Page:The Amyntas of Tasso (1770) - Percival Stockdale.djvu/76

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44
AMYNTAS.
How could we then this idol's rule obey,
How be tormented with his Gothick sway?
Homage to no superior then we owed,
Life's innocence in equal tenour flowed;
No chain of thought disturbed the vacant race,
Oppression sate not pensive on the face;
Nor was the breast by fell ambition torn;
They never for a rose mistoke a thorn:
They never trembled with preposterous awe;
Unerring nature was their only law;
And all her rights she had with easy claim,
For they, and inclination were the same.
Without the torch, and bow, like rustick boys,
(Heaven deigned to mingle then with earthly joys)
The little Loves the festal dance would lead,
With nymphs, and shepherds, on the flowery mead:
While purling streams, and warblers from the spray,
To fuller concert raised the rural lay.

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