Into the worst of deserts sudden turned
The cheerful haunt of men: unless escaped
From the doomed house, where matchless horror
Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch,
With frenzy wild, breaks loose; and loud to Heaven
Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns,
Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door,
Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge
Fearing to turn, abhors society:
Dependants, friends, relations, Love himself,
Savage by woe, forget the tender tie,
The sweet engagement of the feeling heart.
But vain their selfish care: the circling sky,
The wide enlivening air, is full of fate;
And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs
They fall, unblest, untended, and unmourned.
Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair
Extends her raven wing: while to complete
The scene of desolation, stretched around,
The grim guards stand, denying all retreat,
And give the flying wretch a better death.
GENERAL EFFECTS OF HEAT; DROUGHT; VOLCANOES;
EARTHQUAKES.
Much yet remains unsung: the rage intense
Of brazen-vaulted skies, of iron fields,
Where drought and famine starve the blasted year:
Fired by the torch of noon to ten-fold rage,
The infuriate hill that shoots the pillared flame,
And, roused within the subterranean world,
The expanding earthquake, that resistless shakes
Aspiring cities from their solid base,
And buries mountains in the flaming gulf.
But 't is enough; return, my vagrant Muse:
A nearer scene of horror calls thee home.
THE TEMPEST; MINERAL EXHALATIONS; WARRING CLOUDS.
Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove,
Unusual darkness broods, and, growing, gains
The full possession of the sky, surcharged
With wrathful vapor, from the secret beds,
Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn.
Thence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spume
Of fat bitumen, steaming on the day,
With various-tinctured trains of latent flame,
Pollute the sky, and in yon baneful cloud
A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate,
Ferment; till, by the touch ethereal roused,
The dash of clouds, or irritating war
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below,
They furious spring.
THE AWFUL CALM THAT PRECEDES A TEMPEST; THE BIRDS; THE RAVEN CATTLE; THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
Dread through the dun expanse ; save the dull sound
That from the mountain, previous to the storm,
Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood,
And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath.
Prone, to the lowest vale, the aërial tribes
Descend the tempest-loving raven scarce
Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze
The cattle stand, and on the scowling heavens
Cast a deploring eye; by man forsook,
Who to the crowded cottage hies him fast,
Or seeks the shelter of the downward cave.
'Tis listening fear, and dumb amazement all :
When to the startled eye the sudden glance
Appears far south, eruptive through the cloud;
And following slower, in explosion vast,
The Thunder raises his tremendous voice.
At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of Heaven,
The tempest growls; but as it nearer comes,
And rolls its awful burden on the wind,
The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more
The noise astounds: till over head a sheet
Of livid flame discloses wide; then shuts,
And opens wider; shuts and opens still
Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze.
Follows the loosened aggravated roar,
Enlarging, deepening, mingling; peal on peal
Crushed horrible, convulsing heaven and earth.
A DELUGE OF HAIL AND RAIN; LIGHTNING; BLASTED TREES
AND CATTLE; SHIVERED TOWER; CAERNARVON; PESMAN-
MAUR; SNOWDOUN; CHEVIOT HILLS; THE SCOTCH ISLES.
Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail,
Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds
Pour a whole flood; and yet, its flame unquenched,
Th' inconquerable lightning struggles through,
Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls,
And fires the mountains with redoubled rage.
Black from the stroke, above, the smouldering pine
Stands a sad, shattered trunk; and, stretched below,
A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie:
Here the soft flocks, with that same harmless look
They wore alive, and ruminating still
In Fancy's eye; and there the frowning bull,
And ox half-raised. Struck on the castled cliff,
The venerable tower and spiry fane
Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods
Start at the flash, and from their deep recess,
Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates shake.
Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud
The repercussive roar with mighty crash,
Into the flashing deep from the rude rocks
Of Penmanmaur heaped hideous to the sky,
Tumble the smitten cliffs and Snowden's peak,
Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load.
Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze,
And Thule bellows through her utmost isles.
CELADON AND AMELIA; THEIR STORY.
