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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 fiream 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 slowly on his ear these moving accents ftole.

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X.

Hail, awful fcenes that calm the troubled breast,
And woo the weary to profound repofe;

Can paffion's wildeft uproar lay to reit,
And whisper comfort to the man of woes!
Here Innocence may wander fafe from foes,
• And Contemplation four 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.

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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 hofts, through carnage who to conqueft wade?

• Behold the victor vanquish'd by the worm! Behold, what deeds of woe the locufts can perform!

XIL

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 train 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.

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XIII.

Soon did the folemn voice its theme renew; (While Edwin wrapt in wonder liftening food) 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 pómp of heaven's empyreal • blaze.

XIV.

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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,
Myfelf betray'd and pluader'd all the while
So gnaw'd the viper the corroding file.
But now with pangs of keen remorse I rue
Thofe years of trouble and debafement vile.-
Yet why fould I this cruel theme pursue!

Fly, fly, detefted thoughts, for ever from my view.

XV.

The gufts of appetite, the clouds of care,
And ftorms of disappointment all o'erpaft,
• Henceforth no earthly hope with heaven shall share
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 rest.

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 decreafe!

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Ah! what avails the love of Rome and Greece,

The lay heaven-prompted, and harmonious string,
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-dishevel❜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 gholt nor fpell my long and laft abode fhall know.

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XIX.

For though I fly to efcape from Fortune's rage,
And bear the fears of envy, fpite, and scorn,

Yet with mankind no horrid war I wage,

Yet with no impious fpleen my breast 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!

·

XX.

Along one glittering fky what glory streams!
What Maje y attends night's lovely queen!
• Fair laugh our vallies in the vernal beams;
And mountains rife, and oceans roll between,
And all confpire to beautify the scene.

But, in the mental world, what chaos drear!

• What forms of mournful, loathfome, furious' mein ! O when hall that eternal morn appear,

Thefe dreadful forms to chafe, this chaos dark to clear!

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XXI.

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O Thou, at whofe creative fmile, yon heaven, In all the pomp of beauty, life, and light, Rofe from th' abyfs; when dark Confulion, driven Down down the bottomlefs profound of night, Fled, where he ever flies thy piercing fight! O glance on thefe fad fhades one pitying ray, To blaft the fury of oppreffive might, Melt the hard heart to love and mercy's fway, And chear the wandering foul, and light him on the • way.'

XXII.

Silence enfued: and Edwin raifed his eyes
In tears, for grief lay heavy at his heart.
And is it thus in courtly life' (he cries)
That man to man acts a betrayer's part?
And dares he thus the gifts of heaven pervert,
Each focial inftinct, and fublime defire!-
Hail Poverty! if honour, wealth, and art,
If what the great pursue, and learn'd admire,
Thus diffipate and quench the foul's ethereal fire!'
XXIII.

He faid, and turn'd away; nor did the Sage
O'erhear, in filent orifons employ'd.
The Youth, his rifing forrow to affuage,
Home as he hied, the evening fcene enjoy'd:
For now no cloud obfcures the starry void?
The yellow moonlight fleeps on all the hills;
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Nor is the mind with startling founds annoy'd,
A foothing murmur the lone region fills,
Of groves, and dying gales, and melancholy rills.

XXIV.

But he from day to day more auxious
grew.
The voice ftill feem'd to vibrate on his car.
Nor durft he hope the Hermit's tale untrue;
For man he feem'd to love, and heaven to fear;
And none fpeaks false, where there is none to hear.
• Yet, can man's gentle heart become fo fell!
No more in vain conjecture let ine wear

My hours away, but seek the Hermit's cell; 'Tis he my doubt can clear, perhaps my care difpel.'

XXV.

At early dawn the Youth his journey took,
And many a mountain pass'd, and valley wide,
Then reach'd the wild; where, in a flowery nook,
And feated on a moffy ftone, he fpied

An antient man: his harp lay him befide.
A ftag fprang from the the paiture at his call,
And, kneeling, lick d the wither'd band, that tied
A wreathe of woodbine round his antlers tall,
And hung his lofty neck with many a floweret fmall.

XXVI.

And now the hoary fage arofe, and faw
The wanderer approaching: innocence
Smiled on his glowing check, but modest awe
Deprefs'd his eye, that fear'd to give offence.

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Who art thou, courteous ftranger? and from whence?
Why roam thy fteps to this abandon'd dale?'

A fhepherd-boy (the youth replied) tar hence
My habitation; hear my artlefs tale;
Nor levity nor falfhood fall thine car affail.

XXVII.

Late as I roam'd. intent on Nature's charms, • I reach'd at eve this wilderness profound;

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