"Hither affemble. Pleas'd with honours due, "SABRINA, guardian of the cryftal flood, "Shall blefs our cares, when the by moonlight clear "Skims o'er the dales, and eyes our fleeping folds: "Or in hoar caves, around Plynlymmon's brow, "Where precious minerals dart their purple gleams, "Among her fifters fhe reclines; the lov'd
"Vaga, profufe of graces, Ryddol rough, "Blithe Yft with and Clevedoc * fwift of foot; "And mingles various feeds of flow'rs, and herbs, "In the divided torrents, ere they burft
"Thro' the dark clouds, and down the mountain roll. "Nor taint-worm fhall infect the yeaning herds, "Nor penny-grafs, nor fpearwort's pois'nous leaf. He faid: with light fantastic toe, the nymphs Thither affembled, thither ev'ry fwain;
And o'er their dimpled ftream a thousand flow'rs, Pale lilies, rofes, violets, and pinks,
Mix'd with the greens of burnet, mint, and thyme, And trefoil, fprinkled with their sportive arms. Such cuftom holds along th' irriguous vales, From Wreakin's brow to rocky Dolvoryn †, Sabrina's early haunt, ere yet the fled
The fearch of Guendolen, her ftepdame proud, With envious hate enrag'd. The jolly chear, Spread on a moffy bank, untouch'd abides, Till ceafe the rites: and now the moffy bank Is gayly circl'd, and the jolly chear
Difpers'd in copious meafure; early fruits, And thofe of frugal ftore, in husk or rind; Steep'd grain, and curdled milk with dulcet cream Soft temper'd, in full merriment they quaff, And caff about their gibes; and fome apace Whistle to roundelays: their little ones
Look on delighted while the mountain-woods, And winding vallies, with the various notes
Of pipe, fheep, kine, and birds, and liquid brooks, Unite their echoes: near at hand the wide
Majeftic wave of Severn flowly rolls Along the deep-divided glebe: the flood,
Vaga, Ryddol, Yftwith, and Clevedoc, rivers, the fprings of which
rife in the fides of Plynlymmon.
+ Dolvoryn, a ruinous caftle in Montgomeryshire, on the banks of the Severn
And trading bark with low contracted fail, Linger among the reeds and copfy banks To liften; and to view the joyous fcene.
FROM Heav'n my trains begin; from Heav'n
The flame of genius to the human breast, And love and beauty, and poetic joy, And infpiration. Ere the radiant fun Sprang from the east, or 'mid the vault of night, The moon fufpended her ferener lamp;
Ere mountains, woods, or ftreams adorn'd the globe, Or wisdom taught the fons of men her lore;va Then liv'd th' almighty ONE: then deep retir'd In his unfathom'd effence, view'd the forms, The forms eternal of created things;
The radiant fun, the moon's nocturnal lamp,
The mountains, woods and ftreams, the rolling globe, And wifdom's mien cœleftial. From the first Of days, on them his love divine he fix'd, His admiration: till in time compleat, What he admir'd and lov'd, his vital fmile Unfolded into being. Hence the breath
Of life informing each organic frame,
Hence the green earth, and wild refounding waves; Hence light and fhade alternate; warmth and cold; And clear autumnal skies and vernal fhow'rs, And all the fair variety of things. But not alike to every mortal eye
Is this great scene unveil'd. For fince the claims Of focial life, to diff'rent labours urge The active pow'rs of man; with wife intent The hand of nature on peculiar minds Imprints a diff'rent byafs, and to each Decrees its province in the common toil. To fome fhe taught the fabric of the fphere, The changeful moon, the circuit of the ftars, The golden zones of heav'n: to fome she gave To weigh the moment of eternal things, Of time, and space, and fate's unbroken chain, And will's quick impulfe: others by the hand She led o'er vales and mountains, to explore
What healing virtue fwells the tender veins Of herbs and flow'rs; or what the beams of morn Draw forth, diftilling from the clifted rind In balmy tears. But fome, to higher hopes Were deftin'd; fome within a finer mould · She wrought, and temper'd with a purer flame. To thefe the fire omnipotent unfolds
The world's harmonious volume, there to read The tranfcript of himself. On every part They trace the bright impreffions of his hand : In earth or air, the meadow's purple ftores, 'The moon's mild radiance, or the virgin's form Blooming with rofy fmiles, they fee portray'd That uncreated beauty, which delights The mind fupreme. They alfo feel her charms, Enamour'd; they partake th' eternal joy.
