Thee, Nomian we adore; for that from Heaven Defcending, thou on fair Amphryfus' banks Didit guard Admetus's herds. Sithence the cow Produc'd an ampler ftore of milk; the fhe-goat Not without pain dragg'd her diftended udder; And ewes, that erft brought forth but fingle lambs, Now dropp'd their two-fold burthens. Bleft the cattle,

On which Apollo caft his favouring eye!

But, Phoebus, thou to man beneficent, Delight'ft in building cities. Bright Diana, Kind fifter to thy infant-deity

New-wean'd, and just arifing from the cradle. Brought hunted wild goats heads, and branching antlers

Of Stags, the fruit and honor of her toil.

Thefe with difcerning hand thou knew'ft to range, (Young as thou waft) and in the well-fram'd models, With emblematic fkill, and mystic order,

Thou fhew'dft, where towers or battlements should

rife;

Where gates fhould open; or where walls fhould compafs :

While from thy childish pastime man received,
The future ftrength, and ornament of nations.

Battus, our great progenitor, now touch'd
The Libyan ftrand; when the foreboding crow
Flew on the right before the people, marking
The country deftin'd the aufpicious feat

Of

Of future kings, and favour of the God,
Whose oath is fure, and promife ftands eternal.

Or Boedromian hear'it thou pleas'd, or Clarian, Phoebus, great king? for different are thy names, As thy kind hand has founded many cities,

Or dealt benign thy various gifts to man.
Carnean let me call thee! for my country
Calls thee Carnean: the fair colony

Thrice by thy gracious guidance was tranfported,
Ere fettl'd in Cyrene; there w' appointed
Thy annual feafts, kind God, and bless thy altars
Smoaking with hecatombs of flaughter'd bulls;
As Carnus, thy high-prieft and favour'd friend,
Had erft ordain'd; and with myfterious rites,
Our great forefathers taught their fons to worship.
Io Carnean Phoebus! Iö Pean!

The yellow crocus there, and fair narciffus
Referve the honours of the winter-ftore,
To deck thy temple; 'till returning spring
Diffufes nature's various pride; and flowers
Innumerable, by the foft fouth-west

Open'd; and gather'd by religious hands,
Rebound their fweets from th' odoriferous pavement.
Perpetual fires fhine hallow'd on thy altars,
When annual the Carnean feaft is held:
The warlike Libyans clad in armour, lead

The dance; with clanging fwords and fhields they

beat

The

The dreadful measure in the chorus join Their women, brown but beautiful: such rites To thee well pleafing. Nor had yet thy votaries, From Greece tranfplanted, touch'd Cyrene's banks; And lands determin'd for their last abodes; But wander'd through Azilis' horrid forest Difpers'd; when from Myrtufa's craggy brow, Fond of the maid, aufpicious to the city, Which must hereafter bear her favour'd name, Thou gracious deign'ft to let the fair one view Her typic people; thou with pleasure taught'ft her To draw the bów, to flay the shaggy lion, And stop the spreading ruin of the plains. Happy the nymph, who honour'd by thy paffion, Was aided by thy power! the monstrous Python Durft tempt thy wrath in vain: for dead he fell, To thy great ftrength, and golden arms unequal, Iö while thy unerring hand elanc'd Another, and another dart; the people Joyfully repeated Iö! Iö Pean!

Elance the dart, Apollo: for the fafety,

And health of man, gracious thy mother bore thee.
Envy thy lateft foe fuggefted thus:

Like thee I am power immortal; therefore
To thee dare speak. How canft thou favour partial
Those poets who write little? Vast and great
Is what I love: the far-extended ocean

To a fmall rivulet I perfer. Apollo

Spurn'd Envy with his foot; and thus the God:

Dæmon

Dæmon, the head-long current of Euphrates,
Affyrian river, copious runs, but muddy;
And carries forward with his stupid force
Polluting dirt; his torrent ftill augmenting,

His wave still more defil'd; mean while the nymphe Meliffan, facred and reclufe to Ceres,

Studious to have their offerings well receiv'd,

And fit for Heavenly ufe, from little urns

Pour ftreams felect, and purity of waters.
Iô! Apollo, mighty king, let Envy
Ill-judging and verbose, from Lethe's lake,
Draw tuns unmeasureable; while thy favour
Adminifters to my ambitious thirst

The wholesome draught from Aganippe's fpring
Genuine, and with foft murmurs gently rilling
Adown the mountains where thy daughters haunt

CH-A

CHARITY.

A

PARAPHRASE

ON THE

THIRTEENTH CHAPTFR OF THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

DID fweeter founds adorn my flowing tongue,
Than ever man pronounc'd, or angel fung:
Had I all knowledge, human and divine,
That thought can reach, or science can define;
And had I power to give that knowledge birth,
In all the speeches of the babling earth;
Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breaft infpire,
To weary tortures, and rejoice in fire;
Or had I faith like that which Ifrael faw
When Mofes gave them miracles, and law:
Yet gracious Charity, indulgent guest,
Were not thy power exerted in my breaft;
Thofe fpeeches would fend up unheeded prayer:
That fcorn of life would be but wild defpair:
A tymbal's found were better than my voice,
My faith were form: my eloquence were noise.

;

Charity,