Feels all her fweet emotions at his heart;

1220

1225

Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more.
He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting gems,
Marks the first bud, and fucks the healtful gale
Into his freshened foul; her genial hours
He full enjoys; and not a beauty blows,
And not an opening bloffom breathes in vain.
In Summer he, beneath the living shade,
Such as o'er frigid Tempe wont to wave,
Or Hemus cool, reads what the Mufe, of these
Perhaps, has in immortal numbers fung;
Or what she dictates writes; and, oft an eye
Shot round, rejojces in the vigorous year.
When Autumn's yellow luftre gilds the world,
And tempts the fickled fwain into the field,
Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart diftends.

1230

1235

With gentle throws; and, thro' the tepid gleams

Deep mufing, then he beft exerts his fong.

Even Winter wild to him is full of bliss.

The mighty tempeft, and the hoary wafte,

Abrupt, and deep, ftretch'd o'er the buried earth, 1240 Awake to folemn thought. At night the skies, Difclos'd, and kindled, by refining froft,

Pour every luftre on th' exalted eye.

A friend a book the ftealing hours fecure,

And mark them down for wisdom. With swift wing, 1245.
O'er land and fea imagination roams;

Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind,
Elates his being, and unfolds his powers;
Or in his breaft heroic virtue burns.
The touch of kindred too and love he feels;
The modeft eye, whofe beams on his alone
Extatic shine; the little ftrong embrace

Of pratling children, twin'd around his neck,

1250

And emulous to please him, calling forth
The fond parental foul. Nor purpose gay,
Amusement, dance, or fong, he fternly scorns;
For happiness and true philofophy

Are of the focial ftill, and fmiling kind.

1255

This is the life which thofe who fret in guilt,

And guilty cities, never knew; the life,

1260

Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt,

When angels dwelt, and God himself, with Man!

OH NATURE! all- fufficient! over all!

Inrich me with the knowledge of thy works!

Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there, 1265
World beyond world, in infinite extent,

Profufely fcattered o'er the blue immenfe,
Shew me; their motions, periods, and their laws,
Give me to scan; thro' the difclofing deep

Light my blind way: the mineral ftrata there;
Thruft, blooming, thence the vegetable world;
O'er that the rifing fyftem, more complex,
Of animals; and higher ftill, the mind,

1270

The varied-fcene of quick compounded thought,

And where the mixing paffions endless shift;
These ever open to my ravish'd eye;

1275

A fearch, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust !

But if to that unequal; if the blood,

In sluggish ftreams about my heart, forbid

That beft ambition; under clofing shades,

1280

Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook,

And whisper to my dreams. From THEE begin, Dwell all on THEE, with THEE Conclude my fong; And let me never never ftray from THEE!

WINTER.

The

ARGUMENT.

The subject propofed. Address to the earl of WILMINGTON. First approach of Winter. Accor ding to the natural course of the feason, various ftorms defcribed. Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the fnows: A Man perishing among them; whence reflections on the wants and miseries of human life. The wolves defcending from the Alps and Apennines. A winter evening defcribed: as fpent by philofophers; by the country people; in the city. Froft. A view of Winter within the polar Circle. A thaw. The whole concluding with moral reflections on a future ftate.

WINTER.

SEE, WINTER Comes, to rule the varied year,
Sullen, and fad, with all his rifing train;

Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these my theme

Thefe, that exalt the foul to folemn thought,
And heavenly mufing. Welcome, kindred glooms! 5
Cogenial horrors, hail! with frequent foot,
Pleas'd have I, in my chearful morn of life,
When nurs'd by careless folitude I liv'd,
And fung of Nature with unceafing joy,
Pleas'd have I wander'd thro' your rough domain;
Trod the pure virgin - fnows, myself as pure;
Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burft;
Or feen the deep fermenting tempeft brew'd,
In the grim evening sky. Thus pafs'd the time,
Till thro' the lucid chambers of the fouth
Look'd out the joyous SPRING, look'd out, and fmil'd.

To thee, the patron of this first effay,
The Mufe, O WILMINGTON! renews her fong.
Since has she rounded the revolving year:
Skim'd the gay Spring; on eagle - pinions borne,
Attempted through the Summer - blaze to rife;

Then

IS

20

L

Then fwept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale;
And now among the wintry clouds again,

Roll'd in the doubling ftorm, she tries to foar;
To fwell her note with all the rushing winds;
To fuit her founding cadence to the floods;
As is her theme, her numbers wildly great:
Thrice happy! could she fill thy judging ear
With bold defcription, and with manly thought.
Nor art thou skill'd in awful schemes alone,
And how to make a mighty people thrive:
But equal goodness, found integrity,
A firm unshaken uncorrupted foul
Amid a sliding age, and burning strong,
Not vainly blazing for thy country's weal,
A fteady fpirit regularly free;

These, each exalting each, the statesman light
Into the patriot; thefe, the public hope
And eye to thee converting, bid the Mufe
Record what envy dares not flattery call.

Now when the chearless empire of the sky

25

35

40

To Capricorn the Centaur - Archer yields,
And fierce Aquarius, ftains th' inverted year;
Hung o'er the fartheft verge of heaven, the fun
Scarce fpreads o'er ether the dejected day.

45

Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot
His ftruggling rays, in horizontal lines,

Thro' the thick air; as cloath'd in cloudy ftorm, Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the fouthern sky; And, foon defcending, to the long dark night,

Wide shading all, the proftrate world refigns.
Nor is the night unwish'd; while vital heat,
Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forfake,

Mean time, in fable cincture, shadows vaft,

Deep