Aloft, above the liquid fky,

I ftretch my wing, and fain would go
Where Rome's fweet fwain did whilom fly;
And foaring, left the clouds below;
The Mufe invoking to endue
With ftrength his pinions, as he flew.

Whether he fings great Beauty's praife,
Love's gentle pain, or tender woes;
Or choose, the fubject of his lays,

The blushing grape, or blooming rofe:
Or near cool Cyrrha's rocky fprings
Mæcenas liftens while he fings.

Yet he no nobler draught could boast,
His Mufe or mufic to infpire,
Though all Falernum's purple coaft
Flow'd in each glass, to lend him fire;
And on his tables us'd to smile
The vintage of rich Chio's ifle.

Mæcenas deign'd to hear his fongs,

His Mufe extoll'd, his voice approv'd: To thee a fairer fame belongs,

At once more pleafing, more belov'd. Oh! teach my heart to bound its flame, As I record thy love and fame.

Teach me the passion to restrain,

As I my grateful homage bring; And laft in Phoebus' humble train,

The firft and brightest genius fing. The Mufes favourite pleas'd to live, Paying them back the fame they give. But oh as greatly I afpire

To tell my love, to fpeak thy praise, Boafting no more its fprightly fire,

My bofor heaves, my voice decays;
With pain I touch the mournful ftring,
And pant and languish as I fing.

Faint Nature now demands that breath,
That feebly ftrives thy worth to fing!
And would be hush'd, and loft in death,
Did not thy care kind fuccours bring!
Thy pitying cafks my foul fuftain,
And call new life in every vein.

The fober glafs I now behold,

Thy health, which fair Francifca's join, Withing her cheeks may long unfold

Such beauties, and be ever thine; No chance the tender joy remove, While the can pleafe, and thou canst love. Thus while by you the British arms

Triumphs and diftant fame pursue; The yielding Fair refigns her charms,

And gives you leave to conquer too; Her fnowy neck, her breaft, her eyes, And all the nymph becomes your prize. What comely grace, what beauty fmiles! Upon her lips what fweetnefs dwells! Not Love hinfelf fo oft beguiles,

Nor Venus felf fo much excels. What different fates our paffions fhare, While you enjoy, and I despair!

W

BOOK I.

VIRG.

HAT foil the apple loves, what care is due
To orchats, timelieft when to press the fruits,

Thy gift, Pomona, in Miltonian verse
Adventurous I prefume to fing; of verse
Nor fkill'd, nor ftudious: but my native foil
Invites me, and the theme as yet unfung.

Ye Ariconian knights, and faireft dames,
To whom propitious Heaven thefe bleflings grants,
Attend my loys, nor hence difdain to learn,
How Nature's gifts may be improv'd by art.
And thou, O Moftyn, whofe benevolence,
And candor, oft experienc'd, me vouchfaf'd
To knit in friendship, growing ftill with years,
Accept this pledge of gratitude and love.
May it a lafting monument remain

Of dear refpect; that, when this body frail
Is molder'd into duft, and I become

As I had never been, late times may know

I once was blefs'd in fuch a matchless friend!

Whoe'er expects his labouring trees fhould bend
With fruitage, and a kindly harvest yield,
Be this his first concern, to find a tract
Impervious to the winds, begirt with hills
That intercept the Hyperborean blafts
Tempestuous, and cold Eurus' nipping force,
Noxious to feeble buds: but to the west
Let him free entrance grant, let Zephyrs bland
Adminifter their tepid genial airs;

Nought fear he from the weft, whofe gentle warmth
Difclofes well the earth's all-teeming womb,

Invigorating tender feeds; whofe breath

Nurtures the Orange, and the Citron groves,

Hefperian fruits, and wafts their odors sweet
Wide through the air, and.diftant fhores perfumes.
Nor only do the hills exclude the winds:

But when the blackening clouds in fprinkling fhowers
Diftil, from the high fummits down the rain
Runs trickling; with the fertile moisture cheer'd,

*Mifs Mary Meers, daughter of the late Principal of Brazen-Nofe College, Oxon.

