And from the crowded fold, in order drives
His flock to taste the verdure of the morn.
Falsely luxurious, will not man awake;
And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy
The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour,
To meditation due and sacred song?
For is there ought in sleep can charm the wise?
To lie in dead oblivion, losing half
The fleeting moments of too short a life;
Total extinction of the enlightened soul!
Or else to feverish vanity alive,
Wilder'd, and tossing thro' distemper'd dreams?
Who would in such a gloomy state, remain
Longer than nature craves; when ev'ry muse
And ev'ry blooming pleasure waits without,
To bless the wildly devious morning walk?
Rural Sounds as well as Rural Sights, Delightful.
NOR rural sights alone, but rural sounds
Exhilirate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid nature. Mighty winds,
That sweep the skirt of some far spreading wood
Of ancient growth, make music, not unlike
The dash of ocean on his winding shore
And lull the spirit while they fill the mind;
Unnumber'd branches waving in the blast,
And all their leaves fast flut'tring all at once.
Nor less composure waits upon the roar,
Of distant floods; or on the softer voice
Of neighb'ring fountain; or of rills that slip
Through the cleft rock, and chiming as they fall
Upon loose pebbles, lose themselves at length
In matted grass, that, with a livelier green,
Betrays the secret of their silent course.
Nature inanimate employs sweet sounds,
But animated nature sweeter still,
To soothe and satisfy the human ear.
Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one
The live long night. Nor these alone, whose notes
Nice finger'd art must emulate in vain,
But cawing rooks, and kites that swim sublime,
In still repeated circles, screaming loud,
The jay, the pye, and ev'n the boding owl
That hails the rising moon, bave charms for me.
Sounds inharmonious in themselves, and harsh,
Yet heard in scenes where peace forever reigns,
And only there, please highly for their sake.
THE rose had been wash'd, just wash'd in a shower, Which Mary to Anna convey'd;
The plentiful moisture encumber'd the flower, And weigh'd down its beautiful head.
The cup was all fill'd, and the leaves were all wet, And it seem'd to a fanciful view,
To weep for the buds it had left with regret, On the flourishing bush where it grew.
I hastily seiz'd it, unfit as it was
For a nosegay, so dripping and drown'd;
And swinging it rudely, too rudely, alas!
I snapp'd it; it fell to the ground.
And such, I exclaim'd, is the pitiless part,
Some act by the delicate mind,
Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart,
Already to sorrow resign'd.
This elegant rose, had I shaken it less,
Might have bloom'd with its owner a while;
And the tear that is wip'd with a little address,
May be follow'd perhaps by a smile.
SECTION IV.
Care of Birds for their Young.
As thus the patient dam assiduous sits,
Not to be tempted from her tender task,
Or by sharp hunger, or by smoothe delight,
Tho' the whole loosened spring around her blows:
Her sympathizing partner takes his stand
High on the opponent bank, and ceaseless sings
The tedious time away; or else supplies
Her place a moment, while she sudden flits
To pick the scanty meal. Th' appointed time
With pious toil fulfilled, the callow young,
Warm'd and expanded into perfect life,
Their brittle bondage break, and come to light,
A helpless family, demanding food
With constant clamor. O what passions then,
What melting sentiments of kindly care,
On the new parents seize ! Away they fly
Affectionate, and undesiring bear
The most delicious morsel to their young;
Which equally distributed, again
The search begins. Even so a gentle pair,
By fortune sunk, but form'd of gen'rous mould,
And charm'd with cares beyond the vulgar breast,
In some lone cot amid the distant woods,
Sustain'd alone by providential heav'n,
Oft as they weeping, eye their infant train,
Check their own appetites, and give them all.
Liberty and Slavery contrasted. Part of a Letter written from Italy by Addison.
How has kind heav'n adorn'd the happy land,
And scatter'd blessings with a wasteful hand!
But what avail her unexhausted stores,
Her blooming mountains, and her sunny shores,
With all the gifts that heav'n and earth impart,
The smiles of nature and the charms of art,
While proud oppression in her valleys reigns,
And tyranny usurps her happy plains?
The poor inhabitant beholds in vain
The red'ning orange, and the swelling grain;
Joyless he sees, the growing oils and wines,
And in the myrtle's fragrant shade repines.
Oh, Liberty, thou pow'r supremely bright,
Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight!
Perpetual pleasures in thy presence reign;
And smiling plenty leads thy wanton train.
Eas'd of her load, subjection grows more light;
And poverty looks cheerful in thy sight.
Thou mak'st the gloomy face of nature gay;
Giv'st beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day.
On foreign mountains, may the sun refine
The grape's soft juice, and mellow it to wine;
With citron groves adorn a distant soil,
And the fat olive swell with floods of oil:
We envy not the warner clime, that lies
In ten degrees of more indulgent skies ;
Nor at the coarseness of our heav'n repine,
'Tho' o'er our heads the frozen Pleiads shine :
'Tis Liberty that crowns Britannia's isle,
And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile. SECTION VI.
Charity. A Pharaphrase on the thirteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians.
DID Sweeter sounds adorn my flowing tongue,
Than ever man pronounc'd, or angel sung;
Had I all knowledge, human and divine,
That thought can reach, or science can define
And had I power to give that knowledge birth,
In all the speeches of the babbling earth;
Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breast inspire,
To weary tortures, and rejoice in fire;
Or had I faith like that which Israel saw
When Moses gave them miracles, and law:
Yet, gracious charity, indulgent guest,
Were not thy pow'r exerted in my breast;
Those speeches would send up unheeded pray'r;
That scorn of life would be but wild despair;
A cymbals sound were better than my voice;
My faith were form; my eloquence were noise.
Charity, decent, modest, easy, kind,
Softens the high, and rears the abject mind;
Knows with just reins, and gentle hand, to guide
Betwixt vile shame, and arbitrary pride.
Not soon provok'd, she easily forgives;
And much she suffers, as she much believes.
Soft peace she brings wherever she arrives,
She builds our quiet, as she forms our lives;
Lays the rough paths of peevish nature even,
And opens in each heart a little heaven.
Each other gift which God on man bestows,
proper bounds and due restriction knows;
To one fix'd purpose dedicates its pow'r;
And finishing its act, exists no more.
Thus, in obedience, to what Heav'n decrees,
Knowledge shall fail, and prophecy shall cease;
But lasting charity's more ample sway,
Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay,
In happy triumph shall forever live;
And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive.
As through the artists intervening glass,
Our eye observes the distant planets pass;
A little we discover; but allow,
That more remains unseen, than art can show;
So whilst our mind its knowledge would improve,
(Its feeble eye intent on things above.)
High as we may, we lift our reason up,
By faith directed, and confirm'd by hope;
Yet are we able only to survey
Dawnings of beams, and promises of day;
Heav'n's fuller effluence mocks our dazzled sight;
Too great its swiftness, and too strong its light.
But soon the mediate clouds shall be dispell'd;
The sun shall soon be face to face beheld,
In all his robes, with all his glory on,
Seated sublime on his meridian throne.
Then constant faith, and holy hope shall die,
One lost in certainty, and one in joy:
Whilst thou, more happy pow'r, fair charity,
Triumphant sister, greatest of the three,
Thy office and thy nature still the same,
Lasting thy lamp, and unconsum'd thy flame,
Shalt still survive-
Shall stand before the host of heav'n confest,
Forever blessing, and forever blest.
SECTION VII.
Picture of a Good Man.
SOME angel guide my pencil while I draw,
What nothing less than angel can exceed,
A man on earth devoted to the skies;
Like ships at sea, while in above the world.
With aspect mild and elevated eye,
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