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Were noxious fpirits not from caverns drawn,

• Rack'd earth would foon in gulphs enormous yawn:
• Then all were loft!-Or fhould we floating view
The baleful cloud, there would deftruction brew;
Plague, Fever, Frenzy, close-engend'ring lie,
• Till these red ruptures clear the fully'd sky.'
Now a field opens to enlarge my thought,
In parcell'd tracts to various ufes wrought:
Here hard'ning ripeness the first blooms behold,
There the last bloffoms spring-like pride unfold.
Here swelling peas on leafy stalks are seen,
Mix'd flow'rs of red and azure fhine between;
Whose waving beauties, heighten'd by the fun,
In colour'd lanes along the furrows run.
There the next produce of a genial show'r,
The bean fresh-bloffoms in a fpeckled flow'r;
Whose morning dews, when to the fun refign'd,
With undulating fweets embalm the wind.
Now daify plats of clover fquare the plain,
And part the bearded from the beardless grain.
There fibrous flax with verdure binds the field,
Which on the loom shall art-spun labours yield.
The mulb'rry, in fair fummer-green array'd,
Full in the midft starts up, a filky fhade.
For human taste the rich-stain'd fruitage bleeds ;
The leaf the filk-emitting reptile feeds.

As fwans their down, as flocks their fleeces leave,
Here worms for man their gloffy entrails weave.
Hence to adorn the fair in texture gay,

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Sprigs, fruits, and flow'rs, on figur'd vestments play :
But Industry prepares them oft to please
The guilty pride of vain luxuriant Eafe.

Now frequent dufty gales offenfive blow,

And o'er my fight a tranfient blindness throw.
Windward we shift. Near down th' ethereal steep
The lamp of day hangs hov'ring o'er the deep.

Dun

Dun fhades, in rocky fhapes up ether roll'd,
Project long shaggy points deep-ting'd with gold;
Others take faint th' unripen'd cherry's dye,
And paint amusing landscapes on the eye.
There blue-veil'd yellow, thro' a sky serene,
In fwelling mixture forms a floating green;
Streak'd thro' white clouds a mild vermilion fhines,
And the breeze freshens as the heat declines.
Yon crooked funny roads change rising views
From brown to fandy-red and chalky hues:
One mingled scene another quick fucceeds;

Men, chariots, teams, yok'd fteers, and prancing fteeds;
Which climb, defcend, and, as loud whips refound,
Stretch, fweat, and smoke, along unequal ground.
On winding Thames, reflecting radiant beams,
When boats, ships, barges, mark the roughen'd streams,
This way and that they diff'rent points pursue;

So mix the motions, and fo fhifts the view.

While thus we throw around our gladden'd eyes,

The gifts of Heav'n in gay profusion rife;

Trees rich with gums and fruits; with jewels rocks;

Plains with flow'rs, herbs, and plants, and beeves, and flocks;
Mountains with mines; with oak and cedar woods;
Quarries with marble; and with fish the floods;
In dark'ning spots, 'mid fields of various dyes,
Tilth new manur'd, or naked fallow, lies.
Near uplands fertile pride enclos'd display,
The green grafs yellowing into scentful hay,
And thickfet hedges fence the full-ear'd corn,
And berries blacken on the virid thorn.

Mark in yon heath oppos'd the cultur'd scene,
Wild thyme, pale box, and firs of darker green;
The native ftrawberry red-rip'ning grows,
By nettles guarded, as by thorns the rofe:
There nightingales in unprun'd copfes build,
In fhaggy furzes lies the hare conceal'd.
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'Twixt

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"Twixt ferns and thistles unfown flow'rs amuse,
And form a lucid chafe of various hues,
Many half-grey with duft; confus'd they lie,
Scent the rich year, and lead the wand'ring eye.
Contemplative, we tread the flow'ry plain,
The Mufe preceding with her heav'nly train:
When, lo! the Mendicant, fo late behind,
Strange view! now journeying in our front we find.
And yet a view more strange our heed demands:
Touch'd by the Mufe's wand, transform'd he stands.
O'er skin late wrinkled inftant beauty fpreads;
The late-dimm'd eye a vivid luftre sheds;
Hairs, once fo thin, now graceful locks decline;
And rags, now chang'd, in regal veftments fhine.
The Hermit thus. In him the Bard behold,
Once feen by midnight's lamp in winter's cold;
The Bard whofe want fo multiply'd his woes,
He funk a mortal, and a feraph rose.
See!-where thofe ftately yew-trees darkling grow,
And waving o'er yon graves, brown horrors throw,
Scornful he points-there, o'er his facred duft,
Arife the fculptur'd tomb and labour'd bust.
Vain pomp beftow'd by oftentatious Pride,
• Who to a life of want relief deny'd.'

