To break, at once, upon your foe,

And strike the first preventive blow.
With Toro's lungs, in Toro's form,
Whofe very how d' ye is a ftorm,
The dread South-Weft his part begun.
Thick clouds, extinguishing the fun,
At his command, from pole to pole
Dark-fpreading, o'er the fair-one roll;
Who, preffing now her favourite steed,
Adorn'd the pomp she deigns to lead.
O Mira! to the future blind,

Th' infidious foe is clofe behind:

Guard, guard your treasure, while you can;
Unless this God fhould be the Man.
For lo! the clouds, at his known call,
Are clofing round-they burft! they fall!
While at the Charmer, all-aghaft,
He pours whole winter in a blaft:
Nor cares, in his impetuous mood,
If natives founder on the flood;
If Britain's coaft be left as bare *
As he refolves to leave the Fair.
Here, Gods refemble human breed;
The world be damn'd-so they succeed.
Pale, trembling, from her fteed fhe fled,
With filk, lawn, linen, round her head;
And, to the fawns who fed above,
Unveil'd the laft recefs of love.

Each

* The very day on which the fleet under Admiral Hawke was blown into Torbay.

MALLET.

Each wondering fawn was seen to bound*,
Each branchy deer o'erleap'd his mound,
A fight of that fequefter'd glade,
In all its light, in all its shade,
Which rifes there for wifeft ends,
To deck the temple it defends.

Lo! gentle tenants of the grove,
For what a thoufand Heroes strove,
When Europe, Asia, both in arms,
Difputed one fair Lady's charms.
The war pretended Helen's eyes t;
But this, believe it, was the prize.
This rouz'd Achilles' mortal ire,
This ftrung his Homer's epic lyre;
Gave to the world La Mancha's Knight,
And still makes bulls and heroes fight.
Yet, though the diftant confcious Mufe
This airy rape delighted views ;
Yet the, for honour guides her lays,
Enjoying it, difdains to praise.

If Frenchmen always fight with odds,
Are they a pattern for the Gods?

Can Ruffia, can th' Hungarian vampire ‡,
With whom caft in the Swedes and Empire,
Can four fuch powers, who one affail,
Deferve our praife, fhould they prevail?

O mighty

*Immemor herbarum quos eft mirata Juvenca." VIRG. Et fuit ante Helenam," &c.

HOR.

A certain mifchievous demon that delights much in human blood; of whom there are many itories told in Hungary. MALLET.

O mighty triumph! high renown!

Two gods have brought one mortal down;

Have club'd their forces in a storm,
To ftrip one helpless female form!

Strip her stark naked; yet confefs,
Such charms are Beauty's fairest drefs!
But, all-infenfible to blame,
The sky-born ravishers on flame
Enchanted at the profpect ftood,

And kiss'd with rapture what they view'd.
Sleek S** r too had done no lefs;
Would parfons here the truth confefs :
Nay, one brisk peer, yet all-alive,
Would do the fame, at eighty-five *.
But how, in colours foftly-bright,
Where strength and harmony unite,
To paint the limbs, that fairer fhow
Than Maffalina's borrow'd fnow;
To paint the rofe, that, through its fhade,
With theirs, one human eye furvey'd ;
Would gracious Phoebus tell me how,
Would he the genuine draught avow,
The Mufe, a fecond Titian then,
To Fame might confecrate her pen!
That Titian, Nature gave of old
The Queen of Beauty to behold,

* We believe there is a mistake in this reading; for the perfon beft informed and moft concerned afures, that it should be only feventy-five. MALLET.

Like Mira unadorn'd by drefs,

But all compleat in nakedness:
Then bade his emulating art
Those wonders to the world impart.
Around the ready Graces ftand,

Each heightening stroke, each happy line,
Awakes to life the form divine;
Till, rais'd and rounded every charm,
And all with youth immortal warm,
He fees, fcarce crediting his eyes,
He fees a brighter Venus rife!
But, to the gentle Reader's cost,
His pencil, with his life, was loft:
And Mira must contented be,
To live by Ramsay and by me,

.

EDWIN AND E M M A.

"Mark it, Cefario, it is true and plain.

"The fpinfters and the knitters in the fun,

"And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, "Do ufe to chant it. It is filly Sooth,

"And dallies with the innocence of love,

"Like the old age." SHAKESP. TWELFTH NIGHT.

I.

AR in the windings of a vale,

FA

Faft by a sheltering wood,

The fafe retreat of health and peace,

An humble cottage food.

II.

There beauteous Emma flourish'd fair,

Beneath a mother's eye;

Whofe only wifh on earth was now

To fee her bleft, and die.

III.

The fofteft blufi that Nature spreads

Gave colour to her cheek:

Such orient colour fmiles through heaven,

When vernal mornings break.

IV.

Nor let the pride of great-ones fcorn

This charmer of the plains:

That fun, who bids their diamond blaze,

To paint our lily deigns.