'd with wood,
Here rich with harvest, and there white with flocks!
Mean time the grandeur of thy lofty dome,
Far-fplendid, feizes on the ravifh'd eye.
New beauties rife with each revolving day;

580

New columns fwell; and still the fresh Spring finds

New plants to quicken, and new groves to green.

Full of thy genius all! the Mufes' feat;

Where in the fecret bower, and winding walk,

For virtuous YOUNG and thee they twine the bay. 585 Here wandering oft, fir'd with the restless thirst

VOL. I.

H

Of

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