PR THE SEA S O.N S. A POEM. BY JAMES THOMSON. BOSTON: CROSBY AND NICHOLS. 1862. 48 6555 JUL 2 1942 SPRING. The subject proposed. Fngcribed to the Countesg of llertfonl. The Season ib ileFcrih«jil as it aiFucts the various pu'ls of Natuie, aeceri'ling .rom the lower to me n-gnor; with iligrossioiis ari-jiiig &om lh« •uhiecl. Its intl induce on iii.ininiiite Miitt -r, on Vaseta- blos, oil hnilo Anim.als, und last on Wan ; coiicluiling witii a tlis- Buaaive fri>m the wild and irregular passion of Love, oppoaad to that of a pure and happy kind. Come, gentle Spring, ethereal Mildness, come, / And from the hosom of yon dropping cloud, While music wakes around, veild in a ihovver Df shadowing roses, on our plains descend. O Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts 6 With unaffected grace, or walk the plain With innocence and meditation join'd In soft asseinhlage, listen to my song, Which ihy own Season paints ; when Nature all Is blooming and benevolent, like thee. 10 And- see where surly Winter passes off, Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts: His blasts obey, and quit tlie hov/ling hill, The shatter'd forest, and the ravaged vale ; While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, 15 Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost. The mountains lift their green heads to the sky As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd, And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze, Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets 20 Deform the day delighlless : so that scarce The bittern knov/s his time, with bill ingulf'd, To shake the soundinjf rn.Hi ; or from the shore The plovers when to scaiier o'er the heath, And sing their wild notes to the listening waste. 25 4 SPRING. At last from Aries rolls lii3 bounteous sun, And the bright Bull receives him. Then no vnoie The' expansive atmosphere is cramp d with cold ;. But, full of life and vivifying soul, Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thm, Floaty, and white o'er all surrounding heaven. 31 Forth fly the tepid airs ; and unconfined, Unbinding earth, tlie moving softness strays. Joyous, the' impatient husbandman perceives Relenting Nature, and his lusty steers 35 Drives from their stalls, to where the well used plough Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the frost. There unrefusing, to the harness'd yoke. They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil, Cheer'd by the simple song and soaring lark. 40 Meanwhile i-n-umbent o'er the shining share The master leans, removes the' obstructing clay, Winds the whole work, and sidelong la3's the glebe. While thro' the neighbouring fields the sow(;r stalks, Wilfi :ni-jasured step ; a.id liberal throws the grain 45 Into the faithful bosom of the ground : The harrow Tojlows harsh, and shuts the scene Be gracious, Heaven ! for now laborious man Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, blow ; Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, descend! 50 And tem])er all, thou world-reviving sun, Into the perfect year ! Nor ye who live In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride. Think these lost themes, unworthy of your ear. Such thcues as these the rural Maro sung 56 To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height Of elegance and taste, by G'eece refined. \n ancient times, the sacred plough enijiloy'd The kings, and awful fathers of mankind • And some, with whom compared your insect tribes 60 Are but the beings of a summer's t\y Nature's swift and secret working hand. The garden flows, and fills the liberal air With lavish fragrance ; while the promised fruH Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived, Within its crimson folds. Now from the town, lOQ Buried in smoke and sleep and nois.ime damps, tf SPRING. Ofl let lie wander o'er the dewy fields, Where t'l oshness b reatlies, and dash the trembling drops From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze Ofsweetbriar hedges I pursue' my walk; 105 Or taste tlie smell of dairy ; or ascend Soirie eminence, Augusta, in tliy plains, And see the country, far diffused around, One boundless blush, one white-empurpled shower Of mingled blossoms ; where the raptured eye 110 Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies. If, brush"d from Russian wilds, a cutting gale Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings The clammy mildew ; or, dry blowing, breathe 115 Untimely frost ; before whose baleful blast The full blown Spring througli all her fohage shrinks Joyless and dead, a wide dejected waste. For oft, engender'd by the hazy north, Mj riads on myriads, insect armies waft 120 Keen in the poison'd breeze ; and wasteful eat, Through buds and bark, into the blackend core, Their eager way. A feeble race ! yet oft The sacred sons of vengeance ; on whose course Corrosive Famine waits, and kills the year. 125 To check this plague, the skilful farmer chaff And blazing straw before his orchard burns ; Till, all involved in smoke, the latent foe From every cranny suffocated falls : Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust 130 Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe : Or, when the' envenom'd leaf begins to curl. With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest: Nor, wliile they pick them up with busy bill, Tlie little trooping birds unwisely scares. 135 Be patient, swains ; these cruel-seeming winds Blow not iji vain. Far hence they keep repress'd I'hose dee])ening clouds on clouds, surciiarged with raiiii That o er tjie vast Atlanl.c hither borne. SPRING. 7 In endless train, would quench the summer blaze, 14P And, cheerless, drown the crude unri])end year. The norlh-east spends his rage ; he now shut up Within liis iron cave, the' effusive south Warms tiio wide air, and >'cr the void of heaven Breathes the h\v clouds with vernal showers distent. As first a dusky wreath they seem to rise, M6 Scarce staining ether ; but, by swift degrees, In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep Sits on the' Imrizon round a settled gloom: 150 Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed, Op))ressing life ; but lovely, gentle, kind, And full of every hope and every joy. The wish of Nature. Gradual sinks the breeze Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath 155 Is heard to quiver through the closing woods, Or rustling inrn the many-twinkli)ig leaves Of aspen tall. The' uncurling floods, ditfused In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse Forgetful of their course. "Tis silence all, 160 And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks Drop the dry sprig, and mute imploring eye The falling voroiire. Hush'd in short suspense, The phimy people streak their wings v/ith oil. To thro\-r the lucid moisture trickling off*: 165 And wait the' appioaching sign to strike, at once, Into the general choir. Even mountains, vales, And forests seem impatient to demand The promised sweetness. Man superior walks Amid the glad creation, musmg praise, I7C And looking lively gratitude. At last, The clouds consign their treasures to the fields; .A.nd, softly shaking on the dimpled pool Prelusive droj)s, Lt all their moisture flow, In large effusion, o'er the freshen'd world. 175 The stealing shower is scarce to patter hea.'-d, SJy fiJuch as wander through the forest walks, 8 SPRING. Beneath the' niTibragcous multitude of leaves. Uut who can hold the shade while Heaven doEcends la universal bounty, shedding herbs ]fcj^ And fruits and flowers on Nature's amjyle lap 1 Swifl F'aiKty fired anticipates their growth ; And, while the milky nutriment distils, Beholds the kindling country colour round. Thus all day long the full distended clouds 185 Indulge their genial stores, and well shower'd caith Is deep enrichd with vegetable life ; Till, m the western sky, the downward sun Looks out, pifulgent, from amid the flush Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam. 190 T!ie rapid radiance instantaneous strikes The' illumined mountain, through the forest streams, Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist, Far smoking o'er the' interminable plain, In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 195 Moist, bright, and green, the landscape la\ighs around Full swell the woods ; their very music wakes, Mix'd in wild concert wit.i the warbling brooks Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills, And hollow lows responsive from the vales, 200 Whence blending, all the sweeten'd zephyr springs. Meantime, refracted from yon eastern cloud, Bestriding earth, Uie grand ethereal bow Shoots u}) imn.ense ; and every luie unfolds, In fair proportion running from the red 205 To where the violet fades into the sky. Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism ; And to the sage-instructed eye unfold The various twine of light, by thee disclosed 210 Froir. the white mingling maze. Not so the boy: He wondering views the bright enciiantinent bend. Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs To catch the falling glory ; but amazed Beholds the' anmsive arch betore hiui fly, 215 SPRJN(.T 9 fhon vanish quite away. Still ninlit succeeds, soflen'd shade, and saturated earth Lwaits the inorninjr beam, to give to light, lised through ten thousand diirerent plastic tubes, balmy treasures of tlie former day. 220 pThcn spring the living herbs, profusely wild, J'er all the deep-green earth, b.^yond the power If botanists to nuii.ber up tiieir tribes : '^hetlipr he steals along the lonely dale, [n silent search ; or through the forest, rank 2'25 With what the dull incurious v/eeds account, Bursts liis blind way ; or climbs the mountain rock Fired by tl»e nodding verdure of its bn>w. With sui'h a liberal hand has Nature Hung Their seeds abroad, bl.nvn them about in winds, 230 Innunierous niix"d them v/ith th"? nursing mould, Tlie moistening current, and prolific rain But wiu) their virtues can declare ? who pierce, With vision pure, into these secret stores Of health and hfe and joy ? the tood of Man, 233 While yet ho lived in innocence, and told A length of golden years ; unflcsli'd in blood, A stranger to the savage arts of life, Death, rapine, carnage, surfeit, and disease . TJie lord, and not the tyrant, of the world. 24C The first fresh dawn then waked the gladden'd race Of uncorrupted Man, nor biush'd to see The shiggard sleej) beneath its sacred beam ; For tiieir light slumbers gently fumed away; And up they rose as vigorous as the sun, 2t5 Or to the culture of tlie willing glebe Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock : Meantime Jie song went round ; and dance and sport, Wisd«»m and friendly talk, successive, stole Their hours away : while in the rosy vale 25C Lo^e breathed his infant sighs, from anguish free, And full replete with bliss ; save the sweet paiu, I'hat, inly thrilling, but exalts it more /O SPRING. Nor yet injnrio.is act, nor surly deed, Was known among those hapi^y sons of Ircaven , 2f>fl For reason and benevolence were law. Harmonious Nature too look'd smiling on. Clear shone the skies, cool'd with eternal gales, And balmy spirit all. The youthful sun Sliol his best rays, and still the graciovis clouds 2GC Dropp'd fatnct-s down ; as o'er the swelling nuead, Tlie herds and flocks, commixing, phiy'd secure. This when, emergent from the gloomy wood. The glaring lion saw, his horrid heart Was meeken'd, and he joind his sullen jt)y iiC5 For music held the whole in perfect peace : Soft sigh'd the flute ; the tender voice wan heard, Warbling t \e varied heart; the woodlands round Applied their choir ; and winds and waters liow'd In consonance. Such were those prime of days. 270 But now those white unblemishd manners, whence The fabl'ng poets took their golden age, Are found no more amid these iron times. These dregs of life ! now the distemperd mind Has lost that concord of harmonious powers, 275 Which forms the soul of happiness ; and all Is ofl'the poise withir* : the passions all Have burst their bounds ; and reason, half CAtinct Or impotent, or else approving, sees I'he foul disorder. Senseless, and deformd, 280 Convulsive anger storms at large ; or, paje And silent, settles into fell revenge. Base envy withers at another's joy, And hates that excellence it cannot reach Desponding (ear, of feeble fancies full, 286 Weak and unmanly, loosens evr '•y power E'en love itself is bitterness t)f soul, A pensive anguish pining at the heart ; Or, sunk to sordid interest, feels no mora That noble wish t!»at never cloy'd d**sire, 308 Which, selfish joy disdaining, seeks alone SPRING. U To bloss ihe dearer object of its flame. Hope sickens with extrav.iirance ; and jjrief, Of lile irnpationt, into madness swells ; Or n dead sdencc wastes the weepiijg hours. 20S Th'^so, and a thoui^and mix'd emotions more, Fron\ ever clianjring views of good and ill Form'cl infiiiiU;ly various, vex the mind With endless storm ; whenf^e, deeply rankling grows The partial thought, a listless unccncern, 300 Coid, and avertmir from our neighbour's good •, Then darl< disgust, and hatred, winding wiles, Coward deceit, and ruffian violence • At iasl^ exiiael each social feeling, fell A-id joyU^ss inhumanity pervades 305 And [iPtrifKis the heart. Nature disturbd Is deomd, vindictive, to have changed her course. Hence, in akl dusky time, a deluge came : When the deep-cleft disparting orb, that arcri d The central waters round, impetuous rushd, 310 Witli universal burst, into the gulf, Aiid oer tiie high-piled hills of fractured earth Wide dasli d the waves, in undulation vast ; Ti'l, from the centre to the streaming clouds, A shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe. ^ SIH The Seasons since have, with severer sway, Oppress d a broken world: the Winter keen Shook forth his waste of snows : and Snni.ner shov His pestilential heats. Great Spring, before, Groen'd all the year; and fruits and blossoms blush'd, In social sweetness, on the selfsame bmigh. 3'il Pure wus tne temperate air ; an evon calm Perpetual reign d, save what the zephyrs biand Breathed o er tlie blue expanse : for then nor storms Were taught to blow nor hurricanes t^ rage ; 3^ia Bound sl<;|»t 'he waters; no sulphureous glooms Bwelld in the sky, and sent the lightning forth ; While sickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs, Aung not, relaxing, on thu springs of life 12 SPRING. Bui now, of turbid elements tlie sport, 338 From clear to cloudy toss"d, from hot to cold, And dry to moist, with inward-eating change, Our dro(>ping days are dwindled down to nought, Their period fmisird ere 'tis well begun. And ycL the wholesome herb neglected dies ; XV* Though u ith the pure exhilarating soul Of nutriintiit and health and vital powers. Beyond the search of art, 'tis copious bless'd. For, with hot ravine fired, enjanguined Man Is now become the lion of the plain, S-IO And worse. The Vt^olf, who from the nightly fold Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drvink her milk, Nor wore her wanning fleece : nor has the steer, At whose strong chest the deadly tiger hangs, E'er plough'd for him. They too are temper'd high, With hunger stung and wild necessity, 34U N' r lodges pity in their shaggy breast^^ But Man, whom Nature fonn'd of milder clay, With every kind emotion in his heart, And taught alone to weep ; while from her lap 350 She pour'» ten thousand delicacies, herbs, And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain Or beams tliat gave mem birth : shall ho, fair firm ! Who wears sweet siniies, and lonks erect on heaven, E'er stoop to mingle with the prowling herd, 3*>o And dip nis tongue in gore ? the beast of prey, Blood-stain d, deserves to bleed ; but you, ye flucks, Wiiat have you done ; ye peaceful people, wlialj To merit death ? you, who have given us milk In luscious streams, and lent us your own coat 300 Against tlie Winter's cold ? and the plain ox, That iiarmless, honest, guileless animal, In what has he oficnded .'' he, whose toil, Patient, and ever ready, clothes the land WilJi all the pomp of harvest ; shall lie bleed, 365 And strugcrhrig groan beneath the cruel h-uida Even of the clown he feeds ? and that, perhaps, SPRING. M r<) swell lliv riot of the' autumnal feast, Won by his labour ? thus the feeling heart Would tenderly suggest : but 'tis enough, 371 In this late age, adventurous, to have touch'd Light on the numbers of the Samian sage. High H.^aven forbids the bold presumptuous strain, Whose wisest will has fix'd us in a state That nius(. not yet to pure perfection risCj 37 S Now when the first foul torrent of the brooks, Bweird with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away. And, whitening, down their mossy-tinctured stream Descends the billowy foam : now is the time, Wi^^e yet the dark-brown water aids the guile, 380 To tempt the trout. The well dissembled flv. The rod fine-tapeiing with elastic spring, Snatch'd from the hoary steed the floating line, And all thy slender watery stores prepare. But let not on thy hook the tortured worm 385 Convulsive twist in agonizing folds ; Which, by rapacious hunger svi^allow'd deep, Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breast Of the weak, helpless, uncomplaining wretch, Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand. 390 When with his lively ray the potftnt sun Has pierced the streams, and roused the finny race, Then, issuing cheerful, to thy sport repair ; Chief should the western breezes cur''/ig play, And light o'er ether bear the shadowy clouds. 395 High to their fount, this day, amid the hills. And vroodlands warbling round, trace up the brooka , The next, pursue their rocky-channel'd maze Down to the river, in whose ample wave Their little naiads love to sport at large. 400 Just in the di'.bious point, where with the pool \b mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boili Around the stone, or from the hallow'd bank Reverted plays in undulating flow, Vnere throw, nice judging, th^ delusive fly ; 40S 3 14 SPRING. And, as you lead it round in artful curve, With eye attentive mark the springing game. Straight as above the surface of the flood They wanton rise, or urged by hunger leap. Then fix, witn gentle twitch, tiie barbed liook : 416 Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank, And lothe shelving shore slow dragging some| With various hand proportion'd to their turce. If yet too young, and easily deceived, A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod, '415 Him, piteous of his youth and the short space He has enjov'd the vital lii^ht of heaven. Soft uiseiiga(re, and bacli into the stream The soe-^-kled captive tnrow. But shimul you lure From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 420 Of pendent trees, the monarch of the brook, Behoves you then to ply your finest art. Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly ; And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft Tlie dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 425 At last, while hap.'y o er the shad id sun Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death, With sullen plunge. At once he darts along Deep-struck, and runs out all the lengthen d line : Then seeks the furthest ooze, the sheltering weed, 430 The cavern'd bank, his old secure abode ; And flies aloft, and (iounces round the pool, indignant of the guile With yielding hand. That feels him still, yet to his furious course Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 435 Acioss the stream, exhaust his idle rage : Till, floatinir broad upon his breathless side. And to his fate abandon "d, to the shore You gaily drag your unresisting prize. 439 Thus pass the temperate hours ; but when the siin Shakes from his noondav thrfuie the scattering cloudSi tven sho(jting listless languor through the deeps; Then seek the bank where flowering elders crowds 1 SPRING k Where soattei'd wild the lily of the vale lis balmy essence breatlics, where cowslips hang 44S The tling cliti' his eyry builds. There let the classic page thy fancy lead Through rural scenes ; such as the Mantuan swftiu Paints in the matchless harmony of song, Or catch thyself the landscape, gliding s'vift 455 Atliwart imagination's vivid eye : Or by the vocal woods and waters lull'd, I And lost in lonely musing, in the dream, '.Confused, of careless scditude, where mix Ten thousand wandering images cf things, 4C0 Sooth every gusi of passion into peace ; ^11 but the swellings of the suften'd heart. That weaken, not disturb, tlie tranquil mind. Beliold von breathing- |)rospect Jjids th e Muse ^ Throw all her beauty forth. IJut who carTpaiiit 465 Like Nature r Can imagination boast, Amid its gay creation, hues like hers.'' Or can it mix tliem with that matchless skill, And lose them in each other, as a])pears In Gvsry bud that blows .•' If fancy then 470 Une«]ual fails beneath the pleasing task, Ah, what shaM language do? Ah, where find wordi Tinged with so many colours ; and whose power, To life approaching, may perfume my lays W,lh that fine oil, those aron)atic gales, 475 That inoxhaustive flow continual round ' Yet, though successless, will the toil delight. Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whose licart^ Have felt tlie raptures of refining love ; t k i "^i . And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song! '='481' '* H Form d by the Graces, loveliness itsell"! 16 SPRING. (;ome with tho^e downcast eyes, sr.date ar.d sweet, Those looks demure, that deeply pierce tho soul, Where, with the lii^ht of thoughtful reason mix'd. Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart -■ 485 Oil, coiv.e ! and while the rosy-footed May Strals blushin^r on, togother let us tread Tho niornini'f dews, and gather in their prime Frof;h-bl!>oining flowers, to grace thy b'-aideu nair, Ar.d thy loved bosom that improves their sweetSv 490 See, where the winding vale its lavish stores, Iniguous, spreads. See, how the lily drinks The latent rill, scarce oozing through the grass. Of growth luxuriant ; or the humid hank, in fair profusion, decks. Long let us walk, 495 Where the breeze blows from yoji extended field Of blossomd beans Arabia cannot boast A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence Breathes thruugii the sense, and tj»kes the ravish'd soul. Nor is the mead unworthy oithy fool, 500 Full of fresh vcrdine and unnumber'd flowers, /The nsgliuence of Nature, wid^ and wild ; (Where, undisguised by mimic Art. she spreads '^Unbounded beauty to the rovinir e}e. Here their delicious task the fervent bees, 505 In swarming uulHons, tend : around, athwart, Through the soft air, the busy nations fly, Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube. Suck its prie essence, its ethereal soul ; And f)ft, with holder wing, they soaring dare 510 The purple h^ath. or wliero the wild thyme grow*, '^nd yellow load theui with the luscious sprtil. x^ At length the finish d garden to the view lis vist.i.^ o[»ens, and its alleys green. Snatch d thro\igh the verdant umze, the hurried oyo Distracted wanders; now the bowerv walk 518 Of covert close, v.'hcre scarce a speck oJday y.ills on ti»e loiigthcnd gloom, protricted sweeps. Novi meets tbe bending skv ; the river now SPRING. n Dimpling along, i\ic breezy ruffled lake, 5^ riie forest darkening round, the glittering spire» The' otliereal mountain, and the distant main. But why so far excursive ; when at hand. Along these blushing borders, bright with dew, And ill yon mingled wilderness of flowers, 523 Fair-nanded Spring unbosoms every grace ; Throws out the snowdrop and the crocuj first The duisy, primrose, violet darkly blue, And polyaiithus of unnumber'd dyes ; il The yellow wallflower, stain'd with iron brown; 53C And lavish stock that scents the garden round : From tlie soft wing of vernal breezes shed. Anemones ; auriculas, enrich'd With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves; And full raiumculas of glowing rod. S35 Then comes the tulip race, where Beauty plays Her idle freaks ; from family diffused To funily, as flies the father dust, TIio varied colours run ; and, while they break On the charm'd eye, the' exulting florist marks, 540 With secret pride, the wonders of his hand. No gradual bloom is wanting ; from the bud. Firstborn of Spring, to Summer's musky tribes. Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white, [>ow-i)ent, and 'flushing inward ; nor jonquilles, 546 Of potent fragrance ; nor narcissus fair, As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still ; Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pinks; Nor, shower'd from every bush, the damask rose. Inf.riite numbers, delicacies, smells, 559 With hues on hues expression can.iot paint. The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom. Hail, Source of Being I Universal Soul Of heaven and earth ! Essential Presence, hail ! Vo Thee I bond the knee ; to Thee my thoughts, 5M Continual, climb ; who, wi*h a master hand, Hast the great whole mto perfection touch'd. 2^ 18 SPRING By Thee ihe various vejreiative tribes, Wrapp'd in a filmy net and clad with loa.vos, Draw the live ether and imbibe the dew ; fiflO By Thee disposed into congenial soils, Stands each attractive plant, and sucks and swells The juicy tide ; a twining mass of tubts. At Thy command the vernal sun awakes The torpid sap, detruded to the root 5C8 By wintry winds ; that now, in fluent dance, And lively fermentation mounting, spreads All this innumerous-colour'd scene of things. As risii.g from the vegetable world My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend, 59U My panting Muse ; and hark, how loud the woous Invite you forth in all your gayest trim. Lend me your song, ye nightingales • oh, pour , The mazy-running soul of melody Into my varied verse ! wiiile 1 deduce, rj75 From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings, The sympliony of Spring, and touch a theme l/'nknown to fame, — the Passion of the Gioves. When first the soul of love is sent abroad. Warm through the vital air, and on the lieart 580 Harmonious seizes, the gay troops begin, In gallant thouorht, to plume the painted wing , And try again the long forgotten stralii. At first fault warbled. But no sooner grows The soft infusion prevalent and wide, 5^5 Than, all alive, at once their joy o'e;flows In music uncunfined. Up springs the lark, Shrill-voiced and loud, the messenger of morn*, Ere y(?t the shadow.^ fly, he mounted sings Amid the dawning clouds, and from their hauatB SDO Calk up the tuneful nations. Evry copse Deep tangled, tree irregular, and bush Bendinor with dewy moisture, o'er the heads Of the coy quiristers that !odgt within, ^re prod'v^a) of harmony. The thrush 595 SPRING. 19 And woodlark, o'er the kino contending Ihron* Supetior heard, run lhroiii,rh the sweetest length Of notes ; when listening Philomela deigns To let them joy, and pur[)o^•es, in thought Elate, to make her night excel their day. o(lO The blackbird whistles from the thorny brake > The mellow bullfinch answers from the grove • Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze Poiit'd out profusely, silent. Joind to these Im^umerous songsters, in the freshening shade G05 Ofnew-spru.ig leaves, then modulations mix Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw, And each harsh pipe, discordant heard alone. Aid t«e full concert: wh'!-^ the stockdove brei-tlies A melancholy murmur through the whole. 610 *Tis love creates their melody, and all This waste of music is the voice of love ; That even to birds and beasts the tender arts Of pleasing teaches. Hence the glossy kind Try every wiiming way inventive love 615 Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates ^our forth their little souls first, wide around, W.lh distant awe, in airy rings they rove, Endeavouring by a thousand tricks to catch The cunning, conscious, half averted glance 620 Of the regardless char.ner Should bhe seem Softening tlie least approvance to bestow. Their colours burnish, and, by hope in.spired. They brisk advance ; then on a sudden struck, Retire disorder'd ; then again ajjproaoh ; 0^ In ford rotation spread the spotted wing, And shiver every feather with desire. Connubia' leagues agre<:;d, to tiie deep woods They has?e away, all as their fancy leads, Pleasure, or food, or seiiret safety prompts ; 038 That Nature's great cominniid may be obey'd : Nor ali the sweet sensations they perceive Ddulgcd in vain. Some to the hollv liedge 20 SPRING Ncsthng repiiir. ,tiu1 to tlie thicket ^ome , SoiiiO to tlie luilo i)rotcction of tlie thorn 638 fJominit thfcir feeble ofispring. The cleft tree Offers its kind conceahnent to a few, Their food its insects, and its moss their nests. Others apart, far in tlie grassy dale, Oi roughening waste, their humble texture weave. 