CROWN'D with the fickle, and the wheaten sheaf,
While AUTUMN, nodding o'er the yellow plain,
Comes jovial on; the Doric reed once more,
Well-pleas'd, I tune. Whate'er the wintry frost
Nitrous prepar'd; the various bloffom'd Spring
Put in white promise forth; and Summer suns
Concocted strong, rush boundless now to view,
Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme.
ONSLOW! the Muse, ambitious of thy name,
To grace, inspire, and dignify her fong,
Would from the Public Voice thy gentle ear
A while engage. Thy noble cares she knows,
The patriot-virtues that distend thy thought,
Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow;
While liftening senates hang upon thy tongue,
Devolving thro' the maze of eloquence
A rowl of periods, sweeter than her fong.
But she too pants for public virtue, she,
Tho' weak of power yet strong in ardent will,
Whenc'er her country rushes on her heart,
Assumes a bolder note, and fondly tries
To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame.
WHEN the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days, And Libra weighs in equal scales the year; From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence shook
Of parting Summer, a ferener blue,
With golden light enlivened wide invests
The happy world. Attemper'd funs arife,
Sweet-beam'd, and shedding oft thro' lucid clouds
A pleasing calm; while broad, and brown, below 30
Extenfive harvests hang the heavy head.
Rich, filent, deep, they stand; for not a gale
Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain:
A calm of plenty ! till the ruffled air
Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to blow. 35
Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky;
The clouds fly different; and the fudden fun
By fits effulgent gilds th' illumin'd field,
And black by fits the shadows sweep along.
A gayly-checker'd heart-expanding view,
Far as the circling eye can shoot around,
Unbounded toffing in a flood of corn.
THESE are thy blessings, INDUSTRY! rough power! Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and pain; Yet the kind source of every gentle art, And all the foft civility of life;
Raiser of human kind! by Nature caft,
Naked, and helpless, out amid the woods
And wilds, to rude inclement elements;
With various feeds of art deep in the mind
Implanted, and profusely pour'd around
Materials infinite; but idle all.
Still unexerted, in th' unconscious breaft,
Slept the lethargic powers; corruption still,
Voracious, swallowed what the liberal hand
Of bounty scatter'd o'er the savage year:
And still the sad barbarian, roving, mix'd
With beasts of prey; or for his acorn-meal
Fought the fierce tusky boar; a shivering wretch!
Aghaft, and comfortless, when the bleak north, 60
With Winter charg'd, let the mix'd tempest fly,
Hail, rain, and snow, and bitter-breathing froft:
Then to the shelter of the hut he fled;
And the wild season, fordid, pin'd away.
For home he had not; home is the refort
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where,
Supporting and supported, polish'd friends,
And dear relations mingle into bliss.
But this the rugged savage never felt,
Even defolate in crouds; and thus his days
Roll'd heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd along :
A waste of time! till INDUSTRY approach'd,
And rous'd him from his miferable sloth :
His faculties unfolded; pointed out,
Where lavish Nature the directing hand
VOL. I,
Of Art demanded; shew'd him how to raise
His feeble force by the mechanic powers,
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth,
On what to turn the piercing rage of fire,
On what the torrent, and the gather'd blast;
Gave the tall ancient forest to his ax;
Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the stone,
Till by degrees the finish'd fabric rose;
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur,
And wrapt them in the woolly vestment warm,
Or bright in glofly silk, and flowing lawn;
With wholesome viands fill'd his table, pour'd
The generous glass around, inspir'd to wake
The life-refining foul of decent wit :
Nor stopp'd at barren bare neceffity;
But ftill advancing bolder, led him on,
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance and grace;
And, breathing high ambition thro' his soul,
Set science, wisdom, glory, in his view,
And bad him be the Lord of all below.
THEN gathering Men their natural powers com
And form'd a Public; to the general good
Submitting, aiming, and conducting all.
For this the Patriot-Council met, the full,
The free, and fairly represented Whole;
For this they plann'd the holy guardian laws,
Diftinguish'd orders, animated arts,
|