ORIENTAL ECLOGUES ECLOGUE 1. SELIM; OR, THE SHEPHERD'S MORAL. Scene-A Valley near Bagdat. Time-The Morning. 'YE Persian maids! attend your poet's lays, And hear how shepherds pass their golden days. Not all are blest, whom Fortune's hand sustains With wealth in courts; nor all that haunt the plains: Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell; "Tis virtue makes the bliss where'er we dwell.' Thus Selim sung, by sacred Truth inspired; Or taught the swains that surest bliss to find, Breathe on each flower, and bear their sweets away, Ye Persian dames, he said, to you belong- For you those flowers her fragrant hands bestow, Self-flattering sex! your hearts believe in vain As spots on ermine beautify the skin : 'Blest were the days when Wisdom held her reign, O haste, fair maids! ye Virtues, come away, Sweet Peace and Plenty lead you on your way! The balmy shrub for you shall love our shore, By Ind excell'd, or Araby, no more. Lost to our fields, for so the Fates ordain, The dear deserters shall return again. Come thou, whose thoughts as limpid springs are clear, To lead the train, sweet Modesty, appear: Here make thy court amidst our rural scene, And shepherd-girls shall own thee for their queen : With thee be Chastity, of all afraid, Distrusting all, a wise, suspicious maid; But man the most-not more the mountain doe Cold is her breast, like flowers that drink the dew; No wild desires amidst thy train be known, And Love, the last: by these your hearts approve, Thus sung the swain; and ancient legends say, The maids of Bagdat verified the lay: Dear to the plains, the Virtues came along, The shepherds loved, and Selim bless'd his song. ECLOGUE II. HASSAN; OR, THE CAMEL-DRIVER. IN silent horror, o'er the boundless waste |