With powerless 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, M.xture 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 Paffes, as oft the ruffian fhews his front; The prey at laft enfnar'd, 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 diflrefs, And ask the helping hofpitable hand.
Refounds the living furface of the ground:
Nor undelightful is the ceafelefs hum,
To him who mufes thro' the woods at noon; Or drowsy fhepherd, as he lies reclin'd, With half fhut eyes, beneath the floating fhade Of willows grey, clofe crouding o'er the brook. Gradual, from these what numerous kinds defcend, Evading even the microfcopic eye! 285 Full Nature fwarms with life; one wond'rous mais Of animals, or atoms organiz'd,
Waiting the vital Breath, when parent heaven
Shall bid his fpirit blow. The hoary fen,
In putrid fteams, emits the living cloud Of peftilence. Thro' fubterranean cells,
Where fearching fun-beams fcarce can find a way, Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf
Wants not its foft inhabitants.
Within its winding citadel, the ftone
Holds multitudes. But chief the foreft boughs, That dance unnumber'd to the playful breeze, The downy orchard, and the melting pulp Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed Of evanefcent infects. Where the pool Stands man led o'er with green, invifible, Amid the floating verdure millions ftray. Each liquid too, whether it pierces, fooths, Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste,
With various forms abounds. Nor is the ftream 305 Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air, Tho' one tranfparent vacancy it seems,
Void of their unfeen people. These, concealed By the kind art of forming heaven, escape The groffer eye of man. for, if the worlds In worlds inclos'd fhould on his fenfes burft,
From catès ambrofial, and the nectar'd bowl, He would abhorrent turn; and in dead night, Whence filence fleeps o'er all, be ftunn'd with noife. Let no prefuming impious railer tax Creative w fdom, as if aught was form'd
In vain, or not for admirable ends.
Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce
His works unwife, of which the smallest part Exceeds the narrow vifion of her mind?
As if upon a full proportion'd dome,
On fwelling columns heav'd, the pride of art! A critic fly, whofe feeble ray fcarce spreads An inch around, with blind prefumption bold, Should dare to tax the structure of the whole. 325 And lives the man, whofe univerfal eye
Has (wept at once th' unbounded scheme of things; Mark'd their dependance fo, and firm accord, As with unfaultering accent to conclude That This availeth nought? Has any seen The mighty change of beings leffening down From Infinite Perfection to the brink Of dreary Nothing, defolate abyfs!
From which aftonish'd thought, recoiling, turns? Till then alone let zealous praise afcend, And hymns of holy wonder, to that power, Whose wifdom thines as lovely on our minds, As on our smiling eyes his fervant fun.
Thick in yon ftream of light, a thousand ways, Upward and downward, thwarting, and convolv'd, The quivering nations fport; till tempeft-wing'd, 341 Fierce winter fweeps them from the face of day. Even fo luxurious men, unheeding, pass An idle fummer life in fortune's fhine, A feafon's glitter! Thus they flutter on From toy to toy, from vanity to vice;
Till, blown away by death, oblivion comes Behind, and strikes them from the book of life. Now fwarms the village o'er the jovial mead : The ruftic youth, brown with meridian toil, 350 Healthful, and throng; full as the fummer rofe Blown by prevailing funs, the ruddy maid, Half naked, fwelling on the fight, and all Her kindled graces burning o'er her cheek, Even ftooping age is here; and infant hands Trail the long rake, or, with the fragrant load O'ercharg'd, amid the kind oppreffion roll. Wide flies the tedded grain; all in a row Advancing broad, or wheeling round the field, They fpread the breathing harvest to the fun, 360 That throws refrethful round a rural smell: Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground, And drive the dusky wave along the mead, The ruffet hay-cock rifes thick behind,
In order gay. While heard from dale to dale, 365 Waking the breeze, refounds the blended voice Of happy labour, love, and focial glee.
Or ruthing thence, in one diffufive band, They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog Compell'd, to where the mazy running brook 370 Forms a deep pool: this bank abrupt and high, And that fair spreading in a pebbled thore. Urg'd to the giddy brink, much is the toil, The clamour much of men, and boys and dogs, Ere the foft fearful people to the flood
Commit their woolly fides. And oft the fwain, On fome impatient feizing, hurls them in : Embolden'd thus, nor hefitating more,
Faft, faft, they plunge amid the flathing waye, 380 And panting labour to the fartheft thore.
