Poems, chiefly pastoral By John Cunningham. The second edition. With the Addition of several pastorals and other pieces |
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STANZAS ON THE FORWARDNESS OF SPRING. |
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 | Poems, chiefly pastoral |  |
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STANZAS ON THE FORWARDNESS OF SPRING.
------ tibi, flores, plenis
Ecce ferunt nymphæ calathis.
Virg.
Ecce ferunt nymphæ calathis.
Virg.
I
O'er Nature's fresh bosom, by verdure unbound,Bleak Winter blooms lovely as Spring:
Rich flow'rets (how fragrant!) rise wantonly round,
And Summer's wing'd choristers sing!
II
To greet the young monarch of Britain's blest isle,The groves with gay blossoms are grac'd!
The primrose peeps forth with an innocent smile,
And cowslips croud forward in haste!
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III
Dispatch, gentle Flora, the nymphs of your trainThro' woodlands, to gather each sweet:
Go—rob, of young roses, the dew-spangled plain,
And strew the gay spoils at his feet.
IV
Two chaplets of laurel, in verdure the same,For George, oh ye virgins, entwine!
From Conquest's own temples these ever-greens came,
And those from the brows of the Nine!
V
What honours, ye Britons! (one emblem implies)What glory to George shall belong!
What Miltons, (the other) what Addisons rise,
To make him immortal in song!
VI
To a wreath of fresh Oak, England's emblem of power!Whose honours with time shall encrease!
Add a fair Olive sprig, just unfolding its flow'r,
Rich token of Concord and Peace!
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VII
Next give him young Myrtles, by Beauty's bright QueenCollected,—the pride of the grove!
How fragrant their odour! their foliage how green!
Sweet promise of conjugal Love!
VIII
Let Gaul's captive Lillies, cropt close to the ground,As trophies of Conquest be ty'd:
The virgins all cry, “There's not one to be found!
“Out-bloom'd by his Roses—they dy'd.”
IX
Ye foes of Old England, such fate shall ye share,With George, as our glories advance—
Thro' envy you'll sicken,—you'll droop,—you'll despair,
And die—like the Lillies of France.
| Poems, chiefly pastoral | |