Where beauteous Isis and her husband Tame
With mingled waves for ever flow the same,
In times of yore an ancient baron lived;
Great gifts bestowed, and great respect received.
When dreadful Edward with successful care
Led his free Britons to the Gallic war,
This lord had headed his appointed bands,
In firm allegiance to his king's commands;
And (all due honours faithfully discharged)
Had brought back his paternal coat enlarged
With a new mark, the witness of his toil,
And no inglorious part of foreign spoil.

From the loud camp retired and noisy court,
In honourable ease and rural sport,

The remnant of his days he safely passed;

Nor found they lagged too slow, nor flew too fast.
He made his wish with his estate comply,
Joyful to live, yet not afraid to die.

One child he had, a daughter chaste and fair,
His age's comfort, and his fortune's heir;

They called her Emma; for the beauteous dame,
Who gave the virgin birth, had borne the name;
The name the indulgent father doubly loved;
For in the child the mother's charms improved.
Yet as, when little, round his knees she played,
He called her oft in sport his Nut-brown Maid,
The friends and tenants took the fondling word
(As still they please, who imitate their lord);
Usage confirmed what fancy had begun;
The mutual terms around the lands were known;
And Emma and the Nut-brown Maid were one.

As with her stature, still her charms increased;
Through all the isle her beauty was confessed.
Oh! what perfection must that virgin share,

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Who fairest is esteemed, where all are fair!
From distant shires repair the noble youth,
And find report for once had lessened truth.
By wonder first, and then by passion moved,
They came, they saw, they marvelled, and they loved.
By public praises, and by secret sighs,

Each owned the general power of Emma's eyes.
In tilts and tournaments the valiant strove,
By glorious deeds to purchase Emma's love.
In gentle verse the witty told their flame,

And graced their choicest songs with Emma's name.
In vain they combated, in vain they writ:
Useless their strength, and impotent their wit.
Great Venus only must direct the dart,

Which else will never reach the fair one's heart,
Spite of the attempts of force, and soft effects of art.
Great Venus must prefer the happy one;
In Henry's cause her favour must be shown;
And Emma, of mankind, must love but him alone.
While these in public to the castle came,
And by their grandeur justified their flame;
More secret ways the careful Henry takes;
His squires, his arms, and equipage forsakes,
In borrowed name and false attire arrayed,
Oft he finds means to see the beauteous maid.
When Emma hunts, in huntsman's habit dressed,
Henry on foot pursues the bounding beast;
In his right hand his beechen pole he bears,
And graceful at his side his horn he wears.
Still to the glade, where she has bent her way,
With knowing skill he drives the future prey;
Bids her decline the hill, and shun the brake,
And shows the path her steed may safest take;
Directs her spear to fix the glorious wound,

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Pleased in his toils to have her triumph crowned; 107 And blows her praises in no common sound.

A falconer Henry is, when Emma hawks;
With her of tarsels and of lures he talks;
Upon his wrist the towering merlin stands,
Practised to rise, and stoop at her commands.
And when superior now the bird has flown,
And headlong brought the tumbling quarry down;
With humble reverence he accosts the fair,
And with the honoured feather decks her hair.
Yet still, as from the sportive field she goes
His downcast eye reveals his inward woes;
And by his look and sorrow is expressed,
A nobler game pursued than bird or beast.
A shepherd now along the plain he roves,
And, with his jolly pipe, delights the groves.
The neighbouring swains around the stranger throng,
Or to admire, or emulate his song;

While with soft sorrow he renews his lays,
Nor heedful of their envy, nor their praise.
But, soon as Emma's eyes adorn the plain,
His notes he raises to a nobler strain,
With dutiful respect, and studious fear;
Lest any careless sound offend her ear.

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A frantic gipsy now, the house he haunts, And in wild phrases speaks dissembled wants. With the fond maids in palmistry he deals: They tell the secret first, which he reveals; Says who shall wed, and who shall be beguiled; What groom shall get, and 'squire maintain the child. But, when bright Emma would her fortune know, A softer look unbends his opening brow; With trembling awe he gazes on her eye, And in soft accents forms the kind reply;

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That she shall prove as fortunate as fair;
And Hymen's choicest gifts are all reserved for her.
Now oft had Henry changed his sly disguise,
Unmarked by all but beauteous Emma's eyes;
Oft had found means alone to see the dame,
And at her feet to breathe his amorous flame,
And oft the pangs of absence to remove
By letters, soft interpreters of love.
Till Time and Industry (the mighty two
That bring our wishes nearer to our view)
Made him perceive, that the inclining fair
Received his vows with no reluctant ear;
That Venus had confirmed her equal reign,
And dealt to Emma's heart a share of Henry's pain.
While Cupid smiled, by kind occasion blessed,
And, with the secret kept, the love increased;
The amorous youth frequents the silent groves;
And much he meditates, for much he loves.
He loves; 'tis true; and is beloved again:
Great are his joys, but will they long remain?
Emma with smiles receives his present flame;
But smiling, will she ever be the same!
Beautiful looks are ruled by fickle minds;
And summer seas are turned by sudden winds.
Another love may gain her easy youth:

Time changes thought; and flattery conquers truth.
O impotent estate of human life,

Where hope and fear maintain eternal strife!
Where fleeting joy does lasting doubt inspire,
And most we question what we most desire!
Amongst thy various gifts, great Heaven, bestow
Our cup of love unmixed; forbear to throw
Bitter ingredients in; nor pall the draught
With nauseous grief; for our ill-judging thought

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Hardly enjoys the pleasurable taste;

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Or deems it not sincere, or fears it cannot last.
With wishes raised, with jealousies oppressed
(Alternate tyrants of the human breast),
By one great trial he resolves to prove
The faith of woman, and the force of love.
If scanning Emma's virtues he may find
That beauteous frame enclose a steady mind,
He'll fix his hope, of future joy secure;
And live a slave to Hymen's happy power.
But if the fair one, as he fears, is frail;
If, poised aright in reason's equal scale,
Light fly her merit, and her faults prevail;
His mind he vows to free from amorous care,
The latent mischief from his heart to tear,
Resume his azure arms, and shine again in war.
South of the castle, in a verdant glade,
A spreading beech extends her friendly shade;
Here oft the nymph his breathing vows had heard,
Here oft her silence had her heart declared.
As active spring awaked her infant buds,
And genial life informed the verdant woods,
Henry, in knots involving Emma's name,
Had half expressed and half concealed his flame,
Upon this tree; and, as the tender mark
Grew with the year, and widened with the bark,
Venus had heard the virgin's soft address,
That, as the wound, the passion might increase.
As potent Nature shed her kindly showers,
And decked the various mead with opening flowers;
Upon this tree the nymph's obliging care

Had left a frequent wreath for Henry's hair;
Which as with gay delight the lover found,

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Pleased with his conquest, with her present crowned,