And, foftened into joy, the furly Storms,

Thefe in fucceffive turn, with lavish hand,

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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.

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Nor to the furface of enlivened 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 confefs thy mighty power. Effulgent, hence the veiny marble shines ;

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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, 140
In dark retirement forms the lucid ftone':
The lively diamond drinks thy pureft rays,
Collected light, compact, that, polifh'd bright,
And all its native luftre let abroad,

Dares, as it fparkles on the fair one's breaft,'
With vain ambition emulate her eyes.
At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow,
And with a waving radiance inward flames.
From thee the fapphire, folid ether, takes
Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinet,
The purple-ftreaming amethyst is thine.
With thy own fmile the yellow topaz burns:

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Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring,
When first fhe gives it to the fouthern gale,

Than the green emerald fhows: but, all combin'd,
Thick thro' the whitening opal play thy beams, 156
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 fiream

Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,
Projecting horror on the blackened flood,
Softens at thy return. The Defert joys
Wildly thro' 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,
Reflefs, reflects a floating gleam. But this,
And all the much-transported Mufe can fing,
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use,
Unequal far, great delegated fource

Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!
How shall 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?

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Whofe fingle fmile has, from the first of time, Fill'd, overflowing, all thofe lamps of heaven 185

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?

And yet was every faultering tongue of man, 185 Almighty Father! filent in thy praise,

Thy works themselves would raise a general voice;
Even in the depths of folitary woods,

By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power,
And to the choir celeftial Thee refound,
Th' eternal caufe, fupport, and end of all!
To me be Nature's volume broad-display'd,
And to perufe its all-instructing page,
Or, haply catching inspiration thence,
Some eafy paffage, raptur'd, to translate,
My fole delight, as thro' the falling glooms
Penfive I ftray, or with the rifing dawn
On 'Fancy's eagle-wing excurfive foar.

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Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent fun Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds, And morning fogs, that hovered round the hills In party-colour'd bands, till wide unveil'd The face of Nature fhines, from where earth feems, Far-ftretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere. Half in a blufh of clustering rofes loft, 205 Dew-dropping Coolness to the fhade retires, There on the verdant turf or flowery bed, By gelid founts and carelefs rills to mufe;

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While tyrant Heat, difpreading thro' the sky,
With rapid fway his burning influence darts
On man, and beast, and herb, and tepid ftream.

Who can unpitying fee the flowery race,
Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom refign
Before the parching beam? So fade the fair,
When fevers revel thro' their azure veins.

But one, the lofty follower of the fun,

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Sad when he fets, fhuts up her yellow leaves, Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns, Points her enamour'd bofom to his ray.

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Home from his morning task the fwain retreats, His flock before him flepping to the fold, While the full-udder'd mother lows around The cheerful cottage, then expecting food, The food of innocence and health! The daw, The rook and magpie, to the grey-grown oaks, 225 That the calm village in their verdant arms Sheltering, embrace, direct their lazy flight, Where on the mingling boughs they fit embower'd, All the hot noon, till cooler hours arife.

Faint, underneath, the household fowls convene ; 230
And in a corner of the buzzing shade

The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies
Out-stretch'd and fleepy. In his flumbers one
Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults
O'er hill and dale, till wakened by the wafp, 235
They ftarting fnap. Nor fhall the Mufe difdain

To let the little noify fummer-race

Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her fong;
Not mean, tho' fimple; to the fun ally'd,
From him they draw their animating fire.

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Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young Come wing'd abroad, by the light air upborne, Lighter, and full of foul. From every chink And fecret corner, where they slept away The wintry ftorms, or rifing from their tombs 245 To higher life, by myriads, forth at once, Swarming they pour, of all the vary'd hues Their beauty-beaming parent can difclose. Ten thousand forms, ten thousand different tribes, People the blaze. To funny waters some, By fatal inftinct, fly, where on the pool They sportive wheel; or, failing down the ftream, Are fnatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd trout Or darting falmon. Thro' the green-wood glade Some love to ftray, there lodg'd, amus'd, and fed, 255 In the fresh leaf: luxurious, others make The meads their choice, and vifit every flower And every latent herb; for the sweet task

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To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,
In what foft beds, their young yet undisclos'd, 260
Employs their tender care: fome to the house,
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight,
Sip round the pail, or tafte the curdling cheese:
Oft', inadvertent, from the milky stream