Thy system rolls entire: from the far bourne loon 94 İ
Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round them of
Of thirty years; to Mercury, whose disk
Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye,
Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze.

Informer of the planetary train!^

Without whose quickening glance their cumbrous orbs
Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead,
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,
The mixing myriads of thy setting beam.
The vegetable world is also thine,
Parent of Seasons! who the pomp precede
That waits thy throne, as through the vast domain,
Annual, along the bright ecliptic road,

In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime.
Meantime the' expecting nations, circled gay
With all the various tribes of foodful earth,
Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up

A common hymn: while, round thy beaming car,
High seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance
Harmonious knit, the rosy finger'd Hours,
The Zephyrs floating loose, the timely Rains,
Of bloom etherial the light footed Dews,
And soften'd into joy the surly Storms.

These, in successive turn, with lavish hand, y 290 ~

Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower,
Herbs, flowers, and fruits; and, kindling at thy touch,
From land to land is flush'd the vernal year.
Nor to the surface of enliven'd earth,
Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods,
Her liberal tresses, is thy force confined:
But, to the bowel'd cavern darting deep,
The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power.
Effulgent, hence the veiny marble shines;

Hence Labour draws his tools; hence burnish'd War
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,

In dark retirement forms the lucid stone.
The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays,
Collected light, compact; that, polish'd bright,
And all its native lustre let abroad,

Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast,
With vain ambition emulate her eyes.
At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow,
And with a waving radiance inward flames.ht
From thee the sapphire, solid ether, takes t
Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinct
The purple streaming amethyst is thine. **.
With thy own smile the yellow topaz burns,
Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring,
When first she gives it to the southern gale,+ {}}

1

Than the green emerald shows. But, all combined, ".

Thick through the whitening opal play thy beams
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,
Assumes a mimic life. By thee refined,
In brighter mazes the relucent stream
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,
Projecting horror on the blacken'd flood,
Softens at thy return. The desert joys,
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 this,
And all the much transported muse can sing,
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use,
Unequal far; great delegated source

A

Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below! How shall I then attempt to sing of HIM! Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light Invested deep, dwells awfully retired From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken; Whose single smile has, from the first of time, Fill'd, overflowing, all those lamps of heaven, That beam for ever through the boundless sky: But, should he hide his face, the' astonish'd sun, And all the' extinguish'd stars, would loosening reel Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again.

E

And yet was every faltering tongue of Man, ALMIGHTY FATHER! silent in thy praise;

Thy Works themselves would raise a general voice,
E'en in the depth of solitary woods

By human foot untrod; proclaim thy power,
And to the quire celestial THEE resound,
The' eternal cause, support, and end of all!
To me by Nature's volume broad display'd;
And to peruse its all instructing page,
Or, haply catching inspiration thence,
Some easy passage, raptured, to translate,
My sole delight; as through the falling glooms
Pensive I 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, And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills In party colour'd bands; till wide unveil'd The face of Nature shines, from where earth seems, Far stretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere. Half in a blush of clustering roses lost,

Dew-dropping Coolness to the shade retires;ty
There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed,
By gelid founts and careless rills to muse;

While tyrant Heat, dispreading through the sky,
With rapid sway, his burning influence darts

On man,
and beast, and herb, and tepid stream.
Who can unpitying see the flowery race, Lods 17
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.
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:
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
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;
And, in a corner of the buzzing shade,

The house dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies,
Outstretch'd, and sleepy. In his slumbers one
Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults
O'er hill and dale; till, waken'd by the wasp,
They starting snap. Nor 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.

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Waked by his warmer ray, the reptile young Come wing'd abroad; by the light air upborne,