A lifeless group the blafted cattle lie:

Here the foft Hocks, with that fame harmless look

They wore alive, and ruminating ftill

In fancy's eye, and there the frowning bull, 1155
And ox half rais'd. Struck on the caftled cliff,
The venerable tower and fpiry fane
Refign their aged pride. The gloomy woods
Start at the flash, and from their deep recefs
Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates thake.
Amid Caernarvon's mountains rages loud 1161
The repercuffive roar with mighty crush,
Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks
Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the sky,
Tumble the fmitten cliffs: and Snowden's
peak,

Diffolving, inftant yields his wintry load.
Far feen the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze,
And Thulè bellows thro' her utmoft ifles.

1165

Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubled thought

1170

And yet not always on the guilty head
Defcends the fated flash. Young Celadon
And his Amelia were a matchlefs pair;
With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace,
The fame, diftinguifh'd by their fex alone:
Her's the mild luftre of the blooming morn, 1175
And his the radiance of the ri en day.
They lov'd; but fuch their guilelefs paffion was,
As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart
Of Innocence and undiffembling Truth.
'Twas friendship, heighten'd by the mutual wifh,
Th'enchanting hope, and fympathetic glow, 1181
Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all
To love, each was to each a dearer felf,
Supremely happy in th' awaken'd power
Of giving joy. Alone, amid the fhades,
Still in harmonious intercourfe they liv'd
The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart,
Or figh'd and look'd unutterable things.

1185

So pafs'd their life, a clear united stream, By care unruffled; till, in evil hour, The tempeft caught them on the tender walk, Heedlefs how far and where its mazes ftray'd, While with each other bleft, creative Love Still bade eternal Eden fmile around. Prefaging inftant fate, her bofom heav'd Unwonted fighs, and ftealing oft' a look Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye Fell tearful, wetting her difordered cheek. In vain affuring love, and confidence In Heaven, reprefs'd her fear; it grew, fhook

1190

1195

1199 and

Her frame near diffolution. He perceiv'd Th' unequal conflict, and as angels look On dying faints, his eyes compassion fred, With love illumin'd high. "Fear not," he faid, "Sweet Innocence! thou ftranger to offence, "And inward ftorm! He who yon' fkies involves

"In frowns of darkness, ever fmiles on thee "With kind regard. O'er thee the fecret fnaft "That wastes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour

"Which thunders terror thro' the guilty heart, "With tongues of feraphs whispers peace

thine.

to

""Tis fafety to be near thee, fure, and thus
"To clafp perfection!" From his void embrace,
Myfterious Heaven! that moment to the ground,
A blackened corfe, was ftruck the beauteous
maid.
1216

But who can paint the lover as he stood
Pierc'd by fevere amazement, hating life,
Speechlefs, and fix'd in all the death of woe!
So, faint refemblance! on the marble tomb 1 220
The well-diffembled mourner ftooping ftands,
For ever flent, and for ever fad.

1230

As from the face of heaven the fhatter'd clouds Tumultuous rove, th' interminable sky Sublimer fwells, and o'er the world expands 1225 A purer azure. Thro' the lighten'd air A higher luttre and a clearer calm, Diffufive tremble; while, as if in fign Of danger paft, a glittering robe of joy, Set off abundant by the yellow ray, Invefts the fields, and Nature fmiles, reviv’d. 'Tis beauty all and grateful fong around, Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat Of flocks thick-nibbing thro' the clover'd vale. And fhall the hymn be marr'd by thanklefs man, Moft favour'd, who with voice articulate Should lead the chorus of this lower world? Shall he, fo foon forgetful of the hand That hufh'd the thunder, and ferenes the sky, Extinguifh'd feel that spark the tempeft wak'd, That fenfe of powers exceeding far his own, Ere yet his feeble heart has loft its fears?

