X. Thus lonely wand'ring thro' the nightly fhade Of life's fhort period, or its toilsome state. 'Tis death-like filence all, no found I hear, Save the hoarfe raven croaking from the sky, Or fcaly beetle murm'ring thro' the air, Or fcreech-owl screaming with ill-omen'd cry; Save when with brazen tongue from you high tow'r The clock deep-founding fpeaks, and counts the paffing hour. . XI. Pale Cynthia mounted on her filver car O'er heav'n's blue concave drives her nightly round: See a torn abbey, wrapt in gloom, appear Scatter'd in wild confufion o'er the ground. Here rav'nous Ruin lifts her wafteful hands O'er bri'ar-grown grots and bramble-shaded graves; Safe from her wrath one weeping marble ftands, O'er which the mournful yew its umbrage waves ; Ope, ope thy pond'rous jaws, thou friendly tomb, Close the fad deathful scene, and shroud me in thy womb! XII. Forth iffuing lovely from the gloomy shade, Which stately pines in phalanx deep compose, Fair above mortals comes a smiling maid To footh my fighs, and cheer my heart-felt woes. Here Here nurs'd by Contemplation, matron sage, Her azure mantle flows with eafy grace, Nor fashion's folds constrain, nor custom's tye; Whence these fad strains, said she, of plaintive grief, Here quell'd the throbbing tumults of the breast : b Where moon-sprung Iris blends her beauteous dyes : I lift them foon, and as I gazing stood, The fleeting phantom in a moment flies ; A rainbow form'd by the rays of the moon at night: an object often visible, tho' from its languid colours not often obferv'd. P 4 Where Where beam'd the gilded arch of gaudy hue, Frowns the dark louʼring cloud all gloomy to the view. XV. Life's emblem fit, said I, that roscid bow! The gay illufive pageant of an hour To real femblance tricks her air fhew, Then finks in night's dull arms, and is no more! Glow in the darting beam that gilds yon crystal sphere. Then let not Fancy with her vagrant blaze Mislead in tracklefs paths of wild deceit ; On Reason's steady lamp ftill ardent gaze; Led by her fober light to Truth's retreat. Tho' wond'ring Ign'rance fees each form decay, The breathless bird, bare trunk, and fhrivel'd flow'r : New forms fucceffive catch the vital ray, Sing their wild notes, or smile th' allotted hour, And search creation's ample circuit round, Tho' modes of being change, all life's immortal found. See the flow reptile grov'ling o'er the green, That trails thro' flimy paths its cumbrous load, Start in new beauty from the lowly fcene, And wing with flutt'ring pride th' ætherial road; Burft Burft their fhell-prifons, fee the feather'd kind, Brush the brisk air, fwift shooting thro' the sky, See man by varied periods fixt by fate Next prattling childhood lifps with mimic air, And fober reafon rifes to compare, The full-grown breast fome manly paffion warms, Then say, fince nature's high beheft appears That living forms fhould change of being prove, In which new joy the novel scene endears, New objects rife to please, new wings to move; Since man too, taught by fage experience, knows His frame revolving treads life's varying stage, That the man-plant firft vegetating grows, Then fenfe directs, then reafon rules in age; Say, is it ftrange, fhould death's all-dreaded hour Waft to fome unknown fcenes, or wake fome untried pow'r? XX. The XX. The wife Creator wrapt in fleshly veil The smiling foul furvives the frowns of fate : Dare the grim terror then, nor dread his guiltless dart. The twinkling eye, whofe various-humour'd round And diftant shapes with foreign pow'r supply; Thus the long tube by Galileo made Brings home the wonders of the peopled sky: The pow'r percipient then feels no decay, Tho' blind the tube, and darkness blot the visual ray. XXII. When lock'd in fhort fufpence by fleep's foft pow'r When folemn filence reigns at midnight hour, Deaf the dull ear, and clos'd the curtain'd eye; Objects |