To see the Mincio draw his watry store
Through the long windings of a fruitful shore,
And hoary Albula's infected tide

O'er the warm bed of smoaking sulphur glide.
Fir'd with a thousand raptures I survey
Eridanus trough flowery meadows stray,
The king of floods! that rolling o'er the plains
The towering Alps of half their moisture drains,
And proudly swoln with a whole winter's snows,
Distributes wealth and plenty where he flows.
Sometimes, misguided by the tuneful throng,
I look for streams immortaliz'd in song,
That lost in silence and oblivion lye,

(Dumb are their fountains and their channels dry)
Yet run for ever" by the muse's 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 its course
From thrifty urns and an unfruitful source;
Yet sung so often in poetick lays,

With scorn the Danube and the Nile surveys;
So high the deathless muse exalts her theme!
Such was the Boyne, a poor inglorious stream,
That in Hibernian vales obscurely stray'd,
And unobserv'd in wild Meanders play'd;
'Till by your lines and Nassau's sword renown'd,
Its rising billows through the world resound,
Where'er the hero's godlike acts can pierce,
Or where the fame of an immortal verse.

Oh cou'd the muse my ravish'd breast inspire
With warmth like yours, and raise an equal fire,
Unnumber'd beauties in my verse shou'd shine,
And Virgil's Italy shou'd yield to mine!

See how the golden groves around me smile, That shun the coast of Britain's stormy isle,

⚫ Yet run for ever, &c.] This way of giving to the copy the properties of the original, is not uncommon in the poets: But Mr. Addison had the art to introduce this bold figure, with ease and grace, into his prose; as when he speaks of refreshment in a description of fields and meadows -of an historian's fighting his battles, and in other instances :-But see what he says himself on this subject on Messis clypeata virorum, in his notes on Ovid.

Isola sì ne schivano la costa,

O trapiantate, e con pensier guardate
Maledicon la fredda Regione,

E nell' aria del Norte illanguidiscono.
Calor dolor il montante umor ne lievita
A nobil gusti, e piu esaltati odori.
Rozze ancor rupi molle mirto menano
Ricco profumo, peste erbette olezzano.
Portimi un Dio di Baia a i gentil Seggi,
O ne verdi ritiri d'Umbria traggami,
Ove i Ponenti eterna han residenza.
Tutte stagioni lor pompa profondono,
Germogli, e frutti, e fiori insieme allegano,
E in gaia confusion sta l'anno tutto.

Glorie immortali in mia mente rivivono,
Combatton nel cuor mio ben mille affetti,
Allorache di Roma l'esaltate
Bellezze giu giacersi io ne discuopro,
Magnificenti in Moli di ruine.
D'Anfiteatro una stupenda altezza
Di terror mi riempie, e di diletto,
Che Roma ne suoi pubblici spettacoli
Dispopolava, e Nazioni intere
Agiatamente in suo grembo capia.
Passanvi i Ciel Colonne aspre d' intaglio,
Di Trionfo superbi Archi là sorgono,
U de prischi Roman l' immortal' opre
Dispiegate alla vista ognor rinfacciano
La vile loro tralignata stirpe.

Qui tutti i fiumi lascian giu lor piani,
Per aerei condotti in alto corrono.

Sempre a novelle Scene mia vagante
Musa sì si ritragge, e muta ammira
L'alto spettacol d' animate Rupi,
Ove mostrò scalpel tutta sua forza,
Ed in carne addolcì scabroso sasso,
In solenne silenzio, in maestade
Eroi stannosi, e Dei, e Roman Consoli

Or when transplanted and preserv'd with care,
Curse the cold clime, and starve in northern air.
Here kindly warmth their mounting juice ferments
To nobler tastes, and more exalted scents:
Ev'n the rough rocks with tender myrtle bloom,
And trodden weeds send out a rich perfume.
Bear me, some god, to Baia's gentle seats,
Or cover me in Umbria's green retreats; -
Where western gales eternally reside,
And all the seasons lavish all their pride:
Blossoms, and fruits, and flowers together rise,
And the whole year in gay confusion lies.
Immortal glories in my mind revive,
And in my soul a thousand passions strive,
When Rome's exalted beauties I descry*
Magnificent in piles of ruine lye.
An amphitheater's amazing height
Here fills my eye with terror and delight,
That on its publick shows unpeopled Rome,
And held uncrowded notions in its womb;