For as old Memnon's image, long renown'd By fabling Nilus, to the quiv'ring touch Of Titan's ray, with each repulfive ftring Confenting, founded thro' the warbling air Unbidden trains; even fo did nature's hand To certain fpecies of eternal things, Attune the finer organs of the mind: So the glad impulfe of congenial pow'rs, Or of fweet found, or fair proportion'd form, The grace of motion, or the bloom of light," Thrills thro' imagination's tender frame, From nerve to nerve: all naked and alive They catch the fpreading rays till now the foul At length difclofes every tuneful fpring, To that harmonious movement from without Refponfive. Then the inexpreffive ftrain Diffufes its enchantment: fancy dreams Of facred fountains and Elyfian groves, And vales of blifs: the intellectual pow'r Bends from his awful throne a wond'ring ear, And fmiles; the paffions gently footh'd away, Sink to divine repofe, and love and joy Alone are waking; love and joy, ferene As airs that fan the fummer. O! attend,
Whoe'er thou art, whom thefe delights can touch, Whofe candid bofom the refining love Of nature warms, Oh! liften to my fong; And I will guide thee to her fav'rite walks,
And teach thy folitude her voice to hear, And point her lovelieft features to thy view. Know then, what'er of nature's pregnant ftores, Whate'er of mimic art's reflected forms With love and admiration thus inflame The pow'rs of fancy, her delighted fons To three illuftrious orders have referr'd; Three fifter-graces, whom the painter's hand, The poet's tongue confeffes; the fublime, The wonderful, the fair. I fee them dawn! I fee the radiant vifions, where they rife, More lovely than when Lucifer difplays His beaming forehead thro' the gates of morn, To lead the train of Phoebus and the spring.
SAX, what is tafte, but the internal pow'rs Active, and ftrong, and feelingly alive To each fine impulfe? a difcerning fenfe Of decent and fublime, with quick difguft From things deform'd, or difarrang'd, or grofs In fpecies? This nor gems, nor ftores of gold, Nor purple ftate, nor culture can bestow But God alone, when firft his active hand. Imprints the facred bias of the foul. He, mighty Parent! wife and just in all, Free as the vital breeze or light of heav'n, Reveals the charms of nature. Afk the fwain. Who journeys homeward from a fummer-day's Long labour, why, forgetful of his toils. And due repofe, he loiters to behold. The funshine gleaming as thro' amber clouds, O'er all the weftern fky; full foon, I. ween, Ι His rude expreffion and untutor'd airs, Beyond the pow'r of language, will unfold The form of beauty fmiling at his heart, How lovely! how commanding! But tho' heav'n In ev'ry breaft hath fown these early feeds Of love and admiration, yet in vain Without fair culture's kind parental aid, Without enlivening funs, and genial fhow'rs, And fhelter from the blaft, in vain we hope
The tender plant fhould rear its blooming head, Or yield the harveft promis'd in its fpring. Nor yet will every foil with equal ftores Repay the tiller's labour; or attend
His will, obfequious, whether to produce The olive or the laurel. Diff'rent minds Incline to diff'rent objects; one purfues The vaft alone, the wonderful, the wild; Another fighs for harmony, and grace,
And gentleft beauty. Hence when light'ning fires The arch of heav'n, and thunders rock the ground; When furious whirlwinds rend the howling air, And ocean, groaning from his lowest bed, Heaves his tempeftuous billows to the fky; Amid the mighty uproar, while below The nations tremble, Shakespear looks abroad From fome high cliff, fuperior, and enjoys The elemental war. But Waller longs, All on the margin of fome flow'ry ftream, To fpread his careless limbs amid the cool Of plantain fhades, and to the lift'ning deer, The tale of flighted vows and love's difdain Refounds foft warbling all the live-long day: Confenting Zephyr fighs; the weeping rill Joins in his plaint, melodious; mute the groves; And hill and dale with all their echoes mourn. Such and fo various are the taftes of men.
The PLEASURES arifing from a CULTIVATED IMAGINATION. [AKENSIDE.]
Bleft of heav'n, whom not the languid fongs
Of fordid wealth, nor all the gaudy fpoils Of pageant honour, can feduce to leave
Thofe ever-blooming fweets, which from the ftore Of nature fair imagination culls
To charm th' enliven'd foul! What tho' not all Of mortal offspring can attain the height Of envied life; tho' only few poffefs Patrician treasures or imperial state; Yet nature's care, to all her children juft, With richer treasures and an ampler ftate Indows at large whatever happy man
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