Page images
PDF
EPUB

'Tis by thy fecret, ftrong, attractive force, As with a chain indiffoluble bound,

Thy fyitem rolls entire: from the far bourne
Of utmoft Saturn, wheeling wide his round
Of thirty years; to Mercury, whose disk
Can fcarce be caught by philofophic eye,
Loft in the near effulgence of thy blaze.

Informer of the planetary train !

Without whofe quick'ning glance their cumbrous orbs
Were brute unlovely mafs, inert and dead,
And not as now the green abodes of life;

How many
forms of being wait on thee!
Inhaling fpirit; from th' unfettered mind,
By thee fublim'd, down to the daily race,
The mixing myriads of thy fetting beam.

The vegetable world is alfo thine,
Parent of feafons! who the pomp precede
That waits thy throne, as thro' thy vaft domain,
Annual, along the bright ecliptic road,
In world-rejoicing ftate, it moves fublime.
Mean-time th' expecting nations, circled gay
With all the various tribes of foodful earth,
Implore thy bounty, or fend grateful up

A common hymn while, round the beaming ear,
High-feen, the feafons lead, in fprightly dance
Harmonious knit, the rofy finger'd hours.
The zephyrs floating loofe, the timely rains,
Of bloom ethereal the light-footed dews,
And foftened into joy the furly storms.
Thefe, infucceffive turn, with lavish hand,
Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower,

Herbs, flowers, and fruits; 'till, kindling at thy touch,
From land to land is flufh'd the vernal year.

Nor to the furface of enliven'd earth,
Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods,
Her liberal treffes, is thy force confin'd:
But, to the bowel'd cavern darting deep,

The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power,
Effulgent, hence the veiny marble fhines;

Hence labour draws his tools; hence burnish'd war

Gleams on the day; the nobler works of peace
Hence blefs mankind, and generous commerce binds
The round of nations in a golden chain.

The unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee,
In dark retirement forms the lucid ftone.
The lively Diamond drinks the pureft rays,
Collected light compact; that, polish'd bright,
And all its native luftre let abroad,

Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast,
With vain ambition emulate her eyes.
At thee the Ruby lights its deepning glow,
And with a waving radiance inward flames.
From thee the Sapphire, folid ether, takes
Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinct,
The purple-ftreaming Amethyft is thine.
With thy own fmile the yellow Topaz burns.
Nor deeper verdure dyes the rope of Spring,
When firft fhe gives it to the fouthern gale,
Than the green Emerald fhows. But, all combin'd,
Thick thro' the whitening Opal play thy beams;
Or, flying feveral 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 ftream
Plays o'er the mead. The precipiece abrubt,
Projecting horror on the blackened flood,
Softens at thy return. The defart joys
Wildly, tho' all his melancholy bounds.
Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep,
Seen from fome pointed promontory's top,
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge
Reftlefs, reflects a floating gleam. But this,
And all the much-tranfported mufe can fing,
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and ufe,
Unequal far; great delegated fource

Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!

How fhall 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;
Whofe fingle fmile has, from the first of time,
Fill'd, overflowing, all thofe lamps of heaven,
That beam for ever thro' the boundless sky;
But, fhould he hide his face, th' astonish'd fun,
And all th' extinguish'd ftars, would loofening reel
Wide from their Spheres, and chaos come again.

The Defcription of the Storm is finely painted. The affecting Tale of the Lovers is alfo touched up with exquifite art, and answers a two-fold purpofe; for this scene of diftrefs not only heightens the horror of the tempeft, but adds variety to the Defcription, and prevents the mind from being fatiated by an enumeration of particulars that are of a fimilar nature.

