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Where the live crimson, through the native white
Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom,

And every

nameless grace; the parted lip,

Like the red rofe-bud moift with morning-dew,
Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet,

Or funny ringlets, or of circling brown,

1585

The neck flight-fhaded, and the fwelling breaft; 1590

The look refiftless, piercing to the foul,
And by the foul inform'd, when drest in love
She fits high-fmiling in the confcious eye.
Ifland of blifs! amid the fubje&t feas,
That thunder round thy rocky coafts, fet up,
At once the wonder, terror, and delight,
Of diftant nations; whose remotest shores
Can foon be fhaken by thy naval arm;
Not to be shook thyself, but all affaults
Baffling, as thy hoar cliffs the loud fea-wave.

O Thou! by whose almighty nod the scale

Of empire rifes, or alternate falls,

Send forth the faving Virtues round the land,
In bright patrol: white Peace, and focial Love;
The tender-looking Charity, intent,

On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through smiles
Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of mind;
Courage compos'd, and keen; found Temperance,
Healthful in heart and look; clear Chastity,

With blushes reddening as fhe moves along,
Disorder'd at the deep regard fhe draws;
Rough Industry; Activity untir'd,

With copious life inform'd, and all awake:

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1615

While in the radiant front, fuperior fhines
That first paternal virtue, Public Zeal;
Who throws o'er all an equal wide furvey,
And, ever mufing on the common weal,
Still labours glorious with fome great defign.
Low walks the fun, and broadens by degrees,
Juft o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds 1620
Affembled gay, a richly-gorgeous train,

In all their pomp attend his setting throne.

Air, earth, and ocean fmile immenfe. And now,
As if his weary chariot fought the bowers
Of Amphitritè, and her tending nymphs,
(So Grecian fable fung) he dips his orb;
Now half-immers'd; and now a golden curve
Gives one bright glance, then total disappears.

For ever running an enchanted round,
Paffes the day, deceitful, vain, and void;
As fleets the vifion o'er the formful brain,
This moment hurrying wild th' impaffion'd soul,
The next in nothing loft. 'Tis fso to him,
The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank :
A fight of horror to the cruel wretch,
Who, all day long in fordid pleasure roll'd,
Himself an useless load, has fquander'd vile,

1625

Upon his fcoundrel train, what might have chear'd
A drooping family of modest worth.

1630

1635

But to the generous ftill-improving mind,

1640

That gives the hopeless heart to fing for joy,
Diffufing kind beneficence around,

Boaftlefs, 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 æther foftening, fober Evening takes
Her wonted ftation in the middle air;

1645

A thousand shadows at her beck. Firft this

She fends on earth; then that of deeper dye
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 fhadowy guft the fields of corn;
While the quail clamours for his running mate.
Wide o'er the thiftly lawn, as fwells the breeze,
A whitening fhower of vegetable down
Amufive floats. The kind impartial care

Of Nature nought difdains: thoughtful to feed
Her lowest fons, and clothe the coming year,
From field to field the feather'd feeds the wings.
His folded flock fecure, the fhepherd home

Hies, merry-hearted; and by turns relieves
The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail;
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 pafs, o'er many a panting height,
And valley funk, and unfrequented; where
At fall of eve the fairy people throng,
In various game, and revelry, to pafs

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The

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 sad breast to lift the hand
Of impious violence. The lonely tower

1675

Is alfo fhunn'd; whofe 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, through 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;

1685

While wavering woods, and villages, and ftreams,
And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long retain'd 1690
Th' afcending gleam, are all one fwimming fcene,
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven
Thence weary vifion turns; where, leading foft
The filent hours of love, with purest ray
Sweet Venus fhines; and from her genial rise,
When day-light fickens till it springs afresh,
Unrival'd reigns, the faireft lamp of night.
As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink,

With cherish'd gaze, the lambent lightnings fhoot
Across the sky; or horizontal dart

1695

In wondrous fhapes: by fearful murmuring crowds
Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs,

That more than deck, that animate the sky,

1700

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The

The life-infufing funs of other worlds;
Lo! from the dread immensity of space
Returning, with accelerated course,
The rufhing 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
Thofe fuperftitious horrors that enflave
The fond fequacious herd, to myftic faith
And blind amazement prone, th' enlighten'd few,
Whofe godlike minds philofophy exalts,
The glorious ftranger hail. They feel a joy
Divinely great; they in their powers exult,

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That wondrous force of thought, which mounting spurns
This dufky fpot, and measures all the sky;

While, from his far excurfion through the wilds
Of barren æther, faithful to his time,
They fee the blazing wonder rife anew,
In feeming terror clad, but kindly bent
To work the will of all-fustaining Love:
From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs,
Through 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 Philofopy, with thee,

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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 fummer-noon; and pure as that,

Whofe

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