Oh knew he but his happiness, of men The happiest he! who, far from public rage, Deep in the vale, with a choice few retir'd, 1235 Drinks the pure pleasures of the rural life. What tho' the dome be wanting, whofe proud gate

1241

Each morning vomits out the sneaking crowd
Of flatterers falfe, and in their turn abus'd?
Vile intercourfe! What tho' the glittering robe,
Of every hue reflected light can give,
Or floating loofe, or ftiff with mazy gold,
The pride and gaze of fools! opprefs him not?
What tho', from utmost land and fea purvey'd,
For him each rarer tributary life
Bleeds not, and his infatiate table leaps
With luxury and death? what tho' his bowl
Flames not with coftly juice? nor funk in
beds,

1445

Oft' of gay care, he toffes out the night,
Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle ftate? 1230
What tho' he knows not thofe fantastic joys
That ftill amufe the wanton, ftill deceive;
A face of pleafure, but a heart of pain;
Their hollow moments undelighted all?
Sure peace is his; a folid life, eftrang'd
To difappointment and fallacious hope:
Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich,
In herbs and fruits, whatever greens the Spring,
When heaven defcends in fhowers, or bends the
bough

1255

1293

Rufh into blood, the fack of cities feck,
Unpierc'd, exulting in the widow's wail, 1280
The virgin's fhrick, and infant's trembling cry.
Let fome, far diftant from their native foil,
Urg'd or by want or harden'd avarice,
Find other lands beneath another fun.
Let this thro' cities work his eager way,
By legal outrage and establish'd guile,
The focial fenfe extinct, and that ferment
Mad into tumult the feditious herd,
Or melt them down to flavery; let thefe
Infnare the wretched in the toils of law,
Fomenting difcord, and perplexing right;
An iron race! and thofe of fairer front,
But equal inhumanity, in courts,
Delufve pomp, and dark cabals, delight,
Wreath the deep bow, diffufe the lying fmile,
And tread the weary labyrinth of ftate:
While he from all the ftormy paffions free
That reftlefs men involve, hears, and but hears,
At diftance fafe, the human tempeft roar,
Wrapt clofe in confcious peace. The fall of kings,
The rage of nations, and the crush of ftates 1301
Move not the man who, from the world efcap'd,
In ftill retreats and flowery folitudes,

To Nature's voice attends, from month to month,
And day to day, thro' the revolving year; 1305
Admiring fees her in her every shape,
Feels all her fweet emotions at his heart,
Takes what the liberal gives, nor thinks of more.
He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting

gems,

1311

Marks the first bud, and fucks the healthful gale
Into his fremhen'd foul; her genial hours
He full enjoys, and not a beauty blows,
And not an opening blossom breathes in vain.
In Summer he, beneath the living fhade,
Such as o'er frigid Tempe wont to wave, 1315
Or Hemus cool, reads what the Mufe of thefe,
Perhaps, has in immortal numbers fung,
Or what the dictates writes; and oft', an eye
Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year.
When Autumn's yellow lustre gilds the world,.
And tempts the fickled fwain into the field, 1321
Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart diftends
With gentle throes, and thro' the tepid gleams
Deep mufing, then he beft exerts his fong.
E'en Winter wild to him is full of blifs;
The mighty tempeft and the hoary wafte,
Abrupt and deep, ftretch'd o'er the buried earth,
Awake to folemn thought. At night the skies,
Difclos'd and kindled by refining froft,
Pour every luftre on th' exalted eye.
A friend, a book, the ftealing hours fecure,
And mark them down for Wifdom. With swift
wing

1325

1330

The fond parental foul. Nor purpose gay,
Anaufement, dance, or fong, he fternly scorns;
For happiness and true philofophy
Are of the focial still and fmiling kind.
This is the life which thofe who fret in guilt
And guilty cities never knew; the life

Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt,

1345

Man!

Oh, Nature! all fufficient! over all! 1350
Earich me with the knowledge of thy works!
Snatch me to heaven! thy rolling wonder there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
Profufely fcatter'd o'er the blue immenfe,
Shew me; their motions, periods, and their
laws,

Give me to fean; thro' the difclofing deep 1356
Light my blind way; the mineral ftrata there;
Turuft, blooming, thence, the vegetable world;
O'er that the rifing fyftem, more complex,
Of animals; and, higher ftill, the mind, 1360
The varied fcene of quick-compounded thought,
And where the mixing paffions endless fhift:
Thefe ever-open to my ravif'd eye,
A fearch the flight of time can ne'er exhauft!
But if to that unequal, if the blood,
In fluggish ftreams about my heart, forbid
That beft ambition, under clofing fhades,
Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook,
And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin,
Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my fong;
And let me never, never ftray from Thee! 1371

WINTER.

THE ARGUMENT.

1365

The fubject propofed. Addrefs to the Earl of Wilmington. Tirft approach of Winter. According to the natural course of the feafon, varicus forms defcribed. Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the fnows: A man perishing among them; whence reflections on the wants and mifertes of human life. The wolves defcending from the Alps and Appennines. A wintry-evening defcribed as spent by philofophers; by the country people; in the city. Froft. A view of Winter within the Polar Circle. A thaa. The awhole concluding with moral reflections on a future jiate.

