Eyes all the smiling family askance,

And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is;
Till, more familiar grown, the table crumbs

Attract his tender feet.

A WINTER EVENING.

THOMSON.

NOW stir the fire, and close the shutters fast;
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round;
And, while the bubbling and loud hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer, but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful ev'ning in.

Not such his ev'ning, who, with shining face,
Sweats in the crowded theatre, and, squeez'd
And bor'd with elbow-points through both his sides,
Outscolds the ranting actor on the stage.

O Winter! ruler of th' inverted year,

Thy scatter'd hair with sleet like ashes fill'd,
Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks
Fring'd with a beard whiten'd with other snows
Than those of age, thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds,
A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne
A sliding car, indebted to no wheels,

But urg'd by storms along it's slipp'ry way;
I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st,
And dreadful as thou art.

*

I crown thee king of intimate delights,
Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturb'd retirement and the hours
Of long uninterrupted ev'ning know.

No rattling wheels stop short before these gates;

No powder'd pert proficient in the art

Of sounding an alarm assaults these doors
Till the street rings; no stationary steeds

Cough their own knell, while, heedless of the sound,
The silent circle fan themselves and quake:
But here the needle plies it's busy task;
The pattern grows; the well-depicted flow'r,
Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn,
Unfolds it's bosom; buds, and leaves, and sprigs,
And curling tendrils, gracefully dispos'd,

Follow the nimble finger of the fair;

A wreath that cannot fade, of flow'rs that blow
With most success when all besides decay.
The poet's or historian's page, by one

Made vocal for th' amusement of the rest ;

The sprightly lyre, whose treasure of sweet sounds
The touch from many a trembling chord shakes out;
And the clear voice symphonious, yet distinct,
And in the charming strife triumphant still;
Beguile the night, and set a keener edge
On female industry: the threaded steel
Flies swiftly, and unfelt the task proceeds.

COWPER.

ADDRESS TO THE CREATOR,

O MIGHTY Genius! Sole animating and inspiring Power! Author and subject of these thoughts! Thy influence is universal: and, in all things, thou art inmost. From Thee depend their secret springs of action. Thou movest them with an irresistible unwearied force, by sacred and inviolable laws, framed for the good of each particular being; as best may suit with the perfection, life, and vigour of the whole. The vital principle is widely shared, and infinitely varied: dispersed throughout; nowhere

extinct. All lives; and by succession still revives. The temporary beings quit their borrowed forms, and yield their elementary substance to new comers. Called, in their several turns, to life, they view the light, and viewing pass; that others too may be spectators of the goodly scene, and greater numbers still enjoy the privilege of Nature. .. No time nor substance is lost or unimproved. New forms arise: and when the old dissolve, the matter whence they were composed is not left useless, but wrought with equal management and art, even in corruption, Nature's seeming waste and vile abhorence. The abject state appears merely as the way or passage to some better. SHAFTESBURY.

APOSTROPHE TO THE SUN.

PRODIGIOUS orb! Bright source of vital heat, and spring of day! Soft flame, yet how intense, how active! How diffusive, and how vast a substance; yet how collected thus within itself, and in a glowing mass confined to the centre of this planetary world! Mighty being! brightest image and representative of the Almighty! Supreme of the corporeal world! Unperishing in grace, and of undecaying youth! Fair, beautiful, and hardly mortal creature! By what secret ways dost thou receive the supplies, which maintain thee still in such unwearied vigour and unexhausted glory; notwithstanding those eternally emitted streams, and that continual expense of vital treasures, which enlighten and invigorate the surrounding worlds?

Around him all the planets, with this our Earth, single, or with attendants, continually move; seeking to receive the blessing of his light and lively warmth! Towards him they seem to tend with prone descent, as to their centre; but happily controlled still by another impulse, they keep

their heavenly order; and in just numbers, and exactest measure, go the eternal rounds.

But, O thou who art the Author and Modifier of these various motions! O sovereign and sole Mover, by whose high art the rolling spheres are governed, and these stupendous bodies of our world hold their unrelenting courses! O wise Economist, and powerful Chief, whom all the elements and powers of nature serve! How hast thou animated these moving worlds? What spirit or soul infused? What bias fixed? Or how encompassed them in liquid æther, driving them as with the breath of living winds, thy active and unwearied ministers, in this intricate and mighty work? SHAFTESBURY..

THE TORRID AND FRIGID ZONES.

HOW oblique and faintly looks the sun on yonder climates, far removed from him! How tedious are the winters there! How deep the horrours of the night, and how uncomfortable even the light of day! The freezing winds employ their fiercest breath, yet are not spent with blowing. The sea, which elsewhere is scarce confined within. it's limits, lies here immured in walls of crystal. The snow covers the hills, and almost fills the lowest valleys. How wide and deep it lies, incumbent over the plains, hiding. the sluggish rivers, the shrubs, and trees, the dens of beasts, and mansions of distressed and feeble men! See! where they lie confined, hardly secure against the raging. cold, or the attacks of the wild beasts, now masters of the wasted field, and forced by hunger out of the naked woods.. -Yet not disheartened (such is the force of human breasts), but thus provided for, by art and prudence, the kind compensating gifts of Heaven, men and their herds may wait for a release. For at length the sun approaching, melts the snow, sets longing men at liberty, and affords them means and time to make provision against the next return

of cold. It breaks the icy fetters of the main; where vast sea monsters pierce through floating islands, with arms which can withstand the crystal rock: while others, who of themselves seem great as islands, are by their bulk alone armed against all but man; whose superiority over creatures of such stupendous size and force should make him mindful of his privilege of reason, and force him humbly to adore the grear Composer of these wondrous frames, and Author of his own superior wisdom.

But leaving these dull climates, so little favoured by the sun, for those happier regions, on which he looks more. kindly, making perpetual summer; how great an alteration do we find! His purer light confounds weak sighted mortals, pierced by his scorching beams. Scarce.can they, tread the glowing ground. The air they breathe cannot enough abate the fire, which burns within their panting breasts. Their bodies melt. Overcome and fainting, they seek the shade, and wait the cool refreshments of the night. Yet oft the bounteous Creator bestows other refreshments. He casts a veil of clouds before them, and raises gentle gales; favoured by which, the men and beasts pursue their labours; and plants, refreshed by dews. and showers, can gladly bear the warmest sunbeams. SHAFTESBURY.

MOUNTAIN SCENERY.

BUT behold! through a vast tract of sky before us, the mighty Atlas rears his lofty head, covered with snow, above the clouds. Beneath the mountain's foot, the rocky country rises into hills, a proper basis of the ponderous mass above: where huge embodied rocks lie piled on one another and seem to prop the high arch of Heaven. -See! with what trembling steps poor mankind tread the narrow brink of the deep precipices! Whence with giddy horrour they look down, mistrusting even the ground which bears them; while they hear the hollow sound of