Than how to fcramble at the thearers feaft,

And fhove away the worthy bidden guest;

Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook, or have learn'd ought else the least 120 That to the faithful herdman's art belongs;

What recks it them? What need they? They are sped; And when they lift, their lean and flashy songs

Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched ftraw;

The hungry fheep look up, and are not fed,

125

But fwoll'n with wind, and the rank mist they draw,

Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread:

Befides what the grim wolf with privy paw
Daily devours apace, and nothing faid,
But that two-handed engin at the door

130

Stands ready to fmite once, and fmite no more.
Return Alpheus, the dread voice is past,
That fhrunk thy ftreams; return Sicilian Mufe,
And call the vales, and bid them hither caft
Their bells, and flourets of a thousand hues.
Ye Valleys low, where the mild whispers use
Of fhades, and wanton winds, and gufhing brooks,
On whofe fresh lap the fwart ftar fparely looks,
Throw hither all your quaint enamel'd eyes,
That on the green turf fuck the honied showers,
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jeffamine,
The white pink, and the panfy freakt with jet,
The glowing violet,

The mufk-rofe, and the well-attir'd woodbine,

With cowflips wan that hang the penfive head,
And every flow'r that fad embroidery wears:
Bid amarantus all his beauty fhed,
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears,

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140

145

150

To ftrow the laureat herfe where Lycid lies.
For fo to interpofe a little ease,

Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.
Ay me! Whilft thee the fhores, and founding feas
Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurl'd,
Whether beyond the ftormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Vifit'ft the bottom of the monftrous world;
Or whether thou to our moist vows deny'd,
Sleep'ft by the fable of Bellerus old,

Where the great vifion of the guarded mount
Looks tow'ard Namancos and Bayona's hold;
Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth:
And, O ye Dolphins waft the hapless youth.

155

16ο

Weep no more, woful Shepherds, weep no more, 165 For Lycidas your forrow is not dead,

Sunk though he be beneath the watry floor;

So finks the day-star in the ocean bed,

And yet anon repairs his drooping head,

And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore 170 Flames in the forehead of the morning sky;

So Lycidas funk low, but mounted high,

175

Through the dear might of him that walk'd the waves,
Where other groves and other ftreams along,
With Nectar pure his oozy locks he laves,
And hears th' unexpreffive nuptial song,
In the bleft kingdoms meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the faints above,
In folemn troops, and sweet societies,
That fing, and finging in their glory move,
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the fhepherds weep no more;
Henceforth thou art the genius of the shore,

180

In thy large recompenfe, and fhalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood.

Thus fang the uncouth fwain to th' oaks and rills,
While the ftill morn went out with fandals gray,
He touch'd the tender ftops of various quills,
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay:
And now the fun had ftretch'd out all the hills,
And now was dropt into the western bay;
At laft he rofe, and twitch'd his mantle blue;
To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.

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190

XVIII.

On the new forcers of conscience under the Long

PARLAMENT*,

Ecaufe have thrown off Prelate Lord,
you

BE

your

And with ftiff vows renounc'd his Liturgy,

To feife the widow'd whore Plurality

From them whofe fin ye envied, not abhorr'd, Dare ye for this adjure the civil sword

To force our confciences that Chrift fet free,
And ride us with a claffic hierarchy †
Taught ye by mere A. S. and Rotherford ?
Men whofe life, learning, faith and pure intent
Would have been held in high esteem with Paul,

* This poem is fuppos'd to have been made, when the Directory was established, and difputes ran high between the Presbyterians and Independents in 1645, the latter pleading for a toleration, and the former against it.

In the Prefbyterian form of government there are congrega tional, claffical, provincial, and national affemblies.

It is not known who is meant by A. S. Mr. Samuel Rotherford was Profeffor of Divinity at St Andrew's, and one of the Scotch commiffioners to the Westminster affembly.

Muft now be nam'd and printed Heretics
By fhallow Edwards * and Scotch what d'ye call † :
But we do hope to find out all your tricks,
Your plots and packing worse than thofe of Trent,
That fo the Parlament 15

May with their wholsome and preventive shears
Clip your phylacteries, tho' bauk your ears,

And fuccour our juft fears,

When they shall read this clearly in your charge,
New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large.

* Mr. Thomas Edwards, author of the Gangræna.

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† Either Mr. Alexander Henderson or Mr. George Gillespie, both commiffioners to the Westminster affembly.

L 4

XIX.

The Fifth O DE of Horace, Lib. I.

Quis multa gracilis te puer in rofa, rendred almoft word for word without rhime, according to the Latin meafure, as near as the language will permit.

WHA

HAT flender youth bedew'd with liquid odors Courts thee on rofes in fome pleasant cave, Pyrrha for whom bind'ft thou

In wreaths thy golden hair,

Plain in thy neatnefs? O how oft shall he
On faith and changed Gods complain, and feas
Rough with black winds and storms
Unwonted fhall admire!

Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold,
Who always vacant always amiable

Hopes thee, of flattering gales

Unmindful. Hapless they

To whom thou untry'd seem'st fair. Me in my

Picture the facred wall declares t' have hung

My dank and dropping weeds

To the ftern God of fea.

5

10

vow'd

15