Here Freedom reign'd without the leaft alloy;
Nor gollip's tale, nor ancient maiden's gall,
Nor faintly Spleen, durft murmur at our joy,
And with envenom'd tongue our pleasures pall.
For why? there was but one great rule for all ;
To wit, that each fhould work his own defire,
And eat, drink, ftudy, fleep, as it may fall.
Or melt the time in love, or wake the lyre,
And, carol what, unbid, the Mufes might infpire.
The rooms with collly tapestry were hung,
Where was inwoven many a gentle tale,
Such as of old the rural poets fung,
Or of Arcadian or ficilian vale;
Reclining lovers, in the lonely dale,
Pour'd forth at large the fweetly-tortur'd heart,
Or, fighing tender pashion, swell'd the gale,
And taught charm'd Echo to refound their smart,
While flocks, woods, ftreams, around, repofe and peace
Thofe pleas'd the most where, by a cunning hand,
Depainted was the Patriarchal age,
What time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee land,
And pallur'd on from verdant flage to stage,
Where fields and fountains fresh could best engage,
Toil was not then. Of nothing took they heed,
But with wild beats the fylvan war to wage,
And o'er vaft plains their herds and flocks to feed: Bleft fons of Nature they! true Golden Age indeed
Bade the gay bloom of vernal landscapes rife, sh
Or autumn's varied fhades imbrown the walls:
Now the black tempeft ftrikes the aftonifh'd eyes;
Now down the fleep the flashing torrent flies;
The trembling fun now plays o'er ocean blue,
And now rude mountains frown amid the fkies:
Whate'er Lorrain light-touch'd with foftening hue, }}
Or favage Rofa dafh'd, or learned Poullin drew.
Each found, too, here to languifhment inclin'd,
Lull'd the weak bofom, and induced ease:
Aerial mufic in the warbling wind,
At diflance rifing oft', by fmall degrees,
Nearer and nearer came,
It hung, and breath'd fuch foul-diffolving airs
As did, alas! with foft perdition please:
Entangled deep in its enchanting fnares,
The liftening heart forgot all duties and all cares.
A certain mufic, never known before,
Here lull'd the penfive melancholy mind;
Full eafily obtain'd. Behòves no more,
But fidelong, to the gently-waving wind,,
To lay the well-tun'd inftrument reclin'd,
From which, with airy-flying fingers light,.
Beyond each mortal touch the moft refin'd,
The god of Winds drew founds of deep delight,
Whence, with juft caufe, the harp of Æolus it hight..
Ah me! what hand can touch the ftring fo fine?
Who up the lofty diapafan roll
Such fweet, fuch fad, fuch folemn airs divine,
Then let them down again into the foul?
Now rifing love they fann'd; now pleafing dole
They breath'd, in tender mufings, thro' the heart;
And now a graver facred ftrain they ftole,
As when feraphic hands an hymn impart ;
Wild-warbling Nature all, above the reach of Art!!
Such the gay fplendour, the luxurious flate,
Of Caliphs old, who on the Tigris' fhore,
In mighty Bagdat, populous and great :
Held their bright court, where was of ladies flore:
And verfe, love, mufic, ftill the garland wore ::
When Sleep was coy, the bard, in waiting there,
Cheer'd the lone midnight with the Mufe's lore,
Compofing mufic bade his dreams be fair,
And mufic lent new gladnefs to the morning air.
Near the pavilions where we flept, ftill ran
Soft-tinkling freams, and dafhing waters fell,
And fobbing breezes figh'd, and oft' began
(So work'd the wizard) wintry ftorms to fwell,
As heaven and earth they would together mell;
At doors and windows, threat'ning feem'd to call
The demons of the tempeft, growling fell,
Yet the leaft entrance found they none at all, Whence (weeter grew our fleep, fecure in maffy hall.
And hither Morpheus sent his kindest dreams,
Raifing a world of gayer tinet and grace,
O'er which was fhadowy caft Elyfian gleams,
That play'd, in waving lights, from place to place,
And shed a roseat smile on Nature's face,
Not Titian's pencil e'er could fo array,
So fleece with clouds the pure ethereal space ;:
Ne could it e'er fuch melting forms difplay,
As loofe on flowery beds all languifhingly lay.
No, fair Illufions! artful Phantoms, no!
My Mufe will not attempt your Fairy-land:
She has no colours that like you can glow;
To catch your vivid fcenes too grofs her hand..
But fure it is, was ne'er a fubtler band
Than these fame guile ful angel-feeming (prights,
Who thus in dreams, voluptuous, foft, and bland,
Pour'd all th' Arabian heaven upon our nights,
And blefs'd them oft' befides with more refin'd delights..
XLVI.
They were in footh a moft enchanting train,
E'en feigning virtue; fkilful to unite
With evil good, and ftrew with pleasure pain;
But for those fiends whom blood and broils delight,
Who hurl the wretch, as if to hell outright,
Down, down black gulfs, where fullen waters fleep,
Or hold him clambering all the fearful night
On beetling cliffs, or pent in ruins deep,
They, till due time fhould ferve, were bid far hence to keep
Ye guardian Spirits! to whom man is dear.
From thefe foul demons fhield the midnight glooms:
Angels of Fancy and of Love! be near,
And o'er the blank of fleep diffuse a bloom :
Evoke the facred fhades of Greece and Rome,
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