Which Bacchus pours. Nor on its flender twigs, 680
Low-bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd;
Nor, creeping thro' the woods, the gelid race
Of berries. Oft' in humble ftation dwells
Unboaftful Worth, above faftidious Pomp:
Witness, thou best anâna, thou, the pride
Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er
The poets imag'd in the Golden Age:
Quick let me ftrip thee of thy tufty coat,
Spread thy ambrofial stores, and feast with Jove!
From these the profpe&t varies. Plains immenfe
Lie ftretch'd below, interminable meads,
And vaft favannahs, where the wand'ring eye,
Unfixt, is in a verdant ocean loft.
Another Flora there, of bolder hues,
And richer fweets, beyond our gardens' pride, 695
Plays o'er the fields, and fhowers, with fudden hand,
Exuberant fpring; for oft' thefe vallies shift
Their green-embroidered robe to fiery brown,
And swift to green again, as scorching funs
Or ftreaming dews and torrent rains prevail.
Along thefe lonely regions, where retir'd
From little scenes of art great Nature dwells
In awful folitude, and nought is feen
But the wild herds that own no mafter's stall,
Prodigious rivers roll their fatt'ning feas,
On whofe luxuriant herbage, half-conceal'd,
Like a fallen cedar, far diffus'd his train,
Cas'd in green fcales, the crocodile extends.
The flood difparts; behold! in plaited mail
Behemoth rears his head, Glanc'd from his fide 710
The darted steel in idle fhivers flies;
He fearless walks the plain or feeks the hills,
Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds,
In widening circle round, forget their food,
And at the harmless stranger wondering.gaze. 715
Peaceful beneath primeval trees, that caft
Their ample fhade o'er Niger's yellow ftream,
And where the Ganges rolls his facred wave,
Or mid the central depth of blackening woods,
High-rais'd in folemn theatre around,
Leans the huge elephant, wifeft of brutes!
O truly wife! with gentle might endow'd,
Tho' powerful, not deftructive! here he fees
Revolving ages fweep the changeful earth,
And empires rife and fall, regardless, he,
Of what the never-refting race of men
Project; thrice happy! could he 'scape their guile
Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps,
Or with his towery grandeur fwell their state,
The pride of kings! or else his ftrength pervert, 730
And bid him rage amid the mortal fray,
Astonish'd at the madness of mankind.
Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods, Like vivid bloffoms glowing from afar,
* The hippopotamus, or river-horse.
Thick fwarm the brighter birds; for Nature's hand,
That with a sportive vanity has deck'd
The plumy nations, there her gayeft hues
But if fhe bids them fhine,
Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day,
Yet, frugal ftill, fhe humbles them in fong *. 740
Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent
Proud Montezuma's realm, whofe legions caft
A boundless radiance waving on the fun,
While Philomel is ours; while in our fhades,
Thro' the foft filence of the liftening night,
The fober-fuited fongstress trills her lay.
But come, my Mufe! the defert-barrier burst,
A wild expanfe of lifeless fand and sky;
And, fwifter than the toiling caravan,
Shoot o'er the vale of Sennar, ardent climb
The Nubian mountains, and the fecret bounds
Of jealous Abyffinia boldly pierce,
Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mask
Of focial Commerce com'ft to rob their wealth;
No holy fury thou, blafpheming Heaven,
With confecrated steel to ftab their peace,
And thro' the land, yet red from civil wounds,
To spread the purple tyranny of Rome.
Thou, like the harmless bee, may'ft freely range
From mead to mead, bright with exalted flowers, 760
In all the regions of the Torrid zone, the birds, though
more beautiful in their plumage, are obferved to be lefs mele-
dous than ours.
From jafmine grove to grove may'st wander gay,
Thro' palmy fhades and aromatic woods,
That grace the plains, inveft the peopled hills,
And up
the more than Alpine mountains wave:
There on the breezy fummit fpreading fair
For many a league, or on ftupendous rocks,
That from the fun-redoubling valley lift,
Cool to the middle air their lawny tops,
Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rise,
And gardens fmile around, and cultured fields, 770
And fountains gufh, and careless herds and flocks
Securely ftray, a world within itself,
Difdaining all affault; there let me draw
Ethereal foul, there drink reviving gales,
Profufely breathing from the fpicy groves
And vales of fragrance; there at distance hear
The roaring floods and cataracts, that fweep
From difembowel'd earth the virgin gold,
And o'er the varied landscape restlefs rove,
Fervent with life of every fairer kind;
A land of wonders! which the fun till eyes
With ray direct, as of the lovely realm
Enamour'd, and delighting there to dwell.
How chang'd the scene! In blazing height of noon The fun, opprefs'd, is plung'd in thickeft gloom. 785
Still horror reigns, a dreary twilight round
Of ftruggling night and day, malignant mix'd:
For to the hot equator crowding faft,
Where, highly rarify'd, the yielding air
Admits their stream, inceffant vapours roll,
Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd;
Or whirl'd tempeftuous by the gusty wind,
Or filent borne along, heavy and flow,
With the big ftores of fteaming oceans charg'd.
Meantime amid thefe upper feas, condens'd
Around the cold aërial mountain's brow,
And by conflicting winds together dash'd,
The Thunder holds his black tremendous throne; From cloud to cloud the rending lightnings rage, Till, in the furious elemental war
Diffolv'd, the whole precipitated mass
Unbroken floods and folid torrents pours.
The treasures these hid from the bounded fearch Of ancient knowledge, whence, with annual pomp, Rich king of Floods o'erflows the fwelling Nile. 805 From his two springs, in Gojam's funny realm, Pure-welling out, he thro' the lucid lake Of fair Dambea rolls his infant ftream: There, by the Naiads nurs'd, he sports away His playful youth amid the fragrant isles, That with unfading verdure fmile around. Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks, And gathering many a flood, and copious fed With all the mellowed treasures of the sky, Winds in progreffive majefty along.
Thro' fplendid kingdoms now devolves his maze,
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