On the soothed ear. From these abstracted oft,
You wander through the philosophic world;
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,
And honest zeal unwarp'd by party-rage,
Britannia's weal; how from the venal gulf
To raise her virtue, and her arts revive.

Or, turning thence thy view, these graver thoughts
The Muses charm: while, with sure taste refined,

925

930

You draw the' inspiring breath of ancient song;

Till nobly rises, emulous, thy own.

935

Perhaps thy loved Lucinda shares thy walk,

With soul to thine attuned. Then Nature all

Wears to the lover's eye a look of love;
And all the tumult of a guilty world,
Toss'd by ungenerous passions, sinks away.

940

The tender heart is animated peace;

And as it pours its copious treasures forth,

In varied converse, softening every theme,
You, frequent-pausing, turn, and from her eyes,
Where meeken'd sense, and amiable grace,

945

And lively sweetness, dwell, enraptured, drink
That nameless spirit of ethereal joy,
Inimitable happiness! which love

Alone bestows, and on a favour'd few.

Meantime you gain the height, from whose fair brow

950

The bursting prospect spreads immense around :
And snatch'd o'er hill and dale, and wood and lawn,
And verdant field, and darkening heath between,
And villages embosom'd soft in trees,

E