[PASTORAL 06] THE SIXTH PASTORAL. Ambrose Philips Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T142876 Dryden, John. Poetical miscellanies: the sixth part. Containing a collection of original poems, with several new translations. By the most eminent hands. London printed for Jacob Tonson, within Grays-Inn Gate, next Grays-Inn Lane 1709 pp. 40-48. [12],172,177-224,221-298,301-632,[2],723-751,[1]p.,plate; 8⁰.

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[ PASTORAL 06 ] THE SIXTH PASTORAL . GERON , HOBBINOL , LANQUET . GERON . How still the Sea ! behold ; how calm the Sky ! And how , in sportive Chase , the Swallows fly ! My Goats , secure from Harm , small Tendance need , While high on yonder hanging Rock they feed : And here below , the banky Shore along , Your Heifers graze : And I to hear your song Dispos'd . As eldest , Hobbinol , begin ; And Lanquet's Under-Song by Turns come in . HOBBINOL . Let others meanly stake upon their Skill , Or Kid , or Lamb , or Goat , or what they will ; For Praise we sing , nor Wager ought beside : And , whose the Praise , let Geron's Lips decide . LANQUET . To Geron I my Voice and Skill commend : Unbias'd he , to both is equal Friend . GERON . Begin then , Boys , and vary well your Song ; Nor fear , from Geron's upright Sentence , Wrong . A boxen Haut-boy , loud , and sweet of Sound , All varnish'd , and with brazen Ringlets bound , I to the Victor give : No small Reward , If with our usual Country Pipes compar'd . HOBBINOL . The Snows are melted , and the kindly Rain Descends on ev'ry Herb , and ev'ry Grain ; Soft balmy Breezes breathe along the Sky ; The bloomy Season of the Year is nigh . LANQUET . The Cuckoo calls aloud his wandering Love ; The Turtle's Voice is hear'd in ev'ry Grove ; The Pastures change ; the warbling Linnets sing : Prepare to welcome in the gawdy Spring . HOBBINOL . When Locusts in the ferny Bushes cry , When Ravens pant , and Snakes in Caverns lye ; Then graze in Woods , and quit the burning Plain , Else shall ye press the spungy Teat in vain . LANQUET . When Greens to Yellow vary , and ye see The Ground bestrew'd with Fruits off ev'ry Tree , And stormy Winds are heard , think Winter near , Nor trust too far to the declining Year . HOBBINOL . Full fain , O bless'd Eliza ! would I praise Thy Maiden Rule , and Albion's Golden Days : Then gentle Sidney liv'd , the Shepherd's Friend : Eternal Blessings on his Shade attend ! LANQUET . Thrice happy Shepherds now : For Dorset loves The Country-Muse , and our delightful Groves ; While ANNA reigns . O ever may she reign ! And bring on Earth a Golden Age again . HOBBINOL . I love in secret all a beauteous Maid , And have my Love in secret all repaid . This coming Night she does reserve for me . Divine her Name ; and thou the Victor be . LANQUET . Mild as the Lamb , unharmful as the Dove , True as the Turtle , is the Maid I love . How we in secret love , I shall not say . Divine her Name , and I give up the Day . HOBBINOL . Soft on a Cowslip Bank , my Love and I Together lay : A Brook ran murm'ring by . A thousand tender things to me she said ; And I a thousand tender Things repaid . LANQUET . In Summer Shade , beneath the cocking Hay , What soft , endearing Words did she not say ? Her Lap , with Apron deck'd , she fondly spread , And stroak'd my Cheeks , and lull'd my leaning Head . HOBBINOL . Breathe soft ye Winds , ye Waters gently flow ; Shield her , ye Trees ; ye Flowers around her grow ; Ye Swains , I beg you , pass in Silence by ; My Love , in yonder Vale asleep does lye . LANQUET . Once Delia slept , on easie Moss reclin'd ; Her lovely Limbs half bare , and rude the Wind : I smooth'd her Coats , and stole a silent Kiss . Condemn me , Shepherds , if I did amiss . HOBBINOL . As Marian bath'd , by chance I passed by ; She blush'd , and at me glanc'd a sidelong Eye : Then swift beneath the crystal Wave she try'd Her tempting Form , but all in vain , to hide . LANQUET . As I , to cool me , bath'd one sultry Day , Fond Lydia , lurking in the Sedges lay . The Wanton laugh'd , and seem'd in haste to fly ; Yet often stopp'd , and often turn'd her Eye . HOBBINOL . When first I saw , would I had never seen , Young Lyset lead the Dance on yonder Green ; Intent upon her Beauties as she mov'd , Poor , heedless Wretch , at unawares I lov'd . LANQUET . When Lucy decks with Flow'rs her swelling Breast , And on her Elbow leans , dissembling Rest ; Unable to refrain my madding Mind , Nor Sheep nor Pasture worth my Care I find . HOBBINOL . Come Rosalind , O come ! For , without thee , What Pleasure can the Country have for me ? Come Rosalind , O , come ! My brinded Kine , My snowy Sheep , my Farm , and all is thine . LANQUET . Come Rosalind , O come ! Here shady Bow'rs , Here are cool Fountains , and here springing Flow'rs . Come Rosalind : Here ever let us stay , And sweetly waste our live-long Time away . HOBBINOL . In vain the Seasons of the Moon I know , The Force of healing Herbs , and where they grow ; There is no Herb , no Season , may remove From my fond Heart the racking Pains of Love . LANQUET . What profits me , that I in Charms have skill , And Ghosts and Goblins order as I will ; Yet have , with all my Charms , no Pow'r to lay The Sprite , that breaks my Quiet Night and Day . HOBBINOL . O that , like Colin , I had Skill in Rhymes : To purchase Credit with succeeding Times ! Sweet Colin Clout ! who never yet had Peer , Who sung thro' all the Seasons of the Year . LANQUET . Let me like Wrenock sing ; his Voice had Pow'r To free the clipsing Moon at Midnight Hour : And , as he sung , the Fairies , with their Queen , In Mantles blue came tripping o'er the Green . GERON . Here end your pleasing Strife . Both Victors are ; And both with Colin may in Rhyme compare . A Boxen Haut-Boy , loud , and sweet of Sound , All varnish'd , and with brazen Ringlets bound , To both I give . A mizling Mist descends Adown that steepy Rock : And this way tends Yon distant Rain . Shore-ward the Vessels strive ; And , see , the Boys their Flocks to Shelter drive .