aurea duræ
Mala ferant quercus, narcisso floreat alnus;
Pinguia corticibus sudent electra myricæ.—Pope.
His obligations are also due to Dryden's version of Ecl. iv. 21:
Unlaboured harvests shall the fields adorn,
And clustered grapes shall blush on ev'ry thorn:
And knotted oaks shall show'rs of honey weep,
And through the matted grass the liquid gold shall creep.
Bowles, in his translation of Theocritus, Idyll. v., assisted our bard:
On brambles now let violets be born,
And op'ning roses blush on ev'ry thorn.
He seems to have had in view also the third Eclogue of Walsh:
Upon hard oaks let blushing peaches grow,
And from the brambles liquid amber flow.—Wakefield.
[17] These four lines followed in the MS.:
With him through Libyia's burning plains I'll go,
On Alpine mountains tread th' eternal snow;
Yet feel no heat but what our loves impart,
And dread no coldness but in Thyrsis' heart.—Warburton.
Wakefield remarks that the second line in this passage is taken from Dryden's Virg. Ecl. x. 71: