A drooping family of modeft worth.
But to the generous ftill-improving mind,
That gives the hopeless heart to fing for joy, Diffufing kind beneficence around,
Boaftlefs, as now defcends the filent dew; To him the long review of order'd life Is inward rapture, only to be felt.
Confefs'd from yonder flow-extinguish'd clouds, All ether softening, fober Evening takes Her wonted station in the middle air;
A thoufand badows at her beck. First this She fends on earth; then that of deeper dye Steals foft behind; and then a deeper still, In circle following circle, gathers round, To clofe the face of things. A fresher gale Begins to wave the wood, and ftir the stream, Sweeping with shadowy guft the fields of corn; While the quail clamours for his running mate. Wide o'er the thiftly lawn, as fwells the breeze, A whitening shower of vegetable down Amufive floats. The kind impartial care Of Nature nought disdains: thoughtful to feed Her loweft fons, and clothe the coming year, From field to field the feathered feeds the wings.
His folded flock fecure, the fhepherd 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 beft language fhewn Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, And valley funk, and unfrequented; where At fall of eve the fairy people throng, In various game, and revelry, to pass The fummer-night, as village-ftories tell, But far about they wander from the grave Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd Against his own fad breaft to lift the hand Of impious violence. The lonely tower Is also fhunn'd; whose mournful chambers hold, So night-ftruck Fancy dreams, the yelling ghost. Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge, The glow-worm lights his gem; and, thro' the dark, A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields The world to Night; not in her winter-robe Of maffy Stygian woof, but loose array'd In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, Glanc'd from th' imperfect furfaces of things,
Flings half an image on the ftraining eye; While wavering woods, and villages, and ftreams, And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long retain'd Th' afcending gleam, are all one swimming scene, Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven
Thence weary vifion turns; where, leading soft The filent hours of love, with pureft ray Sweet Venus fhines; and from her genial rife, When day-light fickens till it springs afresh, Unrival'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 wond'rous shapes: by fearful murmuring crowds Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs,
That more than deck, that animate the sky, The life-infufing funs of other worlds; Lo! from the dread immenfity of space Returning, with accelerated courfe, The rushing comet to the fun descends; And as he finks below the fhading earth, With awful train projected o'er the heavens, The guilty nations tremble. But, above Thofe fuperftitious horrors that enslave The fond fequacious herd, to myftic faith
And blind amazement prone, the enlightened few, Whofe godlike minds philofophy exalts,
The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy Divinely great; they in their powers exult, That wondrous force of thought, which mounting fpurns This dufky fpot, and measures all the fky; While, from his far excurfion thro' the wilds Of barren ether, faithful to his time, They see the blazing wonder rife anew, In feeming terror clad, but kindly bent To work the will of all-fuftaining Love: From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs, Thro' which his long ellipfis winds; perhaps To lend new fuel to declining funs,
To light up worlds, and feed th' eternal fire. With thee, ferene PHILOSOPHY, with thee, And thy bright garland, let me crown my fong! Effufive fource of evidence, and truth!
A luftre fhedding o'er th' ennobled mind, Stronger than fummer-noon; and pure as that, Whofe mild vibrations foothe the parted foul, New to the dawning of celeftial day.
Hence thro' her nourish'd powers, enlarg'd by thee, She springs aloft, with elevated pride,
Above the tangling mafs of low defires,
That bind the fluttering crowd; and, angel-wing'd, The heights of science and of virtue gains, Where all is calm and clear; with Nature round, Or in the starry regions, or th' abyfs,
To Reafon's and to Fancy's eye difplay'd: The First up-tracing, from the dreary void, The chain of caufes and effects to HIM, The world-producing ESSENCE, who alone Poffeffes being; while the Laft receives The whole magnificence of heaven and earth, And every beauty, delicate or bold, Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense, Diffufive painted on the rapid mind.
Tutor'd by thee, hence POETRY exalts Her voice to ages; and informs the page With mufic, image, fentiment, and thought, Never to die! the treasure of mankind! Their highest honour, and their truest joy! Without thee what were unenlightened Man? A favage roaming thro' the woods and wilds, In queft of prey; and with th' unfashioned furr Rough-clad; devoid of every finer art, And elegance of life. Nor happiness Domeftic, mix'd of tenderness and care,
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