So hov'ring o'er the human scene
Gay Pleasure sports with brow ferene;
By Fancy beam'd, the glancing ray
Shoots, flutters, gleams, and fleets away :
Unfettled, dubious, restless, blind,
Floats all the busy bustling mind;
While Memory's unftain'd leaves retain
No trace from all the ideal train.
But fee the landfcape op'ning fair
Invites to breathe the purer air!
Oh, when the cowflip-fcented gale
Shakes the light dew-drop o'er the dale,
When on her amber-dropping bed
Loofe eafe reclines her downy head;
How bleft! by fairy-haunted fiream
To melt in wild ecftatic dream;
Die to the pictur'd wish, or hear
(Breath'd foft on Fancy's trembling ear)
Such lays, by angel-harps refin'd,
As half-unchain the flutt'ring mind,
When on life's edge it eyes the shore,
And all its pinions ftretch to foar.
Lo! where the fun's broad orb withdrawn
Skirts with pale gold the dusky lawn;
While, led by ev'ry gentler pow'r,
Steals the flow, folemn, mufing hour.
Now from the green hill's purple brow
Let me mark the scene below;
Where feebly glancing through the gloom
Yon myrtle shades the filent tomb:
Nor far, beneath the ev'ning beam
The dark lake rolls his azure ftream,
Whofe breaft the fwan's white plumes divide,
Slow-failing o'er the floating tide.
Groves, Ineads, and fpires, and forefts bare,
Shoot glimmering through the misty air;
Dim as the vifion pictur'd bow'r
That gilds the faint's expiring hour,
When, rapt to ecstacy, his eye
Looks through the blue ethereal sky.
All heav'n unfolding to his fight!
Gay forms that fwim in floods of light!
The fun-pav'd floor, the balmy clime,
The ruby-beaming dome fublime,
The tow'rs in glitt'ring pomp difplay'd--
The bright scene hovers o'er his bed-
He ftarts-but from his eager gaze
Black clouds obfcure the lefs'ning rays;
On mem❜ry fill the scene is wrought,
And lives in Fancy's featur'd thought.
On the airy mount reclin'd,
What wishes footh the mufing mind!
How foft the velvet lap of fpring!
How sweet the Zephyr's violet wing!
Goddess of the plaintive fong,
That leads the melting heart along;
Oh, bid thy voice of genial pow'r,
Reach Contemplation's lonely bow'r;
And call the fage with tranced fight
To climb the mountain's fleepy height;
To wing the kindling with, or fpread
O'er Thought's pale cheek enliv'ning red;
Come, hoary Pow'r, with ferious eye,
Whofe thought explores yon diftant sky;
Now when the bufy world is ftill,
Nor paffion tempts the wav'ring will,
When sweeter hopes each pow'r controul,
And quiet whispers to the foul,
Now fweep from life th' illufive train
That dance in Folly's dizzy brain :
Be Reason's fimple draught pourtray'd,
Where blends alternate light and shade;
Bid dimpled Mirth, with Thought belied,
Sport on the bubble's glitt'ring fide;
Bid Hope pursue the diftant boom,
And Phrenzy watch the fading moon;
Paint Superftition's starting eye,
And Wit that leers with gefture fly;
Let Cenfure whet her venom'd dart,
And green-ey'd Envy gnaw the heart;
Let Pleasure lie on flow'rs reclin'd,
While Anguish aims her fhaft behind.
Hail, Sire fublime! whofe hallow'd cave Howls to the hoarfe deep's dashing wave; Thee Solitude to Phoebus bore,
Far on the lone deferted shore,
Where Orellano's rushing tide
Roars on the rock's projected fide.
Hence bursting o'er thy ripen'd mind,
Beams all the father's thought refiu'd:
Hence oft, in filent vales unfeen,
Thy footsteps print the fairy green;
Or thy foul melts to strains of woe,
That from the willow's quiv'ring bough
Sweet warbling breathe :-the zephyrs round
O'er Dee's fmooth current waft the found,
When foft on bending oziers laid
The broad fun trembling through the bed;
All wild thy heav'n-rapt fancy ftrays,
Led through th' foul-diffolving maze;
Till Slumber, downy-pinion'd, near
Plants her strong fetlocks on thy ear;
The foul unfetter'd burfts away,
And bafks enlarg'd in beamy day.
"TWAS when the flow declining ray
Had ting'd the cloud with ev'ning gold;
No warbler pour'd the melting lay,
No found difturb'd the fleeping fold.
When by a murmuring rill reclin❜d,
Sat wrapt in thought a wand'ring swain ;
Calm Peace compos'd his musing mind;
And thus he rais'd the flowing strain :
"Hail, Innocence! celeftial maid!.
"What joys thy blufhing charms reveal!
"Sweet as the arbor's cooling fhade,
"And milder than the vernal gale.
"On thee attends a radiant choir,
"Soft-fmiling Peace, and downy Reft;
"With Love, that prompts the warbling lyre;
"And Hope, that foothes the throbbing breast,
O fent from heav'n to haunt the grove, "Where fquinting Envy ne'er can come ! "Nor pines the cheek with luckless love, "Nor anguish chills the living bloom.
"But fpotlefs beauty, rob'd in white,
"Sits on yonder mofs-grown hill reclin'd;
"Serene as heaven's unfully'd light,
"And pure as Delia's gentle mind.
"Grant, heavenly pow'r thy peaceful fway "May ftill my ruder thoughts controul; "Thy hand to point my dubious way, "Thy voice to foothe the melting foul.
"Far in the fhady fweet retreat
"Let Thought beguile the ling'ring hour;
"Let Quiet court the moffy feat,
"And twining olives form the bow'r.
"Let dove-ey'd Peace her wreath bestow,
"And oft fit liftening in the dale,
"While Night's fweet warbler from the bough
"Tells to the grove her plaintive tale.
"Soft as in Delia's fnowy breaft,
"Let each confenting paffion move;
"Let angels watch its filent reft,
"And all its blissful beams be Love!"
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