s: Flight of dawn and eve empurples and embrowns,


s: Wings of wild sea-winds and stormy seasons wasting


s: These, or ever man was, were:  the same sky frowns,


s: Laughs, and lightens, as before his soul, forecasting


s: Times to be, conceived such hopes as time discrowns.


s: These we loved of old:  but now for me the blasting


s: Breath of death makes dull the bright small seaward towns,


s: Clothes with human change these all but everlasting


s: Three months bade wane and wax the wintering moon


s: Between two dates of death, while men were fain


s: Yet of the living light that all too soon


s: Cold autumn, wan with wrath of wind and rain,


s: Saw pass a soul sweet as the sovereign tune


s: That death smote silent when he smote again.


s: First went my friend, in life's mid light of noon,


s: Who loved the lord of music:  then the strain


s: Whence earth was kindled like as heaven in June


s: A herald soul before its master's flying


s: Touched by some few moons first the darkling goal


s: Where shades rose up to greet the shade, espying


s: Shades of dead lords of music, who control


s: With strength of strains that make delight of dole.


s: The deep dense dust on death's dim threshold lying


s: Trembled with sense of kindling sound that stole


s: Through darkness, and the night gave ear, descrying


s: They seem gone hence together, from the shore


s: Whence we now gaze:  yet ere the mightier passed


s: One whose whole heart of love, being set of yore


s: On that high joy which music lends us, cast


s: Light round him forth of music's radiant store.


s: Then went, while earth on winter glared aghast,


s: The mortal god he worshipped, through the door


s: Wherethrough so late, his lover to the last,


s: Sank from the skies wherethrough his heart's pulse yet


s: Thrills audibly:  but few took heed, or none,


s: All heaven rings back, sonorous with regret,


s: The deep dirge of the sunset:  how should one


s: Soft star be missed in all the concourse met?


s: But, O sweet single heart whose work is done,


s: Whose songs are silent, how should I forget


s: That ere the sunset's fiery goal was won


s: Mourning on earth, as when dark hours descend,


s: Wide-winged with plagues, from heaven; when hope and mirth


s: The soul wherein her songs of death and birth,


s: Darkness and light, were wont to sound and blend,


s: Now silent, leaves the whole world less in worth.


s: Winds that make moan and triumph, skies that bend,


s: Thunders, and sound of tides in gulf and firth,


s: Spake through his spirit of speech, whose death should send


s: The world's great heart, whence all things strange and rare


s: Take form and sound, that each inseparate part


s: May bear its burden in all tuned thoughts that share


s: The fountain forces, whence like steeds that start


s: Leap forth the powers of earth and fire and air,


s: Seas that revolve and rivers that depart -


s: Spake, and were turned to song:  yea, all they were,


s: With all their works, found in his mastering art


s: Speech as of powers whose uttered word laid bare


s: The spell of the mage of music evoked their sense, as an unknown


s: Eye might not endure it, but ear and heart with a rapture of dark


s: Felt inly the rising of doom divine as a sundawn risen to sight


s: Draws close through the clouds that loom,


s: Deep desire, that pierces heart and spirit to the root,


s: Finds reluctant voice in verse that yearns like soaring fire,


s: Takes exultant voice when music holds in high pursuit


s: Keen as burns the passion of the rose whose buds respire,


s: Strong as grows the yearning of the blossom toward the fruit,


s: Sounds the secret half unspoken ere the deep tones tire.


s: Slow subsides the rapture that possessed love's flower-soft lute,


s: Still the soul feels burn, a flame unslaked though these be mute,


s: Soul within sense, immeasurable, obscure,


s: Insepulchred and deathless, through the dense


s: Deep elements may scarce be felt as pure


s: From depth and height by measurers left immense,


s: Through sound and shape and colour, comes the unsure


s: Vague utterance, fitful with supreme suspense.


s: All that may pass, and all that must endure,


s: Song speaks not, painting shews not:  more intense


s: And keen than these, art wakes with music's lure


s: Even while we hailed as fresh from birth


s: Our thoughts ring sad as bells that toll,


s: Not knowing beyond this blind world's girth


s: What things are writ in heaven's full scroll.


s: Seem there, perchance, ill dreams, not worth


s: Earth, never strayed in field or street,


s: Since mother's hands first clasped and shod


s: What gift has death, God's servant, brought


s: Love, that lends eyes and wings to thought


s: To search where death's dim heaven expands.


s: Ere this, perchance, though love know nought,


s: Flowers fill them, grown in lovelier lands,


s: Whence Time that bore him failed to estrange?


s: Angel by name love called him, seeing so fair


s: Meet to be called, if ever man's child were,


s: Rose-bright and warm from heaven's own heart he came,


s: The cloud that covers earth's wan face with shame.


s: His little light of life was all too rare


s: Heaven yearned for him till angels hailed him there


s: The song that smiled upon his birthday here


s: Weeps on the grave that holds him undefiled


s: Whose loss makes bitterer than a soundless tear


s: His name crowned once the mightiest ever styled


s: Sovereign of arts, and angel:  fate and fear


s: Knew then their master, and were reconciled.


s: But we saw born beneath some tenderer sphere


s: Whose loss bows down to weep upon his bier


s: One of twain, twin-born with flowers that waken,


s: Now hath passed from sense of sun and rain:


s: Wind from off the flower-crowned branch hath shaken


s: One twin flower must pass, and one remain:


s: One, the word said soothly, shall be taken,


s: Two years since was love's light song mistaken,


s: Blessing then both blossoms, half in vain?


s: Night and light?  O thou of heart unwary,


s: Love, what knowest thou here at all aright,


s: Haply, where thine eyes behold but night,


s: Light breaks flowerwise into new-born sight.


s: What though night of light to thee be chary?


s: What though stars of hope like flowers take flight?


s: Seest thou all things here, where all see vary


s: Death and birth should dwell not near together:


s: Wealth keeps house not, even for shame, with dearth:


s: Fate doth ill to link in one brief tether


s: Harsh the yoke that binds them, strange the girth


s: Seems that girds them each with each:  yet whether


s: Death be best, who knows, or life on earth?


s: Blend in one crown's plume, as grief with mirth:


s: Ill met still are warm and wintry weather,


s: Birth and death, twin-sister and twin-brother,


s: Night and day, on all things that draw breath,


s: Reign, while time keeps friends with one another


s: Each brow-bound with flowers diverse of wreath,


s: Heaven they hail as father, earth as mother,


s: Smiles may lighten tears, and tears may smother


s: Smiles, for all that joy or sorrow saith:


s: Joy nor sorrow knows not from each other


s: Blest in death and life beyond man's guessing


s: Still of grace that keeps them past expressing


s: Each least chirp that rings from every nest,


s: Each least touch of flower-soft fingers pressing


s: Aught that yearns and trembles to be prest,


s: Each least glance, gives gifts of grace, redressing


s: Grief's worst wrongs:  each mother's nurturing breast


s: Feeds a flower of bliss, beyond all blessing


s: Like rose-hued sea-flowers toward the heat


s: Ope if you touch, though close upcurled,


s: Then, fast as warriors grip their brands


s: They close, clenched hard like tightening bands.


s: Love, while the sweet thing laughs and lies,


s: Their glance might cast out pain and sin,


s: Heart, be thy joys now seven times seven:


s: Love shows in light more bright than morn


s: Sleek satin, swansdown, buds that play not


s: Would fain be matched with this, and may not:


s: A babe's feet, venturing, scarce complete


s: Three times thrice hath winter's rough white wing


s: Crossed and curdled wells and streams with ice


s: Since his birth whose praises love would sing


s: Earth nor sea bears flower nor pearl of price


s: Honey meet to please him, balm, nor spice.


s: Love can think of nought but love to bring


s: Ere his eyes have looked upon the spring


s: Three times thrice the world has fallen on slumber,


s: Shone and waned and withered in a trice,


s: Frost has fettered Thames and Tyne and Humber


s: Fogs have swoln too thick for steel to slice,


s: Cloud and mud have soiled with grime and umber


s: Earth and heaven, defaced as souls with vice,


s: Winds have risen to wreck, snows fallen to cumber,


s: Ships and chariots, trapped like rats or mice,


s: Since my king first smiled, whose years now number


s: Three times thrice, in wine of song full-flowing,


s: Pledge, my heart, the child whose eyes suffice,


s: Glow more bright when summer leaves them glowing,


s: Laugh more light when suns and winds entice.


s: Noon and eve and midnight and cock-crowing,


s: Child whose love makes life as paradise,


s: Love should sound your praise with clarions blowing


s: Says my king, with accent stern yet mild,


s: Now nine years have brought him change of joy;


s: Child I called him, smiling:  but he smiled


s: Child or boy, my darling, which you will,


s: Still your praise finds heart and song employ,


s: Heart and song both yearning toward you still,


s: Love than this which inly takes its fill,


s: Dear, of sight of your more perfect joy.


s: Nay, be aught you please, let all fulfil


s: All your pleasure; be your world your toy:


s: Mild or wild we love you, loud or still,


s: A roundel is wrought as a ring or a starbright sphere,


s: With craft of delight and with cunning of sound unsought,


s: That the heart of the hearer may smile if to pleasure his ear


s: Love, laughter, or mourning--remembrance of rapture or fear -


s: That fancy may fashion to hang in the ear of thought.


s: As a bird's quick song runs round, and the hearts in us hear


s: Pause answer to pause, and again the same strain caught,


s: So moves the device whence, round as a pearl or tear,


s: 'Farewell and adieu' was the burden prevailing


s: Long since in the chant of a home-faring crew;


s: And the heart in us echoes, with laughing or wailing,


s: Each year that we live shall we sing it anew,


s: With a water untravelled before us for sailing


s: And a water behind us that wrecks may bestrew.


s: The stars of the past and the beacons are paling,


s: The heavens and the waters are hoarier of hue:


s: But the heart in us chants not an all unavailing


s: Far-fetched and dear-bought, as the proverb rehearses,


s: Is good, or was held so, for ladies:  but nought


s: In a song can be good if the turn of the verse is


s: As the turn of a wave should it sound, and the thought


s: Ring smooth, and as light as the spray that disperses


s: Be the gleam of the words for the garb thereof wrought.


s: Let the soul in it shine through the sound as it pierces


s: Men's hearts with possession of music unsought;


s: For the bounties of song are no jealous god's mercies,


s: Roses lean with smiling mouths or pleading:


s: Earth lies laughing where the sun's dart clove her:


s: Stately shine his purple plumes, exceeding


s: Pride of princes:  nor shall maid or lover


s: Find on earth a fairer sign worth heeding.


s: Yet may love, sore wounded scarce recover


s: Strength and spirit again, with life receding:


s: Hope and joy, wind-winged, about him hover:


s: Light love in a mist, by the midsummer moon misguided,


s: Scarce seen in the twilight garden if gloom insist,


s: Seems vainly to seek for a star whose gleam has derided


s: All day in the sun, when the breezes do all they list,


s: His soft blue raiment of cloudlike blossom abided


s: Unrent and unwithered of winds and of rays that kissed.


