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Heav'n grant in this feafon it may be my lot,
With the nymph whom I love and admire,
While the icicles hang from the eves of my cot,
I may thither in fafety retire!

Where in neatness and quiet, and free from furprize,
We may live, and no hardships endure;
Nor feel any turbulent paffions arife,
But fuch as each other may cure.

A DE

A DESCRIPTION OF WINTER.

BY MR. AMBROSE PHILIPS.

TO THE EARL OF DORSET.

F

Copenhagen, March 9, 1719.

Rom frozen climes, and endless tracks of fnow,

From ftreams which northern winds forbid to What prefent fhall the mufe to Dorfet bring; [flow, Or how, fo near the pole, attempt to fing? All pleafing objects, which to verfe invite, The hoary winter here conceals from fight. The hills, and dales, and the delightful woods, The flowery plains, and filver-ftreaming floods, By fnow disguis'd, in bright confusion lie, And with one dazzling waste fatigue the eye. No gentle breathing breeze prepares the spring; No birds within this defert region fing; The fhips, unmov'd, the boisterous winds defy, While rattling chariots o'er the ocean fly: The vast Leviathan wants room to play, And spout his waters in the face of day: The ftarving wolves along the main fea prowl, And to the moon in icy valleys howl: O'er many a fhining league the level main Here spreads itself into a glaffy plain :

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There

There folid billows of enormous fize,
Alps of green ice, in wild diforder rife.
And yet but lately have I seen, ev'n here,
The winter in a lovely dress
appear.
Ere yet the clouds let fall the treafur'd fnow,
Or winds began thro' hazy skies to blow;
At evening a keen eaftern breeze arose,
And the defcending rain unfully'd froze.
Soon as the filent shades of night withdrew,
The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view
The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd every object to my eyes.
For every fhrub, and every blade of grass,
And every pointed thorn, seem'd wrought in glass:
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show,
While thro' the ice the crimson berries glow:
The thick-fprung reeds, which watery marshes yield,
Seem'd polish'd lances in a hoftile field:
The flag, in limpid currents, with furprize,
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise :
The spreading oak, the beech, and towering pine,
Glaz'd over, in the freezing æther shine:
The frighted birds the rattling branches shun,
Which wave and glitter in the distant sun.
When, if a sudden gust of wind arise,
The brittle forest into atoms flies:

The crackling wood beneath the tempest bends,
And in a spangled fhow'r the profpect ends.

Or

Or, if a fouthern gale the region warm,
And by degrees unbind the wintery charm:
The traveller a miry country fees,

And journies fad beneath the dropping trees.
Like fome deluded peasant, Merlin leads

Thro' fragrant bow'rs, and thro' delicious meads
While here enchanted gardens to him rife,
And airy fabrics there attract his eyes:
His wandering feet the magic paths pursue ;
And while he thinks the fair illusion true,
The tracklefs fcenes difperfe in fluid air,
And woods, and wilds, and thorny ways appear;
A tedious road the weary wretch returns,
And, as he goes, the tranfient vifion mourns.

;

ON

ON CAPTAIN FORRESTER'S

TRAVELLING TO THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND

Ο

IN WINTER, ANNO 1727. INCOG.

'ER Caledonia's ruder Alps,

While Forrefter purfu'd his way,

The mountains veil'd their rugged fcalps,
And wrapt in fnow and wonder lay!
Each fylvan god, each rural power,
Peep'd out to fee the raree-show;
And all confefs'd, that, till that hour,
They ne'er had seen so bright a beau.
Nay yet, and more I dare advance,
The story true, as aught in print,
All nature round, in complaifance,
And imitation, took the hint.
The fields that whilome only bore

Wild heath, or clad at beft with oats,
Defpis'd these humble weeds, and wore
Rich fpangled doublets, and lac'd coats.
The hills were perriwigg'd with fnow;
Pig-tails of ice hung on each tree;
The winds turn'd powder-puffs; and, lo,
On every shrub a sharp toupee!

With

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