CROWN'D with the fickle and the wheaten fheaf,
While AUTUMN, nodding o'er the yellow plain,
Comes jovial on; the Doric reed once more,
Well pleas'd, I tune. Whate'er the Wintry frost
Nitrous prepar'd; the various-bloffom'd Spring
Put in white promise forth; and Summer funs
Concocted ftrong, rush boundless now to view,
Full, perfect all, and fwell my glorious theme.
ONSLOW! the Muse, ambitious of thy name,
To grace, infpire, and dignify her fong,
Would from the Public Voice thy gentle ear
A while engage. Thy noble cares fhe knows,
The patriot virtues that diftend thy thought,
Spread on thy front, and in thy bofom glow;
While liftening fenates hang upon thy tongue,
Devolving thro' the maze of eloquence
A roll of periods, fweeter than her fong.
M
But she too pants for public virtue, she,
Tho' weak of power, yet ftrong in ardent will,
Whene'er her country rushes on her heart,
Affumes a bolder note, and fondly tries
To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame.
When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days,
And Libra weighs in equal fcales the year;
From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence fhook
Of parting Summer, a ferener blue,
With golden light enlivened, wide invefts
The happy world. Attemper'd funs arise,
Sweet-beam'd, and fhedding oft thro' lucid clouds
A pleafing calm; while broad, and brown, below
Extenfive harvests hang the heavy head.
Rich, filent, deep, they ftand; for not a gale
Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain :
A calm of plenty! till the ruffled air
Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to blow.
Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky;
The clouds fly different; and the sudden fun
By fits effulgent gilds th' illumin'd field,
And black by fits the shadows fweep along.
A gaily-checker'd heart-expanding view,
Far as the circling eye can shoot around,
Unbounded toffing in a flood of corn.
These are thy bleffings, INDUSTRY! rough power!
Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and pain;
Yet the kind fource of every gentle art,
And all the foft civility of life:
Raifer of human kind! by Nature caft,
Naked, and helpless, out amid the woods
And wilds, to rude inclement elements;
With various feeds of art deep in the mind
Implanted, and profufely pour'd around
Materials infinite; but idle all.
Still unexerted, in th' unconscious breaft,
Slept the lethargic powers; corruption ftill,
Voracious, swallowed what the liberal hand
Of bounty scatter'd o'er the favage year:
And ftill the fad barbarian, roving, mix'd
With beasts of prey; or for his acorn-meal
Fought the fierce tusky boar; a shivering wretch!
Aghaft, and comfortlefs, when the bleak north,
With Winter charg'd, let the mix'd tempeft fly,
Hail, rain, and fnow, and bitter-breathing froft:
Then to the shelter of the hut he fled;
And the wild feafon, fordid, pin'd away.
For home he had not; home is the resort
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where,
Supporting and fupported, polifh'd friends,
And dear relations mingle into bliss.
But this the rugged favage never felt,
Even defolate in crowds; and thus his days
Roll'd heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd along:
A waste of time! till INDUSTRY approach'd,
And rous'd him from his miferable floth:
His faculties unfolded; pointed out,
Where lavish Nature the directing hand
Of Art demanded; fhew'd him how to raise
His feeble force by the mechanic powers,
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth,
On what to turn the piercing rage of fire,
On what the torrent, and the gather'd blaft;
Gave the tall ancient foreft to his ax;
Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the ftone,
Till by degrees the finish'd fabric rose;
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur,
And wrapt them in the woolly vestment warm,
Or bright in gloffy filk, and flowing lawn;
With wholesome viands fill'd his table, pour'd
The generous glass around, inf ir'd to wake
The life-refining foul of decent wit:
Nor ftopp'd at barren bare neceffity;
But ftill advancing bolder, led him on
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace;
And, breathing high ambition thro' his foul,
Set fcience, wisdom, glory, in his view,
And bade him be the Lord of all below.
Then gathering men their natural powers combin'd,
And form'd a Public; to the general good
Submitting, aiming, and conducting all.
For this the Patriot-Council met, the full,
The free, and fairly reprefented Whole;
For this they plann'd the holy guardian laws,
Diftinguish'd orders, animated arts,
And with joint force Oppreffion chaining, fet
Imperial Justice at the helm; yet ftill
To them accountable: nor flavish dream'd
That toiling millions muft refign their weal,
And all the honey of their fearch, to fuch
As for themselves alone themselves have rais'd.
Hence every ftorm of cultivated life
In order fet, protected, and infpir'd,
Into perfection wrought. Uniting all,
Society grew numerous, high, polite,
And happy. Nurse of art! the city rear'd
In beauteous pride her tower-encircled head;
And, ftretching street on ftreet, by thousands drew,
From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew
To bows ftrong-ftraining, her afpiring fons.
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