O Nymph referv'd, while now the bright-hair'd fun
Sits on yon western tent, whose cloudy skirts
With brede ethereal wove,
Now air is hufh'd, fave where the weak eyed bat,
With short shrill fhrieks flits by on leathern wing,
Or where the beetle winds
His fmall but fullen horn,
As oft he rifes 'midst the twilight path,
Against the pilgrim borne in heedle's hum:
Now teach me, maid compos'd,
To breathe fome foften'd ftrain,
Whofe numbers ftealing through thy dark'ning vale,
May not unfeemly with its ftillness fuit,
As mufing flow, I hail
Thy genial lov'd return!
For when thy folding ftar aring fhows
His paly circlet, at his warning lamp
The fragrant Hours, and Elves
Who flept in flow'rs the day,
many a Nymph who wreathes her brows with fedge,
And sheds the fresh'ning dew, and lovelier still,
The penfive Peasures sweet
Prepare thy fhadowy car.
Then lead, calm Vot'refs, where fome fheety lake
Cheers the lone heath, or fome time-hallow'd pile,.
Or upland fallows gray
Reflect its laft cool gleam.
But when chill bluft'ring winds or driving rain,
Forbid my willing feet, be mine the hut,
That from the mountain's fide,
Views wilds and fwelling floods,
And hamlets brown, and dim difcover'd fpires,
And hears their fimple bell, and marks o'er all
Thy dewy fingers draw
The gradual dufky veil..
While Spring fhall pour his fhow'rs, as oft he wont,
And bathe thy breathing treffes, meekest Eve!
While Summer loves to sport
Beneath thy ling'ring light;
While fallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves;
Or Winter bellowing through the troublous air,
Affrights thy fhrinking train,
And rudely rends thy robes;
So long, fure found beneath the Sylvan fhed,
Shall Fancy, Friendship, Science, rofe-lipp'd Health,
Thy gentleft influence own,
And hymn thy fav'rite name!
WEET daughter of a rough and stormy fire,
Hoar Winter's blooming child; delightful Spring
Whose unfhorn locks with leavea
And fwelling buds are crown'd;
From the green iflands of eternal youth,
(Crown'd with fresh blooms, and ever-springing fhade)
Turn, hither turn thy step,
O thou, whofe powerful voice
More fweet than fofteft touch of Doric reed,
Or Lydian flute, can footh the madding winds,
And through the stormy deep
Breathe thy own tender calm.
Thee, best belov'd! the virgin train await,
With fongs and festal rites, and joy to rove
Thy blooming wilds among,
And vales and downy lawns,
With untir'd feet; and cul thy earlieft fweets
To weave fresh garlands for the glowing brow
Of him, the favour'd youth
That prompts their whisper'd figh.
Unlock thy copious ftores: thofe tender fhowers
That drop their fweetness on the infant buds,
And filent dews that fwell
The milky ear's green ftem,
And feed the flowering ofier's early fhoots;
And call those winds which through the whisp'ring boughs
With warm and pleasant breath
Salute the blowing flow'rs.
Now let me fit beneath the whit'ning thorn,
And mark thy fpreading tints fteal o'er the dale:
And watch with patient eye
Thy fair unfolding charms.
O Nymph! approach, while yet the temp'rate fun
With bashful forehead, through the cool moist air
Throws his young maiden beams,
And with chafte kiffes woos
The earth's fair bofom; while the ftreaming veil
Of lucid clouds with kind and frequent fhade
Protects thy modeft blooms
Sweet is thy reign, but short; the red dog-ftar
Shall fcorch thy treffes, and the mower's fithe
Thy greens, thy flow'rets all,
Remorfelefs fhall destroy.
Reluctant shall I bid thee then farewell;
For O! not all that Autumn's lap contains,
Nor Summer's ruddieft fruits,
Can aught for thee atone,
Fair Spring! whofe fimpleft promife more delights
Than all their largest wealth, and through the heart
Each joy and new-born hope
With fofteft influence breathes.
DOMESTIC LOVE AND HAPPINESS.
HAPPY they! the happieft of their kind!
Whom gentler ftars unite, and in one fate
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.
'Tis not the coarser tie of human laws,
Unnatʼral oft, and foreign to the mind,
That binds their peace, but harmony itself,
Attuning all their paffions, into, love ;
Where friendship full exerts her fofiest power,
Perfect esteem, enliven'd by defire
Ineffable, and fympathy of foul:
Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will,
With boundless confidence: for nought but love,
Can answer love, and render blifs fecure.
Let him, ungen'rous, who, alone intent
To blefs himfelf, from fordid parents buy's
The loathing virgin, in eternal care,
Well-merited, confume his nights and days;
Let barb'rous nations, whofe inhuman love
Is wild defire, fierce as the funs they feel;
Let eastern tyrants from the light of Heav'n
Seclude their bofom flaves, meanly poffefs'd
Of a mere lifeless, violated form :
While thofe whom love cements in holy faith,
And equal transport, free as nature live,
Difdaining fear. What is the world to them,
Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all?
Who in each other clafp whatever fair
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish
Something than beauty dearer, fhould they look
Or on the mind, or mind-illumin'd face;
Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love,
The richest bounty of indulgent Heav'n.
Mean time a fmiling offspring rifes round,
And mingles both their graces. By degrees
The human bioffom blows; and ev'ry day,
Soft as it rolls along, fhows fome new charm,
The father's luftre, and the mother's bloom.
Then infant reafon grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an affiduous care.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh inftruction o'er the mind,
To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpofe in the glowing breaft.
O fpeak the joy! ye, whom the fudden tear
Surprises often, while you look around,
And nothing strikes your eye but fights of blifs;
All various Nature preffing on the heart':
An elegant fufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Eafe and alternate labour, useful life,
Progreffive virtue, and approving Heav'n.
Thefe are the matchlefs joys of virtuous love:
And thus their moments fly. The Seasons thus
As ceafelefs round a jarring world they roll,
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