640 But most m woodland solitudes delight, In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks, Steep, and d'vided by a babbling brook. Whose murmurs sooth them all the livelong day, When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots f>46 Of hazel, pendent o'er the plaintive stream, They fiame the first foundation of their domes, Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid, And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought But restless hurry through the busy air, 65C Beat by unnuinber'd wings. The swallow sweeps The slimy pool, to build his hanging house Intent. And often, from the careless back Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills Pluck hair and wool ; and oft, when unobserved, C5b Steal from the barn a straw : till, sof\ and warm. Clean and complete, their habitation grows. As thus the patient dam assiduous sits. Not to be tempted from her tender task. Or by sharp hunger or by smooth delight, 661J Tliough the whole loosen'd Spring around her blows. Her sympathizing lover takes his stand High on the' opponent bank, and ceaseless sings The tedious time away ; or else supplies Her place a moment, while she sudden flits COS To pick the scanty meal. The' appointed time With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young, Wann'd and expanded into perfect life, Their brittle bondage break, and come to light, A hel])less family, demanding food 670 With constant clamour : O, what passions then. SPRING 2 Wfiat nipllin^ sentiments of kindly care, On the new oarent.s seize ! Away they fly Affectioiiale, and undesiring bear The most delicious morse! to their young , 675 Which equally distributed, again Th:? search begins. E'en so a gentle pair, By fortune sunk, but form'd of generous mould, And charm d with cares beyond the vulgar breast, in some lone cot amid the distant woods, C80 Sustain 'd alone by providential Heaven, Oft, as they weeping eye their ii.fant train^ Check their own ap^etitjs, and give them all Nor toil alone they scorn ; exalting love, By the great Father of the Spring inspired, G3& Gives instant courage to the fearful race, And, to the simple, art. With stealthy wing, Should some rude foot their woody haunts molest^ Amid a neighbouring bush tiiey silent drop, And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive GOO The' unfeeling schoolboy. Hence, around liie head Of wandering swain, the white-wing d plover wheels Her suunJing flight, and then directly on In long excursion skims the level lawn To tempt him from her nest. The wild-duck, hence, O'er the rough moss, and o'er the trackless waste 696 The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud . to lead The hot pursuij.g spaniel far astray. Be not the Muse ashamed here to bemoan Upr brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man ^00 Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage From hberty confined and boundless air. Dull are the pretty slaves, their phiinage dull, Ragged, and all its brightening .ustre lost ; Nor is that sprightly wildue.ss in their notes, 7'15 Which, clear and vigorous, v/arbles from the beech. then, ye friends of love and love-taught song, Spare the soft tribes, this barbarr us art forbear • 22 SPRING. If on yixiT bosnin innocence can win, Music eno;age, or piely pyrsuadj. 710 But let not chief the nightingale lan>cnt Her ruin'd car'?, tcvj delicately framed To brook the harsh confinement of the cage. Oft when, returning with her loaded bill, The' astonish'd mother finds a vacant nest, 71B By tlie hard hand^ of unrelenting clowns RobbM, ID the ground the vain provision falls; fler pinions ruiile, and low-dror ping scarce Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade ; Wiiere, all abandon'd to despair, she sings 720 Her sorrows through tlie night ; and, on the bough, Sole-sitting, still at every dying fall Takes up again her lamentable strain Of winding woe ; till, wide around, the woods Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound. 725 Buw now the fcat'ier'd youth their former bounds, Ardent, disdain ; and, weighing oft their wings, Demand the free possession of the sky : This one glad office mere, and then dissolves Parental love at once, now needless grown. 730 Unlavish Wisdom never works in vh..n. 'Tis on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, When nought but balm is breathing througii the woods, With yellow lustro brig.)t., that the rew tribes Visit the spacious h'javens, and look abroad 735 On Nature's common, far as they can see, Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the b:"'ighs Dancing about, still at the giddy verge Their resolution fails ; their pinions still, In loose libraticui stretch'd, to trust the void 74U Trembling refuse : till down before them fly The pa.ent guides, and chide, exhort, command, Or push them off. IMie surging air r<'ceivo3 ■ Us? plumy burden ; and th.eir self-taught wings Winnow the waving element. On ground 715 SPRING. 23 Alighted, bolder uj) ajrain they le,' d, Farther and faither on, the lengthening flight, Till vanish'd every fear, and every power Roused into life and action, light in air The' -•-cquitted parents see their soaring race, 750 And onco rejoicing never know them more. High from the summit of a craggy cliir. Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns On utmost Kilda's* siiore, whose lonely race Resigii ?.I;e setting sun to Indian worlds, 75i The royal eagle draws his vigorous young, Strong-pounced, and ardent v/ith paternal fire. Now fit to raise a kingdom of tlieii own, He drive:? them from his fort, the towering seat, For ages, of iiis cnipire ; which, in peace, 760 Unstain'd lie holds, while many a league to sea He wings his course, and preys in distant isles. Should J my steos turn to the rural seat, Whose lof*y elms and venerable oaks Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs, 7{S In early Spring, his airy city builds. And ceaseless caws imusive ; there, well pleased, I might the various polity survey Of the mi.-^'d household kind. The careful hen Calls all her chirping family around, 770 Fed a..d defended by the fearless cock ; Whose breast with ardour flames, as on he walkg, Graceful, and crows deriance. In the pond, The finely checker'd duck, before her train, Rows garrulous. The stately sailing swan 775 Gives out his snowy plumago to the gale ; And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet Bears forward fieice, and guards his osier isle, Protective of his young. The turkey nigh. Loud threatening, reddens ; while the peacock spreads, Wis every-coluur'd glory to the sun 781 • llie Airthest of the western isia uds of Scotlar B4 SPRING. And swims in radian', majesty along O'er the whole homely scene the cooing dove Flies thick in amorous cliase, and wanton rolls I'he g!ancini( eye, and tnrns the changeful neck. 795 While thus tlie gentle tenants of the shado Icduloe their purer loves, the rougher world Of brutes below rush furious into flame And fierce desire. Through all his lusty veins The bull, deep-srorciid, the raging passion feels. 7Xi Of pasture sick, and negligent of food. Scarce seen, he wades ainong the yellow broom, While o'er his aiuple sides the rambling sprays Luxuriant shoot ; oi- through the mazy wood Dejected wanders, nor the' enticing bud 79S Crops, though it presses on his careless sense. And oft, in jealous maddening fancy wrapp'd, He seeks the fight ; and, idly butting, feigns His lival gored in every knotty tnmk. Hun should he meet, the bellowing war begins ; 800 Their eyes flash fury ; to the hollowd earth, Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody deeds, And, groaning deep, the' impetuous battle mix : While the fair htlfer, balmy -breathnig, near, Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling steed, With this hot impulse seized in every nerve, 806 Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the sounding thoijjf • Blows are not felt ; but, tossing high his head. And by the well known joy to distant plains Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away ; 810 Oer rocks and woods and craggy mountains flies : And, neighing, on the' aerial summit takes The' exciting gale ; then, steep-descending, cleavec The headlong torrents foaming down the hills, K'en where the madness of the straitcn'd stream 81.5 Turns in black eddies round : such is thp. force With which his frantic heart and sinews swell. Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring ^re iJie broad monsters of the foaraktg de«» SPRING. 2i From the ueep oo^e and gelid cavern roused^ 820 They flounce and tumble in unwieldly joy. , Dire wore the strain, and dissonant, to sing r The crue'. raptures of the savage kind : How by this flame their native wrath sublimed, Tltoj' roam, amid the fury of their heart, 8^ •j he far resounding waste in fiercer bands. And growl their horrid loves. But this the theme 1 sing, enraptured, to the British Fair, Forbids, and leads me to the mountain brow, Wiierc sits the shepherd on the grassy turf, 830 Inhaling, healthful, the descending sun. Arcund hun feeds his many-bleating flock, Of various cadence ; and his sportive lambs, This way and that convolved, in friskful glee, Their frolics play. And now the sprightly race 835 Invites them forth ; when swift, the signal given, They start away, and sweep the massy mound That runs around the hill ; the rampart once Of iron v.ar, in ancient barbarous times, When disunited Britain ever bled, 840 Lost in eternal broil : ere yet she grew To tnis deep-laid indissoluble state. Where Wealth and Commerce lift their golden heftds And oer our labours Liberty and Law, Impartial, watch ; the wonder of a world ! 845 Wliat is tnis mighty breath, ye sages, say. That, in a powerful language, felt, not heard. Instructs the fowls of heaven .'' and througli their broa to see a liajjpy world! 900 These arc the sacred feelings of thy heart, Thv heart inform'd by reason's purer ray, :;.0 Lyttelton. the friend ! tliy passions thus And meditations vary, as at large, Courting the Muse, through Hagley Park thou stray'st; Thy British Tempo ! there along the dale, 906 With woods oerhung, and shagg'd with mossy rocks, Whence on each hand the gushing waters play. And down the rough cascade white dashing fall, Or gleam in lengtliend vista through the trees, 910 You silent steal ; or sit beneath the shade Of solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts Thrown graceful round by nature's careless hand, And pensive listen to the various voice Of rural peace : the iierds, the flocks, the birds, 915 The hollow-whisjiering breeze, the plaint of rilis That, purling down amid the twisted roots Which creep around, their dewy murmurs shake On the sooth'd ear. From these abstracted oft. You wander throutrh the philosophic world ; 9520 Where in bright train continual wonders rise, Or to the curious or the pious eye. And oft, conducted by historic truth. You tread the long extent of backward time : Planning, with warm benevolence of mind 923 And honest zeal, unwarp'd by party rage, Britannia's weal ; how from tlie venal gulf To raise her virtue, and her arts revive. Or, t-rning thence thy view, these graver thoughts The Muses charm : while, with sure taste refined, 930 You draw the' inspiring breath of ancient song; Till noD.y rises, emulous, thy own. **«'rhaps thy loved Lucinda shares thy welk, 28 , SPRING. With soul to thine attuned. Then Nature all Wear? to the lover's eye a look of love : 93S And all the tumult of a guilty world, Toss'd by uuirenerous passions, sinks away. The tender heart is animated peace ; And as it pours its copious treasures forth, Ii varied converse, soflenincr every theme, 940 \ou, frequent pausing, turn, and from her eyes, Where moeken'd sense, and amiable grace, And lively sweetness dwell, enraptured, drink That nameless spirit of ethereal joy. Unutterable happiness ! which love 945 Alone bestows, and on a favour'd few. Meantime you gain the height, from whose fair brow The bursling prospect sprea<]s immense around : And snatchd o'er hill and dale, and wood and lawn, And verdant field, and darkening heath between, 950 And villages embosom'd soft in trees, And spiry towns Ly surging columns mark'd Of household smoke, your eye excursive roams : "^A'ide-stretcamg from the hall, in whose kind haunt The Hospitable Genius lingers still, QhS To where the broken landscape, by degrees Ascending, roughens into rigid hills ; O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far cloudii That skirl the blue horizon, dusky rise. Flush'd by tlie spirit of the genial year, 9G0 Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom Shoots, less and less, th'^ live carnation round ; Her l:ps blush deeper sweets ; she breathes of youth ; The shining moisture swells into her eyes, In brighter (low ; her wishing bosom heaves J)65 With palpitations wild ; kind tumults seize Hor veins, and all her yielding soul is lovo. From the keen gaze her lover turns away. Full of the dear ecstatic power, and sick With sighing languishment. Ah then, ye fail ' 970 Be grea'.ly cautious of your sliding hearts SPRING. » >are not tfie' infections sigli ; the pleadinof look, 'owncast and low, in meek submission diess'd, ut full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue, rom^it to deceive, with adulation smoot'i, 97S ain on your purposed will. Nor in the bower, Where woodbines flaunt, and roses shed a couch, 'Tiile Evening draws her crimson curtains round, rust your soft minutes with betraying Man. And let the' aspiring youth beware of love, 980 Tthe smooth glance beware ; for 'tis too late, hen on his heart the torrent softness pours ; Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame Dissolves m air away ; while the fond soul, 'Vrapp'd in gay visions of unreal bliss, 98B Still paints the' illusive form ; the kindling grace ; The' enticing smile ; the modest seeming eye. Beneath whose beauteous beams, belying heaven, Lurk searcl'.less cunning, cruelty, and death: And still, false-warbling in his cheated ear, 990 Her siren voice, enchanting, draws him on To guileful shore.** and meads of fatal joy. E'en present, in the very lap of love Inglorious laid ; while music flows around. Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton hours ; 995 Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears Her snaky crest ; a quick returning pang Shoots through the conscious heart ; where honour stiii And great design, against the' oppressive load Of luxiiry, by fits, impatient heave. 1000 But absent, what fantastic woes, aroused, Rage in each thouglit, by restless musing fed, Chill the warm cheek, and blast the bloom of life ? Neglected fortune flies ; and, sliding swift, Prone into ruin, fall his scorn'd aff'airs. "JOb Tis nouglit but gloom around : the darken'd su» Loses his light. The rosy-bosom'd Spring To weeping fancy pines ; and yon bright arcn, 3 into a duskv vault 3* 50 SPRING All Nature fades extinct ; and she alone, IC Heard, felt, and seen, possesses every tliought. Fills every sense, and pants in every vein Books are but formal dulness, tedious friends ; And sad amid the social band he sits, Lonely, and inattentive. From his tongue The' unfinish'd period falls: while, borne away On swelling thought, his wafted spirit flies To the vain bosom of his distant fair ; And leaves the semblance of a lover, fix'd In melancholy site, with head declined, And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts. Shook from his tender trance, and restless runs I To glimmering shades and sympathetic glooms ; Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling stream. Romantic, hangs ; there through the pensive dusk Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation lost, 1026 Indulging all to love : or on the bank Thrown, amid drooping lilies, swells the breeze With sighs unceasing, and the brook with tears. Thus in soft anguish he consumes the day, 1030 Nor quits his deep retirement, till the Moon Peeps through the chambers of the ileecy east, Enlighten 'd by degrees, and in her train Leada on (he gentle Hours ; then forth he walks, Beneath the trembling languish of her beam, 1036 With sollen'd soul, and woes the bird of eve To mingle woes with his: or, while the world And all the sons of Care lie hushd in sleep. Associates with the midnight shadows drear j And, sighing to the lonely taper, pours 1040 His idly-tortured heart into the page. Meant for the moving messenger of love ; Where rapture burns on rapture, every line With rising frenzy fired. But if en bed Delirious flung, sleep from his pillow flies, \04h All nifht he tosses, nor the b-'liny power In any posture finds , till the gray Morn SPRING. 3 L)Aa her pnle lustre on the paler wretch, ExaniiiKite by love ; and then perhaps Exhausted Nature sinks awhile to rest, 105C Still interrupted by distracted dreams, That o'er the sicli imagination rise, And ir black colours paint the mimic scene. Oft wi.il the' enchantress of his soul he talks ; Sometiines in crowds distress'd ; or if retired lOoii To secret winding flower-enwoven bowers, Far from the dull impertinence of Mar, Just as he, credulous, his endless cares Begins to loose in bhnd oblivious love, Snatch d from her yielded hand, he knows not how, Through forests huge, and long untraveld heaths lOGl With desolation brown, he wanders waste, In night and tempest wrapp'd : or shrinks aghast. Back, from the bending precipice ; or wades The turbid stream below, and strives to reach 10G5 The further shore ; where succourless and sad, She witli extended arms his aid implores ; But strives in vain ; borne by the' outrageous Hood To distance down, he rides the ridgy wave, Or whehn'd beneath the boiling eddy sinks. 1070 These are the charming agonies of love, Whose misery delights. But through the heart Should jealou?y its venom once diffuse, Tis then delightful misery no more, But agony unmix'd, incessant gall, 107b Corroding every thouglit, and blasting all Love's paradise. Ye fairy prospects, then, Ye beds of roses, and ye bowers of joy. Farewell ! ye gleamings of departed peace, Shine o\it your last ' the yellow-tinging plague 080 Internal vision taints, and in a night Of livid gloom imagination wraps. An, then! instead of love-enliveu'd cheeks, Of sunnv features, and of ardent eyes >ViLii Howmg rapture bnglit, dark looks succeed, I06& S2 SPRING. BuiTused and glaring with untender fire , A clouded aspect, and a burning cheek, Where the whole poison'd soul, malignant, sits And frightens love away. Ten thousand fears Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views 1090 Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms For which he melts in fondness, eat him up With fervent anguish and consuming rage. In vain reproaches lend their idle aid, Deceitful pride, and resolution frail, 1095 Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours, Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought. Her first endearments twining round the soul, With all the witchcraft of ensnaring love. Straight the fierce storm involves his mind anew, ilOO Flames through the nerves, ana ooils along the veins • While anxioas doubt distracts the tortured heart • For s'en iho sad assurance of his fears Were ease 1o what he feels. Thus the warm youth, Whom love deludes mto his thorny wilds, 1105 Through tiuwery-tempting paths, or leads a life Of fever'd rapture or of cruel care; His brightest aims extinguish'd all, and all His lively moments running down to waste. But happy th^y ! the happiest of their kind ! 1110 Whom gentler stars unite, and In one fate Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. Tis not the coarser tie of human laws, Unnatural otl and foreign to the mind. That binds their peace, but harmony itself, 1115 Atluning all their passions into love ; Wjjcre friendship full exerts her softest power, Perfect esteem enlivened by desire Inettable, and sympathy of soul ; Thoui^ht meeting thought, and will preventing will, With boundless confidence : for nought but love IISI Can answer love, and render bliss secure. Let him, unirenerous, who, alone intent SPRING. 33 To bir.ss lunisfclf, from sordid parents buys I'he loaiJuug virgin, in eternal care, 1125 Well merited, coi.sume his nights and days Let ba'-harous nations, whose inhuman love Is wild desire, fierce as the suns they feel ; Let eastern tyrants from the light of heaven Seclude their bosom-slaves, meanly possessed 1130 Of a more lifeless, violated form ; ^.. While those whom love cements in holy faith, *' And equal transport, free as Nature live, Disdaining fear. What is the world to them, lis pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all! 1135 Who in each other clasp whatever frir High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish ; Sojnething ihan beauty dearer, should they look Or on the mind, or mind-illumined face ; Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love, 1140 The riciiest bounty of indulgent Heaven. Meantime a sniiung offspring rises round, And mingles both their graces. By degrees. The human blossom blows ; and every day, Soft as it roll i along, shows some new ciiarni, 1145 The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom. Then infant reason grows apace, and calls F<;r the kind hand of an assiduous care. Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot, 1150 To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind. To brsl uniform, llie progress of the poem i« a dp- Bcnpiiori of a summer's (lay. The dawn. 8un-rising. Hymn ta the sun. Forenoon. Summer insects described. Haymaking. Sheepsliearini(. Noonday. A woodland rei real. Group of herd* a.n.1 '•T.-v.iis] ;^A solemn grove : how it alVicts a conlemphitive mind, A caltira^., i.,i ru.ie scene. View of yumiiier in the torrid zon^s , Storm of thunder and lightning. A tale. 'I'lie stotm over, a se- ' reiie afternoon. Bathing. Hour of walking. Transition to the prosj-ect of a rich well cultivated country; which introduces a punsv^'ic <>n (ireut Britain. Sun-set. Evening. N'iglil. Sum- mer meteors. A cuniet. The whole concluding with the praiM of j)hilo8ojiliy. From brightening fields of ether fair disclosed, Cliiki of tlie Sun, refulgent, Summkr conies, In y)ride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth He coincs ictended by the sultry Flours, And ever fanning breezes, on his way ; 15 Willie, from his ardent look, the turning Spring Averts her blushful face ; and earth, and skies, All smiling, to his hot dominion leaves. Hence, let me haste into the midwood shade, Where scarce a sunbeam wanders through tlie gioom ; And on the dark-green grass, beside the brink H Of liaiinted stream, that by the roots of oak 1 lolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large, Anci s'.ng ih^ glories of the circling year. Come, Inspiration ! from thy hermit-seat, 15 By mortal seldom found : may Fancy dare, From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptured glance Shot on surrounding heaven, to steal one look CredrJve ."tv.e Poet, every power Exalting to an ecstasy of soul. 20 36 SUMMER. And tliou, my youthful Muse's early frient, In whom the human graces all unite Pure liijht of mind, and tenderness of heart : Genius, and wisdom ; the gay social sense, By decency chastised ; goodness and wit, In scldoin-meeting harmony combined ; Unbioiiiishd honour, and an active zeal For Britain's glory, Liberty, and Man ; V) Dudington ! attend my rural song, 'otoop to my theme, inspirit every line, 30 And tcacli me to deserve thy just applause. With what an awful world-revolving power Were first the unwieldly planets launch'd along The' illimitable void ! thus to remain. Amid the flux of many thousand years, 35 I'hat oft has swept the toiling race of men And all their laboured motmments away, Firm, unremitting, matchless, in their course ; To the kind-temper'd change of night and day, And of the seasons ever stealing round, 40 Minutely ftiithful : such the' All-perfect Han J ! That poised, impels, and rules the steady whole. When now no more the' alternate Twins are nred And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze. Short is the doubtful emmre of the night ; 4»^ And soon, observant of approaching day, The meek-eyed Morn appears, mother of dews. At first faint-gleaming in the dappled east: Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glov(7 ; And, fnnn before th.e lustre of her face, 50 White break the clouds away. With quicken'd step, Brown Night retires : young Day pours in apace. And opens all the lawny prospect wide. The dripping rock^ the mountain's misty top Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn. Si Kl'ie, through the dusk, the smoking currents shine And from the bladed field the fearful hare Lunps, awkward ; while along the forest glade 1 10 1 SUMMER. 37 The wild • -;t;i blip, and often turning gaze At early passeii^^ .5. Music awakes GO Tiie nat vy voioe},)f undissenibled joy ; And tl'.»'.;k around the woodland hymns arise. Roused by the cock, the soon-clad slicpherd leaves His mossy cottage, where with Peace he dwells ; And from the 7rowded fold, in order, drives 60 His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn. Falsely luxurious i will not Man awake ; And, s[)ringing from the bed of sloth, enjoy Tlie coot, the fragrant, and the silent hour, To meditation due and sacred song .'' 70 For is there ought in sleep can charm the wise '' To lie in dead oblivion, losing half The fleetmg moments of too short a life ; Total extinction of the' enlighten'd soul ! Or else, to feverish vanity alive, 75 Wilder'd, and tossing through distempered dreams? Who would in such a gloomy state remain Longer than Nature craves ; when every Muse And every blooming pleasure wait without, To bless the wildly devious morring walk .' 80 But yonder comes the powerful King of Day, Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud. The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow Illumed with fluid gold, his near approach Betoken glad. Lo ! now, apparent all, 85 Aslant the dew-bright earth, and colour'd air, He looks in boundless majesty abroad ; And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays On rocks and hills and towers and wandering streams, High gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer, Light ! 90 Of all material beings first and best ! Efflux divine ! Nature's resplendent robe ' Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapp'd In unessential gloom ! and thou, O Sun ! Soul of surrounding worlds ' in whom best seen 96 Shines out thy Maker ! may I sing of thee ? 38 SUMMER. 'Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force, Aa with a chain mdissoiubje bouua, 1 hy system rolls entire : tVoin the far bouru Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round 100 Of thirty years, to Mercury, whose disk Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye, Lost in the near elFulgence of thy blaze. Informer of the planetary train ! Without whose quickening glance their cumbrous orbi Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead, IOC And not, as now, the green abodes of life ! How many forms of being wait on thee ! Inhaling spirit ; from the' unfetter'd mind, By thee sublimed, down to the daily race, 116 The mixing myriads of thy setting beam. The vegetable world is also thine, Parent oj Seasons ! who the pomp precede That waits thy throne, as through thy vast domain, Annual, along the bright ecliptic road, 115 In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime. Meantime the' expecting nations, circled gay With all the various tribes of foodful earth, fmplore thy bounty, or send grateful up A common hymn : while, round thy beaming car, 130 High seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance Harmonious knit, the rosv-finger'd Hours, The Zephyrs floating loose, the timely Rains, Of bloom ethereal the light footed Dews, And sotien d into joy the sijrlv Storms. 125 These, in successive turn, with lavish hand, Shower every beauty ft^^erv fragrance shower, Herbs, flowers, and fruits , and, kindling at thy touch. From land to land is flush'd the vernal yenr Nor to the surface of emiven'd earth, 13t Graceful with hills and dab'R. aiid leafy woods, Her liberal tresses, is thy force confined : But, to the bowel'd cavern -iarting deep, The nii\ieral kinds confess thy luiglay liowa? SUMMER. 39 Efiul^ent, lience the veiny marble shines ; 133 flence Labour draws his tools ; hence burnish d Wai Gleams on the day ! the nobler works of Peace Hence bless mankind, and generous Commerce binds The round of nations in a golden chain. The' unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee, 140 In dark retirement forms the lucid stone. The lively diamond drmks thy purest rays, Collected light, compact ; that, polish'd briglit, And all its native lustre let abroad. Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast, 145 With vain ambition emulate her eyes. At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow, And with a waving radiance inward flames. From thee the sapphire, solid ether, takes Its hue cerulean ; and, of evening tinct, IfiO The purple-streaming amethyst is thine. With tTiy own smile the yellow topaz biirns. Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, When first she gives it to the soutliern gale, 154 Than the green emerald shows. But, all combined, Thick through the whitening opal play thy beaniB ; Or, flying several from its surface, form A trembling variance of revolving hues. As the site varies in the gazer's hand. The very dead creation, from thy touch, 160 Assumes a mimic life. By thee refined, III brighter mazes the relucent stream Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt, Projecting 1 orror on the blacken'd flood. Softens at thy return. The desert joys, 160 Wildly, through all his melancholy bounds. Rude ruins glitter ; and the briny deep, Seen from some pointed promontory's top. Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge, Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But tius, 176 ^nd all the much transported Muse can sing to SUMMER. Are to thy boauty, aignity, and use, Unoqual far, great delegated source Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below! How shall I then attempt to sing of Him ! 17S Who, Light Hiirself, in uncreated light Invested deej), dwells awfully retired From mortal eye or angel's purer ken ; VVliose single smile has, from the first of time, Fiird, overflowing, all those lamps of heaven ISO That beam for ever through the boundless sky . But, should lie hide his face, the' astonishd sun And all the' extinguish'd stars would loosening reel Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again. And yet was every faltering tongue of Man, 185 Almihhty Fathf.k ! silent in thy praise ; Thy Works themselves would raise a general voice, E'en in the depih of solitary woods By human foot untrod ; proclaim thy power, And to the cluur celestial Thek resound, 10.) The' eternal cause, support, and end of all ! To me be Nature's volume bread display 'd , And to peruse its all instructing page, Or, haply catching ins[)iration thence, Some easy passage raptured to translate, li^S My sole deliglit ; as through the falling gloom* Pensive 1 stray, or with the rising dawn On Fancy's eagle wing excursive soar. Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun Melts into limpid air the high-raised clouds, 200 And morning fogs, tlial hover'd round the hills In party-colourd bands ; till wide unvcild The face of Nature shines, from where earth seems, Far stretch'd around, to meet the bending spheie Half in a blush of clustering roses lost, 205 Dew-dropping Coolness to the shade retires ; There, on the verdant turf, or llowery bed, Qy gelid founts and careless rills to muse ■ Whilo tyrant Heat, dispreading through the sky, With rapid sway, his burning influence darts 210 On man and beast and herb and tepid stream. Who can unpitying see the flowery race, Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign, Before the parching beam ? so fade the fair, When fevers revel through their azure veins. 215 But one, the lofty follower of the sun. Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves. Drooping all night ; and, when he warm returns, Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray. Home, from his morning task, the swain retreats ; His flock before him stepping to the fold : 321 While the full-udder'd mother lows around The cheerful cottage, then expecting food. The food of innocence and health ! the daw, The rook, and magpie, to the gray grown oaks 225 That the calm village in their verdant arms, Sheltering, embrace, direct their lazy flight : Where on the mingling boughs they sit embower'd, All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise. Faint, underneath, the household fowls convene ; 230 And, in a corner of the buzzing shade. The housedog with the vacant greyhound lies, Outstretch'd and sleepy. In his slumbers one Attacks the niglitly thief, and one exults O'er hill and dale ; till, waken'd by the wasp, 235 They starting snap. Nox* shall the Muse disdain To let the little noisy summer race Live in her lay, and flutter through her song. Not mean though simple ; to the sun allied, From him they draw their animating fire. 2-iQ Waked by his warmer ray, the reptile young Come wing'd abroad ; by the light air upborne, Lighter, and full of soul. From every chink, And secret corner, where they slept away Vhc wintry storms ; or, rising from their touibs, 241 4* 12 SUxMMER. To higher life ; by myriads, forth at once, Swarming they pour ; of all the varied hues Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose, Ten thousand forms, ten thousand d'fferent tribes People the blaze. To sunny waters some 25ii By fatal instinct fly ; where on the pool They sportive wheel-, or, sailing down the stream. Are snatch d immediate by the quick-eyed trout, Or darting salmon. Through the greenwood glado Some love to stray ; there lodged, amused, and fed, In the fresh leaf Luxurious, others make 2.'ib The Ui^^itds their choice, and visit every flower And every latent herb : for the sweet task, To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap, In what soft beds, their young yet undisclosed, 20(1 Employs their tender care. Some to the house. The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight ; Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese ; Oft, inadvertent, from the millcy stream They meet thoir fate ; or, weltering in the bowl, 265 With powerless wings around them wrappd, expire. But chief to heedless flies the window proves A constant death ; where, gloomily retired. Tiie villain spider lives, cunning and fierce, Mixture abhorr'd ! amid a mangled heap 270 Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits, O'erlooking all his waving snares around. Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft Passes, as oft the ruffian shows his front, The prey at last ensnared, he dreadful darts, 275 With rapid glide, along the leaning line ; And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs. Strikes backward grimly pleased ; the fluttering vs-'ing And shriller sound declare extreme distress, And ask tlie helping hospitable hand. 29^ P»,esounds the living surface of trie ground Ni/f undelightful is the ceaseless hum SUMiMKR 43 To hnti who muses throujrh the woodf at noon ; Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclined, With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating shade 285 O^ willows gray, Cj.ose crowding o'er the brook. Gradual, from t/iese what numerous kinds descend, Evading e'en the microscopic eye ! Tull Nature swarms with life ; one wondrous ma,f« Of animals, or atoms organized, 29C Waiting the vital breath, when parent Heaven Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen, In putrid steams, emits the living cloud Of pestilence. Through subterranean cells. Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way, 29? Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure, Within its winding citadel, the stone Holdd multitudes. But chief the forest boughs, That dance unnumber'd to the playful breeze, 3(K The downy orchard, and the melting pulp Of me!low fruit the nameless nations feed Of evanescent insects. Where the pool Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible, Amid the floating verdure millions stray. 30E Each liquid too, whether it pierces, sooths, Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste, With various forms abounds. Nor is the stream Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air, Though one transparent vacancy it seems, 31C Void of their unseen peo|)!e. These, conceal'd By the kind art of forming Heaven, escape The grosser eye of man ; for, if the worlds In worlds enclosed should on his senses bursi, F'rom cates ambrosial, and the nectar'd bowl 315 He would abhorrent turn : and in dead night, Wlien silence sleeps o'er all, be stunn'd with noise Let no presuming impious railer tax Crfative Wisdom, as if aught was furm'd In vain or lot for admirable ends. 32G <• 44 SUMMER Snail .iltle haughty Ignorance pronounce His works unwise, of which tiie smallest part Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind? As if upon a full proportion d dome, On swulling columns heaved, the pride of art . 321 A critic-fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads An inch around, with blind presumption bold, Should dare to tax the structure of the whole And lives the Man, whose universal eye Has swept at once the' unbounded scheme of thing* , Mark'd their dependance so, and firm accord, 331 As with unfaltering accent to conclude That this availeth nought ? Has any seen The mighty chain of beings, lessening down From Infinite Perfection to the brink 335 Of dreary nothing, desolate abyss ! From which astonish'd thought, recoiling, turns ? Till then alone let zealous praise ascend, And hymns of holy wonder to that Power Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds 340 As on our smiling eyes his servant sun. Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways, Upward and downward, thwarting and convolved, The quivering nations sport ; till, tempest-wing'd, Fierce Winter sweeps them from the face of day. 345 E'en so luxurious men, unheeding, pass An idle summer life in fortune's shine, A season's glitter ; thus they flutter on From toy to toy, from vanity to vice ; Till, blown away by death, oblivion comes 350 Behind, and strikes them from the book of life. Now swarms the village o'er the jovial mead j The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil. Healthful and strong ; full as the summer rose Dlown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid, 35A Half naked, swelling on the sight, and all H(!r kindled graces burning o"er her cheek. E 'en stooping age is b«re ; and infant hands SUMMER. 46 ITrail the long rake, or, with tlie fragrant load Overcharged, amid the kind opi^.n pain. Deep to the root Of vegetation pa.rchd, the cleaving fields 44fl And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose, Blast Fancy's bloom, and wither e'en the soul. Eoho no more returns the cheerful sound Of sharpening scythe : the mower sinking heaps O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfumed; 445 And scarce a chirping grasshopper is heard Through the dumb mead. Distressful Nature pants. The very streams look languid from afar : Or, through the' unsheltered glade, impatient, seem To hurl into the covert of the grove. 450 Ail-conquering Heat, oh, intermit thy wrath ! And on my throbbing temples potent thus Beam not so fierce ! incessant still you flow, And still another fervent flood succeeds, Pour'd on the head profuse. In vain I sigh, 455 And restless turn, ajid look around for night j Night is far off"; and hotter hours approach. Thrice happy he .' who on the sunless side Of a romantic mountain, forest-croM'n'd, Beneath the whole collected shade reclines : 4G0 Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought. And fresh bedew'd with ever spouting streams, Sits coolly calm ; while all the world without^ Unsatisfied, and sick, tosses in noon. Emblem instriictive of the virtuous man, 465 Who keeps his temper'd mind serene and pure, And every passion aptly harmonized, Amid a jarring world with vice inflamed. Welcome, ye shades ' ye bowery thickets, hail Fe lofty pines ' ye venero.ble oaks ! 470 Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the oteep ! uelicious is your shelter to the soul, 48 SUMMER. As lo the hunted hart the sallying spring, Or stream full flowing, that his swelling sides Laves, as he floats along the herbaged brink. 47? Cool, through the nerves, your pleasing comfort glides The lieart beats glad ; the fresh-expanded eye And ear resume their watch ; the sinews knit ; And life shoots swift through all tJie lightend limbs Around the' adjoining brook, that purls along 489 The vocal grove, now fret-ting o'er a rock, Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool, Now starling to a sudden stream, and now Gent'.y ditfused into a limpid plain ; A various group the herds and flocks compose, 48S Rural confusion ! on the grassy bank Some ruminating lie ; while others stand Half in the flood, and often bending sip The circling surface. In the middle droops The strong laborious ox, of h(mest front, 490 Which incomposed he shakes ; and from his sides The troublous insects lashes with his tail, Returning still. Amid his subjects safe, Slumbers the monarch swain : his careless arm Thrown roimd his head, on downy moss sustain 'd ; 495 Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands fill'd ; There, listening every noise, his watchful dog. Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight Of angry gadflies fasten on the herd ; That startling scatters from the shallow brook, 500 In search of lavish stream. Tossing the foam, They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain, Through all the bright- severity of noon ; While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow moan, Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills. 505 Ofl in this season too the horse, provoked, While his big sinews full of spirits swell, Trembling with vigour, in the heat o^ blood, Springs the high fence ; and, o'er the field eflusod, Darts on the gloomy flood, with steadfast eye, 511 SUMMER. 49 And heari estranged to fear : iiis nerve as chest, Luxuriant, and erect, the seat of strength ! Bears down the' opposing stream : quenchless his thirsl He takes the river at redoubled draughts ; And with wide nostril, snorting, skims the wave. 515 Still lot me pierce into the midnight depth Of yonder grove, of wildest largest growth : That, tbrmirig high in air a woodland choir, Nods o er the mount beneath. At every step, Solemn and slow, the shadows blacker fall, 52C And all is awful listening gloom around. These are the haunts of Meditation, these The scenes where ancient bards the' inspiring broath. Ecstatic, felt ; and, from this world retired, Conversed vvith angels and immortal forms, 52r On gracious errands bent : to save the fall Of virtue struggling on the brinK of vice ; In waking whispers, and repeated dreams. To hint pure thought, and warn the favour'd soul For future trials fated to prepare ; 53C To prompt the poet, who devoted gives Flis muse to better themes ; to sooth the pangs Of dying worth, and from the patriot s breast (Backward to mingle in detested war, But foremt«t when engaged) to turn the death ; 535 ./ And numberless such offices of love, ail Oaily and nightly, zealous to perform -::^f -'^~'*^^^ ^'■ Shook sudden from the bosom of the sky, - '.-■■ ^^ A thousand shapes cr glide athwart the dusk, Or stalk majestic on. Deep roused, I feel SWi A sacred terror, a severe delight Creep through my mortal frame ; and thus, methinks, A voice, than human more, the' abstracted ear Of fancy strikes : — " Be not of us afraid. Poor kindred man ! thy fellow-creatures, we 545 From the same Parent Power our beings drew, The same our Lord and laws and great pursuit, Dnco some of us, like thee, through stormy life 5 60 SUMMER. Toil d, tempest-beaten, ere \vc could attain This holy calm, this liarmony of mind, BfiO Where purity and peace immingle charms. Then fear not us ; but with responsive song Amid tliese dim recesses, undisturb'd By noisy folly and discordant vice, Of Nature sing with us, and Nature's God. 556 Here frequent, at the visionary hour, When musing midnight reigns or silent noon, Angelic harps are in full concert heard. And voices chanting from the wood-crown'd hill, The deepening dale, or inmost silvan glade: 560 A privilege bestow'd by us, alone, On Contemplation, or the hallow'd ear Of poet, swelling to seraphic strain." And art thou, Stanley,* of that sacred band, Alas, for us too soon ! though raised above 565 The reach of human pain, above the flight Of human joy ; yet, with a mingled ray Of sadly pleased remembrance, niust thou feel A mother's love, a mother's tender woe : Who seeks thee still in many a former scene ; 570 Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely beaming eyes, Thy pleasing converse, by gay lively sense Inspired : where mortal wisdom mildly shone, Without the toil of art ; and virtue glow'd, 111 all her smiles, without forbidding pride. 578 But, O thou best of parents ! wipe thy tears ; Or rather to Parental Nature pay The tears of grateful joy, who for awhile Lent thee this younger self, this opening bloom Of thy enlightened mind and gentle worth. 680 Believe the Muse : the wintry blast of death Kills not the buds of virtue ; no, they spread, Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter suns, Through endless ages, into higher powers. *A young' lady, who died at tiie ag-e of eighteen, in (M year T'SS, upon whoii» Thompson wrote an epitaph. SUMMER. 5 Thus up the mount, in airy vision wrapp'd, ' 58S 1 stray, regardless whither ; till the sound Of a near fall of water every sense Wakes from the charm of thought: swift shrinking back, 1 check my steps, and view the broken scene. Smooth to the shelving brink a copious flood COO Rolls fair and placid ; where, collected all In one impetuous torrent, down the steep It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round. At first an azure sheet, it rushes broad ; Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 595 And from the loud-resounding rocks below Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower. Nor can the tortured wave here find repose : But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks, 600 Now flaslies o'er the scatter'd fragments, now Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts ; And, falling fast from gradual slope to slope, With wild infracted course and lessen'd roar, It gains a s.-'ier bed, and steals, at last, 605 Along the mazes of the quiet vale. Invited from the ciiif, to whose dark brow He clings, the steep-ascending eagle soars, Wit)i upward pinions, through the flood of day And, giving full his bosom to the blaze, 610 Gains on the sun ; while all the tuneful race, Smit by afflictive noon, disordered droop, Deep in the thicket ; or, from bower to bower Responsive, force an interrupted stram. The stockdove only through the forest coos, 615 Mournfully hoarse ; oft ceasing from his plaint, Short interval of weary woe ! again The sad idea of his murder'd mate. Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile, Across his fancy comes ; and then resounds 621 A louder song of sorrow through the grove Beside the dewy border let me sit. 52 SUMMER. All in the freshness of the huniid a/r : There in that hollov/'d rock, grotesque and wiJd, An ample chair moss-lined, and over hci(i fi25 By flowering umbrage shaded ; where the bee Strays diligent, and with the' extracted balm Of fragrant woodt)ine loads his little thigh. Now, while 1 taste the sweetness of the shade, While Nature lies around deep lulld in noon 63L Now come, bold Fancy, spread a daring flight, And view the wonders of the torrid zone : Climes unrelenting '. with whose rage compared, Yon blaze is feeble, and yon skies are cool. See, how at once the bright effulgent sun, 635 Rising direct, swift chases from the sky The short-lived twfi.glit : and with ardent blaze Looks gaily fierce through all the dazzlijig air : He mounts his throne ; but kmd before him sends, Issuing from out the portals of the morn, G43 The general breeze,* to mitigate his fire, And breathe refreshment on a fainting world. Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty crown'd And barbarous wealth, that see, each circling year, Returning suns and doubi'^ seasons! pass : 64^ Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with n.ines, That on the high equator ridgy rise, Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays : Majestic woods, of every vigorous green. Stage above stage, Jiigh wavmg o'er the hills ; 650 Or, to tl 3 far horizon wide diffused, A boundless deep immensity of shade. Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown, The noble sons of potent heat and floods, * Which blows constr^ntly between the tropics from the east, or the collateral poiiii.s, tiie north-east and soiuli-cast; caused by tlie pressure of die rarefied air on thai hjfore it, according to the diurna' nic'.ion of the siui li->.ni ciisi lo west. t In all climates belwt^eu the tropics. tli<' sun, as lie passe« and r-passes in his armiiil niol'on, is twice a year vertical, Rhich produces this efici i. SUMMER. 53 Prone-rushing from the clouds, rear high to heaven 055^ Their thorny steins, and broad around them thrjw Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime, Unnumber'd fruits, of keen delicious taste And vital spirit, drink amid the clilFs, And burning sands tliat bank the shrubby vales, C<30 Redoubled day, yet in their rugged coats A friendly juice to cool its rage contain. Bear me, Pomona ! to thy citroji groves ; To where the lemon and the piercing lime, With the deep orange, glowing througli the green, 065 Theij' lig liter glories blend. Lay me reclined Beneath the spreading tamarind that shakes, Fann'd by the breeze, its fever cooling fruit. Deep in the night the massy locust sheds. Quench my hot limbs ; or lead me through the maze, Embowering endless, of the Indian fig ; 671 Or, thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow, Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd. Broad o'er my head the verdmt cedar wave, And high palmetos lift their graceful shade. G75 Or, stretchd amid these orcliards of the sun. Give Tiie to drain the cocoa's milky bowl. And from the palm to draw its fresliening wine I More bounteous far than all the frantic juice Whicli Bacchus pours. Nor, on its slender twigs bwt) Low bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd ; Nor, creeping through the woods, the gelid race Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells Unboastful worth, above fastidious pomp. Witness, thou best A nana, thou the pride 685 Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er The poets imaged in the golden ago : Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat, Spread thy ambrosial storeS; and feast tvith Jove ! From these the prospect varies. Plains immense Lie stretch'd beloAV, interminable meads, GOl And vast savaruiahs, where the wandering eye, 6* 54 SUMMER. Unfix'd, is in a verdant ocean lost. Another Flora tliere, of bolder hue's, And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride 605 Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden hand Exuberant spring : for oft these valleys shift Their green-embroider'd robe to fiery brown, And swift to green again, as scorching suns, Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 700 Along these lonely regions, where, retired From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells In awful solitude, and nought is seen But the wild herds that own no master s stall, Prodigious rivers roll their fattening seas : 705 On whose luxuriant herbage, half conceal'd, Like a fallen cedar, far diffused his train, Cased in green scales, the crocodile extends. The flood disparts : behold ! in plaited mall, Behemoth* rears his head. Glanced from his side, 710 The darted steel m idle shivers flies : He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills ; Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds, In widening circle round, forget their food, And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze. 713 Peaceful beneath primeval trees, that cast Their amp'e shade o'er Niger's yellow stream. And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave ; Or. mid the central depth of blackening woods, H^gh raised in solemn theatre aroand, 720 Leans the huge elephant : wisest of brutes ! O truly wise ! with gentle might endow'd, Though powerful, not destructive ! here he sees Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth, And empires rise and fall ; regardless lie 7S5 Of what the never resting race of men Project : thrice happy ! covdd he scape their guile, Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps ; Or with his towery grandeur swell their stite, * Tlie Hippopoiamus, or river-horse •\ SUMMER. 56 The pr'ide of kings! or else his strength peivcrt, 730 And bid him rage amid the mortal fray, Astonish'd al the madness of mankind. Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods, Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar, Thick swarm tlie brighter birds. For Nature's hand, That with a sportive vanity has deck'd 73C The plnmy nations, there hex gayest hues Profusely pours.* But if she bids them shine Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day, Yet frugal still, she humbles them in song. 740 Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent Proud Montc37,ama's realm, whose legions cast A boundless radiance waving on the sun, While Philomel is ours ; while in our shadea. Through llic soft silence of the listening night, 745 The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. But come, my Muse, the desert-barrier burst, A wild expanse of lifeless sand and sky : And, swifter than the toiling caravan, Shoot o'er llie vale of Sennar ; ardent climb 750 The Nubian mountains, and the secret bounds Of jealous Al>yssinia boldly pierce. Thou art no ruffidn, who beneath the mask Of social commerce comest to rob their wealth ; No holy fury thou blaspheming Heaven, 755 With consecrated steel to stab iheir peace. And throngli the land, yet red from civil wounds. To spread the purple tyranny of Rome. Thou, like tJic harmless bee, mayst freely range From mead to mead bright with exalted flowers, "GCi From jasmine grove to grove niayst wander gay Through palmy shades and aromatic woods, That grace the plains, invest the peopled hills, And up the more than Alpine mountains wave * 111 all th<' re°;ioi:s of the to;Tid zone, the bin Is though more heoniiful in men plumage, aie observed lo be less me- Wious ihan ours 56 SUMxMKR. TJiere on tlie breezy summit, spn^a-'ling fair, 765 F^'or many a league ; or on stupendous rocks, That frou) the sun-redoubling valley lift, Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops ; Where palaces and fanes and villas rise , And gardens smile around, and cultured fields ; 77) And fountains gush; and careless herds and tlocks Securely stray ; a world within itself, Disdaining all assault : there let me draw Ethereal soul, there drink reviving gales, Profusely breathing from the spicy groves 773 A.nd vales of fragrance ; there at distance hear The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep From disembowel'd earth the virgin gold ; And o'er the varied landscape, restless, rove, S^ervent with life of every fairer kind : 780 A land of wonders ! which the sun still eyes With ray direct, as of the lovely realm Enamour'd, and delighting there to dwell. How changed the scene ! in blazing height of nooi|, The sun, oppress'd, is plunged in thickest gloom. 785 Still horror reigns, a dreary twilight round. Of struggling night and day malignant mix'd. For to the hot equator crowding fast, Where, highly rarefied, the yielding air Admits their stream, incessant vapours roll, 790 Amazing clouds on clonds continual lieapd ; Or whirld tempestuous by the gusty wind. Or silent borne along, hv.avy, and slow, With the big stores of steaming oceans chirgcd Meantime, amid these upper seas, condensed 795 Around the cold aerial mountain's brow, And bv conflicting winds together dash'd, The Tliun.ler holds his bla«^k tremendous throne , From cloud to cloud the rending lightnings rage ; Till, in the furious elemental war 800 Dissolved, the whole precipitated mass Unbroken floods and solid torrents p mr*. SUMxTIER. 57 The treasures these, hid from the bounded search Of ancient knowledge; whence, with annual pomp, Rich kiajr of Hoods 1 o'erflows the swelling Nile. 803 From his two springs, in Gojam s sunny realm, Pure-welling out, he through the lucid lake Of fair Danibea rolls his infant stream. There, by the naiads nursed, he sports away His playfii! youth amid the fragrant isles, 810 That with \infading verdure smile around Ambitious thence the manly river breaks ; And, gathering many a flood, and copious fed With all the mellow'd treasures of the sky, Winds in progressive majesty along : 815 Through splendid kingdoms now devolves his mazOi Now wanders wild o'er solitary tracts Of life-desorted sand ; till, glad to quit The joyless desert, down the Nubian rocks. From thundering steep to steep, he pours his urn, 620 And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave. His brother Niger too, and all the floods In which the full form'd maids of Afric lave Their jetty limbs ; and all that from the tract Of woody mountains stretch'd through gorgeous Ind Fall on ('ormandel's coast, or Malabar ; 826 From Monam's* orient stream, that nightly shines With insect lamps, to where Aurora sheds On Inilus' smiling banks the rosy shower: All, at this bounteous season, ope their urns, 850 And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land. Nor lesis thy world, Columbus, drinks, refresh'd, The lavish moisture of the melting year. Wide o'er his islos the branching Oronoque Rolls a brown deluge ; and the native drives 635 To dwell aloft on life sufficing trees. At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms * 'I'lie river that nuis ih'-oun-h Siam ; on whose l>anK« a van fiultilude ol' tiu)sp insects called Fire Flies make a tieautifui appearance in ilie night. 58 SUMMER. Swell'd by a thousand streams, impolnons liurl'd From all tlie roaring Andes, huge descends The mighty Orellana* Scarce the mi!s« 840 Dares stretch her wing o'er this enormoiis mass Of rutilung water ; scarce she dares attoin[)t The sealike Plata; to whose dread expanse, Ccnlinu(»us depth, and wondrous length ol" course Our iloods are rills. With urabated force, /845 In silent dignity they sweep along, And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds^ And fruitful Jeserts, worlds of solitude. Where llie sun smiles and seasons teeui in vain, Unseen and unenjoy'd. Forsaking these, 850 O'er peopled plains they fair diffusive flow, And many a nation feed, and circle safe, In their soft bosom, many a happy isle ; The seat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd By Christian crimes and Europe's cruel sims. 855 Thus pouring on they proudly seek tJic deep. Whose vanquish'd tide, recoiling from the shock, Yields to the liquid weight of half the glnbe ; And Ocean trembles for his green domain. But what avails this wondrous waste of wealth .'' This gay profusion of luxurious bliss ? 