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 beamless eye No more with ardour bright: you heard the groans Of agonizing ships from shore to shore; Heard, nightly plung'd amid the sullen waves, The frequent corse; while, on each other fix'd, In sad presage, the blank assistants seem'd, 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, From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields With locust-armies putrefying heap'd, This great destroyer sprung. Her aweful rage The brutes escape: man is her destin'd prey, Intemperate man! and, o'er his guilty domes, She 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, suffus'd, Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then, 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; Into the worst of deserts sudden turn'd The cheerful haunt of men, unless escap'd From the doom'd house, where matchless horrour reigns,
Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch, With frenzy wild, breaks loose, and, loud to Heaven Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns, Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door, Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge Fearing to turn, abhors society: Dependants, friends, relations, Love himself, Savag'd 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 They fall, unblest, 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, And give the flying wretch a better death.
Much yet remains unsung: the rage intense Of brazen-vaulted skies, of iron fields, Where drought and famine starve the blasted year: Fir'd by the torch of noou to tenfold rage, Th' infuriate hill that shoots the pillar'd flame; And, rous'd within the subterranean world, Th' expanding earthquake, that resistless shakes Aspiring cities from their solid base,
And buries mountains in the flaming gulph. But 'tis enough; return, my vagrant Muse: A nearer scene of horrour calls thee home.
Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove Unusual darkness broods; and growing gains The full possession of the sky, surcharg'd
These are the causes supposed to be the first origin of the plague, in Dr. Mead's elegant book on that subject.
With wrathful vapour, from the secret beds, Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn. Thence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spume Of fat bithmen, steaming on the day, With various-tinctur'd trains of latent flame, Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud, A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate, Ferment; till by the touch ethereal rous'd, The dash of clouds, or irritating war
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, They furious spring. A boding silence reigns, Dread through the dun expanse; save the 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. Prone, to the lowest vale, th' aërial tribes Descend the tempest-loving raven scarce Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze The cattle stand, and on the scowling Heavens Cast a deploring eye, by man forsook, Who to the crowded cottage hies him fast, Or seeks the 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; And following slower, in explosion vast, The thunder raises his tremendous voice. At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of Heaven, The tempest growls; but as it nearer comes, And rolls its aweful burden on the wind, The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more The noise astounds: till over head a sheet Of livid flame discloses wide; then shuts, And opens wider; shuts and opens still Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze. Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar, Enlarging, 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 Pour a whole flood, and yet, its flame unquench'd, Th' unconquerable lightning struggles through, Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls, And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. Black from the stroke, above, the smouldering
Stands a sad shatter'd trunk; and, stretch'd below, A lifeless groupe 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, An ox half-rais'd. 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. Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud The repercussive roar: with mighty crush, Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the sky, Tumble the smitten cliffs; and Snowden's peak, Dissolving, instant yields his wintery load. Far-seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze, And Thulé bellows through her utmost isles.
Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubled And yet not always on the guilty head [thought. Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon And his Amelia were a matchless pair; With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace, The same, distinguish'd by their sex alone:
Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn, And his the radiance of the risen day..
They lov'd: but such their 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, Th' 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 th' awaken'd power Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart, Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things.
So pass'd their life, a clear united stream, By care unruffled; till, in evil hour, The tempest caught them on the tender walk, Heedless how far, and where its mazes stray'd, While, with each other blest, creative love Still bade eternal Eden smile around. Presaging instant fate, her bosom heav'd Unwonted sighs, and stealing oft a look Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye Fell tearful, wetting her disorder'd cheek. In vain assuring love, and confidence
In Heaven, repress'd her fear; it grew, and shook Her frame near dissolution. He perceiv'd Th' unequal conflict; and as angels look On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed, With love illumin'd high. "Fear not," he said, "Sweet innocence! thou stranger to offence, And inward storm! He, who yon skies involves In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft That wastes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour Of noon, flies harmless: and that very voice Which thunders terrour through the guilty heart, With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to the. 'Tis safety to be near thee sure, and thus To clasp perfection!" From his void embrace, 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, Pierc'd by severe amazement, hating life, Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe! So, faint resemblance! on the marble tomb, The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands, For ever silent, and for ever sad.
