Imatges de pàgina
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Their fouls in fragrant dews exhale,
And breathe fresh life in every gale.
Here, spreads a green expanfe of plains,
Where, (weetly penfive, filence reigns;
And there, at utmost stretch of eye,
A mountain fades into the sky;
While winding round, diffus'd and deep,
A river rolls with founding fweep.
Of human art no traces near,
I feem alone with nature here!

Here are thy walks, O facred Health!
The monarch's blifs, the beggar's wealth;
The feafoning of all good below!
The fovereign friend in joy or woe!
O thou, moft courted, moft defpis'd,
And but in abfence duly priz'd!
Power of the foft and rofy face!
The vivid pulfe, the vermil grace,
The fpirits when they gayeft fhine,
Youth, beauty, pleafure, all are thine!
Of fun of life! whofe heavenly ray
Lights up and cheers our various day,
The turbulence of hopes and fears,
The form of fate, the cloud of years,
Till nature, with thy parting light,
Reposes late in death's calm night:
Fled from the trophy'd roofs of itate,
Abodes of fplendid pain and hate;

Fled from the couch, where, in fweet sleep,
Hot riot would his anguish fteep,
But toffes through the midnight-shade,
Of death, of life, alike afraid;
For ever fled to fhady cell,

Where temperance, where the mufes dwell;
Thou oft art feen, at early dawn,
Slow-pacing o'er the breezy lawn:
Or on the brow of mountain high,
In filence feafting ear and eye,
With fong and profpect, which abound
From birds, and woods, and waters round.

But when the fun, with noon-tide ray,
Flames forth intolerable day;
While heat fits fervent on the plain,
With thirst and languor in his train:
All nature fickening in the blaze:
Thou, in the wild and woody maze,
That clouds the vale with umbrage deep,
Impendent from the neighbouring steep,
Wilt find betimes a calm retreat,
Where breathing coolness has her feat.
There, plung'd amid the fhadows brown,
Imagination lays him down;
Attentive, in his airy mood,
To every murmur of the wood :
The bee in yonder flowery nook;
The chidings of the headlong brook;
The green leaf fhivering in the gale;
The warbling hill, the lowing vale;
The diftant woodman's echoing stroke;
The thunder of the falling oak.
From thought to thought in vifion led,
He holds high converfe with the dead;
Sages, or poets. See they rife!
And fhadowy fkim before his eyes.
Hark! Orpheus ftrikes the lyre again,
That fofteus favages to men :

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At once the founding breeze was laid:
And nature, by the unknown law,
Shook deep with reverential awe.
Dumb filence grew upon the hour;
A browner night involv'd the bower:
When iffuing from the inmost wood,
Appear'd fair freedom's genius good.
O Freedom! fovereign boon of heaven;
Great charter, with our being given;
For which the patriot, and the fage,
Have plann'd, have bled through every age!
High privilege of human race,

Beyond a mortal monarch's grace:
Who could not give, nor can reclaim,
What but from God immediate came?

CUPID AND HYMEN:

OR THE WEDDING-DAY.

THE rifing morn, serenely still,
Had brightening spread o'er vale and hill.
Not thote loose beams that wanton play,
To light the mirth of giddy May;
Nor fuch red heats as burn the plain,
In ardent Summer's feverish reign:
But rays, all equal, foft and fober,
To fuit the fecond of October;
To fuit the pair, whofe wedding-day
This fun now gilds with annual ray.

Just then, where our good-natur'd Thames is
Some four fhort miles above St James's,
And deigns, with filver-ftreaming wave,
Th' abodes of earth-born pride to lave,
Aloft in air two gods were foaring;
While Putney-cits beneath lay fnoring,
Plung'd deep in dreams of ten per cent,
On fums to their dear country lent:
Two gods of no inferior fame,
Whom ancient wits with reverence name;
Though wifer moderns much difparage---
I mean the gods of love and marriage.
But Cupid first, his wit to show,
Affuming a mere modern beau,
Whofe utmost aim is idle mirth,
Look'd---just as coxcombs look on earth:
Then rais'd his chin, then cock'd his hat,
To grace this common-place chit-chat;

