A collection of original poems and translations :: :: University of Virginia Library

From where the Stroud, smooth Stream, serenely glides,
We reach the peopled Severn's rapid Tides;
Stop, e'er we sail; and from this Point survey
The Hill-encompass'd, Sea-resembling Bay;
See the ridg'd Tide with sober Grandeur heave,
And float in Triumph o'er the River-wave.
Lo! where it comes, with what extensive Sweep,
Like some Whale sidelong rolling on the Deep.
Wide and more wide, it joins the distant Hills
By swift Degrees, and the great Bason fills.

We sail; now steadily; now Gulphs inform
The tumbling Waves to imitate a Storm.

188

The rising Shores a thousand Charms bestow,
Lawns at their Feet, and Forests on their Brow;
The pleasing Villas, Neighbours to the Flood,
The taper Spire, and the surrounding Wood.

These Lines, my C---, read, and pity too,
The shadowing Pencil to the Scene untrue:
See the bright Image of thy Thought decay'd,
And all it's Beauties in Description fade.

Where to each other the tall Banks incline,
And distant Cliffs dividing seem to join,
A narrow Frith! our gallant Argo's Way,
A Door that opens to the boundless Sea:
What, if some Ship with strutting Sails come on,
Her wanton Streamers waving in the Sun!
Just, in the midst, as Fancy would contrive,
See the proud Vessel o'er the Billows drive.

The Streight is past; the Surges stronger beat,
The Prospects widen, and the Shores retreat,

189

Tritons, and Nereids! how we leave behind
Towns, Palaces, and run with Tide and Wind?
Here, noble Stafford, thy unfinish'd Dome,
And thence the long-stretch'd Race of Berkley come.
Till tossing, and full feasted, more than tir'd,
We change the wilder Scene for Paths retir'd,
Quit the rough Element, and watry Strife,
As from a publick to a private Life,
Seek a calm Coast and up the Channel ride,
Where Vaga mingles with Sabrina's Tide.

The Sister Sreams, from the same Hill their Source
Deriving, took, when young, a various Course,
And many a City, many a Country seen,
High Tow'rs and Walls antique and Meadows Green,
Now glad to meet, nor now to part again,
Go Hand in Hand, and slide into the Main.

190

In Spight of Time, and War and Tempest great,
Ascending Chepstow shews it's Castled Seat,
Beneath slope Hills, and by the rolling Flood,
Clasp'd in a Theatre of aged Wood,
With Air Majestick, to the Eye stands forth,
Towring, and conscious of it's pristine Worth;
Lifts its sublime Decay, in Age's Pride
Erect, and overlooks the climbing Tide.

Pass but some Moments, the returning Sea
Shall those high-stranded Vessels sweep away;
That airy Bridge, whence we look'd down with Fear,
Will low and level with the Flood appear.

The crooked Bank still winds to something new,
Oars, scarcely turn'd, diversify the View;
Of Trees and Stone an intermingled Scene,
The shady Precipice and Rocky Green,
Nature behold, to please and to surprize,
Swell into Bastions, or in Columns rise:

191

Here sinking Spaces with dark Boughs o'er grown,
And there the naked Quarries look a Town.
At length our Pilgrimage's Home appears,
Tinterne her venerable Fabrick rears,
While the Sun, mildly glancing in decline,
With his last gilding beautifies the Shrine:
Enter with Reverence her hallow'd Gate,
And trace the glorious Relicks of her State;
The meeting Arches, Pillar'd Walks admire,
Or musing hearken to the silenc'd Choir.
Encircling Groves diffuse a solemn Grace,
And dimly fill th' Historic Window's Place;
While pitying Shrubs on the bare Summit try
To give the roofless Pile a Canopy.

Here, O my Friends, along the mossy Dome
In pleasurable Sadness let me roam:
Look back upon the World in Haven safe,
Weep o'er it's Ruins, at it's Follies laugh.

This manner of the coming in of the Tide to the River Severn is call'd the Eager or the Hyger of the Severn. There is a beautiful Allusion to it in Bishop Sprat's History of the Royal Society.

The Remains of a noble Seat begun by Stafford Duke of Buckingham.

Berkeley-castle, the Seat of the Earl of Berkeley.

The River Wye.

The River Severn.

Chepstow-castle in Monmouthshire, the Seat of the Duke of Beaufort.