But fee the landskip opening fair
Invites to breathe the purer air!
O when the cowflip-fcented gale
Shakes the light dew-drop o'er the dale,
When on her amber-dropping bed
Loose Eafe reclines her downy head;
How bleft! by fairy-haunted ftream
To melt in wild ccftatic dream!
Die to the pictured with, or hear
(Breathed foft on Fancy's trembling ear)
Such lays, by angel-harps refined,
As half unchain the fluttering mind,
When on Life's edge it eyes the fhore,
And all its pinions ftretch to foar.
Lo, where the fun's broad orb withdrawn
Skirts with pale gold the dusky lawn!
While led by every gentler power,
Steals the flow, folemn, mufing hour,
Now from the green hill's purple brow
Let me mark the fcene below;
Where feebly-glancing thro' the gloom
Yon myrtle fhades the filent tomb:
Not far, beneath the evening beam
The dark Lake rolls his azure ftream,
Whofe breaft the fwan's white plumes divide,
Slow-failing o'er the floating tide.
Groves, meads, and fpires, and forests bare
Shoot glimmering thro' the misty air;
Dim as the vifion-pictured bower
That gilds the faint's expiring hour,
When rapt to ecstasy, his eye
Looks thro' the blue etherial sky.
All heav'n unfolding to his fight!
Gay forms that swim in floods of light!
The fun-pav'd floor, the balmy clime,
The ruby-beaming dome fublime,
The towers in glittering pomp display'd;—
The bright scene hovers o'er his bed.
He ftarts:-but from his eager gaze
Black clouds obfcure the lefs'ning rays;
On Memory still the scene is wrought,
And lives in Fancy's featur'd thought.
On the airy mount reclin'd
What wishes foothe the mufing mind!
How foft the velvet lap of Spring!
How sweet the Zephir's violet wing!
Goddess of the plaintive fong,
That leads the melting heart along;
O bid thy voice of genial power
Reach Contemplation's lonely bower;
And call the Sage with tranced fight
To climb the mountain's steepy height;
To wing the kindling with, or fpread
O'er Thought's pale cheek enlivening red;
Come hoary Power with ferious eye,
Whofe thought explores yon diftant fky;
Now when the bufy world is ftill,
Nor Paffion tempts the wavering will,
When fweeter hopes each power controul,
And Quiet whispers to the foul,
Now fweep from Life th' illufive train
That dance in Folly's dizzy brain :
Be Reason's fimple draught pourtrayed,
Where blends alternate light and shade
Bid dimpled Mirth, with thought belied,
Sport on the bubble's glittering fide;
Bid Hope pursue the diftant boon,
And Frenzy watch the fading moon ;
Paint Superftition's starting eye,
And Wit that leers with gefture fly;
Let Cenfure whet her venomed dart,
And green-eyed Envy gnaw the heart;
Let Pleasure lie on flowers reclin'd,
While Anguish aims her shaft behind.
Hail, Sire fublime, whofe hallow'd cave
Howls to the hoarfe deep's dafhing wave;
Thee Solitude to Phoebus bore,
Far on the lone deferted fhore,
Where Orellano's rushing tide
Roars on the rock's projected fide.
Hence bursting o'er thy ripened mind,
Beams all the Father's thought refined:
Hence oft in filent vales unfeen,
Thy footsteps print the fairy green;
Or thy foul melts to ftrains of woe,
That from the willow's quivering bough
Sweet warbling breathe;-the Zephirs round
O'er Dee's smooth current waft the found,
When foft on bending ofiers laid
The broad fun trembling thro' the bed;
All-wild thy heav'n-rapt Fancy ftrays,
Led thro' the foul-diffolving maze,
Till Slumber downy-pinioned, near
Plants her strong fetlocks on thy ear;
The foul unfetter'd burfts away,
And basks enlarged in beamy day.
WAS when the flow-declining ray
Had ting'd the cloud with evening gold;
No warbler pour'd the melting lay,
No found disturb'd the fleeping fold.
When by a murmuring rill reclin'd
Sat wrapt in thought a wandering fwain;
Calm Peace compos'd his mufing mind;
And thus he rais'd the flowing strain :
"Hail Innocence! celeftial maid!
"What joys thy blufhing charms reveal!
"Sweet, as the arbour's cooling fhade,
"And milder than the vernal gale.
"On thee attends a radiant Quire,
Soft-fmiling Peace, and downy Reft;
"With Love that prompts the warbling lyre,
"And Hope that foothes the throbbing breast.
"O fent from heav'n to haunt the grove, "Where fquinting Envy ne'er can come!
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