More remote from public view
Than the bowels of Peru;
Broader 'tis, and brighter far,
Than the golden Indies are;
Ships that trace the wat❜ry stage
Cannot coaft it in an age;
Harts or horses strong and fleet
Had they wings to help their feet,
Could not run it half way o'er
In ten thousand days and more.
Yet the filly wand'ring mind,
Loth to be too much confin'd,
Roves and takes her daily tours,
Coafting round the narrow fhores,
Narrow fhores of flesh and fenfe,
Picking shells and pebbles thence :
Or fhe fits at fancy's door,
Calling fhapes and shadows to her,
Foreign vifits ftill receiving,
And t' herself a stranger living.
Never, never would she buy
Indian duft, or Tyrian dye;
Never trade abroad for more,
If she saw her native store,
If her inward worth were known
She might ever live alone.
OW thick the fhades of evening close!
How pale the sky with weight of fnows!
Hafte, light the tapers, urge the fire,
And bid the joyless day retire.
-Alas! in vain I try within
To brighten the dejected scene,
While rouz'd by grief these fiery pains
Tear the frail texture of my veins;
While winter's voice, that ftorms around,
And yon deep death-bell's groaning found
Renew my mind's oppreffive gloom,
Till ftarting horror shakes the room.
Is there in nature no kind power
To footh affli&ton's lonely hour?
To blunt the edge of dire difeafe,
And teach these wintry fhades to please?
Come, Cheerfulness, triumphant fair,
Shine through the hovering cloud of care:
O fweet of language, mild of mein,
O virtue's friend and pleasure's queen,
Affuage the flames that burn my breast,
Compose my jarring thoughts to rest;
And while thy gracious gifts I feel,
My fong shall all thy praise reveal.
As once ('twas in Aftræa's reign)
The vernal powers renew'd their train,
It happen'd that immortal love
Was ranging through the fpheres above,
And downward hither caft his eye
The year's returning pomp to spy.
He saw the radiant god of day,
Waft in his car the rofy May;
The fragrant airs and genial hours
Were fhedding round him dews and flowers;
Before his wheels Aurora pass'd,
And Hefper's golden lamp was last,
But, faireft of the blooming throng,
When Health majestic mov'd along,
Delighted to furvey below
The joys which from her prefence flow,
While earth enliven❜d hears her voice,
And fwains, and flocks, and fields rejoice;
Then mighty Love her charms confefs'd,
And foon his vows inclin'd her breast,
And, known from that aufpicious morn,
The pleafing Cheerfulness was born.
Thou, Cheerfulness, by Heaven defign'd
To fway the movements of the mind,
Whatever fretful paffion springs,
Whatever wayward fortune brings
To difarrange the power within,
And ftrain the mufical machine;
Thou, Goddefs, thy attempering hand
Doth each difcordant ftring command,
Refines the foft, and fwells the strong;
And, joining nature's general fong,
Through many a varying tone unfolds
The harmony of human fouls.
Fair guardian of domeftic life,
Kind banisher of home-bred ftrife,
Nor fullen lip, nor taunting eye
Deforms the fcene when thou art by:
No fickening hufband damns the hour
Which bound his joy to female power;
No pining mother weeps the cares
Which parents wafte on thanklefs heirs:
Th' officious daughters pleas'd attend;
The brother adds the name of friend:
By thee with flowers their board is crown'd,
With fongs from thee their walks refound;
And morn with welcome luftre shines,
And evening unperceiv'd declines.
Is there a youth, whofe anxious heart Labours with love's unpitied fmart ?
Though now he ftray by rills and bowers,
And weeping wafte the lonely hours,
Or if the nymph her audience deign,
Debase the story of his pain
With flavish looks, difcolour'd eyes,
And accents faultering into fighs;
Yet thou, aufpicious power, with ease
Canft yield him happier arts to please,
Inform his mein with manlier charms,
Inftruct his tongue with nobler arms,
With more commanding paffion move,
And teach the dignity of love.
Friend to the Muse and all her train,
For thee I court the Muse again:
The Mufe for thee may well exert
Her pomp, her charms, her fondeft art,
Who owes to thee that pleafing fway
Which earth and peopled heaven obey.
Let Melancholy's plaintive tongue
Repeat what later bards have fung;
But thine was Homer's ancient might,
And thine victorious Pindar's flight:
Thy hand each Lesbian wreath attir'd:
Thy lip Sicilian reeds infpir'd :
Thy fpirit lent the glad perfume
Whence yet the flowers of Teos bloom;
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