Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/275

Geor. II. Some bowe their Vines, which bury'd in the Plain, Their tops in distant Arches rise again. Others no Root require, the Lab'rer cuts Young Slips, and in the Soil securely puts. Ev'n Stumps of Olives, bar'd of Leaves, and dead, Revive, and oft redeem their wither'd head. Tis usual now, an Inmate Graff to see, With insolence invade a Foreign Tree: Thus Pears and Quinces from the Crabtree come; And thus the ruddy Cornel bears the Plum. Then let the Learned Gard'ner mark with care The Kinds of Stocks, and what those Kinds will bear: Explore the Nature of each sev'ral Tree; And known, improve with artful Industry: And let no spot of idle Earth be found, But cultivate the Genius of the Ground. For open Ismarus will Bacchus please; Taburnus loves the shade of Olive Trees. The Virtues of the sev'ral Soils I sing, Mecænas, now thy needful Succour bring! O thou! the better part of my Renown, Inspire thy Poet, and thy Poem crown: Embarque with me, while I new Tracts explore, With flying sails and breezes from the shore: Not that my Song, in such a scanty space, So large a Subject fully can embrace: Not tho' I were supply'd with Iron Lungs, A hundred Mouths, fill'd with as many Tongues: