Sometimes fhe lifts her ftrain, and paints the scenes
Of beauteous life; whate'er can deck mankind,
Or charm the heart, in generous Bevil* fhew'd. 655
O thou! whose wisdom, folid yet refin'd,
Whose patriot-virtues, and confummate skill
To touch the finer springs that move the world,
Join'd to whate'er the Graces can bestow,
And all Apollo's animating fire,
Give thee, with pleafing dignity, to shine
At once the guardian, ornament, and joy,
Of polish'd life, permit the rural Mufe,
O Chesterfield! to grace with thee her fong!
Ere to the fhades again she humbly flies,
Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train
(For every Muse has in thy train a place),
To mark thy various full-accomplish'd mind;
To mark that spirit which, with British fcorn,
Rejects th' allurements of corrupted power;
That elegant politeness which excels,
Even in the judgment of prefumptuous France,
The boafted manners of her fhining court;
That wit, the vivid energy of sense,
The truth of Nature, which, with Attic point, 675
And kind well-temper'd fatire, fmoothly keen,
Steals thro' the foul, and without pain corrects:
Or, rifing thence with yet a brighter flame,
A character in the Confcious Lovers, written by Sir Richard Steele.
Olet me hail thee, on fome glorious day,
When to the liftening Senate, ardent, crowd 680)
Britannia's fons to hear her pleaded cause.
Then dreft by thee, more amiably fair,
Truth the foft robe of mild Perfuafion wears;
Thou to affenting Reafon giv'ft again.
Her own enlighten'd thoughts; call'd from the heart,
Th'obedient Paffions on thy voice attend;
And even reluctant Party feels a while
Thy gracious power, as thro' the varied maze.
Of eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now. ftrong,
Profound and clear, you roll the copious flood. 690
To thy lov'd haunt return, my happy Mufe;
For now, behold, the joyous Winter-days,
Frofty, fucceed, and thro' the blue ferene,
For fight too fine, th' ethereal nitre flies,
Killing infectious damps, and the spent air
Storing afresh with elemental life,
Clofe crowds the fhining atmosphere, and binds
Our strengthened bodies in its cold embrace,,
Conftringent; feeds, and animates our blood;
Refines our fpirits, thro' the new-ftrung nerves 709
In swifter fallies darting to the brain,
Where fits the Soul, intenfe, collected, cool,
Bright as the fkies, and as the feafon keen.
All Naturę feels the renovating force
Of Winter, only to the thoughtless eye
In ruin feen. The froft-concocted glebe
Draws in abundant vegetable foul,
And gathers vigour for the coming year.
A ftronger glow fits on the lively cheek
Of ruddy Fire; and luculent along
rivers flow; their fullen deeps,
Tranfparent, open to the fhepherd's gaze,
And murmur hoarfer at the fixing froft.
What art thou, Froft! and whence are thy keen ftores Deriv'd, thou fecret, all-invading Power,
Whom even th' illufive fluid cannot fly?
Is not thy potent energy, unfeen,
Myriads of little falts, or hook'd, or shap'd
Like double wedges, and diffus'd immenfe
Thro' water, earth, and ether? hence at eve,
Steam'd eager from the red horizon round,
With the fierce rage of Winter deep fuffus'd,
An icy gale, oft' fhifting, o'er the pool
Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career
Arrefts the bickering ftream, The loofened ice, 725
Let down the flood, and half diffolv'd by day,
Ruffles no more, but to the fedgy bank
Fast grows, or gathers round the pointed stone,
A cryftal pavement, by the breath of heaven
Cemented firm, till, feiz'd from fhore to fhore, 739
The whole imprifon'd river growls below.
Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflects
A double noife, while, at his evening watch,
The village-dog deters the nightly thief:
The heifer lows; the diftant water-fall
735 Swells in the breeze; and, with the hafty tread Of traveller, the hollow-founding plain Shakes from afar. The full ethereal round, Infinite worlds difclofing to the view, Shines out intenfely keen; and, all one cope Of ftarry glitter, glows from pole to pole. From pole to pole the rigid influence falls Thro' the ftill night, inceffant, heavy, ftrong, And feizes Nature faft. It freezes on,
Till Morn, late-rifing o'er the drooping world, 745
Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears
The various labour of the filent Night;
Prone from the dripping eave and dumb cascade,
Whofe idle torrents only feem to roar,
The pendent icicle; the froft-work fair,
Where tranfient hues and fancy'd figures rise;
Wide-fpouted o'er the hill the frozen brook,
A livid tract, cold gleaming on the morn;
The forest bent beneath the plumy wave,
And by the froft refin'd the whiter fnow,
Incrufted hard, and founding to the tread
Of early fhepherd, as he penfive feeks
His pining flock, or from the mountain top,
Pleas'd with the flippery furface, fwift defcends.
On blithfome frolics bent, the youthful swains, 76
While every work of Man is laid at reft,
Fond o'er the river crowd, in various fport
And revelty diffolv'd; where mixing glad,
Happiest of all the train! the raptur'd boy
Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 765
Branch'd out in many a long canal extends,
From every province swarming, void of care,
Batavia rushes forth, and as they sweep,
On founding skates, a thousand different ways,
In circling poife, fwift as the winds, along,
The then gay land is maddened all to joy.
Nor lefs the northern courts, wide o'er the fnow,
Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid fleds,
Their vigorous youth, in bold contention, wheel
The long-refounding courfe. Mean time, to raise 775
The manly ftrife, with highly-blooming charms,
Flush'd by the feafon, Scandinavia's dames,
Or Ruffia's buxom daughters, glow around.
Pure, quick, and sportful, is the wholesome day,
But foon claps'd. The horizontal fun,
780
Broad o'er the South, hangs at his utmost noon,
And, ineffectual, ftrikes the gelid cliff:
His azure glofs the mountain ftill maintains,
Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale
Relents a while to the reflected ray;
Or from the foreft falls the clustered fnow,
Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam
Gay-twinkle as they fcatter. Thick around
Thunders the fport of those who, with the gun,
And dog impatient bounding at the shot,
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