CANADA IN THE BODLEIAN. 403 



University of Oxford, but throughout England. The exercise of " the 

 Right Hon. Lord Charles Grenville Montagu, second son of his Grace 

 the Duke of Manchester, of Christ Church " (so runs the signature at its 

 close), is a Pastoral, after the manner of one of the eclogues of Virgil. 

 There is in the composition a curious mixture of the ancient and par- 

 tially modern; of the classic and the English of the time of Chaucer. 

 Two shepherds discourse : one of them dismally laments the recent 

 death of him that was, as he speaks, "hight of shepherds all, the 

 King.'' This old shepherd King is styled Tityrus. The successor to 

 the pastoral monarch is then alluded to. One Damoetas, Colin, the 

 speaker, says, has pointed him out to him — a youth, as he describes him, 



" of peerless praise 



And modest mein, that ever generous mind betrays." 



Damoetas himself, the shepherd observes, is one " deeply skilled in 

 wise foresight, and much of all admired for learned fame." The lines 

 to which I confine myself are the address of Damoetas to Colin, on 

 showing him the King : 



" Colin, quoth he, thilk lovely Lad goes yon, 



Master is now of all this forest wide, 



(Si' that great Tityrus his life hath done) 



And well shall keep ; ne hence with sturdy stride 



Shall derring wolf our nightly folds annoy, 



Ne subtle fox, what time the lambs for dam 'gin cry." 



Possibly this piece, with its antique, homely English, may have been 

 relished as much as any in the volume by the young King, who in after 

 years was popularly known as " Farmer George." " Thilk lovely lad 

 goes yon" recalls the copper-plate frontispiece of the London Magazine 

 for the year 1760, which represents the following scene, as explained to 

 the reader in the periodical itself; " Britannia mourning over an urn, 

 on which is the profile of his late Majesty. Justice and Religion are 

 consoling her, by showing the person of our present most gracious 

 Sovereign, accompanied by Liberty and Concord : Providence is 

 placing the British diadem on his head ; Mercury, the god of Com- 

 merce, with the Cornucopia at his feet, denoting the present flourishing 

 state of our Trade. The obelisk in the back-ground may serve to 

 commemorate the death of his late Majesty." All these symbolical 

 objects are depicted with great spirit and grace : the young King is 

 represented as a smiling stripling. 

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