861 This pomp of Nature ? what their balmy meads, Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain ? By vagrant birds dispersed, and wafting winds. What their unplanted fruits.' what the cool draughts, The' ambrosial food, rich gums, and spicy health 8G6 Their forests yield .'' their toiling insects what, Their silky pride, and vegetable robes .'' Ah ! what avail their fatal treasures hid Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 870 Golcond.is gems, and sad Potosi's mines ; Where dwelt the gentlest children of the sun! What all that Afric's golden rivers roll, ller odorous woods, and shining ivory stores ? * The river of ihe Amazons 1 SUMMf:R. 5? /Il fated race I the softening- arts of Peace, Si Whate'er the humanizing Muses teach; Tlie godlike wisdom of the temper'd breast ; Progressive truth, the patient force of thought; Investigation calm, whose silent powers Command the world ; the light that leads to heaven ; Kind equal rule, tlie government of laws, 881 And all -p rote ctilig Freedom, which alone Si tains the name and dignity of man : ' jse arc not theirs. The parent sun himself jrieems o'er this world of slaves to tyrannise ; 885 And, with oppressive ray, the roseate bloom Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue. And feature gross : or worse, to ruthless deeds, Mad jealousy, blind rage, and fell revenge, Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells nut tliere, 890 The soft regards, the tenderness of life, The heart-shed tear, the" ineffable delight Of sweet humanity: these court the beam Of milder climes ; in selfish fierce desire. And the wild fury of voluptuous sense, , 895 There lost. The very brute creation there This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire. Lo ! the green serpent, from his dark abode, Wkich even Lnagination t'ears to tread, At noon forth issuing, gathers up his train 900 In orbs iinmense, then, darting out anew. Seeks the refreshing fount ; by which ditlusrd. Rethrows hii- tolds: and while, with threatening tcngue, And deatlifu! jaws erect, the monster curls ilis flaming crest, all other thirst appali'd, 9C& Or shivering (lies, or check'd at distance stands. Nor dares a]ii[)roach. But still more direful he, riie small close-lurking minister of fat'B, Whose high- concocted venom through the veins A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift 9M The vital current. Frrm'd to humble man, ■^'liifs child of veno-eful nature ! there, siibiimed oO SUMMER. To fee. to the East indies. \ Don Henry, third son to John the First, King of Portugal. His strong genius to the discovery of new counlrios was liM diii^f source of all iho modern improvements of navigation. i SUMMER. 63 8vv )■ .- . le can bear the ship along , And, iron, il ■ parlners of that cruel trade Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons, 1020 Deiiiand:^ liis siiareof prey ; demands themselves. The stormy fates d«!scend : one death involves Tyrantsand slaves^ when straight, their mangled I'inibs Crashing at once, he dyes the purple seas With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 1021 When o'er this world, by equinoctial rains Flooded immense, looks out the joyless sun, And draws the copious steam ; from swampy fens, Where putrefaction into life ferments, And breathes destructive myriads: or from woods, 1030 Impenetrable shades, recesses foul. In vapours rank and blue corruption wrapp'd, Whose gloomy horrors yet no desperate foot Has ever dared to pierce ; then, wasteful, forth Walks the dire Power of pestilent disease. 1035 A thousand hideous fiends her course attend, Sick Nature blasting, and to heartless woe. And feeble desolation, casting down The towering hopes and all the pride of Man. Such as, of late, at Carthagena qucnch'd 104t The British fire. You, gallant Vernon, saw The miserable scene ; you, pitying, saw To infant weakness sunk the warrior's arm , Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form, The lip pale-quivering, and the beamlcss eye 104.*^ No more with ardour bright : you heard the groans Of agonizing ships from shore to shore ; Heard, nightly plunged amid the sullen waves, The frequent corse : while on each other fiz'd. In sad presage, the blank assistants scem'd, 1050 Silent, to ask, whom Fate would next demand. What need I mention those inclement skies, Where, frequent o'er the sickening city, Plague, The fiercest child of Nemesis divine, Descends ' From Ethiopia's poison'd woods, 1055 54 SUMMER. From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields With locust armies putrefying heap'd, fl This great destroyer sprung. Her awful rage " The brutes escape : Man is her destined prey, Intemperate Man ! and, o'er his guilty domes, 100€ Siie draws a close incumbent cloud of death : Uninterrupted by the living winds, Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze ; and stain'd With many a mixture by the sun, suffused, Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then, 1065 Dejects his watchful eye ; and from the hand Of feeble justice, ineffectual, drop The sword and balance : mute the voice of joy, And hush'd the clamour of the busy world. Empty the streets, with uncouth verdure clad ; 1070 Into the worst of deserts sudden turn'd The cheerful haunt of men ; unless escaped From the doom'd house, where matchless horror reigns, Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch. With frenzy wild, breaks loose; and, loud to Heaven Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns, 1076 Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door, Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge Fearing to turn, abhors society : Dependants, friends, relations, Love himself, 1080 Savaged by woe, forget the tender tie, The sweet engagement of the feeling heart. But vain their selfish care • the circling sky, The wide enlivening air is full of fate ; And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs 1085 They fall, unbless d, untended, and unmourn'd. Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair Extends her raven wing ; while, to complete The scene of desolation, stretch'd around, The grim guards stand, denying all retreat, 1091 And give the flying wretch a better death. ' Much yet remains unsung : the rage intense Of brazen- vaulted skies, of iron fields, SUMMER. 65 Wheie drought and famine starve tlie blasted year Firod by the torch of noon to tenfold ra^e, 1095 The' infuriate liill that shoots the pillar'd flame; And, roused witlnn the subterranean world, The' expanding earthquake, that resistless shalies Aspiring cities from their solid base, And buries mountains in the flaming gulf 1 100 But 'tis enough ; return, my vagrant Muse : A nearer scene of horror calls tJiee home. Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove Unusual darkness broods ; and growing gains The full possession of the sky, surcharged 1105 With wratliful vapour, from the secret beds, Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn. 7^hence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spume Of fat bitumen, steaming on the day, With various tinctured trains oi^ latent flame, 1110 Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud, A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate Ferment ; till, by the touch ethereal roused, The dash of clouds, or irritating war Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, 1115 They furious spring. A boding silence reigns. Dread through the dun expanse ; save tlie dull sound That from the mountain, previous to the storm. Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood, And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath. 1 120 Prone, to the lowest vale, the aerial tribes Descend: the tempest-loving raven scarce Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze The cattle stand, and on tjie scowling heavena Cast a deploring eye ; by man forsook, 1126 Who to the crowded cottage hies him fast, Or seeks tiie shelter of the downward cave. 'Tis listening fear, and dumb amazement all : When to the startled eye the sudden glance Appears far south, eruptive through the cloud; 1130 4.nd, fallowing slower, in e-xplosion vast, 6* 66 SUMMER. The Thunder raises liis tremendous voice. At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of heaven, The tempest growls ; but as it nearer comes, And rolls its awful burden on the wind, 1135 The lightnings llash a larger curve, and more The noise astounds . till over head a sheet Of livid flame di..closes wide ; then shuts, And opens wider ; shuts and opens still Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze. 114<) Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar, Enl.rging, deepening, mingling ; peal on peal Crush'd horrible, convulsing heaven and earth. Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail, Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds 1145 Pour a whole flood ; and yet, its flame unquench d, The' unconquerable lightning struggles through, Ragged and iierce, or in red whirling balls, And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 1140 Black from the stroke, above, the smouldering pine Stands a sad shatter'd trunk ; and, stretch'd below, A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie : Here the soft, flocks, with that same harmless look They wore alive, and ruminating still In fancy's eye ; and there the frowning bull, 1155 And ox half-raised. Struck on the castled cliff, The venerable tower and spiry fane Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods Start at the flash, and from their deep recess. Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates shake. 1160 Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud The repercussive roar : with mighty crush, Into tlie flashing deep, from the rude rocks Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the sky. Tumble the smittdn cliffs: and Snowden's peak, 1161 Dissolving, instant yields his wintry ioad. Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze. And Thulc bellows through her utmost isles. Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubled thought SUMMER. «7 And yet not always on the guilty head 1170 Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon And his Amelia were a matchless pair ; With equal virtue foim'd, and equal grace, The same, distinguished by tlieir sex alone Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn, 1175 And his the radiance of the risen day. They loved : but such the guileless passion was, As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart Of innocence, and undissembling truth. •Twas friendship heighten'd by the mutual wish ; 1130 The' enchanting hope and sympathetic glow Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all To love, each was to each a dearer self; Supremely happy in the' aw aken'd power Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, 1185 Still in harmonious intercourse ♦hey lived The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart, Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things. So pass'd tlieir life, a clear united stream. By care unrutiled ; till, in evil hour, lj90 The tempest caught them on the tender walk, Heedless how far and where its mazes stray'd, While, with each other bless'd, creative love Still bade eternal Eden smile around. Presaging instant fate her bosom heaved 115)5 Unwonted sighs, and, stealing otl a look Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye Fell tearful, welting her disorder'd cheek. In vain, assuring love and confidence In Heaven reprcps'd lier fear ; it grew, and shook Her frame near dissojjtion. He perceived 1^1 Ths' unequal conflict ; and as angels look On dying saints, Ins eyes compassion shed. With love illumined high. " Fear not," he said, " Sweet inno(;enoe ! tliou stranger to offence, 120S And inward stnrm ! He, who yon skies involves In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee 68 SUMMER. i With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft That wastes at midnight, or the' undreaded hour Of noon, flies harmless : and that ver}' voice, 1210 Which timnders terror through the guilty heart, With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to tliino Tis safety to be near thee sure, and tlius To clasp perfection !" From his void embrace, 1214 (Mysterious Heaven !) that moment, to the ground, A blacken'd corse, was struck the beauteous maid. But who can paint the lover, as he stood, Pierced by severe amazement, hating life, Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe ! So, faint resemblance ! on the marble tomb, 1220 The well desembled mourner stooping stands, For ever silent and for ever sad. As from the face of heaven the shatter'd clouds Tumultuous rove, the' interminable sky Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands 1225 A purer azure. Through the lighten'd air A higher lustre and a clearer calm, Diifusive, tremble ; while, as if in sign Of danger past, a glittering robe ofjoj', Set off abundant by the yellow ray, 1230 Invests the fields; and nature smiles revived. 'Tis beauty all, and grateful song around, Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat Of flocks thick-nibbling through the clover'd vale. And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless Man, 1235 Most favour'd ! who with voice articulate Should lead the chorus of this lower world j Shall he, so soon forgetful of the Hand That husird the thunder, and serenes the sky, Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempest waked, 1240 That sense of powers exceeding far his own, Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears ? Cheer'd by the milder beam, the sprightly youth Speeds to the well known pool, whose crystal depth ^ sandy bottom shows. Awhile he stands 1245 SUMMER. 6<» Gazing the' inverted landscape, half afraid To meditate the blue profound below ; Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek Instant c,:iierge ; and, through the' obedient wave, At each short breathing by his lip reoell'd, 1251 With arms and legs according well, he makes As humour leads, an easy-winding path ; While, from his polish'd sides, a dewy light Effuses on the pleased spectators round. 1255 This is the purest exercise of health, The kind refresher of the summer heats ; Nor when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, Would I weak-shivering linger on the brink. Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserved, 12G0 By the bold swimmer, in the swift elapse Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs Knit into force ; and the same Roman arm. That rose victorious o'er the conquerd earth, First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave. 1265 Even from the body's purity, the mind Receives a secret sympathetic aid. Close in the covert of a hazel copse, Where winded into pleasing solitudes Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat, 1270 Pensive, and pierced with love's delightful pangs. There to the stream that down the distant rocks Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play'd Among the bending willows, falsely ho Of Musidora's cjuelty complain'd. 127-3 She felt his flame ; but deep within her breast In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride, The soft return conceal'd ; save when it stole En sidelong glances from her downcast eye. Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. 1268 Touch'd by the scene, no stranger to his vowp, He framed a melting lay, to try her heart ; And, if an infant passion struggled there, 70 SUMMER. To call that passion forth. '1 hrice haj-.py swain I A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate Of mighty monarchs, tlieii decided tliiae. ?or lo ! conducted by the laughing Loves, This cool retreat iiis Musidora sought: Warm in her choek the sultry season glow'd ", And, robed in loose array, she came to bathe 1290 Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. What shall he do ? In sweet confusion lost, And dubious flutterings, he awhile remain'd : A pure ingenuous elegance of soul, A delicate refinement, known to few, 12^ Perplex'd his breast, and urged him to retire : But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say, Say, ye severest, what would you have done ? Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever bicss'd Arcadian stream, with timid eye around 1300 The banks surveying, stripp'd her beauteous limbs, To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. Ah then ! not Paris on the piny top Of Ida panted stronger, when aside The rival-goddesses the veil divine 1305 Cast unconfmed, and gave him all their charms. Than, Damon, thou ; as from the snowy leg. And slender foot, the' inverted silk she drew ; As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone ; And, through the parting robe, the' alternate breast, With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze 1311 In full luxuriance rose. But, dcsjjcrate youth, Hftw durst thou risk the soul-distracti^ view; As from her naked limbs of glowing white, Harmonious swell d by Nature's finest hand, 1315 In fc^ds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn ; And fair-exposed she stood, shrunk from herself With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze Alarm 'd, and starting like the fearful fawn ? Then to the flood she rush'd ; the parted flood 1320 its bvely guest with closmg waves received ; SUMMER. n Atju every beauty softening, every p-ra.»s« Flushing "new, a m«llow lustre shed : Ay ihines the lily threugh the crystal mild , Or as the rose amid the rnorninrr dew, 1^125 Fresh tVrrWt Aurora's'liand, more sweetly glows. While tb It! she wanton'd, now beneath tlie wave But ill J oncealed ; and now with streaming locka, That half-embraced her in a humid veil, Rising again, the latent Damon drew 1330 Such maddening draughts of beauty to the soul As for awhile o'erwhelmd his raptured thougni With luxury too daring. Check'd, at last, By love's respectful modesty, he deem'd The theft profane, if aught profane to love 1335 Can e er be deem'd ; and, struggling from the slmde, With headlong hurry fled : but first these lines. Traced by his ready pencil, on the bank With trembling hand he threw • — '* Bathe on, my fair, Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye 1340 Of taithful love : 1 go to guard thy haunt, To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, And each licentious eye." With wild surprise. As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, A stupid moment motionless she stood : 1345 So stands the statue* that enchants the world, So bending tries to veil the matchless boast. The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes Which blissful Eden knew not ; and, array'd V^O In careless ha^, the' alarming paper snatch'd. But, when her Damon's well known hand she saw. Her terrors vanish'd, and a softer train Of mix'd emotions, hard to be described. Her sud'Jen bosom seized : shame void of guilt, I35fl The charming blush of innocence, esteem, And admiration of her lover's llame, Uy modesty exalted : even a sense • The Venus oi Medici. 92 SUMMER. Of self-approving beauty stoic across Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm 1368 Hush'd by degrees the tumult of her soul ; And on the spreading befc';li, that o cr the stream Incumbent hung, she with the silvan pen Of rural lovers this confession carved, Which soon her Damon kiss'd with weeping joy : 136^* " Dear youth ! sole judge of what these verses mean/1 By fortune too much favour'd, but by love, "^ Alas ! not favour'd less, be still as now 1 Discreet ; the time may come you need not fly." The sun has lost his rage : his downward orb 1370 Shoots nothing now out animating warmth, And vital lustre ; that, with various ray, Lights up the clouds, those beauteous rubes of heaven.^ Incessant roU'd into romantic shapes, M The dream of waking fancy ! broad below 137b Cover'd with ripening fruits, and swelling fast Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour Of v/alking comes : for him who lonely loves To seek the distant hills, and there converse 1330 With Nature ; there to harmonize his heart, And in pathetic son^- to b'-eathe around The harmony to others. Social friends, Attuned to happy unison of soul ; To whose exalting eye a fairer world, 1385 Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse. Displays its charms ; waose minds are richly fraught With philosophic stores, superior ligl#; And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance ; l^H* Now calPd abroad enjoy the falling day : Now to the verdant Portico of woods, To Natvre's vast Lyceum, forth Lhey walk By that kind School v/here no pioud master Teljfns, The full free converse of the friv^ndlv h«art, 1391 Improving and improved. Now from tlio 9,^orld, i SUMMER. 7^ Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, And pour the''- ^oals in transport, which the Sire Of love appro .ii;^ hears, and calls it good. Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our course ? 1400 The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we choose ? All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind Along the streams ? or walk the smiling mead f Or court the forest glades ? or wander wild Among the waving harvest ? or ascend, 1 <05 While radiant Summer opens all its pride, Thy hill, delightful Shene ?* Here let us sweep • The boundless landscape : now the raptured eye, Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send ; Now to the Sister Hillst that skirt her plain, 1410 To lofly Harrow now, and now to where Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow. In lovely contrast to this glorious view Calmly magnificent, then will we turn To where the silver Thames first rural grows 1415 There let the feasted eye unwearied stray : Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat ; And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks, Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace retired, 1420 With Her the pleasing partner of his heart, The worthy Queensberry yet laments liis Gay, And polish'd Cornbury woos the willing Muse. Slow let us trace the matcnless Vale of Thames ; Fair-winding up to where the Muses haunt 1425 In Twit'nam's^^owers, and for their Pope implore The healing God ;t to royal Hampton's pile, To Clermont's terraced height, and Eshers groves, Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced By the soft windings of the silent Mole, 1430 From courts and senates Pelham finds repose. * The old name of Richmond, signifying, in Saxon, Shining w ^[^iendour. t Hi^hgaie and Hampstead. 1 1^ bis 1^^ sickness. 7 74 SUMMER. Enchanting vale ! beyond whate'er the Muse Has of" Achuia or Ilesperia sung ! O vale of bliss ! O softly swelling hills ! On which the Power of Cultivation lies, 435 And joys to see the wonders of his toil. Heavens ! what a goodly prospect spreads around, or hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires, And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all The stretching landscape into smoke decays! 1440 Happy Britannia ! where the Queen of Arts, Inspiiing vigour. Liberty abroad Walks, unconfined, even to thy furthest cots, And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. Pfcich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime ; 1445 Thy streams unfailing in the Summer's drought ; Unmatch'd thy guardian oaks ; thy valleys float With golden waves : and on thy mountains flocks Bleal numberless ! while, roving round the sides, Beiiow the blackening herds in lusty droves. 1450 Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd Against the mower's scythe. On every hand Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth , And property assure* it to the swain, Pleased and unwearied, in his guarded toil. 1459 Full are thy cities with the sons of Ait ; And trade a-nd joy, in every busy street, Mingling are heard : e'en Drudgery himself, As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews The palace stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, Where rising masts an endless prospeet yield, 1461 With labour burn, and echo to the shouts Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet, Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind. T46S Bold, firm, and graceful are thy generous youth^s By hardship sinew'd, and by danger fired, Scattering the nations where they go ; and first Or on the lisped plain, or stormy seas. SUMMER 75 Mild are thy g^lories too, as o er the plans Of thriving peace thy thoughttul sires preside ; In genius and sub^lanlial learning high ; For every virtue, every worth, renown d ; Sincere, plain-hearted, lu)spitable, kuid ; Yet like tlie umstering thunder when provoked, 147% The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource Of those that under grim oppression groan. Thy sons of Glory many ! Alfred thine, In whom the splendour of heroic war, And more heroic peace, when governed well, 1430 Combine ; whose hallow'd name the Virtues saint, And his own Muses love ; the best of Kings ! With him thy Edwards and thy Henries shine. Names dear to fame ; the first who deep impress'd On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, 1485 That awes her genius still. In statesman thou, And patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More, Who, with a generous though mistaken zeal, Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage, Like Cato firm, like Aristides just, 1490 Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor, » A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death. Frugal and wise, a Walsingham is thine ; A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep, And bore thy name in thunder round the world. 1 105 Then flamed thy spirit high : but who can speak The numerous worthies of the Maiden Reign.'' In Raleigh mark their every glory mixd ; Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! wh.ose breast with edl The sage, the patriot, and the hero burn'd. 15(X/ Nor sunk his vigour, when a coward reign The warrior fetter'd, and at last resign'd, To glut the vengeanci of a vanquish'd foe. Then, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind Explored the vast extent of ages past, I50S And with his prison-hours enrich'd the Vv'orld ; Yet found no times, in all the lung research, 70 SUMxMER. So glorious or so base as those he proved, In which he conquer'd, and in which he b\e>l. Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pas-s, 1511? Tho plume of war ! with early laurels v.rown'd, The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay. A Hampden too is thine, illustrious land, Wise strenuous, firm, of unsubmittinij soul, Wl.o stemm'd the torrent of a downward Age 1515 To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again, In ail thy native pomp of freedom bold. Bright, at his call, thy Age of Men etl'ulged, Of Men on whom late time a kindling eye Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read. 1520 Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew The grave where Russel lies ; whose temper'd blood With calmest cheerfulness for thee resignd, S/ain'd the sad annals of a giddy reign ; Aiming at lawless power, thoucrh meanly sunk 152o In loose inglorious luxury. With him His friend, the British Cassius,* fearless bled : Of high detexmin'd spirit, roughly brave. By ancient learning to the' enlightend love Of ancient freea()m warm'd. Fair thy renown 1530 In awful sages and in noble bards ; Soon as the light of dawning Science spread Her orient ray, and waked the Muses' sung • Thine is a Bacon ; hapless in his chf)ice, Ui.nt to stand the civil storm of state, 1535 And through the smooth barbarity of courts, With firm but pliant virtue, forward still To urge his course : him for the studicnis shade Kind Nature form'd, deep, comprehensive, clear, Exact, and elegant : in one rich soul, IHIO Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd. Tho great deliverer he ! who from the gloom Ofcloister'd monks, and jargon-teaching schools, liCd forth the true Philosophy, there lon^ * Algernon Sidney. SUMMER. 77 field in the magic chain of words and forms, 1545 And definitions void : he led her furth, Daughter of Heaven ! that slow ascending still, Investigating sure the chain of things, With radiant finger points to heaven again. Die generous Ashley* thine, the friend of man ; I5r>8 Who scann'd liis nature with a brother's eye, PI is weakness prompt to shade, to raise his aim, To touch the finer movements of the mind, And with the moral beauty charm the heart. Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious search, 1555 Amid the dark recesses of his works. The great Creator sought ? And why thy Locke, Who made the whole internal world his own ? Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom God To mortals lent,, to trace his boundless works 1560 From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame In all philosophy. For lofty sense, Creative fancy, and inspection keen Through the deep windings of the human heart, Is not wild Shakspeare thine and Nature's boast .' 1565 Is not each great, each amiable Muse Of classic ages in thy Milton met f A genius universal as his theme ; Astonishing as chaos, as the bloom Of blowing Eden fair, as heaven sublime ! 1578 Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget, The gentle Spenser, Fancy's pleasing son ; Who, like a copious river, pour'd his song O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground: Nor thee, his ancient master, laughing sage, 1575 Chaucer, whose native manners-painting verse. Well moralized, shines through the golhic cloud Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown. May my song soften, as thy daughters I, Britannia, hail ! for beauty is their own, 1581 The feeling heart, simplicity of life, » A*«ilt<)iiv Ashley Cooper, Earl of" Shallesbuiy. 7* I 78 SUMMER. And elegance, and taste : the faultless f.