s: Blithe-hearted or sad, as the cloud or the sun subsided,


s: Love smiled in the flower with a meaning whereof none wist


s: Save two that beheld, as a gleam that before them glided,


s: The sky and sea glared hard and bright and blank:


s: Down the one steep street, with slow steps firm and free,


s: A tall girl paced, with eyes too proud to thank


s: One dead flat sapphire, void of wrath or glee,


s: Through bay on bay shone blind from bank to bank


s: More deep, more living, shone her eyes that drank


s: The breathless light and shed again on me,


s: Till pale before their splendour waned and shrank


s: Again the same strange might of eyes, that saw


s: In heaven and earth nought fairer, overcame


s: The self-same pulse of wonder shook like flame


s: The spirit of sense within me:  what strange law


s: Had bid this be, for blessing or for blame?


s: To what veiled end that fate or chance foresaw


s: Came forth this second sister face, that came


s: Out of the dark pure twilight, where the stream


s: Flows glimmering, streaked by many a birdlike bark


s: That skims the gloom whence towers and bridges gleam


s: Once more a face no glance might choose but mark


s: Shone pale and bright, with eyes whose deep slow beam


s: Made quick the twilight, lifeless else and stark.


s: The same it seemed, or mystery made it seem,


s: Ruled here the ways that showed it like a dream


s: All round him all the flower-month flamed


s: Knew, even perchance as man's heart knows,


s: Flamed heavenward still ere earth defamed


s: Fast round with bonds that burnt and froze.


s: Fades from their sight whose tongues proclaimed


s: But higher than transient shapes or shows


s: Springs, toward no goal that these disclose.


s: Above those heavens which passion claimed


s: Shines, veiled by change that ebbs and flows,


s: Sorrow, on wing through the world for ever,


s: One thought lies close in her heart gnawn thorough


s: Hearts that strain at her chain would sever


s: The link where yesterday frets to-morrow:


s: Sleep, when a soul that her own clouds cover


s: Sinks, and the gifts of his grace recover


s: Soon the soul, though her wound be deep.


s: Death, from thy rigour a voice appealed,


s: And men still hear what the sweet cry saith,


s: Through the grave's gate barred and the portal steeled


s: From lips now too by thy kiss congealed,


s: Ages ago, from the lips of a sad glad poet


s: Whose soul was a wild dove lost in the whirling snow,


s: The soft keen plaint of his pain took voice to show it


s: So clear, so deep, the divine drear accents flow,


s: No soul that listens may choose but thrill to know it,


s: Pierced and wrung by the passionate music's throe.


s: For us there murmurs a nearer voice below it,


s: Known once of ears that never again shall know,


s: Now mute as the mouth which felt death's wave o'erflow it


s: Low lies the mere beneath the moorside, still


s: And glad of silence:  down the wood sweeps clear


s: To the utmost verge where fed with many a rill


s: The wind speaks only summer:  eye nor ear


s: Sees aught at all of dark, hears aught of shrill,


s: From sound or shadow felt or fancied here.


s: Strange, as we praise the dead man's might and skill,


s: Strange that harsh thoughts should make such heavy cheer,


s: While, clothed with peace by heaven's most gentle will,


s: Heart's ease or pansy, pleasure or thought,


s: Which would the picture give us of these?


s: Surely the heart that conceived it sought


s: The heart impelling the hand that wrought


s: Wrought comfort here for a soul's disease.


s: Deep flowers, with lustre and darkness fraught,


s: From glass that gleams as the chill still seas


s: Wind and sea and cloud and cloud-forsaking


s: Mirth of moonlight where the storm leaves free


s: Heaven awhile, for all the wrath of waking


s: Bright with glad mad rapture, fierce with glee,


s: Laughs the moon, borne on past cloud's o'ertaking


s: Fast, it seems, as wind or sail can flee.


s: One blown sail beneath her, hardly making


s: Forth, wild-winged for harbourage yet to be,


s: Strives and leaps and pants beneath the breaking


s: Mad March, with the wind in his wings wide-spread,


s: Leaps from heaven, and the deep dawn's arch


s: Break forth as laughter on lips that said


s: Nought till the pulse in them beat love's march.


s: But the heartbeat now in the lips rose-red


s: Speaks life to the world, and the winds that parch


s: Dead love, by treason slain, lies stark,


s: His heart, that strained and yearned and strove


s: Unreconciled by life's fleet years, that fled


s: With changeful clang of pinions wide and wild,


s: Though two great spirits had lived, and hence had sped


s: Though time and change, harsh time's imperious child,


s: That wed strange hands together, might not wed


s: High hearts by hope's misprision once beguiled;


s: Faith, by the light from either's memory shed,


s: Sees, radiant as their ends were undefiled,


s: One goal for each--not twain among the dead


s: Reconciled by death's mild hand, that giving


s: Peace gives wisdom, not more strong than mild,


s: Love beholds them, each without misgiving


s: Each alike had heaven at heart, and smiled.


s: Both bright names, clothed round with man's thanksgiving,


s: Shine, twin stars above the storm-drifts piled,


s: Dead and deathless, whom we saw not living


s: Alas my brother! the cry of the mourners of old


s: All crying aloud on the dead as the death-note rolled,


s: As flashes of dawn that mists from an east wind smother


s: The past years gleam that linked us one with another.


s: Time sunders hearts as of brethren whose eyes behold


s: But a cry sounds yet from the shrine whose fires wax cold,


s: Strong as death, and cruel as the grave,


s: Clothed with cloud and tempest's blackening breath,


s: Known of death's dread self, whom none outbrave,


s: Love, brow-bound with anguish for a wreath,


s: Fierce with pain, a tyrant-hearted slave,


s: Burns above a world that groans beneath.


s: Love? hath power no pity?  Nought he saith,


s: Answering:  blind he walks as wind or wave,


s: Of all whose crowning bay-leaves crown their mother


s: Rome, in the notes first heard of thine I read


s: No dust that death or time can strew may smother


s: From loves and hates at one with one another.


s: To thee was Caesar's self nor dear nor dread,


s: Song and the sea were sweeter each than other:


s: How should I living fear to call thee dead


s: Sark, fairer than aught in the world that the lit skies cover,


s: Laughs inly behind her cliffs, and the seafarers mark


s: We mourn, for love of a song that outsang the lark,


s: That nought so lovely beholden of Sirmio's lover


s: Made glad in Propontis the flight of his Pontic bark.


s: Here earth lies lordly, triumphal as heaven is above her,


s: And splendid and strange as the sea that upbears as an ark,


s: As a sign for the rapture of storm-spent eyes to discover,


s: Abreast and ahead of the sea is a crag's front cloven asunder


s: With strong sea-breach and with wasting of winds whence terror is


s: The heavenly bay, ringed round with cliffs and moors,


s: Storm-stained ravines, and crags that lawns inlay,


s: Soothes as with love the rocks whose guard secures


s: O friend, shall time take ever this away,


s: This blessing given of beauty that endures,


s: This glory shown us, not to pass but stay?


s: Though sight be changed for memory, love ensures


s: What memory, changed by love to sight, would say -


s: The word that seals for ever mine and yours


s: My mother sea, my fostress, what new strand,


s: What new delight of waters, may this be,


s: The fairest found since time's first breezes fanned


s: Once more I give me body and soul to thee,


s: Who hast my soul for ever:  cliff and sand


s: Recede, and heart to heart once more are we.


s: My heart springs first and plunges, ere my hand


s: Strike out from shore:  more close it brings to me,


s: More near and dear than seems my fatherland,


s: Across and along, as the bay's breadth opens, and o'er us


s: Wild autumn exults in the wind, swift rapture and strong


s: Impels us, and broader the wide waves brighten before us


s: The whole world's heart is uplifted, and knows not wrong;


s: The whole world's life is a chant to the sea-tide's chorus;


s: Are we not as waves of the water, as notes of the song?


s: Like children unworn of the passions and toils that wore us,


s: We breast for a season the breadth of the seas that throng,


s: Rejoicing as they, to be borne as of old they bore us


s: Drawn down through desperate ways that lead not back


s: We seem to move, bound forth past flood and fell


s: The grey path ends:  the gaunt rocks gape:  the black


s: Deep hollow tortuous night, a soundless shell,


s: Glares darkness:  are the fires of old grown slack?


s: Nay, then, what flames are these that leap and swell


s: As 'twere to show, where earth's foundations crack,


s: By mere men's hands the flame was lit, we know,


s: From heaps of dry waste whin and casual brands:


s: Yet, knowing, we scarce believe it kindled so


s: Above, around, high-vaulted hell expands,


s: Steep, dense, a labyrinth walled and roofed with woe,


s: Whose mysteries even itself not understands.


s: Seems visible in this flame:  there Geryon stands:


s: No stage of earth's is here, set forth to show


s: Night, in utmost noon forlorn and strong, with heart athirst and


s: Laugh for love's sake in their sleep outside:  but here the night


s: Lower than dive the thoughts of spirit-stricken fear in souls


s: Hell, the deep void seems to yawn beyond fear's reach, and higher


s: Rise the walls and roofs that compass it about with everlasting


s: The house accurst, with cursing sealed and signed,


s: Heeds not what storms about it burn and burst:


s: No fear more fearful than its own may find


s: Barren as crime, anhungered and athirst,


s: Blank miles of moor sweep inland, sere and blind,


s: Where summer's best rebukes not winter's worst.


s: The low bleak tower with nought save wastes behind


s: Stares down the abyss whereon chance reared and nursed


s: This type and likeness of the accurst man's mind,


s: Beloved and blest, lit warm with love and fame,


s: The house that had the light of the earth for guest


s: Hears for his name's sake all men hail its name


s: This eyrie was the homeless eagle's nest


s: When storm laid waste his eyrie:  hence he came


s: Again, when storm smote sore his mother's breast.


s: Bow down men bade us, or be clothed with blame


s: And mocked for madness:  worst, they sware, was best:


s: But grief shone here, while joy was one with shame,


s: Small white wings that we scarce can see


s: Truth, Hope, and Charity, and touched with awe


s: The solemn chords, and with a trembling hand,


s: Escaped with pain from that advent'rous flight,


s: The theme though humble, yet august and proud


s: The occasion--for the Fair commands the song.


s: Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use,


s: Save their own painted skins, our sires had none.


s: As yet black breeches were not; satin smooth,


s: Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile:


s: Washed by the sea, or on the gravelly bank


s: Thrown up by wintry torrents roaring loud,


s: Fearless of wrong, reposed his weary strength.


s: Those barbarous ages past, succeeded next


s: The birthday of invention; weak at first,


s: Joint-stools were then created; on three legs


s: Upborne they stood. Three legs upholding firm


s: A massy slab, in fashion square or round.


s: And swayed the sceptre of his infant realms;


s: And such in ancient halls and mansions drear


s: And drilled in holes the solid oak is found,


s: By worms voracious eating through and through.


s: Improved the simple plan, made three legs four,


s: And o'er the seat, with plenteous wadding stuffed,


s: Induced a splendid cover green and blue,


s: Yellow and red, of tapestry richly wrought


s: There might ye see the peony spread wide,


s: The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lass,


s: Lapdog and lambkin with black staring eyes,


s: And parrots with twin cherries in their beak.


