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THE

WANDERER.

A

VISI O N.

FAI

CANTO I.

5.

AIN would my verfe, Tyrconnel, boast thy name, Brownlowe, at once my fubject and my fame! Oh! could that fpirit, which thy bofom warms, Whofe ftrength furprizes, and whofe goodness charms! That various worth! could that infpire my lays, Envy should fmile, and Cenfure learn to praife: Yet, though unequal to a foul like thine, A generous foul, approaching to divine, When blefs'd beneath fuch patronage I write, Great my attempt, though hazardous my flight. O'er ample Nature I extend my views; Nature to rural fcenes invites the Mufe: She flies all public care, all venal ftrife, To try the ftill, compar'd with active life; To prove, by thefe the fons of men may owe The fruits of blifs to burfting clouds of woe; That ev'n calamity, by thought' refin`d, Infpirits and adorns the thinking mind.

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Come, Contemplation, whofe unbounded gaze, Swift in a glance, the courfe of things furveys; Who in thyfelf the various view canft find Of sea, land, air, and heaven, and human-kind; What tides of paffion in the bofom roll; What thoughts debase, and what exalt the foul, Whofe pencil paints, obfequious to thy will, All thou furvey'st, with a creative skill! Oh, leave awhile thy lov'd, sequester'd shade! Awhile in wintery wilds vouchsafe thy aid! Then waf me to fome olive, bowery green, Where, cloath'd in white, thou fhew' it a mind ferene; 30 Where kind Content from noife and court retires, And fimiling fits, while Mufes tune their lyres: Where Zephyrs gently breathe, while Sleep profound To their foft fanning nods, with poppies crown'd; Sleep, on a treasure of bright dreams reclines, By thee bestow'd; whence Fancy colour'd fhines, And flutters round his brow a hovering flight, Varying her plumes in vifionary light.

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The folar fires now faint and watery burn, Juft where with ice Aquarius frets his urn! If thaw'd, forth iflue, from its mouth fevere, Raw clouds, that fadden all th’inverted year. When Froft and Fire with martial powers engag'd, Froft, northward, fled the war, unequal wag'd! Beneath the Pole his legions urg'd their flight, And gain'd a cave profound and wide as night. O'er cheerlefs fcenes by Defolation own'd,

High on an Alp of ice he fits enthron'd!

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'One clay-cold hand, his cryftal beard fuftains,
And scepter'd one, o'er wind and tempeft reigns; 50
'O'er ftony magazines of hail, that storm

The bloffom'd fruit, and flowery Spring deform.
His languid eyes like frozen lakes appear,

Dim gleaming all the light that wanders here.

His robe fnow-wrought, and hoar'd with age; his breath

A nitrous damp, that ftrikes petrific death.

Far hence lies, ever-freez'd, the northern main,
That checks, and renders navigation vain,
That, fhut against the fun's diffolving ray,
Scatters the trembling tides of vanquish'd day,
And ftretching eastward half the world fecures,
Defies difcovery, and like time endures!

Now Froft fent boreal blafts to fcourge the air, To bind the streams, and leave the landfcape bare; Yet when, far weft, his violence declines,

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Though here the brook, or lake, his power confines;
To rocky pools, to cataracts are unknown
His chains!to rivers, rapid like the Rhone!

The falling moon cast, cold, a quivering light,
Juft filver'd o'er the fnow, and funk!-pale night 70
Retir'd. The dawn in light-grey mifts arose!
Shrill chants the cock !—the hungry heifer lows!
Slow blush yon breaking clouds;—the fun 's uproll'd!
Th' expansive grey turns azure, chas'd with gold;
White-glittering ice, chang'd like the topaz, gleams, 75
Reflecting faffron luftre from his beams.

o Con

O Contemplation, teach me to explore, From Britain far remote, fome diftant shore! From Sleep a dream diftinct and lively claim; Clear let the vifion ftrike the moral's aim ! It comes! I feel it o'er my foul ferene! Still Morn begins, and Froft retains the scene! Hark! the loud horn's enlivening note's begun! From rock to vale fweet-wandering echoes run! Still floats the found thrill-winding from afar ! Wild beafts aftonish'd dread the fylvan war! Spears to the fun in files embattled play,

March on, charge briskly, and enjoy the fray!

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Swans, ducks, and geese, and the wing'd winter-brood, Chatter difcordant on yon echoing flood!

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At Babel thus, when heaven the tongue confounds,
Sudden a thousand different jargon-founds,
Like jangling bells, harsh mingling, grate the ear!
All stare! all talk! all mean; but none cohere!
Mark! wiley fowlers meditate their doom,
And fmoaky Fate speeds thundering through the gloom!
Stop'd fhort, they cease in airy rings to fly,
Whirl o'er and o'er, and, fluttering, fall and die.

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Still Fancy wafts me on! deceiv'd I stand, Eftrang'd, adventurous on a foreign land! Wide and more wide extends the fcene unknown! Where fhall I turn, a WANDERER, and alone? From hilly wilds, and depths where fnows remain, My winding steps up a steep mountain strain ! Emers'd a-top, I mark, the hills fubfide,

And towers afpire, but with inferior pride!

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On this bleak height tall firs, with ice-work crown'd,
Bend, while their flaky winter fhades the ground!
Hoarfe, and direct, a blustering north-wind blows!
On boughs, thick-ruftling, crack the crifped fnows! 110
Tangles of froft half-fright the wilder'd eye,
By heat oft-blacken'd like a lowering sky!
Hence down the fide two turbid rivulets pour,
And devious two, in one huge cataract roar!
While pleas'd the watery progrefs I pursue,

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Yon rocks in rough assemblage rush in view!
In form an amphitheatre they rise;

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And a dark gulf in their broad centre lies.
There the dim'd fight with dizzy weakness fails,
And horror o'er the firmeft brain prevails!
Thither thefe mountain-ftreams their paffage take,
Headlong foam down, and form a dreadful lake!
The lake, high-swelling, fo redundant grows,
From the heap'd store deriv'd, a river flows;
Which, deepening, travels through a diftant wood, 125
And thence emerging, meets a fifter-flood;
Mingled they flash on a wide-opening plain,
And pafs yon city to the far-feen main.

So blend two fouls by heaven for union made,
And strengthening forward, lend a mutual aid, 130
And prove in every tranfient turn their aim,
Through finite life to infinite the fame.

Nor ends the landscape-Ocean, to my fight, Points a blue arm, where failing fhips delight, Inprofpect leffen'd!-Now new rocks, rear'd high, 135 Stretch a cross-ridge, and bar the curious eye;

There

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