Say, should disease or pain befall, Where thou wert fairest of the fair? And when at last thy love shall die, And wilt thou o'er his breathless clay Strew flow'rs, and drop the tender tear, Nor then regret those scenes so gay, EXERCISE XI. Though frost and snow lock'd from mine eyes That beauty which without door lies, So full of native sweets, that bless H Thou hast no porter at the door Nor locks nor bolts: thy gates have been Untaught to shut, they do not fear And as for thieves, thy bounty's such, EXERCISE XII. He shall not dread Misfortune's angry mien, In the rough school of billows, clouds, and storms, EXERCISE XIII. Song. O'er the smooth enamell'd green Where no print of step hath been, And touch the warbled string, Under the shady roof Of branching elm star-proof. Follow me; I will bring you where she sits, Clad in splendour as befits Such a rural queen All Arcadia hath not seen. EXERCISE XIV. Song. Nymphs and shepherds, dance no more By sandy Ladon's lilied banks; Bring your flock, and live with us; To serve the lady of this place. Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were, Yet Syrinx well might wait on her. Such a rural queen All Arcadia hath not seen. EXERCISE XV. Thrice, oh, thrice happy, shepherd's life and state! When courts are happiness, unhappy pawns!1 His cottage low, and safely humble gate, Shuts out proud Fortune with her scorns and fawns:2 Singing all day, his flocks he learns to keep; No Serian worms3 he knows, that with their thread No empty hopes, no courtly fears him fright; His certain life, that never can deceive him, Is full of thousand sweets and rich content: The smooth-leav'd beeches in the field receive him With coolest shades, till noon-tide's rage is spent: His life is neither tost in boist'rous seas Of troublous world, nor lost in slothful ease; Pleas'd and full blest he lives, when he his God can please. 1 Pawns, the lowest in rank; the least valuable of chess-men are called pawns. 2 Fawns, fawnings, flatteries. 3 Serian worms; silk-worms, originally brought from the country of the Seres, or northern Chinese. 4 Sidoniun, purple: the finest purple dye known to the ancients was obtained from a shell-fish found on the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. The colour is more frequently called Tyrian than Sidonian. EXERCISE XVI. Ode on the Creation. The spacious firmament on high, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, The unwearied sun, from day to day, And publishes to every land, The work of an Almighty hand. Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale; And nightly, to the listening earth, Repeats the story of her birth; Whilst all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole. What though in solemn silence all |