Waft fighs alternate to each other's heart:
But not the concord of harmonious founds,
When the foft lute or pealing organ ftrikes
The well-attemper'd ear; nor the fweet breath
Of honeft love, when nymph and gentle fwain
Waft fighs alternate to cach other's heart,
So charm with ravishment the raptur'd fenfe,
As does the voice of well-deferv'd report
Strike with fweet melody the confcious foul.

A lucid mirror, in which Nature fecs
All her reflected features. Bacon there
Gives more than female beauty to a stone,
And Chatham's eloquence to marble lips.
Nor does the chifel occupy alone

The pow'rs of fculpture, but the ftyle as much;
Each province of her art her equal care.
With nice incifion of her guided feel
She ploughs a brazen field, and clothes a foil
So fterile with what charms foe'er the will,
The richeft fcenery, and the lovelieft forms.
Where finds Philofophy her eagle eye,
With which the gazes at yon burning disk
Undazzled, and detects and counts his fpets?
In London. Where her implements exact,
With which the calculates, computes, and feans,
All dittance, motion, magnitude; and now
Measures an atom, and now girds a world!
In London. Where has commerce fuch a man,
So rich, fo throng'd, so drain'd, and fo fupplied
As London, opulent, enlarg'd, and still
Increafing London? Babylon of old
Not more the glory of the earth, than the
A more accomplish'd world's chief glory now.

She has her praife. Now mark a spot or two
That fo much beauty would do well to purge;
And fhew this queen of cities, that fo fair
May yet be foul, fo witty yet not wife.
It is not feemly, nor of good report,
That fhe is flack in difcipline; more prompt
T'avenge than to prevent the breach of law.
That the is rigid in denouncing death
On petty robbers, and indulges life
And liberty, and oft-times honour too,
To peculators of the public gold.

That thieves at home must hang; but he that purs
Into his overgorg'd and bloated purfe
The wealth of Indian provinces, escapes.
Nor is it well, nor can it come to good,
That, through profane and infidel contempt
Of holy writ, he has prefum'd t'annul
And abrogate, as roundly as he may,
The total ordinance and will of God;
Advancing fathion to the post of truth,
And cent'ring all authority in modes
And cuftoms of her own, till Sabbath rites
Have dwindled into unrespected forms,
And knees and haffocks are well-nigh divorce.

God made the country, and man made the town.
What wonder then that health and virtue, gifts
That can alone make fweet the bitter draught
That life holds out to all, fhould most abound,
And leaft be threaten'd, in the fields and groves!
Poffefs ye therefore, ye who, borne about
In chariots and fedans, know no fatigue
But that of idlenefs, and tafte no fcenes
But fuch as art contrives, poffefs ye ftill
Your element; there only ye can thine,
There only minds like yours can do no harm.
Our groves were planted to confole at ucon
The penfive wand'rer in their fhades. At eve
The moon-beam, fliding foftly in between
The fleeping leaves, is all the light they wish;

There, touch'd by Reynolds, a dull blank becomes Birds warbling, all the mufic. We can fpare

The

On ev'ry obje&t thro' the giddy world
Which fashion to the dazzled eye prefents,
Freth is the glofs of newnefs; look, dear youth,
O look, but not admire: O let not thefe
Rafe from thy noble heart the fair records
Which youth and education planted there :
Let not affection's full impetuous tide,
Which riots in thy generous breast, be check'd
By felfifh cares; nor let the idle jeers
Of laughing fools make thee forget thy felf.
When didit thou hear a tender tale of woe,
And feel thy heart at reft? Have I not feen
In thy fwoln eye the tear of fympathy,
The milk of human kindness When didit thou
With envy rankling hear a rival prais'd
When didst thou flight the wretched? when de-
The modeft humble fuit of poverty? [fpife
Thefe virtues fiill be thine; nor ever learn
To look with cold eye on the charities
Of brother, or of parents; think on thofe
Whofe anxious care thro' childhood's flippery path
Suftain'd thy feeble fteps; whofe with
every
Is wafted ftill to thee; remember thofe
Even in thy heart while memory holds her feat.
And oft as to thy mind thou shalt recall
The fweet companions of thy earliest years,
Mates of thy fport, and rivals in the ftrife
Of every generous art, remember me.

