_Prepare then, lovely Swain; prepare to hear, The worst Report that ever reach'd your Ear. My_ Bower _you know, hard by yon shady Grove, A fit Recess for_ Damon_'s pensive Love: 20 As there dissolv'd I in sweet Slumbers lay, Tir'd with the Toils of the precedent Day, The blust'ring Winds disturb my kind Repose, Till frightned with the threatning Blasts, I rose. But O, what havock did the Day disclose! Those charming Willows which on_ Cherwel_'s banks Flourish'd, and thriv'd, and grew in evener ranks Than those which follow'd the Divine Command Of_ Orpheus _Lyre, or sweet_ Amphion_'s Hand, By hundreds fall, while hardly twenty stand. 30 The stately Oaks which reach'd the azure Sky, And kiss'd the very Clouds, now prostrate lie. Long a huge Pine did with the Winds contend; This way, and that, his reeling Trunk they bend, Till forc'd at last to yield, with hideous Sound He falls, and all the Country feels the Wound. Nor was the God of Winds content with these; Such humble Victims can't his Wrath appease: The Rivers swell, not like the happy_ Nile, _To fatten, dew, and fructifie our_ Isle: 40 _But like the_ Deluge, _by great Jove design'd To drown the Universe, and scourge Mankind. In vain the frighted Cattel climb so high, In vain for Refuge to the Hills they fly; The Waters know no Limits but the Sky. So now the bleating Flock exchange in vain, For barren Clifts, their dewy fertil Plain: In vain, their fatal Destiny to shun, From_ Severn_'s Banks to higher Grounds they run. Nor has the_ Navy _better Quarter found; 50 There we've receiv'd our worst, our deepest Wound. The Billows swell, and haughty_ Neptune _raves, The Winds insulting o're th' impetuous Waves._ Thetis _incens'd, rises with angry Frown, And once more threatens all the World to drown, And owns no Power, but_ England_'s and her own. Yet the_ Æolian _God dares vent his Rage; And ev'n the Sovereign of the Seas engage. What tho' the mighty_ Charles _of_ Spain_'s on board, The Winds obey none but their blust'ring Lord. 60 Some Ships were stranded, some by Surges rent, Down with their Cargo to the bottom went. Th' absorbent Ocean could desire no more; So well regal'd he never was before. The hungry Fish could hardly wait the day, When the Sun's beams should chase the Storm away, But quickly seize with greedy Jaws their Prey._ DAM. _So the great_ Trojan_, by the Hand of Fate, And haughty Power of angry_ Juno_'s Hate, While with like aim he cross'd the Seas, was tost, 70 From Shore to Shore, from foreign Coast to Coast: Yet safe at last his mighty Point he gain'd; In charming promis'd Peace and Splendor reign'd._ MEL.