Again regale them on some smiling day?

See where the stony bottom of their town

1195

Looks desolate, and wild; with here and there

A helpless number, who the ruin'd state
Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death.
Thus a proud city, populous and rich,

Full of the works of peace, and high in joy;

At theatre or feast, or sunk in sleep,

(As late, Palermo, was thy fate) is seiz'd

By some dread earthquake; and convulsive hurl'd
Sheer from the black foundation, stench-involv'd,
Into a gulph of blue sulphureous flame.

1200

1205

HENCE every harsher sight! for now the day, O'er heaven and earth diffus'd, grows warm, and high; Infinite splendour! wide investing all,

How still the breeze! save what the filmy thread

Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain.
How clear the cloudless sky! how deeply ting'd
With a peculiar blue! the ethereal arch
How swell'd immense! amid whose azure thron'd
The radiant sun how gay! how calm below
The gilded earth! the harvest-treasures all
Now gather'd in, beyond the rage of storms,
Sure to the swain; the circling fence shut up;
And instant Winter's utmost rage defy'd.
While, loose to festive joy, the country round
Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth,

1210

1215.

1220

Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-strung youth

By the quick sense of music taught alone,

Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance. charm abroad, the village-toast,

Her every

Young, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich,
Darts not-unmeaning looks; and, where her eye
Points an approving smile, with double force,

1225

The cudgel rattles, and the wrestler twines.

Age too shines out; and, garrulous, recounts

The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice; nor think

That, with to-morrow's sun, their annual toil

1231

Begins again the never-ceasing round.

OH knew he but his happiness, of Men

The happiest he! who far from public rage,

Deep in the vale, with a choice Few retir'd,

1235

Drinks the pure pleasures of the RURAL LIFE.

What tho' the dome be wanting, whose proud gate,

Each morning, vomits out the sneaking crowd

Of flatterers false, and in their turn abus'd?

Vile intercourse! What tho' the glittering robe, 1240

Of every hue reflected light can give,

Or floating loose, or stiff with mazy gold,

The pride and gaze of fools! oppress him not?

What tho', from utmost land and sea purvey'd,
For him each rarer tributary life

1245

Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps

With luxury, and death? What tho' his bowl

Flames not with costly juice; nor sunk in beds,

Oft of gay care, he tosses out the night,
Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle state?
What tho' he knows not those fantastic joys,
That still amuse the wanton, still deceive;
A face of pleasure, but a heart of pain;
Their hollow moments undelighted all?
Sure peace is his; a solid life, estrang'd
To disappointment, and fallacious hope
Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich,

1250

1255

In herbs and fruits; whatever greens the Spring, When heaven descends in showers; or bends the bough When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams;

Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies

Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap:

1261

These are not wanting; nor the milky drove,
Luxuriant, spread o'er all the lowing vale;
Nor bleating mountains; nor the chide of streams,
And hum of bees, inviting sleep sincere

Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade,

Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay;

Nor ought besides of prospect, grove, or song,

1266

Dim grottoes, gleaming lakes, and fountain clear. 1270
Here too dwells simple truth; plain innocence;
Unsullied beauty; sound unbroken youth,
Patient of labour, with a little pleas'd;

Health ever blooming; unambitious toil;
Calm contemplation, and poetic ease.

LET others brave the flood in quest of gain,

1275

And beat, for joyless months, the gloomy wave.
Let such as deem it glory to destroy,

1289

Rush into blood, the sack of cities seek;
Unpierc'd, exulting in the widow's wail,
The virgin's shriek, and infant's trembling cry.
LET some, far distant from their native soil,
Urg'd or by want or hardened avarice,
Find other lands beneath another sun.
Let this thro' cities work his eager way,
By legal outrage and establish'd guile,
The social sense extinct; and that ferment
Mad into tumult the seditious herd,
Or melt them down to slavery. Let these
Insnare the wretched in the toils of law,
Fomenting discord, and perplexing right,
An iron race! and those of fairer front,
But equal inhumanity, in courts,

Delusive pomp, and dark cabals, delight;

OTHE

1285

BOD

1299

Wreathe the deep bow, diffuse the lying smile, 1295 And tread the weary labyrinth of state.

While he, from all the stormy passions free

That restless Men involve, hears, and but hears,

At distance safe, the human tempest roar,

1301

Wrapt close in conscious peace. The fall of kings,
The rage of nations, and the crush of states,
Move not the Man, who, from the world escap'd,
In still retreats, and flowery solitudes,

Z

To Nature's voice attends, from month to month,
And day to day, thro' the revolving year;
Admiring, sees her in her every shape;

Feels all her sweet emotions at his heart;

1305

Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more.
He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting germes,
Marks the first bud, and sucks the healthful gale 1310
Into his freshened soul; her genial hours

He full enjoys; and not a beauty blows,
And not an opening blossom breathes in vain.
In Summer he, beneath the living shade,
Such as o'er frigid Tempe wont to wave,

Or Hemus cool, reads what the Muse, of these
Perhaps, has in immortal numbers sung;
Or what she dictates, writes: and, oft an eye

Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year.

1315

WHEN Autumn's yellow lustre gilds the world, 1320

And tempts the sickled swain into the field,

Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart distends

With gentle throws; and, thro' the tepid gleams

Deep musing, then he best exerts his song.

Even Winter wild to him is full of bliss.

The mighty tempest, and the hoary waste,

Abrupt, and deep, stretch'd o'er the buried earth,

Awake to solemn thought. At night the skies,

Disclos'd and kindled by refining frost,

Pour every lustre on th' exalted eye.

1325

1330