Whoe'er, on Powell's dazzling stage display'd,
Hath fam'd king Pepin and his court furvey'd,
May guess, if old by modern things we trace,
The pomp and fplendor of the fairy race.

By magick fenc'd, by spell encompass'd round,
No mortal touch'd this interdicted ground;
No mortal enter'd, those alone who came,
Stol'n from the couch of fome terrestrial dame :
For oft of babes they robb'd the matron's bed,
And left fome fickly changeling in their stead.

It chanc'd, a youth of Albion's royal blood
Was fofter'd here, the wonder of the wood;
Milkah, for wiles above her peers renown'd,
Deep skill'd in charms and many a myftick found,
As through the regal dome fhe fought for prey,
Obferv'd the infant Albion, where he lay,
In mantles broider'd o'er with gorgeous pride,
And stole him from the fleeping mother's fide.
Who now but Milkah triumphs in her mind!
Ah, wretched nymph, to future evils blind!
The time fhall come when thou fhalt dearly pay
The theft, hard-hearted! of that guilty day :
Thou, in thy turn, fhalt like the queen repine,
And all her forrows, doubled, fhall be thine;
He who adorns thy houfe, the lovely boy
Who now adorns it, fhall at length deftroy.

Two hundred moons in their pale course had feen
The gay-rob'd fairies glimmer on the green,
And Albion now had reach'd in youthful prime
To nineteen years, as mortals measure time.
Flush'd with refiftlefs charms, he fir'd to love
Each nymph and little Dryad of the grove;
For skilful Milkah spar'd not to employ
Her utmost art to rear the princely boy.
Each fupple limb fhe swath'd, and tender bone,

And to the Elfin ftandard kept him down ;

She

She robb'd dwarf-elders of their fragrant fruit,
And fed him early with the daify's root;
Whence through his veins the powerful juices ran,
And form'd, in beauteous miniature, the man.
Yet ftill, two inches taller than the reft,
His lofty port his human birth confefs'd;

A foot in height, how ftately did he show !
How look fuperior on the crowd below!
What knight like him could tofs the rushy lance!
Who move fo graceful in the mazy dance!

A fhape fo nice, or features half fo fair,

What elf could boast! or fuch a flow of hair!

Bright Kenna faw, a princefs born to reign,

And felt the charmer burn in ev'ry vein.
She, heiress to this empire's potent lord,

Prais'd like the stars, and next the moon ador'd;
She, whom at diftance thrones and princedoms view'd,
To whom proud Oriel and Azuriel fu'd,

In her high palace languish'd, void of joy,
And pin'd in fecret for a mortal boy.

He too was fmitten, and discreetly strove,
By courtly deeds, to gain the virgin's love;
For her he cull'd the fairest flow'rs that grew,
Ere morning funs had drain'd their fragrant dew;
He chas'd the hornet in his mid-day flight,
And brought her glow-worms in the noon of night:
When on ripe fruit she caft a wishing eye,
Did ever Albion think the tree too high!
He fhow'd her where the pregnant goldfinch hung,
And the wren-mother brooding o'er her young;
To her th' infcription on their eggs he read,
(Admire, ye clerks, the youth whom Milkah bred!)
To her he show'd each herb of virtuous juice,
Their pow'rs diftinguish'd, and describ'd their use:
All vain their pow'rs, alas! to Kenna prove,
And well fung Ovid, There's no herb for love."

As

As when a ghoft, enlarg'd from realms below,
Seeks it's old friend to tell fome fecret woe,
The poor fhade fhivering ftands, and muft not break
His painful filence, till the mortal speak;
So far'd it with the little love-fick maid,
Forbid to utter what her eyes betray'd.
He faw her anguish, and reveal'd his flame,
And fpar'd the blushes of the tongue-ty'd dame,
The day would fail me, should I reckon o'er
The fighs they lavish'd, and the oaths they swore;
In words fo melting, that, compar'd with those,
The nicest courtship of terrestrial beaus,

Would found like compliments from country clowns
To red cheek'd fweet-hearts in their home-fpun gowns,
All in a lawn of many a various hue,

A bed of flow'rs (a fairy forest) grew;

'Twas here, one noon, the gaudiest of the May,
The ftill, the fecret, filent hour of day,
Beneath a lofty tulip's ample shade,

Sate the young lover, and th' immortal maid.
They thought all fairies flept; ah, lucklefs pair!
Hid, but in vain, in the fun's noon-tide glare!
When Albion, leaning on his Kenna's breast,
Thus all the foftness of his foul exprefs'd.

