The Works of Alexander Pope Part 45

Why sit we mute, when early linnets sing, 25 When warbling Philomel salutes the spring?[19]

Why sit we sad, when Phosphor[20] s.h.i.+nes so clear, And lavish nature paints the purple[21] year?[22]

STREPHON.

Sing then, and Damon shall attend the strain, While yon slow oxen turn the furrowed plain. 30 Here the bright crocus and blue vi'let glow,[23]

Here western winds on breathing[24] roses blow.[25]

I'll stake yon lamb that near the fountain plays, And from the brink his dancing shade surveys.[26]

DAPHNIS.

And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines,[27] 35 And swelling cl.u.s.ters bend the curling vines:[28]

Four figures rising from the work appear,[29]

The various seasons of the rolling year;[30]

And what is that, which binds the radiant sky, Where twelve fair signs in beauteous order lie?[31] 40

DAMON.

Then sing by turns, by turns the muses sing;[32]

Now hawthorns blossom, now the daisies spring, Now leaves the trees, and flow'rs adorn the ground; Begin, the vales shall ev'ry note rebound.[33]

STREPHON.

Inspire me, Phoebus, in my Delia's praise,[34] 45 With Waller's strains, or Granville's moving lays![35]

A milk-white bull shall at your altars stand, That threats a fight, and spurns the rising sand.[36]

DAPHNIS.

O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize,[37]

And make my tongue victorious as her eyes: 50 No lambs or sheep for victims I'll impart, Thy victim, Love, shall be the shepherd's heart.

STREPHON.

Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, Then hid in shades, eludes her eager swain;[38]

But feigns a laugh to see me search around, 55 And by that laugh the willing fair is found.[39]

DAPHNIS.

The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green, She runs, but hopes she does not run unseen,[40]

While a kind glance at her pursuer flies,[41]

How much at variance are her feet and eyes![42] 60

STREPHON.[43]

O'er golden sand let rich Pactolus flow,[44]

And trees weep amber on the banks of Po;[45]

Bright Thames's sh.o.r.es the brightest beauties yield, Feed here, my lambs, I'll seek no distant field.

DAPHNIS.

Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves; 65 Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves; If Windsor-shades delight the matchless maid, Cynthus and Hybla yield to Windsor-shade.[46]

STREPHON.

All nature mourns, the skies relent in show'rs,[47]

Hushed are the birds, and closed the drooping flow'rs; 70 If Delia smile, the flow'rs begin to spring, The skies to brighten, and the birds to sing.[48]

DAPHNIS.

All nature laughs,[49] the groves are fresh and fair, The sun's mild l.u.s.tre warms the vital air; If Sylvia smiles, new glories gild the sh.o.r.e, 75 And vanquished nature seems to charm no more.[50]

STREPHON.

In spring the fields, in autumn hills I love, At morn the plains, at noon the shady grove, But Delia always; absent from her sight, Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight. 80

DAPHNIS.

Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May, More bright than noon, yet fresh as early day;[51]

Ev'n spring displeases, when she s.h.i.+nes not here; But blest with her, 'tis spring throughout the year.

STREPHON.

Say, Daphnis, say, in what glad soil appears, 85 A wondrous tree that sacred monarchs bears;[52]

Tell me but this, and I'll[53] disclaim the prize, And give the conquest to thy Sylvia's eyes.

DAPHNIS.

Nay tell me first, in what more happy fields[54]

The thistle springs, to which the lily yields:[55] 90 And then a n.o.bler prize I will resign; For Sylvia, charming Sylvia shall be thine.

DAMON.

Cease to contend; for, Daphnis, I decree The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee.[56]

Blest swains, whose nymphs in ev'ry grace excel; 95 Blest nymphs, whose swains those graces sing so well!

Now rise, and haste to yonder woodbine bow'rs, A soft retreat from sudden vernal show'rs; The turf with rural dainties shall be crowned,[57]

While op'ning blooms diffuse their sweets around. 100 For see! the gath'ring flocks to shelter tend, And from the Pleiads[58] fruitful show'rs descend.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Our author's friends.h.i.+p with this gentleman commenced at very unequal years; he was under sixteen, but Sir William above sixty, and had lately resigned his employment of secretary of state to King William.--POPE.

This amiable old man, who had been a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and doctor of civil law, was sent by Charles II. judge advocate to Tangier, and afterwards in a public character to Florence, to Turin, to Paris; and by James II. amba.s.sador to Constantinople; to which city he went through the continent on foot. He was afterwards a lord of the treasury, and secretary of state, with the Duke of Shrewsbury, which office he resigned 1697, and retiring to East Hampstead, died there in December, 1716, aged seventy-seven. Nothing of his writing remains but an elegant character of Archbishop Dolben.--WARTON.

Pope says that Sir William Trumbull had "lately" resigned his office at the period of their acquaintance, but seven years had elapsed after the date of Sir William's retirement, before Pope had reached the age of sixteen.]

[Footnote 2:

Prima Syracusio dignata est ludere versu, Nostra nec erubuit sylvas habitare Thalia.

Ecl. vi. 1.