How on the wing, by break of dawn!
Dear brother---there he forc'd a yawn...
To tell men, funk in steep profound,
They muft, ere night, be gag'd and bound!
Who, having once put on thy chain,
'Tis odds, may ne'er fleep found again.
So fay the wits: but wiler folks
Still marry, and contemn their jokes:
They know, each better blifs is thine,
Pure nectar, genuine from the vine!
And Love's own hand that nectar pours,
Which never fails, nor ever fours;

Well, be it fos yet there are fools,
Who dare demur to former rules;
Who laugh profanely at their betters,
And find no freedom plac'd in fetters;
But, well or ill, jog on through life
Without that fov'reign blifs, a wife.
Leave thefe at leaft, these fad dogs free,
To ftroll with Bacchus and with me;
And fup, in Middlefex, or Surrey,
On coarse cold beef, and Fanny Murray.

Thus Cupid---and with fuch a leer,
You would have fworn 'twas Ligonier,
While Hymen foberly reply'd,
Yet with an air of confcious pride:

Juft come from yonder wretched scene,
Where all is venal, false, and mean,
(Looking on London as he fpoke)
I marvel not at thy dull joke;
Nor, in fuch cant, to hear thee vapour,
Thy quiver lin'd with South-fea paper;
Thine arrows feather'd, at the tail,
With India-bonds, for hearts on fale;
Their other ends too, as is meet,

Tipp'd with gold points from Lombard-street,
But could't thou for a moment quit
Thefe airs of fashionable wit,
And re-affume thy nobler name-.-
Look that way, where I turn my flame---
He faid, and held his torch inclin'd,
Which, pointed fo, ftill brighter fhin'd---
Behold yon couple, arm in arm,
Whom I, eight years, have known to charm;
And, while they wear my willing chains,
A god dares fwear that neither feigns.
This morn that bound their mutual vow,
That bleft them firft, and blefles now,
They grateful hail! and, from the foul,
With thoufands o'er both heads may roll;
Till, from life's banquet, either guest,
Embracing, may retire to reft.
Come then, all raillery laid afide,
Let this their day ferenely glide:
With mine thy ferious aim unite,
And both fome proper guests invite;
That not one minute's running fand
May find their pleasures at a ftand.

At this fevere and fad rebuke,
Enough to make a coxcomb puke;
Poor Cupid, blufhing, fhrugg'd and winc'd,
Not yet confenting, though convinc'd:
For 'tis your witling's greateft terror,
Ev'n when he feels to own his error.
Yet, with a look of arch grimace,
He took his penitential face:
Said, 'twas perhaps, the furer play,

To give your grave good fouls their way:
That, as true humour was grown scarce,
He chofe to fee a fober farce;
For, of all cattle and all fowl,
Your folemn-looking afs and owl
Rais'd much more mirth, he durft aver it,
Than thofe jack-puddings, pug and parrot.
He faid, and eattward fpread his wing,
From London fome few friends to bring.
His brother too, with fober cheer,
For the fame end did weftward feer:

But first, a penfive love forlorn,
Who three long weeping years has borne
His torch revers'd, and all around,
Where once it flam'd, with cypress bound;
Sent off, to call a neighbouring friend,
On whom the mournful train attend:
And bid him, this one day, at least,
For fuch a pair, at such a feaft,
Strip off the fable veil, and wear
His once-gay look and happier air.

But Hymen, fpeeding forward still,
Obferv'd a man on Richmond-hill,
Who now first tries a country life;
Perhaps, to fit him for a wife.
But, though not much on this he reckon 2,
The paffing god look'd in and beckon'd:
He knows him rich in focial merit,
With independent tafte and spirit;
Though he will laugh with men of whe
For fear fuch men fhould laugh at him.
But lo, already on his way,

In due obfervance of the day,
A friend and favourite of the nine,
Who can, but feldom cares to fhine,
And one fole virtue would arrive at-
To keep his many virtues private.
Who tends, well pleas'd, yet as by stealth,
His lov'd companions eafe and health:
Or in his garden, barring out
The noife of every neighbouring rout,
At penfive hour of eve and prime,
Marks how the various hand of time
Now feeds and rears, now ftarves and flaught
His vegetable fons and daughters.

