Aken side.

B. II. S. 321 ff. haben wir in ihm einen der schäßbars ften didaktischen Dichter kennen lernen; aber auch in der lys rischen Gattung zeichnet er sich sehr vortheilhaft aus. Dr. Johnson, der ihm dieß Verdienst im Allgemeinen zugesteht, tadelt zwar an seinen Oden den Mangel an Stärke, Natur und Neuheit; die Sprache derselben scheint ihm zuweilen hart und ungefällig zu seyn; den Strophenbau erklårt er für übel geordnet und unangenehm, die Reime für mißklingend, ungeschickt vertheilt und zu weit von einander entfernt; und ganz find sie schwerlich von diesem Tadel frei zu sprechen. Auch selbst in folgendem, an Schönheiten gewiß nicht armen, Gedichte ist dieß zuweilen der Fall; es gehört überhaupt wohl mehr zur beschreibenden als lyrischen Gattung; und ich würde die Hymne an die Najaden in dessen Stelle gewählt haben, wenn mich ihre Länge nicht anders bestimmt hätte.

HYMN TO CHEERFULNESS.

Akenside.

How thick the fhades of ev'ning clofe!
How pale the íky with weight of fnows!
Hafte, light the tapers, urge the fire,
And bid the joyless day retire!

Alas! in vain I try within

To brighten the dejected scene;
While rous'd by grief these fiery pains
Tear the frail texture of my veins,
While Winter's voice that ftorms around,
And yon' deep dead-bell's groaning found,
Renew my mind's oppreffive gloom
Till starting Horrour 1hakes the room.

Is there in Nature no kind pow'r
To footh Affliction's lonely hour?
To blunt the edge of dire disease,
And teach thefe wintry fhades to please?

Come

Akenside. Come, Cheerfulness, triumphant Fair,
Shine thro' the hov'ring cloud of care;
O fweet of language, mild of mien!
O Virtue's friend, and Pleasure's queen!
Affuage the flames that burn my breast,
Compole my jarring thoughts to rest,
And while thy gracious gifts I feel,
My fong fhall all thy praife reveal.

1 As once (it was in Astrea's reign)
The vernal pow'rs renew'd their train,
It happen'd that immortal Love
Was ranging thro' the spheres above,
And downward hither caft his eye
The year's returning pomp to spy.
He faw the radiant god of Day
Waft in his car the roly May;
The fragrant Airs and genial Hours
Were fhedding round him dews and flow'rs;

Before his wheels Aurora paft,

And Hefper's golden lamp was laft:
But fairest of the blooming throng
When Health majeftick mov'd along,
Delighted to furvey below

The joys which from her prefence flow,
While earth enliven d hears her voice,
And fwains, and flocks, and fields rejoice,
Then mighty Love her charms confeft,
And foon his vows inclin'd her breast,
And known from that aufpicious morn
The pleafing Cheerfulness was born.

Thou, Cheerfulness! by Heav'n defign'd
To fway the movements of the mind,
Whatever fretful paffion fprings,
Whatever wayward fortune brings
To difarrange the pow'r within,
And ftrain the mufical machine,
Thou, Goddefs thy attemp'ring hand
Doth each difcording ftring command,

Refines

Refines the foft, and fwells the ftrong,
And joining Nature's gen ral fong
Thro' many a various tone unfolds
The harmony of human fouls.

Fair Guardian of domestick life!
Kind Banif her of homebred ftrife!
Nor fullen lip, nor taunting eye
Deforms the scene, where thou art by;
No fick'ning hufband damns the hour
Which bound his joys to female pow'r;
No pining mother weeps the cares
Which parents waste on thankless heirs;
Th' officious daughters pleas'd attend,
The brother adds the name of friend:
By thee with flow'rs their board is crown'd,
With fongs from thee their walks refound,
And morn with welcome luftre 1hines,
And ev'ning unperceiv'd declines.

Is there a youth whofe anxious heart
Labours with love's unpity'd fmart?
Tho' now he stray by rills and bow'rs,
And weeping waste the lonely hours,
Or if the nymph her audience deign
Debafe the story of his pain

With flavish looks, difcolour'd eyes,
And accents falt'ring into fighs,
Yet thou, aufpicious Pow'r! with ease
Can't yield him happier arts to please,
Inform his mien with manlier charms,
Inftruct his tongue with noble arms,
With more commanding paffion move,
And teach the dignity of love.

Friend to the Mufe and all her train!
For thee I court the Muse again;
The Mufe for thee may well exert
Her pomp, her charms, her fondeft art,
Who owes to thee that pleafing fway,

Akenside:

1

Atenfide. Which earth and peopled heav'n obey.
Let Melancholy's plaintive tongue
Repeat what later bards have fung;
But thine was Homer's ancient might,
And thine victorious Pindar's flight;
Thy hand each Lesbian wreath attir'd,
Thy lips Sicilian reeds infpir'd;
Thy fpirit lent the glad perfume
Whence yet the flow'rs of Teos bloom,
Whence yet from Tibur's Sabine vale
Delicious blows th' enliv'ning gale,
While Horace calls thy fportive choir,
Heroes and Nymphs, around his lyre.

But fee, where yonder penfive fage
(A prey perhaps to Fortune's rage,
Perhaps by tender griefs oppreft,
Or glooms congenial to his breast,)
Retires in defert fcenes to dwell,
And bids the joylefs world farewell:
Alone he treads th' autumnal fhade,
Alone beneath the mountain laid,
He fees the nighty damps afcend,
And gath'ring ftorms aloft impend,
He hears the neighb'ring furges roll,
And raging thunders fhake the pole,
Then ftruck by ev'ry object round,
And ftunn'd by ev'ry horrid found,
He afks a clue for Nature's ways,
But evil haunts him thro' the maze;
He fees ten thousand demons rile,
To wield the empire of the fkies,.
And Chance and Fate affume the rod,
Ane Malice blot the throne of God.

O thou! whofe pleafing pow'r I fing,
Thy lenient influence hither bring,
Compofe the ftorm, difpel the gloom,
Till Nature wear her wonted bloom,
Till fields and fhades their fweets exhale,
And mufick fwell each op'ning gale;

Then

Then o'er his breast thy foftness pour,
And let him learn the timely hour
To trace the world's benignant laws,
And judge of that Prefiding Caufe
Who founds on difcord Beauty's reign,
Converts to pleasure ev'ry pain,
Subdues each hoftile form to reft,
And bids the univerfe be bleft.

e

O thou! whofe pleasing pow'r I fing,
If right I touch the votive ftring,
If equal praife I yield thy name,
Still govern thou thy poets flame,
Still with the Mufe my bofom fhare,
And footh to peace intruding care;
But most exert thy pleafing pow'r
On friendship's confecrated hour,
And while my Sophron points the road
To godlike Wisdom's calm abode,''
Or warm in freedom's ancient cause
Traceth the fource of Albion's laws,
Add thou o'er all the gen'rous toil
The light of thy unclouded fmile.
But if by Fortune's stubborn fway
From him and friendship torn away,
I court the Mufe's healing spell
For griefs that still with abfence dwell,
Do thou conduct my fancy's dreams
To fuch indulgent placid themes
As just the struggling breaft may cheer,
And juft fufpend the starting tear;
Yet leave that facred fenfe of wo
Which none but friends and lovers know!

Akenfibe.

Gray.