Dell' etere piu dolce in dieci gradi ;
Di noftro ciel maledizion non duolmi,
Ne a noi in capo Pleiadi ghiacciate;
Corona Libertà la Britann' isola,
E fa fue steril bianche rupi ridere.
Le torreggianti moli altrui dilettino,
É le fuperbe ambiziose cupolo,
Un gentil colpo a una vil tela dare,
Od infegnar faffi animati a vivere;
D'Europa ful destin vegliar Britannia
Ha cura, e bilanciar gli emuli stati;
Di guerra minacciare arditi regi,
Degli afflitti vicini udire i preghi.
Danno e Suecco, attaccati in fiere allarme,
Di lor armi pietose benedicono
La prudente condotta, e 'l buon governo
Testo che poi le nostre flotte appaiono,
Ceffano tutti i lor spaventi, e in pace
Tutto il fettentrional mondo fi giace.
L'ambiziofo Gallo con fegreto
Tremito vede all' aspirante sua
Tefta mirar di lei il gran tonante,
E volentieri i fuoi divini figli
Vorrebbe difuniti per straniero
Oro, o pur per domeftica contefa;
Ma acquistare o dividere in van provafi
Cui l'arme di Nafsò, e 'l fenno guida.
Del nome accefo, cui fovente ho trovo
Remoti climi, e lingue rifonare,
Con pena imbriglio mia lottante Mufa,
Che ama lanciarsi in piu ardita prova.
Ma io di già hovvi turbato assai,
Ne tentar ofo un piu fublime canto:
Più dolce thema il baffo verfo chiedemi,
Fioriti prati o gorgoglianti rivi;
Mal proprio per gli eroi, che i carmi eterni
Qual di Virgilio, o vostri onorar debbono.
WHILE you, my Lord, the rural shades admire,
And from Britannia's public posts retire,
Nor longer, her ungrateful fons to please,
For their advantage facrifice your cafe,
Me into foreign realms my fate conveys,
Thro' nations fruitful of immortal lays,
Where the soft season and inviting clime
Confpire to trouble your repose with rhyme.
For wherefoe'er I turn my ravifh'd eyes,
Gay gilded scenes and fhining profpects rise;
Poetic fields encompass me around,
And still I feem to tread on claffic ground;
For here the Muse so oft' her harp has ftrung,
That not a mountain rears its head unfung;
Renown'd in verfe each fhady thicket grows,
And ev'ry stream in heav'nly numbers flows.
How am I pleas'd to fearch the hills and woods
For rifing springs and celebrated floods!
To view the Nar, tumultuous in his course,
And trace the smooth Clitumnus to his fource! 20
To fee the Mincio draw his wat'ry fore
Thro' the long windings of a fruitful shore!
And hoary Albula's infected tide
O'er the warm bed of smoking fulphur glide!
Fir'd with a thousand raptures, I furvey
Eridanus thro' flow'ry meadows ftray,
The king of floods! that, rolling o'er the plains,
The tow'ring Alps of half their moisture drains,
And proudly fwoln with a whole winter's fnows,
Distributes wealth and plenty where he flows.
: Sometimes, misguided by the tuneful throng,
I look for freams immortaliz'd in fong,
That loft in filence and oblivion lie,
(Dumb are their fountains and their channels dry)
Yet run for ever by the Muses' skill,
And in the smooth description murmur still.
Sometimes to gentle Tiber I retire,
And the fam'd river's empty shores admire,
That, destitute of strength, derives it course
From thrifty urns and an unfruitful source,
Yet fung so often in poetic lays,
With fcorn the Danube and the Nile furveys;
So high the deathless Muse exalts her theme!
Such was the Boyn, a poor inglorious stream,
That in Hibernian vales obfcurely stray'd,
And, unobserv'd, in wild meanders play'd,
Till by your lines and Naffau's sword renown'd,
Its rifing billows thro' the world refound,
Where'er the hero's godlike acts can pièrce,
Or where the fame of an immortal verfe. !
Oh could the Muse my ravish'd breast inspire
With warmth like your's, and raise an equal fire,
Unnumber'd beauties in my verse should shine,v
And Virgil's Italy should yield to mine!"
See how the golden groves around me fmile! 55 That shun the coast of Britain's stormy isle; vnd of Or when transplanted, and preferv'd with care; Curfe the cold clime, and starve in northern air. a Here kindly warmth their mounting juice ferments To nobler tastes and more exalted scents; 10: 260 Ev'n the rough rocks with tender myrtle bloom, And trodden weeds send out a rich perfume, der. Bear me, fome god, to Baia's gentle feats,TM) eur↑ Or cover me in Umbria's green retreats,' a'm' b... Where western gales eternally refide,
me 65
And all the Seasons lavish all their pride și mat La
Blossoms, and fruits, and flowers, together rife,
And the whole year in gay confusion lies.
Immortal glories in my mind revive, et pou
And in my foul a thousand paffions strive,TMTM
When Rome's exalted beauties I defery
Magnificent in piles of ruin lie..
An amphitheatre's amazing height. ....
Here fills my eye with terror and delight,
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