[Page 78]

INSCRIPTION IN AN ARBOUR.

PROCUL ESTE PROFANI!

1 MARK, mortals! mark with awe profound
2 What solemn stillness reigns around;
3 Know then, tho' strange it may appear,
4 Spirits — why start? — inhabit here.
5 Whene'er we leave the circled green,
6 We Fairies chuse this shady scene;
7 Tho' mortal hands have form'd these bowers,
8 Yet is the sweet retirement ours.
9 For here, when as the pallid moon
10 "Riding near her highest noon,"
11 Edging the clouds with silver white,
12 Darts thro' these shades a checquer'd light,
13 Here, when we cease our airy sport,
14 We range our bands and fix our court.
15 My royal throne, exalted high,
16 Unseen by feeble, mortal eye,
17 Tho' spangled with ten thousand dews,
18 Tho' colour'd with ten thousand hues,
19 (Approach not with unhallow'd hands)
20 Beneath yon tall Laburnum stands.
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21 Then enter here with guiltless mind,
22 Spurn each vile passion far behind.
23 Hence Envy with her pining train,
24 And venal love of sordid gain;
25 Hence Malice, rankling at the heart,
26 And dire Revenge with poison'd dart;
27 Hence Lust with sly uneasy mien,
28 That thro' the twilight creeps unseen;
29 Hence Vice; avoid this arching grove,
30 Pollution follows where you move;
31 Hence; nor near the spot be found,
32 "Hence! avaunt! — 'tis holy ground!"
OBERON.

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(Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.790].)

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): INSCRIPTION IN AN ARBOUR. PROCUL ESTE PROFANI!
Author: Philip Parsons
Themes: gardens; supernatural
Genres: inscription
References: DMI 32556

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. III. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 78-79. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1136; OTA K093079.003) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.790].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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