Into the worst of deserts sudden turned
The cheerful haunt of men : unless escaped
From the doomed house, where matchless horror

reigns,
Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch,
With frenzy wild, breaks loose ; and loud to Heaven
Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns,
Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door,
Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge
Fearing to turn, abhors society :
Dependants, friends, relations, Love himself,
Savage by woe, forget the tender tie,
The sweet engagement of the feeling heart.
But vain their selfish care : the circling sky,
The wide enlivening air, is full of fate ;
And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs
They fall, unblest, untended, and unmourned.
Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair
Extends her raven wing : while to complete
The scene of desolation, stretched around,
The grim guards stand, denying all retreat,
And give the flying wretch a better death.

Descend : the tempest-loving raven scarce
Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze
The cattle stand, and on the scowling heavens
Cast a deploring eye ; by man forsook,
Who to the crowded cottage hies him fast,
Or seeks the shelter of the downward cave.
'T is listening fear, and dumb amazement all :
When to the startled eye the sudden glance
Appears far south, eruptive through the cloud ;
And following slower, in explosion vast,
The Thunder raises his tremendous voice.
At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of Heaven,
The tempest growls ; but as it nearer comes,
And rolls its awful burden on the wind,
The lightnings flash a larg curve, and more
The noise astounds : till over head a sheet
Of livid flame discloses wide ; then shuts,
And opens wider ; shuts and opens still
Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze.
Follows the loosened aggravated roar,
Enlarging, deepening, mingling ; peal on peal
Crushed horrible, convulsing heaven and earth.

GENERAL EFFECTS OF HEAT ; DROCGHT ; VOLCANOES ;

EARTHQUAKES. Much yet remains unsung: the rage intenso Of brazen-vaulted skies, of iron fields, Where drought and famine starve the blasted year : Fired by the torch of noon to ten-fold rage, The infuriate hill that shoots the pillared flame, And, roused within the subterranean world, The expanding earthquake, that resistless shakes Aspiring cities from their solid base, And buries mountains in the flaming gulf. But 't is enough ; return, my vagrant Muse :

nearer scene of horror calls thee home.

THE TEMPEST; MINERAL EXHALATIONS ; WARRING CLOUDS.

Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove,
Unusual darkness broods, and, growing, gains
The full possession of the sky, surcharged
With wrathful vapor, from the secret beds,
Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn.
Thence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spumo
of fat bitumen, steaming on the day,
With various-tinctured trains of latent flame,
Pollute the sky, and in yon baneful cloud
A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate,
Ferment; till, by the touch ethereal roused,
The dash of clouds, or irritating war
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below,
They furious spring.

A DELUGE OF HAIL AND RAIN ; LIGHTNING ; BLASTED TREES

AND CATTLE ; SHIVERED TOWER; CAERNARVON ; PENMANMAUR ; SNOW DOCN ; CHEVIOT HILLS ; THE SCOTCH ISLES.

Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail,
Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds
Pour a whole flood ; and yet, its flame unquenched,
Th’inconquerable lightning struggles through,
Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls,
And fires the mountains with redoubled rage.
Black from the stroke, above, the smouldering pine
Stands a sad, shattered trunk; and, stretched below,
A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie :
Here the soft flocks, with that same harmless look
They wore alive, and ruminating still
In Fancy's eye ; and there the frowning bull,
And ox half-raised. Struck on the castled cliff,
The venerable tower and spiry fane
Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods
Start at the flash, and from their deep recess,
Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates shake.
Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages

loud
The repercussive roar : with mighty crash,
Into the flashing deep from the rude rocks
of Penmanmaur heaped hideous to the sky,
Tumble the smitten cliffs : and Snowden's peak,
Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load.
Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blazo,
And Thulé bellows through her utmost isles.

THE AWFUL CALM THAT PRECEDES A TEMPEST ; THE BIRDS ;

THE RAVEN ; CATTLE ; THUNDER AND LIGHTNING,

A boding silence reigns Dread through the dun expanse ; save the dull sound That from the mountain, previous to the storm, Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood, And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath. Prone, to the lowest vale, the aérial tribes

CELADON AND AMELIA ; THEIR STORY. Guilt hears appalled, with deeply-troubled And yet not always on the guilty head (thought; Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon And his Ainelia were a matchless pair ; With equal virtue formed, and equal grace, The same, distinguished by their sex alone : Hers, the mild lustre of the blooming morn, And his, the radiance of the risen day.

