Now o'er Norwegian hills he strides away :
Such flippery paths Ambition's fteps betray.
Turning, with fighs, far fpiral firs he fees,
Which bow obedient to the fouthern breeze.
Now from yon Zemblan rock his creft he shrouds,
Like Fame's, obfcur'd amid the whitening clouds;
Thence his loft empire is with tears deplor'd:
Such tyrants fhed o'er liberty reftor'd.
Beneath his eye (that throws malignant light
Ten times the measur'd round of mortal fight)
A wafte, pale glimmering, like a moon,
that wanes
A wild expanfe of frozen fea contains.
It cracks!-vaft floating mountains beat the fhore! 25
Far off he hears thofe icy ruins roar,
And from the hideous crafh distracted flies,
Like one, who feels his dying infant's cries.
Near, and more near the rushing torrents found,
And one great rift runs through the vast profound, 30
Swift as a fhooting meteor; groaning loud,
Like deep-roll'd thunder through a rending cloud.
The late dark Pole now feels unfetting day:
In hurricanes of wrath he whirls his way;
O'er many a polar Alp to Frost he goes,
O'er crackling vales, embrown'd with melting fnows:
Here bears ftalk tenants of the barren space,
Few men, unfocial those!-a barbarous race!
At length the cave appears! the race is run:
How he recounts vaft conquefts loft and won,
And taleful in th' embrace of Frost remains,
Barr'd from our climes, and bound in icy chains.
Meanwhile the fun his beams on Cancer throws,
Which now beneath his warmeft influence glows.
From glowing Cancer fallen, the King of day, 45
Red through the kindling Lion fhoots his ray.
The tawny harvest pays the earlier plough,
And mellowing fruitage loads the bending bough.
'Tis day-fpring. Now green labyrinths I frequent,
Where Wisdom oft retires to meet Content.
The mounting lark her warbling anthem lends,
From note to note the ravish'd foul afcends;
As thus it would the patriarch's ladder climb,
By fome good angel led to worlds fublime :
Oft (legends fay) the fnake, with waken'd ire,
Like Envy rears in many a fcaly fpire;
Then fongfters droop, then yield their vital gore,
And innocence and mufic are no more.
Mild rides the Morn in orient beauty dreft,
An azure mantle, and a purple vest,
Which, blown by gales, her gemmy feet display,
Her amber treffes negligently gay.
Collected now her rofy hand they fill,
And, gently wrung, the pearly dews diftil.
The fongful zephyrs, and the laughing hours,
Breathe sweet; and strew her opening way with flowers.
The chattering swallows leave their nefted care,
Each promifing return with plenteous fare.
So the fond fwain, who to the market hies,
Stills, with big hopes, his infant's tender cries.
Yonder two turtles, o'er their callow brood,
Hang hovering, ere they seek their guiltless food.
Fondly they bill. Now to their morning care,
Like our first parents, part the amorous pair:
But ah!-a pair no more!-With spreading wings, 75
From the high-founding cliff a vulture fprings;
Steady he fails along th' aerial grey,
Swoops down, and bears yon timorous dove away.
Start we, who worse than vultures, Nimrods find,
Men meditating prey on human kind?
Wild beafts to gloomy dens repace their way, Where their couch'd young demand the flaughter'd
Rooks, from their nodding nefts, black-fwarming fly,
And, in hoarfe uproar, tell the fowler nigh.
Now, in his tabernacle rouz'd, the fun
Is warn'd the blue ætherial fteep to run.
While on his couch of floating jasper laid,
From his bright eye Sleep calls the dewy fhade.
The crystal dome tranfparent pillars raise,
Whence, beam'd from fapphires, living azure plays: 90
The liquid floor, in-wrought with pearls divine,
Where all his labours in mofaic fhine.
His coronet, a cloud of filver-white;
His robe with unconfuming crimson bright,
Varied with gems, all heaven's collected ftore!
While his loofe locks defcend, a golden shower.
If to his steps compar'd, we tardy find
The Grecian racers, who ou ftript the wind,
Fleet to the glowing race behold him start!
His quickening eyes a quivering radiance dart,
And, while this last nocturnal flag is furl'd,
Swift into life and motion look the world.
The fun-flower now averts her blooming cheek
From west, to view his eaftern luftre break.
What gay, creative power his prefence brings !
Hills, lawns, lakes, villages!-the face of things,
All night beneath fucceffive fhadows miss'd,
Instant begins in colours to exift:
But abfent thefe from fons of riot keep,
Loft in impure, unmeditating fleep.
T'unlock his fence, the new-rifen fwain prepares,
And ere forth-driven recounts his fleecy cares;
When, lo! an ambush'd wolf, with hunger bold,
Springs at the prey, and fierce invades the fold!
But by the paftor not in vain defied,
Like our arch foe by fome celeftial guide.
Spread on yon rock the sea-calf I survey :
Bafk'd in the fun, his skin reflects the day.
He fees yon tower-like ship the waves divide,
And flips again beneath the glafsy tide.
The watery herbs, and shrubs, and vines, and flowers, Rear their bent heads, o'ercharg'd with nightly showers. Hail, glorious fun! to whofe attractive fires,
The waken'd, vegetative life afpires!
The juices, wrought by thy directive force,
Through plants, and trees, perform their genial course,
Extend in root, with bark unyielding bind
The hearted trunk; or weave the branching rind;
Expand in leaves, in flowery bloffoms fhoot,
Bleed in rich gums, and fwell in ripen'd fruit.
From Thee, bright, univerfal Power! began
Instinct in brute, and generous love in man.
Talk'd I of love?-Yon fwain, with amorous air,
Soft swells his pipe, to charm the rural fair.
She milks the flocks; then, liftening as he plays,
Steals, in the running brook, a confcious gaze.
The trout, that deep, in winter, ooz'd remains,
Up-springs, and funward turns its crimson stains.
The tenants of the warren, vainly chac'd;
Now lur'd to ambient fields for green repast,
Seek their small vaulted labyrinths in vain;
Entangling nets betray the skipping train;
Red maflacres through their republic fly,
And heaps on heaps by ruthless spaniels die.
The fisher, who the lonely beech has stray'd,
And all the live-long night his net-work spread,
Drags in, and bears the loaded fnare away;
Where flounce, deceiv'd, th' expiring finny prey.
Near Neptune's temple (Neptune's now no more),
Whofe ftatue plants a trident on the shore,
In fportive rings the generous dolphins wind,
And eye, and think the image hunan-kind :
Dear, pleafing friendship!-See! the pile commands
The vale, and grim at Superstition stands !
Time's hand there leaves its print of mofly green, 155
With hollows, carv'd for fnakes, and birds obfcene.
O Gibbs, whofe art the folemn fane can raise,
Where GOD delights to dwell, and man to praife;
When mouider'd thus the column falls away,
Like tome great prince majestic in decay;
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