The

The Orchats fmile; joyous the farmers fee
Their thriving plants, and blefs the heavenly dew.
Next let the planter, with difcretion meet,
The force and genius of each foil explore;
To what adapted, what it thuns averse :
Without this neceffary care, in vain
He hopes an apple-vintage, and invokes
Pomona's aid in vain. The miry fields,
Rejoicing in rich mold, moft ample fruit
Of beauteous form produce; pleafing to fight,
But to the tongue inelegant and flat.
So Nature has decreed: fo oft we fee
Men paffing fair, in outward lineaments
Elaborate; lefs, inwardly, exact.
Nor from the fable ground expect success,
Nor from cretaceous, ftubborn and jejune;
The Muft, of pallid hue, declares the foil
Devoid of fpirit; wretched he, that quaffs
Such wheyish liquors; oft with colic pangs,
With pungent colic pange diftrefs'd he'll roar,
And tofs, and turn, and curfe th' unwholfome draught.
But, farmer, look where full-ear'd theaves of rye
Grow wavy on the tilth, that foil felect
For apples; thence thy industry shall gain
Ten-fold reward; thy garners, thence with ftore
Surcharg'd, fhall burft: thy prefs with pureft juice
Shall flow, which, in revolving years, may try
Thy feeble feet, and bind thy faltering tongue.
Such is the Kentchurch, fuch Dantzeyan ground,
Such thine, O learned Brome, and Capel fuch,
Willifian Burlton, much-lov'd Geers his Marth,
And Sutton-acres, drench'd with regal blood
Of Ethelbert, when to th' unhallow'd feaft
Of Mercian Off he invited care,
To treat of fpoufals: long connubial joys
He promis'd to himself, allur'd by fair
Elfrida's beauty; but deluded dy'd

In height of hopes-oh! hardest fate, to fall
By fhew of friendship, and pretended love!
I nor advife, nor reprehend the choice
Of Marcley-hill; the apple no where finds
A kinder mold: yet 'tis unfafe to trust

Deceitful ground: who knows but that, once more,
This mount may journey, and, his prefent fite
Forfaking, to thy neighbour's bounds transfer
The goodly plants, affording matter strange
For law-debates? if therefore thou incline
To deck this rife with fruits of various taftes,
Fail not by frequent vows t' implore fuccefs;
Thus piteous Heaven may fix the wandering glebe.
But if (for Nature doth not share alike
Her gifts) an happy foil fhould be withheld;

February the seventh, 1571, at fix o'clock in the evening, this kill roused itself with a roaring noife, and by feven the next morning had moved forty paces; it kept moving for three days together, carrying with it fheep in their cotes, hedge-rows and trees, and in its paffage overthrew Kinnafton Chapple, and turned two highways near an hundred yards from their former pofition. The ground thus moved was about twentyfix acres, which opened itself, and carried the earth before it for four hundred yards fpace, leaving that which was pasture in the place of the tillage, and the tillage overspread with pafture. See Speed's Account of Herefordihire, page 49, and Camden's Britannia.

If a penurious clay should be thy lot,
Or rough unwieldy earth, nor to the plough,
Nor to the cattle kind, with fandy ftones
And gravel o'er-abounding, think it not
Beneath thy toil; the sturdy pear-tree here
Will rife luxuriant, and with toughest root
Pierce the obstructing grit, and reftive marle.
Thus nought is ufelefs made; nor is there land,
But what, or of itself, or elfe compell'd,
Affords advantage. On the barren heath
The fhepherd tends his flock, that daily crop
Their verdant dinner from the moffy turf,
Sufficient; after them the cackling goofe,
Clofe-grazer, finds wherewith to eafe her want.
What should I more? Ev'n on the cliffy height
Of Penmenmaur, and that cloud-piercing hill,
Plinlimmon, from afar the traveller kens
Aftonish'd, how the goats their shrubby browze
Gnaw pendent; nor untrembling canst thou fee,
How from a fcraggy rock, whofe prominence
Half overfhades the ocean, hardy men,
Fearless of rending winds, and dashing waves,
Cut famphire, to excite the fqueamish guft
Of pamper'd luxury. Then, let thy ground
Not lye unlabor'd; if the richest ftem
Refufe to thrive, yet who would doubt to plant
Somewhat, that may to human use redound,
And penury, the worst of ills, remove?