1236

Cheer'd by the milder beam, the fprightly youth

Speeds to the well-known pool, whofe cryftal depth

A fandy bottom fhews, Awhile he ftands, 1245 Gazing th' inverted landfcape, half afraid

To meditate the blue profound below,

Then plunges headlong down the circling flood.
His ebon treffes and his rofy cheek
Inftant emerge, and thro' the obedient wave, 1250
At each fort breathing by his lip repelld,
With arms and legs according well, he makes,
As humour leads, an eafy-winding path,
While from his polifh'd fdes a dewy light
Effufes on the pleas'd spectators round.

1255

This is the pureft exercife of health, The kind refren er of the fummer heats: Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightning flood,

Pentive, and pierc'd with love's delightful pangs;
There to the fream that down the diftant rocks
Hoarfe-murmuring fell, and plaiative breeze,
that play'd

Among the bending willows, falfely he
Of Mufidora's cruelty complain'd.

1275

1280

1285

She felt his flame: but deep within her breaft,
In bashful coy nefs, or in maiden pride,
The foft return conceal'd, fave when it ftole
In fide-long glances from her downcat eye,
Or from her fwelling foul in ftified fighs.
Touch'd by the fcene, no ftranger to his vows,
He fram'd a melting lay to try her heart,
And if an infant paffion ftruggled there,
To call that paffion forth. Thrice happy fwain!
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine :
For, lo conducted by the laughing Loves,
This cool retreat his Mufidora fought:
Warm in her cheek the fultry feafon glow'd;
And, rob'd in loofe array, the came to bathe 1290
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing ftream.
What fhall he do? In fweet confufion loft,
And dubious flutterings, he a while remain'd:
A pure ingenuous elegance of foul,
A delicate refinement, known to few,
Perplex'd his breaft, and urg'd him to retire;
But Love forbade. Ye Prudes in virtue fay,
Say, ye Severett, what would you have done?
Mean time this fairer nymph than ever bleft
Arcadian ftream, with timid eye around 1300
The banks furveying, ftripp'd her beauteous
limbs,

To taste the lucid coolnefs of the flood.
Ah, then! not Paris on the piny top
Of Ida panted ftronger, when afide
The rival-goddeffes the veil divine

1295

1305

Caft unconfin'd, and gave him all their charms,
Than, Damon, thou, as from the fnowy leg
And flender foot th' inverted filk she drew ;
As the foft touch diffolv'd the virgin zone,
And thro' the parting robe th' alternate breaft,
With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawlefs

gaze

1310

1325

With headlong hurry fled; but first thefe lines Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank

With trembling hand he threw. " Bathe on, my Fair!

1349

1445

Yet unbeheld, fave by the facred eye
"Of faithful love. I go to guard thy haunt,
"To keep from thy recefs each vagrant foot,
"And each licentious eye." With wild furprise,
As if to marble ftruck, devoid of fenfe,
A ftupid moment motionless the flood:
So ftands the statue that enchants the world;
So bending tries to veil the matchlefs boaft,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Recovering, fwift the flew to find thofe robes
Which blifsful Eden knew not; and array'd 1350
In careless bafte, th' alarming paper faatch'd:
But when her Damon's well-known hand the faw,
Her terrors vanifh'd, and a fofter train
Of mixt emotions, hard to be defcrib'd,
Her fudden bofom feiz'd: fhame, void of guilt,
The charming blufh of innocence, efteem
And admiration of her lover's flame,

By modefty exalted; c'en a fenfe
Of felf-approving beauty ftole acrofs
Her bufy thought. At length a tender calm 1360
Hufh'd by degrees the tumult of her foul,
And on the fpreading beech, that o'er the ftream
Incumbent hung, the with the fylvan pen
Of rural lovers this confeffion carv❜il,
Which foon her Damon kifs'd with weeping joy:
"Dear youth! fole judge of what thefe verles

mean,

By fortune too much favour'd, but by Love,
"Alas! not favour'd lefs, be ftill, as now,
"Difcreet: the time may come you need not fly,"
The fun has loft his rage; his downward orb
Shoots nothing now but animating warmth 1371
And vitalduftre: that, with various ray,
Lights up the clouds, thofe beauteous robes of
Heaven,

