Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring,
When first she gives it to the southern gale,
Than the green Emerald fhows. But, all combin'd,
Thick thro' the whitening Opal play thy beams;
Or, flying feveral from its furface, form
A trembling variance of revolving hues,
As the fite varies in the gazer's hand.
THE very dead creation, from thy touch,
Affumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd,
In brighter mazes, the relucent ftream
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,
Projecting horror on the blacken'd flood,
Softens at thy return. The defart joys
Wildly, thro' all his melancholy bounds.
Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep,
Seen from fome pointed promontory's top,
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge,
Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But this,
And all the much-tranfported Mufe can fing,
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and ufe,
Unequal far; great delegated fource
Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!
How fhall I then attempt to fing of HIM,
Who, LIGHT HIMSELF, in uncreated light.
Invested deep, dwells awfully retir'd
From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken;
Whose single smile has, from the first of time,
Fill'd, overflowing, all thofe lamps of Heaven, 180
That beam for ever thro' the boundless sky;
But, fhould he hide his face, th' astonish'd fun,
And all th' extinguifh'd ftars, would loosening reel
Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again.
AND yet was every faultering tongue of Man, 185
ALMIGHTY FATHER! filent in thy praise;
Thy Works themselves would raise a general voice,
Even in the depth of folitary woods
By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power,
And to the quire celeftial THEE refound,
Th' eternal caufe, fupport, and end of all!
To me be Nature's volume broad-display'd;
And to perufe its all-inftructing page,
Or, haply catching infpiration thence,
Some eafy paffage, raptur'd, to translate,
My fole delight; as thro' the falling glooms
Penfive I ftray, or with the rifing dawn
On Fancy's eagle-wing excurfive foar.
Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent fun
Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds,
And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills
In party-colour'd bands; till wide unveil'd
The face of Nature fhines, from where earth feems Far-ftretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere.
HALF in a blush of clustering rofes loft,
Dew-dropping Coolness to the fhade retires ;
There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed,
By gelid founts and careless rills to mufe:
While tyrant Heat, difpreading thro' the fky,
With rapid fway, his burning influence darts
On Man, and beast, and herb, and tepid stream.
WHO can unpitying fee the flowery race,
Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom refign,.
Before the parching beam? So fade the fair,
When fevers revel thro' their azure veins.
But one, the lofty follower of the fun,
Sad when he fets, fhuts up her yellow leaves,
Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns,
Points her enamour'd bofom to his ray.
HOME, from his morning task, the fwain retreats; His flock before him stepping to the fold: While the full-udder'd mother lows around The chearful cottage, then expecting food, The food of innocence, and health! The daw, The rook and magpie, to the grey-grown oaks 225. (That the calm village in their verdant arms, Sheltering, embrace) direct their lazy flight; Where on the mingling boughs they fit embower'd, All the hot noon, till cooler hours arife..
Faint, underneath, the houshold fowls convene; 230
And, in a corner of the buzzing fhade,
The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies,
Out-stretch'd, and fleepy. In his flumbers one
Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults
O'er hill and dale; till waken'd by the wafp,
They ftarting fnap. Nor fhall the Mufe difdain
To let the little noify fummer-race
Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her fong:
Not mean tho' fimple; to the fun ally'd,
From him they draw their animating fire.
WAK'D by his warmer ray, the reptile young
Come wing'd abroad; by the light air upborn,
Lighter, and full of foul. From every chink,
And fecret corner, where they flept away
The wintry storms; or rifing from their tombs, 245
To higher life; by myriads, forth at once,
Swarming they pour; of all the vary'd hues
Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.
Ten thousand forms! Ten thousand different tribes!
People the blaze. To funny waters fome
By fatal inftinct fly; where on the pool
They, fportive, wheel; or, failing down the ftream,
Are fnatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd trout,
Or darting falmon. Thro' the green-wood glade
Some love to ftray; there lodg'd, amus'd and fed, 255
In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make
The meads their choice, and vifit every flower,
And every latent herb: for the fweet talk,
Το propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,
In what soft beds, their young yet undisclos'd, 260
Employs their tender care. Some to the house,
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight;
Sip round the pail, or tafte the curdling cheese :
Oft, inadvertent, from the milky ftream
They meet their fate; or, weltering in the bowl, 26;
With powerless wings around them wrapt, expire.
BUT chief to heedlefs flies the window proves
A conftant death; where, gloomily retir'd,
The villain spider lives, cunning, and fierce,
Mixture abhorr'd! Amid a mangled, heap
Of carcaffes, in eager watch he fits,,
O'erlooking all his waving fnares around.
Near the dire cell the dreadlefs wanderer oft
Paffes, as oft the ruffian fhows his front;
The prey at laft enfnar'd, he dreadful darts,
With rapid glide, along the leaning line;
And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs,
Strikes backward grimly pleas'd: the fluttering wing,
And fhriller found declare extreme diftrefs,
And ask the helping hospitable hand.
RESOUNDS the living furface of the ground:
Nor undelightful is the ceafelefs hum,.
To him who mufes thro' the woods at noon;
Or drowsy fhepherd, as he lies reclin'd,
With half-fhut eyes, beneath the floating fhade
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