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,
To him the long review of order'd life Is inward rapture, only to be felt.
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,
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,
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
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,
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
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.
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,
Obvious or more remote, with livelier fenfe 1750 Diffufive painted on the rapid mind,
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!
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,
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
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