That Providence allows. The foodless Wilds
Pour forth their brown Inhabitants; the Hare, 235 Tho' timorous of Heart, and hard beset
By Death, in various Forms, dark Snares, and Dogs,
And more unpitying Men, the Garden seeks,
Urg'd on by fearless Want. The bleating Kind
Eye the bleak Heavens, and next, the glistening Earth,
240 With Looks of dumb Despair; then sad, dispers'd,
Dig, for the wither'd Herb, thro' Heaps of Snow.
Now, Shepherds, to your helpless Charge be kind; B256 C239 E265 Baffle the raging Year, and fill their Penns
With Food, at will: lodge them below the Blast,
245 And watch them strict; for from the bellowing East,
In this dire Season, oft the Whirlwind's Wing
Sweeps up the Burthen of whole wintry Plains,
In one fierce Blast, and o'er th'unhappy Flocks,
Lodged in the Hollow of two neighbouring Hills,
250 The billowy Tempest whelms; till, upwards urg'd,
The Valley to a shining Mountain swells,
That curls its Wreaths amid the freezing Sky.
allows. The Red-Breast, sole,
Wisely regardful of th'embroiling Sky,
In joyless Fields, and thorny Thickets, leaves
His shivering Fellows, and to trusted Man
His annual Visit pays: New to the Dome,
Against the Window beats; then, brisk, alights
On the warm Hearth, and, hopping o'er the Floor,
Eyes all the smiling Family, askance,
And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is:
Till, more familiar grown, the Table-Crumbs
Attract his slender Feet. The foodless Wilds
244 Blast,] Storm,
following 39 lines are inserted:
In Russia's wide, immeasurable, Moors,
Where Winter keeps his unrejoicing Court,
And in his airy Hall, the loud Misrule
Of driving Tempest is for ever heard:
Now, all amid the Rigours of the Year,
In the wild Depth of Winter, while without 255 The ceaseless Winds blow keen, be my Retreat A rural, shelter'd, solitary, Scene;
Seen, by the wilder'd Traveller, who roams,
Guideless, the Yew-clad, stony, Wastes, the Bear,
Rough Tenant of these Shades! shaggy with Ice,
And dangling Snow, stalks thro' the Woods, forlorn.
Slow-pac'd, and sowrer, as the Storms increase,
He makes his Bed beneath th'inclement Wreath,
And scorning the Complainings of Distress,
Hardens his Heart against assailing Want.
Or from the cloudy Alps, and Appenine,
Capt with grey Mists, and everlasting Snows,
Where Nature in stupendous Ruin lyes;
And from the leaning Rock, on either Side,
Gush out those Streams that classic Song renowns:
Cruel as Death! and hungry as the Grave!
Burning for Blood! bony, and ghaunt, and grim!
Assembling Wolves, in torrent Troops, descend,
And spread wide-wasting Desolation round.
Nought may their Course withstand. They bear along,
Keen, as the North-Wind sweeps the glossy Snow.
All is their Prize. They fasten on the Steed,
Press him to Earth, and pierce his mighty Heart.
Nor can the Bull his awful Front defend,
Or shake the murdering Savages away.
Rapacious, at the Mother's Throat they fly,
And tear the screaming Infant from her Breast.
The God-like Face of Man avails him Nought.
Even Beauty, Force Divine! at whose bright Glance,
The generous Lyon stands in soften'd Gaze,
Here bleeds a hapless, undistinguish'd, Prey.
But if, appriz'd of the severe Attack,
The Country be shut up; lur'd by the Scent,
On Church-Yards drear (Inhuman to relate!)
The disappointed Prowlers fall, and dig
The shrowded Body from the Tomb, o'er which,
Mix'd with foul Shades, and frighted Ghosts, they howl. [305] 255 keen,] Ice,
Where ruddy Fire, and beaming Tapers join
To chase the chearless Gloom: there let me sit,
And hold high Converse with the mighty Dead,
260 Sages of ancient Time, as Gods rever'd,
As Gods beneficent, who blest Mankind,
With Arts, and Arms, and humaniz'd a World.
Rous'd at th'inspiring Thought I throw aside.
The long-liv'd Volume, and, deep-musing, hail
265 The sacred Shades, that, slowly-rising, pass
Before my wondering Eyes - First, Socrates,
Truth's early Champion, Martyr for his God:
Solon, the next, who built his Commonweal,
On Equity's firm Base: Lycurgus, then,
270 Severely good, and him of rugged Rome,
Numa, who soften'd her rapacious Sons.