As from the face of Heaven the shatter'd clouds Tumultuous rove, th' interminable sky Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands A purer azure. Through the lighten'd air A higher lustre and a clearer calm, Diffusive, tremble; while, as if in sign Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy, Set off abundant by the yellow ray, Invests the fields; and Nature smiles reviv'd.
'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, Most favour'd; who with voice articulate Should lead the chorus of this lower world? Shall he, so soon forgetful of the hand That hush'd the thunder, and serenes the sky, Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempest wak'd, 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
A sandy bottom shows. A while he stands Gazing th' 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 emerge; and through th' obedient wave, At each short breathing by his lip repel'd, 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 pleas'd spectators round.
This is the purest exercise of health, The kind refresher of the summer heats; [flood, Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening Would I weak-shivering linger on the brink. Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserv'd, By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs Knit into force; and the same Roman arm, That rose victorious o'er the conquer'd Earth, First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave. Ev'n from the body's purity, the mind Receives a secret sympathetic aid.
Close in the covert of an hazel copse, Where winded into pleasing solitudes
Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat Pensive, and pierc'd with love's delightful pangs. There to the stream that down the distant rocks Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that Among the bending willows, falsely he [play'd Of Musidora's cruelty complain'd. 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 In side-long glances from her downcast eye, Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. Touch'd by the scene, no stranger to his vows, He fram'd a melting lay, to try her heart; And, if an infant passion struggled there, To call that passion forth. Thrice happy swain! A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine. For, lo conducted by the laughing Loves, This cool retreat his Musidora sought: Warm in her cheek the sultry season glow'd; And, rob'd in loose array, she came to bathe Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost, And dubious flutterings, he a while remain'd: A pure ingenuous elegance of soul,
A delicate refinement, known to few, Perplex'd his breast, and urg'd 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 blest Arcadian stream, with timid eye around
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 Cast unconfin'd, and gave him all their charms, Than, Damon, thou; as from the snowy leg, And slender foot, th' inverted silk she drew ; As the soft touch dissolv'd the virgin zone; And, through the parting robe, the alternate breast, With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth, How durst thou risque the soul distracting view; As from her naked limbs, of glowing white,
Harmonious swell'd by Nature's finest hand, In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn; And fair-expos'd 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 Its lovely guest with closing waves receiv'd; And every beauty softening, every grace Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed: As shines the lily through the crystal mild; Or as the rose amid the morning dew Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows.. While thus she wanton'd, now beneath the wave But ill-conceal'd; and now with streaming locks, That half embrac'd her in a humid veil, Rising again, the latent Damon drew
Such maddening draughts of beauty to the soul, As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptur'd thought With luxury too-daring. Check'd, at last, By love's respectful modesty, he deem'd The theft profane, if aught profane to love Can c'er be deem'd; and, struggling from the shade,
With headlong hurry fled: but first these lines, Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank With trembling hand he threw.
Yet unbeheld, save by the sacred eye Of faithful love: I 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: 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 In careless haste, th' alarming paper snatch'd. But, when her Damon's well-known hand she saw, Her terrours vanish'd, and a softer train Of mixt emotions, hard to be describ'd, Her sudden bosom seiz'd: shame void of guilt, The charming blush of innocence, esteem And admiration of her lover's flame, By modesty exalted: ev'n a sense Of self-approving beauty stole across Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm Hush'd by degrees the tumult of her soul; And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen Of rural lovers this confession carv'd, Which soon her Damon kiss'd with weeping joy : "Dear youth! sole judge of what these verses
By fortune too much favour'd, but by love, Alas! not favour'd less, be still as now Discreet the time may come you need not fly " The Sun has lost his rage: bis downward orb Shoots nothing now but animating warmth, And vital lustre; that with various ray, Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of Incessant roll'd into romantic shapes, [Heaven, The dream of waking fancy! Broad below, 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 walking comes: for him who lonely loves