Guilt hears appalled, with deeply-troubled And yet not always on the guilty head [thought; Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon And his Amelia were a matchless pair; With equal virtue formed, and equal grace, The same, distinguished by their sex alone: Hers, the mild lustre of the blooming morn, And his, the radiance of the risen day.
MUTUAL, UNSELFISH AFFECTION.
They loved but such their guileless passion was As in the dawn of time informed the heart Of innocence and undissembling truth. "Twas friendship, heightened by the mutual wish ; The enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow, Beamed from the mutual eye. Devoting all To love, each was to each a dearer self; Supremely happy in the awakened power Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, Still in harmonious intercourse they lived The rural day, and talked the flowing heart, Or sighed and looked unutterable things.
THE VIRTUOUS PAIR ARE CAUGHT IN THE TEMPEST.- PRESENTIMENT.
So passed their life, a clear united stream,
By care unruffled; till, in evil hour,
The tempest caught them on the tender walk,
Heedless how far and where its mazes strayed,
While, with each other blest, creative love
Still bade eternal Eden smile around.
Presaging instant fate, her bosom heaved
Unwonted sighs, and, stealing oft a look
Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye
Fell tearful, wetting her disordered cheek.
In vain assuring love, and confidence
In Heaven, repressed her fear; it grew, and shook
Her frame near dissolution.
TRUST IN THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. AMELIA STRUCK DEAD
The unequal conflict, and, as angels look
On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed,
With love illumined high. Fear not,' he said,
'Sweet innocence! thou stranger to offence,
And inward storm! He, who yon skies involves
In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee
With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft
That wastes at midnight, or the undreaded hour
Of noon, flies harmless; and that very voice,
Which thunders terror through the guilty heart,
With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to thine.
"T is safety to be near thee sure, and thus
To clasp perfection!' From his void embrace
(Mysterious Heaven !) that moment, to the ground,
A blackened corse, was struck the beauteous maid.
But who can paint the lover, as he stood,
Pierced by severe amazement, hating life,
Speechless, and fixed in all the death of woe!
So (faint resemblance !) on the marble tomb,
The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands,
Forever silent, and forever sad.
CLEARING UP OF THE SKY; SUNSHINE AFTER A SHOWER. — THE GRATEFUL VOICES OF NATURE REAWAKENED, HUMILITY, GRATITUDE, AND ADORATION.
As from the face of Heaven the shattered clouds Tumultuous rove, the interminable sky Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands
A purer azure. Through the lightened air
A higher lustre and a clearer calm,
Diffusive, tremble; while, as if in sign
Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy,
Set off abundant by the yellow ray,
Invests the fields, and Nature smiles revived.
'Tis beauty all, and grateful song around,
Joined to the low of kine, and numerous bleat
Of flocks thick-nibbling through the clovered vale;
And shall the hymn be marred by thankless man,
Most favored! who with voice articulate
Should lead the chorus of this lower world;
Shall he, so soon forgetful of the Hand
That hushed the thunder, and serenes the sky,
Extinguished feel that spark the tempest waked,
That sense of powers exceeding far his own,
Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears?
Cheered by the milder beam, the sprightly youth
Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth
A sandy bottom shows. A while he stands
Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid
To meditate the blue profound below;
Then plunges headlong down the circling flood.
His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek
Instant emerge; and through the obedient wave,
At each short breathing by his lip repelled,
With arms and legs according well, he makes,
As humor leads, an easy-winding path;
While, from his polished sides, a dewy light
Effuses on the pleased spectators round.
THE ADVANTAGES OF BATHING.
This is the purest exercise of health, The kind refresher of the summer-heats; Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, Would I, weak-shivering, linger on the brink. Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserved, By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs Knit into force; and the same Roman arm, That rose victorious o'er the conquered earth, First learned, while tender, to subdue the wave. E'en from the body's purity the mind Receives a secret, sympathetic aid.
STORY OF MUSIDORA AND DAMON. THE LOVER SIGHING IN THE
HAZEL COPSE. DAMON'S GOOD FORTUNE.
Close in the covert of a hazel copse,
Where, winded into pleasing solitudes,
Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat,
Pensive, and pierced with love's delightful pangs.
There to the stream that down the distant rocks
Hoarse murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that
Among the bending willows, falsely he [played
Of Musidora's cruelty complained.
