Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

O'ercharg'd, amid the kind oppreffion roll.
Wide flies the tedded grain; all in a row
Advancing broad, or wheeling round the field,
They fpread the breathing harveft to the fun,
That throws refreshful round a rural smell :
Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground,
And drive the dusky wave along the mead,
The ruffet hay-cock rifes thick behind,

In order gay.
While heard from dale to dale,
Waking the breeze, resounds the blended voice
Of happy labour, love, and focial glee.

[ocr errors]

'Tis raging noon; and, vertical, the fun Darts on the head direct his forceful rays. O'er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye Can fweep, a dazzling deluge reigns; and all From pole to pole is undiftinguish'd blaze. In vain the fight, dejected to the ground, Stoops for relief; thence hot afcending steams And keen reflexion pain. Deep to the root Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields And flippery lawn an arrid hue difclofe, Blaft fancy's blooms, and wither even the foul.

Echo no more returns the chearful found Of sharpening fcythe: the mower finking heaps

O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfum'd;

And scarce a chirping grafs-hopper is heard Thro' the dumb mead. Diftrefsful nature pants.

The very ftreams look languid from afar;
Or, thro' th' unfhelter'd glade, impatient, seem
To hurl into the covert of the grove.

Around

"

Around th' adjoining brook, that purls along
The vocal grove, now fretting o'er a rock,
Now fcarcely moving thro' a reedy pool,
Now ftarting to a fudden ftream, and now
Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain;

A various groupe the herds and flocks com-
pose,

Rural Confufion! On the graffy bank,
Some ruminating lie; while others stand
Half in the flood, and often bending fip
The circling furface. In the middle droops
The ftrong laborious ox, of honeft front,
Which incompos'd he shakes; and from his fides
The troublous infects lashes with his tail,
Returning ftill.

Amid his fubjects fafe,
Slumbers the monarch-fwain; his careless arm
Thrown round his head, on downy mofs fuf-
tain'd;

Here laid his fcrip, with wholefome viands fill'd:

There, liftening every noife, his watchful dog.

Smooth to the shelving brink a copious flood
Rolls fair, and placid; where collected all,
In one impetuous torrent, down the steep
It thundering fhoots, and shakes the country
round.

At first, an azure fheet, it rushes broad;
Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls,
And from the loud-refounding rocks below
Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it fends aloft
A hoary mist, and forms a ceafelefs fhower.
Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repose:
But, raging ftill amid the fhaggy rocks,
Now flashes o'er the scatter'd fragments, now
Aflent the hollow'd channel rapid darts;
Ff

And

And falling fast from gradual flope to flope,
With wild infracted courfe, and leffen'd roar,
It gains a fafer bed, and fteals, at last,
Along the mazes of the quiet vale.

[ocr errors]

Befide the dewy border let me fit,

All in the freshness of the humid air;
There on that hollow'd rock, grotesque and
wild,

An ample chair mofs-lin'd, and over head
By flowering umbrage fhaded; where the bee
Strays diligent, and with th' extracted balm
Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh.

[ocr errors]

Heavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around,

Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and fpires,

And glittering towns, and gilded streams,

till all

The ftretching landskip into fmoke decays! Happy Britannia! where the Queen of arts, Infpiring vigor, liberty abroad

Walks, unconfin'd, even to thy fartheft cotts, And scatters plenty with unfparing hand.

Rich is thy foil, and merciful thy clime; Thy reams unfailing in the fummer's drought; Unmatch'd thy guardian-oaks; thy valleys float With golden waves: and on thy mountains flocks

Bleat numberlefs; while, roving round their fides,

Below the blackening herds in lufty droves. Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd Against the mower's fcythe. On every hand,

Thy

Thy villas fhine. Thy country teems with wealth.;

And property affures it to the fwain,
Pleas'd and unwearied, in his guarded toil.
Full are thy cities with the fons of art;
And trade and joy, in every bufy ftreet,
Mingling are heard: even drudgery himself,
As at the car he sweets, or dufty hews

The palace-ftone, looks gay. Thy crouded ports,

Where rifing mafts an endless profpect yield,
With labour burn, and echo to the shouts
Of hurry'd failor, as he hearty waves
His laft adieu, and loosening every fheet,
Refigns the spreading veffel to the wind.

Low walks the fun, and broadens by degrees,
Just o'er the verge of day. The fhifting clouds
Affembled gay, a richly-gorgeous train,
In all their pomp attend his fetting throne.
Air, earth and ocean fmile immenfe. And now,
As if his weary chariot fought the bowers
Of Amphitritè, and her tending nymphs;
(So Grecian fable fung) he dips his orb;
Now half-immers'd; and now a golden curve
Gives one bright glance, then total difappears.

His folded flock fecure, the fhepherd home Hies, merry-hearted; and by turns relieves The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail; The beauty whom perhaps his witlefs heart, Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguish means, Sincerely loves, by that beft language fhewn Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. Onward they pafs, o'er many a panting height, And valley funk, and unfrequented; where

At fall of eve the fairy people throng,
In various game, and revelry to pafs
The fummer-night, as village-stories tell.
But far about they wander from the grave
Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd
Against his own fad breaft to lift the hand
Of impious violence. The lonely tower
Is alfo fhun'd; whofe mournful chambers hold,
So night-ftruck fancy dreams, the yelling ghoft.

AUTUMN.

« ПредишнаНапред »