Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

Which longs, in infinite, to loose all bound. 5. Titles and honours (if they prove his fate) He lays aside to find his dignity;

No dignity they find in aught besides.
They triumph in externals, (which conceal
Man's real glory,) proud of an eclipse:
Himself too much he prizes to be proud;
And nothing thinks so great in man, as man.
Too dear he holds his int'rest, to neglect
Another's welfare, or his right invade;
Their int'rest, like a lion, lives on prey.
6. They kindle at the shadow of a wrong;
Wrong he sustains with temper, looks on heav'n,
Nor stoops to think his injurer his foe:
Nought, but what wounds his virtue, wounds his
A cover'd heart their character defends;
A cover'd heart denies him half his praise.
7. With nakedness his innocence agrees!
While their broad foliage testifies their fall!
Their no-joys end, where his full feast begins:
His joys create, theirs murder, future bliss.
To triumph in existence, his alone;
And his alone triumphantly to think
His true existence is not yet begun..

peace.

His glorious course was, yesterday, complete:
Death, then, was welcome; yet life still is sweet. YOUNG.
SECTION VIII.

The pleasures of Retirement.
1. O KNEW he but his happiness, of men
The happiest he! who, far from public rage,
Deep in the vale, with a choice few retir'd,
Drinks the pure pleasures of the rural life.
What tho' the dome be wanting, whose proud gate,
Each morning, vomits out the sneaking crowd
Of flatterers false, and in their turn abus'd?

Vile intercourse! What though the glitt'ring robe,
Of ev'ry hue reflected light can give,

Or floated loose, or stiff with mazy gold,

The pride and gaze of fools, oppress him not? 2. What tho', from utmost land and sea purvey'd, For him each rarer tributary life

Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps

With luxury and death? What though his bowl
Flames not with costly juice; nor sunk in beds

Oft of gay care, he tosses out the night,
Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle state?
What tho' he knows not those fantastic joys,
That still amuse the wanton, still deceive;
A face of pleasure, but a heart of pain:
Their hollow moments undelighted all?
Sure peace is his; a solid life estrang'd
To disappointment, and fallacious hope.
3. Rich in content, in nature's bounty rich,
In herbs and fruits; whatever greens the spring,
When heaven descends in showers; or bends the bo
When summer reddens, and when autumn beams;
Or in the wint'ry glebe whatever lies

Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap:
These are not wanting; nor the milky drove,
Luxuriant spread o'er all the lowing vale;
Nor bleating mountains; nor the chide of streams,
And hum of bees, inviting sleep sincere
Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade,
Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay;
Nor aught besides of prospect, grove or song,
Dim grottos, gleaming lakes, and fountains clear.
4. Here too dwells simple truth; plain innocence;
Unsullied beauty: sound unbroken youth,
Patient of labour, with a little pleas'd;
Health ever blooming; unambitious toil;,
Calm contemplation, and poetic ease.

SECTION IX.

THOMSON.

The pleasure and benefit of an improved and well-directed

imagination.

1. OH! blest of Heaven, who not the languid songs Of luxury, the siren! not the bribes

Of sordid wealth, nor all the gaudy spoils

Of pageant Honour, can seduce to leave

Those ever blooming sweets, which, from the store

Of nature, fair imagination culls,

To charm th' enliven'd soul! What tho' not all
Of mortal offspring can attain the height

Of envy'd life; tho' only few

possess

Patrician treasures, or imperial state;

Yet nature's care, to all her children just,
With richer treasures, and an ampler state,
Endows at large whatever happy man
Will deign to use them.

2.

3.

His the city's pomp,
The rural honours his. Whate'er adorns
The princely dome, the column, and the arch,
The breathing marble and the sculptur'd gold,
Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim,
His tuneful breast enjoys. For him, the spring
Distills her dews, and from the silken gem
Its lucid leaves unfolds: for him, the hand
Of autumn tinges every fertile branch

With blooming gold, and blushes like the morn.
Each passing hour sheds tribute from her wings:
And still new beauties meet his lonely walk,
And loves unfelt attract him.

