To him the long review of order'd life 1645 Is inward rapture, only to be felt. CONFESS'D from yonder slow-extinguish'd All aether softening, sober Evening takes A thousand shadows at her beck. First this. 1650 She sends on earth; then that of deeper dye Steals soft behind; and then a deeper still, In circle following circle, gathers round, To close the face, of things. A fresher gale Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream, 1655 Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of corn; While the quail clamours for his running mate. Wide, o'er the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze, A whitening shower of vegetable down Amusive floats. The kind impartial care 1660 Of Nature nought disdains: thoughtful to feed Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming g year, From field to field the feathered seeds. she 1665 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 best language shewn Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. 1670 Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, And valley sunk, and unfrequented; where At fall of eve the fairy people throng, In various game, and revelry, to pass The summer-night, as village-stories tell. 1675 But far about they wander from the grave Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd Against his own sad breast to lift the hand Of impious violence. The lonely tower Is also shunn'd, whose mournful chambers hold, 1680 So night-struck 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 Of massy Stygian woof, but loose array'd streams, tain'd Th' ascending gleam, are all one swimming scene, Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven Thence weary vision turns; where, leading soft The silent hours of love, with purest ray 1695 shoot Across the sky; or horizontal dart, 1700 In wondrous shapes: by fearful murmuring crouds Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs, And as he sinks below the shading earth, Whose godlike minds philosophy exalts, 1715 This dusky spot, and measures all the sky; While, from his far excursion thro' the Of barren aether, faithful to his time, shake 1725 Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs, Thro' which his long ellipsis winds; perhaps To lend new fuel to declining suns, To light up worlds; and feed th' eternal fire. WITH thee, serene PHILOSOPHY, with thee, 1730, ΙΑΙ And thy bright garland, let me crown my song! that, Effussive source of evidence, and truth! She springs aloft, with elevated pride, Above the tangling mass of low desi res, 1740 That bind the fluttering croud; 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' abyss, alone Possesses being; while the Last receives The whole magnificence of heaven earth, and 1750 |