Here pillars rough with sculpture pierce the skies:
And here the proud triumphal arches rise,
Where the old Romans deathless acts display'd,"
Their base degenerate progeny upbraid:

Whole rivers here forsake the fields below,

And wond'ring at their height through airy channels flow.
Still to new scenes my wand'ring muse retires,
And the dumb show of breathing rocks admires;
Where the smooth chissel all its force has shown,
And soften'd into flesh the rugged stone.
In solemn silence, a majestick band,
Heroes, and gods, and Roman consuls stand,

Descry] i. e. I discern, discover, distinctly survey. We use a less spécific verb in conjunction with lye, as: "I see Rome's beauties lye in ruin," not, I descry them lye.

Where the old Romans deathless acts display'd,] i. e. where the deathless acts of the old Romans being displayed a line doubly obscure, and therefore doubly faulty. If the latter fault may be excused, the former cannot for when a plural noun is used, in what is called the genitive case, it requires to be preceded by its sign, the preposition of: above all, when the termination (as is generally the case of our plural nouns) is in s.

Torvi Tiranni in crudeltà famosi,

E Imperadori in Pario Marmo accigliansi;
Mentre Dame brillanti, a cui con umile
Servitù stan soggetti, ognora mostrano
I vezzi, che gli altieri cuor domaro.
Volentieri io vorria di Raffaele

Contar l'arte divina, e far vedere
Gl' immortali lavori nel mio verso.
Là ve da mista forza d'ombre, e luce
Nuova creazion sorge a mia vista,
Tai celesti figure escon da suo
Pennello, e i mesticati suoi colori
Caldi di vita così ne sfavillano,
Di soggetto in soggetto, d'un segreto
Piacer preso, e infiammato attorno io giro
Tra la soave varietà perduto.

Mio strabilito spirto qua confondono
Arie vezzose in circolanti note
Passeggianti, e in sonori labirinti.
Cupole, e Templi s'alzan la in distanti
Vedute, ed in Palagi aperti, ed ampli
A celebrargli invitano la Musa.

Come indulgente Cielo adornò mai
La fortunata terra, e sovra quella
Versò benedizioni a piena mana !
Ma che vaglion le lor dovizie eterne,
Fioriti monti, e soleggiate rive

Con tutti don, che Cielo, e Suol compartono,
I risi di Natura, ei vezzi d'Arte,

Mentre altiera Oppression regna in sue Valli, E Tirannia suoi Pian felici usurpa?

Il povreo Abitante mira indarno

Il rosseggiante Arancio, e 'l pingue Grano,
Crescer dolente ei mira ed oli, e vini,
E de mirti odorar l'ombra si sdegna.
In mezzo alla Bontà della Natura
Maledetto languisce, e dentro a cariche
Di vino vigne muore per la sete.

O Libertà, o Dea Celeste, e Bella!
Di ben profusa, e pregna di diletto!

Stern tyrants, whom their cruelties renown,
And emperors in Parian marble frown;

While the bright dames, to whom they humble su❜d,
Still show the charms that their proud hearts subdu'd.

Fain wou'd I Raphael's godlike art rehearse,
And shew th' immortal labours in my verse,
Where from the mingled strength of shade and light
A new creation rises to my sight,

Such heav'nly figures from his pencil flow,
So warm with life his blended colours glow.
From theme to theme with secret pleasure tost,
Amidst the soft variety I'm lost :

Here pleasing airs my ravisht soul confound
With circling notes and labyrinths of sound;
Here domes and temples rise in distant views,
And opening palaces invite my muse.

How has kind heav'n adorn'd the happy land,
And scatter'd blessings with a wasteful hand!
But what avail her unexhausted stores,

Her blooming mountains and her sunny shores,
With all the gifts that heav'n and earth impart,
The smiles of nature, and the charms of art,
While proud oppression in her vallies reigns,
And tyranny usurps her happy plains?
The poor inhabitant beholds in vain

The red'ning orange and the swelling grain:
Joyless he sees the growing oils and wines,
And in the myrtle's fragrant shade repines:
Starves, in the midst of nature's bounty curst,
And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst.

Oh Liberty, thou goddess heavenly bright, Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight!