THE MINSTREL; O R, THE PROGRESS OF GENIUS. THE SECOND BOOK. Doctrina fed vim promovet infitam, Rectique cultus pectoro roborant. I. HORAT. F chance or change O let not man complain, Elfe fhall he never never ceafe to wail: Art, empire, earth itself, to change are doom'd; Earthquakes have raifed to heaven the humble vale, And gulfs the mountain's mighty mass entomb'd, And where th' Atlantick rolls wide continents have bloom'd.* See PLATO's Timeus. II. But fure to foreign climes we need not range, Nor fearch the ancient records of our race, To learn the dire effects of time and change, Which in ourselves, alas, we daily trace. Yet at the darken'd eye, the wither'd face, Or hoary hair, I never will repine : But fpare, O Time, whate'er of mental Of candour, love, or fympathy divine, Whate'er of fancy's ray, or friendship's flame is mine. III. grace, So I, obfequious to Truth's dread command, Shall here without reluctance change my lay, -And smite the Gothic lyre with harsher hand; Now when I leave that flowery path for aye Of childhood, where I fported many a-day, Warbling and fauntering carelefly along; Where every face was innocent and gay, Each vale romantick, tuneful every tongue, Sweet, wild, and artlefs all, as Edwin's infant fong. IV. Perish the lore that deadens young defire' Is the foft tenor of my fong no more. Edwin, though loved of Heaven, muft not afpire To blifs, which mortals never new before. On trembling wings let youthful-fancy foar, Nor always haunt the funny realms of joy; But now and then the fhades of life explore; Though many a found and fight of woe annoy. And many a qualm of care his rifing hopes deftroy. V. Vigour from toil, from trouble patience grows. And from the ftormy promontory tower, And tofs their giant arms amid the skies, While each affailing blaft encrease of ftrength fupplica. VI. And now the downy cheek and deepen'd voice Which heretofore his foot had never trode; VII. Thither he hied, enamour'd of the scene; made ; And towards the western fun a streamlet fell, Where, through the cliffs, the eye, remote, furvey'd Blue hills, and glittering waves, and fkies in gold array'd. VIII. Along this narrow valley you might fee The wild deer fporting on the meadow ground, Or moffy ftone, or rock with woodbine crown'd. IX. One cultivated spot there was, that fpread Where many a rofe-bud rears its blufhing head, .X. Hail, awful fcenes that calm the troubled breast, Can paffion s wildeft uproar lay to reft, XI. Vain man, is grandeur given to gay attire ? • They fear the thief, and tremble in the storm :~ True dignity is his, whofe tranquil mind And hoary mountain-cliffs fhone faintly from afar. XIII. Soon did the folemn voice its theme renew; 'Of Levity and Luft, who, all their days, And hug'd the chain, that glittering on their gaze Seems to outfhine the pomp of heaven's empyreal • blaze. XIV. Like them, abandon'd to Ambition's sway, • Thofe years of trouble and debasement vile.— Fly, fly, detefted thoughts, for ever from my view. XV. The gufts of appetite, the clouds of care, And terms of disappointment all o'erpait, 'Henceforth no earthly hope with heaven fhall fhare This heart, where peace ferenely fhines at last. ' And if for me no treasure be amass'd, And if no future age fhall hear my name, 'I lurk the more fecure from fortune's blaft, ' And with more leisure feed this pious flame, 'Whofe rapture far transcends the fairest hopes of fame. XVI. 'The end and the reward of toil is reft. Be all my prayer for virtue and for peace. Of wealth and fame, of pomp and power poffefs'd, 'Who ever felt his weight of woe decrease! |