BEHOLD, flow-fettling o'er the lurid grove
Unusual darkness broods; and growing gains
The full poffeffion of the sky, furcharg'd
With wrathful vapour, from the fecret beds,
Where fleep the mineral generations, drawn.
Thence nitre, fulphur, and the fiery spume
Of fat bitumen, fteaming on the day,
With various tinctur'd trains of latent flame,
Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud,
A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate,
Ferment; till, by the touch ethereal rous'd,
The dash of clouds, or irritating war
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below,
They furious fpring. Aboding filence reigns,
Dread thro' the dun expanfe; fave the dull found
That from the mountain, previous to the torm,
Rolls o'er the muttering earth, difturbs the flood,
And shakes the foreft-leaf without a breath.
Prone, to the lowest vale, the aërial tribes
Defcend: the tempeft-loving raven scarce
Dares wing the dubious dufk. In rueful gaze
The cattle ftand, and on the fcowling heavens
Caft a deploring eye; by man forfook,
Who to the crouded cottage hies him faft,
Or feeks the fhelter of the downward cave.
H

'Tis liftening fear, and dumb amazement all:
When to the ftartled eye the fudden glance
Appears far fouth, eruptive thro' the cloud;
And following flower, in explosion vaft,
The thunder raifes his tremendous voice.
At first, heard folemn o'er the verge of heaven,
The tempeft growls; but as it nearer comes,
And rolls its awful burden on the wind,

The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more
The noife aftounds: till over head a sheet
Of livid flame difclofes wide; then fhuts,
And opens wider; fhuts and opens ftill
Expanfive, wrapping ether in a blaze.
Follows the loofen'd aggravated roar,
Enlarging, deepening, mingling; peal on peal
Crush'd horrible, convulfing heaven and earth.

Down comes a deluge of fonorous hail,
Or prone-defcending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds,
Pour a whole flood; and yet, its flame unquench'd,
Th' unconquerable lightning ftruggles through,
Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls,
And fires the mountains with redoubled rage.
Black from the ftroke, above, the fmould'ring pine
Stands a fad shattered trunk; and, ftretch'd below,
A lifeless groupe the blafted cattle lie:

Here the foft flocks, with that fame harmless look
They wore alive, and ruminating ftill

In fancy's eye; and there the frowning bull,
And ox half-rais'd. Struck on the caftled clift,
The venerable tower and fpiry fane

Refign their aged pride. The gloomy woods
Start at the flash, and from their deep recefs,
Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates thake.
Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud
The repercuffive roar: with mighty crush,
Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks
Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the sky,
Tumble the fmitten cliffs; and Snowden's peak,
Diffolving, inftant yields his wintry load.
Far-feen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze,
And Thule' bellows thro' her utmost ifles.

GUILT hears appall'd, with deeply troubled thought. And yet not always on the guilty head Defcends the fated flash. Young CELADON And his AMELIA were a matchless pair; With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace, The fame, diftinguish'd by their sex alone: Hers the mild luftre of the blooming morn, And his the radiance of the rifen day.

THEY lov'd: But fuch their guileless paffion was,
As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart
Of innocence, and undiffembling truth.
'Twas friendship heighten'd by the mutual wish,
Th' enchanting hope, and fympathetic glow,
Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all.
To love, each was to each a dearer felf;
Supremely happy in th' awaken'd power
Of giving joy. Alone, amid the fhades,
Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd
The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart,
Or figh'd, and look'd unutterable things.

So pafs'd their life, a clear united stream,
By care unruffled; till, in evil hour,
The tempeft caught them on the tender walk,
Heedlefs how far, and where its mazes ftray'd,
While, with each other bleft, creative love
Still bade eternal Eden fmile around.
Prefaging inftant fate her bofom heav'd
Unwonted fighs, and stealing oft a look
Of the big gloom on CELADON her eye
Fell tearful, wetting her diforder'd cheek.
In vain affuring love, and confidence

In HEAVEN, reprefs'd her fear; it grew, and hook
Her frame near diffolution. He perceiv'd

Th' unequal confli&, and as angels look
On dying faints, his eyes compaffion fhed,
With love illumin'd high. "Fear not, he said,
"Sweet innocence! thou ftranger to offence,
"And inward ftorm! He, who yon fkies involves
"In frowns of darkness, ever fmiles on thee
"With kind regard. O'er thee the fecret shaft
"That wastes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »