The Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1 / Poetry - Volume 1

by Alexander Pope

Or,

While Cynthia tips with silver all the groves,
And scarce the winds the topmast branches moves.

or

While the bright moon with silver tips the grove,
And not a breeze the quiv'ring branches move."

Walsh. "I think the last the best, but might not even that be mended?"

[7] Garth's Dispensary, Canto iv.:

As tuneful Congreve tries his rural strains,
Pan quits the woods, the list'ning fauns the plains.

Dryden's Virgil, Ecl. vi. 100:

And called the mountain ashes to the plain.

Among the poems of Congreve is one entitled "The Mourning Muse of Alexis, a Pastoral lamenting the death of Queen Mary." This was the "sweet Alexis strain" to which Pope referred, and which the Thames "bade his willows learn."