And now, in squar'd divifions, I survey
Chambers fequefter'd from the glare of day;
Yet needful lights are taught to intervene,
Through rifts; each forming a perfpective feene. 230
In front a parlour meets my entering view;
Oppos'd, a room to fweet refection due.
Here my chill'd veins are warm'd by chippy fires,
Through the bor'd rock above, the smoke expires;
Neat, o'er a homely board, a napkin's fpread,
Crown'd with a heapy canister of bread.
A maple cup is next dispatch'd, to bring
The comfort of the falutary spring:
Nor mourn we absent bleffings of the vine,
Here laughs a frugal bowl of rofy wine;
And favoury cates, upon clear embers cast,
Lie hiffing, till fnatch'd off; a rich repast!
Soon leap my spirits with enliven'd power,
And in gay converse glides the feastful hour.
The Hermit, thus: Thou wonder'it at thy fare: 24j
On me, yon city, kind, bestows her care:
Meat for keen famine, and the generous juice,
That warms chill'd life, her charities produce :-
Accept without reward; unask'd 'twas mine;
Here what thy health requires, as free be thine. 250
Hence learn that GOD, (who, in the time of need,
In frozen deferts can the raven feed)
Well-fought, will delegate fome pitying breast,
His fecond means, to fuccour man distrest.
He paus'd. Deep thought upon his afpect gloom'd; 255
Then he, with fmile humane, his voice resum'd.
I'm juft inform'd, (and laugh me not to fcorn)`
By one unseen by thee, thou'rt English-born.
Of England ITo me the British fate
Rifes, in dear memorial, ever great!
Here ftand we confcious :-Diffidence fufpend!
Free flow our words Did neler thy Mufe extend
To grots, where Contemplation fmiles ferene,
Where angels vifit, and where joys convene ?
To groves, where more than mortal voices rise, 265
Catch the rapt foul, and waft it to the fkies?
This cave-Yon walks!-But, ere I more unfold,
What artful fcenes thy eyes fhall here behold,
Think fubjects of my toil: nor wondering gaze!
What cannot Industry completely raife?
Be the whole earth in one great landscape found,
By Industry is all with beauty crown'd!!
He, he alone, explores the mine for gain,
Hues the hard rock, or harrows up the plain;
He forms the fword to fmite; he fheaths the fteel, 275 Draws health from herbs, and fhews the balm to heal;
Or with loom'd wool the native robe supplies;
Or bids young plants in future forests rise;
Or fells the monarch oak, which, borne away,
Shall, with new grace, the diftant ocean fway;
Hence golden Commerce views her wealth encrease,
The blissful child of Liberty and Peace.
He scoops the stubborn Alps, and, still employ'd,
Fills, with foft fertile mould, the fteril void;
Slop'd up white rocks, fmall, yellow harvests grow, 285
d, green on terrac'd ftages, vineyards blow!
By him fall mountains to a level space,
An ifthmus finks, and funder'd feas embrace!
He founds a city on the naked shore,
And defolation ftarves the tract no more.
From the wild waves he won the Belgic land;
Where wide they foam'd, her towns and traffics ftand;
He clear'd, manur'd, enlarg'd the furtive ground,
And firms the conqueft with his fenceful mound.
Ev'n mid the watery world his Venice role,
Each fabric there, as Pleasure's feat he fhows!
There marts, sports, councils, are for action fought,
Landscapes for health, and folitude for thought.
What wonder then I, by his potent aid,
A manfion in a barren mountain made?
Part thou haft view'd!-If further we explore,
Let Industry deferve applaufe the more.
No frowning care yon bleft apartment fees,
There Sleep retires, and finds a couch of ease.
Kind dreams, that fly remorse, and pamper'd wealth, 305
There fhed the fmiles of innocence and health.
Mark! Here defcends a grot, delightful feat!
Which warms e'en winter, tempers fummer heat!
See!-Gurgling from a top, a fpring diftils!
In mournful measures wind the dripping rills;
Soft coos of diftant doves, receiv'd around,
In foothing mixture, swell the watery found;
And hence the ftreamlets feek the terrace' fhade,
Within, without, alike to all convey’d.
Pafs on-New fcenes, by my creative power,
Invite Reflection's fweet and folemn hour.
We enter'd, where, in well-rang'd order, stood
Th' inftructive volumes of the wife and good.
These friends (faid he) though I desert mankind,
Good angels never would permit behind.
Each genius, youth conceals, or time displays,
I know; each work some seraph here conveys,
Retirement thus prefents my fearchful thought,
What heaven infpir'd, and what the Muse has taught ;
What Young fatiric and fublime has writ,
Whofe life is virtue, and whofe Mufe is wit.
Rapt I forefee thy Mallet's early aim
Shine in full worth, and shoot at length to fame.
Sweet fancy's bloom in Fenton's lay appears,
And the ripe judgment of inftructive years.
In Hill is all that generous fouls revere,
To Virtue and the Muse for ever dear :
And Thomson, in this praise, thy merit fee,
The tongue, that praises merit, praises thee.
Thefe fcorn (faid I) the verfe-wright of their age, 335
Vain of a labour'd, languid, useless page;
To whofe dim faculty the meaning fong
Is glaring, or obfcure, when clear, and strong;
Who, in cant phrases, gives a work disgrace;
His wit, and oddnefs of his tone and face;
Let the weak malice, nurs'd to an essay,
In fome low libel a mean heart display;
Thofe, who once prais'd, now undeceiv'd, despise,
It lives contemn'd a day, then harmless dies.
He had then juft written THE EXCURSION.
Or fhould fome nobler bard, their worth, unpraise, 345
Deferting morals, that adorn his lays,
Alas! too oft each science shews the fame,
The great grow jealous of a greater name :
Ye bards, the frailty mourn, yet brave the shock;
Has not a Stillingfleet oppos'd a Locke?
Oh, ftill proceed, with facred rapture fir'd !
Unenvy'd had he liv'd, if unadmir'd.
Let Envy, he replied, all ireful rife,
Envy pursues alone the brave and wife;
Maro and Socrates inspire her pain,
And Pope, the monarch of the tuneful train !
To whom be Nature's, and Britannia's praise !
All their bright honours rush into his lays!
And all that glorious warmth his lays reveal,
Which only poets, kings, and patriots feel!
Though gay as mirth, as curious thought sedate,
As elegance polite, as power elate;
Profound as reason, and as justice clear;
Soft as compaffion, yet as truth fevere;
As bounty copious, as perfuafion sweet,
Like nature various, and like art complete ;
So fine her morals, fo fublime her views,
His life is almost equal'd by his Muse.
O Pope !-Since Envy is decreed by fate,
Since the pursues alone the wife and great;
In one small, emblematic landscape see,
How va a distance 'twixt thy foe and thee!
Truth from an eminence furveys our scene
(A hill, where all is clear, and all ferene).
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