And on the flood the dancing feather floats.
With broaden'd noftrils to the fky up-turn'd,
The conscious heifer fnuff's the stormy gale.
Ev'n as the matron, at her nightly task,
With penfive labour draws the flaxen thread,
The wafted taper and the crackling flame
Foretell the blaft. 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 fcanty fare, a blackening train
Of clamorous rooks thick urge their weary flight,
And feek the closing shelter of the grove;
Affiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl
Plies his fad fong. The cormorant on high
Wheels from the deep, and screams 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 blind commotion heaves; while from the fhore,
Eat 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 strong gust
Turns from its bottom the difcolour'd deep.
Through the black night that fits immenfe around,
Lash'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brine
Seems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn:
Meantime the mountain-billows to the clouds
In dreadful tumult fwell'd, furge above furge,
Burft into chaos with tremendous roar,
And anchor'd navies from their stations drive,
Wild as the winds acrofs the howling wafte
Of mighty waters: now th' inflated wave
Straining they scale, and now impetuous shoot
Into the fecret chambers of the deep,
The wintery Baltick thundering o'er their head.
Emerging thence again, before the breath
Of full-exerted heaven they wing their course,
And dart on diftant coafts; if fome sharp rock,
Or fhoal infidious break not their career,
And in loofe fragments fling them floating round.
Nor lefs at land the loofen'd tempeft reigns.
The mountain thunders; and its sturdy fons
Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they fhade.
Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast,
The dark way-faring ftranger breathlefs toils,
And, often falling, climbs against the blast.
Low waves the rooted foreft, vex'd, and sheds
What of its tarnish'd honours yet remain ;
Dash'd down, and scatter'd, by the tearing wind's
Affiduous fury, its gigantic limbs.
Thus fruggling through the diffipated grove,
The whirling tempeft raves along the plain;
And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof,
Keen-faftening, fhakes them to the solid base.
Sleep frighted flies; and round the rocking dome,
For entrance eager, howls the favage blast.
Then too, they fay, through all the burthen'd air, Long groans are heard, fhrill founds, and distant sighs, That, utter'd by the demon of the night,
Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death.
Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commixt
With stars swift gliding sweep along the sky.
All nature reels. Till Nature's King, who oft
Amid tempeftuous darkness dwells alone,
And on the wings of the careering wind
Walks dreadfully ferene, commands a calm;
Then ftrait air, fea, and earth, are hush'd at once.
As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds,
Slow-meeting, mingle into folid gloom.
Now, while the drowsy world lies loft in fleep,
Let me afsociate with the serious Night,
And Contemplation her fedate compeer;
Let me shake off th' intrufive cares of day,
And lay the meddling fenfes all afide.
Where now, ye lying vanities of life!
Ye ever-tempting, ever-cheating train!
Where are you now? and what is your amount?
Vexation, difappointment, and remorse.
Sad, fickening thought! and yet deluded man,
A fcene of crude disjointed vifions past,
And broken flumbers, rifes ftill refolv'd,
With new-flush'd hopes, to run the giddy round.
Father of light and life! thou Good fupreme!
O, teach me what is good! teach me Thyself!
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
From every low pursuit! and feed my
With knowledge, confcious peace, and virtue pure; Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss !
The keener tempefts rife: and, fuming dun
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 sky faddens with the gather'd storm.
Through the hush'd air the whitening fhower defcends,
At first thin wavering; till at last the flakes
Fall broad, and wide, and faft, dimming the day,
With a continual flow. The cherifh'd fields
Put on their winter-robe of pureft white.
'Tis brightness all; fave where the new fnow melts
Along the mazy current. Low, the woods
Bow their hoar head; and, ere the languid fun
Faint from the weft emits his evening ray,
Earth's univerfal face, deep hid, and chill,
Is one wild dazzling wafte, that buries wide
The works of man. Drooping, the labourer-ox
Stands cover'd o'er with fnow, and then demands
The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven,
Tam'd by the cruel season, crowd around
The winnowing store, and claim the little boon
Which Providence affigns them. One alone,
The red-breaft, facred to the houshold gods,
Wifely regardful of th' embroiling fky,
In joyless fields, and thorny thickets, leaves
His fhivering mates, and pays to trusted man
His annual vifit. Half-afraid, he first
Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights
On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor,
Eyes all the fmiling family afkance,
And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is :
Till, more familiar grown, the table-crumbs
Attract his flender feet.
Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare,
Though timorous of heart, and hard beset
By death in various forms, dark fnares, and dogs,
And more unpitying men, the garden seeks,
Urg'd-on by fearless want. The bleating kind
Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening earth,
With looks of dumb defpair; then, fad-difpers'd,
Dig for the wither'd herb through heaps of fnow.
Now, fhepherds, to your helpless charge be kind;
Baffle the raging year, and fill their penns
With food at will; lodge them below the storm,
And watch them ftrict: for from the bellowing east,
In this dire feason, oft the whirlwind's wing
Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintery plains
At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks,
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills,
The billowy tempeft whelms; till, upward urg'd,
The valley to a fhining 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 darken'd air;
In his own loose-revolving fields, the swain
Difafter'd stands; fees other hills afcend,
Of unknown joyless brow; and other scenes,
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