And view the valley, fpreading wide,
And opening with the day.
Nor, uninftructive, fhall the scene
Unfold its charms in vain :
The fallow brown, the meadów green,
The mountain and the plain;
Each dew-drop, glift'ning on the thorn,
And trembling to its fall;
Each blush, that paints the cheek of morn,
In fancy's ear fhall call ;
"O ye! in youth and beauty's pride,
"Who lightly dance along ;
"While laughter frolics at your fide,
"And rapture tunes your fong;
"What, though each grace around you play,
"Each beauty bloom for you, "Warm as the blush of rifing day,
"And fparkling as the dew:
"The blush, that glows fo gaily now,
"But glows to disappear;
And, quiv'ring, from the bending bough,
"Soon breaks the pearly tear :
"So pafs the beauties of your prime,
"That ev'n in blooming die;
"So, fhrinking at the blaft of time,
"The treach'rous graces fly."
Let thofe, my Stella, flight the strain,
Who fear to find it true!
Each fair, of tranfient beauty vain,
Any douth, as tranfient too!
With charms, that win beyond the fight,
And hold the willing heart,
My Stella fhall await their flight;
Nor figh, when they depart.
Still graces fhall remain behind,
And beauties ftill controul;
The graces of the polish'd mind,
And beauties of the foul.
EE! Winter comes, to rule the varied year,
SEE! rule the varied
Vapours, and clouds, and ftorms. Be thefe my theme;
These, that exalt the foul to folemn thought,
And heavenly mufing. Welcome, kindred glooms!
Congenial 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 through your rough domain S
Trod the poor 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-fky. Thus pafs'd the time,
Till, through the lucid chambers of the fouth,
Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smil'd.
7OUTH of the year, delightful Spring!
Thy bleft return, on genial wing,
Infpires my languid lays :
No more I fleep in floth fupine,
When all creation at thy fhrine,
Its annual tribute pays.
Efcap'd from Winter's freezing pow'r,
Each bloffom greets thee, and each flow'r ;
And, foremost of the train,
By nature (artlefs handmaid !) dreft,
The fnow-drop comes, in lillied veft,
Prophetic of thy reign.
The lark now ftrains her tuneful throat,
And ev'ry loud and sprightly note
Calls Echo from her cell
Be warn'd, ye maids that liften round;
A beauteous nymph became a found
The nymph, who lov'd too well.
The bright-hair'd fun with warmth benign,
Bids tree, and fhrub, and fwelling vine,
Their infant buds difplay:
Again the ftreams refresh the plains,
Which winter bound in icy chains,
And, fparkling, bless his ray.
Life-giving zephyrs breathe around,
And, inflant, glows th' enamell'd ground,
With nature's varied hues-
Not fo returns our youth, decay'd:
Alas! nor air, nor fun, nor shade,
The fpring of life renews.
The fun's too quick revolving beam
Apace diffolves the human dream,
And bring's th' appointed hour:
Too late we catch his parting ray,
And mourn the idly wafted day,
No longer in our pow'r.
Then, happieft he! whofe lengthen'd fight
Pursues, by virtue's conftant light,
A hope beyond the fkies;
Where frowning Winter ne'er fhall come,
But rofy fpring for ever bloom,
And funs eternal rife.
'N that foft feafon, when defcending fhowers,
Call forth the greens, and wake the rifing flowers; When op'ning buds falute the welcome day, And earth, relenting, feels the genial ray; As balmy fleep had charm'd my cares to rest, And love itfelf was banifh'd from my breaft, (What time the morn myfterious vifions brings, While pureft flumbers fpread their golden wings), A train of phantoms. in wild order, rofe, And, join'd, this intellectual fcene compofe. I ftood, methought, betwixt the earth and skies; The whole creation open to mine eyes.
In air, felf-balanc'd, hung the globe below,
Where mountains rife, and circling oceans flow:
Here, naked rocks, and empty wastes, were feen
There, towery cities, and wild forefts green :
Here, failing fhips delight the wand'ring eyes;
There, trees and intermingled temples rife :
Now, a clear fun the shining scene displays ;
The tranfient landscape, now, in clouds decays.
O'ER the wide prospect as I gaz'd around,
Sudden I heard a wild promifcuous found,
Like broken thunders that at distance roar,
Or billows murmuring on the hollow shore:
Then, gazing up, a glorious pile beheld,
Whofe towering fummit ambient clouds conceal'd.
High, on a rock of ice, the ftructure lay;
Steep its afcent, and flippery was the way.
The wond'rous rock, like Parian marble, fhone,
And feem'd, to diftant fight, of folid ftone.
Infcriptions, here, of various names I view'd,
The greater part by hoftile time fubdued;
Yet wide was spread their fame in ages paft,
And poets, once, had promis'd they should last.
Some, fresh engrav'd, appear'd, of wits renown'd-
I look'd again, nor could their trace be found.
Critics I faw, that other names deface,
And fix their own, with labour, in their place :
Their own, like others, fooneir place refign'd;
Or disappear'd, and left the firft behind.
Nor was the work impair'd by ftorms alone,
But felt th' approaches of too warm a fun;
For fame, impatient of extremes, decays,
Not more by envy, than excefs of praise.
Yet part no injuries of heaven could feel,
Like cryftal, faithful to the graving steel;
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