s: Now came the cane from India, smooth and bright


s: With Nature's varnish; severed into stripes


s: That interlaced each other, these supplied,


s: Of texture firm, a lattice-work that braced


s: But restless was the chair; the back erect


s: Distressed the weary loins that felt no ease;


s: The slippery seat betrayed the sliding part


s: That pressed it, and the feet hung dangling down,


s: Anxious in vain to find the distant floor.


s: These for the rich:  the rest, whom fate had placed


s: With base materials, sat on well-tanned hides


s: With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn,


s: If cushion might be called, what harder seemed


s: Than the firm oak of which the frame was formed.


s: No want of timber then was felt or feared


s: In Albion's happy isle.  The lumber stood


s: Ponderous, and fixed by its own massy weight.


s: But elbows still were wanting; these, some say,


s: And some ascribe the invention to a priest


s: Burly and big, and studious of his ease.


s: But rude at first, and not with easy slope


s: Receding wide, they pressed against the ribs,


s: Taught the raised shoulders to invade the ears.


s: Long time elapsed or e'er our rugged sires


s: Complained, though incommodiously pent in,


s: And ill at ease behind.  The ladies first


s: Than when employed to accommodate the fair,


s: Heard the sweet moan with pity, and devised


s: So sit two kings of Brentford on one throne;


s: Close packed and smiling in a chaise and one.


s: By soft recumbency of outstretched limbs,


s: Was bliss reserved for happier days; so slow


s: The growth of what is excellent, so hard


s: To attain perfection in this nether world.


s: Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs,


s: The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick,


s: Whom snoring she disturbs.  As sweetly he


s: Who quits the coach-box at the midnight hour


s: To sleep within the carriage more secure,


s: Sweet sleep enjoys the curate in his desk,


s: The tedious rector drawling o'er his head,


s: And sweet the clerk below; but neither sleep


s: Of lazy nurse, who snores the sick man dead,


s: Nor his who quits the box at midnight hour


s: Nor sleep enjoyed by curate in his desk,


s: Nor yet the dozings of the clerk are sweet,


s: Compared with the repose the Sofa yields.


s: From pangs arthritic that infest the toe


s: The gouty limb, 'tis true; but gouty limb,


s: For I have loved the rural walk through lanes


s: Of grassy swarth, close cropped by nibbling sheep,


s: And skirted thick with intertexture firm


s: Of thorny boughs:  have loved the rural walk


s: O'er hills, through valleys, and by river's brink,


s: E'er since a truant boy I passed my bounds


s: To enjoy a ramble on the banks of Thames.


s: Of hours that sorrow since has much endeared,


s: How oft, my slice of pocket store consumed,


s: Still hungering penniless and far from home,


s: Or blushing crabs, or berries that emboss


s: The bramble, black as jet, or sloes austere.


s: His wasted spirits quickly, by long toil


s: Incurring short fatigue; and though our years,


s: Some youthful grace that age would gladly keep,


s: Their length and colour from the locks they spare;


s: That mounts the stile with ease, or leaps the fence,


s: Respiring freely the fresh air, that makes


s: Swift pace or steep ascent no toil to me,


s: Mine have not pilfered yet; nor yet impaired


s: My relish of fair prospect; scenes that soothed


s: Or charmed me young, no longer young, I find


s: Still soothing and of power to charm me still.


s: And witness, dear companion of my walks,


s: Whose arm this twentieth winter I perceive


s: Fast locked in mine, with pleasure such as love,


s: Confirmed by long experience of thy worth


s: And well-tried virtues, could alone inspire--


s: Witness a joy that thou hast doubled long.


s: Thou know'st my praise of Nature most sincere,


s: And that my raptures are not conjured up


s: But genuine, and art partner of them all.


s: Has slackened to a pause, and we have borne


s: The ruffling wind scarce conscious that it blew,


s: And still unsated, dwelt upon the scene!


s: Thence with what pleasure have we just discerned


s: The distant plough slow-moving, and beside


s: His labouring team, that swerved not from the track,


s: Here Ouse, slow winding through a level plain


s: Of spacious meads with cattle sprinkled o'er,


s: Conducts the eye along his sinuous course


s: Delighted.  There, fast rooted in his bank


s: Stand, never overlooked, our favourite elms


s: That screen the herdsman's solitary hut;


s: While far beyond and overthwart the stream


s: That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale,


s: The sloping land recedes into the clouds;


s: Of hedgerow beauties numberless, square tower,


s: Tall spire, from which the sound of cheerful bells


s: Groves, heaths, and smoking villages remote.


s: Scenes must be beautiful which daily viewed


s: Please daily, and whose novelty survives


s: Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years:


s: Praise justly due to those that I describe.


s: Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds


s: The tone of languid Nature.  Mighty winds,


s: That sweep the skirt of some far-spreading wood


s: Of ancient growth, make music not unlike


s: And lull the spirit while they fill the mind,


s: Unnumbered branches waving in the blast,


s: And all their leaves fast fluttering, all at once.


s: Of distant floods, or on the softer voice


s: Of neighbouring fountain, or of rills that slip


s: Through the cleft rock, and, chiming as they fall


s: Upon loose pebbles, lose themselves at length


s: In matted grass, that with a livelier green


s: Betrays the secret of their silent course.


s: Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one


s: The livelong night:  nor these alone whose notes


s: But cawing rooks, and kites that swim sublime


s: In still repeated circles, screaming loud,


s: The jay, the pie, and even the boding owl


s: That hails the rising moon, have charms for me.


s: Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh,


s: Yet heard in scenes where peace for ever reigns,


s: And only there, please highly for their sake.


s: Peace to the artist, whose ingenious thought


s: Devised the weather-house, that useful toy!


s: Fearless of humid air and gathering rains


s: Forth steps the man--an emblem of myself!


s: More delicate his timorous mate retires.


s: When Winter soaks the fields, and female feet,


s: Too weak to struggle with tenacious clay,


s: The task of new discoveries falls on me.


s: Once went I forth, and found, till then unknown,


s: 'Tis perched upon the green hill-top, but close


s: With foliage of such dark redundant growth,


s: I called the low-roofed lodge the PEASANT'S NEST.


s: From such unpleasing sounds as haunt the ear


s: Incessant, clinking hammers, grinding wheels,


s: And infants clamorous whether pleased or pained,


s: Oft have I wished the peaceful covert mine.


s: Here, I have said, at least I should possess


s: The poet's treasure, silence, and indulge


s: The dreams of fancy, tranquil and secure.


s: Vain thought! the dweller in that still retreat


s: To drink sweet waters of the crystal well;


s: And heavy-laden brings his beverage home,


s: Far-fetched and little worth:  nor seldom waits


s: To hear his creaking panniers at the door,


s: Angry and sad and his last crust consumed.


s: If solitude make scant the means of life,


s: Now scorned, but worthy of a better fate.


s: From sultry suns, and, in their shaded walks


s: And long-protracted bowers, enjoyed at noon


s: The gloom and coolness of declining day.


s: We bear our shades about us; self-deprived


s: Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread,


s: And range an Indian waste without a tree.


s: These chestnuts ranged in corresponding lines,


s: And, though himself so polished, still reprieves


s: Descending now (but cautious, lest too fast)


s: We pass a gulf, in which the willows dip


s: Their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink.


s: Hence ankle-deep in moss and flowery thyme


s: Our foot half sunk in hillocks green and soft,


s: Raised by the mole, the miner of the soil.


s: He, not unlike the great ones of mankind,


s: Disfigures earth, and plotting in the dark


s: That may record the mischiefs he has done.


s: The summit gained, behold the proud alcove


s: That crowns it! yet not all its pride secures


s: The grand retreat from injuries impressed


s: By rural carvers, who with knives deface


s: The panels, leaving an obscure rude name


s: So strong the zeal to immortalise himself


s: Beats in the breast of man, that even a few


s: Few transient years, won from the abyss abhorred


s: Of blank oblivion, seem a glorious prize,


s: And even to a clown.  Now roves the eye,


s: Exults in its command.  The sheepfold here


s: Pours out its fleecy tenants o'er the glebe.


s: At first, progressive as a stream, they seek


s: The middle field; but scattered by degrees,


s: Each to his choice, soon whiten all the land.


s: There, from the sunburnt hay-field homeward creeps


s: The loaded wain; while, lightened of its charge,


s: The wain that meets it passes swiftly by,


s: The boorish driver leaning o'er his team,


s: Nor less attractive is the woodland scene


s: Alike yet various.  Here the gray smooth trunks


s: Of ash, or lime, or beech, distinctly shine,


s: Within the twilight of their distant shades;


s: There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood


s: Seems sunk, and shortened to its topmost boughs.


s: No tree in all the grove but has its charms,


s: Though each its hue peculiar; paler some,


s: And poplar that with silver lines his leaf,


s: And ash far-stretching his umbrageous arm;


s: Of deeper green the elm; and deeper still,


s: Lord of the woods, the long-surviving oak.


s: Some glossy-leaved and shining in the sun,


s: Now green, now tawny, and ere autumn yet


s: Have changed the woods, in scarlet honours bright.


s: O'er these, but far beyond (a spacious map


s: The Ouse, dividing the well-watered land,


s: Now glitters in the sun, and now retires,


s: And such the re-ascent; between them weeps


s: All summer long, which winter fills again.


s: The folded gates would bar my progress now,


s: But that the lord of this enclosed demesne,


s: Admits me to a share:  the guiltless eye


s: Commits no wrong, nor wastes what it enjoys.


s: Refreshing change! where now the blazing sun?


s: By short transition we have lost his glare,


s: And stepped at once into a cooler clime.


s: That yet a remnant of your race survives.


s: How airy and how light the graceful arch,


s: Re-echoing pious anthems! while beneath,


s: The chequered earth seems restless as a flood


s: Brushed by the wind.  So sportive is the light


s: Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance,


s: Shadow and sunshine intermingling quick,


s: And darkening and enlightening, as the leaves


s: And now, with nerves new-braced and spirits cheered,


s: We tread the wilderness, whose well-rolled walks,


s: To narrow bounds.  The grove receives us next;


s: Between the upright shafts of whose tall elms


s: We may discern the thresher at his task.


s: Thump after thump resounds the constant flail,


s: That seems to swing uncertain and yet falls


s: Full on the destined ear.  Wide flies the chaff,


s: The rustling straw sends up a frequent mist


s: Of atoms, sparkling in the noonday beam.


s: Come hither, ye that press your beds of down


s: And sleep not:  see him sweating o'er his bread


s: Before he eats it.--'Tis the primal curse,


s: But softened into mercy; made the pledge


s: Of cheerful days, and nights without a groan.


s: By ceaseless action, all that is subsists.


s: Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel


s: That Nature rides upon, maintains her health,


s: An instant's pause, and lives but while she moves.


s: Winds from all quarters agitate the air,


s: Else noxious:  oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams


s: All feel the freshening impulse, and are cleansed


s: Thrives by the rude concussion of the storm:


s: The impression of the blast with proud disdain,


s: He held the thunder.  But the monarch owes


s: More fixed below, the more disturbed above.


s: The law, by which all creatures else are bound,


s: Binds man the lord of all.  Himself derives


s: From strenuous toil his hours of sweetest ease.


