300 And while he sinks, without one arm to save, The country blooms-a garden and a grave. Where then, ah! where shall poverty reside, To scape the pressure of contiguous pride? If to some common's fenceless limits stray'd, He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade, Those fenceless fields the sous of wealth divide, And e'en the bare-worn common is denied. If to the city sped-What waits him there? To see profusion that he must not share; To see ten thousand baneful arts combined 311 To pamper luxury, and thin mankind: There the black gibbet glooms beside the way; The dome where pleasure holds her midnight reign, Here, richly deck'd, admits the gorgeous train; 320 Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square, The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare, Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy! Sure these denote one universal joy! Are these thy serious thoughts? — Ah, turn thine eyes Where the poor houseless shivering female lies: She once, perhaps, in village plenty bless'd, Has wept at tales of innocence distress'd; Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn; 330 Now lost to all; her friends, her virtue fled, Near her betrayer's door she lays her head, And, pinch'd with cold, and shrinking from the shower, With heavy heart, deplores that luckless hour, When idly first, ambitious of the town, She left her wheel and robes of country brown. Do thine, sweet AUBURN, thine, the loveliest train, Do thy fair tribes participate her pain? E'en now, perhaps, by cold and hunger led, At proud men's doors they ask a little E'en now, methinks, as pondering here I stand, I see the rural virtues leave the land. Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail, That idly waiting flaps with every gale, 400 410 Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried, My shame in crowds, my solitary pride; Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe, That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so; Thou guide, by which the nobler arts excel, Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well; Farewell! and O! where'er thy voice be tried, On Torno's cliffs, or Pambamarca's side, Whether where equinoctial fervours glow, Or winter wraps the polar world in snow, 420 Still let thy voice, prevailing over time, Redress the rigours of th' inclement clime; Aid slighted Truth with thy persuasive train; Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain; Teach him, that states of native strength possess'd, Though very poor, may still be very bless'd; That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away; While self dependent power can time defy, As rocks resist the billows and the sky. 430 STANZAS ON WOMAN WHEN lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What charm can soothe her melancholy, What art can wash her guilt away? The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover, And wring his bosomis, to die. WILLIAM COWPER VERSES SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER SELKIRK DURING HIS SOLITARY ABODE ON THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ I AM monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute, From the centre all round to the sea, I am lord of the fowl and the brute. O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place. I am out of humanity's reach, I must finish my journey alone, Never hear the sweet music of speech, I start at the sound of my own. The beasts that roam over the plain, My form with indifference see; They are so unacquainted with man, Their tameness is shocking to me. Society, friendship, and love, How soon would I taste you again! Religion what treasure untold Resides in that heavenly word! More precious than silver and gold, 10 20 Or all that this earth can afford. But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard; 30 Never sighed at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a sabbath appeared. Ye winds, that have made me your sport, A frosty morning The foddering of cattle - Tho woodman and his dog. -The poultry-Whimsical ef fects of frost at a waterfall - The Empress of Russia's palace of ice-Amusements of monarchs- War, one of them Wars, whence - And whence monarchy-The evils of it - English and French loyalty contrasted -The Bastille, and a prisoner there - Liberty the chief recommendation of this country- Modern patriotism questionable, and why-The perishable nature of the best human institutions - Spiritual liberty not perishable The slavish state of man by nature - Deliver him, Deist, if you can-Grace must do it - The respective merits of patriots and martyrs stated-Their different treatment- Happy freedom of the man whom grace makes free - His relish of the works of GodAddress to the Creator. 'Tis morning; and the sun with ruddy orb Ascending, fires the horizon: while the clouds That crowd away before the driving wind, Slides ineffectual down the snowy vale, less pair, To seize the fair occasion. Well they eye The scattered grain, and thievishly resolved To escape the impending famine, often scared As oft return, a pert voracious kind. Clean riddance quickly made, one only care Due sustenance, or where subsist they now? blank, O'erwhelming all distinction. On the flood, With forms so various, that no powers of art, The pencil or the pen, may trace the scene! Here glittering turrets rise, upbearing high (Fantastic misarrangement!) on the roof Large growth of what may seem the sparkling trees And shrubs of fairy land. The crystal drops That trickle down the branches, fast con The likeness of some object seen before. Because a novelty, the work of man, To enrich thy walls; but thou didst hew the floods, And make thy marble of the glassy wave. 140 Skin-piercing volley, blossom-bruising hail, And snow that often blinds the traveller's Where all was vitreous; but in order due Convivial table and commodious seat (What seemed at least commodious seat) were there, |