§ 132. Great Cities, and London in particular, BUT

allowed their due Praife. CowPER.

tho' true worth and virtue in the mild
And genial foil of cultivated life
Thrive moft, and may perhaps thrive only there,
Yet not in cities oft; in proud, and gay,
And gain-devoted cities. Thither flow,
As to a common and moft noifome fewer,
The dregs and feculence of ev'ry land.
In cities, foul example on most minds
Begets its likenefs. Rank abundance breeds
In grofs and pamper'd cities floth and luft,
And wantonnefs, and gluttonous excels.
In cities, vice is hidden with most ease,
Or feen with leaft reproach; and virtue, taught
By frequent lapfe, can hope no triumph there
Beyond th' achievement of fuccefsful flight.
I do confefs them nurs'ries of the arts,
In which they flourish moft; where, in the beams
Of warm encouragement, and in the eve
Of public note, they reach their perfect fize.
Such London is, by tafte and wealth proclaim'd
The fairest capital of all the world,
By riot and incontinence the worst.

ftrung

Grew tremulous, and mov'd derifion more
Than rev'rence in perverse rebellious youth.
So colleges and halls neglected much
Their good old friend; and Difcipline at length,
O'erlook'd and unemploy'd, fell fick and died.
Then Study languifh'd, Emulation flept,
And Virtue fled. The fchools became a scene
Of folemn farce, where Ignorance in ftilts,
His cap well lin'd with logic not his own,
With parrot tongue perform'd the fcholar's part,
Proceeding foon a graduated Dunce.
Then Compromife had place, and Scrutiny
Became ftone-blind, Precedence went in truck,
And he was competent whofe purfe was fo.
A diffolution of all bonds enfued:
The curbs invented for the mulish mouth
Of headstrong youth were broken; bars and bolts
Grew rufty by difufe; and maffy gates
Forgot their office, op'ning with a touch;

Of ufurpation, and to no man's wrong,
Appropriates nature as his Father's work,
And has a richer ufe of yours than you.
He is indeed a freeman; free by birth
Of no mean city, plana'd or ere the hills
Were built, the fountains open'd, or the fea
With all his roaring multitude of waves.
His freedom is the fame in ev'ry state;
And no condition of this changeful life,
So manifold in cares, whofe ev'ry day
Brings its own evil with it, makes it lefs:
For he has wings that neither fickness, pain,
Nor penury, can cripple or coaline;

No nook fo narrow but he spreads them there
With eafe, and is at large. Th' oppreffor holds
His body bound, but knows not what a range
His fpirit takes, unconfcious of a chain;
And that to bind him is a vain attempt,
Whom God delights in, and in whom he dwells."
Acquaint thyfelf with God, if thou wouldst talte
His works. Admitted once to his embrace,
Thou shalt perceive that thou waft blind before:
Thine eye fhall be inftructed; and thine heart,
Made pure, fhall relifh with divine delight,
Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.
Brutes graze the mountain-top with faces prone,
And eyes intent upon the fcanty herb
It yields them; or, recumbent on its brow,
Ruminate, heedlefs of the scene outspread
Beneath, beyond, and ftretching far away
From inland regions to the distant main.
Man views it and admires, but refts content
With what he views. The landfcape has his praife,
But not its Author. Unconcern'd who form'd
The paradife he fees, he finds it fuch;
And, fuch well-pleas'd to find it, afks no more.
Not fo the mind that has been touch'd from Heaven,
And in the fchool of facred wildom taught
To read his wonders, in whose thought the world,
Fair as it is, exifted ere it was:
Not for its own fake merely, but for his
Much more who fathion'd it, he gives it praife;
Praife that, from earth refulting, as it ought,
To earth's acknowledg'd Sovereign, finds at once
Its only juft proprietor in Him.
The foul that fees him, or receives fublim'd
New faculties, or learns at least t' employ
More worthily the pow'rs the own'd before,
Difcerns in all things, what with ftupid gaze
Of ignorance till then the overlook'd,
A ray of heavenly light gilding all forms
Terreftrial, in the vaft and the minute,
The unambiguous footsteps of the God
Who gives its luftre to an infect's wing,
And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds.
Much converfant with Heaven, fhe often holds
With thole fait minifters of light to man,
That fill the fkies nightly with lent pomp,
Sweet conference; enquiies what trains were they
With which heaver rang, when ev'ry star, in nafte
To gratulate the new-created earth,
Sent forth a voice, an i all the fons of God
Shouted for - Tell me, ye fhining hofts,
"That navigate a fea that knows no ftorms,

