Flush'd with refiftless charms he fir'd to love
Each nymph and little Dryad of the grove;
For skilful Milkah fpar'd not to employ
Her utmost art to rear the princely boy:
Each fupple limb she swaith'd, and tender bone,
And to the Elfin standard kept him down :
She robb'd dwarf-elders of their fragrant fruit,
And fed him early with the daify's root,
Whence through his veins the powerful juices ran,
And form'd in beauteous miniature the Man.
Yet ftill, two inches taller than the rest,
His lofty port his human birth confess'd;

A foot in height, how ftately did he show!
How look fuperior on the crowd below!

What knight like him could toss the rushy launce!
Who move fo graceful in the mazy dance!

A shape so nice, or features half so fair,

What elf could boaft! or fuch a flow of hair!

Bright Kenna faw, a princess born to reign,

And felt the charmer burn in every vein.

She, heiress to this empire's potent lord,

Prais'd like the stars, and next the moon ador'd.

She, whom at diftance thrones and princedoms view'd,

To whom proud Oriel and Azuriel fu'd,

In

In her high palace languish'd, void of joy,
And pin'd in fecret for a mortal boy.

He too was fmitten, and discreetly strove
By courtly deeds to gain the virgin's love;
For her he cull'd the fairest flowers 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 she caft a wishing eye,
Did ever Albion think the tree too high!

He show'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 show'd each herb of virtuous juice,
Their powers diftinguish'd, and describ'd their use:
All vain their powers, alas! to Kenna prove,
And well fung Ovid, There's no herb for love.

As when a ghost, enlarg'd from realms below,
Seeks its old friend to tell fome fecret woe,
The poor fhade fhivering stands, and muft not break
His painful filence, till the mortal speak;
So far'd it with the little love-fick maid,
Forbid to utter what her eyes betray'd.

He

He saw her anguifh, and reveal'd his flame,
And spar'd the blushes of the tongue-ty'd dame.
The day would fail me, should I reckon o'er
The fighs they lavish'd, and the oaths they fwore ;
In words fo melting, that, compar'd with thofe,
The niceft courtship of terrestrial beaus

Would found like compliments from country-clowns
To red-cheek'd fweet-hearts in their home-fpun gowns.
All in a lawn of many a various hue,

A bed of flowers (a fairy foreft) grew;

'Twas here one noon, the gaudiest of the May,
The still, the fecret, filent hour of day,
Beneath a lofty tulip's ample shade

Sate the young lover and th' immortal maid.
They thought all fairies flept, ah luckless pair!
Hid, but in vain, in the fun's noon-tide glare!
When Albion leaning on his Kenna's breast,
Thus all the foftness of his foul express'd.

All things are hufh'd. The fun's meridian rays

• Veil the horizon in one mighty blaze;

Nor moon nor ftar in heav'n's blue arch is feen

' With kindly rays to filver o'er the

green.

'Grateful to fairy eyes; they fecret take
'Their reft, and only wretched mortals wake.

• This

This dead of day I fly to thee alone,

< A world to me, a multitude in one.
"Oh sweet as dew-drops on these flowery lawns,
'When the sky opens and the evening dawns!
Streight as the pink, that tow'rs fo high in air,
'Soft as the blue-bell! as the daisy, fair!

Bleft be the hour, when firft I was convey'd • An infant captive to this blissful shade!

And bleft the hand that did my form refine, And fhrunk my ftature to a match with thine! • Glad I for thee renounce my royal birth,

And all the giant-daughters of the earth. 'Thou, if thy breast with equal ardour burn, Renounce thy kind, and love for love return. 'So from us two, combin'd by nuptial ties, A race unknown of demi-gods shall rise. 'Oh speak, my love! my vows with vows repay, And sweetly fwear my rifing fears away.'

To whom (the shining azure of her eyes

More brighten'd) thus th' enamour'd maid replies.
By all the ftars, and firft the glorious moon,

6

I fwear, and by the head of Oberon,

"A dreadful oath! no prince of fairy line

• Shall e'er in wedlock plight his vows with mine.

Where-e'er

'Where-e'er my footsteps in the dance are seen,

< May toadstools rife, and mildews blast the green,

May the keen east-wind blight my fav'rite flowers,

And fnakes and spotted adders haunt my bowers. ⚫ Confin❜d whole ages in an hemlock shade, • There rather pine I a neglected maid; 'Or worse, exil'd from Cynthia's gentle rays,

• Parch in the fun a thousand fummer-days,

Than any prince, a prince of fairy line,

' In facred wedlock plight his vows with mine.'

She ended and with lips of rofy hue

Dipt five times over in ambrofial dew,

Stifled his words. When, from his covert rear'd,

The frowning brow of Oberon appear'd.

A fun-flower's trunk was near, whence (killing fight!) The monarch iffu'd half an ell in height:

Full on the pair a furious look he caft,

Nor fpoke, but gave his bugle-horn a blast,

That through the woodland echo'd far and wide,

And drew a swarm of fubjects to his fide.
A hundred chofen knights, in war renown'd,
Drive Albion banifh'd from the facred ground;
And twice ten myriads guard the bright abodes,
Where the proud king, amidft his demi-gods,

For