Exalts her daring eye; then mightier far Will be the change, and nobler. Would the forms For what th' eternal MAKER has ordain'd What he beholds and loves, the general orb Whom nature's works instruct, with God himself With his conceptions; act upon his plan; And form to his, the relish of their souls.-AKENSIDE. CHAPTER V. PATHETIC PIECES. SECTION I. The hermit. 1. At the close of the day, when the hamlet is still, 3 Mourn, sweetest complainer, man calls thee to mourn ; O sooth him whose pleasures like thine pass away : Full quickly they pass-but they never return. 3 "Now gliding remote, on the verge of the sky,' The moon half extinguish'd, her crescent displays: But lately I mark'd, when majestic on high She shone, and the planets were lost in her blaze. Roll on thou fair orb, and with gladness pursue The path that conducts thee to splendour again : But man's faded glory what change shall renew! Ah fool! to exuit in a glory so vain! 4""Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more: I mourn; but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for you; For mora is approaching, your charms to restore, Perfum'd with fresh fragrance and glitt'ring with dev Nor yet for the ravage of winte. I mourn; Kind nature the embryo blossom will save : But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn! O when shall day dawn on the night of the grave! 5 ""Twas thus by the glare of false science betray'd, That leads, to bewilder, and dazzles, to blind; My thoughts wont to roam, from shade onward to shad Destruction before me, and sorrow behind. O pity, great father of light, then I cried, Thy creature who fain would not wander from thee Lo, humbled in dust, I relinquish my pride: From doubt and from darkness thou only canst free 6 "And darkness and doubt are now flying away; No longer I roam in conjecture forlorn: So breaks on the traveller, faint and estray, The bright and the balmy effulgence of morn. See truth, love and mercy in triumph descending, And nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom! On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blendin And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.” SECTION II. 1 Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, BEATTIE. Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your dou Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh! give relief, and Heaven will bless your store. These tatter'd clothes my poverty bespeak; These hoary locks, proclaim my lengthen'd years; And many a furrow in my grief-worn cheek, Has been the channel to a flood of tears. 3 Yon house, erected on the rising ground, Hard is the fate of the infirm and poor! Here, as I crav'd a morsel of their bread, Should I reveal the sources of my grief, If soft humanity e'er touch'd your breast, A little farm was my paternal lot; Then, like the lark, I sprightly hail'd the morn; And left the world to wretchedness and me. Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door: Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span: Oh! give relis f. and Heav'n will bless your store. SECTION III. Unhappy close of life. 1 How shocking must thy summons be, O Death! O might she stay to wash away her stains; 1 Hail, lovely pow'r! whose bosom heaves the sigh, 2 Not all the sweets Arabia's gales convey From flow'ry meads, can with that sigh compare ; Not dew-drops glitt'ring in the morning ray, Seem near so beauteous as the falling tear. 3 Devoid of fear, the fawns around thee play; Emblem of peace, the dove before thee flies: 4 Come, lovely nymph, and range the mead with me, 5 And when the air with heat meridian glows. And nature droops beneath the conqu'ring gleam, And be the sure resource of drooping age. SECTION V. Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary abode in the Island of Juan Fernandez. 1 I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; From the centre all round to the sea, I am lord of the fowl and the brute. Oh solitude! where are the charms, That sages have seen in thy face? I must finish my journey alone; Divinely bestow'd upon ma... jomis, deart. |