While thefe are on their way, behold!
Dan Cupid, from his London-fold,
Firft feeks and fends his new Lord Warden &
Of all the nymphs in Covent-Garden :
Brave as the fword he wears in fight;
Sincere, and briefly in the right;
Whom never minifter or king
Saw meanly cringing in their ring.
A fecond fee of ipecial note,
Plump Comus in a colonel's coat;
Whom we, this day, expect from far,
A jolly first-rate man of war;
On whom we boldly dare repofe,
To meet our friends, or meet our feet.
Or comes a brother in his ftead?
Strong-body'd too, and ftrong of head -
Who, in whatever path he goes,
Still looks right on before his nofe;
And holds it little less than treason,
To baulk his ftomach or his reafon.

*A. Mitchell, Efq. Minifler at the C Pruffia.

The late General Skelton. He bad jst purchafed a Houfe in Henrietta-freet.

The late Col. Caroline Scott; who the extremely corpulent, was uncommonly co and who, to much skill, fpirit, and bravery, a officer, joined the greatest gentleness of m as a companion and friend. He died a facrimel the public, in the fervice of the Eat-India Co ny, at Bengal, in the year 1755

True to his mistress and his meat,
He eats to love, and loves to eat.

Laft comes a virgin-pray admire her!
Cupid himself attends, to iquire her:

A welcome guefs d! we much had mift her;
For 'tis our Kitty, or his fifter.

But, Cupid, let no knave or fool

Snap up this lamb, to fhear her wool;
No teague of that unblushing band,
Juft landed, or about to land;

Thieves from the womb, and train'd at nurfe,
To teal an heirefs or a purfe.
No fcraping, faving, faucy cit,
Sworn foe of breeding, worth, and wit;
No halt form'd infect of a peer,
With neither land nor confcience clear;
Who if he can, 'tis all he can do,
Juft fpell the motto on his landau.
From all, from each of these defend her;
But thou and Hymen both befriend her,
With truth, tafte, honour, in a mate,
And much good sense, and some estate.

But now, fuppofe th` affembly met,
And round the table cordial fet;
While in fair order, to their wich,
Plain neatness fends up every dish,
And Pleasure at the fi'e-board ftands,
A nectar'd goblet in his hands,
To pour libations, in due measure,

As reafon wills when join'd with pleasure-
Let these white moments all be gay,
Without one cloud of dim allay:
In every face let joy be feen,
As truth fincere, as hope ferene:
Let friend hp, love, and wit combine,
To flavour both the meat and wine,
With that rich relish to each sense,
Which they, and they alone, difpenfe;
Let mufic too their mirth prolong,
With warbled air and feftive fong:
Then, when at eve, the star of love
Glows with foft radiance from above,

And each companionable guest
Withdraws, replenish'd, not oppreft,
Let each, well pleas'd, at parting fay-
My life be fuch a wedding-day!

EPIGRAM:

WRITTEN AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS, M,DCC,LX.

WHEN Churchill led his legions on,
Succefs ftill follow'd where he thone.
And are thofe triumphs, with the dead,
All from his houfe, for ever fled?
Not fo: by fofter furer arms,
They yet furvive in beauty's charms;
For, look on blooming Pembroke's face,
Even now he triumphs in his race.

AN ODE IN THE MASQUE OF ALFRED:
Sung by a Shepherdefs who has loft ber lover in

the wars.

A YOUTH, adorn'd with every art,
To warm and win the coldest heart,
In fecret mine polfeit.

The morning bud that faireft blows,
The vernal oak that straighteft grows,
His face and fhape expreft.

In moving founds he told his tale,
Soft as the fighings of the gale,

That wakes the flowery year.
What wonder he could charm with cafe,
Whom happy nature taught to please,

Whom honour made fincere.