s: When custom bids, but no refreshment find,


s: For none they need:  the languid eye, the cheek


s: Deserted of its bloom, the flaccid, shrunk,


s: And withered muscle, and the vapid soul,


s: Reproach their owner with that love of rest


s: To which he forfeits even the rest he loves.


s: Not such the alert and active.  Measure life


s: By its true worth, the comforts it affords,


s: And theirs alone seems worthy of the name


s: Good health, and, its associate in the most,


s: Good temper; spirits prompt to undertake,


s: And not soon spent, though in an arduous task;


s: The powers of fancy and strong thought are theirs;


s: Even age itself seems privileged in them


s: With clear exemption from its own defects.


s: A sparkling eye beneath a wrinkled front


s: The veteran shows, and gracing a gray beard


s: With youthful smiles, descends towards the grave


s: Sprightly, and old almost without decay.


s: Like a coy maiden, Ease, when courted most,


s: Farthest retires--an idol, at whose shrine


s: Who oftenest sacrifice are favoured least.


s: The love of Nature and the scene she draws


s: Is Nature's dictate.  Strange, there should be found


s: Who, self-imprisoned in their proud saloons,


s: Who, satisfied with only pencilled scenes,


s: The inferior wonders of an artist's hand.


s: But Nature's works far lovelier.  I admire,


s: None more admires, the painter's magic skill,


s: Who shows me that which I shall never see,


s: And throws Italian light on English walls.


s: Than please the eye, sweet Nature every sense.


s: The cheering fragrance of her dewy vales,


s: May rival these; these all bespeak a power


s: Beneath the open sky she spreads the feast;


s: 'Tis free to all--'tis ev'ry day renewed,


s: Who scorns it, starves deservedly at home.


s: He does not scorn it, who, imprisoned long


s: To sallow sickness, which the vapours dank


s: His cheek recovers soon its healthful hue,


s: His eye relumines its extinguished fires,


s: He walks, he leaps, he runs--is winged with joy,


s: And riots in the sweets of every breeze.


s: He does not scorn it, who has long endured


s: With acrid salts; his very heart athirst


s: Upon the ship's tall side he stands, possessed


s: With visions prompted by intense desire;


s: Fair fields appear below, such as he left


s: Far distant, such as he would die to find--


s: He seeks them headlong, and is seen no more.


s: The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns;


s: The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown,


s: And sullen sadness that o'ershade, distort,


s: And mar the face of beauty, when no cause


s: These Flora banishes, and gives the fair


s: Sweet smiles, and bloom less transient than her own.


s: And tasteless, of the same repeated joys


s: That palls and satiates, and makes languid life


s: A pedlar's pack that bows the bearer down.


s: Health suffers, and the spirits ebb; the heart


s: Recoils from its own choice--at the full feast


s: Is famished--finds no music in the song,


s: No smartness in the jest, and wonders why.


s: Yet thousands still desire to journey on,


s: Though halt and weary of the path they tread.


s: But cannot play them, borrows a friend's hand


s: Her mingled suits and sequences, and sits


s: And silent cipher, while her proxy plays.


s: Others are dragged into the crowded room


s: Between supporters; and once seated, sit


s: Till the stout bearers lift the corpse again.


s: These speak a loud memento.  Yet even these


s: Themselves love life, and cling to it as he,


s: They love it, and yet loathe it; fear to die,


s: Yet scorn the purposes for which they live.


s: Then wherefore not renounce them?  No--the dread,


s: The slavish dread of solitude, that breeds


s: Reflection and remorse, the fear of shame,


s: And their inveterate habits, all forbid.


s: Whom call we gay?  That honour has been long


s: The boast of mere pretenders to the name.


s: That dries his feathers saturate with dew


s: Beneath the rosy cloud, while yet the beams


s: Of day-spring overshoot his humble nest.


s: Whose headaches nail them to a noonday bed;


s: And save me, too, from theirs whose haggard eyes


s: Flash desperation, and betray their pangs


s: For property stripped off by cruel chance;


s: From gaiety that fills the bones with pain,


s: The mouth with blasphemy, the heart with woe.


s: The earth was made so various, that the mind


s: And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.


s: Till half their beauties fade; the weary sight,


s: Too well acquainted with their smiles, slides off


s: Fastidious, seeking less familiar scenes.


s: Then snug enclosures in the sheltered vale,


s: Where frequent hedges intercept the eye,


s: Not senseless of its charms, what still we love,


s: That such short absence may endear it more.


s: Then forests, or the savage rock may please,


s: That hides the sea-mew in his hollow clefts


s: Bound homeward, and in hope already there,


s: Greets with three cheers exulting.  At his waist


s: A girdle of half-withered shrubs he shows,


s: And at his feet the baffled billows die.


s: The common overgrown with fern, and rough


s: With prickly gorse, that, shapeless and deformed


s: And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom,


s: And decks itself with ornaments of gold,


s: Yields no unpleasing ramble; there the turf


s: Smells fresh, and, rich in odoriferous herbs


s: And fungous fruits of earth, regales the sense


s: There often wanders one, whom better days


s: Saw better clad, in cloak of satin trimmed


s: With lace, and hat with splendid ribbon bound.


s: A serving-maid was she, and fell in love


s: With one who left her, went to sea and died.


s: Her fancy followed him through foaming waves


s: To distant shores, and she would sit and weep


s: And dream of transports she was not to know.


s: She heard the doleful tidings of his death,


s: And never smiled again.  And now she roams


s: The dreary waste; there spends the livelong day,


s: The livelong night.  A tattered apron hides,


s: Worn as a cloak, and hardly hides, a gown


s: More tattered still; and both but ill conceal


s: A bosom heaved with never-ceasing sighs.


s: And hoards them in her sleeve; but needful food,


s: Though pressed with hunger oft, or comelier clothes,


s: Though pinched with cold, asks never.--Kate is crazed!


s: O'ertop the lofty wood that skirts the wild.


s: Between two poles upon a stick transverse,


s: Receives the morsel; flesh obscene of dog,


s: Or vermin, or, at best, of cock purloined


s: From his accustomed perch.  Hard-faring race!


s: They pick their fuel out of every hedge,


s: Which, kindled with dry leaves, just saves unquenched


s: The spark of life.  The sportive wind blows wide


s: Their fluttering rags, and shows a tawny skin,


s: Great skill have they in palmistry, and more


s: To conjure clean away the gold they touch,


s: Conveying worthless dross into its place;


s: Strange! that a creature rational, and cast


s: In human mould, should brutalise by choice


s: By which the world might profit and himself,


s: Yet even these, though feigning sickness oft


s: They swathe the forehead, drag the limping limb,


s: And vex their flesh with artificial sores,


s: Can change their whine into a mirthful note


s: When safe occasion offers, and with dance,


s: Beguile their woes, and make the woods resound.


s: The houseless rovers of the sylvan world;


s: And breathing wholesome air, and wandering much,


s: Need other physic none to heal the effects


s: Blest he, though undistinguished from the crowd


s: Where man, by nature fierce, has laid aside


s: His fierceness, having learnt, though slow to learn


s: Is obvious; placed within the easy reach


s: Of temperate wishes and industrious hands.


s: Here virtue thrives as in her proper soil;


s: Not rude and surly, and beset with thorns,


s: And terrible to sight, as when she springs


s: (If e'er she spring spontaneous) in remote


s: And barbarous climes, where violence prevails,


s: And strength is lord of all; but gentle, kind,


s: And all her fruits by radiant truth matured.


s: War and the chase engross the savage whole;


s: War followed for revenge, or to supplant


s: The envied tenants of some happier spot;


s: The chase for sustenance, precarious trust!


s: His hard condition with severe constraint


s: Binds all his faculties, forbids all growth


s: Of wisdom, proves a school in which he learns


s: Mean self-attachment, and scarce aught beside.


s: Thus fare the shivering natives of the north,


s: And thus the rangers of the western world,


s: Towards the Antarctic.  Even the favoured isles


s: So lately found, although the constant sun


s: Cheer all their seasons with a grateful smile,


s: Through plenty, lose in morals what they gain


s: These therefore I can pity, placed remote


s: From all that science traces, art invents,


s: Or ploughed perhaps by British bark again.


s: But far beyond the rest, and with most cause,


s: Thee, gentle savage! whom no love of thee


s: Forth from thy native bowers, to show thee here


s: The gifts of Providence, and squander life.


s: The dream is past.  And thou hast found again


s: Thy cocoas and bananas, palms, and yams,


s: And homestall thatched with leaves.  But hast thou found


s: Their former charms?  And, having seen our state,


s: Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports,


s: And heard our music; are thy simple friends,


s: Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights


s: As dear to thee as once?  And have thy joys


s: Rude as thou art (for we returned thee rude


s: I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart


s: Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known.


s: Methinks I see thee straying on the beach,


s: And asking of the surge that bathes the foot


s: If ever it has washed our distant shore.


s: I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears,


s: A patriot's for his country.  Thou art sad


s: At thought of her forlorn and abject state,


s: From which no power of thine can raise her up.


s: Thus fancy paints thee, and, though apt to err,


s: Perhaps errs little when she paints thee thus.


s: Thou climb'st the mountain-top, with eager eye


s: Exploring far and wide the watery waste,


s: For sight of ship from England.  Every speck


s: With conflict of contending hopes and fears.


s: But comes at last the dull and dusky eve,


s: And sends thee to thy cabin, well prepared


s: To dream all night of what the day denied.


s: To tempt us in thy country.  Doing good,


s: We travel far, 'tis true, but not for naught;


s: And must be bribed to compass earth again


s: By other hopes, and richer fruits than yours.


s: But though true worth and virtue, in the mild


s: Thrive most, and may perhaps thrive only there,


s: Yet not in cities oft.  In proud and gay


s: Begets its likeness.  Rank abundance breeds


s: In gross and pampered cities sloth and lust,


s: In cities, vice is hidden with most ease,


s: Or seen with least reproach; and virtue, taught


s: By frequent lapse, can hope no triumph there,


s: Beyond the achievement of successful flight.


s: I do confess them nurseries of the arts,


s: In which they flourish most; where, in the beams


s: Of public note, they reach their perfect size.


s: Such London is, by taste and wealth proclaimed


s: There, touched by Reynolds, a dull blank becomes


s: All her reflected features.  Bacon there


s: Gives more than female beauty to a stone,


s: The powers of sculpture, but the style as much;


s: Each province of her art her equal care.


s: She ploughs a brazen field, and clothes a soil


s: So sterile with what charms soe'er she will,


s: The richest scenery and the loveliest forms.


s: With which she gazes at yon burning disk


s: Undazzled, and detects and counts his spots?


s: With which she calculates, computes, and scans


s: All distance, motion, magnitude, and now


s: Measures an atom, and now girds a world?


s: In London.  Where has commerce such a mart,


s: So rich, so thronged, so drained, and so supplied,


s: Not more the glory of the earth, than she


s: A more accomplished world's chief glory now.


s: She has her praise.  Now mark a spot or two


s: That so much beauty would do well to purge;


s: And show this queen of cities, that so fair


s: May yet be foul; so witty, yet not wise.


