< Page:Pastorals Epistles Odes (1748).djvu
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44

PASTORALS.

LANQUET.
To Geron I my voice, and skill, commend,
A candid umpire, and to both a friend.

GERON.
Begin then, boys; and vary well your song:
Begin; nor fear, from Geron's sentence, wrong. 16
A boxen hautboy, loud, and sweet of sound,
All varnish'd, and with brazen ringlets bound,
I to the victor give: no mean reward,
If to the ruder village pipes compar'd. 20

HOBBINOL.
The snows are melted; and the kindly rain
Descends on every herb, and every grain:
Soft balmy breezes breathe along the sky;
The bloomy season of the year is nigh. 24

LANQUET.
The cuckoo calls aloud his wandering love;
The turtle's moan is hear'd in every grove;
The pastures change; the warbling linnets sing:
Prepare to welcome in the gaudy spring. 28

HOBBINOL.
When locusts, in the ferny bushes, cry,
When ravens pant, and snakes in caverns ly,

Graze

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