Feels all her fweet emotions at his heart; 1220 1225 Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more. 1230 1235 With gentle throws; and, thro' the tepid gleams Deep mufing, then he beft exerts his fong. Even Winter wild to him is full of bliss. The mighty tempeft, and the hoary wafte, Abrupt, and deep, ftretch'd o'er the buried earth, 1240 Awake to folemn thought. At night the skies, Difclos'd, and kindled, by refining froft, Pour every luftre on th' exalted eye. A friend a book the ftealing hours fecure, And mark them down for wisdom. With swift wing, 1245. Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind, Of pratling children, twin'd around his neck, 1250 And emulous to please him, calling forth Are of the focial ftill, and fmiling kind. 1255 This is the life which thofe who fret in guilt, And guilty cities, never knew; the life, 1260 Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt, When angels dwelt, and God himself, with Man! OH NATURE! all- fufficient! over all! Inrich me with the knowledge of thy works! Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there, 1265 Profufely fcattered o'er the blue immenfe, Light my blind way: the mineral ftrata there; 1270 The varied-fcene of quick compounded thought, And where the mixing paffions endless shift; 1275 A fearch, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust ! But if to that unequal; if the blood, In sluggish ftreams about my heart, forbid That beft ambition; under clofing shades, 1280 Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook, And whisper to my dreams. From THEE begin, Dwell all on THEE, with THEE Conclude my fong; And let me never never ftray from THEE! WINTER. The ARGUMENT. The subject propofed. Address to the earl of WILMINGTON. First approach of Winter. Accor ding to the natural course of the feason, various ftorms defcribed. Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the fnows: A Man perishing among them; whence reflections on the wants and miseries of human life. The wolves defcending from the Alps and Apennines. A winter evening defcribed: as fpent by philofophers; by the country people; in the city. Froft. A view of Winter within the polar Circle. A thaw. The whole concluding with moral reflections on a future ftate. WINTER. SEE, WINTER Comes, to rule the varied year, Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these my theme Thefe, that exalt the foul to folemn thought, To thee, the patron of this first effay, Then IS 20 L Then fwept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale; Roll'd in the doubling ftorm, she tries to foar; These, each exalting each, the statesman light Now when the chearless empire of the sky 25 35 40 To Capricorn the Centaur - Archer yields, 45 Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot Thro' the thick air; as cloath'd in cloudy ftorm, Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the fouthern sky; And, foon defcending, to the long dark night, Wide shading all, the proftrate world refigns. Mean time, in fable cincture, shadows vaft, Deep |