They tempt the sun to sport amid their plumes; They tempt the water, or the gleaming ice, To show them a fair image; 'tis themselves, Their own fair forms, upon the glimmering plain, Painted more soft and fair as they descend Almost to touch ;-then up again aloft,
Up with a sally and a flash of speed,
As if they scorned both resting-place and rest!
VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BLACK COMB.
THIS Height a ministering Angel might select : For from the summit of BLACK COMB (dread name Derived from clouds and storms!) the amplest range Of unobstructed prospect may be seen
That British ground commands :-low dusky tracts, Where Trent is nursed, far southward! Cambrian hills To the south-west, a multitudinous show;
And, in a line of eye-sight linked with these, The hoary peaks of Scotland that give birth
To Tiviot's stream, to Annan, Tweed, and Clyde :— Crowding the quarter whence the sun comes forth
Gigantic mountains rough with crags; beneath, Right at the imperial station's western base Main ocean, breaking audibly, and stretched Far into silent regions blue and pale ;- And visibly engirding Mona's Isle
That, as we left the plain, before our sight Stood like a lofty mount, uplifting slowly (Above the convex of the watery globe) Into clear view the cultured fields that streak Her habitable shores; but now appears
A dwindled object, and submits to lie At the spectator's feet.-Yon azure ridge, Is it a perishable cloud? Or there Do we behold the line of Erin's coast? Land sometimes by the roving shepherd-swain (Like the bright confines of another world) Not doubtfully perceived.—Look homeward now! In depth, in height, in circuit, how serene The spectacle, how pure!-Of Nature's works, In earth, and air, and earth-embracing sea, A revelation infinite it seems; Display august of man's inheritance,
Of Britain's calm felicity and power!
Black Comb stands at the southern extremity of Cumberland: its base covers a much greater extent of ground than any other mountain in those parts; and, from its situation, the summit commands a more extensive view than any other point in Britain.
THOSE silver clouds collected round the sun
His mid-day warmth abate not, seeming less To overshade than multiply his beams
By soft reflection-grateful to the sky,
To rocks, fields, woods. Nor doth our human sense Ask, for its pleasure, screen or canopy
More ample than the time-dismantled Oak
Spreads o'er this tuft of heath, which now, attired In the whole fulness of its bloom, affords
Couch beautiful as e'er for earthly use
Was fashioned; whether by the hand of Art, That eastern Sultan, amid flowers enwrought On silken tissue, might diffuse his limbs In languor; or, by Nature, for repose
Of panting Wood-nymph, wearied with the chase. O Lady! fairer in thy Poet's sight
Than fairest spiritual creature of the groves, Approach; and, thus invited, crown with rest
The noon-tide hour: though truly some there are Whose footsteps superstitiously avoid
This venerable Tree; for, when the wind Blows keenly, it sends forth a creaking sound (Above the general roar of woods and crags) Distinctly heard from far-a doleful note!
As if (so Grecian shepherds would have deemed) The Hamadryad, pent within, bewailed Some bitter wrong. Nor is it unbelieved, By ruder fancy, that a troubled ghost
Haunts the old trunk; lamenting deeds of which The flowery ground is conscious. But no wind Sweeps now along this elevated ridge;
Not even a zephyr stirs ;-the obnoxious Tree Is mute; and, in his silence, would look down, O lovely Wanderer of the trackless hills, On thy reclining form with more delight
Than his coevals in the sheltered vale Seem to participate, the whilst they view Their own far-stretching arms and leafy heads Vividly pictured in some glassy pool,
That, for a brief space, checks the hurrying stream!
SHOW me the noblest Youth of present time, Whose trembling fancy would to love give birth; Some God or Hero, from the Olympian clime Returned, to seek a Consort upon earth; Or, in no doubtful prospect, let me see The brightest star of ages yet to be, And I will mate and match him blissfully.
I will not fetch a Naiad from a flood
Pure as herself (song lacks not mightier power) Nor leaf-crowned Dryad from a pathless wood, Nor Sea-nymph glistening from her coral bower; Mere Mortals bodied forth in vision still, Shall with Mount Ida's triple lustre fill
The chaster coverts of a British hill.
"Appear!-obey my lyre's command!
Come, like the Graces, hand in hand!
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