Something than beauty dearer, should they look
Or on the mind, or mind-illumined face; Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love, The richest bounty of indulgent Heaven. Meantime a smiling offspring rises round, And mingles both their graces. By degrees, The human blossom blows; and every day, Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm, The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom. Then infant reason grows apace, and calls For the kind hand of an assiduous care. Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot, To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix The generous purpose in the glowing breast. Oh, speak the joy! ye whom the sudden tear Surprises often, while you look around, And nothing strikes your eye but sights of bliss,
All various nature pressing on the heart: An elegant sufficiency, content, Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and alternate labour, useful life, Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven. These are the matchless joys of virtuous love; And thus their moments fly. The seasons thus,
As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll, Still find them happy; and consenting Spring Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads : Till evening comes at last, serene and mild; When, after the long vernal day of life, Enamour'd more, as more remembrance
With many a proof of recollected love, Together down they sink in social sleep; Together freed, their gentle spirits fly To scenes where love and bliss immortal reign.
James Thomson.-Born 1700, Died 1748.
Close in the covert of an hazel copse, Where winded into pleasing solitudes Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat
Pensive, and pierced with love's delightful pangs.
There to the stream that down the distant rocks
Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play'd
Among the bending willows, falsely he Of Musidora's cruelty complain'd.
She felt his flame; but deep within her breast,
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride,
The soft return conceal'd; save when it stole In sidelong glances from her downcast eye,
Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. Touch'd by the scene, no stranger to his
He framed a melting lay, to try her heart; And, if an infant passion struggled there, To call that passion forth. Thrice happy swain !
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine. For, lo conducted by the laughing Loves, This cool retreat his Musidora sought: Warm in her cheek the sultry season glow'd; And, robed in loose array, she came to bathe Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost. And dubious flutterings, he awhile remain'd: A pure ingenuous elegance of soul,
A delicate refinement, known to few, Perplex'd his breast, and urged him to retire : But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue,
Say, ye severest, what would you have done? Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest Arcadian stream, with timid eye around The banks surveying, stripp'd her beauteous limbs,
To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. Ah, then not Paris on the piny top Of Ida panted stronger, when aside The rival goddesses the veil divine Cast unconfined, and gave him all their charms,
Than, Damon, thou; as from the snowy leg,
And slender foot, th' inverted silk she drew; As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone; And, through the parting robe the alternate breast,
With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless
In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth,
How durst thou risk the soul-distracting view,
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white. Harmonious swell'd by Nature's finest hand, In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn; And fair-exposed she stood, shrunk from herself,
With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze Alarm'd and starting like the fearful fawn? Then to the flood she rush'd; the parted flood
Its lovely guest with closing waves received; And every beauty softening, every grace Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed: As shines the lily through the crystal mild; Or as the rose amid the morning dew, Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows,
While thus she wanton'd, now beneath the
But ill-conceal'd; and now with streaming locks,
That half-embraced her in a humid veil, Rising again, the latent Damon drew
Such maddening draughts of beauty to the soul,
As for awhile o'erwhelm'd his raptured thought
With luxury too daring. Check'd, at last, By love's respectful modesty, he deem'd The theft profane, if aught profane to love Can e'er be deem'd; and, struggling from the shade,
With headlong hurry fled: but first these lines,
Traced by his ready pencil, on the bank With trembling hand he threw: "Bathe on, my fair,
Yet unbeheld, save by the sacred eye
Of faithful love: I go to guard thy haunt, To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, And each licentious eye." With wild sur- prise,
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, A stupid moment motionless she stood: So stands the statue that enchants the world, So bending tries to veil the matchless boast, The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes Which blissful Eden knew not; and, array'd In careless haste, th' alarming paper snatch'd. But, when her Damon's well-known hand she saw,
Her terrors vanish'd, and a softer train Of mixt emotions, hard to be described, Her sudden bosom seized: shame void of guilt, The charming blush of innocence, esteem And admiration of her lover's flame, By modesty exalted: even a sense Of self-approving beauty stole across
Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm Hush'd by degrees the tumult of her soul; And on the spreading beech, that o'er the
Blue, through the dusk, the smoking currents shine;
And from the bladed field the fearful hare Limps awkward; while along the forest glade
The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze At early passenger. Music awakes The native voice of undissembled joy; And thick around the woodland hymns arise. Roused by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd leaves
His mossy cottage, where with peace he dwells;
And from the crowded fold, in order, drives His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn. James Thomson.-Born 1700, Died 1748.
869.-A SUMMER EVENING.
Low walks the sun, and broadens by degrees, Just o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds
Assembled gay, a richly gorgeous train, In all their pomp attend his setting throne. Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And
As if his weary chariot sought the bowers Of Amphitrite, and her tending nymphs, (So Grecian fable sung) he dips his orb; Now half immersed; and now a golden curve Gives one bright glance, then total dis-
Confess'd from yonder slow-extinguish'd clouds,
All ether softening, sober evening takes Her wonted station in the middle air;
A thousand shadows at her beck. First
She sends on earth; then that of deeper dye Steals soft behind; and then a deeper still, In circle following circle, gathers round, To close the face of things. A fresher gale Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream,
Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of
While the quail clamours for his running mate.