At morn he left me-fought-and fell!
The fatal evening heard his knell,

And faw the tears I fhed:
Tears that muft ever, ever fall;
For ah no fighs the paft recall,
No cries awake the dead!

THE EXCURSION; A POE M.

IN TWO CANTOS.

CONTENTS.

CANTO I.

INVOCATION, addreffed to Fancy. Subject proposed; a fhort excurfive furvey of the Earth and
Heavens. The poem opens with a defcription of the face of Nature in the different fcenes of morn-
ing, fun-rife, noon, with a thunder-storm, evening, night, and a particular night-piece, with the
character of a friend deceased.

With the return of morning Fancy continues her excurfion, first northward-A view of the arctic
continent and the deferts of 1 artary-From thence fouthward: a genera prospect of the globe, fol-
lowed by another of the mid-land part of Europe, fuppofe Italy. A city there upon the point of
being swallowed up by an earthquake figns that ufher it in: defcribed in its caufes and effects at
length-Eruption of a burning mountain, happening at the fame time and from the fame causes,
likewife defcribed.

CANTO II.

CONTAINS, on the fame plan, a furvey of the folar fyftem, and of the fixed stars.

This poem is among the author's earlieft performances. Whether the writing may, in fome degree, atone for the irregularity of the compofition, which he confeffes, and does not even attempt to excufe, is fubmitted entirely to the candour of the reader.

CANTO I.

COMPANION of the mufe, creative power,
Imagination! at whofe great command
Arife unnumber'd images of things,
Thy hourly offspring: thou, who canft at will
People with air-born fhapes the filent wood,
And folitary vale, thy own domain,

Where contemplation haunts; oh come, invok'd,
To waft me on thy many-tinctur'd wing,
O'er earth's extended space: and thence, on high,
Spread to fuperior worlds thy bolder flight,
Excurfive, unconfin'd. Hence from the haunts
Of vice and folly, vanity and man-

To yon expanfe of plains, where truth delights,
Simple of heart; and hand in hand with her,
Where blameless virtue walks. Now parting
[fpring,
Parent of beauty and of fong, has left
His mantle, flower-embroider'd on the ground.
While fummer laughing comes, and bids the
months

Crown his prime feafon with their choiceft stores; Fresh rofes opening to the folar ray,

And fruits flow-fwelling on the loaded bough.

Here let me frequent roam, preventing morn, Attentive to the cock, whofe early throat, Heard from the distant village in the vale, Crows cheerly out, far founding through the gloom. [fky, Night hears from where, wide-hovering in midShe rules the fable hour: and calls her train Of vifionary fears; the fhrouded ghost, The dream diftrefsful, and th' encumbent hag, That rife to fancy's eye in horrid forms, While reafon flumbering lies. At once they fly, As fhadows pafs, nor is their path beheld. And now, pale-glimmering on the verge of

heaven,

From caft to north in double twilight feen,
A whitening luftre fhoots its tender beam;
While fhade and filence yet involve the ball.
Now facred morn, afcending, fmiles ferenc
A dewy radiance, brightening o'er the world.
Gay daughter of the air, for ever young,
For ever pleafing! lo fhe onward comes,
In fluid gold and azure loose-array'd,
Sun-tinctur'd, changeful hues. At her approach,
The western gray of yonder breaking clouds
Slow-reddens into flame: the rifing mifts,
From off the mountain's brow, roll blue away
In curling fpires; and open all his woods,
High waving in the fky: th' uncolour'd fream,
Beneath her glowing ray translucent fhines.
Glad nature feels her through her boundlefs realms
Of life and fenfe: and calls forth all her fweets,
Fragrance and fong. From each unfolding flower
Transpires the balm of life, that zephyr wafts,
Delicious, on his rofy wing: each bird,
Or high in air, or fecret in the fhade,
Rejoicing warbles wild his matin hymn.
While beafts of chafe, by fecret inftinct mov'd,

Scud o'er the lawns, and plunging into night, In brake, or cavern, flumber out the day.