To seek the distant hills, and there converse With Nature; there to harmonize his heart, And in pathetic song to breathe around The harmony to others. Social friends, Attun'd to happy unison of soul;
To whose exalting eye a fairer world, Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse, Displays its charms; whose minds are richly With philosophic stores, superior light; And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance; Now call'd abroad enjoy the falling day: Now to the verdant Portico of woods, To Nature's vast Lyceum, forth they walk; By that kind school where no proud master reigns, The full free converse of the friendly heart, Improving and improv'd. Now from the world, Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, And pour their souls in transport which the Sire Of love approving hears, and calls it good. Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our course? The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we
All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind Along the streams? or walk the smiling mead? Or court the forest-glades? or wander wild Among the waving harvests? or ascend, While radiant Summer opens all its pride, Thy hill, delightful Shene1? Here let us sweep The boundless landscape: now the raptur'd eye, Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send, Now to the sister-hills that skirt her plain, To lofty 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. 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 retir'd, With her the pleasing partner of his heart, The worthy Queensbury yet laments his Gay, And polish'd Cornbury wooes the willing Muse. Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames: Fair winding up to where the Muses haunt In Twit'nam's bowers, and for their Pope implore The healing god 3; to royal Hampton's pile, To Clermont's terrass'd height, and Esher's groves, Where in the sweetest solitude, embrac'd By the soft windings of the silent Mole, From courts and senates Pelham finds repose: Inchanting vale! beyond whate'er the Muse Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung ! O vale of bliss! O softly-swelling hills! On which the Power of Cultivation lies, And joys to see the wonders of his toil
Heavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around,
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires,
And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all The stretching landsape into smoke decays! Happy Britannia! where the queen of arts,
The old name of Richmond, signifying in Saxon shining or splendour.
Highgate and Hamstead. 3 In his last sickness.
Inspiring vigour, liberty abroad
Walks, unconfin'd, ev'n to thy farthest cots, And scatters plenty with unsparing hand.
Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime ; Thy streams unfailing in the summer's drought; Unmatch'd thy guardian-oaks; thy vallies float With golden waves: and on thy mountains flocks Bleat numberless; while, roving round their sides, Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves. 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 assures it to the swain, Pleas'd, and unwearied, in his guarded toil.
Full are thy cities with the sons of art; And trade and joy, in every busy street, Mingling are heard: ev'n Drudgery himself, As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews
The palace-stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, Where rising masts an endless prospect yield, 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.
Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth,
By hardship sinew'd, and by danger fir'd, Scattering the nations where they go; and first Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas. Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plans Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires preside; In genius, and substantial learning, high; For every virtue, every worth renown'd; Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind; Yet, like the mustering thunder, when provok'd, 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 h. roic peace, when govern'd well, Combine, whose hallow'd names the virtuous 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 terrour of thy arms, That awes her genius sti!l. In statesmen 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, Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor, A dauntless soul erect, who smil'd 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. Then flam'd thy spirit high: but who can speak The numerous worthies of the maiden reign? In Raleigh mark their every glory mix'd; Raleigh, the scourge of Spain! whose breast with The sage, the patriot, and the hero, burn'd. Nor sunk his vigour, when a coward-reign The warrior fetter'd, and at last resign'd, To glut the vengeance of a vanquish'd foe. Than, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind Explor'd the vast extent of ages past, And with his prison-hours enrich'd the world; Yet found no times, in all the long research, So glorious, or so base, as those he prov'd, In which he conquer'd, and in which he bled. Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass,
The plume of war! with early laurels crown'd, The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay.
