Of bloom ethereal the light-footed Dews,

And foften'd into joy the furly Storms.

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Thefe, in fucceffive turn, with lavish hand,

Shower every beauty, every fragrance fhower,

Herbs, flowers, and fruits; till, kindling at thy touch,

From land to land is flush'd the vernal year.

Nor to the furface of enliven'd earth,

Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods,
Her liberal treffes, is thy force confin'd:
But to the bowel'd cavern darting deep,

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The mineral kinds confefs thy mighty power.
Effulgent, hence the veiny marble shines ;

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Hence Labour draws his tools; hence burnish'd War

Gleams on the day; the nobler works of Peace

Hence blefs mankind, and generous Commerce binds

The round of nations in a golden chain.

Th' unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee, 140 In dark retirement forms the lucid ftone.

The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays,
Collected light, compact; that, polish'd bright,
And all its native luftre let abroad,

Dares, as it fparkles on the fair-one's breast,
With vain ambition emulate her eyes.
At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow,
And with a waving radiance inward flames.
From thee the Sapphire, folid æther, takes
Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinct,
The purple-streaming amethyst is thine.
With thy own fmile the yellow topaz burns,
Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring,

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When

When first she gives it to the fouthern gale,
Than the green emerald fhows. But, all combin'd,
Thick through the whitening opal play thy beams;
Or, flying feveral from its furface, form
A trembling variance of revolving hues,
As the fite varies in the gazer's hand.

The very dead creation, from thy touch,
Affumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd,
In brighter mazes the relucent ftream
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,
Projecting horror on the blacken'd flood,
Softens at thy return. The defart joys
Wildly, through all his melancholy bounds.
Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep,
Seen from fome pointed promontory's top,
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge,
Retlefs, reflects a floating gleam. But this,
And all the much-transported Mufe can fing,
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use,
Unequal far; great delegated fource

Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!
How fhall I then attempt to fing of Him!
Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light
Invested deep, dwells awfully retir'd
From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken ;
Whose single smile has, from the first of time,
Fill'd, overflowing, all thofe lamps of Heaven,
That beam for ever through the boundless sky:
But, fhould he hide his face, th' astonish'd fun,
And all th' extinguish'd stars, would loosening reel

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Wide

Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again.
And yet was every faultering tongue of Man,
Almighty Father! filent in thy praise,

Thy works themselves would raise a general voice,
Ev'n in the depth of folitary woods

By human foot untrod; proclaim thy power,
And to the quire celeftial Thee refound,
Th' eternal caufe, fupport, and end of all!
To me be Nature's volume broad-display'd;
And to perufe its all-inftructing page,
Or, haply catching infpiration thence,
Some eafy paffage, raptur'd, to translate,

My fole delight; as through the falling glooms
Penfive I ftray, or with the rifing dawn
On Fancy's eagle-wing excurfive foar.

Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent fun
Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds,
And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills
In party-colour'd bands; till wide unveil'd

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190.

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The face of Nature fhines, from where earth feems,
Far ftretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere.

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Half in a blufh of clustering roses loft,

Dew-dropping Coolness to the shade retires ;
There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed,
By gelid founts and careless rills to mufe;
While tyrant Heat, difpreading through the sky,
With rapid fway, his burning influence darts
On man, and beast, and herb, and tepid stream.
Who can unpitying fee the flowery race,
Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom refign,

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Before

Before the parching beam? So fade the fair,
When fevers revel through their azure veins.
But one, the lofty follower of the fun,
Sad when he fets, fhuts up her yellow leaves,
Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns,
Points her enamour'd bofom to his ray.

Home, from his morning task, the swain retreats;
His flock before him ftepping to the fold:
While the full-udder'd mother lows around
The chearful cottage, then expecting food,
The food of innocence and health! The daw,
The rook and magpie, to the grey-grown oaks
That the calm village in their verdant arms,
Sheltering, embrace, direct their lazy flight;
Where on the mingling boughs they fit embower'd,
All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise.
Faint, underneath, the houfhold fowls convene;
And, in a corner of the buzzing shade,

The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies,
Out-ftretch'd, and fleepy. In his flumbers, one
Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults
O'er hill and dale; till, waken'd by the wafp,
They ftarting fnap. Nor fhall the Muse difdain
To let the little noify fummer-race

Live in her lay, and flutter through her fong:
Not mean, though simple; to the fun ally'd,
From him they draw their animating fire.

Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young
Come wing'd abroad; by the light air upborn,
Lighter, and full of foul. From every chink,
E 2

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And

And fecret corner, where they slept away

The wintery ftorms; or rifing from their tombs,
To higher life; by myriads, forth at once,

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Swarming they pour; of all the vary'd hues
Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.
Ten thousand forms! ten thousand different tribes !
People the blaze. To funny waters some
By fatal instinct fly; where on the pool
They, fportive, wheel; or, failing down the stream,
Are fnatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd trout,
Or darting falmon. Through the green-wood glade
Some love to ftray; there lodg'd, amus'd and fed, 255
In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make
The meads their choice, and vifit every flower,
And every latent herb: for the fweet task,
To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,
In what foft beds, their young yet undisclos'd,
Employs their tender care. Some to the house,
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight;
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese :
Oft, inadvertent, from the milky ftream
They meet their fate; or, weltering in the bowl, 265
With powerlefs wings around them wrapt, expire.
But chief to heedlefs flies the window proves
A conftant death; where, gloomily retir'd,
The villain spider lives, cunning, and fierce,
Mixture abhorr'd! Amid a mangled heap
Of carcafes, in eager watch he fits,
O'erlooking all his waving fnares around.
Near the dire cell the dreadlefs wanderer oft

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Paffes,