Jnceffant roll'd into romantic ftapes,
The dream of waking fancy! Broad below, 1375
Cover'd with ripening fruits, and fwelling faft
Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth
And all her tribes rejoice. Now the foft hour
Of walking comes, for him who lonely loves
To feek the diftant hills, and there converfe 1380
With Nature, there to harmonize his heart,
And in pathetic fong to breathe around
The harmony to others. Social friends,
Attua'd to happy unifon of foul,

To whofe exulting eye a fairer world,
Of which the vulgar never had a glimpfe,
Difplays its char his, whofe minds are richly
fraught

With philofophic ftores, fuperior light,
And in whofe breaft, enthuBaftic, burns.
Virtue, the fons of Intreft deem romance,
The Venus of Melici.

3 L

1385

1390

1405

Now call'd abroad, enjoy the falling day;
Now to the verdant portico of woods,
To Nature's vaft Lyceum, forth they walk;
By that kind fchool where no proud mafter reigns,
The full free converfe of the friendly heart, 1395
Improving and improv'd. Now from the world,
Sacred to fweet retirement, lovers fteal,
And pour their fouls ir transport, which the fire
Of love, approving, heats, and calls it Good.
Which way, Amanda, thall we bend our courfe?
The choice perplexes, Wherefore fhouldwechufe?
All is the fame with thee. Say, all we wind
Along the ftreams? or walk the fmiling mead?.
Or court the foreft glades? or wander wild
Among the waving harvefts? or afcend,
While radiant Summer opens all its pride,
Thy hill, delightful Shene? Hare let us fweep
The boundlefs landfcape: now the raptur'd eye,
Exulting fwift, to huge Augufta fend;
Now to the Sifter-hills that dirt her plain; 1410
To lofty Harrow new ; and now to where
Majeftic Windfor lifts his princely brow.
In lovely contraft to this glorious view,
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn
To where the filver Thames first rural grows:
There let the feafted eye unwearied stray;
Luxurious there rove thro' pendent woods,
That nodding bang o'er Harrington's retreat;
And, ftooping thence to Ham's embow'ring walks,
Beneath whofe fhades, in fpotlefs peace retir'd,
With her the pleafing partner of his heart,
The worthy Queenfb'ry yet laments his Gay,
And polish'd Cornbury woos the willing Mufe,
Slow let us trace the matchlefs vale of Thames,
Fair-winding up to where the Mufes haunt 1425
In Twit'nam's bowers, and for their Pope implore
The healing God; to royal Hampton's pile,
To Clermont's terrass'd height, and Efher's groves,
Where in the fweeteft folitude, embrac'd
By the foft windings of the flent Mole,
From courts and fenates, Pelham finds repofe.
Inchanting vale! beyond whate'er the Mufe
Has of Achaia or Hefperia fung!
O vale of blifs ! O foftly fwelling bills!
On which the power of Cultivation lies,
And joys to fee the wonders of his toil.
Heavens-what a goodly profpec fpreads around,
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and
fpires,

1416

1421

1430

1435

And glittering towns, and gilded ftreams, till all
The ftretching landscape into smoke decays! 1449
Happy Britannia! where the Queen of Arts,
Infpiring vigour, Liberty abroad
Walks unconfin'd, e'en to thy farthest cots,
And featters plenty with unfparing hand.

1445

Rich is thy foil, and merciful thy clime; Thy ftreams unfailing in the Summer's drought; Unmatch'd thy guardian-caks; thy vallies float With golden waves; and on thy mountain flocks Bleat numberlefs; while roving round their files Bellow the blackening berds in lufty droves, 1450 Beneath thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd Against the mower's fcythe. On every hand Thy villas fhine. Thy country teems with wealth, And Property affures it to the fwain,

Pleas'd and unwearied in his guarded toil. 1455!

