And ancient towers crown his brow,
That caft an awful look below;
Whofe ragged walls the ivy creeps,
And with her arms from falling keeps ;
So both a fafety from the wind
On mutual dependence find.
'Tis now the raven's bleak abode;
'Tis now th' apartment of the toad;
And there the fox fecurely feeds;
And there the pois'nous adder breeds,
Conceal'd in ruins, mofs and weeds:
While, ever and anon, there falls
Huge heaps of hoary moulder'd walls.
Yet time has been, that lifts the low,
And level lays the lofty brow,
Has feen this broken pile compleat,
Big with the vanity of state;
But tranfient is the fmile of fate;
A little rule, a little fway,
A fun-beam in a winter's day,
Is all the proud and mighty have
Between the cradle and the grave.
And fee the rivers how they run,
Through woods and meads, in fhade and fun,
Sometimes fwift, fometimes flow,
Wave fucceeding wave, they go
A various journey to the deep,
Like human life to endless fleep!
Thus is nature's vesture wrought,
To inftruct our wand'ring thought;
Thus fhe dreffes green and
gay,
To difperfe our cares away.
Ever charming, ever new,
When will the landskip tire the view!
The fountain's fall, the river's flow,
The woody vallies, warm and low;
The windy fummit, wild and high,
Roughly rushing on the sky;
The pleasant feat, the ruin'd tow'
The naked rock, the fhady bow'r;
The town and village, dome and farm,
Each give each a double charm,
As pearls upon an Æthiop's arm.
See on the mountain's fouthern fide,
Where the profpect opens wide,
Where the evening gilds the tide;
How close and small the hedges lie!
What streaks of meadows cross the eye!
A step methinks may pass the stream;
So little diftant dangers feem;
So we mistake the future's face,
Eyed through hope's deluding glass;
As
yon fummits foft and fair,
Clad in colours of the air,
Which to those who journey near,
Barren, brown, and rough appear;
Still we tread the fame coarfe way,
The prefent's ftill a cloudy day.
O may I with myself agree,
And never covet what I fee!
Content me with an humble fhade,
My paffions tam'd, my wifhes laid;
For while our wishes wildly roll,
We banish quiet from the foul;
'Tis thus the bufy beat the air;
And mifers gather wealth and care.
Now, ev'n now, my joys run high,
As on the mountain-turf I lie;
While the wanton Zephyr fings,
And in the vale perfumes his wings;
While the waters murmur deep;
While the fhepherd charms his sheep;
While the birds unbounded fly,
And with mufic fill the sky,
Now, ev'n now, my joys run high.
Be full, ye courts, be great who will,
Search for Peace with all your skill;
Open wide the lofty door,
Seek her on the marble floor,
In vain you search, she is not there;
In vain ye search the domes of care!
Grafs and flowers Quiet treads,
On the meads and mountain-heads,
Along with Pleasure, close ally'd,
Ever by each other's fide:
And often, by the murm'ring rill,
Hears the thrush, while all is ftill,
Within the groves of Grongar Hill.
AUGHTER of Jove, relentless power,
Thou Tamer of the human breast,
Whofe iron fcourge and tort'ring hour,
The bad affright, afflict the best!
Bound in thy adamantine chain,
The proud are taught to tafte of pain,
And purple tyrants vainly groan
With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.
When first thy fire to fend on earth Virtue, his darling child, defign'd, To thee he gave the heav'nly birth, And bade thee form her infant mind. Stern rugged nurfe! thy rigid lore With patience many a year the bore:
What forrow was, thou bad'ft her know,
And from her own fhe learn'd to melt at other's woe.
Scared at thy frown terrific, fly
Self-pleafing Folly's idle brood,
Wild Laughter, Noife, and thoughtless Joy,
And leave us leifure to be good.
Light they difperfe, and with them go
The fummer Friend, the flatt'ring Foe;
By vain Profperity receiv'd,
To her they vow their truth, and are again believ'd.
Wisdom in fable garb array'd,
Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound,
And Melancholy, filent maid
With leaden eye, that loves the ground,
Still on thy folemn steps attend:
Warm Charity, the gen'ral friend,
With Juftice to herself fevere,
And Pity, dropping soft the fadly-pleafing tear.
Oh, gently on thy fuppliant's head,
Dread goddefs, lay thy chaft'ning hand!
Not in thy Gorgon terrors clad,
Nor circled with the vengeful band
(As by the impious thou art feen)
With thund'ring voice, and threat'ning mien,
With fcreaming Horror's funeral cry,
Defpair, and fell Disease, and ghaftly Poverty.
Thy form benign, oh Goddefs, wear
Thy milder influence impart,
Thy philofophic train be there
To foften, not to wound my heart.
The gen'rous fpark extinct revive,
Teach me to love and to forgive,
Exact my own defects to scan,
What others are, to feel, and know myself a man.
CHA P. IX.
ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT
COLLEGE.
YE diftant fpires, ye antique towers,
That crown the watery
Where grateful Science ftill adores 'Her HENRY's holy shade;
And ye, that from the ftately brow
Of WINDSOR's heights th' expanfe below
Of grove, of lawn, of mead furvey,
Whofe turf, whofe fhade, whofe flowers among
Wanders the hoary THAMES along
His filver-winding way.
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