Dafh'd in a cloud of foam, it fends aloft
A hoary mift, and forms a ceafelefs fhower.
Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repose:
But, raging still amid the fhaggy rocks,
Now flashes o'er the scatter'd fragments, now
Aflant the hollowed channel rapid darts;
And falling faft from gradual flope to flope,
With wild infracted course, and leffened roar,
It gains a fafer bed, and fteals, at last,
Along the mazes of the quiet vale.

INVITED from the cliff, to whose dark brow
He clings, the fteep-afcending eagle foars,
With upward pinions thro' the flood of day;
And, giving full his bofom to the blaze,
Gains on the fun; while all the tuneful race,
Smit by afflictive noon, diforder'd droop,
Deep in the thicket; or, from bower to bower
Refponfive, force an interrupted ftrain.

The stock-dove only thro' the foreft cooes,

Mournfully hoarfe; oft ceafing from his plaint,
Short interval of weary woe! again

The fad idea of his murder'd mate,

Struck from his fide by favage fowler's guile,

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605

610

615

Acrofs

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Across his fancy comes; and then resounds
A louder fong of forrow thro' the grove.

BESIDE the dewy border let me fit, All in the freshness of the humid air; There in that hollowed rock, grotefque and wild, An ample chair mofs-lin'd, and over head 625 By flowering umbrage shaded; where the bee Strays diligent, and with th' extracted balm Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh.

Now, while I tafte the sweetness of the fhade, While Nature lies around deep-lull'd in Noon, 630 Now come, bold Fancy, spread a daring flight, And view the wonders of the torrid Zone: Climes unrelenting! with whose rage compar'd, Yon blaze is feeble, and yon fkjes are cool.

SEE, how at once the bright-effulgent fun, Rifing direct, fwift chafes from the sky

The short-liv'd twilight; and with ardent blaze
Looks gayly fierce thro' all the dazzling air :

He mounts his throne; but kind before him fends,
Iffuing from out the portals of the morn,

G 3

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640

The

*

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 fee, each circling year, Returning funs and † double feafons pass :

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Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines,

That on the high equator ridgy rise,

Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays :

Majestic woods, of every vigorous green,

Stage above stage, high-waving o'er the hills; 650
Or to the far horizon wide diffus'd,

A boundless deep immensity of shade.
Here lofty trees, to ancient fong unknown,

The noble fons of potent heat and floods

Prone-rufhing from the clouds, rear high to Heaven Their thorny ftems, and broad around them throw 656 Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime,

*Which blows conftantly between the tropics from the east, or the collateral points, the north-east and south-east: caused by the preffure of the rarefied air on that before it, according to the diurnal motion of the fun from east to west.

In all climates between the tropics, the fun, as he passes and re paffes in his annual motion, is twice a-year vertical, which produces this effect.

Unnumber'd

Unnumber'd fruits, of keen delicious taste

And vital fpirit, drink amid the cliffs,

.

And burning fands that bank the shrubby vales, 660
Redoubled day, yet in their rugged coats
A friendly juice to cool its rage contain,

BEAR me, Pomona! to thy citron groves;
To where the lemon and the piercing lime,

With the deep orange, glowing thro' the green, 665
Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclin'd
Beneath the spreading tamarind that shakes,
Fann'd by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit.
Deep in the night the maffy locuft sheds,

Quench my hot limbs; or lead me thro' the maze, 670.
Embowering endless, of the Indian fig;

Or thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow,
Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd,
Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave,
And high palmetos lift their graceful shade.
Oftretch'd amid these orchards of the fun,
Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl,
And from the palm to draw its freshening wine!
More bounteous far than all the frantic juice

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Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its frender twigs 680

Low-bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd;
Nor, creeping thro' the woods, the gelid race
Of berries. Oft in humble ftation dwells
Unboaftful worth, above faftidious pomp.
Witness, thou best Anâna, thou the pride

Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er

The poets imag'd in the golden age :
Quick let me ftrip thee of thy tufty coat,
Spread thy ambrofial ftores, and feast with Jove!

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FROM these the profpect varies. Plains immense Lie ftretch'd below, interminable meads,

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And vaft favannahs, where the wandering eye,

Unfixt, is in a verdant ocean loft.

Another Flora there, of bolder hues,

And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride,`

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Plays o'er the fields, and showers with fudden hand

Exuberant spring: for oft thefe valleys shift
Their green-embroider'd robe to fiery brown,
And swift to green again, as fcorching funs,
Or ftreaming dews and torrent rains, prevail.

ALONG thefe lonely regions, where retir'd From little fcenes of art, great Nature dwells

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