THE ARGUMENT.
The fubject propofed. Addrefs to the earl of Wilmington. First approach of Winter. According to the natural courfe of the season, various storms defcribed. Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the snows: a man perishing among them; whence reflections on the wants and miferies of human life. The wolves defcending from the Alps and Apennines. A winter evening defcribed as fpent by philofophers; by the country people; in the city. Froft. A view of Winter within the Polar Circle. A thaw. The whole concluding with moral reflections on a future ftate.
EE, Winter comes, to rule the varied year,
Sullen and fad, with all his rifing train :
Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these my theme, Thefe! that exalt the foul to folemn thought,
And heavenly mufing. Welcome, kindred glooms! 5 Congenial horrors, hail! with frequent foot,
Pleas'd have I, in my chearful morn of life,
When nurs'd by careless folitude I liv'd,
And fung of Nature with unceasing joy,
Pleas'd have I wander'd through your rough domain;
Trod the pure virgin-fnows, myfelf as pure;
Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burst;
Or feen the deep fermenting tempest brew'd,
In the grim evening fky. Thus pafs'd' the time,
Till through the lucid chambers of the fouth
Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and fmil’d.
To thee, the patron of her first essay,
The Mufe, O Wilmington! renews her fong.
Since has the rounded the revolving year:
Skim'd the gay Spring; on eagle-pinions borne,
Attempted through the Summer-blaze to rife;
Then swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale;
And now among the wintery clouds again,
Roll'd in the doubling ftorm, fhe tries to foar;
To fwell her note with all the rushing winds;
To fuit her founding cadence to the floods :
As is her theme, her numbers wildly great:
Thrice happy! could fhe fill thy judging ear
With bold defcription, and with manly thought.
Nor art thou skill'd in awful fchemes alone,
And how to make a mighty people thrive :
But equal goodness, found integrity,
A firm unshaken uncorrupted foul
Amid a fliding age, and burning ftrong,
Not vainly blazing for thy country's weal,
A steady spirit regularly free;
These, 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.
Now when the chearless empire of the sky
To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields,
And fierce Aquarius stains th' inverted year; ‹
Hung o'er the fartheft verge of heaven, the fun
Scarce fpreads through æther the dejected day.
Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot
His ftruggling rays, in horizontal lines,
Through the thick air; as, cloath'd in cloudy ftorm,
Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the fouthern sky;
And, foon-defcending, to the long dark night,
Wide-fhading all, the proftrate world refigns.
Nor is the night unwifh'd; while vital heat,
Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forfake.
Meantime, 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,
Through nature shedding influence malign,
And roufes up the feeds of dark disease.
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 flocks,
Untended spreading, crop the wholesome root.
Along the woods, along the moorish fens,
Sighs the fad Genius of the coming ftorm;
And up among the loofe disjointed cliffs,
And fractur'd mountains wild, the brawling brook
And cave, prefageful, fend a hollow moan,
Refounding long in liftening Fancy's ear.
Then comes the father of the tempest forth, Wrapt in black glooms. Firft joyless rains obfcure Drive through the mingling fkies with vapour foul; Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the woods, 75 That grumbling wave below. Th' unfightly plain Lies a brown deluge; as the low-bent clouds Pour flood on flood, yet unexhausted still Combine, and deepening into night shut up The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven, Each to his home, retire; fave those that love To take their pastime in the troubled air, Or fkimming flutter round the dimply pool. The cattle from th' untafted fields return,
And ask, with meaning lowe, their wonted ftalls,
Or ruminate in the contiguous fhade.
Thither the houshold 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 frolick: much he talks,
And much he laughs, nor recks the storm that blows
Without, and rattles on his humble roof.
Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent fwell'd, And the mix'd ruin of its banks o'erspread,
At laft the rous'd-up river pours along :
Refiftlefs, roaring, dreadful, down it comes,
From the rude mountain, and the moffy wild,
Tumbling through rocks abrupt, and founding far;
Then o'er the fanded valley floating spreads,
Calm, fluggish, filent; till again, constrain'd
Between two meeting hills, it bursts away,
Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid ftream;
There gathering triple force, rapid, and deep,
It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders through.
Nature! great parent! whofe unceasing hand
Rolls round the seasons of the changeful year,
How mighty, how majestic, are thy works!
With what a pleafing dread they fwell the foul!
That fees astonish'd! and astonish'd fings!
Ye too, ye winds! that now begin to blow,
With boisterous fweep, I raise 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 storm?
In what far-diftant region of the sky,
Hufh'd in deep filence, fleep ye when 'tis calm ?
When from the pallid sky the fun defcends,
With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb
Uncertain wanders, ftain'd; red fiery streaks
Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds
Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet
Which master to obey: while rifing flow,
Blank, in the leaden-colour'd eaft, the moon
Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.
Seen through the turbid fluctuating air,
The ftars obtufe emit a fhiver'd ray;
Or frequent seem to fhoot athwart the gloom,
And long behind them trail the whitening blaze.
Snatch'd in short eddies, plays the wither'd leaf;
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