And to the murmurs of the waters fleep:
The circling air 's at reft, and feels no noife,
Except of fome short breaths upon the trees,
Rocking the harmless birds that reft upon them:
No tree in all the grove but has its charms,
Though each its hue peculiar; paler fome,
And of a wannish gray; the willow fuch,
And poplar, that with filver lines his leaf;
And ash, far stretching his umbrageous arm.
Of deeper green the elm; and, deeper ftill,
Lord of the woods, the long-furviving oak.
Some gloffy-leav'd, and shining in the fun;
The maple, and the beech, of oily nuts
Prolific; and the lime, at dewy eve
Diffufing odours: nor unnoted pass
The fycamore, capricious in attire,
Now green, now tawny, and, ere autumn yet
Have chang'd the woods, in fcarlet honours bright.
THE treach'rous fpider, when hernets are spread,
Deep ambufh'd in her filent den does lie,
And feels, far off, the trembling of her thread,
Whofe filmy cord should bind the ftruggling fly:
Then, if at last the find him faft befet,
She iffues forth, and runs along her loom;
She joys to touch the captive in her net,
And drags the little wretch in triumph mohe.
CHILD of fummer, lovely rofe,
In thee what blushing beauty glows!
But, ere to-morrow's fetting fun,
Thy beauty fades, thy form is gone.
Yet, though no grace thy buds retain,
Thy pleafing odours still remain.
Ye fair, betimes the moral prize,
'T is lasting beauty to be wife!
150 The Stream of the Defert.-The Balloon.
THE STREAM OF THE DESERT.
IF from lone cliffs a burfting rill expands
Its tranfient course, and finks into the fands,
O'er the moist rock the fell hyæna prowls,
The leopard hiffes, and the panther growls;
On quiv'ring wing the famish'd vulture screams,
Dips his dry beak, and fweeps the gufhing
ftreams;
With foamy jaws beneath, and fanguine tongue,
Laps the lean wolf, and pants, and runs along ;
Stern ftalks the lion on the ruftling brinks,
Hears the dread snake, and trembles as he drinks;
Quick darts the fcaly monfter o'er the plain,
Fold after fold, his undulating train ;'
And, bending o'er the lake his crested brow,
Starts at the crocodile that gapes below.
So, on the fhorelefs air th' intrepid Gaul Launch'd the vast concave of his buoyant ball;
Journeying on high the filken castle glides,
Bright as a meteor, through the azure tides;
O'er towns and tow'rs and temples wins its way,
Or mounts fublime, and gilds the vault of day.
Silent, with upturn'd eyes, unbreathing crowds
Pursue the floating wonder to the clouds;
And flufh'd with tranfport, or benumb'd with fear,
Watch as it rifes the diminish'd sphere.
Now lefs and lefs !-and now a fpeck is feen!
And now the fleeting rack intrudes between!
The calm philofopher in æther fails,
Views broader stars, and breathes in purer gales;
Sees, like a map, in many a waving line,
Round earth's blue plains her lucid waters fhine;
Sees at his feet the forked lightnings glow,
And hears the harmless thunders roar below.
Old father Thames advanc'd his rev'rend head. Around his throne the fea-born brothers flood, Who fwell with tributary urns his flood.
The Coming of a Shower.
First, the fam'd authors of his antient name,
The winding Ifis, and the fruitful Tame:
The Kennet swift, for silver eels renown'd,
The Loddon flow, with verdant alders crown'd;
Cole, whofe dark streams his flow'ry islands lave;
And chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave:
The blue transparent Vandalis appears ;
The gulphy Lee his fedgy treffes rears;
And fullen Mole, that hides his diving flood;
And filent Darent stain'd with Danish blood.
Now the light fwallow, with her airy brood, Skims the green meadow, and the dimpled flood; Loud fhrieks the lone thrush from his leafless
Th' alarmed beetle founds his bugle horn;
Each pendent spider winds with fingers fine
His ravell'd clue, and climbs along the line;
Through the still air descend the genial fhow'rs,
And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flow'rs.
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