To right and left the martial wings display Their shining arms, and stand in close array.

But e'en her frowns (ah, what might smiles have done!) Man 3 -11 Lisand and all his senses won.

Fiquauuo plsc་སབས་ མ༴༦)

To right and left the martial wings display
Their shining arms, and stand in close array.
Behold! four archers, eager to advance,
Send the light reed, and rush with sidelong glance;
Through angles, ever, they assault the foes,
True to the colour, which at first they chose.
Then four bold knights,for courage famed and speed,
Each knight exalted on a prancing steed:
Their arching course no vulgar limit knows,*
Transverse they leap, and aim insidious blows,
Nor friends, nor foes, their rapid force restrain,
By one quick bound two changing squares they
gain;

From varying hues renew the fierce attack,
And rush from black to white, from white to black.
Four solemn elephants the sides defend;
Beneath the load of ponderous towers they bend:
In one unalter'd line they tempt the fight;
Now crush the left, and now o'erwhelm the right.
Bright in the front the dauntless soldiers raise
Their polish'd spears; their steely helmets blaze:
Prepared they stand the daring foe to strike,
Direct their progress, but their wounds oblique.
Now swell th' embattled troops with hostile rage,
And clang their shields, impatient to engage;
When Daphnis thus: "A varied plain behold,
Where fairy kings their mimic tents unfold,
As Oberon, and Mab, his wayward queen,
Lead forth their armies on the daisied green.
No mortal had the wondrous sport contrived,
By gods invented, and from gods derived ;
From them the British nymphs received the game,(t)
And play each morn beneath the crystal Thame;
Hear then the tale, which they to Colin sung,
As idling o'er the lucid wave he hung :-
"A lovely Dryad ranged the Thracian wild,
Her air enchanting and her aspect mild;
To chase the bounding hart was all her joy
Averse from Hymen, and the Cyprian boy;
O'er hills and valleys was her beauty famed,
And fair Caissa was the damsel named.
Mars saw the maid; with deep surprise he gazed,
Admired her shape, and every gesture praised:
His golden bow the child of Venus bent,

And through his breast a piercing arrow sent:
The reed was Hope; the feathers, keen Desire;
The point, her eyes; the barbs, ethereal fire.
Soon to the nymph he pour'd his tender strain;
The haughty Dryad scorn'd his amorous pain:
He told his woes, where'er the maid he found,
And still he press'd, yet still Caïssa frown'd;

But e'en her frowns (ah, what might smiles have done!)

Fired all his soul, and all his senses won. He left his car, by raging tigers drawn, And lonely wander'd o'er the dusky lawn; Then lay desponding near a murmuring stream, And fair Caïssa was his plaintive theme. A Naiad heard him from her mossy bed, And through the crystal raised her placid head Then mildly spake: “O thou whom love inspires, Thy tears will nourish, not allay thy fires. The smiling blossoms drink the pearly dew; And ripening fruit the feather'd race pursue; The scaly shoals devour the silken weeds! Love on our sighs, and on our sorrow feeds. Then weep no more; but, ere thou canst obtain Balm for thy wounds and solace to thy pain, With gentle art thy martial look beguile; Be mild, and teach thy rugged brow to smile. Canst thou no play, no soothing game devise, To make thee lovely in the damsel's eyes? So may thy prayers assuage the scornful dame, And ev'n Caïssa own a mutual flame."

46

Kind nymph, (said Mars,) thy counsel I approve; Art, only art, her ruthless breast can move. But when? or how? Thy dark discourse explain: So may thy stream ne'er swell with gushing rain, So may thy waves in one pure current flow, And flowers eternal on thy border blow!"

64 4

Ecco d'astuto ingegno, e pronta mano Garzon, che sempre scherza, e vola ratto, Gioco s'apella, ed e d'amor germano. Marino, Adone. 15.

vey'd

The lifeless troops, in glittering ranks display'd ;
She ask'd the wily sylvan to explain
The various motions of the splendid train;
With eager heart she caught the winning lore,
And thought e'en Mars less hateful than before:
"What spell (said she) deceived my careless mind?
The god was fair, and I was most unkind."
She spoke, and saw the changing faun assume
A milder aspect, and a fairer bloom;
His wreathing horns, that from his temples grew,
Flow'd down in curls of bright celestial hue;
The dappled hairs, that veil'd his loveless face,
Blazed into beams, and show'd a heavenly grace;
The shaggy hide, that mantled o'er his breast,
Was soften'd to a smooth transparent vest,
That through its folds his vigorous bosom show'd,
And nervous limbs, where youthful ardour glow'd:
(Had Venus view'd him in those blooming charms
Not Vulcan's net had forced her from his arms.)
With goatlike feet no more he mark'd the ground,
But braided flowers his silken sandals bound.
The Dryad blush'd; and, as he press'd her, smiled,
Whilst all his cares one tender glance beguiled."
He ends: To arms, the maids and striplings cry;
To arms, the groves and sounding vales reply.
Sirena led to war the swarthy crew,
And Delia those that bore the lily's hue.
Who first, O muse, began the bold attack;
The white refulgent, or the mournful black?
Fair Delia first, as favouring lots ordain,
Moves her pale legions toward the sable train:
From thought to thought her lively fancy flies,
Whilst o'er the board she darts her sparkling eyes.
At length the warrior moves with haughty
strides ;

