Call'd back the flitting life again,
And health infpir'd thro' ev'ry vein.
Again thrills with her genial zeft
Each nerve; again my languid breast
Vifits the cherub Joy. For this
May thy aufpicious heart ne'er mifs,
Oft as the fair for charms decay'd
Implores thy falutary aid,
To fmooth the lovely mourner's brow,
And bid reviving beauties glow;
To foothe the tender parent's cries,
And wipe the tears from infant eyes!
But chief, my Muse, with rev'rent awe
To him, whofe will is Nature's law,
Thy hymns of gratulation pay,
To Him direct the tribute lay;
From whom derives the balmy pill,
It's virtues, the phyfician's skill;
That o'er each act and thought prefides,
Directs his hand, his counsel guides:
Elfe medicine's unavailing ftore
Shall vainly glide thro' ev'ry pore;
Thro' ev'ry pore the mineral rill
In vain it's gifted pow'rs inftil.
Father divine, eternal King,
To thee I wake the trembling ftring.
If mad Ambition ne'er mifled,
In paths where Virtue dares not tread,
My vagrant ftep; if fordid views
Ne'er won the prostituted Mufe;
For others let Pactolus flow,
Let honour wreath another's brow:
Health I intreat; whofe jocund throng
Wantons each laughing grace among;
With Health the dancing minutes crown'd,
The field of all my wishes bound.
Thou, much favour'd by the tuneful train!
Attentive bend, nor let thine ear refufe
To lift awhile to haplefs Philo's ftrain;
The foft complainings of an artless Muse.
The swain beneath a spreading willow stood,
That, drooping, swept the flowly-winding stream;
His briny tears increas'd the paffing flood,
While mournful flow'd this fadly-plaintive theme.
In life's fair fpring, I rofe at early dawn,
• With ruddy health, while ev'ry scene was gay;
Ere foaring larks forfook the dewy lawn,
To chant their morning fongs to op'ning day,
€ Then, free from heart-felt care, at ease I rov'd,
No dark depreffing views my fancy chill'd;
The Mufe's lore my infant mind approv'd,
And glowing transports in my bofom thrill'd,
• Adown the vales, by ever-murm'ring rills,
Led by their magick, oft I wander'd long : Or, while day linger'd on the lofty hills,
There, chearful musing, fram'd the artless fong.
And when Night's fable banners, all unfurl'd,
Difplay'd the sparkling glories of the skies,
Panting to quit this fublunary world,
At length, full plum'd, fhe wings a daring flight, 'Thro' pathless æther foaring unconfin'd,
• To radiant orbs beyond the reach of fight,
And, fearlefs, leaves far diftant ftars behind.
No more confin'd to any earthly place,
• Swifter than light fhe darts her piercing eye,
And fees a thousand funs, thro' boundless space,
• With light and life ten thousand worlds fupply.
Now, where the comet fweeps with awful train,
With him the fkims the vast etherial round;
• Millions of leagues, without or fear or pain,
Beyond old frozen Saturn's dreary bound.
• Then farther ftill, in regions yet unfeen
By mortal eye, her curious fearch explores
• Unnumber'd lucent fpheres, a beauteous fcene! • Where day eternal gilds their blissful shores.
So, inftantaneous, thence would the defcend,
O'er this her own congenial globe to roam;
And ev'ry charm of each fair clime would blend,
Returning fraught with Nature's beauties home.
The pencil, too, would oft those hours employ,
Which thoughtless youth too often fet apart
For cruel sports-thence reaping guiltless joy,
• Tho' quite unknown the nicer rules of art.
But, ah! thofe blissful days, alas! are flown,
• With poignant grief the change I must deplore;
Thofe pleasures pure to me are now unknown,
• And never-never-must I tafte them more !'
Thus fung the plaintive fwain: but rifing grief,
With deep-drawn fighs his fault'ring voice fupprefs'd;
Till tears, fast flowing, gave a kind relief,
And calm'd the tumult ftruggling in his breast.
• Unblefs'd by Fortune's fmiles, alone I rove, • Forlorn and fad, while all around is gay; • In vain I seek the verse-inspiring grove,
For goading CARE forbids the willing stay.
Ah! what to me the flow'r-befpangled vales,
• Whence charming mingled odours grateful rife,
Swept from the bloom, by foft Favonian gales,
Kind Nature's incenfe breathing to the fkies?
Or what the peaceful, gliding, chryftal ftreams, Where spreading alders form a cooling fhade, • Where oft, retiring from the fervid beams
• Of Sol's meridian blaze, at ease I stray'd?
The tuneful fongfters, thro' the leafy groves,
• Unheeded now may pour their varied strains;
No more I feek the haunts which Fancy loves,
Nor woodland fhades, nor flock-fpread funny plains!
Vales, ftreams, and groves, your sweets I now refign,
• No more rejoic'd your bless'd retreats I view ;
Far other scenes, alas! muft now be mine;
Ye ever-blissful, dear delights, adieu!
Farewel! ye joys, farewel!-I sink a slave
To haggard Care; with her, alas! I dwell:
Hark!-hark! fhrill Echo from her hollow cave
Again repeats, "Farewel!"-Farewel-farewel!"
Here ceas'd the youth; now fhone in western skies,
Bright Vefper sparkling in the skirts of day;
The ev'ning clouds, fuffus'd with purple dyes,
Reflected faint the fun's departing ray.
With penfive ftep he fought his lonely cot,
Where Care's pale offspring anxious vigils keep; In vain folicitude to mourn his lot,
Till all his woes were hush'd in sweet oblivious sleep.
Sed neque Medorum fylvæ, ditiffima terra
Nec pulcher Ganges, atque auro turbidus Hæmus,
Laudibus Angligenûm certent: non Bactra, nec Indi,
Totaque thuriferis Panchaia pinguis arenis.
ET the green olive glad Hefperian fhores;
Her tawny citron, and her orange groves,
These let Iberia boaft; but if in vain,
To win the stranger plant's diffusive smile,
The Briton labours, yet our native minds,
Our conftant bofoms, these the dazzled world
|