Unequal far; great delegated fource
Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!
How fhall I then attempt to fing of HIM,
Who, LIGHT HIMSELF, in uncreated light
Invested deep, dwells awfully retir'd
From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken;
Whofe fingle smile has, from the first of time,
Fill'd, overflowing, all thofe lamps of Heaven,
That beam for ever thro' the boundless sky;
But, fhould he hide his face, th' astonish'd fun,
And all th' extinguifh'd ftars, would loofening reel 180
Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again.
AND yet was every faultering tongue of Man,
ALMIGHTY FATHER! filent in thy praise;
Thy Works themselves would raise a general voice,
Even in the depth of folitary woods
By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power,
And to the quire celeftial TH E E refound,
Th' eternal caufe, fupport, and end of all!
To me be Nature's volume broad-display'd;
And to perufe its all-inftructing page,
Or, haply catching infpiration thence,
Some eafy paffage, raptur'd, to tranflate,
My fole delight; as thro' the falling glooms
Penfive I ftray, or with the rifing dawn.
On Fancy's eagle-wing excurfive foar.
Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent fun Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds, And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills In party-colour'd bands; till wide unveil'd The face of Nature fhines, from where earth feems Far-ftretch'd around, to meet the bending fphere. 201
HALF in a blush of clustering roses loft,
Dew-dropping Coolness to the fhade retires;
There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed,.
By gelid founts and careless rills to muse:
While tyrant Heat, difpreading thro' the sky,
With rapid fway, his burning influence darts.
On Man, and beast, and herb, and tepid stream.
WHO can unpitying fee the flowery race, Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom refign, 210: Before the parching beam? So fade the fair, When fevers revel thro' their azure veins. But one, the lofty follower of the fun,
Sad when he fets, fhuts up her yellow leaves,
Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns, 215, Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray..
HOME, from his morning task, the swain retreats;
His flock before him stepping to the fold:
While the full-udder'd mother lows around
The chearful cottage, then expecting food,
The food of innocence, and health! The daw,
The rook and magpie, to the grey-grown oaks
(That the calm village in their verdant arms,
Sheltering, embrace) direct their lazy flight;
Where on the mingling boughs they fit embower'd,
All the hot noon, till cooler hours arife.
Faint, underneath, the houshold fowls convene;
And, in a corner of the buzzing shade,
The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies,
Out-ftretch'd, and sleepy. In his flumbers one
Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults
O'er hill and dale; till waken'd by the wafp,
They ftarting fnap. Nor fhall the mufe difdain
To let the little noify fummer-race
Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her fong:
Not mean tho' fimple; to the fun ally'd,
From him they draw their animating fire.
WAK'D by his warmer ray, the reptile young Come wing'd abroad; by the light air upborn, Lighter, and full of foul. From every chink, 240 And fecret corner, where they flept away
The wintry forms; or rifing from their tombs,
To higher life; by myriads, forth at once,
Swarming they pour; of all the vary'd hues
Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.
Ten thousand forms! Ten thousand different tribes!
People the blaze. To funny waters fome
By fatal instinct fly; where on the pool
They, sportive, wheel; or, failing down the ftream,
Are fnatch'd immediate by the quick-eyed trout, 250
Or darting falmon. Thro' the green-wood glade
Some love to ftray; there lodg'd, amus'd and fed,
In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make
The meads their choice, and vifit every flower,
And every latent herb: for the fweet task,
To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,
In what foft beds, their young yet undisclos'd,
Employs their tender care. Some to the house,
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight;
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese: 260
Oft, inadvertent, from the milky stream
They meet their fate; or, weltering in the bowl, With powerlefs wings around them wrapt, expire.
BUT chief to heedlefs flies the window proves
A conftant death; where, gloomily retir'd,
The villain fpider lives, cunning, and fierce,
Mixture abhorr'd! Amid a mangled heap
Of carcaffes, in eager watch he fits,
O'erlooking all his waving fnares around.
Near the dire cell the dreadlefs wanderer oft
Pafles, as oft the ruffian shows his front;
The prey at last enfnared, he dreadful darts,
With rapid glide, along the leaning line;
And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs,
Strikes backward grimly pleas'd: the fluttering wing,
And fhriller found declare extreme distress,
And ask the helping hospitable hand.
RESOUNDS the living surface of the ground:
Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum,
To him who mufes thro' the woods at noon;
Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclin'd,
With half-fhut eyes, beneath the floating shade
Of willows grey, close-crouding o'er the brook.
GRADUAL, from these what numerous kinds defcend, Evading even the microscopic eye! 285 Full Nature fwarms with life; one wondrous mafs Of animals, or atoms organiz'd,
Waiting the vital Breath, when PARENT-HEAVEN Shall bid his fpirit blow. The hoary fen,
In putrid steams, emits the living cloud
Of peftilence. Thro' fubterranean cells,
Where searching fun-beams scarce can find a way
Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf
Wants not its foft inhabitants. Secure,
Within its winding citadel, the ftone
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