MUTUAL, UXSELFISH AFFECTION.

They loved : bat such their guileless passion was As in the dawn of time informed the heart Of innocence and undissembling truth. 'T was friendship, heightened by the mutual wish; The enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow, Beamed from the mutual eye. Devoting all To love, each was to each a dearer self; Supremely happy in the awakened power Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, Still in harmonious intercourse they lived The rural day, and talked the flowing heart, Or sighed and looked unutterable things.

A purer azure. Through the lightened air
A higher lustre and a clearer calm,
Diffusive, tremble ; while, as if in sign
Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy,
Set off abundant by the yellow ray,
Invests the fields, and Nature smiles revived.

'T is beauty all, and grateful song around,
Joined to the low of kine, and numerous bleat
of flocks thick-nibbling through the clovered vale;
And shall the hymn be marred by thankless man,
Most favored! who with-voice articulate
Should lead the chorus of this lower world ;
Shall he, so soon forgetful of the Hand
That hushed the thunder, and serenes the sky,
Extinguished feel that spark the tempest waked,
That sense of powers exceeding far his own,
Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears?

THE VIRTUOUS PAIR ARE CAUGHT IN THE TEMPEST. - PRE

SEXTIMENT.

So passed their life, a clear united stream, By care unruffled ; till, in evil hour, The tempest caught them on the tender walk, Heedless how far and where its mazes strayed, While, with each other blest, creative love Still bade eternal Eden smile around. Presaging instant fate, her bosom heaved Unwonted sighs, and, stealing oft a look of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye Fell tearful, wetting her disordered cheek. In vain assuring love, and confidence In Heaven, repressed her fear; it grew, and shook Her frame near dissolution.

THE BATHER; SWIMMING. Cheered by the milder beam, the sprightly youth Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth A sandy bottom shows. A while he stands Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid To meditate the blue profound below; Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek Instant emerge ; and through the obedient wave, At each short breathing by his lip repelled, With arms and legs according well, he makes, As humor leads, an easy-winding path; While, from his polished sides, a dewy light Effuses on the pleased spectators round.

TRUST IN THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. - AMELIA STRUCK DEAD

BY LIGHTXING.

THE ADVANTAGES OF BATHING.

He perceived
The unequal conflict, and, as angels look
On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed,
With love illumined high. • Fear not,' he said,

Sweet innocence ! thou stranger to offence,
And inward storm! He, who yon skies involves
In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee
With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft
That wastes at midnight, or the undreaded hour
Of noon, flies harmless ; and that very voice,
Which thunders terror through the guilty heart,
With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to thine.
'T is safety to be near thee sure, and thus
To clasp perfection !' From his void embrace
(Mysterious Heaven !) that moment, to the ground,
A blackened corse, was struck the beauteous maid.
But who can paint the lover, as he stood,
Pierced by severe amazement, hating life,
Speechless, and fixed in all the death of woe !
So (faint resemblance !) on the marble tomb,
The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands,
Forever silent, and forever sad.

This is the purest exercise of health, The kind refresher of the summer-heats ; Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening food, Would I, weak-shivering, linger on the brink. Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserved, By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs Knit into force ; and the same Roman arm, That rose victorious b'er the conquered earth, First learned, while tender, to subdue the wave. E’en from the body's purity the mind Receives a secret, sympathetic aid.

STORY OF MUSIDORA AND DAMON - THE LOVER SIGHING IN THE

HAZEL COPSE. — DAMON'S GOOD FORTUNE. Close in the covert of a hazel copse, Where, winded into pleasing solitudes, Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat, Pensive, and pierced with love's delightful pangs. There to the stream that down the distant rocks Hoarse murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that Among the bending willows, falsely he (played Of Musidora's cruelty complained. She felt his flame ; but deep within her breast, In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride, The soft return concealed, save when it stolo In sidelong glances from her downcast eye, Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs.