All things are hush'd. The fun's meridian rays
Veil the horizon in one mighty blaze;

• Nor moon nor ftar in heav'n's blue arch is feen

• With kindly rays to filver o'er the green.

• Grateful to fairy eyes; they secret take
Their reft, and only wretched mortals wake.
This dead of day I fly to thee alone,
A world to me, a multitude in one.

Oh, sweet as dew-drops on thefe flow'ry lawns,

When the sky opens and the ev'ning dawns!

Straight as the pink, that tow'rs so high in air, • Soft as the blue-bell! as the daisy, fair!

Blefs'd

Blefs'd be the hour, when firft I was convey'd,
An infant captive, to this blissful shade!
And blefs'd the hand that did my form refine,
‹ And shrunk my stature to a match with thine!
Glad, I for thee renounce my royal birth,
And all the giant-daughters of the earth.
Thou, if thy breaft with equal ardour burn,
• Renounce thy kind, and love for love return :
• So from us two, combin'd by nuptial ties,
A race unknown of demi-gods fhall rife.
Oh, fpeak, my love! my vows with vows repay,
And sweetly fwear my rifing fears 'away.'

To whom (the shining azure of her eyes
More brighten'd) thus th' enamour'd maid replies.
By all the ftars, and firft the glorious moon,

• I swear, and by the head of Oberon,

A dreadful oath! no prince of fairy line

• Shall e'er in wedlock plight his vows with mine. • Where'er my footsteps in the dance are seen,

May toad-stools rise, and mildews blast the green; May the keen eaft-wind blight my fav'rite flow'rs, • And snakes and spotted adders haunt my bow'rs. ⚫ Confin'd whole ages in an hemlock shade,

There rather pine I a neglected maid;

• Or worse, exil'd from Cynthia's gentle rays, Parch in the fun a thousand fummer days;

⚫ Than any prince, a prince of fairy line,

• In facred wedlock plight his vows with mine.'

She ended and with lips of rofy hue,

:

Dipp'd five times over in ambrofial dew,

Stifled his words. When from his covert rear'd,

The frowning brow of Oberon appear'd.

A fun-flower's trunk was near, whence (killing fight!)
The monarch iffu'd, half an ell in height:

Full on the pair a furious look he caft,
Nor fpake, but gave his bugle-horn a blast,

That through the woodland echo'd far and wide,
And drew a swarm of fubjects to his fide.
A hundred chofen knights, in war renown'd,
Drive Albion, banish'd from the facred ground;
And twice ten myriads guard the bright abodes,
Where the proud king, among his demi-gods,
For Kenna's fudden bridal bids prepare,
And to Azuriel gives the weeping fair.

If fame in arms, with ancient birth combin❜d,
And faultlefs beauty, and a spotless mind,
To love and praise can gen'rous fouls incline,
That love, Azuriel, and that praise were thine.
Blood, only lefs than royal, fill'd thy veins,
Proud was thy roof, and large thy fair domains:
Where now the skies high Holland House invades,
And short-liv'd Warwick fadden'd all the shades,
Thy dwelling ftood; nor did in him afford
A nobler owner, or a lovelier lord.

For thee a hundred fields produc'd their store,
And by thy name ten thousand vassals swore;

So lov'd thy name, that, at their monarch's choice,
All fairy fhouted with a gen'ral voice.

Oriel alone a fecret rage fupprefs'd,

That from his bofom heav'd the golden veft.
Along the banks of Thame his empire ran,
Wide was his range, and populous his clan.
When cleanly fervants, if we truft old tales,
Befides their wages had good fairy vails,
Whole heaps of filver tokens, nightly paid
The careful wife or the neat dairy-maid,

Sunk not his ftores. With fmiles and pow'rful bribes
He gain'd the leaders of his neighbour tribes;.
And ere the night the face of heav'n had chang'd,
Beneath his banners half the fairies rang'd.

Meanwhile, driven back to earth, a lonely way,
The chearless Albion wander'd half the day;

A long,