15

Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out and fmil'd.

2 L

To thee, the patron of her firft effay, The Mufe, O Wilmington! renews her Song. Since has the rounded the revolving year; Skimm'd, the gay Spring; on eagle pinions borne, Attempted thro' the Summer blaze to rife; Then fwept o'er Autumn with the fhadowy gale;^ And now among the Wintry clouds again, Roll'd in the doubling ftorm, fhe tries to foar, To fwell her note with all the rushing winds, 25 To fuit her founding cadence to the floods, As is her theme, her numbers wildly great: Thrice happy could the fill thy judging ear With bold defcription and with manly thought. Nor art thou kill'd in awful fchemes alone, And how to make a mighty people thrive; But equal goodness, found integrity, A firm, unfhaken, uncorrupted foul Amid a fliding age, and, burning ftrong. Nor vainly blazing for thy country's weal, A fteady fpirit, regularly free: Thefe, each exalting each, the statesman light Into the patriot; thefe the public hope And eye to thee converting, bid the Muse Record what Envy dares not flattery call.

3.

35

45

Now when the chearless empire of the sky To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields, And fierce Aquarius ftains, th' inverted year, Hung o'er the fartheft verge of heav'n, the fun Scarce fpreads thro' æther the dejected day. Faint are his gleams; and ineffectual shoot His ftruggling rays, in horizontal lines, Thro' the thick air, as cloth'd in cloudy ftorm, Weak. wan, and broad, he skirts the fouthern fky,

And, foon defcending, to the long dark night, 50
Wide-hading all, the proftrate world refigns.
Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forfake.
Nor is the night unwifh'd, while vital heat,
Mean-time in fable-cincture fhadows vaft,

Deep-ting'd and damp, and congregated clouds,
And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven,
Involve the face of things. Thus Winter falls,
A heavy gloom, oppreffive o'er the world,
And roufes up the feeds of dark disease.
Thro' Nature fhedding influence malign,
The foul of Man dies in him, loathing life,
And black with more than melancholy views.
The cattle droop; and o'er the furrow'd land,
Fresh from the plough, the dun-difcolour'd
fludio,

Untended fpreading, crop the wholesome root. 65
Along the woods, along the moorish fens,
Sighs the fad Genius of the coming ftorm;
And up among the loofe disjointed cliffs,

3 N

And fractur'd mountains wild, the brawling

brook.

And cave, prefageful, fend a hollow moan, Refounding long in liftening Fancy's car.

༡༠

Then coines the Father of the tempest forth, Wrapt in black glooms. First joyless rains, obfcure,

Drive thro' the mingling fkies with vapour foul, Dafn on the mountain's brow, and fake the woods,

That grumbling wave below. The unfightly plain
Lies a brown deluge, as the low-bent clouds 77
Pour flood on flood, yet unexhausted still
Combine, and, deepening into night, shut up
The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven 80
Each to his home retire, fave thofe that love
To take their pastime in the troubled air,
Or fkimming flutter round the dimply pool.
The cattle from the untafted fields return,
And aûk, with meaning low, their wonted stalls,
Or ruminate in the contiguous fhade.
Thither the household feathery people crowd,
The crefted cock, with all his female train,
Penfive, and dripping; while the cottage-hind
Hangs o'er th' enlivening blaze, and taleful there
Recounts his fimple frolic: much he talks,
And much he laughs, nor recks the ftorm that
blows

Without, and rattles on his humble roof,

86

91

115

Nature! great parent! whofe unceasing hand Rolls round the feafons of the changeful year, How mighty, how majestic, are thy works! With what a pleafing dread they fwell the foul! That fees aftonifh'd, and aftonish'd fings, Ye too, ye Winds! that now begin to blow With boisterous fweep, I raife my voice to you. Where are your ftores, ye powerful Beings! fay, Where your aërial magazines referv'd, To fwell the brooding terrors of the ftorm? In what far-diftant region of the sky, Hufh'd in deep filence, fleep ye when 'tis calm? When from the pallid fky the fun defcends, With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb Uncertain wanders, ftain'd, red fery freaks Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds Stagger with dizzy poife, as doubting yet Which mafter to obey: while rifing flow, Black, in the leaden-colour'd Eaft, the moon Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. Scen thro' the turbid fluctuating air, The ftars obtufe emit a fhivered ray,

131

Or frequent feem to fhoot athwart the gloom,
And long behind them trail the whitening blaze.
Snatch'd in fort eddies plays the withered leaf,
And on the fleed the dancing feather floats.
With broaden'd nottrils, to the ky up turn'd,
The confcious heifer fnuffs the ftormy gale.
Een as the matron, at her nightly task,
With penfive labour draws the flaxen thread, 135
The wafted taper and the crackling flame
Foretel the blast. But chief the plumy race,
The tenants of the fky, its changes fpeak.
Retiring from the downs, where all day long
They pick'd their feanty fare, a blackening train
Of clamorous rooks thick urge their weary flight,
And feek the closing fhelter of the grove.
Affiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl
Plies his fad fong. The cormorant on high
Wheels from the deep, and foreams along the
land.