CLEARING UP OF THE SKY ; SUNSHINE AFTER A SHOWER.

THE GRATEFUL FOICES OP NATURE REAWAKEXED. — HUMILITY, GRATITUDE, AND ADORATION.

As from the face of Heaven the shattered clouds Tumultuous rove, the interminable sky Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands

Touched by the scene, no stranger to his vows,
He framed a melting lay to try her heart;
And, if an infant passion struggled there,
To call that passion forth. Thrice happy swain !
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine.

MUSIDORA BATHING.

For, lo ! conducted by the laughing Loves, This cool retreat his Musidora sought : Warm in her cheek the sultry season glowed ; And, robed in loose array, she came to bathe Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost, And dubious flutterings, he a while remained ; A pure ingenuous elegance of soul, A delicate refinement, known to few, Perplexed his breast, and urged him to retire : But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say, Say, ye severest, what would you have done ? Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest Arcadian stream, with timid eye around The banks surveying, stripped her beauteous limbs, To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. Ah, then ! not Paris on the piny top Of Ida panted stronger, when aside The rival goddesses the veil divine Cast unconfined, and gave him all their charms, Than, Damon, thou ; as from the snowy leg, And slender foot, the inverted silk she drew; As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone ; And, through the parting robe, the alternate breast, With youth wild throbbing, on thy lawless gaze In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth, How durst thou risk the soul-distracting view, As from her naked limbs, of glowing white, Harmonious swelled by Nature's finest hand, In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn; And fair-exposed she stood, shrunk from herself, With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze Alarmed, and starting like the fearful fawn ? Then to the flood she rushed ; the parted flood Its lovely guest with closing waves received ; And every beauty sostening, every grace Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed : As shines the lily through the crystal mild ; Or as the rose amid the morning dew, Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows. While thus she wantoned, now beneath the wave But ill concealed, and now with streaming locks, That half embraced her in a humid veil, Rising again, the latent Damon drew Such maddening draughts of beauty to the soul, As for a while o'erwhelmed his raptured thought With luxury too daring.

With headlong hurry filed : but first these lines,
Traced by his ready pencil, on the bank
With trembling hand he threw. •Bathe on, my fair,
Yet unbeheld, save by the sacred eye
Of faithful love : I go to guard thy haunt,
To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot,
And each licentious eye.' With wild surprise,
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense,
A stupid moment motionless she stood :
So stands the statuel that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes
Which blissful Eden knew not; and, arrayed
In careless haste, the alarming paper snatched.
But, when her Damon's well-known hand she saw,
Her terrors vanished, and a softer train
Of mixed emotions, hard to be described,
Her sudden bosom seized : shame void of guilt,
The charming blush of innocence, esteem,
And admiration of her lover's flame,
By modesty exalted : e'en a sense
Of self-approving beauty stole across
Her busy thought. At length a tender calm
Hushed by degrees the tumult of her soul ;
And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream
Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen
Of rural lovers this confession carved,
Which soon her Damon kissed with weeping joy :

Dear youth ! sole judge of what these verses
By fortune too much favored, but by love, (mean,
Alas! not favored less, be still as now
Discreet : the time may come you need not fly.'

SUMMER AFTERNOON. - THE CLOUDS. -- RIPENING FRUITS.

THE EVENING WALK.

The sun has lost his rage : his downward orb Shoots nothing now but animating warmth, And vital lustre ; that, with various ray, Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of heaven Incessant rolled into romantic shapes, The dream of waking fancy. Broad below, Covered with ripening fruits, and swelling fast Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour Of walking comes : for him who lonely loves To seek the distant hills, and there converse With Nature ; there to harmonize his heart, And in pathetic song to breathe around The harmony to others.

CHARMS OF A CIRCLE OF CULTIVATED AND REFINED FRIENDS.

Social friends, Attuned to happy unison of soul ; To whose exalting eye a fairer world, Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse, Displays its charms; whose minds are richly fraught With philosophic stores, superior light ; And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance ;

THE CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION. — DAMON'S MESSAGE ;

MUSIDORA'S REPLY. - THE MEDICEAN VENCS.