>rn), Shaped by the hand of harmony ; the cheek Where the live crimson, through the native white Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 158S And every nameless grace ; the parted lip Like the red rosebud moist with morning dew lireathing delight ; and, under flowing jet, Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown, The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast : 1590 The look resistless, piercing to the soul, And by the soul inform'd, when dress'd in love She sits high smiling in the conscious eye Island of bliss ! amid the subject seas, Th d thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up, 1395 At once the wonder, terror, and delight Of distant nations ; whose remotest shores Can soon be shaken by thy naval arm ; Not to be shooK. thyself, but all assaults Baffling, as thy hoar cliffs the loud sea-wave. 1600 O thou ! by whose Almighty nod the scale Of empire rises, or alternate falls. Send forth the saving Virtues round the land, In bright patrol : white Peace, and social Love ; The tender-looking Charity, intent 1605 On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through smiles; Undaunted Truth, and dignity of mind ; Courage composed and keen ; sound Temperance, Healthful in heart and looks ; clear Chastity, With blushes reddening as she moves along, 1010 Disorder'd at the deep regard she draws ; Rough Industry ; Activity untired, With copious life informed, and all awake . W^hile in the radiant front, superior shines That first paternal virtue. Public Zeal, 1619 Who throws o'er all an equal wide survey. And, ever musing on the commonweal, Btill labours glorious with some great design. Low walks the sun^ and broadens by degrees, summ?:r. 7d Fust o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds 1620 Assembled gay, a richly fforgeous train, In all their pornp attend his setting throne. Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And now, As if his weary chariot sought the bowers Of Amphitrit6 and her tending nymphs, 1G25 (So Grecian fable sung,) he dips his orb ; Now half-immersed ; and now a golden curve Gives one briglit glance, then total disappears. For ever running and enchanted round, Passes the day, deceitful, vain, and void ; 1630 As fleets the vision o'er the formful brain, This moment hurrying wild the' impassion'd soul, The noxt in nothing lost. 'Tis so to him. The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank : A sight of horror to the cruel wretch, 1635 Who all day long in sordid pleasure roll'd, Himself a useless load, has squander'd vile. Upon his scoundrel train, what might have cheer'a A drooping family of modest v/orth. But to the generous still-improving mind, 1640 That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy. Diffusing kind beneficence around, Boa5tless as now descends the silent dew; To him the long review of ordev'd life Is inward rapture, only to be felt. 1645 Confess'd from yonder slow-extinguished clouds, All other softening, sober evening takes Her wonted station in the middle air ; A thousand shadows at her beck. First this She sends on earth ; then that of deeper dye 165G Steals soft behind ; and then a deeper still, In circle following circle, gathers round, To close the face of things. A fresher gale Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream, Sweeping with shadowy gust tlie fields of corn, 16^9 VVhiile the quail clamours for his runninop mate. W^ide o'ei the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze, so SUMMER. H A whitening tjhower of vegetable down < Ainusive floats. The kind impartial caro Of Nature nought disdains : tliouglitful to feed 1660 Her lowest sons, and clothe the coining year, From field to field the feathcr'd seed she wings HiB folded flock secure, the shepherd home Hies merry-hearted : and by turns relieves The ruddy milkmaid of her brimming pail ; 166P The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart. Unknowing what the joy-mix'd anguish means, Sincerely loves, by that best language shown Of cordial glances and obliging deeds. Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, 1670 And valley sunk, and unfrequented ; where At lall of eve the fairy people throng, In various game, and revelry, to pass The summer night, as village stories tell. But far about they wander from the grave 1675 Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urged Against his own sad breast to lift the hand Of impious violence. Tlie lonely tower Is also shunn'd ; whose mournful chambers hold, So night-struck fancy dreams, the yelling ghost. 1680 Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge. The glowworm lights his gem ; and tlirough the dark A moving radiance twinkles Evening yields The world to Night ; not in her winter robe Of massy stygian woof, but loose array 'd 1685 In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray. Glanced from the' imperfect surf>ices of things, Flings half an image on the strain'.ng eye ; While wavering woods, and villages, and streams. And rocks, and mountain tops, that long retain'd 1690 The' ascending gleam, are all one swimming scene, Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven Thence weary vision turns ; where, leading soft The silent hours of lovo, with purest ray Bwpf^t Venus .shines* and from her g^eiiial rise. 169b SUMMER. 81 When daylight sickens till it springs afresh, Unrivald reigns, the fairest lamp of Night. As thus the' elFulgence tremulous 1 drink, With cherish'd gaze, the lambent hghtnings shool Across the sky, or horizontal dart 1700 In wondrous shapes : by fearful murmuring crowds* Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs, That more than deck, that animate the sky, The life-infusing suns of other worlds ; Lo ! from the dread immensity of space 1705 Returning, with accelerated course, Thg rushing^comet to the sun descends ; And, as he sinks below the shading earth, With awful train projected o'er the heavens, The guilty nations tremble But, above 1710 Those superstitious horrors that enslave The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith And blind amazement prone, the' enlighten'd fevw Whose godlike minds Philosophy exalts, The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy 1715 Divinely great ; they in their powers exult. That wondrous force of thought, which mounting spurns This dusky spot, and measures all the sky ; While, from his far excursion through the wilds Of barren etiier, faithful to his time, 1720 They see the blazing wonder rise anew, In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent To work the will of all-sustaining Love ; From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs, 1725 Through whicii his long ellipsis winds; perhaps To lend new fuel to declining suns. To light ip worlds, and feed the' eternal fire. With thee, serene Philosophy, with thee, And thy bright garland, let me crown my song • 1734 Effusive source of evidence and truth ! A lustre shedding o'er the' ennobled mind, Stronger than summer noon ; and pure as that, 82 SUMMER. Whose mild vibrations sooth the parted soul, New to the dawning of celestial day. 1733 Hence through her nourishd powers enlarged by thoe, She springs aloft with elevated pricie ; Above the tangling mass of low desires, That bind the fluttering crowd ; and, angel-wing'd, The heiglits of science and of virtue gains, 1740 Where all is calm and clear ; with Nature round, Or in the starry regions, or the' abyss, To Reason's and to Fancy's eye display'd : The First up tracing, from the dreary void, The chain of causes and effects to Him, 1745 The world-producing Essence, who alone Possesses being ; while the Last receives The whole magnificence of heaven and earth, And every beauty, delicate or bold, Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense, 1750 Diffusive painted on tlie rapid mind. Tutor'd by thee, hence Poetry exalts Her voice to ages; and informs the page With music, image, sentiment, and thought. Never to die ! the treasure of mankind ! 175n Their highest honour, and tlieir truest joy ! Without thee what were unenlightend Man? A savage roaming through the woods and wilds, In quest of prey : and witli the' unl;'sluon'd fur Rough clad ; devoid of every finer art 1760 And elegance of life. Nor happiness Domestic, mix'd of tenderness and care, Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss, Nor guardian law were his ; nor various skill To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool 1761 Mechanic ; nor the heaven-conducted prow Of navigation bold, that fearless brave;? The burning line or dares the wintry j)oIe ; Mother severe of infinite deliglits ! Nothing, save rapine, indolence, and guile, 1770 A.nd woes on woes, a btill revolving train ' sijmmp:r. 83 tVIi.i."»3 horrid circle Iiad made human hfe Tiian nonexislnrn'-e worse : but, taught by tlice. Ours are the plans of puUcy and peace ; To Uve Uke brulhnrs, and conjunctive all 1775 Embellish life. While thus laborious crowds Ply tJie tough oar, Philosophy directs The ruling helm ; or like the liberal breath Of potent heaven, invisible, the sail Swells out, and l)ears the' inferior world alonjj. 1780 Nor to this evanescent speck of earth Poorly confined, tlie radiant tracts on high Are her exalted range ; intent to gaze Creation througli ; and, from tnat full complex Of never ending wonders, to conceive 178i* Of the Sole li kino right, who spoke the Word, And Nature moved couiplete. With inward view, Thence on the' ideal kingdom swift she turns Her eye ; and instant, at her powerful glance, The' obedient phantoms vanish or appear ; 1790 Compound, divide, and into order shift. Each to his rank, from plain perception up To the fair forms of Fancy's fleeting train : To reason then, deducing truth from truth ; And notion quite abstract ; where first begins 1795 The world of spirits, action all, and life Unfetter'd and unmix'd. But here the cloud {So wills Eternal Providence) sits deep, Enough for us to know that this dark state, In wayward passions lost and vain pursuits, 1600 This Infancy of Being cannot prove The final issue of the works of God, Fiy boundless Love and perfect Wisdom foTm'd) / Lnd ever rising with the rising mind. ' ^/ :' AUTUMN. rhe iuhject prop.Bcd. Addressed to Mr. Onslow. A prospect v( the tioli's ready for harvnsi. Reflections in praise of Jnfu«)rj raised by that view. Keajdng. A tale relative to it. A hdrveisl Btotui. Slutotiug and liimiiiig, tliuir barbarity. A Icdiofous account of fox-hunting. A view of an orcliurd. Wall-fruit, Alt vineyard. A descrijition of fogs, frequent in the latter part ofa Autumn; wlience a digression, nujuiring into the rise of foun- tains and rivers. Birds of season consiilered, that now shift their haiiitativin. Tlie prodigious number of them that cover tljo noriiiern and western isl s of Sc»)lland. Hence a view of the fcounlry. A prospect of the discoloured, fading woods. After a gentle dusky day, moonlight. Autumnal meteors. Morning iO which succeeds a cahu, pure, sunshiny day, such as usually Bhuts up the season. The harvest being gatluTed in, the coun- try «!issojved in joy. The whole concludes with a panegyric on a philosophical country life. Crown'd with the sickle and the wheaten sheal, While Atittimn, nodding o'er the yellow plain, Comes jovial on ; the Doric reed once more, Well pleased, I tune. Whate'er the wintry frost Nitrous prepared ; the various blossom'd Spring 5 Put in white promise forth ; and Summer suns Concoctei strong, rush boundless now to view Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme Onslow ! the Muse, ambitious of thy name, To grace, inspire, and dignify her song. 10 Would from the public voice th_y gentle ear A while engage. Thy nohle care 8he knows, The patriot virtues that distend thy thought, Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow ; While listening senates hang upon thy tonguw, 15 Devolving through the maze of eloquence A roll of periods sweeter than her song. But she too pants for public virtue, she, Though weak of power, yet strong in ardent will. Whene'er her country rushes on her heart, 20 AUTUMi^. a Assarrrr.-. e bntder note, and tcndly tries To mix Ihr j&nl-fS' t^'ith the poet's flame. /WliC'.j \h-o ■' :i;;h^ Virgin gives the beauteous days. And Libra \v3*hs iii equal sjca'cs the year ; From heavpu-j higi' cope the fierce effulgence shook Of parting Suinmer, a serener Llus, 26 With golden light enliven'd, wiic invests The happy world. Attemper'd sins arise, Swcet-bcam'd, and shedding eft. through lucid clouds A pleasing calm ; while broad, and brown, below 30 Extensive harvests haif the heavy head. Rich, silent, deep, they stct.J ; for not a gale Rolls its light billov/s o'er the bent ing plain • A calm of plenty ! till the rufiled air Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to b'low. 36 Rent is tlie fleecy mantle of the sky ; The clouds fly different ; and the swdden sun By h*.s effulgent gilds the' illumined field. And black by fits the shadows sweep along. A gaily chequer'd heart-expanding view, 40 Far as the circling eye cau si.oot a/ound, Unbounded tossing in a flood of corn. These are thy blessings. Industry ! rough power I Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and pain. Yet Iho kind source of every gentlu art, 46 And all the soft civility of life : Raiser of humankind ! by Nature cast Naked, and helpless, out omid the woods And wilds, to rude inclement elements ; With various seeds of art deep in the mind 50 Implanted, and profusely pour'd around Mi rials Infin'te ; but idle all. Stji imexertcd, in the' uiiconscious breast, Slept the lethargic powers ; Corruption still, Voracious, sv.^ailow'd whc *he liberal hand bit Of bounty scatter'd o'er the savage yeai : And s*,ill the sad barbarian, roviag, inix'd With beasts of prey ; or for his acorn-meal 8 86 AUTUMN. Fought the iierce tuskj boar : a shivering wretch , Agliast and comfortless, when the bleak north, (JO With V/inter ch.irged, let the mix'd tempest fly, Hail, rain, and enow, and bitter-Lreatl»ng frost .- Then to the shelter of the hut he flsd ; And the wild season, sordid, pined away. For h.o:ne he had not ; home Is the resort 61 Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where, Supporting and supported, polish d friends And dear relations mingle into oliss. But this the rugged savage never felt, E'en desolate in crowds ; and thus his days 70 Roll d heavy, dark, and unrnjoy'd along : A waste of time ! trll Industry approachd, And roused him from his n.iserable sloth ; His faculties unfolded ; pointed out Where lavish Nature the d.recting hand 75 Of Art demanded ; show'd him how to raise His feeble force by the mechanic powers, To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth ; On what to turn tho piercing rage of nre ; On wiiat the torrent, and the gather'd blast ; 80 Gave the tall ancient forest to his axe ; Taught him to cliip the wood, and hew the stone Till by degrees the finish'd fabric rose ; Tore from his limbs the blood- polluted frr, And wrapp'd them in the woolly vestment warm, 85 Or bright in glossy silk and tiowing lawn ; With wholesome viands fiU'd his table ; pour'd The generous glass around, inspired to wake The life refining soul of decent wit : ^or stopp'd at barren bare necessity ; 90 But still advancing bolder, led him on To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace ; And, breathing high ambitioa through his soul. Bet science, wisdom, glory, m his view, And bade him be the Lord of all below. 96 Then gathering men their natural powers coml>ined| AUTUMN. 87 And form'd a Public , to the general good BubiniUiiig, aimiiiff, and conducting all. Fof Lfus the P^riot-Council met, the full, The fi -e, andlairly represented Whole ; 100 For Ihif Lhey plann'd the holy guardian laws, Distinguish'd orders, anijnated arts, And with joint force Oppression chaining, set Imperial Justice at the helm ; yet still To tliem accountable : nor, slavish, dream'd 105 Thai toiling millions must resign their weal, .'t-'d all the honey of their search, to such As ioT themselves alone themselves liave raised. Hence every form of cultivated life In order set, protected, and inspired, 110 Into perfection wrougiit. Uniting all, Society grew numerous, high, polite, And happy. Nurse of art ! the city rear'd In beauteous pride her tower-encircled head ; And, stretcl" ing street on street, by thousands drew, From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew 116 To bows strong-straining, her aspiring sons. Then coamierce brought into the pu'jlic walk The busy merchant ; the big warehouse built ; Raised the strong crane ; choked up the loaded street With forcig-i plenty; and Ihy stream, O Thames, 121 Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods ! Chose for his grand resort On eith^^r hand, Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts Shot up their spires j the bellying sheet between 125 Posstss'd the breezy void : the sooty hulk Steer'd sluggish on ; the splendid barge along Row'd, regular, to harmony ; around, Tkie boat, light-skimming, stretch'd its oary wings , While deep the various voice of fervent toil 130 From bank to bank increased ; whence ribb'd with oak, To bear tlio British thunder, black and bold, The roaring vessel rusli'd into the main. Then too the pillar'd dome, magnific^ heaved 88 AUTUMN. Its ample roof; and l^uxury within ' 133 Pour'd out her jrliUuring stores : the canvass smooth. With glowing hfe protuberant, to tlie vikw Embodied rose ; tlie statue seem'd to bjleatlie. And soften into flesh, beneath the touch Of forming art, imagination flush'd. 110 All is the gift of Industry ; whate'er Exalts, embellishes, and renders life Delightful. Pensive Winter cheer'd by him Sits at the social fire, and happy hears The' excluded tempest idly rave along ; )t5 Tlis harden'd fingers deck the gaudy Spring ; Without him Summer were an arid waste ; Nor to the' Autumnal months could thus transmit Those full, mature^ innnea&arable stores, That, waving round, recal my wandering song. 150 Soon as the m.^rning trembles o'er the sliyA And, unperccived, unfolds the spreading day ;j Before the ripen'd field th3 reapers stand, In fair array ; each by the lass he loves. To bear the rougher part, and mitigate 15S By nameless £;entle ofilces her toil. At once they stoop and swell tlie lusty shenvos; While through their cheerful band the rural talk, The rural scandal, and the rural jest. Fly harmless, to deceive ll.e tedious time, 160 And steal unfe't the sultry hours away. Behind the master walks, builds up the shocks; And, conscious, glancing oft on every side His sated eye, feels fiis heart heave with juy. The gleaners spread around, and here and tiiere, 1Gb Spike after spike, their scanty harvest pick. Be not too narrow, husbandmen ! but llmg From the full sheaf, with charitable ste*Jth, The liberable handful. Think, oh grateful think ! How good the God cf Harvest is to you ; 170 Who pours abundance o'er your flowing fields ; While these unhai)pv partners of youi kind AUTUMN. 89 Wide-hover round you, like tl.e fowls of heaven, And ask their humble dole. The various turns Of fortune pond^ir ; that your sons may want 175 What now, with hard reluctance, faint ye give. The lovelj young Lavinia once had friends j And Fortuie smiiled, deceitful, on her birth. For, in her helpless years deprived of all, OF every stay, save Innocence and Heaven, 180 Sh«, WTf.n her widow'd mother, feeble, old, And poor, lived in a cottage, far retired Autor&g the windings of a v/oody vale ; hy solitude and deep surrounding shades. But more by bashful rwyMiiy, conceal'd. 185 fogether thus they shun.i'd the cruel scorn Which virtue, sunk to poverty, would meet From giddy passion and low-minded pride • Almost on Nature's common bounty fed ; Like the gay birds tJiat sung them to repose, 190 Content, and careless of to-morrow's fare. Her form was fresher than the morning rose When the dew wets its leaves ; unstam'd and pure, As is the lily or the mountain-snow./ The modest virtues mingled in her'eyes, 195 Still on the ground dejected, darting all Their humid beams into the blooming flowers • Or \ hen the mournful tale her mother told. Of wiiat her faithless fortune promised once, Thrill'd in her thought, they, like the dewy star 200 Of evening, shone in tears. A native grace _ Sat fair-proportion'd on her polish'd limbs, Veil'd in a simple robe, their best aLlire, Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 205 But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most. Thoughtless of beauty, slie was Beauty's self, \ Recluse amid the close-embowering woods. As in the hollow breast of Apennine, 1i«jncath ihe shelter of encircling hills, 21tt 8* 90 AUTUMN. A myrtle rises, far from huinnii eye, And breathes its balmy frairrance o'er the wild ; So flourish'd blooming, and unseen by all, The sweet Lavinia ; till, at length, compeli d By strong Necessity's supreme command, 31 With smiling patience in her looks, she went To glean Palemon's fields. The pride of swains Palemon was, the generous and the rich ; Who led the rural life in all its joy And elegance, such as Arcadian song 220 Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times ; When tyrant custom had not shackled man, Bdt free to follow Nature was the mode. He then, his fancy with autumnal scenes Amasing, chanced beside his reaper-train 226 To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye ; Unconscious of her power, and turning quick With unaffected blushes from his gaze : He saw her charming, but he saw not half The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd. 230 That very moment love and chaste desire Sprung in his bosom, to himself unknown ; For still the woild prevaild, and its dread laugh, Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn, Should his heart own a gleaner in the field ; 235 And thus in secret to his soul he sigh'd : — " What pity ! that so delicate a form, By beauty kindled, where enlivening sense And more than vulj^ ar goodness seem to dwell, Should be devoted to the rude embrace 240 Of some indecent clown ; she looks, methinks^ Of old Acasto's line ; and to my mind Rccals that patron of my happy life. From whom my liberal fortune took its rise ; Now to the dust gtme down.; his houses, lands, 245 And once fair-spreading family, dissolved. Tis said, that In some lone obscure retreat, CJrged by remembrance !:ad, and decent pride, i AUTUMN. 91 Far from tli(*se ?cenes wliich knew their better days, His aged widow and his daughter live, 250 Whom yet my fruitless search could never find Romantic wish ! would this the daughter were !" When, strict inquiring, from herself he found She was t!ie same, the daughter of his friend, Of bountiful Acasto ; v/ho can speak 255 The mirgled passions that surprised his heart. And through his nerves in shivering transport ranr Then blazed his smothcr'd flame, avow'd, and bold ; And as he view'd her, ardent, o'er and o'er, Love, gratitude, and pity wept at once. SHO Confused, and frighten 'd at his sudden tears, Her rising beauties flush'd a higher bloom, As thus Palemon, passionate and just, Pour'd out the pious rapture of his soul : " And art thou then Acasto's dear remains ? 26ii She, whom my restless gratitude has sought, So long in vain ? O heavens ! the very same, The softend image of my noble friend, Alive his every h)ok, his every feature, More elegantly touch d. Sweeter than Spring! 270 Thou sok^ surviving blossom from the root That nourish'd up my fortune ! say, ah wliere, In what rfC'iuester'd desert, hast thou drawn The kindest aspect of delighted heaven ? Into such beauty spread, and blown so fair ; 275 Though Foverty's cold wind and crushing rain Beat keen and heavy on thy tender years .' O, let me now into a richer soil Transplant thee safe ! where vernal suns an.l shjwers 'diffuse their v/armest, largest influence ; 280 And of my garden be the pride and joy ! Ill it befits thee, oil, it ill befits Acasto's daughter, his, whose open stores, Though vast, were little to his ampler heart, The father of a country, tlius to pick 285 The very refuse of those harvest-fields 52 AUTUMN. Wliich from hjs bounteous friendship I enjoy. Then throw that shameful pittance from thy hand. But i!l a|)|)ly'd to such a rugged task ; Tlie fisicls, the master, all, my fair, are thine : 2!)0 If to the various blessings which th}' house Has on me lavished, thou wilt add that bliss, Tnat dearest bliss, the power cf blo»sing thee !" Here ceased the youth : yet still his sreaking eye Expressd the sacred triumph of his soul, 29S With conscious virtue, gratitude, and love, Above the vulgar joy divinely raised. Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm Of goodness irresistible, and all In sweet disorder lost, she blush "d consent. 300 The news immediate to her mother brought. While, pierced with anxious thought, she pined awar The lonely moments for Laviaia's fate : Ama;^d, and scarce believing what she heard, Joy seized her wither'd vcine, and one bright gleam Of setting life shone on her evening hours : 306 Not Ijss enraptured than the happy pair ; Who flourish'd long in tender biiss, and rear'd A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves, And good, the grace of all the country round. 310 Defeating oft the labours of the year. The sultry south collects a potent blast. At first, the groves are scarcel}' seen to stir Their trembling tops ; and a still murmur runs Along the soft-inclining fiields of corn. 315 But as the aerial tempest fuller swells, And in one mighty stream, invisible, Immense, the whole excited atmosphere Impetuous rushes o'er the sounding world ; Slraiii'd to the root, the stooping forest pours 320 A rustliiiii shower of yet untimely leaves. High-heat, the circling mountains eddy in, From the bare wild, the dissipated storm, And send it in a torrent down the vale. AUTUMN. 93 Exposed, and naked to its utmost rage. 325 Through all the sea of harvest roihng round, The billowy plain floats wide ; nor can evade, Though pliant to the blast, its seizing force , Or whirl d in air, or into vacant chafT Shook waste. And sometime? too a burst of rain li30 Swept from the black horizon, broad, descends In one continuous flood. Still overhead Tlie minijling tem^jest weaves its gloom, and still The deluge deepens ; till the fields around Lie snjik and flatted in the sordid wave. 335 Sudder, tiie ditches swell ; the meadows swim. Red, from the hills, innumerable streams Tumultuous roar ; and high above its banks The river lift ; before whose rushing tide. Herd?, flocks, and harvests, cottages, and swains, 3'10 Roll mingled down ; all that the winds had ppared In ono wild moment, ruin'd ; the big hopes And well earn'd treasures of th? painful year. Fled to some eminence, the husbandman Helpless beholds the miserable wreck 345 Driving along ; his drowning ox at once I>jsccnding, with his labours scatter'd round. He sees ; and instan*, o'er his shivering thought Comes Winter unprovided, and a train Of cJaimant children dear. Ye masters, then, 350 Be mindful of the rough laborious hand " AUTUMN. 95 Poor (3 tlie triumph o'er the timid hare ! Scared from tiie corn, and now to some lone seat RetireJ ■ tlie ruahy fen ; the ragged furze, Stretch'd o'er tlie stony heath ; the stubble chapt , . The thistly lawn •, the thick entangled broom : 403 Of the s;une friendly hue, the vvither'd fern ; The fallow ground laid open to the svm, Concoctive ; and the nodding sandy bank, Il'mg o'er the mazes cf the mountain brook. Vain is her best pracaution ; though she sits 410 Conceal'd, with folded oars ; unsleeping eyes, By Nature raised to take the' horizon in ; And head couch'd close betwixt her hairy feet, Jn act to spring away. The scented dew Betrays her early labyrinth ; and deep, 415 In scatter'd sullen openings, far behind. With every breeze she hears the coming storm. But nearer, and more frequent, as it loads The sighing gale, she springs amazed, a.;d all The savage soul of game is up at once : 420 The pack full-opening, various ; the shrill horn, Resounded from the hills ; the neighing steed, Wild for the chase ; and the loud hunters shout ; O'er a weak, harmless, flymg creature, all Mix'd in mad tumult and discordant joy. 425 The stag, too. singled from the herd, where long He ranged the brandling monarch of the shades, Before the tempest drives. At first, in speed He, sprightly, puts his faith ; and, roused by fear, Gives all Ids swift atrial soul to flight : 43(1 Against the breez3 he darts, that way the more To leave the lessening uiurderous cry behind . Deception short ! though fleeter than the winds Blown o'er tlie keen-air "d mountain by the north, He bursts the thickets, glances through the gladte, 43? And plunges deep into the wildest wood ; If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the track Hot-steaming, up behind him come again 96 AUTUMN. The' mhurnan rout, and from the shady depth Expel hiiii, circling through his every shift, 440 ^ He sweeps the forest oft ; and sobbing sees The glades, mild opening to the golden day ; Where, in kind contest, with his butting friends He v.'ont to struggle, or his loves enjoy. Oft in the full-descending flood he tries 4*5 To lose the scent, and lave his burning sid^a : Ofl seeks the herd ; the watchful herd, alari.a'l. With selfish care avoid a brother's woe What shall he do ? His once sc vivid nerves, So full of buoyant spirit, now no more 4r»0 Insj)ire the course ; but fainting breathless toil, Sick, seizes on his heart : he stands at, l;ay ; And puts his last weak refwge in despair. The big round tears run down his dappled face ; He groans in anguish : while the growlii.gj- pack, 45.^) Blood-happy, hang at his fair jutting chest. And mark his beauteous checq'ier'd sides with gore. Of this enough. But if the silvan youth. Whose fervent blood boils into violence, Must have the chase ; behold, despising flight, 4G0 The roused-up lion resolute and slow, Advancing full on the protevided spear And coward-band, that circling wheel aloof. Slunk from the cavern and the troubled wood, See the grim wolf; on him his shaggy foe 465 Vindictive fix, and let the ruffian die : Or, growling horrid, as the brindled boar Grins fell destruction, to the monster's heart Let the dart lighten from the nervous arm. These Britain knows not ; give, ye Britons, then Vour sportive fury, pitiless, to pour 471 Loose on the nightly robber of the fold ; Him, from his craggy winding haunts unearth'd, Let all the thunder of the chase pursue. Throv/ the broad ditch behind you ; o'er the hedge High-bound, resistless ; nor the deep morass 476 AUTUMN. 