There are, who, fondly ftudious of increase,
Rich foreign mold on their ill-natur'd land
Induce laborious, and with fattening muck
Befmear the roots; in vain! the nurfling grove
Seems fair a while, cherish'd with fofter carth:
But when the alien compoft is exhaust,
It's native poverty again prevails.

Though this art fails, defpond not; little pains,
In a due hour employ'd, great profit yield.
Th' induftrious, when the Sun in Leo rides,
And darts his fultrieft beams, portending drought,
Forgets not at the foot of every plant
To fink a circling trench, and daily pour
A just fupply of alimental streams,
Exhaufted Lap recruiting; elfe falfe hopes
He cherishes, nor will his fruit expect
Th' autumnal feafon, but, in fummer's pride,
When other orchats fmile, abortive fail.

Thus the great light of heaven, that in his courfe Surveys and quickens all things, often proves Noxious to planted fields, and often men Perceive his influence dire; fweltering they rua To grots, and cives, and the cool umbrage feck Of woven arborets, and oft the rills Still ftreaming fresh revifit, to allay Thirft inextinguishable: but if the fpring Preceding thould be deftitute of rain, Or blaft feptentrional with brushing wings Sweep up the fmoky mifts, and vapours damp, Then woe to mortals! Titan then exerts His heat intenfe, and on our vitals preys; Then maladies of various kinds, and names Unknown, malignant fevers, and that foe To blooming beauty, which imprints the face Of fairest nymph, and checks our growing love, Reign far and near; grim Death in different shapes Depopulates the nations; thousands fall His victims; youths, and virgins, in their flower,

Reluctant

No art averts th's peft; on thee it lies,
With morning and with evening hand to rid
The preying reptiles; nor, if wife, wilt thou
Decline this labour, which itself rewards
With pleafing gain, whilft the warm limbec draws
Salubrious waters from the nocent brood.

Myriads of wafps now alfo clustering hang,
And drain a fpurious honey from thy groves,
Their winter food; though oft repuls'd, again
They rally, undismay'd; but fraud with ease
Enfnares the noi fome fwarms; let every bough
Bear frequent vials, pregnant with the dregs
Of Mople, or Mem, or Treacle's viscous juice;
They, by th' alluring odor drawn, in hafte
Fly to the dulcet cates, and crouding ip
Their palatable bane; joyful thou 'It fee
The clammy furface all o'er-ftrown with tribes
Of greedy infects, that with fruitless toil
Flap filmy pennons oft, to extricate

Their feet, in liquid fhackles bound, till death Bereave them of their worthlefs fouls: fuch doom Waits luxury, and lawless love of gain?

:

Howe'er thou may'ft forbid external force,
Inteftine evils will prevail; damp airs,
And rainy winters, to the centre pierce
The firmeft fruits, and by unfeen decay
The proper relish vitiate then the grub
Oft unobferv'd invades the vital core,
Pernicious tenant, and her fecret cave
Enlarges hourly, preying on the pulp
Cenfelefs; meanwhile the apple's outward form
Delectable the witlefs fwain beguiles,

Till, with a writhen mouth, and spattering noise,
He taftes the bitter morfel, and rejects
Difrelifht; not with lefs furprize, than when
Embattled troops with flowing banners pass
Through flowery meads delighted, nor diftruft
The fmiling furface; whilft the cavern'd ground,
With grain incentive ftor'd, by fudden blaze
Burfts fatal, and involves the hopes of war,
In fiery whirls; full of victorious thoughts,
Torn and difmembred, they aloft expire.