Checked, at last, By love's respectful modesty, he deemed The theft profane, if aught profane to love Can e'er be deemed; and, struggling from the shade,

1 The Venus called of the Medici,' at Florence.

Frugal and wise, a Walsingham is thine ;
A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep,
And bore thy name in thunder round the world.
Then flamed thy spirit high ; but who can speak
The numerous worthies of the Maiden Reign?

The great deliverer he ! who from the gloom
Of cloistered monks, and jargon-teaching schools,
Led forth the true Philosophy, there long
Held in the magic chain of words and forms,
And definitions void : he led her forth,
Daughter of Heaven ! that slow-ascending still,
Investigating sure the chain of things,
With radiant finger points to Heaven again.

EULOGY OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

In Raleigh mark their every glory mixed ; Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! whose breast with all The sage, the patriot, and the hero burned ; Nor sunk his vigor, when a coward-reign The warrior fettered, and at last resigned, To glut the vengeance of a vanquished foe. Then, active still and unrestrained, his mind Explored the vast extent of ages past, And with his prison-hours enriched the world ; Yet found no times, in all the long research, So glorious, or so base, as those he proved, In which he conquered, and in which he bled.

EULOGY OF SHAFT ESBURY ; BOYLE ; LOCKE ; NEWTOX.

The generous Ashley 1 thine, the friend of man ; Who scanned his nature with a brother's eye, His weakness prompt to shade, to raise his aim, To touch the finer movements of the mind, And with the moral beauty charm the heart. Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious search Amid the dark recesses of his works The great Creator sought? And why thy Locke, Who made the whole internal world his own? Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom God To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame In all philosophy.

EULOGY OF SIDNEY AND HAMPDEN.

EULOGY OF SHAKSPEARE ; MILTON ; SPENSER ; CHAUCER.

Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass, The plume of war! with early laurels crowned, The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay. A Hampden too is thine, illustrious land ! Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul, Who stemmed the torrent of a downward age To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again In all thy native pomp of freedom bold. Bright, at his call, thy Age of Men effulged, Of men on whom late time a kindling eye Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read.

ECLOGY OF LORD WM. RUSSEL AND ALGERNON SIDNEY.

For lofty sense, Creative fancy, and inspection keen Through the deep windings of the human heart, Is not wild Shakspeare thine and Nature's boast ? Is not each great, each amiable Muse Of classic ages in thy Milton met? A genius universal as his theme, Astonishing as Chaos, as the bloom Of blowing Eden fair, as Heaven sublime ? Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget, The gentle Spenser, Fancy's pleasing son ; Who, like a copious river, poured his song O’er all the mazes of enchanted ground : Nor thee, his ancient master, laughing sage, Chaucer, whose native manners-painting verse, Well moralized, shines through the Gothic cloud Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown.

Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew The grave where Russel lies; whose tempered blood With calmest cheerfulnoss for thee resigned, Stained the sad annals of a giddy reign ; Aiming at lawless power, though meanly sunk In loose inglorious luxury. With him His friend, the British Cassius,' fearless bled ; Of high determined spirit, roughly brave, By ancient learning to the enlightened love Of ancient freedom warmed.

PRAISE OF THE WOMEN OP BRITAIN.

BRITAIN'S GREAT SCIENTISTS AND POETS. - EULOGY OF LORD

BACON.

Fair thy renown In awful sages and in noble bards ; Soon as the light of dawning Science spread Her orient ray, and waked the Muses' song. Thine is a Bacon ; hapless in his choice, Unfit to stand the civil storm of state, And through the smooth barbarity of courts, With firm but pliant virtue, forward still To urge his course : bim for the studious shade Kind Nature formed, deep, comprehensive, clear, Exact, and elegant; in one rich soul Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully, joined.

May my song soften, as thy daughters I, Britannia, hail! for beauty is their own, The feeling heart, simplicity of life, And elegance, and taste : the faultless form, Shaped by the hand of Harmony; the cheek, Where the live crimson, through the native white Soft shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, And every nameless grace; the parted lip, Like the red rose-bud moist with morning dew, Breathing delight ; and, under flowing jet, Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown, The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast ; The look resistless, piercing to the soul, And by the soul informed, when dressed in love She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye.

1 Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury.

1 Algernon Sidney.