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EPIGRAM ON THE TWO MOUNTAINS OF AMOS-CLIFF AND BILBOROUGH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold how almias-cliff and bilborough's brow
Last Line: Let them, maria, thy parnassus be!
Subject(s): Mountains; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


Behold how Almias-cliff and Bilborough's brow
Mark with huge bounds the spacious plain below!
Dauntless, on that, the rocky turrets frown,
This the tall ash adorns with cheerful crown;
There the rough rocks in terrors grim are dress'd,
Here the smooth hill displays a verdant crest;
That height, like Atlas, seems to prop the skies,
But this beneath Herculean shoulders lies;
This, as a cell or grove, contracts the gaze,
That, as a goal, his head from far displays;
There Pelion on Ossa heaves amain,
Here some sweet nymph of Pindus leads her train.
The steep, the rough, the difficult, are there;
Here all is sloping, gentle, soft and fair.
But Nature doth both characters display
In Fairfax, whom with awe they both obey,
And, as his car rolls by, alike do feel
The impartial touch of his triumphant wheel.
Stern to the foe, and mild to him that yields,
His habits drawn from his paternal fields;
Here, with a woody strait between, one sees
The Pillars (in the North) of Hercules;
Or rather, since their bow'd tops thus agree,
Let them, Maria, thy Parnassus be!





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