Of nature, and her kind parental care
Worthier I'd fing: then all th' enamour'd youth
With each admiring virgin, to my lyre
Should throng attentive, while I point on high
Where beauty's living image, like the morn,
That wakes in Zephyr's arms the blufhing May,
Moves onward, or as Venus, when fhe ftood
Effulgent on the pearly car, and smil'd,
Fresh from the deep, and confcious of her form,
To fee the Tritons tune their vocal fhells
And each coerulean fifter of the flood
With fond acclaim attend her o'er the waves
To feek th' Idalian bow'r. Ye fmiling band
Of youths and virgins, who thro' all the maze
Of young defire with rival-fteps pursue
This charm of beauty: if the pleafing toil
Can yield a moment's refpite, hither turn
Your favourable ear, and trust my words!
I do not mean to wake the gloomy form
Of fuperftition dreft in wifdon's garb
To damp your tender hopes; I do not mean
To bid the jealous thund'rer fire the heav'ns
Or fhapes infernal rend the groaning earth,
To fright you from your joys: my chearful fong
With better omens calls you to the field,
Pleas'd with your gen'rous ardour in the chace,
And warm as you. Then tell me, for you know,
Does beauty ever deign to dwell where health
And active use are strangers? Is her charm
Confefs'd in aught, whofe moft peculiar ends
Are lame and fruitlefs? Or did nature mean
This awful ftamp the herald of a lye?
To hide the fhame of difcord and disease
And catch with fair hypocrify the heart
Of idle faith? O no! with better cares,
Th' indulgent mother, confcious how infirm
Her offfpring tread the paths of good and ill,
By this illuftrious image, in each kind
Still moft illuftrious where the object holds
Its native pow'rs moft perfect, fhe by this
Akenside. Illumes the headlong impulfe of de fire
And fanctifies his choice. The generous glebe
Whose bofom finiles with verdure, the clear tract
Of streams delicious to the thirsty soul,
The bloom of nectar'd fruitage ripe to sense,
And every charm of animated things,
Are only pledges of a ftate fincere,
Th' integrity and order of their frame,
When all is well within, and every end
Accomplish'd. Thus was beauty fent from heav'n,
The lovely miniftrefs of truth and good
In this dark world: for truth and good are one;
And beauty dwells in them, and they in her
With like participation. Wherefore then
O fons of earth! would you diffolve the tye?
O! wherefore, with a rash, imperfect aim
Seek you thofe flow'ry joys with which the hand
Of lavish fancy paints each flatt'ring fcene,
Where beauty feems to dwell, nor once inquire,
Where is the fanction of eternal truth,
Or where the feal of undeceitful good
To fave your fearch from folly? Wanting thefe
Lo! beauty withers in your void embrace;
And with the glitt'ring of an idiot's toy
Did fancy mock your vows. Nor let the gleam
Of youthful hope, that fhines upon your hearts,
Be chill'd or clouded at this awful tafk
To learn the lore of undeceitful good
And truth eternal. Tho' the pois' nous charms
Of baleful fuperftition guide the feet
Of fervile numbers, thro'a dreary way
To their abode, thro' defarts, thorns and mire;
And leave the wretched pilgrim all forlorn
To mufe, at laft, amid the ghoftly gloom
Of graves, and hoary vaults, and cloifter'd cells
To walk with spectres thro' the midnight fhade
And to the screaming owl's accurfed fong.
Attune the dreadful workings of his heart;
Yet be not you difmay'd. A gentler ftar
Your lovely search illumines. From the grove
Where wisdom talk'd with her Athenian fons
Could my ambitious hands intwine a wreath
Of PLATO'S olive with the Mantuan hay.
