XVIII.

"And thither let the village swain repair;
"And, light of heart, the village maiden gay,
"To deck with flowers her half-dishevel'd hair,
"And celebrate the merry morn of May.

"There let the shepherd's pipe the live-long day "Fill all the grove with love's bewitching wo; "And when mild Evening comes in mantle grey, "Let not the blooming band make haste to go; "No ghost nor spell my long and last abode shall know.

XIX.

"For though I fly to scape from Fortune's rage,
"And bear the scars of envy, spite, and scorn,
"Yet with mankind no horrid war I wage,

"Yet with no impious spleen my breast is torn:
"For virtue lost, and ruin'd man, I mourn.

"O Man, creation's pride, heaven's darling child, "Whom nature's best divinest gifts adorn,

"Why from thy home are truth and joy exiled, "And all thy favourite haunts with blood and tears defiled!

XX.

"Along yon glittering sky what glory streams!
"What majesty attends Night's lovely queen!
"Fair laugh our vallies in the vernal beams;
"And mountains rise, and oceans roll between,
"And all conspire to beautify the scene.

"But, in the mental world, what chaos drear!
"What forms of mournful, loathsome, furious mien!
"O when shall that Eternal Morn appear,

"These dreadful forms to chase, this chaos dark to clear !

XXI.

66
"O Thou, at whose creative smile, yon heaven,
"In all the pomp of beauty, life, and light,

"Rose from th' abyss; when dark Confusion, driven

86 Down, down the bottomless profound of night, "Fled, where he ever flies thy piercing sight!

"O glance on these sad shades one pitying ray, "To blast the fury of oppressive might,

"Melt the hard heart to love and mercy's sway,

"And cheer the wandering soul, and light him on the way."

XXII.

Silence ensued: and Edwin raised his eyes
In tears, for grief lay heavy at his heart.
"And is it thus in courtly life (he cries)
"That man to man acts a betrayer's part?
"And dares he thus the gifts of heaven pervert,
"Each social instinct, and sublime desire?
"Hail poverty! if honour, wealth, and art,

"If what the great pursue, and learn'd admire, "Thus dissipate and quench the soul's ethereal fire!"

XXIII.

He said, and turn'd away; nor did the Sage

O'erhear, in silent orisons employ'd.

The Youth, his rising sorrow to assuage,
Home as he hied, the evening scene enjoy'd:
For now no cloud obscures the starry void;
The yellow moonlight sleeps on all the hills *;
Nor is the mind with startling sounds annoy'd;
A soothing murmur the lone region fills,
Of groves, and dying gales, and melancholy rills.
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank. Shakspeare.