Wide o'er the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze,
A whitening shower of vegetable down Amusive floats. The kind impartial care Of nature nought disdains: thoughtful to feed
Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming year, From field to field the feather'd seeds she wings.
His folded flock secure, the shepherd home Hies merry-hearted; and by turns relieves The ruddy milkmaid of her brimming pail; The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart
Unknowing what the joy-mix'd anguish
Sincerely loves, by that best language shown Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. Onward they pass o'er many a panting height,
And valley sunk, and unfrequented; where At fall of eve the fairy people throng, In various game and revelry, to pass The summer night, as village stories tell. But far about they wander from the grave Of him whom his ungentle fortune urged Against his own sad breast to lift the hand Of impious violence. The lonely tower Is also shunn'd; whose mournful chambers hold-
So night-struck fancy dreams-the yelling ghost.
Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge, The glowworm lights his gem; and through the dark
A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields The world to night; not in her winter robe Of massy Stygian woof, but loose array'd In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, Glanced from the imperfect surfaces of things,
Flings half an image on the straining eye; While wav'ring woods, and villages, and streams,
And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long retain'd
The ascending gleam, are all one swimming
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven Thence weary vision turns; where, leading soft
The silent hours of love, with purest ray Sweet Venus shines; and from her genial rise,
When daylight sickens till it springs afresh, Unrivall'd reigns, the fairest lamp of night. James Thomson.-Born 1700, Died 1748.
The lovely young Lavinia once had friends; And Fortune smiled, deceitful, on her birth. For, in her helpless years deprived of all, Of every stay, save Innocence and Heaven, She, with her widow'd mother, feeble, old, And poor, lived in a cottage, far retired Among the windings of a woody vale; By solitude and deep surrounding shades, But more by bashful modesty, conceal'd. Together thus they shunn'd the cruel scorn Which virtue, sunk to poverty, would meet From giddy passion and low-minded pride: Almost on Nature's common bounty fed; Like the gay birds that sung them to repose, Content, and careless of to-morrow's fare. Her form was fresher than the morning rose,
When the dew wets its leaves; unstain'd and pure,
As is the lily, or the mountain snow. The modest virtues mingled in her eyes, Still on the ground dejected, darting all Their humid beams into the blooming flowers; Or when the mournful tale her mother told, Of what her faithless fortune promised once, Thrill'd in her thought, they, like the dewy star
Of evening, shone in tears. A native grace Sat fair-proportion'd on her polish'd limbs, Veil'd in a simple robe, their best attire, Beyond the pomp of dress; for loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, But is when unadorn'd adorn'd the most. Thoughtless of Beauty, she was Beauty's self, Recluse amid the close-embowering woods. As in the hollow breast of Apennine, Beneath the shelter of encircling hills A myrtle rises, far from human eye, And breathes its balmy fragrance o'er the wild;
So flourish'd blooming, and unseen by all, The sweet Lavinia; till, at length, compell'd By strong Necessity's supreme command, With smiling patience in her looks, she went To glean Palemon's fields. The pride of swains
Palemon was, the generous, and the rich; Who led the rural life in all its joy And elegance, such as Arcadian song Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times; When tyrant custom had not shackled man, But free to follow nature was the mode. He then, his fancy with autumnal scenes Amusing, chanced beside his reaper-train To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye; Unconscious of her power, and turning quick With unaffected blushes from his gaze: He saw her charming, but he saw not half The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd. That very moment love and chaste desire Sprung in his bosom, to himself unknown; For still the world prevail'd, and its dread laugh,
Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn, Should his heart own a gleaner in the field: And thus in secret to his soul he sigh'd. "What pity! that so delicate a form, By beauty kindled, where enlivening sense And more than vulgar goodness seem to dwell, Should be devoted to the rude embrace Of some indecent clown! She looks, methinks, Of old Acasto's line; and to my mind Recalls that patron of my happy life, From whom my liberal fortune took its rise; Now to the dust gone down; his houses, lands, And once fair-spreading family, dissolved. 'Tis said that in some lone obscure retreat, Urged by remembrance sad, and decent pride. Far from those scenes which knew their better days,
His aged widow and his daughter live, Whom yet my fruitless search could never find.
The soften'd image of my noble friend, Alive his every look, his every feature, More elegantly touch'd. Sweeter than Spring! Thou sole surviving blossom from the root That nourish'd up my fortune! say, ah where, In what sequester'd desert, hast thou drawn The kindest aspect of delighted Heaven? Into such beauty spread, and blown so fair; Though poverty's cold wind, and crushing rain,
Beat keen and heavy on thy tender years? O let me now, into a richer soil,
Transplant thee safe! where vernal suns, and showers,
Diffuse their warmest, largest influence; And of my garden be the pride and joy! Ill it befits thee, oh! it ill befits Acasto's daughter, his whose open stores, Though vast, were little to his ampler heart, The father of a country, thus to pick The very refuse of those harvest-fields, Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy. Then throw that shameful pittance from thy hand,
But ill applied to such a rugged task;
The fields, the master, all, my fair, are thine; If to the various blessings which thy house Has on me lavish'd, thou wilt add that bliss, That dearest bliss, the power of blessing thee!"
