Others th' unwilling wether drag along;
And, glorying in his might, the sturdy boy
Holds by the twisted horns th' indignant ram.
Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft,
By needy Man, that all-depending lord,
How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies!
What foftnefs in its melancholy face,
What dumb complaining innocence appears!
Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 'tis not the knife
Of horrid flaughter that is o'er you wav'd;
No, 'tis the tender fwain's well-guided fhears,
Who having now, to pay his annual care
Borrow'd your fleece, to you a cumb'rous load,
Will fend you bounding to your hills again.

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A SIMPLE fcene! yet hence BRITANNIA fees Her folid grandeur rife: hence the commands Th' exalted ftores of ev'ry brighter clime, The treasures of the Sun without his rage: Hence, fervent all, with culture, toil, and arts, Wide glows her land: her dreadful thunder hence Rides o'er the waves fublime, and now, even now, Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coast; 430 Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the world.

'Tis raging Noon; and, vertical, the Sun Darts on the head direct his forceful rays. O'er heav'n and earth, far as the ranging eye Can sweep, a dazzling deluge reigns; and all

435

From pole to pole is undiftinguifh'd blaze.
In vain the fight, dejected to the ground,

Stoops for relief; thence hot-afcending steams
And keen reflection pain.

Deep to the root

Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields

440

And flipp'ry lawn an arid hue disclose,

Blaft Fancy's bloom, and wither even the Soul.
Echo no more returns the cheerful found

Of fharp'ning feythe: the mower finking heaps

O'er him the humid hay, with flow'rs perfum'd; 445"
And scarce a chirping grafs-hopper is heard
Thro' the dumb mead. Distressful Nature pants.
The very ftreams look languid from afar ;
Or, thro' th' unfhelter'd glade, impatient, feem
To hurl into the covert of the grove.

ALL-CONQU'RING Heat, Oh intermit thy wrath!
And on my throbbing temples potent thus
Beam not fo fierce! Inceffant ftill you flow,
And still another fervent flood fucceeds,
Pour'd on the head profufe. In vain I figh,
And restless turn, and look around for Night;
Night is far off; and hotter hours approach.
Thrice happy he! who on the funless fide
Of a romantic mountain, foreft-crown'd,
Beneath the whole collected fhade reclines:
Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought,
And fresh bedew'd with ever-spouting streams,
Sits coolly calm; while all the world without,

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Unfatisfy'd, and fick, toffes in noon.

Emblem inftructive of the virtuous Man,

Who keeps his temper'd mind ferene, and pure,

And every paffion aptly harmoniz'd,

Amid a jarring world with vice inflam'd.

WELCOME, ye fhades! ye bow'ry thickets, hail!

Ye lofty pines! ye venerable oaks !

Ye afhes wild, refounding o'er the steep!
Delicious is your fhelter to the soul,

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As to the hunted hart the fallying spring,

Or ftream full-flowing, that his fwelling fides
Laves, as he floats along the herbag'd brink.

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Cool, thro' the nerves, your pleafing comfort glides;

The heart beats glad; the fresh-expanded eye

And ear refume their watch; the finews knit ;
And life fhoots fwift thro' all the lighten❜d limbs.

AROUND th' adjoining brook, that purls along 480 The vocal grove, now fretting o'er a rock, Now fcarcely moving thro' a reedy pool, Now ftarting to a fudden stream, and now Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain;

A various groupe the herds and flocks compofe, 485
Rural confufion! On the graffy bank

Some ruminating lie; while others ftand
Half in the flood, and often bending fip
The circling furface. In the middle droops
The ftrong laborious ox, of honeft front,

490

Which incompos'd he shakes; and from his fides
The troublous infects lashes with his tail,

Returning ftill. Amid his fubjects fafe,

Slumbers the monarch-fwain; his careless arm Thrown round his head, on downy mofs fuftain'd; 495 Here laid his fcrip, with wholesome viands fill'd; There, lift'ning every noife, his watchful deg.

LIGHT fly his flumbers, if perchance a flight
Of angry gad-flies faften on the herd;

That ftartling scatters from the fhallow brook,
In fearch of lavish ftream.. Toffing the foam,
They fcorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain,
Thro' all the bright severity of noon;
While, from their lab'ring breafts,, a hollow moan
Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills.

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OPT in this feafon too the horse, provok'd, While his big finews full of fpirits swell,, Trembling with vigour, in the heat of blood, Springs the high fence; and, o'er the field effus'd, Darts on the gloomy flood, with stedfast eye, And heart eftrang'd to fear: his nervous chest, Luxuriant, and erect, the feat of strength! Bears down th' oppofing ftream: quenchlefs his thirst;: He takes the river at redoubled draughts;

And with wide noftrils, fnorting, fkims the wave. 515:

STILL let me pierce into the midnight depth Of yonder grove, of wildest largest growth:

That, forming high in air a woodland quire,
Nods o'er the mount beneath. At ev'ry step,
Solemn, and flow, the fhadows blacker fall,
And all is awful lift'ning gloom around..

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THESE are the haunts of Meditation, these The scenes where ancient bards th' infpiring breath, Ecftatic, felt; and, from this world retir'd, Convers'd with angels, and immortal forms, On gracious errands beut: to fave the fall Of virtue ftruggling on the brink of vice ;. In waking whispers, and repeated dreams, To hint pure thought, and warn the favour'd foul. For future trials fated to prepare ;

Το prompt the poet, who devoted gives

His mufe to better themes; to foothe the

pangs

Of dying worth, and from the patriot's breast. (Backward to mingle in detefted war,

530

But foremost when engag'd) to turn the death; 535 And numberlefs fuch offices of love,

Daily, and nightly, zealous to perform.

SHOOK fudden from the bofom of the fky, A thousand fhapes or glide athwart the dusk, Or ftalk majestic on. Deep-rous'd, I feel

A facred terror, a fevere delight,

Creep thro' my mortal frame; and thus, methinks,
A voice, than human more, th' abftracted ear
Of fancy ftrikes. "Be not of us afraid,

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