s: That she is slack in discipline; more prompt


s: To avenge than to prevent the breach of law:


s: That thieves at home must hang; but he, that puts


s: The wealth of Indian provinces, escapes.


s: Nor is it well, nor can it come to good,


s: That through profane and infidel contempt


s: And customs of her own, till Sabbath rites


s: And knees and hassocks are wellnigh divorced.


s: God made the country, and man made the town.


s: What wonder, then, that health and virtue, gifts


s: That can alone make sweet the bitter draught


s: That life holds out to all, should most abound


s: And least be threatened in the fields and groves?


s: Possess ye therefore, ye who, borne about


s: But that of idleness, and taste no scenes


s: But such as art contrives, possess ye still


s: There only minds like yours can do no harm.


s: Our groves were planted to console at noon


s: The pensive wanderer in their shades.  At eve


s: The sleeping leaves, is all the light they wish,


s: Birds warbling all the music.  We can spare


s: The splendour of your lamps, they but eclipse


s: Our softer satellite.  Your songs confound


s: Our more harmonious notes.  The thrush departs


s: Scared, and the offended nightingale is mute.


s: There is a public mischief in your mirth;


s: It plagues your country.  Folly such as yours,


s: Graced with a sword, and worthier of a fan,


s: Has made, which enemies could ne'er have done,


s: Our arch of empire, steadfast but for you,


s: Might never reach me more!  My ear is pained,


s: Of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled.


s: There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart,


s: It does not feel for man.  The natural bond


s: That falls asunder at the touch of fire.


s: Not coloured like his own, and having power


s: To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause


s: Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.


s: Like kindred drops been mingled into one.


s: Thus man devotes his brother, and destroys;


s: And worse than all, and most to be deplored,


s: As human nature's broadest, foulest blot,


s: Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat


s: With stripes, that mercy, with a bleeding heart,


s: Weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast.


s: Then what is man?  And what man, seeing this,


s: And having human feelings, does not blush


s: And hang his head, to think himself a man?


s: I would not have a slave to till my ground,


s: And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth


s: That sinews bought and sold have ever earned.


s: No:  dear as freedom is, and in my heart's


s: And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him.


s: We have no slaves at home--then why abroad?


s: And they themselves, once ferried o'er the wave


s: That parts us, are emancipate and loosed.


s: Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs


s: Receive our air, that moment they are free,


s: They touch our country and their shackles fall.


s: That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud


s: And jealous of the blessing.  Spread it then,


s: Of all your empire; that where Britain's power


s: Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too.


s: Sure there is need of social intercourse,


s: Between the nations, in a world that seems


s: To toll the death-bell to its own decease;


s: To preach the general doom.  When were the winds


s: Let slip with such a warrant to destroy?


s: When did the waves so haughtily o'erleap


s: Their ancient barriers, deluging the dry?


s: Fires from beneath and meteors from above,


s: Have kindled beacons in the skies, and the old


s: More frequent, and foregone her usual rest.


s: To wait the close of all?  But grant her end


s: Still they are frowning signals, and bespeak


s: Displeasure in His breast who smites the earth


s: Or heals it, makes it languish or rejoice.


s: And 'tis but seemly, that, where all deserve


s: To what no few have felt, there should be peace,


s: Lie scattered where the shapely column stood.


s: Her palaces are dust.  In all her streets


s: The voice of singing and the sprightly chord


s: While God performs, upon the trembling stage


s: Of His own works, His dreadful part alone.


s: How does the earth receive Him?--With what signs


s: Pours she not all her choicest fruits abroad,


s: Her sweetest flowers, her aromatic gums,


s: She quakes at His approach.  Her hollow womb,


s: Conceiving thunders, through a thousand deeps


s: And fiery caverns roars beneath His foot.


s: The hills move lightly and the mountains smoke,


s: For He has touched them.  From the extremest point


s: His wrath is busy and His frown is felt.


s: The rocks fall headlong and the valleys rise,


s: And, charged with putrid verdure, breathe a gross


s: What solid was, by transformation strange


s: Grows fluid, and the fixed and rooted earth


s: Tormented into billows, heaves and swells,


s: Sucks down its prey insatiable.  Immense


s: Migrates uplifted, and, with all its soil


s: Alighting in far-distant fields, finds out


s: A new possessor, and survives the change.


s: Ocean has caught the frenzy, and upwrought


s: Which winds and waves obey, invades the shore


s: Upridged so high, and sent on such a charge,


s: Possessed an inland scene.  Where now the throng


s: That pressed the beach and hasty to depart


s: Looked to the sea for safety?  They are gone,


s: Gone with the refluent wave into the deep,


s: A prince with half his people.  Ancient towers,


s: And roofs embattled high, the gloomy scenes


s: Where beauty oft and lettered worth consume


s: Life in the unproductive shades of death,


s: Fall prone:  the pale inhabitants come forth,


s: From all the rigours of restraint, enjoy


s: The terrors of the day that sets them free.


s: Who then, that has thee, would not hold thee fast,


s: Freedom! whom they that lose thee so regret,


s: That even a judgment, making way for thee,


s: Seems in their eyes a mercy, for thy sake.


s: Such evil sin hath wrought; and such a flame


s: Kindled in heaven, that it burns down to earth,


s: And, in the furious inquest that it makes


s: On God's behalf, lays waste His fairest works.


s: Conspire against him.  With his breath he draws


s: Life's necessary means, but he must die.


s: Storms rise to o'erwhelm him:  or, if stormy winds


s: Rise not, the waters of the deep shall rise,


s: And, needing none assistance of the storm,


s: Shall roll themselves ashore, and reach him there.


s: The earth shall shake him out of all his holds,


s: Or make his house his grave; nor so content,


s: Shall counterfeit the motions of the flood,


s: And drown him in her dry and dusty gulfs.


s: What then--were they the wicked above all,


s: And we the righteous, whose fast-anchored isle


s: Moved not, while theirs was rocked like a light skiff,


s: The sport of every wave?  No:  none are clear,


s: And none than we more guilty.  But where all


s: Stand chargeable with guilt, and to the shafts


s: Of wrath obnoxious, God may choose His mark,


s: May punish, if He please, the less, to warn


s: The more malignant.  If He spared not them,


s: Far guiltier England, lest He spare not thee!


s: In all the good and ill that chequer life!


s: Resolving all events, with their effects


s: Did not His eye rule all things, and intend


s: The least of our concerns (since from the least


s: The greatest oft originate), could chance


s: One lawless particle to thwart His plan,


s: Then God might be surprised, and unforeseen


s: Contingence might alarm Him, and disturb


s: The smooth and equal course of His affairs.


s: This truth, philosophy, though eagle-eyed


s: And, having found His instrument, forgets


s: Or disregards, or, more presumptuous still,


s: Denies the power that wields it.  God proclaims


s: That live an Atheist life:  involves the heaven


s: In tempests, quits His grasp upon the winds


s: And gives them all their fury; bids a plague


s: And putrefy the breath of blooming health.


s: He calls for Famine, and the meagre fiend


s: Blows mildew from between his shrivelled lips,


s: And taints the golden ear.  He springs His mines,


s: Forth steps the spruce philosopher, and tells


s: The source of the disease that nature feels,


s: And bids the world take heart and banish fear.


s: Thou fool! will thy discovery of the cause


s: Suspend the effect, or heal it?  Has not God


s: Still wrought by means since first He made the world,


s: Formed for His use, and ready at His will?


s: Go, dress thine eyes with eye-salve, ask of Him,


s: And learn, though late, the genuine cause of all.


s: England, with all thy faults, I love thee still--


s: My country! and while yet a nook is left,


s: Where English minds and manners may be found,


s: Shall be constrained to love thee.  Though thy clime


s: Be fickle, and thy year most part deformed


s: With dripping rains, or withered by a frost,


s: I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies


s: And fields without a flower, for warmer France


s: With all her vines; nor for Ausonia's groves


s: Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bowers.


s: To shake thy senate, and from heights sublime


s: Thy joys and sorrows with as true a heart


s: Thy follies too, and with a just disdain


s: How, in the name of soldiership and sense,


s: Should England prosper, when such things, as smooth


s: With odours, and as profligate as sweet,


s: Who sell their laurel for a myrtle wreath,


s: And love when they should fight; when such as these


s: Time was when it was praise and boast enough


s: In every clime, and travel where we might,


s: That we were born her children.  Praise enough


s: That Chatham's language was his mother tongue,


s: And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own.


s: Farewell those honours, and farewell with them


s: The hope of such hereafter.  They have fallen


s: Each in his field of glory; one in arms,


s: And Chatham, heart-sick of his country's shame.


s: They made us many soldiers.  Chatham, still


s: If any wronged her.  Wolfe, where'er he fought,


s: And all were swift to follow whom all loved.


s: Those suns are set.  Oh, rise some other such!


s: Of old achievements, and despair of new.


s: Now hoist the sail, and let the streamers float


s: Upon the wanton breezes.  Strew the deck


s: With lavender, and sprinkle liquid sweets,


s: The nose of nice nobility.  Breathe soft,


s: Ye clarionets, and softer still, ye flutes,


s: That winds and waters lulled by magic sounds


s: May bear us smoothly to the Gallic shore.


s: True, we have lost an empire--let it pass.


s: True, we may thank the perfidy of France


s: With all the cunning of an envious shrew.


s: And let that pass--'twas but a trick of state.


s: A brave man knows no malice, but at once


s: And gives his direst foe a friend's embrace.


s: And shamed as we have been, to the very beard


s: Braved and defied, and in our own sea proved


s: Too weak for those decisive blows that once


s: Some small pre-eminence, we justly boast


s: Go then, well worthy of the praise ye seek,


s: And show the shame ye might conceal at home,


s: In foreign eyes!--be grooms, and win the plate,


s: Where once your nobler fathers won a crown!--


s: To those that need it.  Folly is soon learned,


s: And, under such preceptors, who can fail?


s: Which only poets know.  The shifts and turns,


s: To which the mind resorts, in chase of terms


s: Though apt, yet coy, and difficult to win--


s: The mirror of the mind, and hold them fast,


s: And force them sit, till he has pencilled off


s: A faithful likeness of the forms he views;


s: Then to dispose his copies with such art


s: That each may find its most propitious light,


s: Than by the labour and the skill it cost,


s: So pleasing, and that steal away the thought


s: With such address from themes of sad import,


s: That, lost in his own musings, happy man!


s: Such joys has he that sings.  But ah! not such,


s: Or seldom such, the hearers of his song.


s: Fastidious, or else listless, or perhaps


s: There least amusement where he found the most.


s: I would not trifle merely, though the world


s: Be loudest in their praise who do no more.


s: Yet what can satire, whether grave or gay?


s: The freaks of fashion, regulate the dress,


s: Retrench a sword-blade, or displace a patch;


s: But where are its sublimer trophies found?


s: What vice has it subdued? whose heart reclaimed


s: Laughed at, he laughs again; and, stricken hard,


s: Turns to the stroke his adamantine scales,


s: The pulpit therefore--and I name it, filled


s: With solemn awe, that bids me well beware


s: With what intent I touch that holy thing--


s: The pulpit, when the satirist has at last,


s: Strutting and vapouring in an empty school,


s: Spent all his force, and made no proselyte--


s: Must stand acknowledged, while the world shall stand,


s: Support, and ornament of virtue's cause.