Full are thy cities with the fons of Art, And Trade and Joy in every bufy street Mingling are heard: e'en Drudgery bimfelf, As at the car he fweats, or dufty hews The palace-ftone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, Where rifing malls an endlefs profpećt yield, With labour burn, and echo to the fhouts Of hurried failor, as he hearty waves His laft adieu, and, loofening every fleet, Refigns the fpreading veffel to the wind. Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth,

1451

1465

By hardship finew'd, and by danger fir'd,
Scattering the nations where they go, and first
Or on the lifted plain or stormy feas.

Mild are thy glories, too, as o'er the plans 1470
Of thriving peace thy thoughtful fres pret de :
In genius and fubflantial learning high;
For every virtue, every worth renown'd;
Sincere, plain-hearted, hofpitable, kind;
Yet, like the muffering thunder, when provok'd,
The dread of tyrants, and the fole refource
Of thofe that under grim Oppreffion groan,
Thy fons of glory many! Alfred! thine,
In whom the fplendour of heroic war,
And more heroic peace, when govern'd well, 1480
Combine; whofe hallowed name the Virtues faint,
And his own Mufes love; the beft of kings!
With him thy Edwards and thy Henrys fine;
Names dear to Fame! the firft who deep-imprefs'd
On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, 1485
That awes her Genius ftill. In ftatefmen thou,
And patriots, fertile. Thine a fteady More,
Who, with a gen'rous, tho' mistaken, zeal,
Withstood a brutal tyrant's direful rage;
Like Cato firm, like Ariftides juft,
Like rigid Cincinnatus, nobly poor,
A dauntlefs foul, erect, who fmil'd on death.
Frugal, and wife, a Walfingham is thine;
A Drake, who made thee miftrefs of the deep,
And bore thy name in thunder round the world.
Then fiam'd thy fpirit high but who can freak
The num'rous worthies of the Maiden reign?
In Raleigh mark their every glory mix'd:
Raleigh! the fcourge of Spain! whose breast with

all

1490

1595

The fage, the patriot, and the hero, burn'd: 1500
Nor funk his vigour when a coward reign
The warrior fetter'd, and at laft refign'd,
To glut the vengeance of a vanquift'd foe,
Then, active ftill and unreftrain'd, his mind
Explor'd the vast extent of ages past,
And with his prifon-hours enrich'd the world,
Yet found no times, in all the long research,
So glorious or fo bafe as thofe he prov'd,
In which he conquer'd, and in which he bled.
Nor can the Mufe the gallant Sidney pafs, 1510
The plume of War! with early laurels crown'd,
The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay.
A Hampden, too, is thine, illuftrious land!
Wife, frenuous, Erm, of unsubmitting soul,
Who ftemm'd the torrent of a downward age,

The old name of Richmond, fignifying in Saxor, fhining or splendour.

Highgate and Hampflead. † in his loft fickress.

To flavery prone, and bade thee rife again,
In all thy native pomp of freedom bold.
Bright, at his call, thy age of men effulg'd,
Of men on whom late time a kiadling eye
Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read.
Bring every fweeteft flower, and let me ftrew 1521
The grave where Ruffel lies, whofe temper'd
Blood,

1531

1535

1540

With calmeft cheerfulness for thee refiga'd,
Stain'd the fad annals of a giddy reign,
Aiming at lawlels power, tho' meanly funk 1525
In loofe inglorious luxury. With him
His friend, the British Caffius *, fearless bled,
Of high determin' fpirit, roughly brave,
By ancient learning to the enlighten'd love
Of ancient freedom warm'd. Fair thy renown
In awful Sages and in poble Bards,
Soon as the light of dawning Science spread
Her orient ray, and wak'd the Mutes' fong.
Thine is a Bacon, haplefs in his choice,
Unfit to ftand the civil ftorm of state,
And thro' the fmooth barbarity of courts,
With firm but pliant virtue, forward ftill
To urge his courie; him for the ftudious fhade
Kind Nature fornr'd, deep, comprehenfive, clear,
Exact, and elegant; in one rich foul
Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd.
The great deliverer he! who, from the gloom
Of cloifter'd monks and jargon-teaching fchools,
Led forth the true Philofophy, there long
Hela in the magic chain of words' and forms,
And definitions void: he led her forth,
Daugter of Heaven! that flow-afcending ftill,
Investigating fure the chain of things,
With radiant finger points to Heaven again.
The generous Ahley thine, the friend of man,
Who fcann'd his nature with a brother's eye. 1551
His weakness prompt to fhade, to raife his aim,
To touch the finer movements of the mind,
And with the moral beauty charm the heart.
Why med 1 name thy Boyle, whofe pious fearch
Amid the dark recefies of his works 1556
The great Creator fought? And why thy Locke?
Who made the whole internal world his own?
Let Newton, pure intelligence! whom God
To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works
From laws fublimely fimple, fpeak thy fame 1561
In all philofophy. For lofty fenfe,
Creative fancy, and infpection keen
Thro' the deep windings of the human heart,

