BY A GENTLEMAN OF OXFORD.
Eclare, if heav'nly wisdom blefs thy tongue,
When teems the MOUNTAIN-GOAT with
promis'd young;
The ftated feafons tell, the month explain,
When feels the bounding HIND a mother's pain;
While, in th' oppreffive agonies of birth,
Silent they how the forrowing head to earth?
Why crop their lufty feed the verdant food?
Why leave their dams, to fearch the gloomy wood?
Say, whence the WILD-ASS wantons o'er the plain,
Sports uncontroul'd, unconfcious of the rein?
"Tis his o'er fcenes of folitude to roam,
The waste his house, the wilderness his home;
He fcorns the crouded city's pomp and noise,
Nor heeds the driver's rod, nor hears his voice;
At will on ev'ry various verdure fed,
His pafture o'er the fhaggy cliffs is spread.
Will the fierce UNICORN obey thy call,
Enslav'd to man, and patient of the ftall?
Say, will he stubborn ftoop thy yoke to bear,
And thro' the furrow drag the tardy share}
Say, canst thou think, O wretch of vain belief,
His lab'ring limbs will draw thy weighty fheaf?
Or canft thou tame the temper of his blood
With faithful feet to trace the deftin'd road ?·
Who paints the PEACOCK's train with radiant eyes,
And all the bright diversity of dies?
Whofe hand the ftately OSTRICH has fupply'd
With glorious plumage, and her snowy pride?
Thoughtless the leaves amid the dufty way,
Her eggs, to ripen in the genial ray;
Nor heeds, that some fell beast, who thirsts for bleod,
Or the rude foot may crush the future brood.
In her no love the tender offspring share,
No foft remembrance, no maternal care:
For God has fteel'd her unrelenting breast,
Nor feeling sense, nor inftinct mild impreft,
Bade her the rapid-ruthing fleed defpife,
Outftrip the rider's rage, and tow'r amidst the skies.
Didft thou the HORSE with strength and beauty deck?
Haft thou in thunder cloath'd his nervous neck ?
Will he, like groveling grafhoppers afraid,
Start at each found, at ev'ry breeze dismay'd?
A cloud of fire his lifted noftrils raise,
And breathe a glorious terror as they blaze.
He paws indignant, and the valley fpurns,
Rejoycing in his might, and for the battle burns.
When quivers rattle, and the frequent spear
Flies flashing, leaps his heart with languid fear?
Swallowing with fierce and greedy rage the ground,
"Is this, he cries, the trumpet's warlike found ?”
Eager he fcents the battle from afar,
And all the mingling thunder of the war.
Flies the fierce HAWK by thy fupreme command,
To feek foft climates, and a fouthern land?
Who bade th' aspiring EAGLE mounts the sky,
And build her firm aerial nest on high?
On the bare cliff, or mountain's fhaggy fteep,
Her fortrefs of defence the dares to keep;
Thence darts her radiant eye's pervading ray,
Inquifitive to ken the diftant prey.
Seeks with her thirfty brood th' enfanguin'd plain,
There bathes her beak in blood, companion of the flain.
THE SCENE OF THE FOLLOWING STAN-
ZAS IS SUPPOSED TO LIE ON THE
THAMES, NEAR RICHMOND.
N yonder grave a Druid lies
Where flowly winds the stealing wave!
The year's beft fweets fhall duteous rife
To deck its Poet's fylvan grave!
In yon deep bed of whifp'ring reeds
His airy harp fhall now be laid,
That he, whofe heart in forrow bleeds,
May love thro' life the foothing shade.
*The harp of OLUS, of which fee a defcription in the CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.
Then maids and youths fhall linger here,
And while its founds at diftance fwell,
Shall fadly feem in Pity's ear
To hear the Woodland Pilgrim's knell.
IV.
Remembrance oft fhall haunt the shore
When Thames in fummer wreaths is drest, And oft fufpend the dafhing oar
To bid his gentle spirit rest!
And oft as Eafe and Health retire
To breezy lawn, or foreft deep, The friend fhall view yon whitening spire, And 'mid the varied landscape weep.
But Thou, who own'ft that earthy bed,
Ah! what will every dirge avail?
Or tears, which Love and Pity fhed
That mourn beneath the gliding fail!
VII.
Yet lives there one, whofe heedless eye
Shall fcorn thy pale fhrine glimm'ring near? With him, fweet bard, may Fancy die, And Joy defert the blooming year.
|