Here ceased the youth, yet still his speaking
Express'd the sacred triumph of his soul, With conscious virtue, gratitude, and love, Above the vulgar joy divinely raised. Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm Of goodness irresistible, and all
In sweet disorder lost, she blush'd consent. The news immediate to her mother brought, While, pierced with anxious thought, she pined
Of setting life shone on her evening hours: Not less enraptured than the happy pair; Who flourish'd long in tender bliss, and rear'd A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves, And good, the grace of all the country round. James Thomson.-Born 1700, Died 1748.
871.-THE HARVEST STORM.
Defeating oft the labours of the year, The sultry south collects a potent blast. At first, the groves are scarcely seen to stir Their trembling tops, and a.still murmur
Along the soft-inclining fields of corn. But as th' aerial tempest fuller swells, And in one mighty stream, invisible, Immense, the whole excited atmosphere Impetuous rushes o'er the sounding world: Strain'd to the root, the stooping forest pours A rustling shower of yet untimely leaves, High-beat, the circling mountains eddy in, From the bare wild, the dissipated storm, And send it in a torrent down the vale. Exposed, and naked, to its utmost rage, Through all the sea of harvest rolling round, The billowy plain floats wide; nor can evade, Though pliant to the blast, its seizing force; Or whirl'd in air, or into vacant chaff Shook waste. And sometimes too a burst of rain,
Swept from the black horizon, broad, descends
In one continuous flood. Still over head The mingling tempest weaves its gloom, and
The deluge deepens; till the fields around Lie sunk and flatted, in the sordid wave. Sudden, the ditches swell; the meadows swim.
Red, from the hills, innumerable streams Tumultuous roar; and high above its banks The river lift; before whose rushing tide, Herds, flocks, and harvest, cottages, and swains,
Roll mingled down; all that the winds had spared
In one wild moment ruin'd; the big hopes And well-earn'd treasures of the painful year. Fled to some eminence, the husbandman Helpless beholds the miserable wreck Driving along his drowning ox at once Descending, with his labours scatter'd round, He sees; and instant o'er his shivering thought
Comes Winter unprovided, and a train Of claimant children dear. Ye masters, then,
Be mindful of the rough laborious hand, That sinks you soft in elegance and ease; Be mindful of those limbs in russet clad,
Whose toil to yours is warmth, and graceful pride:
And, oh! be mindful of that sparing board, Which covers yours with luxury profuse, Makes your glass sparkle, and your sense rejoice!
Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains And all-involving winds have swept away.
James Thomson.-Born 1700, Died 1748.
872.-AUTUMN EVENING SCENE. But see the fading many-colour'd woods, Shade deepening over shade, the country round
Imbrown; a crowded umbrage dusk and dun, Of ev'ry hue, from wan declining green To sooty dark. These now the lonesome
Low whisp'ring, lead into their leaf-strown walks,
And give the season in its latest view. Meantime, light shadowing all, a sober calm
Fleeces unbounded ether: whose least wave Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn The gentle current: while illumined wide, The dewy-skirted clouds imbibe the sun, And through their lucid veil his soften'd force
Shed o'er the peaceful world. Then is the time,
For those whom virtue and whom nature charm,
To steal themselves from the degenerate
And soar above this little scene of things: To tread low-thoughted vice beneath their
To soothe the throbbing passions into peace; And woo lone Quiet in her silent walks. Thus solitary, and in pensive guise, Oft let me wander o'er the russet mead, And through the sadden'd grove, where scarce is heard
One dying strain, to cheer the woodman's toil.
Haply some widow'd songster pours his plaint,
Far, in faint warblings, through the tawny
While congregated thrushes, linnets, larks, And each wild throat, whose artless strains so late
Swell'd all the music of the swarming shades, Robb'd of their tuneful souls, now shivering
On the dead tree, a dull despondent flock: With not a brightness waving o'er their plumes,
And nought save chatt'ring discord in their note.
O let not, aim'd from some inhuman eye, The gun the music of the coming year Destroy; and harmless, unsuspecting harm, Lay the weak tribes a miserable prey In mingled murder, flutt'ring on the ground! The pale descending year, yet pleasing still,
A gentler mood inspires; for now the leaf Incessant rustles from the mournful grove; Oft startling such as studious walk below, And slowly circles through the waving air. But should a quicker breeze amid the boughs Sob, o'er the sky the leafy deluge streams; Till choked, and matted with the dreary shower,
The forest walks, at ev'ry rising gale, Roll wide the wither'd waste, and whistle bleak.
Fled is the blasted verdure of the fields; And, shrunk into their beds, the flowery
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