97 Refuse, but dirough the shaking wilderness Pick your nice way ; into the perilous flood Bear fearless, of the raging instinct full ; And as you ride the torrent, to the banks 48C Your triimiph sound sonorous, running round Froii.. rock to rock, in circling echoes toss'd ; Then scale the rriountains to their woody tops ; Rush down he dangerous steep ; and o'er the lawn, In faifcy ssvallowing up the space between, 48r» l*our all your speed into the rapid game. Fo;- happy he ! who tops the wheeling chase ; ' ..i every maze evolved, and every guile : losed ; who knows the merits of the pack ; ao saw the villain seized, and dying hard, 490 Without complaint, though by a hundred mouths Relentless torn : O glorious he, beyond His daring peers ! when the retreating horn Calls them to ghostly halls of gray renown, With woodland honours graced ; the fox's fur, 495 Depending decent from the roof; and spread Round the drear walls, with antic figures fierce, The stag's large front : he then is loudest heard, When the night staggers with severer toils, With feats Thessalian Centaurs never knew, 500 And their repeated wonders shake the dome. But first the fuei'd chimney blazes wide ; The tankards foam ; and the strong table groans Beneath the smoking sirloin, stretch 'd immende From side to side ; in which, with desperate knife, 505 They deep incision make, and talk the while Of England's glory, ne'er to be defaced While hence they borrow vigour • or amain Into the pasty plunged, at intervals. If stomach keen can intervals allow, 51f Relating all the glories of the chase. Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst Produce the mighty bowl ; the mighty bowl, Swell'd high with fiery juice, steams liberal round 9 98 AUTUMN. A potent g"ale, delicious as the orcatli 51i Of Maia to tlie lovesick shepherdess, On violets ditlased, while soft she hears Her panting shepherd stealing to her arms. Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn. Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat 529 Of thirty years ; and now his honest front Flames in the light refulgent, not afraid E'en with the vineyard's best produce to vie. To cheat the thirsty moments, Whist awhile Walks his dull round, beneath a cloud of smoke, 525 Wreathed, fragrant, from the pipe ; or the quick dice, In thunder leaping from the box, awake The sounding gammon : while romp-loving miss Is hauld about in gallantry robust. At last these puling idlenesses laid 530 Aside, frequent and full, the dry divan Close in firm circle ; and set, ardent, in For serious drinking. Nor evasion sly Nor sober shift is to the puking wretch Indulged apart ; but earnest, brimming bowls 535 Lave every soul, the table floating round, And pavement, faithless to the fuddled foot. Thus as they swim in mutual swill, the talk, Vociferous at once from twenty tongues. Reels fast f-om theme to theme ; from horses, hounds, To church or mistress, politics or ghost, 541 In endless mazes, intricate, perplex'd. Meantime, with sudden interruption, loud. The' impatient catch bursts from the joyous heart ; 1 hat moment touch 'd is every kindred soul ; 543 And, opening in a full-mouth'd cry of joy, The laugh, the slap, the jocund curse go round ; While, from their slumbers shook, the kennel'd hounds Mix in the music of the day again. As when the tempest, that has vex'd the deep 550 The dark night long, with fainter murmurs falls ; So gradual sinks their mirth. Their feeble tonofues AUTI.MN. 99 Unable to take up the cumbrous word, Lio tjuitu ilissolvad. Before tlieir maud'in eyes Seen dim and blue, the double tapers dance 555 Like the sun wading ihroutrb the misty sl^'. Then, sliding soft, they drop. Confused abov3, Glasses and bottles, pipes and gazetteers, '^ As if the tabiv i'en itself was drunk. Lie a wet li*- :-loaJed bough a mellow shower Incessant melts away. The juicy pear 630 Lies in a sot't profusion scattbr'd round. A various sweetness swells the gentle race ; By Nature's all refining hand prepared ; Of temper'd sun, and water, earth, and air, In ever changing composition mix'd. C3a Such, falling frequent through the chiller night, The fragrant stores, the wide-projected heaps Of apples, which the lusty-handed Year, Innuraerous, oer the blushing orchard shakes. A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen, 640 Dwells in their gehd pores ; and, active, points The piercing cider for the thirsty tongue : Thy native theme, and boon inspirer too, Philips, Pomona's bard, the second thou Wiio nobly durst, in rliyme-unfetter'd verse, 64S» With British freedom sing the British song : How, from Sdurian vats, high-sparkling wines Foam in transparent floods ; some strong, to cheer The wintry revels of the labouring hind ; And tasteful some, to cool the summer hours. 650 In this glad season, while his sweetest ^»eams The sun sheds equal o'er the meeken'd day ; Oh, lose me in the green delightful walks Of, Doddington, thy seat, serene and plain, Where simple Nature reigns ; and every view, 655 Diifusive, spreads the pure Dorsetian downs, In boundless prospect ; yonder shagg'd with wood. Here rich with harvest, and there white with flocks Meantime the grandeur of thy lofty dome. Far splendid, seizes on the ravish'd eye. GGO New beauties rise with each revolving day, New columns swell ; and still the fresh Spring finds New plants to quicken, and new groves to green, Full of thy genius all ! the Muses' seat ; Where, in the secret bower and winding walk, 663 Tor virtuous Young and thee they twine the bay. 9* • >02 AUTUMN. Here wandering oft, fired with the restless thirst 01' thy applause, I solitary court The' inspiring breeze : a.nd meditate the book Of ?^ature ever open ; aiming thence, 67C Warm from the heart, to learn the moral song. Here, as I steal along the sunny wall Where Autumn basks, with fruit empurpled deep, My pleasing theme continual prompts my thouglit : Presents the downy peach ; the shining plum ; G75 The ruddy, fragrant nectarine ; and dark, Beneath his ample leaf, the luscious fig. The vme too here her curling tendrils shoots ; Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south ; And scarcely wishes for a warmer sk3^ 680 Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight To vigorous soils and climes of fair extent ; Where, by the potent sun elated high. The vin'^yard swells refulgent on the day ; Spreads o'er the vale ; or up the mountain climbs, 68? Profuse ; and drinks amid the sunny rocks, From cliff to cliff increased, the heighten d blaze. Low bend the weighty boughs. The clusters clear, Half through the foliage seen, or ardent flame. Or shine transparent ; while perfection broatlies 690 White o'er tiie turgent film the living dew. Afthus they brighten with exalted juice, Touch'd into flavour by the mingling ray ; The rutal youth and virgins o'er the field. Each fond for each to cull the' autumnal prime, 605 t^.Kulting rove, and speak the vintage nigh. Then comes the crushing swain; the country floats, And foams unbounded with the mashy flood ; That, by degrees fermented and refined, Round the raised nations pours the cup of joy: 7W The claret smooth, red as the lip we press In sparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl; The mellow-tasted burgundy ; and, quick A.S is the wit it gives, the gay champagne. • AUTUMN. 103 Now, by the cool decliiiins; year condensed, 705 Descend the copious exhalations, check 'd As up the middle sky unseen they stole, And roll the doubling fogs around the hill No more the mountain, horiid, vast, sublime, Who pours a sweep of rivers from his sides, 71d And high between contending kingdoms rears The rocky long divisir-n, fills the view With great variety ; but in a night Of gathering vapour, from the baffled sense Siaks dark and dreary. Tiience expanding far, 715 The huge dusk, gradual, swallows up the plain Vanish, the woods : the dim-seen river seems Sullen, and slow, to roH the misty wave. E'en in the height of noon oppress'd, the sun Sheds weak and blunt his wide-refracted ray ; 726 Whence glaring oft, with many a broaden'd orb. He frights the nations. Indistinct on earth. Seen tlirough the turbid air, beyond the life Objects appear ; and, wilder'd, o'er the waste The shepiierd stalks gigantic. Till at last T&* Wreathed dun arour d, in deeper circles still Successive closing, sits the general fog Unbounded o'er the world ; and, mingling thick, A formless gray confusi(m covers all. As when of old (so sung the Hebrew Bard) 730 Light, uncollected, through the chaos urged Its infant way ; nor Order yet had dravn His lovely train from out the dubious gloom. These roving mists, that constant now begin To smoke along the hilly country, thesr, 735 With weiglity rains, and melted Alpine snows, The mounlain cisterns fill, those ample stores Of water, scoop'd among the hollow rocks ; Whence gush the streams, the ceaseless fountain.s play And their unfailing wealth the rivers draw. 740 Some sages say, that, where the numerous wave Vor ever lashes the resoundintr shore, 104 AUTUMN. Drill'd through the sandy stratum, every way, The waters with the sandy stratum rise ; Amid whose angles infinitely strain'd, 74B They joyful leave their jaggy salts behind, And clear and sweeten as they soak along. Nor stops the restless fluid, mounting still, Though oft amidst the' irriguous vale it sprmgs ; But to the mountain courted by the sand, 750 That leads it darkling on in faithful maze, Far from the parent main, it boils again Fresh into day ; and all the glittering hill Is bright with spoutmg rills. But hence this vain Amusive dream ! why should the waters love 755 To take so far a journey to the hills. When the sweet valleys offer to their toil Inviting quiet and a nearer bed ? Or if, by blind ambition led astray. They must aspire ; why should they sudden stop 7fi0 Among the broken mountain's rushy dells, And, ere they gain its highest peak, desert The' attractive sand that charm'd their course so long ? Besides, the hard agglomerating salts, The spoil of ages, would impervious choke 765 Their secret channels ; or, by slow degrees. High as the hills protrude the swelling vales : Old Ocean too, suck'd through the porous globe, Had long ere now forsook his horrid bed. And brought Deucalion's watery times again. 770 Say then, where lurk the vast eternal springs, That, like creating Nature lie conceal'd From mortal eye, yet with their lavish stores Refresh the globe and all its joyous tribes ! O thou pervading Genius, given to man, 775 To trace the secrets of the dark Abyss, O, lay the mountains bare ! and wide display Their hidden structure to the' astonish'd view ! Strip from the branchi ig Alps their piny lead ; The huge incumbrance of horrific woods 780 AUTUMN. lOa From Asian Taurus, from linaus stretch'H Aihwart the roving Tartar's sullen bounds ! Give opiinmg Hemus to my searching eye, And high Olympus pouring many a stream ' O, from the sounding summits of the north, 785 The Dorfrine hills, through Scandinavia roU'd To farthest I^apland aud the frozen main ; From lofty Caucasus far seen by those Who in the Caspian and black Euxine toil ; F-om cold Riphean rocks, which the wild Russ 79fi Pielieves the stony girdle* of the world : And all the dreadful mountains, wrapp'd in storm, Whence wide Siberia draws her lonely floods ; O, sweep the' eternal snows' Hung o'er the deep, That ever works beneath his sounding base, 795 Bid Atlas, propping Heaven, as poets feign, His subterranean wonders spread ! unveil The miny caverns, blazing on the day, Of Abyssinia's cloud-compelling cliffs, And of the bending Mountainst of the Moon ! 800 O'ertupping all these giant sons of earth. Let the dire Andes, from the radiant line Stretch'd to the stormy seas that thunder round The southern pole, their hideous deeps unfold ! Amazing scene I behold ! the glooms disclose, 805 1 see the rivers in thoij infant beds I Deep, deep I hear them labouring to get free , 1 see the leaning strata, artful ranged ; The gaping fissures to receive the rains, The melting snows, and ever dripping fogs. Bib Strow'd bibulous above 1 see the sands, The pebbly gravel next, the layers then Of mingled moulds, of more retentive eartlis. The gutter'd rof'ks and mazy-running clefts , *The lyiuscoviies ''all the Kiplienii IVIou/itains Weii/ci Cd- tnenypoijs , tliai is, the ^reat stem/ (win/le : lu-cause ihey 3U{>- pose them lo encompass llie vvliole earth. t A range of mountains in Africa, tli?vl surround almost a| \loiioniolapa« 106 AUTUMN. That, whila the stealing moisture they transmit, 815 Retard its motion and forbid its waste. Beneath the' incessant weeping of these drains, I see the rocky siphons strelch'd immense, The mighty reservoirs, of harden'd chalk. Or stiff compacted clay, capacious form'd • 8S0 O'erflowing thence, the congregated stores, The crystal treasures of the liquid world, Through the stirr'd sands a bubbling passage bunil, And, welling out, around the middle steep, Or from the bottoms of tiie bosom'd hills, 825 In pure effusion flow. United, thus, The' exhaling sun, the vapour-burden'd air, The gelid mountains, that to rain condensed These vapours in continual current draw. And send them, o'er the fair-divided earth, 830 In bounteous rivers to the deep again, A social commerce hold, and firm support The full adjusted harmony of tilings. "When Autumn scatters his departing gleams, Warn'd of approaching Winter, gather'd, play 835 The swallow-people ; and, toss'd wide around. O'er the calm sky, in convolution swift. The feather'd eddy floats : rejoicing once, Ere to their wintry slumbers they retire ; In clusters clung, beneath the mouldering bank, 840 And where, unpicrccd by frost, the cavern sweats. Or rather into warmer climes convey'd, With other kindred birds of season, there I'hey twitter cheerful, till the vernal months Invite them welcome back : for, thronging, now 816 Innunierous wings are in commotion all. Where the Rhine loses his majestic force In Belgian plains, won from the raging deep. By diligence amazing and the strong Unconquerable hand of Liberty ; 85C The stork-assembly meets ; for many a day, Consulting deep, and various, ere they take AUTUMN. 107 Their arduous voyage tlirough the liquid sky. Aind now their route design'd, their leaders chose, Their tribes adjusted, clean'd their vigorous wings •, And many a circle, many a short essay, 856 Wheeld round and round, in congregation full The figured flight ascends ; and, riding high The' aerial billows, mi.'^es with the clouds. Or where the Northern ocean, in vast whirls, 660 Boils round the naked melancholy isles Of furthest Thule, and the' Atlantic surge Pours in among the stormy Hebrides ; Who can recount what transmigrations there Are annual made ' what nations come and go ? 865 And how the living clouds on clouds arise .'' Infinite wings ! till all the plume-dark air. And rude resounding shore are one wild cry. Here the plain harmless native his small flock, And herd diminutive of many hues, S7f* Tends on the little island's verdant swell. The shepherd's seagirt reign ; or, to the rocks Dire-clinging, gathers his ovarious food ; Or sweeps the fishy shore ! or treasures up The plumage, rising full, to form the bed 875 Of luxury. And here awhile the muse, High hovering o'er the broad cerulean scene, Sees Caledonia, in romantic view : Her airy mountains, from the waving main, Invested with a keen diffusive sky, 88C Breathing the soul acute ; her forests huge, Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand rianted of old ; her azure lakes between, Pour'd out extensive, and of watery wealth Full ; winding deep, and green, her fertile vales ; 88? With many a cool translucent brimming flood Wash'd lovely, from the Tweed (pure parent stream IVhose pastoral banks first heard my Doric reed, Wiih, silvan Jed, thy tributary brook) To where the north-inflated tempest foams 89 108 AUTUMN. O'er Orca's or Betubium's highest peak: Nurse of a people, in Mitforlune's school Train 'd up to hardy deeds ; soon visited By Learning, when before the gothic rage She took her western flight. A manly race ^^ Of unsiibmitting spirit, wise, and brave ; Who still through bleeding agRS struggled hard, (As well unhappy Wallace can attest, Great patriot hero! ill requited chief.) To hold a generous undiniinish'd state ; 900 Too much in vain ' Hence of imequal bounfar 'mpatient, and by tempting glory borne O'er every land, for every land their life Has flow'd profuse, their piercing genius plann'd, 4nd swell'd the pomp of peace their faithful toil, 905 As from their own clear north, in radiant streams, Bright over Europe bursts the boreal morn. Oh ! is there not sonie patriot, in whose power That best, that godlike luxury is placed. Of blessing thousands, thousands yet unborn, 910 Through late posterity ? some, large of soul, To cheer dejected industry.'' to give A double harvest to the pining swain ? And teach the labouring hand the sweets of toil ? How. by the finest art, the native robe 915 To weave ; how, white as hyperborean snow. To form the lucid lawn ; with venturous oar How to dash wide the billow ; nor look on, Shamefully passive, while Batavian fleets Defraud us of the glittering finny swarms, 939 That heave our friths and crowd upon our shores ; How all -enlivening trade to rouse, and wing The prosperous sail, from every growing port, Unir.jured, round the sea-encircled globe ; And thus, in soul united as in name, 925 Bid Britain reign the mistress of the deep.? Yea, there are such. And full on thee, Argyle Her hope, her slay her darling, and her boast. AUTUMN. 109 From her first patriots and her lieroes sprung, Thy fond imploring country turns her eye ; 9311 In thee, with all a mother's triumph, sees Her every virtue, every grace combined. Her genius, wisdom, her engaging turn, Her pride of honour, and her courage tried, Cahii, and intrepid, in the very throat iKifl Of sulphurous war, on Tenier's dreadful field. Nor less the palm of peace inwreathes thy brow . For, powerful as thy sv/ord, from thy rich tongue Persuasion flows, and wins the high debate ; Whilrt TTiix'd in thee combine the charm of youth, 940 The force of manhood, and the depth of age. Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends, As truth sincere, as weeping friendship kind. Thee, truly generous, and in silence great. Thy country feels through her revivmg arts, 94h Plann'd by thy wisdom, by thy soul inform'd ; And seldom has she known a friend like thee. But see the fading many colour'd woods, Shade deepening over shade, the country round Imbrown ; a crowded umbrage, dusk, and dun, 05*) Of every hue, from wan declining green To sooty dark. These now the lonesome Muse, Low whispering, lead into their leaf-strown walks, Ard give the Season in its latest view. Meantime, light-shadowing all, a sober calm 95ft Fleeces unbounded ether : whose least wave Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn The gentle current : while illumined wide^, The dewy-skirted clouds imbibe the sun, And through their lucid veil his soften'd force OfiO Shed o'er the peaceful world. Then is the time. For those whom Wisdom and whom Nature charm, To steal themselves from the degenerate crowd, And soar above this little scene of things : To tread low-thoughted Vice beneath their feet : 965 10 no AUTUMN. To sooth the throbhing passions mto peact; ; And woo lone Quiet in her silent vvnlhs. Thus solitary, and in pensive guise, Ofl let nie wander o'er the russet rnead, And through the sadden'd grove, where scarce ia heorl One dying strain, to cheer the woodman's toil. y?l Haply some widow'd songster pours his plaint. Far, in laint warblings, through t))c tawny copse • While congregated thrushes, linnets, larks, And each wild throat, whose artless strains ?•> rAte Swell'd all the music of the swarming shacu . . !)76 Robb'd of their tuneful souls, now shivering s!' On the dead tree, a dull despondent fioCK ; With not a brightness waving o'er their plumes, 4nd nought save chattering discord in their note. 980 O, let not, aim'd from some inhuman eye, The gun the music of the coming year Destroy ; and harmless, unsuspectiua: harm, Lay the weak tribes a miperable prey, In mingled murder, fluttermg on the ground ! 9^ The pale-descending year, yet pleasing still, A gentler mood inspires ; for now the leaf Incessant rustles from the mournful grove ; Oft startling such as, studious, walk below, And slowly circles through the waving air. 9D0 But should a quicker breeze amid the boughs Sob, o'er the sky the leafy deluge streams ; Till, choked and matted with the dreary shower, The f«)rest-walks, at everv rising gale, Roll wide the wither'd waste, and whisllo bleak. OOf! Fled is the blasted verdure of the fields ; And, shrunk into their beds, the flowery race Their «unny robes resign. E'en wha.t remam'd Of stronger fruits falls from the naked tree ; And woods, fields, gardens, orchards, all around 1001 The desolated prospect thrills the soul. He comes ! he comes ! in every breeze the PowM AUTUMN. Hi Of pliilosophic Melarchol}' coine;; His near approach tlie sudden-start iiig tear, Tlic glowing cheek, the inild dejected air, 1005 I'he soflen'd feature, and the beating heart, Pierced deep witli many a virtuous pai\g, declare. O'er all the soul his sacred intluence broalh.;s . Inflames imagination ; through the breast Infuses every teruicrrr;;ss ; and far tOJO Beyond dim earth exalts the swelling thought Ten thousTiid thousand fleet ideas, such As nevt»r mingled with the vulgar dream, Crowd last into' the mind's creative eye. As fast the correspondent passions rise, 1015 As varied, and as high : Devotion raised To rapture and divine astonishment ; The love of Nature, unconfmcd, and, chief, Of human race ; the large ambitious wish, To make them bless'd ; the sigh for sutTering wortn Lost in obscurity ; the noble scorn 1021 Of tyrant pride ; the feailess great resolve ; The wonder which the dying patriot draws, Inspiring glory through remotest time ; The' awaken "d throb for virtue and for fame ; 1()25 The sympathies of love and friendship dear • With all the social offspring of the heart. Oh ! bear me then to vast embowering shades, To twilight groves, and visionary vales ; To weeping grottoes, and prophetic glooms ; 1030 Where angel forms athwart the solemn dusk Tremendous sweep, or seem to sweep along ; And voices more than human, through the void Deep sounding, seize the' enthusiastic ear ! Or is this gloom too much ' Then lead, ye powers That o'er the garden and the rural seat WM Preside, which shining through the cheerful land In countless numbers blessd Britannia sees; O, ead oie to Uie wide extended walks, 112 AUTUMN. The fair majcttic paradise of Stowe !* 134% Not Persian Cyrus on Ionia's siiore E'er saw such silvan scenes ; such various art By genius fired, such ardent genius tainet' By cool judicious art ; that, in the strife All-beauteous Nature fears to be undone 1045 And there, O Pitt, thy country's ea.r\y boast, There let ii:e sit beneath the shelter'd slopes, Or in that Templet where, Ln future tunes, Thou wellehalt merit a distinguished name ; And, with thy converse bless'd, catcli tlie last smileB Of Autumn beaming o'er the yellow woods. 105? While there with thee the' enchanted round I walk. The regulated wild, gay Fancy then Will tread in thought the groves of attic land ; Will from thy standard taste refine her own, 1055 Correct her pencil to the purest truth Of Nature, or, the unimpassiond shades , Forsaking, raise it to the human mind. Or if hereafter she, with justcr hand, Shall draw the tragic scene, instruct her, thou, 1060 To mark the varied movements of ilie heart. What every decent character retjuires. And every passion speaks : O, through her strain Breathe thy pathetic eloquence ' that moulds The' attentive senate, charms, persuades, exalts, 1005 Of honest Zeal the' indignant lightning throws, And shakes Corruption on her venal throne. While thus we talk, and through Elysian vales Delighted rove, perhaps a sigh escapes What pity, Cobham, thou thy verdant files i07V Of order'd trees shouldst here inglorious range. Instead of squadrons flaming o'er the fiel«l, And long embattled hosts ! when the proud foo, The faithless vain disturber of mankind, * The seal of Lord CoDliain. T The Temple of Virtue in Stowe iiardena AUTUMN. m Insulting Gaul, has roused the world to war ; 1075 When keen, unee more, within their bounds to pres* Those [nilishd rfihhers, tliose ambitious slaves, The British youth would liail thy wise command. Thy ten)[)er'd ardour, and thy veteran skill. The western sun withdraws the shortcnd day ; And hujnid Evening, gliding o'er the sky, 108) Id her chill progress, to the ground condensed 'j'he vapours throws. Where creeping waters ooze, Where marsl\es stagnate, and where rivers wind. Cluster the rolling fogs, and swim along lOST The dusky mantiod lawn. Meanwhile the Moon Full-orb'd, and breaking through the scatter'd clouds, Shows her broad visage in the crimson east. Turn'd to the sun direct, her spotted disk. Where inountains rise, umbrageous dales descend. And caverns deep, as optic tube descries, lOPl A smaller earth, gives us his blaze again, Void ol' its riame, and sheds a softer day. Now through the passmg cloud slie seems to stoop, Now up the pure cerulean rides sublime. 109ii Wide the pale deluge floats, and streaming mild U er the skied mountain to the shadowy vale, While rocks and floods reflect the quivering gleam. The whole air whitens with a boundless tide Of silver radiance, trembling round the world. 1100 But when, half blotted from the sky, Iier light, Fainting, permits the starry fires to burn With keener lustre through the depth of heaven ; Or near extinct her deaden'd orb appears, And scarce appears, of sickly beamless white; 1105 Oft. in this ses ion, silent from the north A blaze of meteors shoots ; ensweeping first The lower skies, they all at once converge High to the crown of heaven, and all at once Relapsing quick, as quickly reascend, 1118 \nd mix and thwart, extinguish and renew, Vil ether coursing in a maze of light 114. AUTUMN. From look to look, contagious through the crowd. The panic runs, and into wondrous shapes The' appearance throws : armies in meet array, 1115 Throng d with aerial spears and steeds of fire, Till the long lines of full extended war Ir. bleeding fight commix'd, the sanguine flood Rolls a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heaven. As thus they scan the visionary scene, 1120 On all sides swells the superstitious din, Incontinent ; and busy frenzy talks Of blood and battle ; citiesoverturn'd, And late at night in swallowing earthquake sunk, Or hideous wrapp'd in fierce ascending flame j 1125 Of sallow famine, inundation, storm : Of pestilence, and every great distress ; Rmpires subversed, when ruling fate has strucli The' unalterable hour : e'en Nature's self Is deem'd to totter on the brink of time. 1130 Not so the man of philosophic eye. And inspect sage ; the waving brightness he Curious surveys, inqviisitive to know The causes and materials, yet unfix'd. Of this appearance beautiful and new. 1135 Now black and deep the night begins to fall, A shade immense. Sunk in the quenching gloeiii. Magnificent and vast, are heaven and earth. Order confounded lies ; all beauty void ; Distinction lost ; and gay variety 1140 One universal blot : such the fair power Of light, to kindle and create the whole. Drear is the state of the benighted wretch. Who then, bewilder'd, wanders through the dark, Full of pale fancies and chimeras huge ; 1145 Nor visited by one directive ray. From cottage streaming or from airy hall. Ferhaps impatient as he stum.bles on, Struck from the root of slimy rushes, blue, The wildiiro scatters round, or gather'd trails 115fl AUTUMN. lj|/ /I length of flame deceitful o'er the moss : Whither df>coy'd by the fantastic blaze, Now lost and now renew'd, ho sinks absorb'd, Rider and horse, amid the miry gulf: Wnile still, from day to day, his pining wife 1155 And plaintive children his return await, In wild conjecture lost. At other times, Sent by the better genius of the night, Innoxious, gleaming on the horse's mane, The meteor sits ; and shows the narrow path, 1160 That winding leads through pits of death, or else Instructs him liow to take the dangerous ford. 'I'he lengthen'd night elapsed, the Morning shines Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright. Unfolding fair the last autunmaJ day. 11Gb And now the mounting sun dispels the fog ; The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam ; And hung on every spray, on every blade Of grass, the myriad dew-drops twinkle round. 111>S Ah, see where, robb'd and murder'd, in that pit Lies the still heaving hive ! at evening snatch'd, Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night. And fix'd o'er sulphur : while, not dreaming ill, The happy people, in their waxen cells, Sat tending public cares, and planning schemes 1175 Of temperance, for Winter poor ; rejoiced To mark, full flowing round, their copious stores. Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends ; And, used to milder scents, the tender race. By thousands, tumble from their honied domes, 11^ Convolved, and agonizing in the dust. And was it then for this 3'-ou rcam'd the Spring, Intent from flower to flower ? for this you toil'd Ceaseless the burning Summer heats away ? For this in Autumn search'd the blooming waste, Nor lost on3 sunny gleam ? for this sad fate ? 1186 O Man! tyrannic lord ! how long how long Shall prostrate Nature groan beneath your rage, IIG AUTUMN Awaiting; renovation ? when obliged, Must yovj destroy ? of their ambrosial food J19tJ Can you not borrow ; and, in just return Afford tluMii slielier from the wintry winds ; Or, as the sharp year pinches, with their own A^ain regale tliem on some smiling day ? See where the stony bottom of their town ]19!