Not a breeze

Flies o'er the meadow; not a cloud imbibes The setting sun's effulgence; not a strain From all the tenants of the warbling shade Ascends; but whence his bosom can partake Fresh pleasure, unreprov'd. Nor thence partakes Fresh pleasure only; for the attentive mind, By this harmonious action on her powers, Becomes herself harmonious: wont so oft In outward things to meditate the charm Of sacred order, soon she seeks at home, To find a kindred order; to exert Within herself this elegance of love, This fair inspir'd delight: her temper'd pow'rs Refine at length and every passion wears A chaster, milder, more attractive mien. 4 But if to ampler prospects, if to gaze On nature's form, where, negligent of all These lesser graces, she assumes the port · Of that Eternal Majesty, that weigh'd The world's foundations, if to these the mind Exalts her daring eye; then mightier far Will be the change and nobler. Would the forms Of servile customs cramp her gen'rous pow'rs? Would sordid policies, the barb'rous growth Of ignorance and rapine, bow her down To tame pursuits, to indolence and fear; 5. Lo! she appeals to nature, to the winds And rolling waves, the sun's unwearied course, The elements and seasons: all declare

For what th' eternal MAKER has ordain'd

The powers of man: we feel within ourselves
His energy divine; he tells the heart,
He meant, he made us to behold and love
What he beholds and loves, the general orb
Of life and being: to be great like Him,
Beneficent and active. Thus the men
Whom nature's works instruct, with God himself
Hold converse; grow familiar, day by day,
With his conceptions; act upon his plan;
And form to his, the relish of their souls.

CHAPTER V.

PATHETIC PIECES.
SECTION I.

The Hermit.

AKENSIDE.

1. Ar the close of the day, when the hamlet is still, And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove; When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill, And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove: 'Twas thus by the cave of the mountain afar,

While his harp rung symphonious, a hermit began; No more with himself or with nature at war,

He thought as a sage, though he felt as a man.
2. "Ah! why, all abandon'd to darkness and wo;
Why lone Philomela, that languishing fall?
For spring shall return, and a lover bestow,
And sorrow no longer thy bosom inthral.
But, if pity inspire thee, renew the sad lay,

Mourn, sweetest complainer, man calls thee to mourn;
O sooth him whose pleasures like thine pass away:
Full quickly they pass-but they never return.
3. "Now gliding remote, on the verge of the sky,
The moon half extinguish'd her crescent displays:
But lately I mark'd, when majestic on high

She shone, and the planets were lost in her blaze.
Roll on, thou fair ort, and with gladness pursue
The path that conducts thee to splendour again:
But man's faded glory what change shall renew!
Ah fool! to exult in a glory so vain!"

4. “'Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more:
I mourn, but ye woodlands, I mourn not for you;
For morn is approaching, your charms to restore,
Perfum❜d with fresh fragrance, and glitt'ring with dew.

Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn;

Kind nature the embryo blossom will save

But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn! O when shall day dawn on the right of the grave!" 5. ""Twas thus by the glare of false science betray'd, That leads to bewilder; and dazzles to blind;

6.

My thoughts wont to roam, from shade onward to shade, Destruction before me, and sorrow behind.

O pity, great Father of light, then I cried,

Thy creature who fain would not wander from thee! Lo, humbled in dust, I relinquish my pride:

From doubt and from darkness thou only canst free.”
“ And darkness and doubt are now flying away;
No longer I roam in conjecture forlorn:

So breaks on the traveller, faint and astray,

The bright and the balmy effulgence of morn. See truth, love and mercy, in triumph descending, And nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom!

On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending, And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.". SECTION II.

The Beggar's Petition. 1. PITY the sorrows of a poor oid man,

BEATTIE

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door; Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span;

Oh! give relief and heav'n will bless your store.
2. These tatter'd clothes my poverty bespeak,
These hoary locks proclaim my lengthen'd years;
And many a furrow in my grief-worn cheek,
Has been the channel to a flood of tears.
3 Yon house, erected on the rising ground,
With tempting aspect drew me from my road;
For plenty there a residence has found,
And grandeur a magnificent abode.

4. Hard is the fate of the infirm and poor!
Here as I crav'd a morsel of their bread,
A pamper'd menial drove me from the door,
To seek a shelter in an humbler shed.

5. Oh! take me to your hospitable home;

Keen blows the wind, and piercing is the cold!
Short is my passage to the friendly tomb;
For I am poor, and miserably old.

6. Should I reveal the sources of my grief,
If soft humanity e'er touch'd your breast,

« EdellinenJatka »