When Albion rul'd the land, whose lineage came
From Neptune mingling with a mortal dame,
Their midnight pranks the sprightly Fairies play'd
On ev'ry hill, and danc'd in ev'ry shade;
But foes to sunshine, most they took delight
In dells and dales conceal'd from human fight,
There hew'd their houses in the arching rock,
Or fcoop'd the bofom of the blasted oak,
Or heard o'ershadow'd by fome shelving hill
The distant murmurs of the falling rill;
They rich in pilfer'd spoils indulg'd their mirth,
And pity'd the huge wretched fons of earth:
Ev'n now it is faid the hinds o'erhear their ftrain,
And strive to view their airy forms in vain ;
They to their cells at man's approach repair,
Like the fhy lev'ret or the mother hare,
The whilft poor mortals startle at the found
Of unfeen footsteps on the haunted ground.
Amid this Garden then with woods o'ergrown
Stood the lov'd feat of royal Oberon:
From ev'ry region to his palace gate
Came peers and princes of the Fairy state,
Who rank'd in council round the facred fhade
Their monarch's will and great behefts obey'd.
From Thames' fair banks, by lofty tow'rs adorn'd, 75
With loads of plunder oft' his chiefs return'd;
Hence in proud robes and colours bright and gay
Shone ev'ry knight and ev'ry lovely Fay.
Whoe'er on Powell's dazzling ftage difplay'd
Hath fam'd King Pepin and his court furvey'd 80
May guess, if old by modern things we trace,
and splendour of the Fairy race.
By magick fenc'd, by spells encompass'd round, No mortal touch'd this interdicted ground; No mortal enter'd, thofe alone who came Stol'n from the couch of fome terrestrial dame; For oft' of babes they robb'd the matron's bed, And left fome fickly changeling in their stead.
It chanc'd a youth of Albion's royal blood Was fofter'd here, the wonder of the wood. Milkah, for wiles above her peers renown'd, Deep skill'd in charms and many a mystick found, As thro' the regal dome fhe fought for prey Obferv'd the infant Albion where he lay
In mantles broider'd o'er with gorgeous pride, 95
And ftole him from the fleeping mother's fide.
Who now but Milkah triumphs in her mind!
Ah, wretched Nymph! to future evils blind;
The time fhall come when thou shalt dearly pay
The theft hardhearted of that guilty day:
Thou in thy turn fhalt like the queen repine,
And all her forrows doubled fhall be thine.
He who adorns thy house, the lovely boy
Who now adorns it, fhall at length destroy.
Two hundred moons in their pale course had seen
The gay-rob'd Fairies glimmer on the green,
And Albion now had reach'd in youthful prime
To nineteen years, as mortals measure time.
Flush'd with refiftless charms he fir'd to love
Each nymph and little Dryad of the grove;
For fkilful Milkah spar'd not to employ
Her utmost art to rear the princely boy;
Each fupple limb she swath'd and tender bone,
And to the Elfin standard kept him down;
She robb'd dwarf elders of their fragrant fruit, 115
And fed him early with the daify's root,
Whence thro' his veins the pow'rful juices ran,
And form'd in beauteous miniature the man;
Yet ftill two inches taller than the rest
His lofty port his human birth confeft:
A foot in height how stately did he show!
How look fuperiour on the crowd below!
What knight like him could tofs the rushy lance!
Who move fo graceful in the mazy dance!
A fhape fo nice, or features half so fair,
What Elf could boast! or such a flow of hair!
Bright Kenna faw, a princefs born to reign,
And felt the charmer burn in ev'ry vein.
She, heiress to this empire's potent lord,
Prais'd like the stars, and next the moon ador'd, 130
She whom at diftance thrones and princedoms view'd,
To whom proud Oriel and Azuriel su'd,
In her high palace languish'd, void of joy,
And pin'd in secret for a mortal boy.
He too was fmitten, and discreetly ftrove By courtly deeds to gain the virgin's love.
For her he cull'd the fairest flow'rs that grew
Ere morning funs had drain'd their fragrant dew;
He chas'd the hornet in his mid-day flight,
And brought her glow-worms in the noon of night.
When on ripe fruits fhe caft a wifhing eye
Did ever Albion think the tree too high!
He fhow'd her where the pregnant goldfinch hung,
And the wren mother brooding o'er her young;
To her th' infcription on their eggs he read;
(Admire, ye Clerks! the youth whom Milkah bred)
To her he fhow'd each herb of virt'ous juice,
Their pow'rs diftinguifh'd, and defcrib'd their use.
All vain their pow'rs, alas! to Kenna prove,
And well fung Ovid "There is no herb for love."
As when a ghoft enlarg'd from realms below 151
Seeks its old friend to tell fome fecret wo,
The poor fhade fhiv'ring ftands, and muft not break
His painful filence till the mortal speak,
So far'd it with the little lovefick maid,
Forbid to utter what her eyes betray'd.
He faw her anguish and reveal'd his flame,
And fpar'd the blushes of the tonguety'd dame.
The day would fail me should I reckon o'er
The fighs they lavish'd and the oaths they swore 160
In words fo melting, that compar'd with those
The nicest courtship of terrestrial beaux
Would found like compliments from country clowns
Tored-cheek'd fweethearts in their homespun gowns.
All in a lawn of many a various hue
A bed of flow'rs (a Fairy forest) grew:
'Twas here one noon, the gaudieft of the May,
The ftill the fecret filent hour of day,
Beneath a lofty tulip's ample shade
Sat the young lover and th' immortal maid.
They thought all Fairies flept. Ah luckless Pair!
Hid but in vain in the fun's neontide glare!
When Albion leaning on his Kenna's breast
Thus all the foftness of his foul expreft:
"All things are hufh'd; the fun's meridian rays "Veil the horizon in one mighty blaze:
"Nor moon nor star in heav'n's blue arch is feen
"With kindly rays to filver o'er the green; "Grateful to Fairy eyes they secret take
"Their reft, and only wretched mortals wake. 180 "This dead of day I fly to thee alone,
"A world to me, a multitude in one.
"Oh! fweet as dewdrops on these flow'ry lawns, "When the sky opens and the ev'ning dawns! "Straight as the pink that tow'rs fo high in air! 185 "Soft as the blowbell! as the daify fair! "Bleft be the hour when first I was convey'd
"An infant captive to this blissful shade! "And bleft the hand that did my form refine, “And shrunk my ftature to a match with thine! 190
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