Ah! why complain't thou that from generous wine
And fcenes of feftive joy the Muses fly?
To Bacchus oft they chant their fongs divine,
Bacchus himself admires fweet poefy.

Phoebus, his wreath of laurel caft away,
The ivy chaplet oft will not difdain,
The facred Nine, on Helicon who stray,

Ev'n in those haunts have join'd the Bacchant train.
Sad elegies the bard from Pontus wrote,
Whofe other works fuperior fancy boaft,
No feafts were there to prompt the glowing thought,
No wine to cheer the melancholy coaft.
How fweetly flow Anacreon's tuneful lays!
Rofes and fparkling wine his verfe inspire,
While, to the clufter-crown'd Lyæus' praife,
In happieft notes he ftrikes his feftive lyre.
Nor lefs, in Pindar's animated strain,

Th' infpiring power of Bacchus' aid we trace,
While the wreck'd chariot ftrews th' Olympic plain,
Or youths imbrown'd with duft conteft the race.
He too, whom Rome allow'd beyond compare
In Lyric poetry her bard fupreme,

Bedew'd with wine fang Chloe's auburn hair,
Or made bright Glycera his charming theme.
the Mufes ftill require

97.

Humid regalement-]

id regalement might have been fuggefted by the oppofite phrase food, in a fimilar paffage of Athenæus (L. ii. C. 3.) Ex TPOOHE - ούτ' αν σκώμματα γενοιτ', ου] αυτοσχεδια ποιηματα.

Thus to the generous bottle all incline,

400

By parching thirst allur'd. With vehement funs
When dusty summer bakes the crumbling clods,
How pleasant is't, beneath the twisted arch
Of a retreating bower, in mid-day's reign
To ply the sweet carouse, remote from noise,
Secured of feverish heats! When th’aged year

Spenfer has alfo fome fine lines on the fame subject.

Thou ken'ft not, Percy, how the rhyme fhould rage.
Oh that my temples were diftain'd with wine,
And girt in girlands of wild ivy twine!

How I could rear the Mufe on ftately stage,
And bid her tread aloft in buskin fine,
With quaint Bellona in her equipage!

405

Spenfer's OCTOBER.

Ad mare quum veni, GENEROSUм et lene requiro.

And Ovid,

L. i. EPIST. xv. V. 18.

Eft tibi rure bono GENEROSA fertilis UVÆ
Vinea-

REMED. AMOR. 567.

402. When dufly fummer bakes the crumbling clods]

GLEBASQUE jacentes

PULVERULENTA coquat maturis folibus ESTAS.

403.

Virg, GEORGIC. i. V. 65.

beneath the twisted arch

Of a retreating bower, in mid-day's reign-]

Thus Milton, in the 5th Book of his PARADISE LOST, V. 229.

Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend
Converse with Adam, in what BOWER OR SHADE
Thou find'ft him FROM THE HEAT OF NOON RETIR'D,
To refpite his day-labor with REPAST-

The retreating bower, might be fuggefted by Horace's
Hic in REDUCTA valle, Caniculæ

Vitabis æftus.

L. i. Ode. 17.

Inclines,

BOOK II.

CIDER.

Inclines, and Boreas' spirit blusters frore,

139

4II

Beware th' inclement heavens; now let thy hearth
Crackle with juiceless boughs; thy lingering blood
Now inftigate with th' Apple's powerful streams.
Perpetual showers and ftormy gufts confine
The willing ploughman, and December warns
To annual jollities; now fportive youth
Carol incondite rhythms, with suiting notes,
quaver unharmonious; sturdy fwains

And

407. and Boreas' Spirit blufters frore]

415

Dr. Warton has paid a compliment to this line, by borrowing it to tranflate the " Borea Spirante" of Virgil; GEORGIC. ii. 316.

Frore is an old word for frosty; and used by Milton, P. L. ii. 595.

408.

-now let thy hearth

Crackle with juiceless boughs, thy lingering blood
Now inftigate with th' Apple's powerful streams-]

Diffolve frigus, LIGNA SUPER FOCO
LARGE REPONENS, atque BENIGNIUS
DEPROME QUADRIMUM

Hor. L. I. ODE ix.

412.

December warns

To annual jollities]

age, LIBERTATE DECEMBRIS,

Quando ita majores voluerunt, utere.

Hor. L. II. Sat. vii. 4.

The ancient annual jollities of this feafon of the year, are particularly noticed by Seneca, in the beginning of his 18th EPISTLE.

"DECEM

BRIS menfis eft, cum maxime civitas defudat. JUS LUXURIE PUB-
LICE DATUM EST; ingenti apparatu fonant omnia.
Statius defcribes the month of December,

multo gravidus mero DECEMBER.

KAL. DEC. SAT. V. V.

incondite rhythms.-]

414.

Livy defcribes the Roman foldiers finging incondite rhythms, in honor

of their victorious General.

T 2

In

In clean array for ruftic dance prepare,

420

Mixt with the buxom damfels; hand in hand
They frisk, and bound, and various mazes weave,
Shaking their brawny limbs, with uncouth mien,
Transported, and fometimes an oblique leer
Dart on their loves, fometimes an hasty kiss
Steal from unwary laffes; they with scorn,
And neck reclin'd, resent the ravish'd blifs.
Meanwhile blind British bards with volant touch
Traverfe loquacious ftrings, whofe folemn notes
Provoke to harmless revels; these among

426

In eum milites CARMINA INCONDITA æquantes eum Romulo CANERE. L. iv. C. 20.

418. They frisk, and bound, and various mazes weave,
Shaking their brawny limbs, with uncouth mien.]

This whole defcription of the Ruftic Ball is admirable. We may poffibly fuppofe, in these lines, that our Author had in his mind the fol lowing paffage of Lucretius,

Tum caput, atque humeros plexis redimire coronis
Floribus, et foliis lascivia læta monebat;

ATQUE EXTRA NUMERUM PROCEDERE MEMBRA MOVENTES
DURITER, ET DURO TERRAM PEDE PELLERE MATREM.
L. v. V. 1400.

an hafty kifs

Steal from unwary laffes

Thomfon defcribing a fcene of ruftic mirth (in his WINTER. V. 625.)

mentions

THE KISS, SNATCH'D HASTY from the fide-long maid,
On purpofe GUARDLESS.

424

with volant touch

Traverfe loquacious ftrings]

From the following paffage in the Eleventh Book of the PARADISE LOST, V. 558.

others, whence the found

Of inftruments that made melodious chime,

Was heard, of HARP and organ; and who mov'd

Their ftops and CHORDS was feen; his VOLANT TOUCH

Instinct