Cimon, sweet-soul'd, and Aristides just.
Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in Extreme;
With that attemper'd *Heroe, mild, and firm,
275 Who wept the Brother, while the Tyrant bled.
Scipio, the humane Warriour, gently brave,
Fair Learning's Friend; who early sought the Shade,
To dwell, with Innocence, and Truth, retir'd.
And, equal to the best, the Theban, He
280 Who, single, rais'd his Country into Fame.
Thousands behind, the Boast of Greece and Rome,
Whom Vertue owns, the Tribute of a Verse
Demand, but who can count the Stars of Heaven?
Who sing their Influence on this lower World?
285 But see who yonder comes! nor comes alone,
With sober State, and of majestic Mien,
The Sister Muses in his Train 'Tis He!
Maro! the best of Poets, and of Men!
Great Homer too appears, of daring Wing!
290 Parent of Song! and equal, by his Side,
L.273 is placed after 1.275 288 Maro! the Glory of the Poet's Art!
The British Muse, join'd Hand in Hand, they walk,
Darkling, nor miss their Way to Fame's Ascent.
Society divine! Immortal Minds!
Still visit thus my Nights, for you reserv'd,
295 And mount my soaring Soul to Deeds like yours.
Silence! thou lonely Power! the Door be thine:
See, on the hallow'd Hour, that none intrude,
Save Lycidas, the Friend, with Sense refin'd,
Learning digested well, exalted Faith,
300 Unstudy'd Wit, and Humour ever gay.
Clear Frost succeeds, and thro' the blew Serene,
For Sight too fine, th'Etherial Nitre flies,
To bake the Glebe, and bind the slip'ry Flood.
This of the wintry Season is the Prime;
305 Pure are the Days, and lustrous are the Nights,
Brighten'd with starry Worlds, till then unseen.
Mean while, the Orient, darkly red, breathes forth
An Icy Gale, that, in its mid Career,
Arrests the bickering Stream. The nightly Sky,
310 And all her glowing Constellations pour
Their rigid Influence down: It freezes on
Till Morn, late-rising, o'er the drooping World,
Lifts her pale Eye, unjoyous: then appears
The various Labour of the silent Night,
315 The pendant Isicle, the Frost-Work fair,
Where thousand Figures rise, the crusted Snow,
Tho' white, made whiter, by the fining North.
On blithsome Frolics bent, the youthful Swains,
While every Work of Man is laid at Rest,
320 Rush o'er the watry Plains, and, shuddering, view
The fearful Deeps below: or with the Gun,
And faithful Spaniel, range the ravag'd Fields,
B 306 Brighten'd] Radiant 316 thousand] fancy'd
l. 317 one line is added: North, || And Gem-besprinkled in the Mid-Day Beam.
And, adding to the Ruins of the Year,
Distress the Feathery, or the Footed Game.
But hark! the nightly Winds, with hollow Voice, B379 C701 E988 Blow, blustering, from the South the Frost subdu'd,
Gradual, resolves into a weeping. Thaw.
Spotted, the Mountains shine: loose Sleet descends,
And floods the Country round: the Rivers swell,
330 Impatient for the Day... Those sullen Seas,
That wash th'ungenial Pole, will rest no more,
Beneath the Shackles of the mighty North;
But, rousing all their Waves, resistless heave -
And hark! the length'ning Roar, continuous, runs
335 Athwart the rifted Main; at once, it bursts,
And piles a thousand Mountains to the Clouds!
Ill fares the Bark, the Wretches' last Resort,
That, lost amid the floating Fragments, moors
Beneath the Shelter of an Icy Isle;
340 While Night o'erwhelms the Sea, and Horror looks
More horrible. Can human Hearts endure
Th'assembled Mischiefs, that besiege them round:
Unlistening Hunger, fainting Weariness,
The Roar of Winds, and Waves, the Crush of Ice,
345 Now, ceasing, now, renew'd, with louder Rage,
And bellowing round the Main: Nations remote,
Shook from their Midnight-Slumbers, deem they hear
Portentous Thunder, in the troubled Sky.
More to embroil the Deep, Leviathan,
350 And his unweildy Train, in horrid Sport,
B 325 Muttering, the Winds, at Eve, with hoarser Voice,
weeping] trickling 330... Day. Broke from the Hills,
O'er Rocks and Woods, in broad, brown, Cataracts
A thousand, Snow-fed, Torrents shoot, at once;
And, where they rush, the wide-resounding Plain
Is left one slimy Waste. Those sullen Seas,
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