With filver clocks the river gods
Appear'd; and fome will take their oath,
Or lay at least a thousand odds,
The clouds faliving fpit white froth.
The youth abafh'd thus to survey
So rude a fcene himself outdo,
His fprightly genius to difplay,
Refolv'd on fomething odd and new:
All things he found were grown genteel,
Which made him deem it a-propo,
To be alone in dishabile,
A Forrester, and not a beau.
HE radiant ruler of the year
At length his wint'ry goal attains,
Soon to reverse the long career,
And northward bend his golden reins.
Prone on Potofi's haughty brow
His fiery ftreams inceffant flow,
Ripening the filver's ductile stores;
While, in the cavern's horrid fhade,
The panting Indian hides his head,
And oft th' approach of eve explores.
But lo, on this deferted coaft
How faint the light! how thick the air!
Lo, arm'd with whirlwind, hail and froft,
Fierce winter defolates the year.
The fields refign their chearful bloom;
No more the breezes waft perfume ;
No more the warbling waters roll :
Deferts of snow fatigue the eye,
Black ftoms involve the louring sky,
And gloomy damps oppress the soul.
Now thro' the town promifcuous throngs
Urge the warm bowl and ruddy fire;
Harmonious dances, feftive fongs,
To charm the midnight hours confpire.
While mute and shrinking with her fears,
Each blast the cottage-matron hears,
As o'er the hearth fhe fits alone:
At morn her bridegroom went abroad,
'The night is dark, and deep the road;
She fighs, and wishes him at home.
But thou, my lyre, awake, arise,
And hail the fun's remotest
Now, now he climbs the northern skies,
To-morrow nearer than to-day.
Then louder howl the stormy wafte,
Be land and ocean worse defac'd,
Yet brighter hours are on the wing;
And fancy thro' the wintry glooms,
All fresh with dews and opening blooms,
Already hails th' emerging fpring.
O fountain of the golden day!
Could mortal vows but urge thy fpeed,
How foon before thy vernal ray
Should each unkindly damp recede!
How foon each hovering tempeft fly,
That now fermenting loads the sky,
Prompt on our heads to burst amain,
To rend the forest from the steep,
Or thundering o'er the Baltic deep
To whelm the merchant's hopes of gain!
But let not man's unequal views
Prefume on nature and her laws;
"Tis his with grateful joy to use
Th' indulgence of the fovereign caufe;
Secure that health and beauty springs,
Thro' this majeftic frame of things,
Beyond what he can reach to know,
And that heav'n's all-fubduing will,
With good the progeny of ill,
Attempers every state below.
How pleafing wears the wint'ry night,
Spent with the old illuftrious dead!
While, by the taper's trembling light,
I feem thofe awful courts to tread
Where chiefs and legiflators lie,
Whofe triumphs move before my eye
With every laurel fresh difplay'd;
While charm'd I taste th' Ionian fong,
Or bend to Plato's god-like tongue
Refounding thro' the olive fhade.
But if the gay, well-natur'd friend
Bids leave the studious page awhile,
Then easier joys the foul unbend,
And teach the brow a fofter fmile;
Then while the genial glafs is paid
By each to her, that faireft maid,
Whofe radiant eyes his hopes obey,
What lucky vows his bofom warm!
While abfence heightens every charm,
And love invokes returning May.
May! thou delight of heav'n and earth,
When will thy happy morn arife?
When the dear place which gave
Reftore Lucinda to my eyes ?
There while fhe walks the wonted
The feat of mufic and of love,
Bright as the one primæval fair,
Thither, ye filver-founding lyres,
Thither, gay fmiles and young defires,
Chafte hope and mutual faith repair.
And if believing love can read
The wonted foftness in her eye,
Then fhall my fears, O charming maid,
And every pain of absence die:
|