A Hamden too is thine, illustrious land, Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul, Who stem'd the torrent of a downward age To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again, In all thy native pomp of freedom bold. Bright at his call, thy age of men effulg'd, Of men on whom late time a kindling eye Shall turn, and tyrants treinble while they read. Bring every sweetest dower, and let me strew The grave where Russel Nes; whose temper'd blood,
With calmest cheerfulness for thee resign'd, Stain'd the sad annals of a giddy reign; Aiming at lawless power, though meanly sunk In loose inglorious luxury. With him His friend, the British Cassius', fearless bled; Of high determin'd spirit, roughly brave, By ancient learning, to th' enlighten'd love Of ancient freedom warm'd. Fair thy renown In aweful sages and in noble bards, Soon as the light of dawning Science spread Her orient ray, and wak'd the Muses' song. Thine is a Bacon; hapless in his choice, Unfit to stand the civil storm of state, And through the smooth barbarity of courts, With firm, but pliant virtue, forward still To urge his course; him for the studious shade Kind Nature form'd, deep, comprehensive, clear, Exact, and elegant; in one rich soul, Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd. The great deliverer he! who from the gloom Of cloister'd monks, and jargon-teaching schools, Led forth the true Philosophy, there long Held in the magic chain of words and forms, And definitions void he led her forth, Daughter of Heaven! that, slow-ascending still, Investigating sure the chain of things, With radiant finger points to Heaven again. The generous Ashley thine, the friend of man; Who scann'd his nature with a brother's eye, His 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 scarch 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 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 Shakespeare thine and Nature's boast Is not each great, each amiable Muse Of classic ages in thy Milton met? A genius universal as his theme; Astonishing as Chaos, as the bloom Of blowing Eden fair, as Heaven sublime. Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget, The gentle Spencer, Fancy's pleasing son; Who, like a copious river, pour'd his song O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground: Nor thee, his ancicut master, laughing sage, Chaucer, whose native manners-painting verse,
Well-moraliz'd, shines through the gothic 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, The feeling heart, simplicity of life, And elegance, and taste: the faultless form, Shap'd by the hand of harmony; the cheek, Where the live crimson, through the native white Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, And every nameless grace; the parted lip, Like the red rose-bud moist with morning-dew, Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet, Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown, The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast; The look resistless, piercing to the soul, And by the soul inform'd, when drest in love She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye.
Island of bliss! amid the subject seas, That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up, At once the wonder, terrour, 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.
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,
On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through Undaunted Truth, and dignity of mind; [smiles; Courage compos'd, and keen; sound Temperance, Healthful in heart and look; clear Chastity, With blushes reddening as she moves along, Disorder'd at the deep regard she draws; Rough Industry; Activity untir'd, With copious life inform'd, and all awake: While in the radiant front superior shines That first paternal virtue, public zeal ; Who throws o'er all an equal wide survey, And, ever musing on the common weal, Still labours glorious with some great design.
Low walks the Sun, and broadens by de grees, Just o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds Assembled gay, a richly-gorgeous train, In all their pomp attend his setting throne. Air, Earth, and Ocean smile immense. And now, As if his weary chariot sought the bowers Of Amphitritè, and her tending nymphs, (So Grecian fable sung) he dips his orb ; Now half-immers'd; and now a golden curve Gives one bright glance, then total disappears. For ever running an enchanted round, Passes the day, deceitful, vain, and void; As fleets the vision o'er the formful brain, This moment hurrying wild the impassion'd soul, The next in nothing lost. 'Tis so to him, The dreamer of this Earth, an idle blank: A sight of horrour to the cruel wretch, Who, all day long in sordid pleasure roll'd, Himself an useless load, has squander'd vile, Upon his scoundrel train, what might have A drooping family of modest worth. But to the generous still-improving mind, That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy, Diffusing kind beneficence around,
Boastless, as now descends the silent dew;
To him the long review of order'd life
Is inward rapture, only to be felt.
Confess'd from yonder slow-extinguish'd clouds,
All ether 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 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 the fields of corn; While the quail clamours for his running mate. Wide o'er the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze, A whitening shower of vegetable down Amusive floats. The kind impartial care Of Nature nought disdains: thoughtful to feed Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming year, From field to field the feather'd seeds she wings.
His folded flock secure, the shepherd home Hies, merry-hearted; and by turns relieves The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail; The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart, Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguish means, Sincerely loves, by that best language shown Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height And valley sunk, and unfrequented; where At fall 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 Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd Against his own sad breast to lift the hand Of impious violence. The lonely tower Is also shunn'd; whose mournful chambers hold, So night-struck fancy dreams, the yelling ghost. Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge, The glow-worm lights his gem; and through 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 In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, Glanc'd from th' imperfect surfaces of things, Flings half an image on the straining eye: While wavering woods, and villages, and streams, And rocks, and mountains-tops, that long retain'd Th' ascending gleam, are all one swimming scene, Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to Heaven Thence weary vision turns; where, leading soft The silent hours of love, with purest ray Sweet Venus shines; and from her genial rise, When day-light sickens till it springs afresh, Unrivall'd reigns, the fairest lamp of night. As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink, With cherish'd gaze, the lambent lightnings shoot Across the sky; or horizontal dart
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 Returning with accelerated course, The 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 Those superstitious horrours that enslave The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith And blind amazement prone, the enlighten'd few,
Whose godlike minds philosophy exalts,
The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy
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