> Looks desolate and wild ; with here and there A helpless number, who the ruin'd state Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death. Thus a proud city, populous and rich, Full of the works of peace, and high in joy, 1200 At theatre or feast, or sunk in sleep, (As late, Palermo, was thy fate) is seized By some dread earthquake, and convulsive hurl'd Sheer fron» the black foundation, stench-involved, Into a gulf of blue sulphureous flame, 1205 Hence every harsher sight ! for now the day. O'er heaven and earth diifuscd, grows warm and high. Infinite splendour ! wide investing all. How still the breeze ! save what the filmy threads Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain. 1210 How clear ihe cloudless sky ! how deeply tinged With a peculiar blue ! the' etherial arch How swelld immense! amid wliose azure throned The radiant sun how gay ! how calm below The gihled earth! the harvest treasures all 1215 Now gather'd in, beyond the rage of storms. Sure to the swain ; the circling fence shut up ; And instant Winter's utmost rage defied. 'iVhile, loose to festive joy, the country round Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth. 1220 Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-strung youth, By the quick sense of music taught alone, Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance. H"r every charm abroad, the village-toast, fouiiff, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich, 1225 wiirU not unmeaning looks ; and where her eye 1 AUTUMN. in rointa an approving smile, with double force, The cudgel rattles, and the wrestler twines. Age too shines out ; and, garrulous, recounts The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice ; nor think That, with to-morrow's sun, their annual toil 1231 Begins again the never ceasing round. Oh, knew he but his Irippiness, of men The happiest he ! ivlio fpr from public rage, Deep in the vale, with a choice few retired, 1235 Drinks the pure pleasures of the Rural Life. What though the dome be wanting, whose proud gate* Each morning, vomits out the sneaking crowd Of flatterers false, and in their turn abused ? Vile intercourse ! what though the glittering robe Of every hue reflected light can give, 1241 Or floating loose, or stifl'with mazy gold. The pride and gaze of fools ! oppress him not ? What Lhough, from utmost land and sea purvey'd, For him each rarer tributary life 1145 Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps With luxury, and death ? What though his bowl Flames not with costly juice ; nor sunk in beds, Oflt of gay care, he tosses out the night. Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle state -* 1250 What though he knows not those fantastic joys That still amuse the wanton, still deceive ; A face of pleasure, but a heart of pain ; Their hollow moments undelighted all ? Sure peace is his ; a solid life, estranged 1255 To disappointment, and fallacious hope : Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich, In herbs and fruits ; whatever greens the Sprmg, When heaven descends in showers; or bends the bough When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams ; Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies 126 Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap : These are not wanting ; nor the milky drove, L^ixuriant, spread o'er all the lowing valo ; 118 AUTUMN. Nor bleatiiig mountains ; nor the chide of sireamn, And hi!in of bees, inviting sleep sincere 1*,JG6 Into tlie guiltless breast, beneath tiie shade, Or thrown at lartre amid the fragrant hay ; Nor aught besides of prospect, grove, or song, Dim grottoes, gleaming lakes, and fountam clear. f lore too dwells simple Truth ; plain Innocence j 1271 Unsullied Beauty ; sound unbroken Youth, Patient of labour, with a little pleased ; [ieallh ever blooming ; unambitious Toil , Calm Contemplation, and poetic Ease. 1275 Let others brave the flood in quest of gain, And beat, for joyless months, the gloomy wavu Let such as deem it glory to destroy, Rush into blood, the sack of cities seek ; ^ Unpierced, exulting in the widow's wail, 1260 The virgin's shriek, and infant's trembling cry. Let some, far distant from their native soil, Urged or by want or harden'd avarice, Find other lands beneath another sun. Let this through cities work liis eager way, 1285 By legal outrage and establish'd guile. The social sense extinct ; and that ferment Mad into tumult the seditious herd, Or melt them down to slavery. Let these Insnare the wretched in the toils of law, l2CHt Fomenting discord, and perplexing right, An iron race ! and those of fairer front, But equal inhumanity, in courts. Delusive pomp and dark cabals, delight ; Wreathe the deep bow, diffuse the lying smile, 129«i And tread the weary labyrinth of state. While he, from all the stormy passions free •f hat restless men involve, liears, and but hears, At distance safe, the human tempest roar, Wrapp'd close In conscious peace. The fall of kingSj The rage of nations, and the crush of states 1301 i/!ove not the man who, from the woild escaped, AUTUMN. ll» In St ill retr(!ats, and flowery solitudes, To INaliire's voire attends, from aioiilh to month And day to day, through the revolving year : 130t Admirmg, sees her in her every shape ; Feels al! iier sweet emotions at his lieart ; Tak'.'s what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more. He, wlien young Spring protrudes the buroting gems, Marks the first bud. and sucks the healthful gale 1310 Into his freshen'd soul ; her genial hours lie full enjoys ; and not a beauty blows, And not an opening blossom breathes in vam, In Summer he, beneath the living shade, Such as o'er frigid Tempo wont to wave, 1315 Or Hemuscool, reads what the Muse, of these, Perhaps, is in immortal numbers sung ; Or what sue dictates writes : and, oR an eye Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year. When Autumn's yellow lusrre gilds tiie world, 1320 And tempts the sickled swain into the field, Seized by the general joy, his heart distends With gentle throt'^s ; and. through the tepid gleams Deep musing, then he best exerts his song. E'en Winter wild to him is full of bliss. 1325 The mighty tempest, and the hoary waste, Abru])t, and deep, stretch'd o'er the buried earth. Awake to solenm th(,ught. At night the skies, Disc-osed, and kindled, by refining frost, Pour every lustre on tne' exalted eye. r33fl A friend, a book, the stealing hours secure. And mark them dov/n for wisdom. With swift wing O'er land and sea imagination roams ; Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind, Elates his being, and unfolds his powers ; 1335 Or in his brenst heroic virtue burns. The tojch of kindred too and love he feels*, The modest eye, whose beams on his alone Ecslatic shine ; the little strong embrace Of prattling children, twined around his neck, 1340 120 AUTUMN. And emulojs to please him, calling forth The fond parental soul. Nor purpose gay, Annisement, dance, or song, he sternly scornH ; For happiness and true philosophy Are of the social, still, and smiling kind. I34fc This IS the life which these who fret in guilt, And guilty cities, never knew ; the life, Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt. When Angels dwelt, and God liiniself v^it'i Man : Oh Nature i all sufficient ! over all ! 1350 Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works ! Snatch me to heaven ; thy rolling wonders there World beyond world, in infinite extent, Profusely scatter'd o'er the blue immense, Show me ; their motions, periods, and their laws, Give me to scan ; through the disclosing deep 135(5 Light my blind way ; the mineral strata there ; Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world ; O'er that the rising system, more complex, Of animals ; and higher still, the mind, 1360 The varied scene of quick-compounded thought, And where the mixing passions endless shift ; These ever open to my ravish 'd eye ; A scearch, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust ! But if to that unequal ; if the blood, 1366 In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid That be it ambition ; under closing shades, Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook. And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin. Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my song , And lot me never, never stray from The-.- .' 137] WINTER. Tlie 8iif)|ocl proposwi. Address to the Earl of Wilmington. First approach of Winter Acoording to the natural course of th« season, various storms described. Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the snows ; a man perishin" among them ; wnence re- flections on the .vants and miseries of human life. Tlie wolvos descending fri.m the Alps and A|>ennine3. A winter-evening de9cril)€d ; as spent by philosophers ; by the country people , in thecitv. Frost. A view of Winter within th»i polar circle. A thaw. " Fhe whole concluding with moral reflections on a future •tato. See, WrNTER comes, to rule the varied year, Sullen and sad, with all his rising train ; Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these my them© These ! that exalt the soul to solemn thought, And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms, 5 Congenial horrors, hail ! with frequent foot, Pleased have I, in my cheerf il morn of life, When nursed by careless Solitude I lived, And sung of Nature with unceasing joy, Pleased have I wander'd through your rough domain ; Trod the pure virgin-snows, myself as pure ; 11 Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burst ; Or seen the deep-fermenting tempest brew'd, In the grim evening sky. Thus pass'd the time, Till through the lucid chambers of the south 15 Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smiled. To thee, the patron of her first essay, The Muse. O Wilmington ! renews her song. Since nas she rounded the revolving year : Skimm'd the ^ay Spring ; on eagle pinions borne. St Attempted through the summer blaze to rise ; Tiien swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale • And now among the wintry clouds again. 11 122 WINTER. Roll'd in the diiihling storm, she tries to soat , To swell her note A'ith all the rushing winds, 2h To suit her soundmg cadence to the floods , As is her theme, her numbers wildly great : Thrice liappy coul»i she fill thy judging ear With bold descriptun and with manly tliought Nor art thou skill'd in awful schenies aloue, 3<* And how to make a mighty people thrive : Hut equal goodness, sound inteorl. , A firm iinshaken uncorrupted soul Amid a sliding age, and burning strong, Not vainly blazing, for thy country's weal, 35 A steady s[>;rit regularly free ; These, each exalting each, the statesman light Into the patriot ; these, the public hope And eye to thee converting, bid the Muse Record what envy dares not flattery call. 40 Now when the cheerless empire of the sky To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields, And fierce Aquarius stains the' inverted year , Hung o'er the furthest verge of heaven, the tun Scarce spreads through ether the dejected day. 45 Faint are his gleams, and inefl'cctual shoot His strugrrlirig rays, in horizontal lines, Through the thick air ; as ch^thed in cloudy storm, Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky ; And, soon descending, to the long dark night, 50 Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns. Nor is the night unwish'd ; while vital heat. Light, life, and joy the dubious day forsake. Meantime, »n sable cincture, shadows vast, Deep-tinged and damp, and congregated clouds, 56 And all the vapoury turbulence of I'eaven. [nvolve the face of things. Thus Winter falb, A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world, 7'hroiigh Nature shedding influence malign, And reuses up the seeds of dark disease. 06 The soul of man dies in him, loathing lifo, WINTER. ^2^ /nd black wim more than melancholy views. The cattle droop ; and o'er the furrow'd laud, Fresh from the {dough, the dun discolour'd flocks, Untended spreadinjr, crop the wholesome root. 65 Alon;^ the woods, along the moorish fens, Siirhs the sad Genius of the coming storm : And up among the loose disjointed cliffs, And fractured !A:^i:ntains wild, the brawling brocK And cave, pre-sageful, send a hollow moan, 70 Resoundmg V\ig in listening Fancy's ear. Tlien comes the father of the tempest forth, Wrapp" i in black glooms. First joyless rains obscure Drive liirough the mingling skies with vapour foul ; Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the woods, 75 That grumL.ing wave below. The' unsightly plain Lies a brown deluge ; as the low-bent clouds Pour i\oo(i on llood, yet unexhausted still Combine, and deepening into niglit shut up The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven, 80 Each to liis home, retire ; save those that love To take their pastime in the troubled air. Or skimming tlutter round the dimply pool. The cattle trom the' untasted fields retirn, 'And ask, with meaning lowe, their wanted stalls, 8?t Or rumii.ate in the contiguous shade. Thither the household feathery people crowd, The crested cock, with all his female train, Pensive, and dripping ; while the cottage-hind Hangs o'er the' enlivening blaze, and talei'ul there 90 Recounts his simple frolic: much he talks, And mucli he laughs, nor recks the storm that bluWi Without, and rattles on his humble roof Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent swell d, And the mixd ruin of its banks o'ersj)read, 95 At last the roused-up river pours along : Resistless, roaring, dreadful, down it comes, From the rude mountain, and the mossy wil^, Tumbling through rock^ abrupt, and sounding far /24 WINTER. Then o'er the sanded valley floating spreads, IM Calm, sluggish, silent ; till again, constrain'd Between two meeting hills, it bursts away, Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid stre Their gathering triple force, rapid, and deep, It boils and wheels and foams and thunders thro Nature ! great parent ! whose unceasing hand Rolls round the Seasons of the changoful year, How mighty, how majestic are thy works ! With what a pleasing dread they swell the soul \ That sees astonish'd ! and astonish'd sings ' Ye too, ye winds ! that now begin to blow With boisterous sweep, I raise my voice to you. Where are your stores, ye powerful beings ! say, Where your aerial magazines reserved. To swell the brooding terrors of the storm ? 113 In what far distant region of the sky, Hush'd in deep silence, sleep ye when 'tis calm ? W^hen from the pallid sky the sun descends, With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb Uncertain wanders, stain'd ; rod fiery streaks 12Q Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet Which master to obey : while rising slow, Blank, in the leaden-colour'd east, the moon Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. 125 Seen through the turbid fluctuating air. The stars obtuse emit a shiver'd ray ; Or frequent seem to shoot athwart the gloom, And long behind them trail the whitening blaze. Snatch'd in short eddies, plays the wither'd leaf; IM And on the flood the dancing feather floats. With broaden'd nostrils to the sky upturnd, The conscious heifer snufls the stormy gale. E'en as the matron, at her nightly task. With pensive labour draws the flaxen thread, 13S The wasted taper and the crackling flame Foretel the blast. But chief the plumy race. WINTER. 125 Tm? ten? its ol'the sky, its changes speak. Retiring I'roni the downs, wliere all day long They pickd their scanty fare, a blackening train 140 Of clamorous rooks thick urge their weary llighl . And seek tJie closing shelter of the grove ; Assiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl Plies his sad song. The cormorant on high Wheels from the deep, and screams along tiie land. 115 l/oud shrioks the soaring hern ; and with wild wing The circling seafowl cleave the flaky cloud.s. Ocean, unequal press'd, with broken tide And blinl f-.oinmotion heaves; while from the sliore, Eat into caverns by the restless wave, 150 And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice, That sol'^mn sounding bids the world prepare. Then issues forth the storm with sudden burst, And hurls the whole precipitated air Down, in a torrent. On the passive main 156 Descends the' etherial force, and with strong gust Turns from its bottom the discolour'd deep. Through the black night that sits immense around, Lash'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brine Seems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn : 16C Meantime the mountain billows, to the clouds In drondful tumult swefl'd, surge above surge, Burst into chaos with tremendous roar. And anchor'd navies from their stations drive, Wild as the winds across the howling waste 165 Ot mighty waters : now the' inflated wave Straining they scale, and now impetuous shoot Into the secret chambers of the deep, The wintry Baltic thundering o'er their head. Emerging thence again, before the breath ITt} Of full-ex-^rted heaven they wing their course. And dart on distant coasts ; if some sharp rock Or shoal insidious break not their career, And in loose fragments fling them floating round. Nor ess at hand the loosen'd tempest reij^ns. 175 IJ * 126 WINTER. The mountain thunders ; and its sturdy sons Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they shade. Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast, The dark wayfaring stranger breathless toils, And, often falling, climbs against the blast, 180 Low waves the rooted forest, vex'd, and shnJs What of its tarnish'd honours yet remain j Dash'd down, and scatter'd, by the tearing -wind's Assiduous fury, its gigantic limbs. Thus struggling through the dissipated grove, 185 The whirling tempest raves along the plain ; And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof^ Keen-fastening, shakes them to the solid basc^^ Bleep frighted flies ; and round the rocking dome, For entrance eager, howls the savage blast. 100 Then too, they say, through all the burden'd air, Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sighs, That, utter'd by the Demon of the night. Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death. Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commix'd With stars swift gliding sweep along the sky. 196 All Nature reels. Till Nature's King, who oft Amid tempestuous darkness dwells alone, And on the wings of the careering wind Walks dreadfully serene, commands a calm ; 200 Th^n, straight, air, sea, and earth are hush'd at once. As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds, Slow-meeting, mingle into solid gloora. Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleep, Let me associate with the serious Night, 205 And Contemplation, her sedate compeer ; Let me shake off the' intrusive cares of day, And lay the meddling senses all aside. Where now, ye lying vanities of life ! Ye ever tempting ever cheating train ! 210 Wliere are you now ? and what is your amounl. ? Vexa»:ion, disapi)ointmcnt, and remorse : Bad, sickening thought I and yet, deludb:^ man, WINTER. 12> A. scene of crude disjointed visions past, And broken slumbers, rises still resolved, 215 With new-riush'd hopes, to run the giddy round. Father of light and life ! thou Good Supreniu ! O, teach me what is good ! teach me Thyself! Save me from folly, vanity, and vice. From every low pursuit ! and feed my soul 220 With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure ; Sacred, substantia), never fading bliss ! The keener tempests rise : and fuming dun From all the livid east, or piercing north, Thick clouds ascend ; in whose capacious womb 225 A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congeal'd. Heavy they roll their fleecy world along ; And the sky saddens with the gather'd storm. Through the hush'd air the whitening shower descends, At first thin wavering ; till at last the flakes 230 Fall broad an/i wide and fast, dimming the day With a continual flow. The cherish'd fields Put on their winter robe of purest white. 'Tis brightness all ; save where the new snow melts Along the mazy current. Low the woods 2^5 Bow their hoar head ; and ere the languid sun Faint from the west emits his evening ray, Earth's universal face, deep hid, and chill, Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide The works of man. Drooping, the labourer-ox 240 Stands cover'd o'er with snow, and then demands The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven, Tamed by the cruel season, crowd around The winnowing store, and claim the little bncvi Which Providence assigns them. One alone, 246 The red-br(!a8t, sacred to the household gods, Wisely regardful of the' embroiling t.ky, In joyless fields and thorny thickets, leaves His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man His annual visit. Half afraid, he first 250 ^gainsi the window beats ; then, brisk, alights 128 WINTER. Oa the warm hearth ; then, hopping o'er the l3oor, Eyes all t'le smiling family askance, And pecks, and starts., and wonders where he U ; Till, more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 255 Attract iiis slender feet. The foodlebs wilds Pour forth their brown inliabitants. The hare, Though timorous of heart, and hard beset By death in various forms, dark snares, and dogs, And more unpitying men, the garden seeks, Wb Urged on by fearless want. The bleating kind Eye the bieak heaven, and next the glistening earth. "With looks of dumb despair ; then, sad-dis|)ersed, Dig for the wither'd herb through heaps of snow. Now, sJiepherds, to your helpless charge he kind, BaHle the raging year, and fill their pens 266 W»th food at will ; lodge them below the storm. And watch them strict : for from the bellowing east. In this dire season, oft the whirlM'ind's wing Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains 270 At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks, Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills. The billowy tempest whelms ; till, upward urged, The valley to a shining mountain swells, Tipp d with a wreath high-curling in the sky. 275 As thus the snows arise ; and foul, and fierce, All Winter drives along the darken'd air ; In his own l(»ose revolving fields, the swain Disaster'd stands; sees other hills ascend, Of unknown Joyless brow ; and other scenes, 280 Of horrid prusjiect, shag the trackless pkiin : Nor finds the river, nor the forest, hid Beneath the formless wild ; but wanders on From hill to dale, still more and more astray ; impatient flouncing through the drifted heap3, 283 Stung with the (.noughts of home; the thoughts ol'homa Rush on his nerves, and call their vigour forih In many a vain attempt. How sink^J his soui ' What black despair, what hoiror fills his hean >. I WINTER. 125 When for the dusky spot, which fancy feign'd 890 His tufted cottajje rising through the snow, He meets the roughness of the middle waste, Far from the track and bless'd abode of man ! While round him night resistless closes fast, And every tempest, howling o'er his head, 205 Renders the savage wilderness more wild. Then throng the bus^ 'i :pes into his mind Of cover 'd pits, unf^tlornably deep, A dire descent ! beyond the power of frost ! Of faithless bogs ; of precipices huge, 300 Smooth 'd up with snow ; and, what is land, unknown, What water, of the still unfrozen spring. In the loose marsh or solidary lake, Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils. These check his fearful steps ; and down he sinks Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift. 306 Thinking o'er all the bitterness of death, Mix'd with the tender anguish Nature shoots Through the wrung bosom of the dying man, H's wife, his children, and his friends unseen. 310 In vain for him the' officious wife prepares The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm ; In vain his little children, peeping out Into the mingling storm, demand their sire, With tears of artless innocence. Alas! 315 Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold, Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every nerve The deadly Winter seizes ; shuts up sense ; And, o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold. Lays him along the snows, a stiffen'd corse, 320 Stretch'd out, and bleaching in the northern blast Ah ! little think the gay licentious proud, Whom ;>leasiiro, power, and affluence surround ; They T-^ho their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth. And waniv,n, otlcn cruel, riot waste ; 325 \h ! littit. ihiiila they, wn:le ihey dance along, Uov/ mury Ibil;, t*.> vfc.j- mv neut death, 130 WINTER. And all the sad variety of pain. How many sink in the devouring Bond, Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 330 By snamefiil variance betwixt man and man. How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms Shut from the common air, and common use Of their own limbs. How many drink the cup Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 335 Of misery. Sore pierced by winlry v "'uds, How many shrink into the sordid bu: Of cheerless poverty. How many shake With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse ; 340 Whence tumbled headlong from the height of liic, They furnish matter for the tragic Muse. E'en in the vale, where Wisdom loves to dwell. With friendship, peace, and contemplation join'd, How many, rack'd with honest passions, droop 315 In deep retired distress How many stand Around the death-bed of their dearest friends, Aiid point the parting anguish. Thought f)nd Man Of these, and all the thousand nameless ills, That one incessant struggle render life, 350 One scene of toil, of suffering, and of fate, Vice in his high career would stand appall'd, And heedless rambling Impulse learn to think; The conscious heart of Charity would warm, And her wide wish Benevolence dilate ; I^'ht The social tear would rise, the social sigh ; And into clp;ar perfection, gradual bliss, Refining still, the social passions work. And here can 1 forget the generous band,* Who, touchd with human woe, rcdressive search'd Into the horrors of the gloomy jail ? 361 Unpit-ied, and unheard, where misery moans ; Where sickness pines ; where thirst and hunger bum, PiUil poor misfortune feels the lash of vice. * 'i'he .'uil Committee, in the veai 1729- WINTER. 13» While in the land of Liberty, the lann 365 Whose every street and public meeting glow With npfui fri.'edom, little tyrants raged ; S)iato,h'd the lean morsel from the starving mouth : Tore from cold wintry limbs the tattcr'd weed ; E'en robb'd them of the last of comfirts, sleep ; 370 The freeborn Briton to the dungeon chain'd, Or, as the lust of cruelty prevail'd, At pleasure mark'd liini with inglorious stri])es-, And crushd out lives, by secret barbarous ways. That f(jr their country would have toild or bled. 375 O great design ! if executed well, With pat'ifMit care, and wisdom-temper'd zeal. Ye sons of Mercy ! yet resume the search ; Drag n^rth the regal monsters into light, Wrench frcnn their hands Oppression's iron rod, IJbO And bid the cruel frcl the pains they give. Much still untouch'd remains; in this rank age. Much is tiie patriot's weeding hand refpiired. The toils of law (what dark insidious men Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 3fe6 And lengthen sim|)le justice into trade,) How glorious were the day ! that saw these broke And every man within the reach of right. By wintry famine roused, from all the tract Of horri^ mountains which the shining Alps, ^M And vvavj ^pennine, and I'yrenees, fBranch out ,'upendous into distant lands, Cruel as deaf!), and hungry as the grave ! Burning for bloot, ' bonv and gaunt and grim I Assembling wolves in raging tioops descend ; 3DtJ And, pouring e'er the country, bear along Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy snow. All is their pri/.o. They fasten on the steed, Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart Nor can the bull his awful front defend, 4(Hf Or sb.ake the murdering savages away. Rapacious, at the mother s throat tlie}' fly. 132 WINTER. And tt!ar the screaming infant from her breast The godlike face of man avails him nought. E'en beauty, force divine 1 at whose bright glance 401 The generous lion stands in softenM gaze, Here bleeds, a hapless undistinguish'd prey. But if, apprised of the severe attack, The country be shut up, lured by the scent, On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate ') 410 The disappointed prowlers fall, and uiir The slirouded body from the grave ; o'er which, Mix'd with foul shades and frighted ghosts, they hov/i. Among those hilly regions, where embraced In peaceful vales the happy Grisons dwell ; Oft, rusbing sudden from the loaded cliffs, Mountains of snow their gathering terrors roll, From steep to steep, loud-thundering down they come, A wintry waste in dire commotion all ; And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and swains, 42? And sometimes whole brigades of marching troops Or hamlets sleeping in the dead of niglit. Are deep beneath the smothering ruin whelm'd. Now, all amid the rigours of the year. In the wild depth of Winter, while without 425 The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat, Between the groaning forest and the sliore Beat by the boundless multitude of waves, A rural, shelter'd, solitary scene ; ^ Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join, 430 To cheer the gloom. There studious let me p\t, And hold high converse with the migbty Dbad j Sagos of ancient time, as gods revered. As gods beneficent, who bless'd mankind With arts, with arms, and humanized a world. 