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Poets and Statesmen; Their Homes and Memorials in the Neighbourhood of Windsor and Eton
Poets and Statesmen Their Homes and Memorials in the Neighbourhood of Windsor and Eton Author:William Dowling General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1857 Original Publisher: E.P. Williams Subjects: History / Europe / Great Britain Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial... more » access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: WINDSOR FOREST. [abridged.] Thy forest, Windsor! and thy green retreats, At once the Monarch's and the Muses' seats, Invite my lays. Be present, sylvan maids ! Unlock your springs, and open all your shades. Granville commands ; your aid, 0 Muses, bring ! What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing ? The groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long, Live in description, and look green in song : These, were my breast inspir'd with equal flame, Like them in beauty, should be like in fame. Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water seem to strive again! Not, chaos-like, together crush'd and bruis'd, But, as the world, harmoniously confus'd : AVhere order in variety we see, And where, tho' all things differ, all agree. Here waving groves a chequer'd scene display, And part admit, and part exclude the day; As some coy nymph her lover's warm address Nor quite indulges, nor can quite repress. There, interspers'd in lawns and op'ning glades, Thin trees arise that shun each other's shades: Here, in full light the russet plains extend; There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hiUs ascend. Ev'n the wild heath displays her purple dyes, And 'midst the desert fruitful fields arise, That, crown'd with tufted trees and springing corn, Like verdant isles, the sable waste adorn. Let India boast her plants, nor envy we The weeping amber or the balmy tree, While by our oaks the precious loads are borne, And realms commanded which those trees adorn. Not proud Olympus yie...« less