Now turn thine eye to view Alcinous' groves,
The pride of the Phæncian ifle, from whence,
Sailing the fpaces of the boundlefs deep,
To Ariconium precious fruits arriv'd:
The Pippin burnifht o'er with gold, the Moyle
Of sweetest honeyed tafte, the fair Permain
Temper'd, like comelieft nymph, with red and white.
Salopian acres flourish with a growth
Peculiar, ftyl'd the ntley: be thou first
This Apple to tranfplant, if to the name
Its merit anfwers, no where fhalt thou find
A wine more priz'd, or laudable of tafte.
Nor does the Eliot leaft deferve thy care,
Nor John-Apple, whofe wither'd rind, intrencht
With many a furrow, aptly reprefents
Decrepid age, nor that from Harvey nam',
Quick-relishing: why fhould we fing the Thrift,
Codling, or Pomroy, or of pimpled coat
The Ruffet, or the Cat's-Head's weighty orb,
Enormous in its growth, for various ufe
Though thefe are meet, though after full repaft
Are oft requir'd, and crown the rich defert?
What, though the Pear-trce rival not the worth
Of Ariconian products? yet her freight
VOL. II.

Is not contemn'd, yet her wide-branching arms
Beft fcreen thy manfion from the fervent Dog
Adverse to life; the wintery hurricanes
In vain employ their roar, her trunk unmov'd
Breaks the strong onfet, and controls their rage.
Chiefly the Bofbury, whofe large increase,
Annual, in fur ptuous banquets claims applaufe.
Thrice-acceptable beverage! could but art
Subdue the floating lee, Pomona's felf

Would dread thy praife, and fhun the dubious ftrife.
De it thy choice, when fummer-heats annoy,
To fit beneath her leafy canopy,

Quaffing rich liquids! oh! how fweet t' enjoy,
At once her fruits, and hofpitable fhade!

But how with equal numbers fhall we match
The Musk's furpaffing worth that earliest gives
Sure hopes of racy wine, and in its youth,
Its tender nonage, loads the fpieading boughs
With large and juicy off pring, that defies
The vernal nippings, and cold fyderal blasts!
Yet let her to the Red-ftreak yield, that once
Was of the Sylvan kind, unciviliz'd,
Of no regard, till Scudamore's skilful hand
Improv'd her, and by courtly difcipline
Taught her the favage nature to forget:

Hence ftyl'd the Scudamorean plant; whofe wine
Whoever tastes, let him with grateful heart
Refpect that ancient loyal houfe, and wish
The nobler peer, that now tranfcends our hopes
In early worth, his country's jufteft pride,
Uninterrupted joy, and health entire.

Let every tree in every garden own

The Red-ftreak as fupreme, whofe pulpous fruit
With gold irradiate, and vermillion fhines
Tempting, not fatal, as the birth of that
Primæval interdicted plant that won
Fond Eve in hapless hour to tafte, and die.
This, of more beauteous influence, inspires
Poetic raptures, and the lowly Muse
Kindles to loftier ftrains; even I perceive
Her facred virtue. See! the numbers flow
Eafy, whilft, chear'd with her nectareous juice,
Hers, and my country's praifes I exalt.
Hail Herefordion plant, that doft difdain
All other fields! Heaven's fweetest bleffing, hail!
Be thou the copious matter of my forg,
And thy choice Nectar; on which always waits
Laughter, and fpon, and care-beguiling wit,
And friendship, chief delight of human life.
What should we wish for more? or why, in queft
Of foreign vintage, infincere, and mixt,
Traverse th' extremeft world? why tempt the rage
Of the rough ocean? when our native glebe
Imparts from bounteous womb, annual recruits
Of wine delectable, that far furmounts
Gallic, or Latin Grapes, thofe that fee
The fetti g fun near Calpe': towering height.
Nor let the Rhodin, nor the Le.bian vines
Vaunt their rich Muft, nor let Tokay contend
For fovereignty: Pha æus felf must bow
To th' Ariconi in vales And hall we doubt
T'improve our vegetable wealth, or let
The foil lie idle, which, with fit manure,
With largeft ufury repay, alone
Impowered to fupply what Nature asks
Frugal, or what nice appetite requires ?
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