s: There stands the messenger of truth; there stands


s: The legate of the skies; his theme divine,


s: His office sacred, his credentials clear.


s: Its thunders, and by him, in strains as sweet


s: As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace.


s: He stablishes the strong, restores the weak,


s: Reclaims the wanderer, binds the broken heart,


s: Bright as his own, and trains, by every rule


s: Are all such teachers? would to heaven all were!


s: But hark--the Doctor's voice--fast wedged between


s: Two empirics he stands, and with swollen cheeks


s: Inspires the news, his trumpet.  Keener far


s: Than all invective is his bold harangue,


s: While through that public organ of report


s: He hails the clergy, and, defying shame,


s: Announces to the world his own and theirs,


s: He teaches those to read whom schools dismissed,


s: And colleges, untaught; sells accents, tone,


s: And emphasis in score, and gives to prayer


s: Down into modern use; transforms old print


s: To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes


s: Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.--


s: Are there who purchase of the Doctor's ware?


s: That grave and learned Clerks should need such aid.


s: He doubtless is in sport, and does but droll,


s: Grand caterer and dry-nurse of the Church.


s: Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life,


s: To such I render more than mere respect,


s: Whose actions say that they respect themselves.


s: But, loose in morals, and in manners vain,


s: Ambling and prattling scandal as he goes,


s: But rare at home, and never at his books


s: Or with his pen, save when he scrawls a card;


s: Constant at routs, familiar with a round


s: And well prepared by ignorance and sloth,


s: To his own pleasures and his patron's pride.--


s: Preserve the Church! and lay not careless hands


s: On skulls that cannot teach, and will not learn.


s: Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul,


s: Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own,


s: Paul should himself direct me.  I would trace


s: His master-strokes, and draw from his design.


s: I would express him simple, grave, sincere;


s: In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,


s: And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste,


s: Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,


s: And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds


s: Behold the picture!--Is it like?--Like whom?


s: The things that mount the rostrum with a skip,


s: And then skip down again; pronounce a text,


s: Cry--Hem; and reading what they never wrote,


s: Just fifteen minutes, huddle up their work,


s: And with a well-bred whisper close the scene.


s: And serves the altar, in my soul I loathe


s: All affectation.  'Tis my perfect scorn;


s: What!--will a man play tricks, will he indulge


s: And pretty face, in presence of his God?


s: Or will he seek to dazzle me with tropes,


s: And play his brilliant parts before my eyes,


s: He mocks his Maker, prostitutes and shames


s: His noble office, and, instead of truth,


s: Displaying his own beauty, starves his flock!


s: Therefore, avaunt, all attitude and stare


s: And start theatric, practised at the glass.


s: Who handles things divine; and all beside,


s: Though learned with labour, and though much admired


s: By curious eyes and judgments ill-informed,


s: Misled by custom, strain celestial themes


s: Through the prest nostril, spectacle-bestrid.


s: Some, decent in demeanour while they preach,


s: That task performed, relapse into themselves,


s: Grow wanton, and give proof to every eye--


s: Whoe'er was edified themselves were not.


s: Forth comes the pocket mirror.  First we stroke


s: An eyebrow; next compose a straggling lock;


s: Then with an air, most gracefully performed,


s: And lay it at its ease with gentle care,


s: With handkerchief in hand, depending low:


s: The better hand, more busy, gives the nose


s: With opera glass to watch the moving scene,


s: Now this is fulsome, and offends me more


s: And rustic coarseness would.  A heavenly mind


s: May be indifferent to her house of clay,


s: And slight the hovel as beneath her care.


s: And quaint in its deportment and attire,


s: Can lodge a heavenly mind--demands a doubt.


s: Of lightness in his speech.  'Tis pitiful


s: To court a grin, when you should woo a soul;


s: To break a jest, when pity would inspire


s: The skittish fancy with facetious tales,


s: When sent with God's commission to the heart.


s: And I consent you take it for your text,


s: Your only one, till sides and benches fail.


s: And understood too well the weighty terms


s: That he had ta'en in charge.  He would not stoop


s: Whom truth and soberness assailed in vain.


s: Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms?


s: The wisest and the best feel urgent need


s: Of all their caution in thy gentlest gales;


s: But swelled into a gust--who then, alas!


s: And therefore heedless, can withstand thy power?


s: Praise from the riveled lips of toothless, bald


s: Is oft too welcome, and may much disturb


s: The bias of the purpose.  How much more,


s: Poured forth by beauty splendid and polite,


s: Ah, spare your idol! think him human still;


s: Charms he may have, but he has frailties too;


s: Dote not too much, nor spoil what ye admire.


s: All truth is from the sempiternal source


s: Drew from the stream below.  More favoured, we


s: Drink, when we choose it, at the fountain head.


s: To them it flowed much mingled and defiled


s: With hurtful error, prejudice, and dreams


s: In vain, to filter off a crystal draught


s: Pure from the lees, which often more enhanced


s: The thirst than slaked it, and not seldom bred


s: In vain they pushed inquiry to the birth


s: And spring-time of the world; asked, Whence is man?


s: Why formed at all? and wherefore as he is?


s: Where must he find his Maker?  With what rites


s: Adore Him?  Will He hear, accept, and bless?


s: Or does the tomb take all?  If he survive


s: His ashes, where? and in what weal or woe?


s: A Deity could solve.  Their answers vague,


s: Left them as dark themselves.  Their rules of life,


s: Defective and unsanctioned, proved too weak


s: That fools discover it, and stray no more.


s: My man of morals, nurtured in the shades


s: Is Christ the abler teacher, or the schools?


s: If Christ, then why resort at every turn


s: Grace, knowledge, comfort, an unfathomed store?


s: How oft when Paul has served us with a text,


s: Men that, if now alive, would sit content


s: And humble learners of a Saviour's worth,


s: Preach it who might.  Such was their love of truth,


s: Their thirst of knowledge, and their candour too.


s: And thus it is.  The pastor, either vain


s: By nature, or by flattery made so, taught


s: To gaze at his own splendour, and to exalt


s: Or unenlightened, and too proud to learn,


s: Or vicious, and not therefore apt to teach,


s: And loose example, whom he should instruct,


s: The noblest function, and discredits much


s: The brightest truths that man has ever seen.


s: With show of love, at least with hopeful proof


s: And mode of its conveyance, by such tricks


s: Drops from the lips a disregarded thing.


s: The weak perhaps are moved, but are not taught,


s: While prejudice in men of stronger minds


s: Takes deeper root, confirmed by what they see.


s: Soon follows, and the curb of conscience snapt,


s: Note their extravagance, and be convinced.


s: By monitors that Mother Church supplies,


s: Of whom I needs must augur better things,


s: Since Heaven would sure grow weary of a world


s: We wear it at our backs.  There, closely braced


s: And binds the shoulders flat.  We prove its use


s: From rickets and distortion, else, our lot.


s: One proof at least of manhood; while the friend


s: Sticks close, a Mentor worthy of his charge.


s: Just please us while the fashion is at full,


s: But change with every moon.  The sycophant,


s: That waits to dress us, arbitrates their date,


s: Surveys his fair reversion with keen eye;


s: This fits not nicely, that is ill conceived;


s: And, making prize of all that he condemns,


s: That gives it all its flavour.  We have run


s: Through every change that fancy, at the loom


s: And, studious of mutation still, discard


s: For monstrous novelty and strange disguise.


s: We sacrifice to dress, till household joys


s: And comforts cease.  Dress drains our cellar dry,


s: And keeps our larder lean; puts out our fires,


s: Where peace and hospitality might reign.


s: What man that lives, and that knows how to live,


s: Would fail to exhibit at the public shows


s: A form as splendid as the proudest there,


s: Though appetite raise outcries at the cost?


s: A man o' the town dines late, but soon enough,


s: To ensure a side-box station at half-price.


s: You think, perhaps, so delicate his dress,


s: He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems


s: With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.


s: The rout is folly's circle which she draws


s: With magic wand.  So potent is the spell,


s: Unless by Heaven's peculiar grace, escape.


s: There we grow early gray, but never wise;


s: There form connections, and acquire no friend;


s: For second childhood, and devote old age


s: To sports which only childhood could excuse.


s: There they are happiest who dissemble best


s: Their weariness; and they the most polite,


s: Who squander time and treasure with a smile,


s: Though at their own destruction.  She that asks


s: Her dear five hundred friends, contemns them all,


s: And hates their coming.  They (what can they less?)


s: Make just reprisals, and, with cringe and shrug


s: And bow obsequious, hide their hate of her.


s: All catch the frenzy, downward from her Grace,


s: Whose flambeaux flash against the morning skies,


s: And gild our chamber ceilings as they pass,


s: Is hackneyed home unlackeyed; who, in haste


s: Alighting, turns the key in her own door,


s: And, at the watchman's lantern borrowing light,


s: Wives beggar husbands, husbands starve their wives,


s: Their last poor pittance--Fortune, most severe


s: Of goddesses yet known, and costlier far


s: Than all that held their routs in Juno's heaven.--


s: So fare we in this prison-house the world.


s: So many maniacs dancing in their chains.


s: They gaze upon the links that hold them fast


s: With eyes of anguish, execrate their lot,


s: Then shake them in despair, and dance again.


s: That waste our vitals.  Peculation, sale


s: By tricks and lies, as numerous and as keen


s: Then cast them, closely bundled, every brat


s: At the right door.  Profusion is its sire.


s: Profusion unrestrained, with all that's base


s: In character, has littered all the land,


s: That gives society its beauty, strength,


s: Makes men mere vermin, worthy to be trapped


s: And gibbeted, as fast as catchpole claws


s: Can seize the slippery prey; unties the knot


s: That holds mankind together to a scourge.


s: Of grossest nature and of worst effects,


s: Prepares it for its ruin; hardens, blinds,


s: Till they can laugh at virtue; mock the fools


s: That trust them; and, in the end, disclose a face


s: That would have shocked credulity herself,


s: Unmasked, vouchsafing this their sole excuse;--


s: Since all alike are selfish, why not they?


s: This does Profusion, and the accursed cause


s: Of such deep mischief has itself a cause.


s: Were precious, and inculcated with care,


s: There dwelt a sage called Discipline.  His head,


s: Not yet by time completely silvered o'er,


s: Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth,


s: But strong for service still, and unimpaired.


s: His eye was meek and gentle, and a smile


s: Played on his lips, and in his speech was heard


s: Was to encourage goodness.  He would stroke


s: That blushed at its own praise, and press the youth


s: Close to his side that pleased him.  Learning grew


s: Beneath his care, a thriving, vigorous plant;


s: The mind was well informed, the passions held


s: If e'er it chanced, as sometimes chance it must,


s: His frown was full of terror, and his voice


s: Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe


s: Lost favour back again, and closed the breach.


s: But Discipline, a faithful servant long,


s: Declined at length into the vale of years;


s: A palsy struck his arm, his sparkling eye


s: Was quenched in rheums of age, his voice unstrung


s: Than reverence in perverse, rebellious youth.


