To bid adieu to the departing sun:

With airy music sip the milky streams,

And gild their coats in light's declining beams;
Add that at eve cool Zephyr wakes the breeze,
And sits in sighs upon the shivering trees;
Add that at eve Etesian breezes wake,

With coming gales the leaves are seen to shake,
Still trembling onward with th' approaching blast,
Till on the dimply pool it breathes at last,
Before the wind the water curls in rings,
And the fann'd ocean frowns beneath his wings:
Hence lyrics make the fields and swains rejoice,
Or elegy lifts up her mournful voice;
The buskin'd hero treads the crowded stage,
Or comic humor smiles along the page;
There Athens' friend Themistocles appears,
And Cato glorious in his country's tears;
Thy lips, Timoleon, seal thy brother's doom,
And Brutus bleeds in both his sons for Rome:
Varanes there admires the bloody sign,
Hung o'er the head of kneeling Constantine;
On Cannae's field see Paulus bath'd in gore,
And Caesar pass the Rubicon once more.

Thus he to whom the tuneful charms belong
Of sacred numbers, and harmonious song;
Whom Paean's art did at his birth inspire
With a sweet finger for the Muse's lyre;
To whom the gift of genius fate has given,
That golden blessing of indulgent heaven ;.

"

Must study music to improve his art,

And through the ear find entrance to the heart;
While art and nature equally unite,

Sound smooth the sense, and grace make wit polite.
His easy
lines unlabor'd seem to flow,

Yet such that ease as pains alone bestow ;

While the fond reader, charm'd with every strain, Snatches a quill to imitate in vain.

Next it were fit that Picture claim'd his care, A well-bred man should every science share; From hence what beauties may not poets take? Hence learn a verse to paint the rattling snake: Through the gilt page he twists in color'd lines, And round the leaf in curling volumes twines; The reader thinks he sees the serpent slide, And almost feels him through his fingers glide.

Let Helen's beauty kindle sweet desire,
In Zeuxis' colors, and with Homer's fire;
Compare them both, and miss no single charm,
But let each blush in equal spirit warm:

The fine complexion let the Graces spread,
And Paestan roses paint her cheek with red,
While Venus bids her airs around her play,
And Phoebus fills her eyes with tender day.

But Thornhill's draughts shall future hints supply, As long as Kensington with Greenwich vie; Where round her roof a thousand colors glow,

And Britain's rivers round the cieling flow.
Here bold Description with her pencil stands,
To roll the billows over shining sands;
Strong on the eye th' inverted figures fall,
And the rich cornice sets on fire the wall:
Tame on his anchor here supports his head,
And Humber heavy with his pigs of lead;
While Avon's waters into Severn roll,
And the Tine tumbles out her mines of coal
;

There in green gold the Medway seems to burn,
And pour down fishes from her foaming urn;
While silver Isis joins her husband Tame,
And in each other lose their ancient name.

In sculpture too proportion learns to please,
When every beauty swells by nice degrees;
Where by the chisel's meant the poet's pen,
That files and polishes the works of men,
Softens the rugged surface of the song,
Yet turns the feature regular and strong;
Commands the limbs in attitudes to rise,
And live and walk before the reader's eyes.

Beneath her palm hence sun-burnt Egypt's seen, The roughen'd fret-work suits the matron's mien : In molten ore Minerva lends her aid,

And lifts to life the rude unletter'd maid:

Rais'd by her hand Nile's daughter quits the ground,

Hardens her mummies, hears her sistrum sound,

Towers like her pyramids, sublimely bold,
And almost rises half her height in gold.

So the slack rope the dextrous dancer tries, Poiz'd on a pole betwixt air, earth, and skies, Walks o'er the waves of heads that roll below, His limbs look supple, and his steps tread slow : Beneath his foot the sturdy cable bends,

Mounts as he moves, and drops as he descends: Back start the crowd: he, glorying in his strength, Springs on his feet, and rises half his length.

By architecture last he lays the scheme,
And by some model bids his genius flame,
Works up the whole, and sees the building shine,
In all its parts, with conduct and design :
The poem rais'd upon so fine a plan,

The test, the wonder, and delight of man,
Will stand the shocks and injuries of time,
Built upon nature, and the true sublime.

Thus life-resembling Allegory lies
Behind a veil, remote from vulgar eyes:
Transparent veil in hieroglyphics wrought,
Which only covers not obscures the thought;
Where silver urns express the figur'd flood,
And more is meant than first is understood;
Old Age and Time in hoary forms appear,
And proper emblems represent the year;

There oft blue Neptune for the sea is seen,
And rivers rising from their beds in green;
In golden lines th' autumnal season glows,
And winter through a blustering period blows:
Here brother twins unbar rude Fancy's gate,
Dress her wild dreams, and on the goddess wait,
Romantic dreams! from Superstition sprung,
Which Ariosto taught, and Spenser sung.
Then every grotto in its Genius spoke,
And Hamadryads from each hollow oak ;
Ey'n Echo learn'd to answer to her name,
And babbled louder than the babbling stream.

Now when some rival poem you peruse, O let not Envy blind the partial Muse! Where merit is, esteem it as your own, And in its triumphs let your light be shown; Let Albion ask from whence an author came, And judge according to the writer's name ; French, English, Irish, be alike to you, And gladly give an Infidel his due: Scorn that mean artifice of unjust praise, Nor think to flatter, is to gain the bays; Those two extremes the worthy will despise, Who hate with reason, and with reason prize.

And yet to malice sure I'm much oblig❜d, On every side by calumny besieg'd: To critics much I owe, who make me mend; And Envy I could almost call my friend;