Of folemn oaks, that tuft the fwelling mounts
Thrown graceful round by Nature's careless hand,
And penfive liften to the various voice
Of rural peace: the herds, the flocks, the birds, 915
The hollow-whifp'ring breeze, the plaint of rills,
That, purling down amid the twisted roots
Which creep around, their dewy murmurs fhake
On the footh'd ear. From these abstracted oft,
You wander thro' the philofophic world;
Where in bright train continual wonders rise,
Or to the curious or the pious eye.
And oft, conducted by historic truth,
You tread the long extent of backward time:
Planning, with warm benevolence of mind,
And honeft zeal unwarp'd by party-rage,
BRITANNIA'S weal; how from the venal gulf
To raise her virtue, and her arts revive.
Or, turning thence thy view, these graver thoughts The Muses charm: while, with fure taste refin'd, 930 You draw th' infpiring breath of ancient fong;
Till nobly rifes, emulous, thy own.
Perhaps thy lov'd LUCINDA fhares thy walk,
With foul to thine attun'd. Then Nature all
Wears to the lover's eye a look of love;
And all the tumult of a guilty world,
Toft by ungen'rous paffions, finks away.
The tender heart is animated peace;
And as it pours its copious treasures forth,
In varied converse, soft'ning every theme,
You, frequent-paufing, turn, and from her eyes,
Where meek'ned fenfe, and amiable grace,
And lively sweetness dwell, enraptur'd, drink
That nameless spirit of ethereal joy,
Unutterable happiness! which love,
Alone, beftows, and on a favour'd few.
Meantime you gain the height, from whofe fair brow
The burfting profpect fpreads immenfe around:
And fnatch'd o'er hill and dale, and wood and lawn,
And verdant field, and dark'ning heath between, 950
And villages embosom'd foft in trees,
And fpiry towns by furging columns mark'd
Of houfhold fmoak, your eye excurfive roams:
Wide-stretching from the Hall, in whofe kind haunt
The Hofpitable Genius lingers ftill,
To where the broken landscape, by degrees,
Afcending, roughens into rigid hills;
O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds
That fkirt the blue horizon, dufky rife.
FLUSH'D by the spirit of the genial year,
Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom
Shoots, lefs and lefs, the live carnation round;
Her lips blush deeper fweets; the breathes of youth;
The fhining moisture fwells into her eyes,
In brighter flow; her withing bofom heaves,
With palpitations wild; kind tumults feize
Her veins, and all her yielding foul is love.
From the keen gaze her lover turns away,
Full of the dear ecftatic pow'r, and fick
With fighing languishment. Ah then, ye fair!
VOL. I.
Be greatly cautious of your fliding hearts:
Dare not th' infectious figh; the pleading look,
Down-caft, and low, in meek fubmiffion drest,
But full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue,
Prompt to deceive, with adulation finooth,
Gain on your purpos'd will. Nor in the bow'r,
Where woodbines flaunt, and rofes fhed a couch,
While Ev'ning draws her crimson curtains round,
Truft your foft minutes with betraying Man,
AND let th' afpiring youth beware of love,
Of the smooth glance beware; for 'tis too late,
When on his heart the torrent-softness pours.
Then wisdom proftrate lics, and fading fame
Diffolves in air away; while the fond foul,
Wrapt in gay visions of unreal bliss,
Still paints th' illufive form; the kindling grace;
Th' enticing fmile; the modeft-feeming eye,
Beneath whofe beauteous beams, belying heav'n,
Lurk fearchlefs cunning, cruelty, and death:
And still false warbling in his cheated ear,
Her fyren voice, enchanting, draws him on
To guileful fhores, and meads of fatal joy.
Ev's prefent, in the very lap of love Inglorious laid; while mufic flows around, Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton hours; Amid the rofes fierce Repentance rears
Her fnaky creft: a quick-returning pang,
Shoots thro' the confcious heart; where honour ftill,
And great defign, against the oppreffive load
Of luxury, by fits, impatient heave.
BUT abfent, what fantastic woes, arous'd,
Rage in each thought, by reftlefs mufing fed,
Chill the warm cheek, and blast the bloom of life?
Neglected fortune flies; and fliding swift,
Prone into ruin, fall his fcorn'd affairs.
'Tis nought but gloom around: The dark'ned fun
Lofes his light. The rofy-bofom'd Spring
To weeping Fancy pines; and yon-bright arch,
Contracted, bends into a dusky vault.
All Nature fades extinct; and the alone
Heard, felt, and feen, poffefies every thought,
Fills every fenfe, and pants in every vein.
Books are but formal dulnefs, tedious friends;
And fad amid the focial band he fits,
Lonely, and unattentive. From his tongue
Th' unfinish'd period falls: while, borne away
On fwelling thought, his wafted spirit flies
To the vain bofom of his distant fair;
And leaves the femblance of a lover, fix'd
In melancholy fite, with head declin'd,
And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts,
Shook from his tender trance, and restless runs
To glimmering fhades, and fympathetic glooms;
Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling stream,
Romantic, hangs; there thro' the penfive dufk 1025
Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation loft,
Indulging all to love: or on the bank.
Be greatly cautious of you
Dare not th' infectious fig
Down-caft, and low, in n
But full of guile. Let no
Prompt to deceive, with a
Gain on your purpos'd wil
Where woodbines flaunt, a
While Ev'ning draws her c
Trust your soft minutes wit
AND let th' afpiring yout Of the smooth glance bewar When on his heart the torre Then wisdom proftrate lics, Diffolves in air away; while Wrapt in gay visions of unr Still paints th' illufive form Th' enticing fmile; the mod Beneath whose beauteous be Lurk fearchlefs cunning, cr And ftill false warbling in h Her fyren voice, enchanting To guileful fhores, and mead
Ev's prefent, in the very Inglorious laid; while music Perfumes, and oils, and win Amid the rofes fierce Repent Her fnaky creft: a quick-ret Shoots thro' the confcious he
The and doping lies, fwels the breeze
Warning, and the brook with tears.
"ghe cenfames the day,
retirement, till the Moon
La chambers of the fleecy east,
Elgar segress, and in her train
bas; then forth he walks, Bent u cenung languik of her beam, 101
, and wooes the bird of eve woes this: or, while the world is of Care he had'd in fleep,
for with the midnight fhadows drear;
the lonely taper, pours
the moving metenger of lore; 1. ̧-te nature barns on rapture, every line But if on bed I, deep from his pillow flies. betes, nor the balmy power pre fads; till the grey morn
pare ca the paler wretch,
bwe: and then perhaps Exim Naure links a while to reft,
red by Citracted dreams, The the fick ingiation rife,
Scars paint the mimic fcene.
chartres of his foul he talks;
Seeds ditrefs'd; or if retir'd
Je fret winding dow't-enwoven bow'rs,
te da impertinence of Man,
|