s: Their good old friend, and Discipline at length,


s: O'erlooked and unemployed, fell sick and died.


s: And virtue fled.  The schools became a scene


s: Of solemn farce, where ignorance in stilts,


s: His cap well lined with logic not his own,


s: With parrot tongue performed the scholar's part,


s: Became stone-blind, precedence went in truck,


s: And he was competent whose purse was so.


s: Of headstrong youth were broken; bars and bolts


s: Forgot their office, opening with a touch;


s: Till gowns at length are found mere masquerade;


s: The tasselled cap and the spruce band a jest,


s: A mockery of the world.  What need of these


s: For gamesters, jockeys, brothellers impure,


s: Spendthrifts and booted sportsmen, oftener seen


s: With belted waist, and pointers at their heels,


s: Than in the bounds of duty?  What was learned,


s: If aught was learned in childhood, is forgot,


s: And such expense as pinches parents blue


s: And vicious pleasures; buys the boy a name,


s: That sits a stigma on his father's house,


s: And cleaves through life inseparably close


s: To him that wears it.  What can after-games


s: Of riper joys, and commerce with the world,


s: The lewd vain world that must receive him soon,


s: Where science and where virtue are professed?


s: Of fashion, dissipation, taverns, stews.


s: Now, blame we most the nurselings, or the nurse?


s: The children crooked and twisted and deformed


s: Through want of care, or her whose winking eye


s: And slumbering oscitancy mars the brood?


s: The nurse no doubt.  Regardless of her charge,


s: She needs herself correction; needs to learn


s: That it is dangerous sporting with the world,


s: With things so sacred as a nation's trust;


s: The nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge.


s: All are not such.  I had a brother once--


s: Of manners sweet as virtue always wears,


s: When gay good-nature dresses her in smiles.


s: Was sacred, and was honoured, loved, and wept,


s: By more than one, themselves conspicuous there.


s: Some minds are tempered happily, and mixt


s: With such ingredients of good sense and taste


s: Of what is excellent in man, they thirst


s: With such a zeal to be what they approve,


s: That no restraints can circumscribe them more


s: Than they themselves by choice, for wisdom's sake.


s: Nor can example hurt them.  What they see


s: The charms of virtue in their just esteem.


s: Pure, from so foul a pool, to shine abroad,


s: And give the world their talents and themselves,


s: Small thanks to those whose negligence or sloth


s: Exposed their inexperience to the snare,


s: See, then, the quiver broken and decayed,


s: In which are kept our arrows.  Rusting there


s: What wonder if discharged into the world


s: They shame their shooters with a random flight,


s: Their points obtuse and feathers drunk with wine.


s: Well may the Church wage unsuccessful war


s: With such artillery armed.  Vice parries wide


s: The undreaded volley with a sword of straw,


s: And stands an impudent and fearless mark.


s: Have we not tracked the felon home, and found


s: His birthplace and his dam?  The country mourns--


s: Mourns, because every plague that can infest


s: Swarms in all quarters; meets the eye, the ear,


s: And suffocates the breath at every turn.


s: Profusion breeds them.  And the cause itself


s: Of that calamitous mischief has been found,


s: Found, too, where most offensive, in the skirts


s: Stand up unconscious and refute the charge.


s: And waved his rod divine, a race obscene,


s: Spawned in the muddy beds of Nile, came forth


s: Were covered with the pest.  The streets were filled;


s: The croaking nuisance lurked in every nook,


s: And the land stank, so numerous was the fry.


s: As one who, long in thickets and in brakes


s: Entangled, winds now this way and now that


s: His devious course uncertain, seeking home;


s: Or, having long in miry ways been foiled


s: And sore discomfited, from slough to slough


s: Plunging, and half despairing of escape,


s: If chance at length he find a greensward smooth


s: And faithful to the foot, his spirits rise,


s: He chirrups brisk his ear-erecting steed,


s: And winds his way with pleasure and with ease;


s: So I, designing other themes, and called


s: To tell its slumbers and to paint its dreams,


s: Have rambled wide.  In country, city, seat


s: Long held, and scarcely disengaged at last.


s: But now with pleasant pace, a cleanlier road


s: I mean to tread.  I feel myself at large,


s: Courageous, and refreshed for future toil,


s: Since pulpits fail, and sounding-boards reflect


s: What chance that I, to fame so little known,


s: Nor conversant with men or manners much,


s: Should speak to purpose, or with better hope


s: Crack the satiric thong?  'Twere wiser far


s: For me, enamoured of sequestered scenes,


s: And charmed with rural beauty, to repose,


s: Where chance may throw me, beneath elm or vine


s: My languid limbs, when summer sears the plains;


s: And sheltered Sofa, while the nitrous air


s: Feeds a blue flame and makes a cheerful hearth;


s: There, undisturbed by folly, and apprised


s: My partners in retreat.  Disgust concealed


s: Is ofttimes proof of wisdom, when the fault


s: Is obstinate, and cure beyond our reach.


s: Though few now taste thee unimpaired and pure,


s: Or, tasting, long enjoy thee, too infirm


s: Or too incautious to preserve thy sweets


s: Unmixed with drops of bitter, which neglect


s: Thou art the nurse of virtue.  In thine arms


s: She smiles, appearing, as in truth she is,


s: Heaven-born, and destined to the skies again.


s: Thou art not known where Pleasure is adored,


s: That reeling goddess with the zoneless waist


s: And wandering eyes, still leaning on the arm


s: For thou art meek and constant, hating change,


s: And finding in the calm of truth-tried love


s: Joys that her stormy raptures never yield.


s: Forsaking thee, what shipwreck have we made


s: In all our crowded streets, and senates seem


s: Than to release the adult'ress from her bond.


s: The adult'ress! what a theme for angry verse,


s: That feels for injured love! but I disdain


s: The nauseous task to paint her as she is,


s: Cruel, abandoned, glorying in her shame.


s: In guilty splendour shake the public ways;


s: The frequency of crimes has washed them white,


s: And verse of mine shall never brand the wretch


s: Whom matrons now of character unsmirched


s: And chaste themselves, are not ashamed to own.


s: Virtue and vice had boundaries in old time


s: Not to be passed; and she that had renounced


s: By all that prized it; not for prudery's sake,


s: 'Twas hard, perhaps, on here and there a waif


s: And taught the unblemished to preserve with care


s: That purity, whose loss was loss of all.


s: Men, too, were nice in honour in those days,


s: And judged offenders well.  Then he that sharped,


s: Was marked and shunned as odious.  He that sold


s: His country, or was slack when she required


s: His every nerve in action and at stretch,


s: Paid with the blood that he had basely spared


s: The price of his default.  But now,--yes, now,


s: In Christian charity (good-natured age!)


s: That they are safe, sinners of either sex,


s: Transgress what laws they may.  Well dressed, well bred,


s: (And no man's hatred ever wronged her yet),


s: May claim this merit still--that she admits


s: The worth of what she mimics with such care,


s: And thus gives virtue indirect applause;


s: But she has burnt her mask, not needed here,


s: Where vice has such allowance, that her shifts


s: And specious semblances have lost their use.


s: I was a stricken deer that left the herd


s: Long since; with many an arrow deep infixt


s: My panting side was charged, when I withdrew


s: To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.


s: There was I found by one who had himself


s: Been hurt by the archers.  In his side he bore,


s: And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars.


s: He drew them forth, and healed and bade me live.


s: Since then, with few associates, in remote


s: And silent woods I wander, far from those


s: My former partners of the peopled scene,


s: With few associates, and not wishing more.


s: Than once, and others of a life to come.


s: I see that all are wanderers, gone astray


s: Each in his own delusions; they are lost


s: In chase of fancied happiness, still woo'd


s: And never won.  Dream after dream ensues,


s: And still they dream that they shall still succeed,


s: And still are disappointed:  rings the world


s: With the vain stir.  I sum up half mankind,


s: And add two-thirds of the remaining half,


s: And find the total of their hopes and fears


s: Dreams, empty dreams.  The million flit as gay


s: That spreads his motley wings in the eye of noon,


s: To sport their season and be seen no more.


s: The rest are sober dreamers, grave and wise,


s: And pregnant with discoveries new and rare.


s: Some write a narrative of wars, and feats


s: Of heroes little known, and call the rant


s: And paint his person, character, and views,


s: As they had known him from his mother's womb;


s: They disentangle from the puzzled skein,


s: The threads of politic and shrewd design


s: That ran through all his purposes, and charge


s: His mind with meanings that he never had,


s: Or, having, kept concealed.  Some drill and bore


s: The solid earth, and from the strata there


s: That He who made it and revealed its date


s: Some, more acute and more industrious still,


s: To the sharp peak of her sublimest height,


s: And tell us whence the stars; why some are fixt,


s: And planetary some; what gave them first


s: Rotation, from what fountain flowed their light.


s: Great contest follows, and much learned dust


s: Involves the combatants, each claiming truth,


s: And truth disclaiming both.  And thus they spend


s: The little wick of life's poor shallow lamp


s: In playing tricks with nature, giving laws


s: To distant worlds, and trifling in their own.


s: Is't not a pity now, that tickling rheums


s: Should ever tease the lungs and blear the sight


s: Of oracles like these?  Great pity, too,


s: That having wielded the elements, and built


s: A thousand systems, each in his own way,


s: They should go out in fume and be forgot?


s: Ah, what is life thus spent? and what are they


s: But frantic who thus spend it? all for smoke--


s: A senseless bargain.  When I see such games


s: Played by the creatures of a Power who swears


s: That He will judge the earth, and call the fool


s: To a sharp reckoning that has lived in vain,


s: And when I weigh this seeming wisdom well,


s: Dissolve in pity, and account the learned,


s: If this be learning, most of all deceived.


s: Great crimes alarm the conscience, but it sleeps


s: While thoughtful man is plausibly amused.


s: Defend me, therefore, common sense, say I,


s: 'Twere well, says one sage erudite, profound,


s: And overbuilt with most impending brows,


s: 'Twere well could you permit the world to live


s: As the world pleases.  What's the world to you?--


s: Much.  I was born of woman, and drew milk


s: How then should I and any man that lives


s: Be strangers to each other?  Pierce my vein,


s: Take of the crimson stream meandering there,


s: And catechise it well.  Apply your glass,


s: Search it, and prove now if it be not blood


s: What edge of subtlety canst thou suppose


s: Keen enough, wise and skilful as thou art,


s: To cut the link of brotherhood, by which


s: In arts like yours.  I cannot call the swift


s: And perilous lightnings from the angry clouds,


s: And bid them hide themselves in the earth beneath;


s: That seems half quenched in the immense abyss:


s: Such powers I boast not--neither can I rest


s: Or heedless folly, by which thousands die,


s: Bone of my bone, and kindred souls to mine.


s: God never meant that man should scale the heavens


s: By strides of human wisdom.  In His works,


s: Though wondrous, He commands us in His Word


s: To seek Him rather where His mercy shines.


s: The mind indeed, enlightened from above,


s: Views Him in all; ascribes to the grand cause


s: His manner, and with rapture tastes His style.


