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Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring,
When first she gives it to the southern gale,
Than the green Emerald shows. But, all combin'd,
Thick thro' the whitening Opal play thy beams;
Or, flying several from its furface, form
A trembling variance of revolving hues,
As the fite varies in the gazer's hand.

THE very dead creation, from thy touch,
Affumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd,
In brighter mazes, the relucent stream
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,
Projecting horror on the blacken'd flood,
Softens at thy return. The desart joys
Wildly, thro' all his melancholy bounds.
Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep,
Seen from some pointed promontory's top,
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge,
Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But this,
And all the much-tranfported Muse can fing,
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use,
Unequal far; great delegated source
Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!

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165

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How shall I then attempt to fing of HIM,
Who, LIGHT HIMSELF, in uncreated light
Invested deep, dwells awfully retir'd
From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken;

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Whose fingle fmile has, from the first of time,

Fill'd, overflowing, all those lamps of Heaven, 180
That beam for ever thro' the boundless sky;
But, should he hide his face, th' astonish'd fun,
And all th' extinguish'd stars, would loosening reel
Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again.

And yet was every faultering tongue of Man, 185
ALMIGHTY FATHER! filent in thy praise;
Thy Works themselves would raise a general voice,
Even in the depth of folitary woods
By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power,
And to the quire celestial THEE resound,
Th' eternal cause, support, and end of all !

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To me be Nature's volume broad-display'd;
And to peruse its all-instructing page,
Or, haply catching inspiration thence,
Some easy passage, raptur'd, to tranflate,
My fole delight; as thro' the falling glooms
Pensive I stray, or with the rifing dawn

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On Fancy's eagle-wing excursive foar.

200

Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent fun Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds, And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills In party-colour'd bands; till wide unveil'd The face of Nature shines, from where earth feems Far-ftretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere.

HALF

HALF in a blush of clustering roses loft, Dew-dropping Coolness to the shade retires; There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed, By gelid founts and careless rills to muse: While tyrant Heat, dispreading thro' the sky, With rapid fway, his burning influence darts On Man, and beast, and herb, and tepid stream.

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Wно can unpitying see the flowery race, Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign, Before the parching beam? So fade the fair, When fevers revel thro' their azure veins. But one, the lofty follower of the fun, Sad when he fets, shuts up her yellow leaves, Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns, Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray.

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HOME, from his morning task, the swain retreats; His flock before him stepping to the fold: While the full-udder'd mother lows around The chearful cottage, then expecting food, The food of innocence, and health! The daw, The rook and magpie, to the grey-grown oaks 225. (That the calm village in their verdant arms,. Sheltering, embrace) direct their lazy flight; Where on the mingling boughs they fit embower'd, All the hot noon, till cooler hours arife..

Faint, underneath, the houshold fowls convene; 230 And,

D 5.

And, in a corner of the buzzing shade,

The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies,

Out-ftretch'd, and fleepy. In his slumbers one

Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults

O'er hill and dale; till waken'd by the wasp,
They starting snap. Nor shall the Muse disdain

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To let the little noisy summer-race

Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her fong:

Not mean tho' fimple; to the sun ally'd,

From him they draw their animating fire.

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WAK'D by his warmer ray, the reptile young Come wing'd abroad; by the light air upborn, Lighter, and full of foul. From every chink, And secret corner, where they slept away

The wintry storms; or rising from their tombs, 245 To higher life; by myriads, forth at once,

Swarming they pour; of all the vary'd hues

Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.
Ten thousand forms! Ten thousand different tribes!

People the blaze. To funny waters some

By fatal instinct fly; where on the pool

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They, sportive, wheel; or, failing down the stream, Are snatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd trout,

Or darting falmon. Thro' the green-wood glade Some love to stray; there lodg'd, amus'd and fed, 255

In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make

The meads their choice, and visit every flower,
And every latent herb: for the sweet task,

To

To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,
In what soft beds, their young yet undisclos'd, 260
Employs their tender care. Some to the house,
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight;
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese :
Oft, inadvertent, from the milky stream
They meet their fate; or, weltering in the bowl, 265
With powerless wings around them wrapt, expire.

BUT chief to heedless flies the window proves
A constant death; where, gloomily retir'd,
The villain spider lives, cunning, and fierce,
Mixture abhorr'd! Amid a mangled. heap
Of carcaffes, in eager watch he fits,,
O'erlooking all his waving snares around.
Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft
Passes, as oft the ruffian shows his front;
The prey at last ensnar'd, he dreadful darts,
With rapid glide, along the leaning line;

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And, fixing in the wretch. his cruel fangs,
Strikes backward grimly pleas'd: the fluttering wing,

And shriller found declare extreme distress,

And ask the helping hospitable hand.

RESOUNDS the living furface of the ground:

Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum,

To him who muses thro' the woods at noon;

Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclin'd,

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With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating shade 285