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X.

Thus lonely wand'ring thro' the nightly fhade
Against the stern decrees of ftubborn Fate,
To mockful Echo my complaints I made,

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,
Where with mute Solitude she loves to dwell,
In truth's fair lore fhe form'd her early age,
And trim'd the midnight lamp in lonely cell,
Here learn'd clear reafon's heav'n-fprung light to raise
O'er paffion's low-born mifts, or pleasure's spurious blaze.
XIII.

Her azure mantle flows with eafy grace,

Nor fashion's folds constrain, nor custom's tye;
An optic tube fhe bears, each sphere to trace
That rolls its rapid orbit round the sky:
Yet not to heav'n alone her view's confin'd;
A clear reflecting plane fhe holds, to show
The various movements of the reas'ning mind,
How ftrange ideas link, and habits grow,
Paffion's fierce impulfe, will's free power to fcan,
To paint the featur'd soul, and mark th' internal man.
XIV.

Whence these fad strains, said she, of plaintive grief,
Which pierce the fleep-clos'd ear of peaceful reft?
Oft has the fick'ning mind here found relief,

Here quell'd the throbbing tumults of the breast :
Lift up thy loaden eyes to yon fair cloud,

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!
Ah! fool, faid fhe, tho' now to fancy's fight
The violet pale, the blushing red decays,
Tho' now no painted cloud reflect the light,
Nor drops prifmatic break the falling rays,
Yet ftill the colours live, tho' none appear,

Glow in the darting beam that gilds yon crystal sphere.
XVI.

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.
XVII.

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,
Where in dark durance pent awhile they lie,
Dispread their painted plumage to the wind,

Brush the brisk air, fwift shooting thro' the sky,
Hail with their choral hymns the new-born day,
Diftend their joy-fwoln breafts, and carol the fweet lay.
XVIII.

See man by varied periods fixt by fate
Afcend perfection's fcale by flow degree;
The plant-like fœtus quits its fenseless taste,
And helpless hangs fweet-fmiling on the knee;
Soon outward objects steal into the brain,

Next prattling childhood lifps with mimic air,
Then mem'ry links her fleet ideal train,

And fober reafon rifes to compare,

The full-grown breast fome manly paffion warms,
It pants for glory's meed, or beats to love's alarms.
XIX.

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 ray divine, the pure ætherial mate ;
Tho' worn by age the brittle fabric fail,

The smiling foul furvives the frowns of fate :
Each circling year, each quick-revolving day
Touches with mould'ring tooth thy flitting frame,
With furtive flight repairs th' unfeen decay;
For ever changing, yet in change the fame,
Oft haft thou dropt unhurt thy mortal part,

Dare the grim terror then, nor dread his guiltless dart.
XXI.

The twinkling eye, whofe various-humour'd round
Takes in foft net th' inverted form behind,
The lift'ning ears, that catch the waving found,
Are but mere organs of the feeling mind:
External matter thus can lend its aid,

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
In temporary death the fenfes lie,

When folemn filence reigns at midnight hour,

Deaf the dull ear, and clos'd the curtain'd eye;

Objects

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