1195 While He, from all the stormy passions free,
That restless men involve, hears, and but hears,
At distance safe, the human tempest roar,
Wrapt close in conscious peace. The fall of kings,
The rage of nations, and the crush of states
1200 Move not the man, who, from the world escap'd,
In still retreats, and flowery solitudes,
To Nature's voice attends, from day to day,
And month to month, thro' the revolving Year;
Admiring, sees her in her every shape;
1205 Feels all her fine emotions at his heart;
Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more.
He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting gems,
Marks the first bud, and sucks the healthful gale
Into his freshen'd soul; her genial hours
1210 He quite enjoys; and not a beauty blows,
And not an opening blossom breathes in vain.
In Summer he, beneath the living shade,
Such as from frigid Tempe wont to fall,
Or Hæmus cool, reads what the muse, of these
1215 Perhaps, has in immortal numbers sung;
Or what she dictates writes; and, oft an eye
Shot round, rejoyces in the vigorous year.
When Autumn's yellow lustre gilds the world,
And tempts the sickled swain into the field,
1220 Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart distends
With gentle throws; and thro' the tepid gleams
Deep-musing, then the best exerts his song.
Even Winter wild to him is full of bliss.
The mighty tempest, and the hoary waste,
1225 Abrupt, and deep, stretch'd o'er the bury'd earth,
Awake to solemn thought. At night the skies,
B 1202, 1203 from Month to Month, || And Day to Day, fine] sweet 1210 quite] full 1213 from ] o'er wave, 1222 the] he
Disclos'd, and kindled, by refining frost,
Pour every lustre on th'astonish'd eye.
A friend, a book, the stealing hours secure,
And mark them down for wisdom. With swift wing,
O'er land, and sea, imagination roams;
Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind,
Elates his being, and unfolds his powers;
Or in his breast heroic virtue burns.
1235 The touch of love, and kindred too he feels,
The modest eye, whose beams on his alone
Extatic shine; the little, strong embrace
Of prattling children, twin'd around his neck,
And emulous to please him, calling forth
1240 The fond parental soul. Nor purpose gay,
Amusement, dance, or song, he sternly scorns;
For happiness, and true philosophy
Still are, and have been of the smiling kind.
This is the life which those who fret in guilt,
1245 And guilty cities, never knew; the life,
Led by primæval ages, incorrupt,
When God himself, and Angels dwelt with men!
Oh Nature! all-sufficient! over all!
Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works!
1250 Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
Profusely scatter'd o'er the void immense,
Shew me; their motions, periods, and their laws,
Give me to scan; thro' the disclosing deep
1255 Light my blind way: the mineral Strata there;
Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world;
B 1228 astonish'd] exalted
1235 of Kindred too and Love 1246 un1247 When Angels dwelt, and God himself, with
1243 Are of the social still, and smiling Kind.
O'er that the rising system, more complex,
Of animals; and higher still, the mind,
The varied scene of quick-compounded thought, 1260 And where the mixing passions endless shift; These ever open to my ravish'd eye;
A search, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust!
But if to that unequal; if the blood,
In sluggish streams about my heart, forbids 1265 That best ambition; under closing shades, Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook,
And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin,
Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my song;
And let me never, never stray from Thee!
dum Hyemem contingit Equis. Jam præterit æstas.
Glacialis Hyems canos hirsuta Capillos.
Millan, at Locke's-Head, in Shug-Lane, near the Upper e Hay-Market; and Sold by J. Roberts, in WarwickN. Blandford, at the London-Gazette, Charing-Cross.
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