She felt his flame; but deep within her breast,
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride,
The soft return concealed, save when it stole
In sidelong glances from her downcast eye,
Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs.
Touched by the scene, no stranger to his vows,
He framed a melting lay to try her heart;
And, if an infant passion struggled there,
To call that passion forth. Thrice happy swain !
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine.
For, lo conducted by the laughing Loves,
This cool retreat his Musidora sought:
Warm in her cheek the sultry season glowed;
And, robed in loose array, she came to bathe
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream.
What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost,
And dubious flutterings, he a while remained;
A pure ingenuous elegance of soul,
A delicate refinement, known to few,
Perplexed his breast, and urged him to retire :
But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say,
Say, ye severest, what would you have done?
Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest
Arcadian stream, with timid eye around
The banks surveying, stripped her beauteous limbs,
To taste the lucid coolness of the flood.
Ah, then! not Paris on the piny top
Of Ida panted stronger, when aside
The rival goddesses the veil divine
Cast unconfined, and gave him all their charms,
Than, Damon, thou; as from the snowy leg,
And slender foot, the inverted silk she drew;
As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone;
And, through the parting robe, the alternate breast,
With youth wild throbbing, on thy lawless gaze
In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth,
How durst thou risk the soul-distracting view,
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white,
Harmonious swelled by Nature's finest hand,
In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn;
And fair-exposed she stood, shrunk from herself,
With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze
Alarmed, and starting like the fearful fawn?
Then to the flood she rushed; the parted flood
Its lovely guest with closing waves received;
And every beauty softening, every grace
Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed:
As shines the lily through the crystal mild;
Or as the rose amid the morning dew,
Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows.
While thus she wantoned, now beneath the wave
But ill concealed, and now with streaming locks,
That half embraced her in a humid veil,
Rising again, the latent Damon drew
Such maddening draughts of beauty to the soul,
As for a while o'erwhelmed his raptured thought
With luxury too daring.
THE CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION. DAMON'S MESSAGE;
MUSIDORA'S REPLY. THE MEDICEAN VENUS.
Checked, at last,
By love's respectful modesty, he deemed
The theft profane, if aught profane to love
Can e'er be deemed; and, struggling from the shade,
With headlong hurry fled: but first these lines,
Traced by his ready pencil, on the bank
With trembling hand he threw. Bathe on, my fair,
Yet unbeheld, save by the sacred eye
Of faithful love: I go to guard thy haunt,
To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot,
And each licentious eye.' With wild surprise,
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense,
A stupid moment motionless she stood:
So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes
Which blissful Eden knew not; and, arrayed
In careless haste, the alarming paper snatched.
But, when her Damon's well-known hand she saw,
Her terrors vanished, and a softer train
Of mixed emotions, hard to be described,
Her sudden bosom seized: shame void of guilt,
The charming blush of innocence, esteem,
And admiration of her lover's flame,
By modesty exalted: e'en a sense
Of self-approving beauty stole across
Her busy thought. At length a tender calm
Hushed by degrees the tumult of her soul;
And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream
Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen
Of rural lovers this confession carved,
Which soon her Damon kissed with weeping joy :
'Dear youth! sole judge of what these verses By fortune too much favored, but by love, [mean, Alas! not favored less, be still as now Discreet the time may come you need not fly.'
SUMMER AFTERNOON. THE CLOUDS. RIPENING FRUITS. —
The sun has lost his rage his downward orb Shoots nothing now but animating warmth, And vital lustre; that, with various ray, Lights up
the clouds, those beauteous robes of heaven Incessant rolled into romantic shapes, The dream of waking fancy. Broad below, Covered with ripening fruits, and swelling fast Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour Of walking comes: for him who lonely loves To seek the distant hills, and there converse With Nature; there to harmonize his heart, And in pathetic song to breathe around The harmony to others.
CHARMS OF A CIRCLE OF CULTIVATED AND REFINED FRIENDS.