Invited by the cheerful morn abroad, See, from his humble roof, the good man comes To tafte her freshness, and improve her rife In holy mufing. Rapture in his eye, And kneeling wonder fpeak his filent foul, With gratitude o'erflowing, and with praife! Now industry is up. The village pours Her ufeful fons abroad to various toil: The labourer here, with every inftrument Of future plenty arm'd; and there the fwain, A rural king amid his fubje&-flocks, The traveller too, purfues his early road, Whofe bleatings wake the vocal hills afar. Among the dews of morn. And all the living landscape moves around.

Aurora calls:

But fee, the flush'd horizon flames intenfe With vivid red, in rich profufion ftream'd O'er heaven's pure arch. At once the clouds af fume

Their gayeft liveries; thefe with filvery beams
Fring'd lovely, fplendid thofe in liquid gold:
And fpeak their fovereign's state. He comes, be
hold!

Fountain of light and colour, warmth and life!
The king of glory! round his head divine,
Diffufive fhowers of radiance circling flow,
As o'er the Indian wave up-rifing fair
He looks abroad on nature, and invests,
Where-e'er his univerful eye furveys,
Her ample bofom, earth, air, fea, and sky,
In one bright robe, with heavenly tinctures gay.
From this hoare hill, that climbs above the

plain,
[woods
Half-way up heaven ambitious, brown with
Of broadest shade, and terrafs'd round with walks,
Winding and wild, that deep embowering rife,
Maze above maze, through all its fhelter'd height;
From hence, th' aëreal concave without cloud,
Translucent, and in pureft azure dreft;
The boundlefs fcene beneath, hill, dale, and plais
The precipice abrupt; the diftant deep,
Whofe fhores remurmur to the founding furge;
The nearcft foreft in wide circuit fpread,
Solemn recefs, whofe folitary walks,
Fair truth and wifdom love; the bordering lawn
With flocks and herds enrich'd; the daily'd vale
The river's cryftal, and the meadows green-
Grateful diverfity! allure the eye
Abroad, to rove amid ten thousand charms.

Thefe fcenes, where every virtue, every mufe Delighted range, ferene the foul, and lift, Borne on devotion's wing, beyond the pole, To higheft heaven her thought; to nature's God, First fource of all things lovely, all things good, Eternal, infinite! before whole throne Sits fovereign bounty, and through heaven and Careless diffufes plenitude of blifs [carth Him all things own: he fpeaks, and it is day,

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Which vice ne'er knew! health of th' enliven'd And heaven on earth begun! Thus ever fix'd

In folitude, may I, obfcurely fafe,

Deceive mankind, and steal through life along,

As flides the foot of time, unmark'd, unknown! Exalted to his noon the fervent fun,

Full-blazing o'er the blue immenfe, burns out With fierce effulgence. Now th' embowering

maze

Of vale fequefter'd, or the fir-crown'd fide
Of airy mountain, whence with lucid lapfe
Falls many a dew-fed ftream, invites the step
Of mufing poet, and fecures repofe
To weary pilgrim. In the flood of day,
Oppreffive brightnefs deluging the world,
Sick nature pants: and from the cleaving earth
Light vapours, undulating through the air,
Contagious fly, engendering dire difeafe,
Red plague, and fever; or, in fogs aloft
Condenfing, fhow a ruffling tempeft nigh.

And fee, exhaling from th' Atlantic furge,
Wild world of waters, diftant clouds afcend
In vapoury confluence, deepening cloud on cloud:
Then rolling dufk along to eaft and north,
As the blaft bears them on his humid wing,
Draw total night and tempeft o'er the noon!
Lo, bird and beaft, imprefs'd by nature's hand
In homeward warnings through each feeling

nerve,

Hafte from the hour of terror and of ftorm.
The thunder now, from forth his cloudy fhrine,
Amid conflicting elements, where dread
And death attend, the fervants of his nod,
First, in deaf murmurs, founds the deep alarm,
Heard from afar, awakening awful thought.
Dumb fadness fills this nether world: the gloom
With double blacknefs lours; the tempeft fwells,
And expectation fhakes the heart of man.

