Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Gentle shepherd

TO
THE COUNTESS OF EGLINTOUN^
With the follomng Pajloral.
ACCEPT, O Eglintoun ! the rural lays,
Tha*", bound to thee, thy poet humbly yvj'^l
The mufe, that oft has rais'd her tuneful ftraiiis,
A frequent gueft on Scotia's blifsful iilaiiis,
That oft has fung, her lift'ning youth to move„
The charms of beauty, and the force of love.
Once more relumes the ftill fuccefsfu! lay,
Delighted, thro' the verdant meads to ftray.
O ! come, invok'd, and pleas' d, with her repwr
To breathe the balmy fweets of purer air.
In the cool eve:iing nep;ligently laid.
Of near the ilream, or in the rural (lia-de,
Propir'ious here, and, as thou hear'ft, approve
The Gentle Shefjherd's tender tale of love.
Inrtru<ite"0 from thefe fcenes, what glowing fires
InflaiTie rhe breaft that real love infpiresi
The fair (hall read of ardors, fighs, and tears.
All that a lover hopes, and all he fears:
Kence, too, what pailjons in his hofom rife !
What dawning gladnefs fparkles ii^his eyes!
When fird the fair one, piteous of his fate,
Cur'dof heriborn, and van.ijuifh'd of her hate.
With willing mind, is bounteous to relent.
And bludnng beauteous fmiles the kind confent !
Love's pafiion here in each extreme is ihown*
hi Chariot's fmile, or in Maria's frov^'n.
With words like thefe, that fail'd not to engp.g?,
Love courted beauty \n a golden age^
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