of arms,

of rifing trade:

One fcene of arts,
For what his wisdom plann'd, and power enforc'd,
More potent still, his great example shew'd.

Subdu'd,

989

990

995

MUTTERING, the winds at eve, with blunted point, Blow hollow bluftering from the fouth. The froft refolves into a thrickling thaw. Spotted the mountains shine; loofe sleet defcends, And floods the country round. The rivers fwell, Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts, A thousand fnow fed torrents shoot at once; And, where they rush, the wide - refounding plain Is left one slimy wafte. Those fullen feas, That wash'd th' ungenial pole, will reft no more Beneath the shackles of the mighty north; But, roufing all their waves, resistless heave. And hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs Athwart the rifted deep at once it burfts, And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds. Il fares the bark with trembling wretches charg'd, That, toft amid the floating fragments, moors Beneath the shelter of an icy isle,

1000

1005

1010

While night o'erwhelms the fea, and horror looks
More horrible. Can human force endure
Th' affembled mifchiefs that befiege them round?
Heart - gnawing hunger, fainting weariness,
The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice,
Now ceafing, now renew'd with louder rage,
And in dire echoes bellowing round the main.
More to embroil the deep, Leviathan
And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport,
Tempeft the loofen'd brine, while thro' the gloom,
Far, from the bleak inhofpitable shore,

1015

Loa

Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howł
Of famish'd monsters, there awaiting wrecks.
Yet PROVIDENCE, that ever waking eye,
Looks down with pity on the feeble toil
Of mortals loft to hope, and lights them fafe,
Thro' all this dreary labyrinth of fate.

'Tis done! dread Winter fpreads his latest glooms,
And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year.
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!

How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends

His defolate domain. Behold, fond Man!

1025

See here thy pictur'd life, pafs fome few years,
Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent ftrength, 1030
Thy fober Autumn fading into age,

And pale concluding Winter comes at last,

1035

And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled,
Those dreams of greatnefs? thofe unfolid hopes
Of happiness? thofe longings after fame?
Thofe reftlefs cares? thofe bufy bustling days?
Those gay-fpent, feftive nights? thofe veering thoughts
Loft between good and ill, that shar'd thy life?
All now are vanish'd; VIRTUE fole- furvives,
Immortal never failing friend of Man,

His guide to happiness on high.

'Tis come, the glorious morn!

-

And fee!

the fecond birth

Of heaven, and earth! awakening Nature hears

The new creating word, and starts to life,

1040

In every heightened form, from pain and death 1045
For ever free. The great eternal Scheme,
Involving all, and in a perfect mbole
Uniting, as the profpect wider fpreads,
To reafon's eye refin'd clears up apace.
Ye vainly wife! ye blind prefumptuous! now,
Confounded in the duft, adore that PowRE,

1050

And

And WISDOM oft arraign'd: fee now the cause,
Why unaffuming worth in fecret liv'd,

And dy'd, neglected: why the good Man's share
In life was gall and bitterness of foul:

1055

Why the lone widow and her orphans pin'd
In ftarving folitude; while luxury,

In palaces, lay ftraining her low thought,

To form unreal wants: why heaven - born truth,

And moderation fair, wore the red marks

1060

Of fuperftition's fcourge: why licens'd pain,
That cruel fpoiler, that embofom'd foe,
Imbitter'd all our blifs. Ye good diftreft!
Ye noble few! who here unbending ftand
Beneath life's preffure, yet bear up a while,
And what your bounded view, which only faw
A little part, deem'd Evil is no more:

The ftorms of WINTRY TIME will quickly pafs,
And one unbounded SPRING encircle all.

1065

A

T

A

HYMN.

HESE, as they change, ALMIGHTY FATHER, these,
Are but the varied GOD. The rolling year

Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleafing Spring
THY beauty walks, THY tenderness and love,
Wide flush the fields; the foftening air is balm;
Echo the mountains round; the foreft fmiles;
And every sense, and every heart is joy.
Then comes THY glory in the Summer - months,
With light and heat refulgent. Then THY fun
Shoots full perfection thro' the fwelling year:
And of THY voice in dreadful thunder fpeaks;
And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve,
By brooks and groves, in hollow whispering gales.
THY bounty shines in Autumn unconfin'd,

And spreads a common feaft for all that lives.
In Winter awful THOU! with clouds and ftorms
Around THEE thrown, tempeft o'er tempeft roll'd,
Majestic darknefs! on the whirlwind's wing,
Riding fublime, THOU bidft the world adore,
And humbleft Nature with THY northern blaft.

15

20

MYSTERIOUS round! what skill, what force divine,

Deep- felt, in these appear! a fimple train,
Yet fo delightful mix'd, with fuch kind art,
Such beauty and beneficence combin'd;
Shade, unperceiv'd, fo foftening into shade;
And all fo forming an harmonious whole;

25

That, as they still fucceed, they ravish ftill.
But wandering oft, with brute inconfcious gaze,
Man marks not THEE, marks not the mighty hand,
That, ever-bufy, wheels the filent fpheres;
Works in the fecret deep; shoots, fteaming, thence
The fair profufion that o'erfpreads the Spring:
Flings from the fun direct the flaming day;
Feeds every creature; hurls the tempeft forth;
And, as on earth this grateful change revolves,
With transport touches all the springs of life.

NATURE, attend! join every living foul,
Beneath the spacious temple of the sky,
In adoration join; and, ardent, raife
One general fong! To HIM, ye vocal gales,

3༠

35

40

Breathe foft, whofe SPIRIT in your freshnefs breathes:

Oh talk of HIM in folitary glooms!

Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine
Fills the brown shade with a religious awe.

And ye, whofe bolder note is heard afar,
Who shake th' aftonish'd world, lift high to heaven
Th' impetuous fong, and fay from whom you rage.
His praife, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills;
And let me catch it as I muse along.

Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound
Ye fofter floods, that lead the humid maze
Along the vale; and thou, majestic main,
A fecret world of wonders in thyself,

Sound His ftupendous praise; whose greater voice
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall.

45

SS

Soft roll your incenfe, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, In mingled clouds to HIM; whofe fun exalts,

Whose breath perfumes you, and whofe pencil paints, Ye forefts bend, ye harvests wave, to HIM;

Brea