Where the live crimson, through the native white
Soft-fhooting, o'er the face diffufes bloom,
And every nameless grace; the parted lip,
Like the red rofe-bud moist with morning-dew,
Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet,
Or funny ringlets, or of circling brown,
The neck flight-shaded, and the fwelling breaft; 1590
The look refiftlefs, piercing to the foul,
And by the foul inform'd, when dreft in love
She fits high-fmiling in the conscious eye.
Island of bliss! amid the subject seas,
That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up,
At once the wonder, terror, and delight,
Of diftant nations; whofe remotest shores
Can foon be shaken by thy naval arm;
Not to be fhook thyfelf, but all affaults
Baffling, as thy hoar cliffs the loud fea-wave.
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,
On gentle deeds, and fhedding tears through fmiles
Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of mind;
Courage compos'd, and keen; sound Temperance,
Healthful in heart and look; clear Chastity,
With blushes reddening as the moves along,
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 shines
That firft 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 1620
Assembled gay, a richly-gorgeous train,
In all their pomp attend his setting throne.
Air, earth, and ocean fmile immenfe. And now,
As if his weary chariot fought the bowers
Of Amphitritè, and her tending nymphs,
(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' impaffion'd soul,
The next in nothing loft. 'Tis so to him,
The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank :
A fight of horror to the cruel wretch,
Who, all day long in fordid pleasure roll'd,
Himself an useless load, has fquander'd vile,
Upon his fcoundrel train, what might have chear'd
A drooping family of modeft worth.
But to the generous ftill--improving mind,
That gives the hopeless heart to fing for joy,
Diffufing kind beneficence around,
Boaftlefs, as now defcends the filent dew;
To him the long review of order'd life
Is 'inward rapture, only to be felt.
Confefs'd from yonder flow-extinguish'd clouds,
All æther softening, fober Evening takes
Her wonted station in the middle air;
A thousand shadows at her beck. First this
She fends on earth; then that of deeper dye
Steals foft behind; and then a deeper still,
In circle following circle, gathers round,
To close the face of things. A fresher gale
Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream,
Sweeping with fhadowy gust the fields of corn;
While the quail clamours for his running mate.
Wide o'er the thiftly lawn, as fwells the breeze,
A whitening fhower of vegetable down
Amufive floats. The kind impartial care
Of Nature nought difdains: thoughtful to feed
Her lowest fons, and clothe the coming year,
From field to field the feather'd feeds fhe wings.
His folded flock fecure, the fhepherd home
Hies, merry-hearted; and by turns relieves
The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail;
The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart,
Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguish means,
Sincerely loves, by that best language fhewn
Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds.
Onward they pafs, o'er many a panting height,
And valley funk, and unfrequented; where
At fall of eve the fairy people throng,
In various game, and revelry, to pass
The fummer-night, as village-stories tell.
But far about they wander from the grave
Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd
Against his own fad breast to lift the hand
Of impious violence. The lonely tower
Is alfo fhunn'd; whofe mournful chambers hold,
So night-ftruck Fancy dreams, the yelling ghost. 1680
Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge,
The glow-worm lights his gem; and, through the dark,
A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields
The world to Night; not in her winter-robe
Of maffy Stygian woof, but loofe array'd
In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray,
Glanc'd from th' imperfect furfaces of things,
Flings half an image on the ftraining eye;
While wavering woods, and villages, and ftreams,
And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long retain'd 1690
Th' afcending gleam, are all one swimming scene,
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven
Thence weary vifion turns; where, leading soft
The filent hours of love, with purest ray
Sweet Venus fhines; and from her genial rife,
When day-light fickens till it fprings afresh,
Unrival'd reigns, the fairest lamp of night.
As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink,
With cherish'd gaze, the lambent lightnings shoot
Across the sky; or horizontal dart
In wondrous fhapes: by fearful murmuring crowds
Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs,
That more than deck, that animate the sky,
The life-infufing funs of other worlds;
Lo! from the dread immenfity of space
Returning, with accelerated course,
The rushing comet to the fun descends;
And as he finks below the fhading earth,
With awful train projected o'er the heavens,
The guilty nations tremble. But, above
Those fuperftitious horrors that enslave
The fond fequacious herd, to myftic faith
And blind amazement prone, th' enlighten'd few,
Whofe godlike minds philofophy exalts,
The glorious ftranger hail. They feel a joy
Divinely great; they in their powers exult,
That wondrous force of thought, which mounting fpurns
This dufky fpot, and measures all the sky;
While, from his far excurfion through the wilds
Of barren æther, faithful to his time,
They fee the blazing wonder rife anew,
In feeming terror clad, but kindly bent
To work the will of all-sustaining Love:
From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs,
Through which his long ellipfis winds; perhaps
To lend new fuel to declining funs,
To light-up worlds, and feed th' eternal fire.
With thee, ferene Philosopy, with thee,
And thy bright garland, let me crown my fong! 1730 Effufive fource of evidence, and truth!
A luftre fhedding o'er th' ennobled mind,
Stronger than fummer-noon; and pure as that,
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