Repeated this, till deep the well wath'd fleece Has drunk the flood, and from his lively haunt The trout is banifh'd by the fordid stream; Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow Slow move the harmless race: where as they fpread Their fwelling treasures to the funny ray, Inly disturb'd, and wondering what this wild Qutrageous tumult means, their loud complaints
The country fill; and tofs'd from rock to rock, Inceffant bleatings run around the hills. At last, of fnowy white, the gather'd flocks Are in the wattled pen innumerous prefs'd, Head above head; and, rang'd in lufty rows The shepherds fit, and whet the founding fhears. The houfew fe waits to roll her fleecy ftores, With all her gay-dreft maids attending round. ¡One, chief, in gracious dignity inthron'd,
Shines o'er the reft, the paftoral queen, and rays Her fmiles, fweet-beaming, on her thepherd-king; While the glad circle round them yield their fouls To feftive mirth, and wit that knows no gall. 401 Meantime, their joyous tafk goes on apace: Some mingling ftir the melted tar, and fome, Deep on the new-fhorn vagrant's heaving fide, To ftamp his master's cypher ready stand; Other th' unwilling wether drag along, And, glorying in his might, the sturdy boy Holds by the twifted horns th' indignant ram. Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft, By needy man, that all-depending lord, How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies! What foftnefs in its melancholy face, What dumb complaining innocence appears! Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 'tis not the knife Of horrid flaughter that is o'er you wav'd; 415 No, 'tis the tender fwain's well guided fhears, Who' having now, to pay his annual care, Borrow'd your fleece, to you a cumbrous load, Will fend you bounding to your hills again.
A fimple fcene! yet hence Britannia fees Her folid grandeur rife: hence the commands Th' exalted flores of every brighter clime, The treasures of the fun without his rage: Hence, fervent all, with culture, toil, and arts, Wide glows her land: her dreadful thunder hence 425 Rides o'er the waves fublime, and now, even now, Impending bangs o'er Gallia's humbled coaft; Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the world. 'fis raging noon; and, vertical, the Sun Darts on the head direct his forceful rays.
Ö'er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye Can fweep, a dazzling deluge reigns; and all From pole to pole is undiftinguifh'd blaze. In vain the fight, dejected to the ground, Stoops for relief; thence hot afcending teams 435 And keen reflection pain. Deep to the root Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields And flippery lawn an arid hue disclose, Blaft fancy's blooms, and wither e'en the foul. Echo no more returns the chearful found Of tharpening fcythe: the mower finking heaps O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfum'd; And fcarce a chirping grafs-hopper is heard Thro' the dumb mead. Diftrefsful Nature pants. The very ftreams look languid from afar; Or, thro' th' unfhelter'd glade, impatient, feem To hurl into the covert of the grove. All-conquering heat, oh intermit thy wrath! And on my throbbing temples potent thus Beam not fo fierce! Inceffant ftill you flow, And ftill another fervent flood fucceeds, Pour'd on the head profufe. In vain 1 figh, And restless turn, and look around for night; Night is far off; and hotter hours approach. Thrice happy he! who on the funlefs fide Of a romantic mountain, foreft-crown'd, Beneath the whole collected fhade reclines:" Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought, And freth bedew'd with ever fouting ftreams, Sits coolly calm: while all the world without, 460 Unfatisfied, and fick, toffes in noon.
Emblem inftru&tive of the virtuous man,
Who keeps his temper'd mind ferene, and pure,
And every paffion aptly harmoniz'd,
Amid a jarring world with vice inflam'd.
Welcome ye thades! ye bowery thickets hail!
Ye lofty pines! ye venerable oaks!
Ye athes wild, refounding o'er the steep! Delicious is your fhelter to the foul, As to the hunted hart the fa lying fpring, Or ftream full-flowing, that his fwelling fides Laves, as he floats along the herbag'd brink,
« PreviousContinue » |