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A purer azure. Thro' the lightened air
A higher luftre and a clearer calm,
Diffufive, tremble; while, as if in fign.
Of danger paft, a glittering robe of joy
Set off abundant by the yellow ray,

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Invefts the fields, and Nature fmiles, reviv'd.
'Tis beauty all and grateful fong around,
Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat
Of flocks thick-nibbling thro' the clover'd vale.
And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless Man, 1235
Most favour'd, who with voice articulate

Should lead the chorus of this lower world?
Shall he, fo foon forgetful of the hand

That hufh'd the thunder, and ferenes the sky,
Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempeft wak'd, 1240
That fenfe of powers exceeding far his own,
Ere yet his feeble heart has loft its fears?

Cheer'd by the milder beam, the fprightly youth
Speeds to the well-known pool, whofe crystal depth
A fandy bottom fhews. A while he stands,
Gazing th' inverted landscape, half afraid
To meditate the blue profound below,

Then plunges headlong down the circling flood.
His ebon treffes and his rofy cheek

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Inftant emerge, and thro' th' obedient wave, 1250
At each fhort breathing by his lip repell'd,
With arms and legs according well, he makes,

As humour leads, an easy-winding path,

While from his polish'd fides a dewy light
Effufes on the pleas'd spectators round.

This is the pureft exercise of health,

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The kind refresher of the summer heats;
Nor when cold Winter keens the brightening flood
Would I, weak-shivering, linger on the brink.
Thus life redoubles, and is oft' preserv'd,
By the bold fwimmer, in the swift illapse
Of accident difaftrous. Hence the limbs
Knit into force; and the fame Roman arm
That rofe victorious o'er the conquer'd earth,
First learn'd, while tender, to fubdue the wave. 1265
Even from the body's purity the mind
Receives a fecret fympathetic aid.

Clofe in the covert of an hazel copfe,

Where winded into pleasing folitudes

Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon fat, 1270
Penfive, and pierc'd with love's delightful pangs:
There to the ftream that down the diftant rocks
Hoarfe-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that
Among the bending willows, falfely he
Of Mufidora's cruelty complain'd.

[play'd

She felt his flame; but deep within her breast,
In bashful coynefs, or in maiden pride,
The foft return conceal'd, fave when it ftole
In fide-long glances from her downcast eye,
Or from her fwelling foul in ftifled fighs.
Touch'd by the fcene, no ftranger to his vows,
Volume I.

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He fram'd a melting lay to try her heart,
And if an infant paffion struggled there,
To call that paffion forth. Thrice happy fwain !
A lucky chance, that oft' decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine:
For, lo! conducted by the laughing Loves,
This cool retreat his Mufidora fought:

Warm in her cheek the fultry feafon glow'd;
And, rob'd in loose array, she came to bathe 1290
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream.
What fhall he do? In fweet confufion loft,
And dubious flutterings, he a while remain'd:
A pure ingenuous elegance of foul,

A delicate refinement, known to few,
Perplex'd his breast, and urg'd him to retire;
But Love forbade. Ye Prudes, in virtue, fay,
Say, ye Severeft, what would you have done?
Mean time this fairer nymph than ever blest
Arcadian ftream, with timid eye around

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1300 The banks furveying, stripp'd her beauteous limbs, To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. Ah, then! not Paris on the piny top Of Ida panted stronger, when aside The rival-goddeffes the veil divine

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Caft unconfin'd, and gave him all their charms,
Than, Damon, thou, as from the fnowy leg
And flender foot th' inverted filk fhe drew;
As the foft touch diffolv'd the virgin zone,

And thro' the parting robe th' alternate breast, 1310
With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze
In full luxuriance rofe. But, desperate youth,
How durft thou rifque the foul-distracting view,
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white,
Harmonious fwell'd by Nature's fineft hand, 1315
In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn,
And fair-expos'd she flood, shrunk from herself,
With fancy blufhing, at the doubtful breeze
Alarm'd, and starting like the fearful fawn?
Then to the flood fhe rufh'd; the parted flood 1320
Its lovely gueft with closing waves receiv'd,
And every beauty foftening, every grace
Flushing anew, a mellow luftre fhed;
As fhines the lily thro' the crystal mild,
Or as the rofe amid the morning dew,
Fresh from Aurora's hand, more fweetly glows.
While thus fhe wanton'd, now beneath the wave
But ill-conceal'd, and now with ftreaming locks,
That half-embrac'd her in a humid veil,
Rifing again, the latent Damon drew

Such mad'ning draughts of beauty to the soul,

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As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptur'd thought
With luxury too daring. Check'd, at last,
By love's refpectful modefty, he deem'd
The theft profane, if aught profane to love

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Can e'er be deem'd; and, ftruggling from the shade

With headlong hurry fled; but first these lines,

Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank

With trembling hand he threw. "Batheon, my Fair! "Yet unbeheld, fave by the facred eye 1340

"Of faithful Love. I go to guard thy haunt, "To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, "And each licentious eye." With wild furprise, As if to marble ftruck, devoid of fenfe, A ftupid moment motionless she stood:

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So ftands the ftatue* that enchants the world;
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Recovering, fwift fhe flew to find thofe robes
Which blissful Eden knew not; and, array'd 1350
In careless hafte, th' alarming paper fnatch'd:
But when her Damon's well-known hand fhe faw,
Her terrors vanish'd, and a fofter train

Of mixt emotions, hard to be defcrib'd,

Her fudden bofom feiz'd: fhame void of guilt, 1355 The charming blush of innocence, esteem

And admiration of her lover's flame,

By modefty exalted; even a sense
Of self-approving beauty stole across

Her bufy thought. At length a tender calm 1360
Hufh'd by degrees the tumult of her foul,
And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream
Incumbent hung, fhe with the sylvan pen

Of rural lovers this confeffion carv'd,

* The Venus of Medici.

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