"Beneath a vault unfullied with a cloud,
"If from your elevation, whence ye view
Diftinétly fcenes invifible to man,

And fyftems of whofe birth no tidings yet
Have reach'd this nether world, ye ipy a race
Favour'd as ours, tranfgreffors from the womb,
"And hating to à grave, yet dooin'd to rife,
"And to poffefs a brighter heaven than yours?
"As one who, long detain'd on foreign thures,
Pants to return, and when he fees atar [rocks
His country's weather-bleach'd and batter'd
"From the green wave emerging, darts an eye
"Radiant with joy towards the happy land;,
"So I with aniinated hopes behold,

66

And many an aching with, your beamy fires, "That fhew like beacons in the blue abyfs, “Ordain'd to guide th' embodied spirit home "From toilfome life to never-ending reft.

Love kindles as I gaze. I feel defires
That give affurance of their own fuccefs,
"And that infus'd from heaven mustthither tend."
So reads he nature, whom the lamp of truth
Illuminates; thy lamp, myfterious word!
Which whofo fecs no longer wanders loft,
With intellects bemaz'd, in end lefs doubt,
But runs the road of wifdom. Thou haft built,
With means that were not till by thee employd,
Worlds that had never been, hadit thou in ftrength
Been lefs, or lefs benevolent than strong.
They are thy witneffes, who speak thy pow'r
And goodness infinite, but fpeak in cars
That hear not, or receive not their report.
In vain thy creatures teftify of thee
Till thou proclaim thyfelf. Theirs is indeed
A teaching voice, but 'tis the praise of thine,
That whom it teaches it makes prompt to learn,
And with the boon gives talents for its ute.
Till thou art heard, imaginations vain
Poffefs the heart, and fables falfe as hell,
Yet deem'd oracular, lure down to death
The uninform'd and heediefs fons of men.
We give to chance, blind chance, oui felves as blind,
The glory of thy work, which yet appears
Perfect and unimpeachable of blame,
Challenging human fcrutiny, and prov'd
Then fkilful moft when moft feverely judg'd.
But chance is not, or is not where thou reignft:
Thy providence forbids that fickle pow'r
(If pow'r the be that works but to confound)
To mix her wild vagaries with thy laws.
Yet thus we dote, refufing while we can
Inftruction, and inventing to ourfelves
Gods fuch as guilt makes welcome, Gods that sleep,
O difregard our follies, or that fit
Amus'd fpectators of this bustling stage.
Thee we reject, unable to abide
Thy purity, till pure as thou art pure,
Made fuch by thee, we love thee for that caufe
For which we fhunn'd and hated thee before.
Then we are free: then liberty like day
Breaks on the foul, and by a flash from Heaven
Fires all the faculties with glorious joy.

A voice is heard that mortal ears hear not
Fill thou haft touch'd them; 'tis the voice of fong,
A loud

A loud Hofanna fent from all thy works,
Which he that hears it with a thout repeats,
And adds his rapture to the gen'ral praife.
In that bleft moment, Nature throwing wide
Her veil opake, difclofes with a fmile
The Author of her beauties, who, retir'd
Behind his own creation, works unfeen
By the impure, and hears his pow'r denied.
Thou art the fource and centre of all minds,
Their only point of reft, Eternal Word!
From thee departing, they are loft, and rove
At random, without honour, hope, or peace.
From thee is all that fooths the life of man,
His high endeavour, and his glad fuccefs,
His ftrength to fuffer, and his will to ferve.
But, O thou bounteous Giver of all good,
Thou art of all thy gifts thyfelf the crown!
Give what thou canft, without thee we are poor;
And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away.

|Form'd for his ufe, and ready at his will?
Go, drefs thine eyes with eye-falve; afk of him,
Or afk of whomfoever he has taught,
And learn, tho' late, the genuine caufe of all.

