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 grace,
Of candour, love, or fympathy divine,

Whate'er of fancy's ray, or friendship's flame is mine.

III.

So I, obfequious to Truth's dread command, Shall here without reluctance change my lay, And fmite 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 artless 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, must not aspire 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 destroy.

V.

Vigour from toil, from trouble patience grows.
The weakly bloffom, warm in fummer bower,
Some tints of tranfient beauty may disclose;
But ah it withers in the chilling hour.
Mark yonder oaks: Superior to the power
Of all the warring winds of heaven they rife,

And from the formy promontory tower, And tofs their giant arms amid the fkies, While each affailing blast encrease of strength fupplies.

VI.

And now the downy cheek and deepen'd voice
Gave dignity to Edwins blooming prime;
And walks of wider circuit was his choic,
And vales more wide, and mountains more sublime.
One evening as he framed the carelefs rhyme,
It was his chance to wander far abroad,
And o'er a lonely eminence to climb,

Which heretofore his foot had never trode;
A vale appeared below, a deep retir'd abode.

VII.

Thither he hied, enamour'd of the fcene; For rocks on rocks piled, as by magic fpell, Here fcorch'd with lightning, there with ivy green, Fenced from the north and caft this favage dell; Southward a mountain rofe with easy fwell, Whofe long long groves éternal murmur made; And towards the western fun a ftreamlet fell, Where, through the cliffs, the eye, remote, furvey'd Blue hills, and glittering waves, and skies in gold array'd.

VIII.

Along this narrow valley you might fee

The wild deer fporting on the meadow ground,
And here and there, a folitary tree,

Or moffy stone, or rock with woodbine crown'd.
Oft did the cliffs reveberate the found
Of parted fragments tumbling from on high;
And from the fummit of that craggy mound
The perching eagle oft was heard to cry,
Or on refounding wings to fhoot athwart the fky.

IX.

One cultivated spot there was, that spread
Its flowery bofom to the noonday beam,

Where many a rofe-bud rears its blushing head,
And herbs for food with future plenty teem.
Sooth'd by the lulling found of grove and ftream
Romantick vifions fwarm on Edwin's foul:
He minded not the fun's laft trembling gleam,
Nor heard from far the twilight curfew toll ;-
When flowly on his ear thefe moving accents ftole.

X.

Hail, awful fcenes that calm the troubled breast, And woo the weary to profound repofe; Can paffion's wildest uproar lay to reft, And whifper comfort to the man of woes! Here Innocence may wander fafe from foes, And Contemplation foar on feraph wings. O Solitude, the man who thee foregoes, When lucre lures him, or ambition ftings, Shall never know the fource whence real grandeur fprings.

XI.

Vain man, is grandeur given to gay attire?
Then let the butterfly thy pride upbraid-
To friends, attendants, armies, bought with hire?
It is thy weakness that requires their aid :-
To palaces, with gold and gems inlay'd?
They fear the thief, and tremble in the ftorm :—
To hots, through carnage who to conqueft wade?
Behold the victor vanquish'd by the worm!

• Behold, what deeds of woe the locufts can perform! XII.

True dignity is his, whofe tranquil mind
Virtue has raised above the things below,
Who, every hope and fear to heaven refign'd,
Shrinks not, though Fortune aim her deadliest blow,

This ftrain from amidit the rocks was heard to flow

In folemn founds. Now beam'd the evening ftar; And from embattled clouds emerging flow Cynthia came riding on her filver car;

And hoary mountain-cliffs fhone faintly from afar.

XIII.

Soon did the folemn voice its theme renew;
(While Edwin wrapt in wonder liftening flood)
Ye tools and toys of tyranny, adieu,
Scorn'd by the wife and hated by the good!
Ye only can engage the fervile brood

Of Levity and Luft, who, all their days,
• Afhamed of truth and liberty, have woo'd,

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 fway,

I fought for glory in the paths of guile;

:

And fawn'd and fmil'd to plunder and betray, Myself betray'd and plunder'd all the while So gnaw'd the viper the corroding file. But now with pangs of keen remorfe I rue Thofe years of trouble and debafement vile.Yet why fhould I this cruel theme pursue! Fly, fy, detefted thoughts, for ever from my view.

XV.

The gufts of appetite, the clouds of care,
And forms of disappointment all o'erpaft,

Henceforth no earthly hope with heaven fhall fhare
This heart, where peace ferenely shines at laft.

And if for me no treasure be amafs'd,
And if no future age fhall hear my name,

I lurk the more fecure from fortune's blast,

And with more leifure feed this pious flame,

Whole rapture far tranfcends 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!

Ah! what avails the love of Rome and Greece, The lay heaven-prompted, and harmonious firing, The duft of Ophir, or Tyrean fleece,

All that art, fortune, enterprize can bring, If envy, fcorn, remorfe, or pride the bofom wring!

XVII.

Let Vanity adorn the marble tomb

With trophies, rhymes, and fcutcheons of renown, In the deep dungeon of fome Gothic dome, Where night and defolation ever frown. • Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down: Where a green graffy turff is all I crave,

With here and there a violet beftrown,

Faft by a brook, or fountain's murmuring wave; And many an evening fun fhine fweetly on my grave.

XVIII.

And thither let the village fwain repair; And, light of heart, the village maiden gay, To deck with flowers her half-difhevel'd hair, And celebrate the merry morn of May. There let the fhepherd's pipe the live long day Fill all the grove with loves bewitching wo; And when mild evening comes with mantle grey, Let not the blooming band make hafte to go; No ghost nor fpell my long and last abode fhall know.

XIX.

For though I fly to escape from Fortune's rage,
And bear the fears of envy, fpite, and fcorn,
Yet with mankind no horrid war I wage,
Yet with no impious fpleen my breaft is torn:
For virtue loft, and ruin'd man I mourn.

O Man, creation's pride, heaven's darling child,

• Whom nature's beft divineft gifts adorn,

،

Why from thy home are truth and joy exiled,

And all thy favourite haunts with blood and tears • defiled!