Then fhould my pow'rful voice at once difpel
Thefe monkifh horrors: then in light divine
Disclose the Elyfian profpect, where the fteps
Of those whom nature charms, thro' blooming walks,
Thro' fragrant mountains and poetic ftreams
Amid the train of fages, heroes, bards,
Led by their winged genius and the choir
Of laurell'd fcience and harmonious art,
Proceed exulting to th' eternal fhrine,
Where truth inthron'd with her celeftial twins
The undivided part'ners of her fway
With good and beauty reigns. O. let not us,
Lull'd by luxurious pleasure's languid strain
Or crouching to the frowns of bigot rage,
O let not us a moment pause to join
The god-like band! And if the gracious pow'r
That firft awaken'd my untutor'd fong,
Will to my invocation breathe anew
The tuneful spirit then thro' all our paths,
Ne'er fhall the found of this devoted lyre
Be wanting; whether on the rofy mead
When fummer imiles, to warn the melting heart
Of luxury's allurement; whether firm
Against the torrent and the ftubborn hill
To urge bold virtue's unremitted nerve
And wake the strong divinity of foul,
That conquers change and fate: or whether ftruck
For founds of triumph, to proclaim her toils
Upon the lofty fummit, round her brow
To twine the wreathe of incorruptive praife.
To trace her hallow'd light thro' future worlds
And bless heaven's image in the heart of man.
(Diefer, vermuthlich noch lebende Dichter, ist Verfasser eines allegorischen Gedichts über die Vorsehung in drei Büz chern, welches 1763. in 4. zuerst herauskam. Es herrscht darin noch mehr Uerpigkeit von Bildern, Gleichnissen und mahlerischen Scenen, als in dem eben angeführten Gedichte von Akenside, welches diese auch in aller Abficht nachsteht. Die Genien der Phantasie und der Betrachtung sind die vornehms ften Personen dieser Allegorie, und wechseln fast mit beståndigen Unterredungen, Im ersten Buche sucht der Dichter die Providenz wegen Zulassung der natürlichen Uebel des Les bens zu retten; im zweiten werden die Vorzüge der chriftlic chen Religion ins Licht gefeßt; und im dritten wird die Fürs fehung in Ansehung der mannichfachen menschlichen Schicks fale gerechtfertigt. Vergl. Dusch's Briefe, Th. II. n. A. Br. VIII-X, wo jedoch diesem Gedichte, wie es scheint, ein allzu freigebiges Lob ertheilt wird. Eine der beßten Stellen ist folgende Beschreibung der arkadischen Unschuldswelt, die ihr Glück durch die Einflüsse der Versuchung verlor. Der Ges nius der Phantafie schafft diese Scene auf das Geheiß des Genius der Betrachtung.)
Struck with her magic rod the fwelling lawn,
And work'd a new Creation. The low plain
Stretch'd to a field immenfe, where sportive walk'd
The fair-rob'd Summer. O'er her glowing form
Harmonious, flow'd the flower-embroider'd veft,
Girt with a mantling zone; her lucid eye
Beam'd fweetly-radiant; and her cheek butvied
The cherry's deepening bloom. Soft on her lips
Sat all the laughing Loves; and in her hair,
Spread oer the throbbing bosom, half-disclos'd,
And fwelling to the breeze, the Graces play'd Ogilvie. Luxuriant. Round the bleating flocks were
A harmless train, that crop'd the flowery turf,
Or quaff'd the filver rill. In frolic fport
All-light they wanton'd; for no mound restrain'd
Their aery paftime; and the favage tribe,
Sought not their peaceful cot
That fwell'd its blue wave from the thymy hills,
Gleam'd thro' the loofened grove.
Whofe wings expanded veil'd the noon-day fun,
Stain'd not its tide. Not far the fimple hut,
Sweet haunt of Innocence and Peace! o'erlaid
With flender ofiers, and the flexile fhrub,
Checquer'd the rural landfkip. O'er the field,
Rovd the young fhepherds, fmiling in the prime.
Of life, and near were feen the spotless Fair
Crown'd with the herbage of the broider'd mead,
That fhower'd its fpoils around them, Beauty
beam'd
In every look, and on each cheek, the bloom
Of rofy youth, delightful as it glow'd,
With foft inchantment ftole th' enraptur'd eye.
Rapt in fweet transport as I mark'd the fcene,
All balmy-breathing: Hail, ye happy feats or T
(I thus exclaim'd,) ye happy tribes, that tafted
The cup of Pleafure, by the baleful feeds
Of Care untainted! May no Syren charm.
Your step from Nature's open court, to stray
Amid the wilds of Paffion! may you walk
*) The lake Stymphalis in Arcadia, where this fcene is fuppofed to lye...
**) The Stymphalian birds, who haunted this lake, and infested the country, are well known; as it was one of the labours of Hercules, thoroughly to fubdue them.
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