Loud fhrieks the foaring hern; and with wild wing

The circling fea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds.
Ocean, unequal prefs'd, with broken tide
And bliad commotion heaves; while from the
fhore,

150

155

Ate into caverns, by the reftlefs wave,
And foreft-ruftling mountains, comes a voice
That, folemn founding, bids the world prepare.
Then iffues forth the ftorm with fudden burst,
And hurls the whole precipitated air
Down in a torrent. On the paffive main
Defcends th' ethereal force, and with trong guft
Turns from its bottom the difcolour'd deep.
Thro' the black night, that fits immenfe around,
Lath'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brine
Seems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn: 160
Mean-time the mountain-billows, to the clouds
In dreadful tumalt fwell'd, furge above furge,
Burft into chaos with tremendous roar,
And anchored navies from their ftations drive,
Wild as the winds, across the howling wafte 165
Of mighty waters: now th' inflated wave
Straining they feale, and now impetuous shoot
Into the fecret chambers of the deep,
The wintry Baltic thundering o'er their head:
Emerging therce again, before the breath
Of full exerted heaven they wing their course,
And dart on diftant coafts, if some sharp rock,
Or fhoal infidious, break not their career,
And in locfe fragments fling them floating
round,

179

180

125

Sleep frighted flies, and round the rocking dome,
For entrance eager, howls the favage blaft. 190
Then too, they fay, thro all the burthen'd air
Long groans are heard, fhrill founde, and diftant
Highs,

That, uttered by the demon of the night,
Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death.
Huge Uproar lords it wide. The clouds, com-
mix'd

With fars fwift gliding, fweep along the sky. 196
All Nature reels: till Nature's King, who oft'
Amid tempestuous darkness dwell alone,
And on the wings of the careering wind
Walks dreadfully ferene, commands a calm; 200
Then straight air, fea, and earth, are hufh'd at

Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!

220

226

The keener tempefts rife; and, fuming dụn From all the livid East, or piercing North, Thick clouds afcend, in whofe capacious womb A vapoury deluge lies, to fnow congeal'd. Heavy they roll their fleecy world along, And the fky faddens with the gathered ftorm. Thro' the hufh'd air the whitening shower defcends.

At frit thin wavering, till at laft the flakes 230 Fall broad, and wide, and fatt, dimming the day With a continual fiow. The cherifh'd fields Put on their winter-robe of pureit white: 'Tis brightnefs all, fave where the new. faow melts

Which Providence affigns them. One alone, 245
The red-breaft, facred to the houfel old gods,
Wifely regardful of th' embroiling fky,
In joylefs fields and thorny thickets leaves
His fhivering mates, and pays to trufted Man
His annual vifit. Half-afraid, he first
250
Again the window beats, then, brifk, alights
On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the
floor,

Eyes all the fmiling family askance,

And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is!
Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 255
Attract his flender feet. The foodlefs wilds
Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare,
Tho' timorous of heart, and hard befet
By death in various forms, dark fuares, and
dogs

And more unpitying men, the garden feeks, 260
Urg'd on by fearlefs Want. The bleating kind
Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening
earth,

With looks of dumb defpair; then, fad dif} pers'd,

Dig for the wither'd herb thro' heaps of fnow. Now, Shepherds! to your helpless charge be kind;

Baffle the raging year, and fill their penns, 266 With food at will; lodge them below the form, And watch them ftria; for from the bellowing

Eaft,

In this dire feafon, oft' the whirlwind's wing
Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains
At one wide waft, and o'er the hapleis flocks, 271
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills,
The billowy tempeft 'whelms, till, upward urg'd,
The valley to a shining mountain fwells,
Tipt with a wreath high-curling in the sky.

As thus the fnows arife, and foul, and fierce,.
All Winter drives along the darkened air,
In his own loofe revolving fields the fwain
Difafter'd ftands, fees other hills afcend
Of unknown joyless brow, and other fcenes 280
Of horrid profpect, fhag the tracklefs plain;
Nor finds the river, nor the foreft, hid
Beneath the formlefs wild; but wanders, on
From hill to dale, ftill more and more aftray,
Impatient flouncing thro' the drifted heaps, 285
Stung with the thoughts of home; the thoughts of
home

Rufh on his nerves, and call their vigour forth
In many a vain attempt. How finks his foul!
What black defpair, what horror, fills his heart!
When for the dusky fpot, which Fancy feign'd
His tufted cottage rifing thro' the fnow,
He meets the roughness of the middle wafte,
Far from the track and bleft abode of Man;
While round him night refifdefs clofes faft,
And every tempeft, howling o'er his head, 295
Renders the favage wildernefs more wild.
Then throng the bufy fhapes into his mind,
Of covered pits, unfathomably deep,
A'dire defcent! beyond the power of frost,
Of faithlefs bogs; of precipices huge,
Smooth'd up with fnow; and, what is land, un-

known,

What water of the fill unfrozen fpring,

300