Who from the plain the snowy king divides;
With equal haste his swarthy rival bounds;
His quiver rattles, and his buckler sounds:
Ah! hapless youths, with fatal warmth you burn;
Laws, ever fix'd, forbid you to return.
Then from the wing a short-lived spearman flies,
Unsafely bold, and see! he dies, he dies:
The dark-brow'd hero, with one vengeful blow,
Of life and place deprives his ivory foe.
Now rush both armies o'er the burnish'd field,
Hurl the swift dart, and rend the bursting shield.
Here furious knights on fiery coursers prance,
Here archers spring, and lofty towers advance.
But see! the white-robed Amazon bebolds
Where the dark host its opening van unfolds:
Soon as her eye discerns the hostile maid,
By ebon shield, and ebon helm betray'd:
Seven squares she passes with majestic mien,
And stands triumphant o'er the falling queen,
Perplex'd, and sorrowing at his consort's fate,
The monarch burn'd with rage, despair, and hate;
Swift from his zone th' avenging blade he drew,
And, mad with ire, the proud virago slew.
Meanwhile, sweet smiling Delia's wary king
Retired from fight behind his circling wing.

Long time the war in equal balance hung;
Till, unforeseen, an ivory courser sprung,
And, wildly prancing, in an evil hour,
Attack'd at once the monarch and the tower:
Sirena blush'd, for, as the rules required,
Her injured sovereign to his tent retired;

And adds new glory to th' exulting knight.

At this, pale fear oppress'd the drooping maid, And on her cheek the rose began to fade: A crystal tear, that stood prepared to fall, She wiped in silence, and conceal'd from all; From all but Daphnis: he remark'd her pain, And saw the weakness of her ebon train; Then gently spoke: “Let me your loss supply, And either nobly win, or nobly die; Me oft has fortune crown'd with fair success, And led to triumph in the fields of chess." He said the willing nymph her place resign'd, And sat at distance on the bank reclined. Thus, when Minerva call'd her chief to arms, And Troy's high turret shook with dire alarms, The Cyprian goddess, wounded, left the plain, And Mars engaged a mightier force in vain.

Straight Daphnis leads his squadron to the field; (To Delia's arms 'tis e'en a joy to yield.) Each guileful snare and subtle art he tries, But finds his art less powerful than her eyes; Wisdom and strength superior charms obey: And beauty, beauty, wins the long-fought day. By this a hoary chief, on slaughter bent, Approach'd the gloomy king's unguarded tent: Where, late, his consort spread dismay around, Now her dark corse lies bleeding on the ground. Hail, happy youth! thy glories not unsung Shall live eternal on the poet's tongue; For thou shalt soon receive a splendid change, And o'er the plain with nobler fury range. The swarthy leaders saw the storm impend, And strove in vain their sovereign to defend : Th' invader waved his silver lance in air, And flew like lightning to the fatal square; His limbs, dilated, in a moment grew To stately height, and widen'd to the view; More fierce his look, more lion-like his mien, Sublime he moved, and seem'd a warrior queen. As when the sage on some unfolding plant Has caught a wondering fly, or frugal ant, His hand the microscopic frame applies, And lo! a bright-hair'd monster meets his eyes; He sces new plumes in slender cases roll'd Here stain'd with azure, there bedropp'd with gold; Thus, on the alter'd chief both armies gaze, And both the kings are fix'd with deep amaze. The sword, which arm'd the snow-white maid

before,

He now assumes, and hurls the spear no more;
Then springs indignant on the dark-robed band,
And knights and archers feel his deadly hand.
Now flies the monarch of the sable shield,
His legions vanquish'd, o'er the lonely field.
So when the morn, by rosy coursers drawn,*
With pearls and rubies sows the verdant lawn,
Whilst each pale star from heaven's blue vault
retires,

Still Venus gleams, and last of all expires.

IMITATIONS.

-Medio rex æquore inermis Constitit amissis sociis: velut æthere in alto Expulit ardentes flammas ubi lutea bigis Luciferis Aurora, tuus pulcherrimus ignis Lucet adhuc, Venus, et cœlo inox ultimus exit. Vida, ver. 601.