430 Roused at the' inspiring thought, I tlirow asidf Tlie longhved volume ; and, deep-musing, hail The sacred shades, that slowly rising pass Before my wondering eyes. First Socrates, Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, 440 WINTER. td3 Agunst the rago of tyrants single stood, Invincible ! calm Reason's holy law, That Voice of God within the' attentive mind, Obeying, fearless, o» in life or death : Great moral teacher ! Wisest of mankind ! 445 Solon the next, who built his commonweal On equity's wide base ; by tender laws A lively people curbing, yet undamp'd Preserving still that quick peculiar fire, Whence in the laurei'd field of finer arts, 4r»0 And of bold freedom, they unequal'd shone, The pride of smiling Greece and humankind. Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the force Of strictest discipline, severely wise. All human passions. Following him, I see, 155 As at Thermopylae he glorious fell, The firm devoted Chief,* who proved by deeds The hardest lesson which the other taught. Then Aristides lifts his honest front ; Spotless of heart, to whom the' unflattering voice 460 Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just ; In pure majestic poverty revered ; Who, e'en his glory to his country's weal Submitting, swell'd a haughty Rival's! fame. Rear'd by his care, of softer ray appears 465 Cimon sweet-soul'd ; whose genius, rising strong, Shook off the load of young debauch ; abroad The scourge of Persian pride, at home the friend Of every worth and every splendid art ; Modest and simple in the pomp of wealth. 470 Then the last worthies of declining Greece, Late call'd to glory, in unequal times. Pensive appear. The fair Corinthian boast, Timoleon, happy temper ! mild and firm, Who wept the brother while the tyrant bled. 4?S ^d, equal to the best, the Theban Pair}: * Leonidas. f Themistocles. I Peiopidas and Epaminoudas. 13 134 WINTER. Whose virtues, in heroic concord join'tr, Their country raised to freedom, empire, fame. He too, vvitli whom Athenian honcmr sunk. And left a mass of sordid ices beh'nd, 4ijt Piioeion the Good ; in puhhc life severe, To virtue still inexorably firm ; But when, beneath his low illustrious roof, Sweet peace and happy wisdrun sinoth d his brow, Njt friendship softer was, nor love more kind. 495 \nd he, the last of old Lycurjrus' sons, ''dhe generous victim to that vain altemp'. To save a rotten state, Agis, who saw E'en Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk. The two Achaian heroes close the train : Aratus, who awhile relumed the soul Of fondly lino-ering liberty in Greece; And he her darling as her latest hope, The gallant Philupoemen ; who to arms Turnd the luxurious pomp he could not cure ; 405 Or toiling in his farm, a simple swain ; Or, bold and skiii\il, thundering in the field Of rougher front, a mighty people come! A race of heioes! in those virtuous times Which knew no stain, save that with partial flame 500 Their dearest country they too fondly loved : Her better Founder first, the light of Rome, Numa, who softcn'd her rap,acmiis sons : Servius the king, who laid the solid base On which o'er earth the vast rcpubli-c spread. 505 Then the great consuls venerable rise. The public Father* who the private quell'd, As on the dread tribunal sternly sad. He, whosn his thankless country could not lose, Camillus, only vengeful to her foes. 510 Fabricius, scoruer of all conquering gold ; And Cincinnatus, awful iVom the plough. Thy willing victim,! Carthaje, bursting loose ♦ Marcus Jujiius Brutu* t Regulm. ^ WliNTER. 135 y\ m all tliat ple-rainir Nature could oppose, FV- m a wiiole city's tears, by rigid faith 515 lm,.crious caJld, and lu)iinur's dire cnjuniand. Bnjpi(», the gentle chief, humanely brave, Who soon llie race of spotless glory ran, And, warm irj youth, to the poetic shade Wilh Friendsliip and Philosophy retired. 520 Tally, whose powerful eloquence awhile Restrained th« raj ': J fi^ie of rushing Rome. UnconqtJer'd C- ^ irtuous in extreme : And, thou, j.^ , py Brutus, kind of heart, Whose uS'e ■' arm, by awful virtue urged, 525 Lifted th^ mn steel against thy friend. Thousands besides the tribute of a verse Demand ; but who can count the stars of heaven . Who sing their influence on this lower world ? Behold, who yonder comes ! in sober state, 530 Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun : 'Tis Phoebus' self, or else the Mantuan Swain ! Great Homer too appears, of daring wing, Parent of song ! and etpial, by his side. The British Muse : joind hand in hand they walk, 535 Darkling, full U|) the middle steep to fame. Nor absent are those shades, whose skilful touch Pathetic drew the' impassion'd heart, and charm'd Transported Athens with the moral scene ; Nor those who, tuneful, waked the' enchanting lyre. First of your kind ! society divine ! 541 Still visit thus my nights, for you reserved, And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like yours Silence, thou lonely power ! the door be thine , See on the liallow'd hour that none intrude, 545 Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes deign To bless my humble roof, with sense refined, Learning digested well, exalted fajth, Unstudied wit, and humour ever gay. Or from the Muses' hill with Pope descend, 55U To raise tiie sacred hour, to bid it smile, 136 WINTER. And with tlie social spirit warm the heart r For though not sweet liis own Homer sings, Yet is his hfe the more endearing^ song. Where art thou, Hammond ? thou, the darling prid* The friend and lover of the tuneful throng ! 5G6 Ah, why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime Of vernal genius, where disclosing fast Each active worth, each manly virtue lay, Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon ? 500 What now avails that noble thirst of fame, Which stung thy fervent breast ? that treasured stor» Of knowledge, early gain'd ? that eager zeal To serve thy country, glowing in the baud Of youthful patriots, who sustain her name; 505 What now, alas ! that life-diifusing charm .Of sprightly wit ? that rapture for the Muse, That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy. Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile ? Ah ! only show'd, to check our fond pursuits, 570 And teach our humble hopes that life is vain ! Thus in some deep retirement would I pass The winter glooms, with friends of pliant soul. Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme ins{)ired : With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame Was call'd, late-rising from the void of nigiit, 576 Or sprung eternal from the' Eternal iMind ; Its life, its laws, its progress, and its end. Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole Would, gradual, open on our opening minds \ 580 And each diffusive harmony unite In full perfection, to the' astonish'd eye. Then v/ould we try to sc.in the mortal world. Which, though to us it seems embroild, moves on In higher order ; fitted and impell'd 5Si By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all In general good. The sage historic Muse Should next conduct us through the deeps of time ■ Sliow us how empire grew, declined, and fell, WINTER. IW) n Bcatter'd states ; what makes the nations smile, 590 Improves their sjil, and gives them double suns ; And why they pine beneath the brightest skies, \n Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd, Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale That portion of divinity, that ray 595 Of purest heaven, which lights the public soul Of patriots and of heroes. But if doom'd, In powerless humble fortune, to repress These ardent risings of the kindling soul •, Then, even superior to ambition, we 600 Would learn the private virtues ; how to glide Through slmdes and plains, along the smoothest stream Of rural life : or, snatch'd away by hope, Th'-ough the dim spaces of futurity. With earnest eye anticipate those rcenes 605 Of hapi)iness and wonder ; where the mind, In endless growth and infinite ascent, Rises from state to state, and world to world. But when with these the serious thought is foil'd, We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 610 Of frolic fancy ; and incessant form Those rapid pictures, that assembled train Of fleet ideas, never join'd before, Wlience lively Wit excites to gay surprise j Or folly-})aintiug Humour, grave himself, 615 Calls Laughter forth, deep shaking every nerve. Meantime the village rouses up the fire ; While well attested, and as well believed, Heard solemn, goes the goblin story round ; Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all. 620 Or, frequent in the sounding hall, they wake The rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round ; The simple joke that takes the shepherd's heart, Easily pleased ; the long loud laugh, sincere ; The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the sidelong maid, 625 On purpose guardless or pretending sleep : The leap, the slap, th-c haul ; and, shook to notes 12" 138 WINTER. Of native music, tlie respondent dance Tbus jocund fleets with them the winter night. The city swarms intense. The public haunt, 630 Full of each theme, and warm with niix'd discourse, Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flow Down the loose stream of false enchanted joy, To swifl destruction. On the rankled soul The gaming fury falls ; and in one guif 63R Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace, Friends, families, and fortune hf .^dlong sink. Up springs the dance along the ligiited dome, Mix'd and evolved a thousand sprightly ways. The glittering court effuses every pomp ; 640 The circle deepens : beam'd from gaudy robcf, Tapers, and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes, A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves : While, a gay insect in his summer shine. The fop, light fluttering, spreads his mealy wings. 645 Dread o'er the scene the ghost of Hamlet stalks ; Othello rages ; poor Monimia mourns ; And Belvidera pours her soul in love. Terror alarms the breast ; the comely tear Steals o'er the cheek : or else the Comic Muse 650 Holds to the world a picture of itself. And raises sly the fair impartial laugh. Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the scenM Of beauteous life ; whate'cr can deck mankind, Or charn'. the heart, in generous Bevil* show'd. 655 O Thoi , whose wisdom, solid yet refined. Whose patriot virtues, and consummate skill To touch the finer springs that move the world, Join'd to whate'er the Graces can bestow, And all Apollo's animating fire, 6fl0 Give thee, with pleasing dignity, to shine At once the guardian, ornament, and joy Of polish'd life ■. permit the rural Muse, * A cliaracter in The Conscious Lovers, written by Sir R. Steele. 4 WINTER. 139 O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her song " Ere to the shades again she humbly flies, G65 ludulire her fond ambition, in thy train (For every Muse has in thy train a place,) To mark thy various full-accomplish'd mind: To mark that spirit which, with British scf»rn, Re_^3Cts the' allurements of corrupted power ; 070 That elegant politeness, which excels, E'en in the judgment of presumptuous France, Tiie boasted manners of her shining court j That wit, the vivid energy of sense. The truth of jNature, which, with Attic point C7o And kind well temper'd satire, smoothly keen, Steals through the soul, and without pain correcta Or rising thence with yet a brighter flame, O, let me hail thee on some glorious day. When to the listenmg senate, ardent, crowd 680 Britannia's sons to hear her pleaded cause Then dress'd by tnee, more amiably fair, ) i Truth the soft robe of mild persuasion wears* Thou to assenting reason givest again Her own enlighten'd thoughts ; call'd from the heart, The' obedient passions on thy voice attend; 686 And e'en reluctant party feels awhile Thy gracious power ; as through the varied maze Of eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now stronor, Profound, and clear, you roll the copious flood. 690 To thy loved haunt return, my happy Muse* For no\v, behold, the joyous w^inter days, Frosty, succeed ; and through the blue serene, For sight too *ine, the' etherial nitre flies ; Killing infectious damps, and the spent air 6)i5 Storing afresh with elemental life. Close crowds the shining atmosphere ; and binds Our strengthen'd bodies in its cold embrace, Constringent ; feeds and animates our blood ; Refines our spirits, through the new-strung nerves 70(1 In swifter sallies darting to the brain ; MO WINTER. Wl'ere sits the soul, intense, collected, cool; Bright as the skies, and as the season keen All iNature feels the renovating force Of Winter, only to the thougiitless eye 7tS [r ruin seen. The frost-concocted glebe Draws in abundant vegetable soul, And gathers vigour for the coining year. A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek Of ruddy fire: and luculent along 710 The purer rivers flow ; their sullen deeps, Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze, And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost. What art thou, frost.'' and whence are thy keen stores Derived, thou secret all-inrading power, 715 Whom e'en the' illusive fluid cannot fly .'' Is not thy potent energy, unseen. Myriads of little salts, or hook'd, or shaped Like double wedges, and diffused immense Through water, earth, and ether ? hence at eve, 720 Steam'd eager from the red horizon round. With the fierce rage of Winter deep snflused, An icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the pool Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career Arrests the bickering stream. The loosen'd ice, 7JJ5 Let down the flood, and half dissolved by day, Rustles no more ; but to the sedgy bank Fast glows, or gathers round the pointed stone, A crystal pavement, by the breath of heaven Cemented firm ; till, seized from shore to shore, 730 The whole imprison'd river growls below. Loud fings the frozen earth, and hard reflects A Jouble noise ; while, at his evening watch, The village dog deters the nightly thief; The heifer lows ; the distant waterfall 735 Swells in the breeze ; and, with the hasty tread Of traveller, the liollow sounding plain Shakes from afar. The full etherial round^ infinite worlds disclosing to the view, WINTER. I*i Shines out intensely keen ; and, all one cope 740 Of starry glitter, glows from pole to pole. From pole to pole the rigid influence fails, Througli the still night, incessant, heavy, strong, And seizes Nature fast. It freezes on ; Till Morn, late rising o'er the drooping world, 745 Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears The various labour of the silent night : Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cascade, Whose idle torrents only seem to roar. The pendent icicle ; the frost-work fair, 756 Where transient hues and fancied figures rise ; Wide-spouted o'er the hill, the frozen brook, A livid tract, cold-gleaming on the morn ; The forest bent beneath the plumy wave ; And by the frost refined the whiter snow, 755 Incrusted hard, and sounding to the tread Of early shepherd, as he pensive seeks His pining flock, or from the mountain top. Pleased with the slippery surface, swift descends. On blithesome frolics bent, the youtuful swains, 760 While every work of man is laid at rest. Fond o'er the river crowd, in vaiious sport And revelry dissolved ; where mixing glad, Happiest of all the train ! the raptured boy Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 765 Branch'd out in many a long canal extends, From every province swarming, void of care, Bdtavia rushes forth ; and as they sweep. On sounding skates, a thousand ditl'erent ways, In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, 77C The then gay land is madden'd all to joy. Ncr less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds. Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel The long-resounding course. Meantime to raise 77a The manly strife, with highly blcwming charms, 142 WINTER. Flush'd by the season, Scandinavia's darners, Or Russia's buxom dauglilers, glow around. Pure, quick, and sportl'ul is the wholesome day ; Rut soon elapsed. The horizontal sun, 780 Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost noon • And, ineflectnal, strikes the gelid cliff: His azure gloss the mountain si ill maintains, Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale Relents awhile to the reflected ray : 7^ Or from the forest falls the clustered snow, Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam Gay-twinkle as they scatter. Thick around Thunders the sport of those, who with tJie gun.. And dog impatient bounding at the shot, 790 Worse than the Season, desolate the fields ; And, adding to the ruins of the year. Distress the footed or the feather'd game. But what is this ? our infant Winter sinks Divested of his grandeur, should our eye 795 Astonish'd shoo' into the frigid zone ; Where, for relentless months, continual Night Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry reign. There, through the prison of unbounded wilds, Barr'd by the hand of Nature from escape, 800 Wide roams the Russian exile. Nought around Strikes his sad eye but deserts lost in snow ; And heavy -loaded groves ; and solid floods, That stretch, athwart the solitary vast. Their icy horrors to the frozen main ; 805 And cheerless towns far distant, never bless'd, Save when its annual course the caravan Bends to the golden coast of rich Cathay,* With news of humankind. Yet there life glows j Yet cl\erish'd there, beneath the shining waste, 810 The furry nations harbour : tipp'd with jet, Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press ', * 'I'he old name tor China. WINTER. 14-1 Sables, of glossy black ; and dark-einbrowu'd, Or beauteous freak 'd with many a mingled hue, Thousands besides, the costly pride ot couiis. 81? There, warm together press'd, tlie trooping deer Sleep on the new-fallen snows ; and, scarce his head Raised o'er the heapy wreath, tlie branching elk Lies slumbering sullen in the white abyss. The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 82(1 Nor with the dread of sounding bows he drives The fearful Hying race , with ponderous clul)s, As weak agamst tiie mountain heaps they push Their beating breast in vain, and piieous bray, He lays them quivering !>n the' ensanguined sn^ows, And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home. 82t There through the piny forest half-absorb'd, Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear, With dangling ice all hoTid, stalks forlorn ; Slow-paced, and sourer as the storms increase, 830 He makes his bed beneath the' inclement drift, And, with siern patience, scorning weak complaint. Hardens his heart against assailing want. "Wide o'er the spacious regions of the north, That see Bootes urge hip tardy wain, 835 A boisterous race, by frosty Caurus* pierced, Who little pleasure know and fear no pain, Prolific swarm. They once relumed the flame Of lost mankind in polish 'd slavery sunk, Drove martial horde on horde, t with dreadful sweep Resistless rushmg o'er the' enfeebled south, 841 And gave the vanquishd world another form. Not such the sons of l^ap'and : wisely they Despise the' insensate barbarou'^ trade of war, Th^y ask no more than shnple Nature gives, 845 They love their mountanis, and enjoy their siorms No false desires, no pride-created wants, Disturb the peaceful current of their time ; * The Norili-west wind. t I'he wandering cScvthian ciaat. J44 WINTER. And through the restless ever tortured maze Of pleasure or ambition bid it rage. 850 Their reindeer form tiieir riches. These their tente, Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth Supply, their wholesome fare and cheerful cups. Obsequious at their call, the docile tribe Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swifl 851 O'er hill and dale, heap'd into one expanse Of marbled snow, as far as eye can sweep, With a blue crust of ice unbounded glazed. By dancing meteors then, that ceaseless shake A waving blaze refracted e'er the heavens, 860 And vivid moons, and stars that keener play With doubled lustre from the glossy waste, E'en in the depth of polar night, they find A wondrous day : enough to iij;;ht the chase, Or guide their daring steps to Finland fairs. 865 Wish'd Spring returns ; and from the hazy south, While dim Aurora slowly moves before, The welcome sun, just verging up at first, By small degrees extends the swelling curve ! Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months, 870 Still round and round his spiral course he winds, And as lie nearly dips his flaming orb. Wheels up again, and reascends the sky. In that glad season, from the lakes and floods, Where pure Niemi's* fairy mountains rise, 875 And fringed with roses Tengliot rolls his stream, * M, de Maupertius, in his book on the Figure of the Eartli, after having described the beautiful lake and niountain of Wiemi, in Lapland, says, " Fron. this height we had opportu- nity several times to see those vapours rise from the lake, which the people of the country call H?ltios, and which they deem to be the guanl-an spirits of ihe mountains. We had been frighte] ancient heroes, ye who toil'd 960 Through long successive ages to build up A labouring plan of state, behold at once The wonder done ! behold the matchless prince ! Who left his native throne, where reign'd till then A mighty shadow of unreal power ; 065 Who greatly spurn'd the slothful pomp of courts; And roaming every land, in every port His sceptre laid aside, with glorious hand Unwearied plying the mechanic tool, Gatherd the seeds of trade, of useful arts, 970 Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill. Charged with the stores of Europe, home he goes ! Then cities rise amid the' illumiaed waste ; O er joyless do'jerts smiles the rural reign ; Far distant flood to flood is social join'd ; 975 The' astonish'd Euxine hears the Baltic roar ; Proud navies ride on seas that nevor foam'd With daring keel before ; and armies stretch Each way their dazzling files, repressing here The frantic Alexander of the north, 980 And awing there stern Othman's shrinking Bons. Sh th flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice, C f old dishonour proud : it glows around, Taught ^y the Royal Hand that roused the whole, m 143 WINTER. One scne of arts, of arms, of rising trade : 983 For vvftat his wisdom plann'd, and power enforced, More potent still, his ^reat eiample show'd. Mutte-in^, the winds at eve, with blunted point, Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Subdued, Tlie frost resolves into a tncklintr thaw. 9LH) Spotted the mountams shine ; loose sieet descends, And floods the country round. The rivers b»vell, Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, Oei rocks and woods, in broad brown cataricts, A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once ; 91)5 And, where they rusii, the wide-resounding plain Is left one slimy waste. Those sullen seas. That wash'd the" ungenial pole, will rest no more Beneath the shackles of the mighty norih ; But, rousing all their w.v/es, resistless heavo. 1000 And hark ! the lengthening roar continuous runs Athwart the rifted deep : at once it bursts, And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds III fares the bark, with trembling wretches charged. That, toss'd amid the floating fragments, moors 1005 Beneath the shelter of an icy isle. While night o'erwhelrns the sea, and horror looks ?/Iore horrible. Can numan force enduro The' assembled m.ischiefs that besiege them round? Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness, 1010 The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice, Now ceasmg, now renevv'd with louder rage, And in dire echoes bellowing round the main. More to embroil the deep, Leviathan, And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport, 1015 Tempest the loosen d brine, while through the gloono. Far from the bleak inhospitable shore Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl Of fami?h'd monsters, there awaiting wre(,k8 Vet Provide nee, that ever waking eye, 1080 Looks down with pity on the feeble toil m WINTER. 14% Of morlafs f^s. to hope, and ligiits them safe, Through a!i this dreary labyrinth of fav.a. 'Tis done ! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms^ And reigns tremendous o'er the con(]U3r'd jea/. 1025 How dead the vegotable kingdom lies How dumb the tuneful ! horror wide extends His desolate domain. Behold, fond man ! See here thy pictured life ; pass seme few years, Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength, Thy sober Autumn fading into age, 1031 And pale concluding Winter comes at last, And shuts the scere. Ah ! whither now are fled Those dreams of greatness? those un'^olid hopes Of happiness .'' those longings after fame ? 1035 Those restless cares .'' those busy bustling days ? Those gay-spent, festive nights ? ihose veering thoughts, Lost between good and ill, that shared thy life ? All now are vanish'd I Virtue sole survives, Immortal never failing friend of Man, 1040 His guide to happiness on high. And see ! 'Tis come, the glorious morn ! the second birth Of heaven and earth ! awakening Natme hears The new-creating word, and starts to life, In every heighten'd form, from pain and death 1045 For ever free. The great eternal scheme, Involving all, and in a perfect whole Uniting, as the prospect wider spreads, To reason's eye refined clears up apace. Ye vainly wise ! ye blind presumptuous ! now, 105ft Confounded in the dust, adoTe that PoAver And Wisdom oft arraign'd : see \iow the cause. Why unassuming worth in secret lived. And died neglected : why the good man's share ,n life was gall and bitterness of soul : 10^ V^'hy the lone widow and her orphans pined If starving solitude ; while Luxury, Ir palaces, lay straining her low thought, la* 160 WINTER. To form unreal wants : why heaven-born truth, And moderation fair, wore the red marks 1069 Of superstition's scourge : why licensed pain, That cruel spoiler, that embosom u fo9, Embitter'd all our bliss. Ye good distressed i Ye noble few ! who here unbending stand Beneath life's pressure, yei bear up awhile, I06fi Am' what your bounded view, which only saw K little part, deem'd evil is no more : The storms of Wintry Time will quicklj pftsV) kad one luiboundtid Spring encircle &ll <3 ^ /^ ft^-f-^ II Y IVI N. These, as they chancje, Almightv Fatker, tii«sb Are but tne varied Guu. The roHing year is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasuig Sprint Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness, auu love. \Viue flush the fields ; the softening air is balm ; 5 Echo the mountains round : the forest smiles ; And every sense, and every heart is joy. Then comes thy glory in the Summer months, VVi'h light and heart refulgent. Then thy sun Khoots full perfection through the swelling year •• 10 And oft THY VOICE in dreadful thunder speaks : And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales Thy bounty shines in Autumn unconfined, And spreads s. common feast for all that lives. 15 In Winter awful Thou ' with clouds and storms Around Thee thrown, tempest o'er tempest roU'd. Majestic darkness ! on the whirlwind's wing, Riding sublime, Thou bidst the v/orld adore, And humblest Nature with thy northern blast. 20 Mysterious round ! what skill, what force divine, Deep felt, in these appear ! a simi)le train, Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art, Sucli beauty and beneficence combined ; Shade, unperceived, so softening into shade ; 25 And all so forming an harmonious whole ; That, as they still succeed, they ravish still. But wandering oft, with brute unconscious gaze, Wan maiks not Thee, marks not the mighty hand, That, ev5r busy, wheels the silent sphere ; 3U 152 HYMN. Works in the secret deep ; shoots, steaminnf, thence The fair profusion that o'erspreads the Spring; Fhngs from the sun direct the flaming day ; Feeda every creature ; hurls the tempest forth ; And, as on earth this grateful chanjre .evolves, 35 With tran;?port touches all the sprino^s of life Nature, attend ! join, '^very living soul ?j«!nea1h the spacious temple of the sky, In adoration join ; and, ardent,'ra'se One general song ! To Him, ye vocal gales. 40 Breathe soft, whose spirit in ^^ur freshness brealhos • Oh, talk of IIiM in solitary glooms ! V»"here, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar, 45 Who shake the' astonish'd world, lift high to heaven The' impetuous song, an or Seasons as they roll ! — For rae, when 1 forget the darling theme, V hether the blossom blows, the summer ray 9B Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleama. Or Winter rit.es in the blackening east; De my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more, And, dead to joy, forget my hea,rt to beat ! Should fate command me to tiie furthest verge 100 Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climed, Rivers unknown to song ; where first the sun Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam Fla-.nes on the" Atlantic isles ; 'tis nouglit to me ■ Smce God is over present, ever felt, IQS hi the void waste as in tlie city full : 54 HYMJi And where He vita] breathes there rattttt b© k'^ When even at last the solemn hour shall come, And wing my mystic flight to future wf»r Id.*, . cneerful will obey r there, with new po wor-*, In ^V"i!l rL'in^ vonders sing I cannot go 'M^bero Unirersai Love not smiles aroana , Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their Pun? \ From seeming Evil still educing Good, And better thence again, and better still .*! In infinite progression. But I lose Myself in Him, in Light ineflablo ! -. Coma llien cxjiressire Silence, muse Hw pi JUL -1 iS'ii* Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 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