But thus the Bard. Are these the gifts of state?
Gifts unreceiv'd!-Thefe? Ye ungen'rous great!
How was I treated when in life forlorn ?

My claim your pity, but my lot your fcorn!

Why were my ftudious hours oppos'd by need?
In me did poverty from guilt proceed?

Did I contemporary authors wrong,

And deem their worth but as they priz'd my fong?

Did I foothe vice, or venal strokes betray,

In the low-purpos'd, loud polemick fray?
Did e'er my verfe immodeft warmth.contain?

• Or, once licentious, heav'nly truths profane?

Never.-And yet when envy funk my name, "Who call'd my fhadow'd merit into fame?

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When, undeferv'd, a prison's grate I saw,

• What hand redeem'd me from the wrefted law?
Who cloath'd me naked, or when hungry fed?
Why crush'd the living? why extoll'd the dead?
But foreign languages adopt my lays,

And distant nations fhame you into praise.

· Why should unrelifh'd wit thefe honours cause? Cuftom, not knowledge, dictates your applaufe: 'Or think you thus a felf-renown to raise,

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And mingle your vain glories with my bays?
Be yours the mould'ring tomb! be mine the lay
• Immortal!'Thus he fcoffs the pomp away.
Tho' words like these unletter'd pride impeach,
To the meek heart he turns with milder fpeech.
Tho' now a feraph, oft he deigns to wear
The face of human friendship, oft of care;
To walk difguis'd, an object of relief,

A learn'd, good man, long exercis'd in grief;
Forlorn, a friendlefs orphan oft to roam,
Craving fome kind, fome hofpitable home;
Or, like Ulyffes, a low lazar ftand,
Befeeching Pity's eye and Bounty's hand;
Or, like Ulyffes, royal aid request,

Wand'ring from court to court, a king distress'd.
Thus varying fhapes, the feeming fon of woe
Eyes the cold heart, and hearts that gen'rous glow;
Then to the Mufe relates each lordly name,
Who deals impartial infamy, and fame.
Oft, as when man, in mortal state deprefs'd,
His lays taught virtue, which his life confefs'd,
He now forms vifionary scenes below,

Infpiring patience in the heart of woe;

Patience! that softens ev'ry sad extreme,

That cafts thro' dungeon-glooms a chearful gleam,

Difarms

Difarms Disease of pain, mocks Slander's fting,
And ftrips of terrors the terrifick king,
'Gainst Want, a fourer foe, it's fuccour lends,
And smiling fees th' ingratitude of friends.
Nor are these tasks to him alone confign'd,
Millions invifible befriend mankind.

When wat❜ry ftructures, feen cross heav'n t' afcend,
Arch above arch in radiant order.bend;
Fancy beholds, adown each glitt'ring fide,
Myriads of miffionary feraphs glide;
She fees good angels genial fhow'rs bestow
From the red convex of the dewy bow.

They smile upon the fwain; he views the prize,
Then grateful bends to blefs the bounteous fkies.
Some winds collect, and fend propitious gales
Oft where Britannia's navy spreads her fails;
There ever wafting, on the breath of Fame,
Unequall'd glory in her sov'reign's name.
Some teach young zephyrs vernal sweets to bear,
And float the balmy health on ambient air;
Zephyrs that oft, where lovers lift'ning lie,
Along the grove in melting mufick die;
And in lone caves to minds poetick roll
Seraphick whispers that abstract the foul,
Some range the colours as they parted fly,
Clear pointed to the philofophick eye;
The flaming red, that pains the dwelling gaze;
The stainless lightfome yellow's gilding rays;
The clouded orange, that betwixt them glows,
And to kind mixture tawny luftre owes;
All-chearing green, that gives the spring it's dye,
The bright, tranfparent blue, that robes the sky;
And indico, which fhaded light difplays;
And violet, which in the view decays:

Parental hues, whence others all proceed,
An ever-mingling, changeful, countless breed ;

Unravell❜d

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