The smooth Penéus from his glaffy flood
Reflects purpureal Tempe's pleafant fcene?
Fair Tempe haunt belov'd of fylvan powers,

Of Nymphs and Fauns; where in the golden age 300 They play'd in fecret on the fhady brink

310

With ancient Pan: while round their choral fleps
Young Hours and genial Gales with conftant hand
Shower'd bloffoms, odours, fhower'd ambrofial dews,
And fpring's Elyfian bloom. Her flowery store 305
To thee nor Tempe fhall refufe; nor watch
Of winged Hydra guard Hefperian fruits:
From thy free fpoil. O bear then, unreprov'd,
Thy finiling treafures to the green recefs
Where young Dione ftays. With sweetest airs
Intice her forth to lend her angel-form
For Beauty's honour'd image. Hither turn
Thy graceful footsteps; hither, gentle maid,
Incline thy polish'd forehead let thy eyes
Effufe the mildness of their azure dawn;
And may the fanning breezes waft afide
Thy radiant locks: difclofing, as it bends
With airy foftness from the marble neck,
The cheek fair-blooming, and the rofy lip,

315

Where winning fmiles and pleafures fweet as love, 320
With fan&tity and wisdom, tempering blend
Their foft allurement. Then the pleafing force
Of nature, and her kind parental care

Worthier I'd fing: then all the enamour'd youth,
With each admiring virgin, to my lyre

Should throng attentive, while I point on high

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325

Where

Where beauty's living image, like the morn
That wakes in Zephyr's arms the blushing May,
Moves onward; or as Venus, when the ftood
Effulgent on the pearly car, and fmil'd,
Fresh from the deep, and conscious of her form,
To fee the Tritons tune their vocal fhells,
And each coerulean fifter of the flood
With loud acclaim attend her o'er the waves,
To feek the Idalian bower. Ye fmiling band
Of youths and virgins, who through all the maze
Of young defire with rival-fteps pursue
This charm of beauty; if the pleasing toil
Can yield a moment's refpite, hither turn
Your favourable ear, and trust my words.
I do not mean to wake the gloomy form
Of fuperftition drefs'd in Wisdom's garb,
To damp your tender hopes; I do not mean
To bid the jealous thunderer fire the heavens,
Or fhapes infernal rend the groaning earth

To fright you from your joys: my cheerful fong
With better omens calls you to the field,
Pleas'd with your generous ardour in the chace,
And warm like you. Then tell me, for ye know,
Does beauty ever deign to dwell where health
And active ufe are ftrangers? Is her charm
Confefs'd in aught, whofe moft peculiar ends
Are lame and fruitlefs? Or did nature mean
This pleafing call the herald of a lye;
To hide the fhame of difcord and disease,

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And catch with fair hypocrify the heart

Of

Of idle faith? O no! with better cares
The indulgent mother, confcious how infirm
Her offspring tread the paths of good and ill,
By this illuftrious image, in each kind
Still moft illuftrious where the object holds
Its native powers most perfect, she by this
Illumes the headstrong impulfe of defire,

360

And fanctifies his choice. The generous glebe
Whose bofom fmiles with verdure, the clear tract 365
Of streams delicious to the thirfty foul,

The bloom of nectar'd fruitage ripe to fenfe,
And every charm of animated things,
Are only pledges of a ftate fincere,
The integrity and order of their frame,
When all is well within, and every end
Accomplish'd. Thus was beauty fent from heaven,
The lovely miniftrefs of truth and good

In this dark world: for truth and good are one,
And beauty dwells in them, and they in her,
With like participation. Wherefore then,
O fons of earth! would ye diffolve the tye?
O wherefore, with a rafh impetuous aim,
Seek ye thofe flowery joys with which the hand
Of lavish fancy paints each flattering feene
Where beauty feems to dwell, nor once enquire
Where is the fan&tion of eternal truth,
Or where the feal of undeceitful good,
To fave your fearch from folly! Wanting thefe,
Lo! beauty withers in your void embrace,
And with the glittering of an idiot's toy

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Did fancy mock your vows.

Nor let the gleam

Of youthful hope that fhines upon your hearts,
Be chill'd or clouded at this awful task,
To learn the lore of undeceitful good,

And truth eternal. Though the poifonous charms
Of baleful fuperftition guide the feet

Of fervile numbers, through a dreary way

390

To their abode, through defarts, thorns, and mire;
And leave the wretched pilgrim all forlorn
To mufe at laft, amid the ghoftly gloom

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400

405

Of graves, and hoary vaults, and cloister'd cells
To walk with spectres through the midnight fhade,
And to the screaming owl's accursed song
Attune the dreadful workings of his heart;
Yet be not ye dismay'd. A gentler star
Your lovely fearch illumines. From the grove
Where wisdom talk'd with her Athenian-fons,
Could my ambitious hand intwine a wreath
Of Plato's olive with the Mantuan bay,
Then should my powerful verfe at once difpell
Those monkish horrors: then in light divine
Disclose the Elyfian profpect, where the steps
Of thofe whom nature charms, through blooming walks,
Through fragrant mountains and poetic ftreams, 410
Amid the train of Sages, Heroes, Bards,
Led by their winged Genius and the choir
Of laurel'd science, and harmonious art,
Proceed exulting to the eternal shrine,

Where Truth confpicuous with her fifter-twins,
The undivided partners of her fway,

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With Good and Beauty reigns. O let not us,
Lull'd by luxurious pleasure's languid strain,
Or crouching to the frowns of bigot-rage,
O let us not a moment paufe to join

That god-like band. And if the gracious power
Who firft awaken'd my untutor'd fong,

Will to my invocation breathe anew

The tuneful fpirit; then through all our paths,
Ne'er fhall the found of this devoted lyre
Be wanting; whether on the rofy mead,
When fummer fimiles, to warn the melting heart
Of luxury's allurement; whether firm

Against the torrent and the ftubborn hill
To bold virtue's unremitted nerve,
urge

And wake the strong divinity of foul

That conquers chance and fate; or whether ftruck

For founds of triumph, to proclaim her toils

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Upon the lofty fummit, round her brow
To twine the wreath of incorruptive praise;

To trace her hallow'd light through future worlds,
And blefs Heaven's image in the heart of man.

Thus with a faithful aim have we prefum'd,
Adventurous, to delineate nature's form;
Whether in vast, majestic pomp array'd,
Or dreft for pleafing wonder, or ferene
In beauty's rofy fmile. It now remains,
Through various being's fair-proportion'd fcale,
To trace the rising luftre of her charms,

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From their first twilight, fhining forth at length 449 To full meridian fplendour. Of degree

The