And ratify the tale? Arcadian scenes, Rivals of Tempe, and Sicilian plains, Accept the tribute of my grateful praise! 'Mid England's provinces, unconquer❜d Kent, Conspicuous shines in chequer'd scenery, From Dover's cliffs impending o'er the deep, To Hawkhurst's richly interspers'd domain, And Tunbridge, fam'd for rill medicinal, And lovely prospect; Health attends thee here, Nurs'd in the lap of Beauty; why recount The aggregate of meadow, heath, and glen, ' Woodland, and cultivation, that attract, And charm the eye, with sweet variety? Lo! foggy Sussex spreads her line of coast, From Hastings westward, to the shingly strand If e'er to Vecta's isle thy footsteps tend, A lonely wanderer; deign to cast a thought On him, who erst in simple melody Breath'd soft the plaintive strain; till snatch'd away To climes remote-from Mistress and from friend Loath to depart, his eye liv'd on the shore, Till indistinctness dimm'd the range of sight: For me;-tho' Bards have left thy name unsung, No trace of Vernon in the rolls of Fame Still shall my puny efforts be employ'd, Memory, in sighs, shall whisper Vernon's name; Not unattractive to the eye of taste Witness the enchanting scenery of Foy! High, on a wood-envelop'd mount, appear Restormel's Princely ruins ivy-clad, The seat of Cornwall's Dukes in days of yore: Whence, from the sally-port, the well mail'd chief Outrush'd, with ponderous battle axe prepar'd To charge the Foe; réturning home at eve, (Clos'd the portcullis) deep libations drown The sense of toil; and sleep succeeds the feast. Fractur❜d the face of Devon;-Ilfracomb Uprears her slaty cliffs above the wave; Dartmoor presents a desolate expanse Studded with Tors;-nor must unnotic'd pass Lidford's cascade; nor Brent's conspicuous Fane, Perch'd on a rock; nor Pomeroy's remains In picturesque seclusion; nor the bay Of Babicomb; nor, in its shelter'd nook Torquay; nor, Dartmouth, thy sequester'd mart. Mount Edgecumbe boasts a Paradise marine; Nor should Oblivion shade thy rivulet, Linton's umbrageous mount, and rocky vale? Or Linmouth's deep recess? the banks of Teign Teem with a waste of beauty; speckled cliffs с |