Enigma XLIX

Come now, your footsteps turn awhile
Where brighter, milder seasons smile,
In soft Italian vales;
Where streamlets sparkle in the sun,
And gently ripple as they run,
Fann'd by the passing gales.

There see a noted river rise,
Swelled by continual supplies
From far inferior streams:
In Piedmont it has its source,
The Adriatic ends its course,
And with fresh beauty beams.

Then, hastening homeward, let me pray
You'll linger in Southampton Bay,
And thence a current trace,
Which first at Winchester is made
To serve the purposes of trade,
To many a neighbouring place.

Then, onward journeying, let us meet
Where commerce holds her chosen seat;
For there a river deep,
Broad, and majestic, passes by,
Which barks innumerable ply,
Harvests of gain to reap.

(There have been various surmises
As to the source whence it arises,
But now 'tis boldly said
'Tis seen to spring up very near
Cirencester in Gloucestershire--
And there they fix its head.)

And, lastly, I would fain propose,
That, ere we quietly repose,
Together north we ride,
To view the stream which separates
The English from the Scottish states,
And wander on its side.

Then bring th' initials of the four
Fair rivers we have lingered o'er,
And you will find pourtrayed
A British statesman far renown'd,
One whose illustrious brows are bound
With wreaths that ne'er will fade.