When yonder clouds in dusky depth extend
Broad o'er the fouth; fermenting in their womb,
Pregnant with fate, the fiery tempeft fwells,
Sulphureous team and nitrous, late exhal'd
Irom mine or unduous foil: and lo, at once,
Torth darted in flant ftream, the ruddy flash,
Quick-glancing, fpreads a moment's horrid day.
Again it flames expanfive; fheets the sky,
Wide and more wide, with mournful light around,
On all fides burning; now the face of things
Difciofing; fwailowed now in tenfold night.
Again the thunder's voice, with pealing roar,
From cloud to cloud continuous roll'd along,
Amazing bursts! Air, fea, and fhore refound.
Horror its fuddering in the felon-breaft,
And feels the deathful flafh before it flies:
Hah ceping fin, excited, farts to view;
And all is torm within. The murderer, pale
VOL. IX.

With confcious guilt, though hid in deepest shade,
Hears and flies wild, pursued by all his fears:
And fees the bleeding fhadow of the flain
Rife hideous, glaring on him through the gloom!
Hark! through th' aerial vault, the ftorm in-
flam'd

Comes nearer, hoarfely loud, abrupt and fierce,
Peal hurl'd on peal inceffant, burst on burst:
Torn from its bafe, as if the general frame
Were tumbling into chaos-There it fell,
With whirlwind-wing, in red diffusion flash'd.
Deftruction marks its path, yon riven oak
Is hid in fmouldering fires: furpris'd beneath,
The traveller ill-omen'd proftrate falls,

A livid corfe. Yon cottage fiames to heaven:
And in its fartheft cell, to which the hour,
All-horrible, had fped their fteps, behold!
The parent breathlefs lies; her orphan-babes
Shuddering and fpeechlefs round-0 Power di-

vine!

Whose will, unerring, points the bolt of fate!
Thy hand, though terrible, fhall man decide
If punishment, or mercy, dealt the blow?

Appeas'd at laft, the tumult of the skies
Subfides, the thunder's falling roar is hufh'd:
At once the clouds fly feattering, and the fun
Breaks out with boundlefs fplendour o'er the
world,

Parent of light and joy! to all things he
New life reftores, and from each drooping field
Draws the redundant rain, in climbing mifts
Faft-rifing to his ray; till every flower
Lift up its head, and nature fimiles reviv'd.
At first 'tis awful filence over all,
From fenfe of late-felt danger; till confirm'd,
In grateful chorus mixing, beaft and bird
Rejoice aloud to heaven: on either hand,
The woodlands warble, and the valleys low.
So pafs the fongful hours: and now the fun,
Declin'd, hangs verging on the western main,
Whole fluctuating bofom, blufhing red,
The fpace of many feas beneath his eye,
Heaves in foft fwellings murmuring to the fhore,
A circling glory glows around his difk
Of milder beams: part, ftreaming o'er the sky,
Inflame the diftant azure: part below
In level lines fhoot through the waving wood,
Clad half in light, and half in pleasing fhade,
That lengthens o'er the lawn. Yon evening
Lucid or dufk, with flamy purple edg'd, [clouds,
Float in gay pomp the blue horizon round,

| Amufive, changeful, faifting into shapes
Of visionary beauty, antique towers
With fhadowy domes and pinnacles adorn'd;
Or hills of white extent, that rife and fink
As fportful fancy lifts: till late, the fun
From human eye, behind earth's fhading orb
Total withdrawn, th' aerial landscape fades.

Diftinction fails: and in the darkening weft,
The last light quivering, dimly dies away.
And now th' illufive flame, oft feen at eve,
Up-borne and blazing on the light-wing'd gale,
Glides o'er the lawn betokening night's approach
Arifing awful o'er the eastern sky,

Onward fhe comes with filent step and flow,
In her brown mantle wrapt, and brings along
The ftill, the mild, the melancholy hour,
And meditation, with his eye on heaven.

X X

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