תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

Of Abra first began the tender ftrain,
Who led her youth with flocks upon the plain ;
At morn fhe came, thofe willing flocks to lead
Where lilies rear them in the watʼry mead :
From early dawn the live-long hours she told,
Till late at filent eve she penn'd the fold.
Deep in the grove, beneath the fecret fhade,
A various wreath of odorous flowers fhe made.
Gay-motley'd pinks and sweet jonquils fhe chofe*,
The violet blue that on the moss-bank grows;
All sweet to sense, the flaunting rose was there:
The finish'd chaplet well-adorn'd her hair.

Great Abbas chanc'd that fated morn to ftray,
By love conducted from the chace away:
Among the vocal vales he heard her song,
And fought the vales and echoing groves among.
At length he found, and woo'd the rural maid;
She knew the monarch, and with fear obey'd.
Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,
And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!?
The royal lover bore her from the plain ;
Yet ftill her crook and bleating flock remain :
Oft as she went, fhe backward turn'd her view,
And bade that crook and bleating flock adieu.
Fair happy maid! to other scenes remove
To richer scenes of golden power and love!
Go leave the fimple pipe, and fhepherd's ftrain;
With love delight thee, and with Abbas reign.

[ocr errors]

Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,

And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd !? Yet, midft the blaze of courts, fhe fix'd her love

On the cool fountain, or the fhady grove;

[ocr errors]

That these flowers are found in very great abundance in fome of the proyinces of Perfia, fee the Modern History of the ingenious Mr. Salmon.

Still, with the fhepherd's innocence, her mind
To the sweet vale and flow'ry mead inclin❜d :
And oft as Spring renew'd the plains with flow'rs,
Breath'd his foft gales, and led the fragrant Hours;
With fure return the fought the sylvan scene,
The breezy mountains, and the forefts green.
Her maids around her mov'd, a duteous band!
Each bore a crook all-rural in her hand:
Some fimple lay, of flocks and herds, they fung;
With joy the mountain and the forest rung,

• Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,

And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!?
And oft the royal lover left the care
And thorns of ftate, attendant on the fair;
Oft to the shades and low-roof'd cots retir'd,
Or fought the vale where firft his heart was fir'd;
A ruffet mantle, like a fwain, he wore,
And thought of crowns and bufy courts no more.
Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,
And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!'
Blefs'd was the life that royal Abbas led :
Sweet was his love, and innocent his bed.
What if in wealth the noble maid excel;
The simple shepherd-girl can love as well.
Let those who rule on Perfia's jewell'd throne,
Be fam'd for love, and gentleft love alone;
Or wreathe, like Abbas, full of fair renown,
The lover's myrtle with the warrior's crown.
O happy days!' the maids around her fay:
O hafte, profufe of bleffings, hafte away!

Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,
And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!?

ECLOGUE

ECLOGUE IV.

AGIB AND SECANDER; OR, THE FUGITIVES.

SCENE, A MOUNTAIN IN CIRCASSIA. TIME, MIDNIGHT.

N fair Circaffia, where, to love inclin❜d,

IN

Each fwain was blefs'd, for ev'ry maid was kind;
At that ftill hour, when awful midnight reigns,
And none but wretches haunt the twilight plains;
What time the Moon had hung her lamp on high,
And pass'd in radiance thro' the cloudless sky;
Sad o'er the dews two brother shepherds fled,
Where wild'ring fear and defperate forrow led :
Faft as they prefs'd their flight, behind them lay
Wide ravag'd plains, and vallies stole away.
Along the mountain's bending fide they ran
Till faint and weak, Secander thus began.

SECANDER.

O ftay thee, Agib, for my feet deny,
No longer friendly to my life, to fly.
Friend of my heart, O turn thee and furvey;
Trace our fad flight thro' all it's length of way!
And first review that long-extended plain,
And yon wide groves, already pafs'd with pain!
Yon ragged cliff, whofe dangerous path we try'd!
And laft, this lofty mountain's weary fide!

A GIB.

Weak as thou art, yet hapless must thou know The toils of flight, or fome feverer woe!

Still as I hafte, the Tartar fhouts behind,

And shrieks and forrows load the faddening wind
In
rage
of heart, with ruin in his hand,
He blafts our harvests, and deforms our land.
Yon citron
whence first in fear we came,

grove,

Drops it's fair honours to the conquering flame;

Far

Far fly the fwains, like us, in deep despair,
And leave to ruffian bands their fleecy care.

SECANDER.

Unhappy land! whose bleffings tempt the fword;
In vain, unheard, thou call'ft thy Perfian lord!
In vain thou court'ft him, helpless, to thine aid,
To shield the shepherd, and protect the maid!
Far off, in thoughtlefs indolence refign'd,
Soft dreams of love and pleasure soothe his mind:
Midft fair fultanas loft in idle joy;

No wars alarm him, and no fears annoy.

[ocr errors][merged small]

Yet these green hills, in fummer's fultry heat,
Have lent the monarch oft a cool retreat.
Sweet to the fight is Zabra's flow'ry plain,
And once by maids and shepherds lov'd in vain!
No more the virgins fhall delight to rove
By Sargis' banks, or Irwan's fhady grove;
On Tarkie's mountain catch the cooling gale,
Or breathe the fweets of Aly's flow'ry vale:
Fair scenes! but, ah! no more with peace poffefs'd,
With ease alluring, and with plenty blefs'd.
No more the shepherds whitening tents appear,
Nor the kind products of a bounteous year;
No more the date, with fnowy blossoms crown'd;
But Ruin spreads her baleful fires around.

SECANDER.

In vain Circaffia boasts her spicy groves,
For ever fam'd for pure and happy loves:
In vain fhe boasts her fairest of the fair,

Their eyes blue languish, and their golden hair.
Thofe eyes in tears their fruitless grief must send;
Those hairs the Tartar's cruel hand fhall rend.

AGIB.

Ye Georgian fwains, that piteous learn from far Circaffia's ruin, and the waste of war;

Some

1

Some weightier arms than crooks and ftaffs prepare,
To shield your harvest, and defend your fair:
The Turk and Tartar like defigns pursue,
Fix'd to destroy, and ftedfaft to undo.
Wild as his land, in native defarts bred,
By luft incited, or by malice led,

The villain Arab, as he prowls for prey,

Oft marks with blood and wasting flames the way;
Yet none fo cruel as the Tartar foe,

To death inur'd, and nurs'd in fcenes of woe.

He faid; when loud along the vale was heard
A fhriller fhriek, and nearer fires appear'd:
Th' affrighted fhepherds, thro' the dews of night,
Wide o'er the moon-light hills renew'd their flight.

THE ACTOR.

A

ADDRESSED то BONNEL

THORNTON, ESQ.

BY MR. LLOYD.

CTING, dear Thornton, it's perfection draws
From no obfervance of mechanick laws :

No fettled maxims of a fav'rite stage,
No rules deliver'd down from age to age,
Let players nicely mark them as they will,
Can e'er entail hereditary skill.

If, 'mongst the humble hearers of the pit,
Some curious vet'ran critick chance to fit,
Is he pleas'd more because 'twas acted fo
By Booth and Cibber thirty years ago?
The mind recalls an object held more dear,
And hates the copy, that it comes so near.

Why

« הקודםהמשך »