Behold the variegated prospect rise;
What gallant harmony! what glad surprise!
The sweet Mygdonian pipe with rural strains
Collects the nymphs and shepherd swains.
Secure in yonder vale their fleecy breed,
And heifers 'midst the neighbouring pastures feed. Meanwhile, with flowrets deck'd, each blithsome
Have bid adieu to pine and care.
See them hand in hand advance
Circling in the smooth-pac'd dance :
Now to numbers quaint they stray,
Bounding on the mazy way!
The goldfinch and the linnet nigh
Join the simple minstrelsy:
The simple notes, and merry gambols fire
(Plac'd by the hawthorne-hedge) each ancient sire.
But see! where Solitude, of sober mien,
With Health and Modesty, her charming maids,
Leaving the straw-roof'd neighbourhood, is seen
To rove beneath the venerable shades!
O harmless cottages! O happy glades!
Where no misfortunes factious rage deplore,
No discontent the quiet breast invades :
How pleasant 'tis from this far season'd shore
To hear the tumbling ocean's wavy roar !
Now whither, with the sun-beam's darting speed,
Thy rapt enthusiast, Fancy, wilt thou lead?
What other scenes of more sincere delight
The goddess and her guest invite ?
She, like the Sybil with her golden bough,
Descends to search the sacred realms below,
In amaranthine bowers the blest appear,
By pearly grot or fountain clear:
To heroes' ghosts, or scepter'd kings,
The laurel'd bard divinely sings.
Hark! the animating strains
Warble thro' th' Elysian plains:
When the pause admits delay
Thus th' immortals seem to say, (Closing the accents of each tuneful voice) "For ever thus, for ever we rejoice."
What sad transition! means this rising show
To drive out real pain with fancied woe?
I see the mourners in the darken'd room,
The rustic hearse, the letter'd tomb.
Still, still the wayward, wild ideas take
The solemn livery of death, and wake
Tender-ey'd pity, as the village train
The shrouded husbandman sustain.
What semblances of wretched plight
'Mid the procession strike the sight!
Ah! 'tis grief herself appears,
Her flowing tresses steep'd in tears;
Her garments torn, her bosom bare,
Reckless of th' inclement air :
Three orphan children mark their mother's moan, Hang down their heads, and answer groan for groan.
Hence, hence, ye hapless images; away
Delusive Fancy: with thy subtle heat
No more thy vain machinery display,
Now the dark grave, and now the green retreat:
Contentment's truth surpasses thy deceit.
Sister of Wisdom she: of aspect mild:
Who makes the golden mean her certain seat,
And looks on casualty as nature's child;
To heaven's behests still nobly reconcil'd.
BY SIR JAMES MARRIOT, BART.`
GILDING with brighter beams the vernal skies Now hastes the car of day to rise.
Youth, and Mirth, and Beauty leads
In golden reins the sprightly steeds.
With wanton Love that rolls his sparkling eyes.
Morpheus, no more
Thy poppies, cropt on Lethe's margin, shed
Around thy languid poet's head.
Thou drowsy god,
'Tis time to break thy leaden rod,
And give thy slumbers o'er.
But come, thou woodland Nymph, along,
Mistress of the vocal song,
Fancy ever fair and free,
Whether on the mountains straying,
Or on beds of roses playing,
Daughter of sweet Liberty!
Through all the ivy-circled cave
Soft music at thy birth was heard to sound ;
The Graces danc'd thy bower around,
And gently dipt thee in the silver wave;
With blossoms fair thy cradle drest,
And rock'd their smiling babe to rest.
To kiss thy lips, the bees, a murmuring throng,
With busy wings, unnumber'd flew;
For thee, from every flower their tribute drew,
And lull'd thy slumbers with an airy song.
Come in thy heavenly woven vest,
That Iris' hand has ting’d in every dye,
With which she paints the sky,
Flowing o'er thy zoneless breast.
Me, sweet enchantress, deign to bear
O'er the seas, and through the air ;
O'er the plains extended wide,
O'er misty hills, and curling clouds, we ride,
Now mounting high, now sinking low,
Through hail and rain, and vapours go,
Where is treasur'd up the snow;
Where sleeps the thunder in its cell;
Where the swift-wing'd lightnings dwell;
Or where the blust'ring storms are taught to blow.
Now tread the milky way;
Unnumber'd worlds that float in æther spy,
Among the glittering planets stray,
To the lunar orbit fly,
And mountains, shores, and seas descry.
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