Attuned to happy unison of soul;
To whose exalting eye a fairer world,
Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse,
Displays its charms; whose minds are richly fraught
With philosophic stores, superior light;
And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns
Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance;
1 The Venus called of the Medici,' at Florence.
Now called abroad enjoy the falling day:
Now to the verdant Portico of woods,
To Nature's vast Lyceum forth they walk;
By that kind School where no proud master reigns, The full free converse of the friendly heart, Improving and improved.
RAMBLE OF LOVERS AT EVE. AMANDA.
Now from the world, Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, And pour their souls in transport, which the Sire Of love approving hears, and calls it good. Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our course? The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we choose? All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind Along the streams? or walk the smiling mead? Or court the forest-glades? or wander wild Among the waving harvests? or ascend, While radiant Summer opens all its pride, Thy hill, delightful Shene? 1
RICHMOND HILL LANDSCAPE. LONDON. HIGHGATE. — HAMPSTEAD. HARROW.—WINDSOR. THE THAMES. HAM. GAY — QUEENSBERRY - CORNBURY. — TWICKENHAM. POPE. HAMPTON. CLERMONT.ESHER. THE RIVER MOLE. — PELHAM. VALLEY OF THE THAMES.
The boundless landscape: now the raptured eye,
Exulting, swift to huge Augusta send,
Now to the Sister Hills 2 that skirt her plain;
To lofty Harrow now, and now to where
Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow.
In lovely contrast to this glorious view,
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn
To where the silver Thames first rural grows.
There let the feasted eye unwearied stray:
Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods
That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat :
And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks,
Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace retired,
With her the pleasing partner of his heart,
The worthy Queensberry yet laments his Gay,
And polished Cornbury woos the willing Muse, -
Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames;
Fair winding up to where the muses haunt
In Twick'nam's bowers, and for their Pope implore
The healing God ;3 to royal Hampton's pile,
To Clermont's terraced height, and Esher's groves,
Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced
By the soft windings of the silent Mole,
From courts and senates Pelham finds
Enchanting vale! beyond whate'er the Muse
Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung!
O vale of bliss! O softly-swelling hills!
On which the power of Cultivation lies,
And joys to see the wonders of his toil.
ENRAPTURED ACCOUNT OF THE SCENERY OF ENGLAND. — LIBERTY, QUEEN OF THE ARTS. A TEMPERATE CLIMATE AND FERTILE SOIL. AGRICULTURAL WEALTH.
Heavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around,
1 The old name of Richmond; signifying in Saxon, shining or splendor.
Highgate and Hampstead. 3 Then in his last sickness.
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires,
And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all
The stretching landscape into smoke decays!
Happy Britannia! where the Queen of Arts,
Inspiring vigor, Liberty abroad
Walks unconfined, e'en to thy farthest cots,
And scatters plenty with unsparing hand.
Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime;
Thy streams unfailing in the Summer's drought;
Unmatched thy guardian-oaks; thy valleys float
With golden waves; and on thy mountains flocks
Bleat numberless; while, roving round their sides,
Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves.
Beneath thy meadows glow, and rise unquelled
Against the mower's scythe. On every hand
Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth;
And property assures it to the swain,
Pleased and unwearied in his guarded toil.
BRITISH CITIES DESCRIBED. LABORERS. SAILORS.
Full are thy cities with the sons of Art: And trade and joy, in every busy street, Mingling are heard: e'en Drudgery himself, As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews The palace-stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, Where rising masts an endless prospect yield, With labor burn, and echo to the shouts Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet, Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind
EULOGY OF BRITISH YOUTH, AGE, VIRTUE, AND VALOR.
Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth,
By hardship sinewed, and by danger fired,
Scattering the nations where they go; and first
Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas.
Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plains
Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires preside;
In genius, and substantial learning, high;
For every virtue, every worth, renowned;
Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind;
Yet like the mustering thunder when provoked,
The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource
Of those that under grim oppression groan.
THE GREAT MEN OF BRITAIN. ALFRED; EDWARDS AND
HENRYS; MORE; WALSINGHAM; DRAKE; ELIZABETH.
Thy sons of Glory many! Alfred thine,
In whom the splendor of heroic war,
And more heroic peace, when governed well,
Combine; whose hallowed .name the Virtues saint,
And his own Muses love; the best of kings!
