FANCY, whose delusions vain Sport themselves with human brain; Rival thou of Nature's power, Canst, from thy exhaustless store, Bid a tide of sorrow flow,
And whelm the soul in deepest woe: Or, in the twinkling of an eye, Raise it to mirth and jollity;
Dreams and shadows round thee stand,
Taught to run at thy command,
And along the wanton air Flit like empty gossamer. Black Melancholy thee of yore To the swift wing'd Hermes bore: From the mixture of thy line Different natures in thee join, Which thou choosest to express By the variance of thy dress. Now like thy sire thou lovest to seem Light and gay with pinions trim, Dipp'd in all the dyes that glow In the bend of Iris' bow:
Now, like thy mother drear and sad (All in mournful vestments clad, Cypress weeds, and sable stole), Thou rushest on the' affrighted soul. Oft I feel thee coming on,
When the Night has reach'd her noon, And Darkness, partner of her reign, Round the world hath bound her chain; VOL. III.
Then, with measured step and slow, In the churchyard path I go, And while my outward senses sleep, Lost in contemplation deep, Sudden I stop, and turn my ear,
And listening hear, or think I hear. First a dead and sullen sound
Walks along the holy ground;
Then through the gloom alternate break Groans and the shrill screechowl's shriek. Lo! the moon hath hid her head, And the graves give up their dead: By me pass the ghastly crowds, Wrapp'd in visionary shrouds; Maids, who died with love forlorn, Youths, who fell by maidens' scorn, Helpless sires and matrons old
Slain for sordid thirst of gold,
And babes who owe their shortened date To cruel stepdame's ruthless hate;
Each their several errands go,
To haunt the wretch that wrought their woe;
From their sight the caitiff flies,
And his heart within him dies;
While a horror damp and chill
Through his frozen blood doth thrill,
And his hair for very dread
Bears itself upon his head.
When the early breath of day
Hath made the shadows flee away,
Still possess'd by thee I rove
Bosom'd in the sheltering grove;
There, with heart and lyre new strung, Meditate the lofty song.
And if thou my voice inspire, And with wonted frenzy fire, Aided by thee, I build the rhyme, Such as nor the flight of time Nor wasting flame nor eating shower Nor lightning's blast can e'er devour. Or if chance some moral page My attentive thoughts engage, On I walk, with silent tread, Under the thick-woven shade, While the thrush, unheeded by, Tunes her artless minstrelsy. Listening to their sacred lore, I think on ages long pass'd o'er, When Truth and Virtue, hand in hand, Walk'd upon the smiling land, Thence my eyes on Britain glance, And, awaken'd from my trance, While my busy thoughts I rear, Oft I wipe the falling tear. When the night again descends And her shadowy cone extends, O'er the fields I walk alone, By the silence of the moon. Hark! upon my left I hear Wild music wandering in the air;
Led by the sound I onward creep,
And through the neighbouring hedge I peep;
There I spy the fairy band
Dancing on the level land,
Now with step alternate bound, Join'd in one continued round, Now their plighted hands unbind, And such tangled mazes wind
As the quick eye can scarce pursue, And would have puzzled that famed clue Which led the' Athenian's unskill'd feet Through the labyrinth of Crete.
At the near approach of day, Sudden the music dies away, Wasting in the sea of air, And the phantoms disappear, All (as the glowworm waxes dim) Vanish like a morning dream, And of their revels leave no trace, Save the ring upon the grass. When the elfin show is fled Home I haste me to my bed; There, if thou with magic wand On my temples take thy stand, I see in mix'd disorder rise All that struck my waking eyes: So when I stand, and round me gaze, Where the famed Lodona strays, On the woods and thickets brown, That its sedgy margins crown,
And watch the vagrant clouds that fly Through the vast desert of the sky, When adown I cast my look On the smooth unruffled brook (While its current clear doth run, And holds its mirror to the sun), There I see the' inverted scene Fall and meet the eye again.
RETURN, fair Health! the Muse again, A sweet associate of thy train,
To sketch the landscapes as they lie Brightening beneath thy beamy eye, Shall follow where thy footsteps lead Along the morn-empurpled mead, That, slanting down old Askew's side, Obtrudes on Trent's diminish'd tide.
Touch'd by thy spirit, genial power! And crown'd by thee, life's varied hour A gay unclouded aspect wears, High o'er the groveling mist of cares. While Hope in every changeful scene Exults beneath thy radiant mien, O, most indulge my favoured breast When Friendship greets the heart-loved guest; Nor let my hand, with languor faint, Cast o'er his welcome cold restraint. O, ever round my chearful board Be all thy social pleasures pour'd, While, sparkling from the liberal mind, The gladden'd thought starts, unconfined By slow Reserve or downcast Awe, Whose words in faltering haste withdraw; Or Inattention's torpid ear,
Who, gazing, only seems to hear; Or dark Distrust, in silence bound, With jealous eye that peers around. Thy influence wakes a fairer birth, Light Ease, and Play, and vacant Mirth;
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