s: That brings the planets home into the eye


s: Discover Him that rules them; such a veil


s: Hangs over mortal eyes, blind from the birth,


s: And dark in things divine.  Full often too


s: Our wayward intellect, the more we learn


s: Conclusions retrograde, and mad mistake:


s: But if His Word once teach us, shoot a ray


s: Through all the heart's dark chambers, and reveal


s: Truths undiscerned but by that holy light,


s: Then all is plain.  Philosophy, baptised


s: Has eyes indeed; and, viewing all she sees


s: Gives HIM His praise, and forfeits not her own.


s: Learning has borne such fruit in other days


s: Friends in the friends of science, and true prayer


s: Has flowed from lips wet with Castalian dews.


s: Such was thy wisdom, Newton, childlike sage!


s: And in His Word sagacious.  Such too thine,


s: And fed on manna.  And such thine, in whom


s: Our British Themis gloried with just cause,


s: Immortal Hale! for deep discernment praised,


s: And sound integrity not more, than famed


s: All flesh is grass, and all its glory fades


s: Like the fair flower dishevelled in the wind;


s: Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream;


s: And we that worship him, ignoble graves.


s: Nothing is proof against the general curse


s: Is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth.


s: But what is truth? 'twas Pilate's question put


s: To truth itself, that deigned him no reply.


s: And wherefore? will not God impart His light


s: To them that ask it?--Freely--'tis His joy,


s: What's that which brings contempt upon a book


s: And him that writes it, though the style be neat,


s: His name a theme for praise and for reproach?--


s: That, while it gives us worth in God's account,


s: What pearl is it that rich men cannot buy,


s: That learning is too proud to gather up,


s: But which the poor and the despised of all


s: Seek and obtain, and often find unsought?


s: Tell me, and I will tell thee what is truth.


s: Oh, friendly to the best pursuits of man,


s: Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace,


s: Few know thy value, and few taste thy sweets,


s: Though many boast thy favours, and affect


s: To understand and choose thee for their own.


s: But foolish man foregoes his proper bliss,


s: Even as his first progenitor, and quits,


s: Though placed in paradise, for earth has still


s: Some traces of her youthful beauty left,


s: Substantial happiness for transient joy.


s: Scenes formed for contemplation, and to nurse


s: The growing seeds of wisdom; that suggest,


s: Reflections such as meliorate the heart,


s: Compose the passions, and exalt the mind;


s: Scenes such as these, 'tis his supreme delight


s: To fill with riot and defile with blood.


s: Should some contagion, kind to the poor brutes


s: That draw the sportsman over hill and dale


s: Fearless, and rapt away from all his cares;


s: Should never game-fowl hatch her eggs again,


s: Could pageantry, and dance, and feast, and song


s: Be quelled in all our summer months' retreats;


s: How many self-deluded nymphs and swains,


s: Who dream they have a taste for fields and groves,


s: Would find them hideous nurseries of the spleen,


s: And crowd the roads, impatient for the town!


s: They love the country, and none else, who seek


s: For their own sake its silence and its shade;


s: Delights which who would leave, that has a heart


s: For all the savage din of the swift pack,


s: And clamours of the field?  Detested sport,


s: That owes its pleasures to another's pain,


s: That feeds upon the sobs and dying shrieks


s: Of silent tears and heart-distending sighs!


s: Vain tears, alas! and sighs that never find


s: Well--one at least is safe.  One sheltered hare


s: Whom ten long years' experience of my care


s: Not needful here, beneath a roof like mine.


s: Yes--thou mayst eat thy bread, and lick the hand


s: That feeds thee; thou mayst frolic on the floor


s: To thy straw-couch, and slumber unalarmed;


s: For I have gained thy confidence, have pledged


s: And when I place thee in it, sighing say,


s: I knew at least one hare that had a friend.


s: How various his employments, whom the world


s: Friends, books, a garden, and perhaps his pen,


s: Dressed to his taste, inviting him abroad--


s: Me, therefore, studious of laborious ease,


s: Not slothful; happy to deceive the time,


s: When He shall call His debtors to account,


s: From whom are all our blessings; business finds


s: Even here:  while sedulous I seek to improve,


s: At least neglect not, or leave unemployed,


s: The mind He gave me; driving it, though slack


s: To its just point--the service of mankind.


s: That has a heart and keeps it; has a mind


s: That hungers and supplies it; and who seeks


s: Has business; feels himself engaged to achieve


s: A life all turbulence and noise may seem,


s: To him that leads it, wise and to be praised;


s: Sought in still water, and beneath clear skies.


s: Or dives not for it or brings up instead,


s: Vainly industrious, a disgraceful prize.


s: The morning finds the self-sequestered man


s: Fresh for his task, intend what task he may.


s: His warm but simple home, where he enjoys,


s: With her who shares his pleasures and his heart,


s: Sweet converse, sipping calm the fragrant lymph


s: Which neatly she prepares; then to his book


s: As aught occurs that she may smile to hear,


s: The welcome call, conscious how much the hand


s: Of lubbard labour needs his watchful eye,


s: But much performs himself; no works indeed


s: That ask robust tough sinews, bred to toil,


s: Not tire, demanding rather skill than force.


s: Proud of his well-spread walls, he views his trees


s: With pleasure more than even their fruits afford,


s: Which, save himself who trains them, none can feel.


s: These, therefore, are his own peculiar charge,


s: No meaner hand may discipline the shoots,


s: None but his steel approach them.  What is weak,


s: Distempered, or has lost prolific powers,


s: Dooms to the knife.  Nor does he spare the soft


s: And succulent that feeds its giant growth,


s: But barren, at the expense of neighbouring twigs


s: Less ostentatious, and yet studded thick


s: With hopeful gems.  The rest, no portion left


s: That may disgrace his art, or disappoint


s: And ventilate and warm the swelling buds.


s: Hence Summer has her riches, Autumn hence,


s: And hence even Winter fills his withered hand


s: With blushing fruits, and plenty not his own,


s: And wise precaution, which a clime so rude


s: Makes needful still, whose Spring is but the child


s: Of churlish Winter, in her froward moods


s: Discovering much the temper of her sire.


s: For oft, as if in her the stream of mild


s: Maternal nature had reversed its course,


s: She brings her infants forth with many smiles,


s: But, once delivered, kills them with a frown.


s: He therefore, timely warned, himself supplies


s: Her want of care, screening and keeping warm


s: The plenteous bloom, that no rough blast may sweep


s: His garlands from the boughs.  Again, as oft


s: As the sun peeps and vernal airs breathe mild,


s: The fence withdrawn, he gives them ev'ry beam,


s: And spreads his hopes before the blaze of day.


s: To raise the prickly and green-coated gourd,


s: So grateful to the palate, and when rare


s: That toiling ages have but just matured,


s: Yet gnats have had, and frogs and mice long since,


s: Their eulogy; those sang the Mantuan bard,


s: And these the Grecian in ennobling strains;


s: And in thy numbers, Philips, shines for aye


s: The ambition of one meaner far, whose powers


s: Pant for the praise of dressing to the taste


s: A cucumber, while costly yet and scarce.


s: Impregnated with quick fermenting salts,


s: And potent to resist the freezing blast.


s: For ere the beech and elm have cast their leaf


s: Exposed to his cold breath, the task begins.


s: He seeks a favoured spot, that where he builds


s: The agglomerated pile, his frame may front


s: The sun's meridian disk, and at the back


s: Enjoy close shelter, wall, or reeds, or hedge


s: Impervious to the wind.  First he bids spread


s: Dry fern or littered hay, that may imbibe


s: The ascending damps; then leisurely impose,


s: From the full fork, the saturated straw.


s: What longest binds the closest, forms secure


s: The shapely side, that as it rises takes


s: Sheltering the base with its projected eaves.


s: The uplifted frame compact at every joint,


s: And overlaid with clear translucent glass,


s: From the dashed pane the deluge as it falls.


s: He shuts it close, and the first labour ends.


s: Thrice must the voluble and restless earth


s: Spin round upon her axle, ere the warmth


s: Slow gathering in the midst, through the square mass


s: Diffused, attain the surface.  When, behold!


s: Asks egress; which obtained, the overcharged


s: And drenched conservatory breathes abroad,


s: In volumes wheeling slow, the vapour dank,


s: The impatient fervour which it first conceives


s: Within its reeking bosom, threatening death


s: To his young hopes, requires discreet delay.


s: Experience, slow preceptress, teaching oft


s: Must prompt him, and admonish how to catch


s: The auspicious moment, when the tempered heat,


s: The seed selected wisely, plump and smooth


s: Diminutive, well filled with well-prepared


s: And fruitful soil, that has been treasured long,


s: And drunk no moisture from the dripping clouds:


s: These on the warm and genial earth that hides


s: The smoking manure, and o'erspreads it all,


s: In the soft medium, till they stand immersed.


s: Then rise the tender germs upstarting quick


s: And spreading wide their spongy lobes; at first


s: Pale, wan, and livid; but assuming soon,


s: Strained through the friendly mats, a vivid green.


s: Two leaves produced, two rough indented leaves,


s: Cautious he pinches from the second stalk


s: A pimple, that portends a future sprout,


s: And interdicts its growth.  Thence straight succeed


s: The branches, sturdy to his utmost wish,


s: The crowded roots demand enlargement now


s: Indulged in what they wish, they soon supply


s: Large foliage, overshadowing golden flowers,


s: Blown on the summit of the apparent fruit.


s: These have their sexes, and when summer shines


s: From flower to flower, and even the breathing air


s: Wafts the rich prize to its appointed use.


s: Not so when winter scowls.  Assistant art


s: Then acts in nature's office, brings to pass


s: The glad espousals and insures the crop.


s: Grudge not, ye rich (since luxury must have


s: His dainties, and the world's more numerous half


s: Grudge not the cost.  Ye little know the cares,


s: The vigilance, the labour, and the skill


s: That day and night are exercised, and hang


s: That ye may garnish your profuse regales


s: With summer fruits, brought forth by wintry suns.


s: Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart


s: The process.  Heat and cold, and wind and steam,


s: Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and swarming flies


s: Dire disappointment that admits no cure,


s: And which no care can obviate.  It were long,


s: Too long to tell the expedients and the shifts


s: Which he, that fights a season so severe,


s: Devises, while he guards his tender trust,


s: And oft, at last, in vain.  The learned and wise


s: Sarcastic would exclaim, and judge the song


s: Cold as its theme, and, like its theme, the fruit


s: Of too much labour, worthless when produced.


s: Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.


s: There blooms exotic beauty, warm and snug,


s: While the winds whistle and the snows descend.


s: Shines there and flourishes.  The golden boast


s: Peep through their polished foliage at the storm,


s: And seem to smile at what they need not fear.


s: The amomum there with intermingling flowers


s: And cherries hangs her twigs.  Geranium boasts


s: Her crimson honours, and the spangled beau,


s: Ficoides, glitters bright the winter long,


s: All plants, of every leaf, that can endure


s: The winter's frown if screened from his shrewd bite,


s: Live there and prosper.  Those Ausonia claims,


s: Levantine regions these; the Azores send


s: They form one social shade, as if convened


s: Yet such arrangement, rarely brought to pass


s: Must lend its aid to illustrate all their charms,