The frantic Alexander of the north,
And awing there stern Othman's shrinking sons. Sloth flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice, Of old dishonour proud: it glows around, Taught by the Royal Hand that roused the whole, One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade: For what his wisdom plann'd, and power enforced, More potent still, his great example show'd.
Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point, Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Subdued, The frost resolves into a trickling thaw.
Spotted the mountains shine; loose sleet descends, And floods the country round. The rivers swell, Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts, A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once; And, where they rush, 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 north; But, rousing all their waves, resistless heave. And, hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs Athwart the rifted deep: at once it bursts, And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds. Ill fares the bark with trembling wretches charged, That, toss'd amid the floating fragments, moors Beneath the shelter of an icy isle,
While night o'erwhelms the sea, and horror looks
The' assembled mischiefs that besiege them round? Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness,
The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice, Now ceasing, now renew'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,
Tempest the loosen'd brine, while through the gloom, Far from the bleak inhospitable shore,
Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl
Of famish'd monsters, there awaiting wrecks. Yet Providence, that ever waking eye, Looks down with pity on the feeble toil
Of mortals lost to hope, and lights them safe, Through all this dreary labyrinth of fate.
'Tis done! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms, And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd Year.
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!
How dumb the tuneful! horror wide extends
His desolate domain. Behold, fond man!
See here thy pictured life; pass some few years,
Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength, Thy sober Autumn fading into age,
And pale concluding Winter comes at last,
And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes Of happiness those longings after fame?
Those restless cares? those busy bustling days?
Those gay spent, festive nights? those veering thoughts,
Lost between good and ill, that shared thy life? All now are vanish'd! Virtue sole survives, Immortal, never failing friend of Man,
His guide to happiness on high. And see! 'Tis come, the glorious morn! the second birth Of heaven and earth! awakening Nature hears The new-creating word, and starts to life, In every heighten'd form, from pain and death 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, Confounded in the dust, adore that Power And Wisdom oft arraign'd: see now the cause, Why unassuming worth in secret lived,
And died, neglected: why the good man's share In life was gall and bitterness of soul: Why the lone widow and her orphans pined In starving solitude; while luxury,
In palaces, lay straining her low thought, To form unreal wants: why heaven-born truth, And moderation fair, wore the red marks Of superstition's scourge: why licensed pain, That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd foe, Embitter'd all our bliss. Ye good distress'd!
Ye noble few! who here unbending stand Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while, And what your bounded view, which only saw A little part, deem'd evil is no more: The storms of wintry Time will quickly pass, And one unbounded Spring encircle all.
There let the shepherds flute, the virgin's lay, Still sing the GOD OF SEASONS, as they roll!
DRAWN BY RICHARD WES TALL, R.A. ENGRAVED BY CHARLES ROLLS;
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SHARPE, LONDON.
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