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And petrifies the heart. Nature disturb'd
Is deem'd, vindictive, to have chang'd her course.

HENCE, in old dusky time, a deluge came: When the deep-cleft difparting orb, that arch'd 310 The central waters round, impetuous rufh'd, With univerfal burft, into the gulph, And o'er the high-pil'd hills of fractur'd earth Wide-dafh'd the waves, in undulation vaft; Till, from the center to the ftreaming clouds, A fhoreless ocean tumbled round the globe.

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THE seasons fince have, with feverer fway, Opprefs'd a broken world: the Winter keen Shook forth his wafte of fnows; and Summer fhot His peftilential heats. Great Spring, before, Green'd all the year; and fruits and bloffoms blush'd, In social sweetness, on the self-fame bough.

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Pure was the temperate air; an even calm
Perpetual reign'd, fave what the zephyrs bland
Breath'd o'er the blue expanse: for then nor ftorms 325
Were taught to blow, nor hurricanes to rage;
Sound flept the waters; no fulphureous glooms
Swell'd in the sky, and fent the lightning forth;
While fickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs,
Hung not, relaxing, on the springs of life.

But now, of turbid elements the sport,
From clear to cloudy toft, from hot to cold,

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And

And dry to moist, with inward-eating change,
Dur drooping days are dwindled down to nought,
Their period finish'd ere 'tis well begun.

AND yet the wholesome herb neglected dies;
Tho' with the pure exhilarating foul
Of nutriment and health, and vital powers,
Beyond the fearch of art, 'tis copious bleft.
For, with hot ravine fir'd, enfanguin'd man
Is now become the lion of the plain,

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And worse. The wolf, who from the nightly fold
Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk,
Nor wore her warming fleece: nor has the fteer,
At whofe ftrong cheft the deadly tyger hangs,
E'er plow'd for him. They too are temper'd high,
With hunger ftung and wild neceffity,

Nor lodges pity in their fhaggy breast.

But Man, whom Nature form'd of milder clay,
With every kind emotion in his heart,

And taught alone to weep; while from her lap

She
And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain

pours ten thousand delicacies, herbs,

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Or beams that gave them birth: fhall he, fair form!
Who wears sweet fmiles, and looks erect on heaven, 355
E'er ftoop to mingle with the prowling herd,
And dip his tongue in gore? The beast of prey,
Blood-ftain'd deferves to bleed: but you, ye flocks,
What have you done; ye peaceful people, what,

Τα

To merit death? you, who have given us milk
In luscious ftreams, and lent us your own coat
Against the winter's cold? and the plain ox,
That harmless, honeft, guilelefs animal,
In what has he offended? He, whofe toil,
Patient and ever ready, clothes the land

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With all the pomp of harvest; shall he bleed,

And struggling groan beneath the cruel hands

Even of the clown he feeds; And that perhaps,
To fwell the riot of th' autumnal feast,

Won by his labour? Thus the feeling heart
Would tenderly fuggeft: but 'tis enough,

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In this late age, adventurous, to have touch'd
Light on the numbers of the Samian sage.

High HEAVEN forbids the bold presumptuous ftrain,
Whose wifeft will has fix'd us in a state

That must not yet to pure perfection rife.
Befides, who knows, how rais'd to higher life,
From stage to stage, the vital fcale afcends?

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Now when the first foul torrent of the brooks, Swell'd with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away; 380 And, whitening, down their mofly-tinctur'd stream Defcends the billowy foam: now is the time, While yet the dark-brown water aids the guile, To tempt the trout. The well diffembled fly, The rod fine-tapering with elaftic fpring, Snatch'd from the hoary fteed the floating line,

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And

And all thy flender watry stores prepare.
But let not on thy hook the tortur'd worm,
Convulfive, twift in agonizing folds;
Which, by rapacious hunger fwallow'd deep,
Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breaft
Of the weak helpless uncomplaining wretch,
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand.

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WHEN with his lively ray the potent fun Has pierc'd the ftreams, and rous'd the finny race, Then, ifiuing chearful, to thy fport repair; Chief fhould the western breezes curling play, And light o'er ether bear the fhadowy clouds. High to their fount, this day, amid the hills, And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks; The next, purfue their rocky-channel'd maze, Down to the river, in whofe ample wave Their little naiads love to sport at large. Juft in the dubious point, where with the pool Is mix'd the trembling ftream, or where it boils Around the ftone, or from the hollow'd bank Reverted plays in undulating flow, There throw, nice-judging, the delufive fly; And as you lead it round in artful curve, With eye attentive mark the springing game. Strait as above the furface of the flood They wanton rife, or urg'd by hunger leap, Then fix, with gentle twich, the barbed hook:

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Some

Some lightly toffing to the graffy bank,
And to the shelving fhore flow-dragging fome,
With various hand proportion'd to their force.
If yet too young, and eafily deceiv'd,

A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod,
Him, piteous of his youth and the short space
He has enjoy'd the vital light of Heaven,
Soft difengage, and back into the stream

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The speckled infant throw. But should you lure 420
From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots
Of pendant trees, the monarch of the brook,
Behoves you then to ply your finest art

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Long time he, following cautious, fcans the fly;
And oft attempts to feize it, but as oft
The dimpled water fpeaks his jealous fear.
At laft, while haply o'er the shaded fun
Paffes a cloud, he defperate takes the death,
With fullen plunge. At once he darts along,
Deep-ftruck, and runs out all the lengthen'dline; 430.
Then feeks the fartheft ooze, the sheltering weed,
The cavern'd bank, his old fecure abode;
And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool,
Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand,
That feels him ftill, yet to his furious course
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now
Across the stream, exhauft his idle rage:
Till floating broad upon his breathlefs fide,
And to his fate abandon'd, to the shore
You gaily drag your unrefifting prize. ▾

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THUS

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