COWPER.

$135. That Philofophy which tops at Secondary
Cafes reproved.
HAPPY the man who fees a God employ'd
In all the good and ill that chequer life!
Refolving all events, with their effects
And manifold refults, into the will
And arbitration wife of the Supreme.
Did not his eye rule all things, and intend
The leaft of our concerns (fince from the leaft
The greatest oft originate); could chance
Find place in his dominion, or difpofe
One lawlefs particle to thwart his plan;
Then God might be furpris'd, and unforeseen
Contingence might alarm him, and disturb
The finooth and equal courfe of his affairs.
This truth, philofophy, though eagle-eyed
In nature's tendencies, oft overlooks;
And, having found his inftrument, forgets
Or difregards, or, more prefumptuous still,
Denies the pow'r that wields it. God proclaims
His hot difplafure against foolish men
That live an atheift lite; involves the heaven
In tempefts; quits his grafp upon the winds,
And gives them all their fury; bids a plague
Kindle a fiery bile upon the fkin,

And putrefy the breath of blooming health.
He calls for famine; and the meagre fiend
Blows mildew from between his thrivell'ď lips,
And taints the golden ear: he springs his mines,

And defolates a nation at a blast.
Forth fteps the fpruce philofopher, and tells
Of homogeneal and difcordant (prings
And principles; of caules, how they work
By neceffary laws their fure effects,
Of action and re-action. He has found
The fource of the difeafe that Nature feels,
And bids the world take heart, and banith
Thou fool! will thy difcovery of the caufe
Sufpend th' effect or heal it? Has not God
Still wrought by means fince first he made the world?
And did he not of old employ his means
To drown it: What is his creation lefs
Than a capacious refervoir of means

§ 136. Rural Sounds as well as Sights delightful. COWPER.

NOR rural fights alone, but rural founds
Exhilarate the fpirit, and reftore
The tone of languid Nature. Mighty winds,
That fweep the ikirt of fome far-fpreading wood
Of antient growth, make mufic not unlike
The dath of ocean on his winding fhore,
And Jull the fpirit while they fill the mind,.
Unnumber'd branches waving in the blaft,
And all their leaves faft flutt ring all at once.
Nor lefs compofure waits upon the roar
Of diftant floods, or on the fofter voice
Of neighb'ring fountain, or of rills that flip
Through the cleft rock, and chiming as they fall
Upon loofe pebbles, lofe themfelves at length
In matted grafs, that with a livelier green
Betrays the fecret of their filent courfe.
Nature inanimate employs fweet founds,
But animated nature fweeter ftill,
To footh and fatisfy the human car.
Ten thoufand warblers cheer the day, and one
The live-long night: nor thefe alone, whofe notes
Nice-finger'd art muft emulate in vain,
But cawing rooks, and kites that fwim fublime
In ftill repeated circles, fereaming loud,
The jay, the pye, and even the boding owl
That hails the rifing moon, have charms for me.
Sounds inharmonious in themfelves and harsh,
Yet heard in fcenes where peace for ever reigns,
And only there, pleafe highly for their fake.

16

137. The Wearifomeness of what is commonly
COWPER.
called a Life of Pleasure.
THE fpleen is feldom felt where Flora reigns;
The low'ring eye, the petulance, the flown,
And fullen fadnefs, that o'erfhade, diftort,
And mar the face of beauty, when no caufe
For fuch immeafurable woe appears;
Thele Flora banishes, and gives the fair
Sweet fmiles and bloom, lefs tranfient than her own.
It is the conftant revolution, ftale
And taftelefs, of the fame repeated joys,
That palls and fatiates, and makes languid life
A pedlar's pack, that bows the bearer down.
Health fuffers, and the fpirits ebb; the heart
Recoils from its own choice-at the full feaft
is famith'd-finds no mufic in the long,
No fmartnefs in the jeft, and wonders why.
Yet thoufands fill defire to journey on,
fear.Though halt and weary of the path they tread.
The paralytic, who can hold her cards,
But cannot play them, borrows a friend's hand
To deal and fhuffle, to divide and fort
Her mingled fuits and fequences, and fits
Spectatrels both and speЯacle, a fad
And filent cypher, while her proxy plays.

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