Beneath this high o'er-arching canopy
Of clustering oaks, a sylvan colonnade,
Aye listening to the native melody
Of birds fweet-echoing through the lonely fhade,
On to the centre of the grove they stray'd;
Which, in a fpacious circle opening round,
Within its sheltering arms fecurely laid,
Difclos'd to fudden view a vale profound,
With Nature's artless fmiles and tranquil beauties
crown'd.
There, on the bafis of an ancient pile,
Whofe crofs-furmounted fpire o'erlook'd the wood,
A venerable Matron they ere-while
Discover'd have, befide a murmuring flood
Reclining in right fad and penfive mood.
Retir'd within her own abftracted breast,
She feem'd o'er various woes by turns to brood; The which her changing chear by turns expreft, Now glowing with disdain, with grief now * over-kest.
Her thus immers'd in anxious thought profound
When-as the Knight perceiv'd, he nearer drew;
To weet what bitter bale did her astound,
And whence th' occafion of her anguish grew.
Over-keft, for over-cast.
For that right noble Matron well he knew ; And many perils huge, and labours fore, Had for her fake endur'd; her vaffal true, Train'd in her love, and practis'd evermore Her honour to respect, and reverence her lore.
O deareft drad! he cried, fair ifland queen!
Mother of heroes! Emprefs of the Main!
What means that ftormy brow of troublous teen?
Sith heaven-born Peace, with all her fmiling train Of fciences and arts, adorns thy reign
With wealth and knowledge, fplendour and renown? Each port how throng'd! how fruitful every plain! How blithe the country! and how gay the town! While Liberty fecures and heightens every boon!
Awaken'd from her trance of penfive woe
By thefe fair flattering words, the rais'd her head;
And, bending on the Knight her frowning brow,
Mock't thou my forrows, Fairy Son? the faid.
Or is thy judgment by thy heart misled
To deem that certain, which thy hopes fuggeft?
To deem them full of life and † luftihead,
Whofe cheeks in Hebe's vivid tints are dreft,
And with Joy's carelefs mien, and dimpled fimiles
Luftihead, ftrong health, vigour.
Thy unfufpecting heart how nobly good
I know, how fanguine in thy country's caufe !
And mark'd thy virtue, fingly how it stood
Th' affaults of mighty Custom, which o'erawes
The faint and timorous mind, and oft withdraws
From Reafon's lore th' ambitious and the vain
By the fweet lure of popular applaufe,
Against their better knowledge, to maintain
The lawless throne of Vice, or Folly's childish reign.
How vaft his influence! how wide his sway!
Thyself ere-while by proof didst understand :
And faw'ft, as through his realms thou took'st thy way,
How Vice and Folly had o'erspread the land.
And can't thou then, O Fairy Son, demand
The reafon of my woe? or hope to eafe
The throbbings of my heart with speeches bland,
And words more apt my forrows to increase,
The once-dear names of Wealth, and Liberty, and Peace?
LXXVI.
Peace, Wealth, and Liberty, that noblest boon,
Are bleffings, only to the wife and good.
To weak and vicious minds their worth unknown,
And thence abus'd but ferve to furnish food
For riot and debauch, and fire the blood
With high-fpic'd luxury; whenee Strife, Debate,
Ambition, Envy, Faction's viperous brood,
Contempt of order, manners profligate;
The fymptoms of a foul, difeas'd, and bloated state.
Ev'n Wit and Genius, with their learned train
Of Arts and Mufes, though from Heaven above
Defcended, when their talents they profane
To varnish Folly, kindle wanton Love,
And aid excentric fceptic Pride to rove
Beyond celeftial Truth's attractive sphere,
This moral fyftem's central fun, aye prove
To their fond votaries a curfe fevere,
And only make mankind more obftinately err.
LXXVIII.
And ftand my fons herein from cenfure clear?
Have they confider'd well, and understood,
The ufe and import of those bleffings dear,
Which the great Lord of Nature hath bestow'd
As well to prove, as to reward the good?
Whence are thefe torrents then, thefe billowy feas
Of vice, in which, as in his proper flood,
The fell Leviathan licentious plays,
And upon fhipwreck'd Faith and finking Virtue preys ? LXXIX.
To you, ye Noble, Opulent and Great!
With friendly voice I call, and honest zeal!
Upon your vital influences wait
The health and fickness of the commonweal
The maladies you caufe, yourselves must heal.
In vain to the unthinking harden'd crowd
Will Truth and Reafon make their just appeal;
In vain will facred Wifdom cry aloud;
And Justice drench in vain her vengeful fword in blood.
LXXX. With
With you must reformation first take place :. You are the head, the intellectual mind Of this vaft. body politic; whose base,, And vulgar limbs, to drudgery confign'd, All the rich ftores of Science have refign'd To you, that by the craftfman's various toil, The fea-worn mariner, and sweating hind, and affluence maintain'd, the while You, for yourselves and them, may drefs, the mental foil.
Bethink you then, my children, of the truft
In you repos'd: ne let your heaven-born mind:
Confume in pleasure, or unactive rust;
But nobly roufe you to the task affign'd,
The godlike task to teach and mend mankind:
Learn, that ye may inftruct: to virtue lead
Yourselves the way: the herd will crowd behind,
And gather precepts from each worthy deed :
"Example is a leffon, that all men can read."
LXXXII.
But if (to all or most I do not speak)
In vain and fenfual habits now grown old,
The ftrong Circæan charm you cannot break,
Nor re-affume at will your native * mould,
envy not the state you could not hold;
And take compaffion on the rifing age:
In them redeem your errours manifold;
And, by due difcipline and nurture fage,
In Virtue's lore betimes your docile fons engage.
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