But to the generous ftill-improving mind,
That gives the hopeless heart to fing for joy,
Diffufing kind beneficence around,

Boastless, as now defcends the filent dew,

1640

To him the long review of order'd life
Is inward rapture, only to be felt.

1645

Confefs'd from yonder flow-extinguish'd clouds,

All ether softening, fober Evening takes

Her wonted station in the middle air,

A thousand fhadows at her beck. First this
She fends on earth, then that of deeper dye 1659
Steals foft behind; and then a deeper ftill,
In circle following circle, gathers round,
To close the face of things. A fresher gale
Begins to wave the wood, and ftir the ftream,
Sweeping with shadowy guft the fields of corn, 1655
While the quail clamours for his running mate.
Wide o'er the thistly lawn, as fwells the breeze,
A whitening fhower of vegetable down
Amufive floats. The kind impartial care

Of Nature nought disdains; thoughtful to feed 1660
Her lowest fons, and clothe the coming year,
From field to field the feathered feeds fhe wings.
His folded flock fecure, the shepherd home
Hies merry-hearted, and by turns relieves
The ruddy milkmaid of her brimming pail; 1665
The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart,
Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguish means,

1675

Sincerely loves, by that beft language fhewn
Of cordial glances and obliging deeds.'·
Onward they pass o'er many a panting height, 1670
And valley funk, and unfrequented, where
At fall of eve the Fairy people throng,
In various game and revelry, to pass
The fummer-night, as village-ftories tell:
But far about they wander from the grave
Of him whom his ungentle fortune urg'd
Against his own fad breast to lift the hand
Of impious Violence. The lonely tower
Is alfo fhun'd, whose mournful chambers hold,
So night-ftruck Fancy dreams, the yelling ghoft. 1680
Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge,
The glow-worm lights his gem, and thro' the dark
A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields
The world to Night, not in her winter-robe
Of maffy Stygian woof, but loose array'd
In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray,
Glanc'd from th' imperfect surfaces of things,
Flings half an image on the ftraining eye,

1

1685

While wavering woods, and villages, and streams,
And rocks, and mountain-tops,that long retain'd1690
Th' afcending gleam, are all one swimming scene,
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven

Thence weary Vifion turns, where, leading foft
The filent hours of love, with pureft ray

Sweet Venus fhines; and from her genial rife, 1695

When day-light fickens till it fprings afresh,
Unrival'd reigns the fairest lamp of night.
As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink,
With cherish'd gaze, the lambent lightnings shoot
Across the sky, or horizontal dart

1705

1700 In wondrous shapes, by fearful murmuring crowds Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs, That more than deck, that animate the sky, The life-infusing funs of other worlds, Lo! from the dread immenfity of space Returning, with accelerated courfe, The rushing comet to the fun defcends, And as he finks below the fhading earth', With awful train projected o'er the heavens The guilty nations tremble. But, above Those fuperftitious horrors that enflave The fond fequacious herd, to mystic faith And blind amazement prone, th' enlightened few, Whose godlike minds Philofophy exalts,

1710

The glorious ftranger hail. They feel a joy 1715
Divinely great; they in their powers exult,
That wondrous force of thought, which, mounting,
This dusky spot, and measures all the fky; [fpurns
While from his far excurfion thro' the wilds

1720

Of barren ether, faithful to his time,
They fee the blazing wonder rife anew,
In feeming terror clad, but kindly bent
To work the will of all-fuftaining Love;

From his huge vapoury train perhaps to fhake
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs
Thro' which his long ellipfis winds; perhaps
To lend new fuel to declining funs,

To light up worlds, and feed th' eternal fire.

1725

With thee, ferene Philofophy! with thee,
And thy bright garland, let me crown my fong, 1730
Effufive fource of evidence and truth!

A luftre fhedding o'er th' ennobled mind,
Stronger than summer-noon, and pure as that
Whofe mild vibrations footh the parted foul,
New to the dawning of celestial day.

1735
Hence thro' her nourish'd powers, enlarg'd' by thee,
She springs aloft, with elevated pride,
Above the tangling mafs of low desires,

That bind the fluttering crowd; and, angel-wing'd,
The heights of science and of virtue gains, 1740
Where all is calm and clear; with Nature round,
Or in the starry regions or th' abyss,

To Reason's and to Fancy's eye display'd;
The first up-tracing, from the dreary void,
The chain of caufes and effects to him,
The world-producing Effence, who alone
Poffeffes being; while the laft receives

The whole magnificence of heaven and earth,
And every beauty, delicate or bold,

1745

Obvious or more remote, with livelier fenfe 1750 Diffufive painted on the rapid mind,

1755

Tutor❜d by thee, hence Poetry exalts
Her voice to ages, and informs the page
With mufic, image, fentiment, and thought,
Never to die, the treasure of mankind!
Their highest honour, and their trueft joy!
Without thee what were unenlightened Man?
A favage roaming thro' the woods and wilds
In queft of prey, and with th' unfashioned fur
Rough-clad, devoid of every finer art
And elegance of life. Nor happiness
Domeftic, mix'd of tenderness and care,
Nor moral excellence, nor focial blifs,
Nor guardian law, were his; nor various skill
To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool
Mechanic; nor the heaven-conducted prow
Of navigation bold, that fearless braves
The burning line, or dares the wintry pale;
Mother fevere of infinite delights!

1760

1765

Nothing, fave rapine, indolence, and guile, 1770
And woes on woes, a ftill-revolving train!

Whofe horrid circle had made human life
Than non-existence worse; but, taught by thee,
Ours are the plans of policy and peace:
To live like brothers, and, conjunctive all,

1775

Embellish life. While thus laborious crowds

Ply the tough oar, Philosophy directs

The ruling helm; or, like the liberal breath
Of potent Heaven, invifible, the fail

Swells out, and bears th' inferior world along. 1780