1545

1566

1570

Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's boaft?
Is not each great, each amiable Muse
Of claffic ages in thy Milton met?
A genius univerfal as his theme,
Aftonishing as chaos, as the bloom
Of blowing Eden fair, as heaven fublime.
Nor fhall my verfe that elder bard forget,
The gentle Spenfer, Fancy's pleafing fon,
Who like a copious river pour'd his fong
C'er all the mazes of enchanted ground;
Nor thee, his ancient malter, laughing fage, 1575
Chaucer, whofe native manners painting verfe,
*Algernon Sidney.
Anthony-Alley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury.

1580

Well moraliz'd, fhines thro' the Gothic cloud
Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown.
May my fong foften as thy Daughters I,
Britannia! hail; for beauty is their own,
The feeling heart, fimplicity of life,
And elegance and tafte: the faultlefs form,
Shap'd by the hand of Harmony; the cheek
Where the live crim/on, thro' the native white
Soft-footing, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 1585
And every namelef's grace; the parted lip,
Like the red rofe-bud moilt with morning dew,
Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet,
Or funny ringlets, or of circling brown,
The neck light-faded, and the fwelling breaft;
The look refiftlefs piercing to the foul, 1591
And by the foul inform'd, when, dreit in love,
She fits high-fmiling in the confcious eye.
Ifland of blifs! amid the fubject feas,

That thunder round thy rocky coafts, fet up, 1595
At once the wonder, terror, and delight,
Of diftant nations, whofe remoteft fhores
Can foon be fhaken by thy naval arm;
Not to be fook thyself, but all affaults
Baffling, as thy hoar cliff's the loud fea-wave. 1600
O Thou! by whofe almighty nod the scale
Of empire rifes, or alternate falls,
Send forth the faving Virtues.round the land
In bright patrol: white Peace and focial Love;
The tender-looking Charity, intent

1615

1621

1605 On gentle deeds, and shedding tears thro' fmiles; Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of Mind; Courage compos'd and keen; found Temperance, Healthful in heart and look; clear Chastity, With blues reddening as the moves along, 1610 Disorder'd at the deep regard the draws; Rough Industry; Activity untir'd, With copious life inform'd, and all awake; While in the radiant front fuperior fhines, That firit paternal virtue, Public Zeal, Who throws o'er all an equal wide furvey, And, ever mufing on the common weal, Still labours, glorious, with fome great defign. Low walks the fun, and broadens by degrees Juft o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds, A fembled 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 Amphitrite and her 'tending nymphs - 16251 (So Grecian fable fung,) he dips his orb Now half immers'd, and now a golden curve, Gives one bright glance, then total disappears. For ever running an enchanted round, Paffes the day, deceitful, vain, and void, As fleets the vifion o'er the formful brain, This moment hurrying wild th' impassion'd soul, The next in nothing loft. 'Tis fo to him The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank; A figh of horror to the cruel wretch, Who all day long in fordid pleasure roll❜d, Himfelf an ufelei's load, has fquander'd vile, Upon his fcoundrel train, what might have cheer'd

A drooping family of modeft worth:

3 L2

1630

1635