Save that aloft the subtle sunbeams shine

On wither'd briars that o'er the crags recline,
Sole light admitted here, a small cascade,

Illumes with sparkling foam the impervious shade;
Beyond, along the vista of the brook,

Where antique roots its bustling course o'erlook,
The eye reposes on a secret* bridge

Half grey, half shagg'd with ivy to its ridge;
Whence hangs, in the cool shade, the listless swain
Lingering behind his disappearing wain.

-Did Sabine grace adorn my living line,

Bandusia's praise, wild Stream, should yield to thine!
Never shall ruthless minister of Death

'Mid thy soft glooms the glittering steel unsheath;
No goblets shall, for thee, be crown'd with flowers,
No kid with piteous outcry thrill thy bowers;
The mystic shapes that by thy margin rove
A more benignant sacrifice approve;

A Mind, that, in a calm angelic mood

Of happy wisdom, meditating good,

*The reader who has made the tour of this country, will recognize, in this description, the features which characterize the lower waterfall in the grounds of Rydale.

Beholds, of all from her high powers required, Much done, and much design'd, and more desired,Harmonious thoughts, a soul by truth refined, Entire affection for all human kind.

- Sweet rill, farewell! To-morrow's noon again Shall hide me, wooing long thy wildwood strain; But now the sun has gain'd his western road, And eve's mild hour invites my steps abroad.

While, near the midway cliff, the silver'd kite In many a whistling circle wheels her flight; Slant watery lights, from parting clouds, apace Travel along the precipice's base;

Cheering its naked waste of scatter'd stone,

By lichens grey, and scanty moss, o'ergrown; Where scarce the foxglove peeps, or thistle's beard: And desert stone-chat, all day long, is heard.

How pleasant, as the sun declines, to view The spacious landscape change in form and hue! Here, vanish, as in mist, before a flood Of bright obscurity, hill, lawn, and wood;

There, objects, by the searching beams betray'd,
Come forth, and here retire in purple shade;
Even the white stems of birch, the cottage white,
Soften their glare before the mellow light;

The skiffs, at anchor where with umbrage wide
Yon chesnuts half the latticed boat-house hide,
Shed from their sides, that face the sun's slant beam,
Strong flakes of radiance on the tremulous stream:
Raised by yon travelling flock, a dusty cloud

Mounts from the road, and spreads its moving shroud;
The shepherd, all involved in wreaths of fire,
Now shows a shadowy speck, and now is lost entirc.

Into a gradual calm the zephyrs sink, A blue rim borders all the lake's still brink: And now, on every side, the surface breaks Into blue spots, and slowly-lengthening streaks; Here, plots of sparkling water tremble bright With thousand thousand twinkling points of light; There, waves that, hardly weltering, die away, Tip their smooth ridges with a softer ray, And now the universal tides repose,

And, brightly blue, the burnish'd mirror glows,

Save where, along the shady western marge, Coasts, with industrious oar, the charcoal barge; The sails are dropp'd, the poplar's foliage sleeps, And insects clothe, like dust, the glassy deeps.

Their pannier'd train a groupe of potters goad, Winding from side to side up the steep road; The peasant, from yon cliff of fearful edge, Shot, down the headlong path darts with his sledge; Bright beams the lonely mountain horse illume, Feeding 'mid purple heath, "* green rings," and broom; While the sharp slope the slacken'd team confounds, + Downward the pond'rous timber-wain resounds; In foamy breaks the rill, with merry song, Dash'd o'er the rough rock, lightly leaps along; From lonesome chapel at the mountain's feet, Three humble bells their rustic chime repeat; Sounds from the water-side the hammer'd boat; And blasted quarry thunders, heard remote!

*Vivid rings of green." GREENWOOD's Poem on Shooting,

"Down the rough slope the pond'rous waggon rings."

BEATTIE.

Even here, amid the sweep of endless woods,
Blue pomp of lakes, high cliffs, and falling floods,
Not undelightful are the simplest charms,
Found by the verdant door of mountain farms.

*Sweetly ferocious, round his native walks,

Pride of his sister-wives, the monarch stalks ;
Spur-clad his nervous feet, and firm his tread;
A crest of purple tops his warrior head.

Bright sparks his black and haggard eye-ball hurls
Afar, his tail he closes and unfurls ;

Whose state, like pine-trees, waving to and fro,
Droops, and o'er-canopies his regal brow;
On tiptoe rear'd, he strains his clarion throat,
Threaten'd by faintly-answering farms remote:
Again with his shrill voice the mountain rings,
While, flapp'd with conscious pride, resound his wings!

Bright'ning the cliffs between, where sombrous pine And yew-trees o'er the silver rocks recline;

*Dolcemente feroce." TASSO. In this description of the cock, I remembered a spirited one of the same animal in the l'Agriculture ou Les Georgiques Françoises, of M. Rossuet.