Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/24

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Killala in the County of Mayo
in Ireland, June 7. 1715.

TO

Mr. POPE on his Windsor-Forest.

HAIL, sacred Bard! a Muse unknown beforeSalutes thee from the bleak Atlantic shore.To our dark world thy shining page is shown,And Windsor's gay retreat becomes our own.The Eastern pomp had just bespoke our care,And India pour'd her gawdy treasures here:A various spoil adorn'd our naked land,The pride of Persia glitter'd on our strand,And China's Earth was cast on common sand:Toss'd up and down the glossy fragments lay,And dress'd the rocky shelves, and pav'd the painted bay.Thy treasures next arriv'd: And now we boastA nobler Cargo on our barren coast.From thy luxuriant Forest we receiveMore lasting glories than the East can give. Where-e'er we dip in thy delightful page,What pompous scenes our busy thoughts engage!The pompous scenes in all their pride appear,Fresh in the page, as in the grove they were.Nor half so true the fair Lodona showsThe sylvan state that on her border grows,While she the wondring shepherd entertainsWith a new Windsor in her watry plains:

Thy

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