With him thy Edwards and thy Henrys shine,
Names dear to Fame; the first who deep impressed
On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms,
That awes her genius still. In statesmen thou,
And patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More,
Who, with a generous though mistaken zeal,
Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage,
Like Cato firm, like Aristides just,
Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor,-
A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death.
Frugal and wise, a Walsingham is thine;
A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep,
And bore thy name in thunder round the world.
Then flamed thy spirit high; but who can speak
The numerous worthies of the Maiden Reign?
EULOGY OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
In Raleigh mark their every glory mixed; Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! whose breast with all The sage, the patriot, and the hero burned; Nor sunk his vigor, when a coward-reign The warrior fettered, and at last resigned, To glut the vengeance of a vanquished foe. Then, active still and unrestrained, his mind Explored the vast extent of ages past, And with his prison-hours enriched the world; Yet found no times, in all the long research, So glorious, or so base, as those he proved, In which he conquered, and in which he bled.
EULOGY OF SIDNEY AND HAMPDEN.
Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass, The plume of war! with early laurels crowned, The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay. A Hampden too is thine, illustrious land! Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul, Who stemmed the torrent of a downward age To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again In all thy native pomp of freedom bold. Bright, at his call, thy Age of Men effulged, Of men on whom late time a kindling eye Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read.
EULOGY OF LORD WM. RUSSEL AND ALGERNON SIDNEY.
Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew The grave where Russel lies; whose tempered blood With calmest cheerfulness for thee resigned, Stained the sad annals of a giddy reign; Aiming at lawless power, though meanly sunk In loose inglorious luxury. With him His friend, the British Cassius,' fearless bled; Of high determined spirit, roughly brave, By ancient learning to the enlightened love Of ancient freedom warmed.
BRITAIN'S GREAT SCIENTISTS AND POETS.EULOGY OF LORD
In awful sages and in noble bards;
Soon as the light of dawning Science spread
Her orient ray, and waked the Muses' song.
Thine is a Bacon; hapless in his choice,
Unfit to stand the civil storm of state,
And through the smooth barbarity of courts,
With firm but pliant virtue, forward still
To urge his course him for the studious shade
Kind Nature formed, deep, comprehensive, clear,
Exact, and elegant; in one rich soul
Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully, joined.
The great deliverer he! who from the gloom
Of cloistered monks, and jargon-teaching schools,
Led forth the true Philosophy, there long
Held in the magic chain of words and forms,
And definitions void: he led her forth,
Daughter of Heaven! that slow-ascending still,
Investigating sure the chain of things,
With radiant finger points to Heaven again.
EULOGY OF SHAFTESBURY; BOYLE; LOCKE; NEWTON.
The generous Ashley 1 thine, the friend of man ;
Who scanned his nature with a brother's eye,
His weakness prompt to shade, to raise his aim,
To touch the finer movements of the mind,
And with the moral beauty charm the heart.
Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious search
Amid the dark recesses of his works
The great Creator sought? And why thy Locke,
Who made the whole internal world his own?
Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom God
To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works
From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame
In all philosophy.
EULOGY OF SHAKSPEARE; MILTON; SPENSER; CHAUCER.
Creative fancy, and inspection keen
Through the deep windings of the human heart,
Is not wild Shakspeare thine and Nature's boast?
Is not each great, each amiable Muse
Of classic ages in thy Milton met?
A genius universal as his theme,
Astonishing as Chaos, as the bloom
Of blowing Eden fair, as Heaven sublime?
Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget,
The gentle Spenser, Fancy's pleasing son;
Who, like a copious river, poured his song
O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground:
Nor thee, his ancient master, laughing sage,
Chaucer, whose native manners-painting verse,
Well moralized, shines through the Gothic cloud
Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown.
PRAISE OF THE WOMEN OF BRITAIN.
May my song soften, as thy daughters I,
Britannia, hail! for beauty is their own,
The feeling heart, simplicity of life,
And elegance, and taste: the faultless form,
Shaped by the hand of Harmony; the cheek,
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 rose-bud moist with morning dew,
Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet,
Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown,
The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast;
The look resistless, piercing to the soul,
And by the soul informed, when dressed in love
She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye.
1 Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury.
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