And long embattled hofts! when the proud foc,
The faithlefs vain disturber of mankind,
Infulting Gaul, has rous'd the world to war;
When keen, once more, within their bounds to prefs
Thofe polished robbers, those ambitious flaves,
The British Youth would hail thy wife command,
Thy temper'd ardour, and thy veteran skill.
The western fun withdraws the shortened day, 1080
And humid Evening, gliding o'er the sky,
In her chill progress, to the ground condens'd
The vapours throws. Where creeping waters ooze,
Where marshes ftagnate, and where rivers wind,
Clufter the rolling fogs, and fwim along
1085
The dusky-mantled lawn. Meanwhile the moon,
Full-orb'd, and breaking thro' the scattered clouds,
Shews her broad visage in the crimson'd eaft.
Turn'd to the fun direct, her fpotted disk,
Where mountains rife, umbrageous dales defcend,
And caverns deep, as optic tube defcries,
A fmaller earth, gives us his blaze again,
Void of its flame, and fheds a softer day.
Now thro' the paffing clod she feems to stoop,
Now up the pure cerulean rides fublime.
Wide the pale deluge floats, and streaming mild
O'er the sky'd mountain to the shadowy vale,
While rocks and floods reflect the quivering gleam,
The whole air whitens with a boundless tide
Of filver radiance, trembling round the world. 1100
But when half blotted from the sky her light,
Fainting, permits the ftarry fires to burn
With keener luftre thro' the depth of heaven,
Or near extinct her deadened orb appears,
And scarce appears, of fickly beamless white, 1105
Oft' in this feafon, filent from the North
Ablaze of meteors fhoots: enfweeping first
The lower fkies, they all at once converge.....
High to the crown of heaven, and all at once
Relapfing quick, as quickly reafcend,,...... 1110
And mix and thwart, extinguish and renew,
All ether courfing in a maze of light.
From look to look, contagious thro' the crowd The panic runs, and into wondrous fhapes
The appearance throws; armies in meet array, 1115
Throng'd with aërial spears and steeds of fire,
Till the long lines of full-extended war,
In bleeding fight commixt, the fanguine flood
Rolls a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heaven.
As thus they fean the vifionary scene,
On all fides fwells the fuperftitious din,
Incontinent, and bufy Frenzy talks
Of blood and battle, cities overturn'd,
And late at night in fwallowing earthquake funk,
Or hideous wrapt in fierce afcending flame;
Of fallow famine, inundation, storm;
Of peftilence, and every great distress;
Empires fubvers'd, when rufing Fate has struck
The unalterable hour: even Nature's felf
Is deem'd to totter on the brink of time.
Not so the man of philofophic eye,
And inspect fage; the waving brightness he
Curious furveys, inquifitive to know
The caufes and materials, yet unfix'd,
Of this appearance, beautiful and new.
Now black and deep the night begins to fall, A fhade immenfe. Sunk in the quenching gloom, Magnificent and vaft, are heaven and earth. Order confounded lies; all Beauty void; Diftinction loft; and gay Variety
One univerfal blot: fuch the fair power
Of Light, to kindle and create the whole.
Drear is the state of the benighted wretch,
Who then, bewilder'd, wanders thro' the dark,
Full of pale fancies and chimeras huge;
Nor vifited by one directive ray
From cottage ftreaming or from airy hall.
Perhaps impatient as he ftumbles on,
Struck from the root of flimy rufhes, blue
The wildfire fcatters round, or, gathered, trails 1150
A length of flame deceitful o'er the moss,
Whither decoy'd by the fantastic blaze,
Now loft and now renew'd, he finks abforpt,
Rider and horfe, amid the miry gulf;
While ftill, from day to day, his pining wife 1155
And plaintive children his return await,
In wild conjecture loft. At other times,
Sent by the better Genius of the Night,
Innoxious, gleaming on the horse's mane
The meteor fits, and fhews the narrow path
That, winding, leads thro' pits of death, or elfe
Inftructs him how to take the dangerous ford.
The lengthened night elaps'd, the morning shines Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright, Unfolding fair the last Autumnal day. And now the mounting fun difpels the fog; The rigid hoar-froft melts before his beam; And, hung on every spray, on every blade Of grafs, the myriad dew-drops twinkle round. Ah fee where robb'd, and riurder'd, in that pit 1170 Lies the ftill heaving hive! at evening fnatch'd Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night, And fix'd o'er fulphur, while, not dreaming ill, The happy people in their waxen cells
Sat tending public cares, and planning schemes 1175 Of temperance, for Winter poor, rejoiced
To mark, full flowing round, their copious stores.
Sudden the dark oppreffive fteam afcends,
And, us'd to milder fcents, the tender race,
By thousands,tumble from their honeyed domes,11-80
Convolv'd, and agonizing in the duft.
And was it then for this you roam'd the Spring,..
Intent, from flower to flower? for this you toil'd,
Ceaseless, the burning Summer-heats away?
For this in Autumn fearch'd the blooming wafte, 1185
Nor loft one funny gleam? for this fad fate?
O Man! tyrannic lord! how long, how long
Shall proftrate Nature groan beneath your rage,
Awaiting renovation? When oblig'd,
Muft you destroy? Of their ambrofial food
Can you not borrow, and, in just return,”
Afford them shelter from the wintry winds,
Or, as the sharp year pinches, with their own
Again regale them on some fmiling day i
See where the ftony bottom of their town
Looks defolate and wild, with here and there
A helpless number, who the ruined fate
Survive, lamenting weak, caft out to death.
Thus a proud city, populous and rich,
Full of the works of peace, and high in joy, 1200 At theatre or feast, of funk in fleep
(Aslate, Palermo! was thy fate), "is feiz'd
By fome dread earthquake, and convulsive.hurl'd
Sheer from the black foundation, french-involv'd,
Into a gulf of blue fulphureous flame.
Henee every harther fight! for now the day, O'er heaven and earth diffus'd, grows warm and high, Infinite splendour! wide investing alf.
How ftill the breeze! save what the filmy threads. Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain.
How clear the cloudlefs fky! how deeply ting'd With a peculiar blue! the ethereal arch
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