Those deepening clouds on clouds, surcharg'd with rain, That o'er the vast ATLANTIC hither borne,

In endless train, would quench the summer-blaze, 140 And, chearless, drown the crude unripened year.

THE North-east spends his rage; he now shut up Within his iron cave, th' effusive South

sails

Warms the wide air; and o'er the void of heaven
Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers distent. 145
At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise,
Scarce staining ether; but by swift degrees,
In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour
Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep,
Sits on th' horizon round a settled gloom;
Not such as wintry-storms on mortals shed,
Oppressing life; but lovely, gentle, kind,
And full of every hope and every joy,

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The wifh of Nature. Gradual sinks the breeze

Into a perfect calm; that not a breath

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Is heard to quiver through the closing woods,
Or rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves
Of aspin tall. Th' uncurling floods, diffus'd
In glassy breadth, seem thro' delusive lapse
Forgetful of their course. 'Tis silence all,
And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks
Drop the dry sprig, and mute-imploring eye
The falling verdure. Hush'd in short suspense,
The plumy people streak their wings with oil,

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To throw the lucid moisture trickling off;

And wait th' approaching sign to strike at once,
Into the general choir. Ev'n mountains, vales,
And forests seem, impatient, to demand

The promis'd sweetness. Man superior walks
Amid the glad creation, musing praise,

And looking lively gratitude. At last,

The clouds confign their treasures to the fields;
And, softly shaking on the dimpled pool
Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow

In large effusion, o'er the freshened world.

THE stealing shower is scarce to patter heard,

By such as wander thro' the forest walks,

Beneath th' umbrageous multitude of leaves.

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170

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But who can hold the shade, while Heaven descends

In universal bounty, shedding herbs,

And fruits, and flowers, on Nature's ample lap?
Swift fancy fir'd anticipates their growth;

And, while the milky nutriment distils,
Beholds the kindling country colour round.

THUS all day long the full-distended clouds

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Indulge their genial stores, and well-shower'd earth Is deep enrich'd with vegetable life;

Till in the Western sky, the downward sun
Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flush

Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam.

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The rapid radiance instantaneous strikes

Th' illumin'd mountain, thro' the forest streams,
Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist,
Far smoaking o'er th' interminable plain,
In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems.

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MOIST, bright, and green, the landskip laughs around;

Full swell the woods; their every music wakes,
Mix'd in wild concert with the warbling brooks
Increas'd, the distant bleatings of the hills,
And hollow lows responsive from the vales,
Whence blending all the sweeten'd zephyr springs.
Mean time refracted from yon eastern cloud,
Bestriding earth, the grand etherial bow
Shoots up immense; and every hue unfolds,
In fair proportion, running from the red,
To where the violet fades into the sky.

HERE, awful NEWTON! the dissolving clouds
Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism;
And to the sage-instructed eye unfold

The various twine of light, by thee disclos'd
From the white mingling maze. Not so the boy;
He wondering views the bright enchantment bend,
Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs

To catch the falling glory; but amaz'd

Beholds th' amusive arch before him fly,

Then vanish quite away. Still night succeeds;

A soften'd shade, and saturated earth

Awaits the morning-beam; to give to light

C

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Rais'd thro' ten thousand different plastic tubes,
The balmy treasures of the former day.

THEN spring the living herbs, profusely wild,
O'er all the deep green earth, beyond the power
Of botanist to number up their tribes :
Whether he steals along the lonely dale,

In silent search; or thro' the forest, rank

With what the dull incurious weeds account,

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Bursts his blind way; or climbs the mountain-rock, Fir'd by the nodding verdure of its brow.

With such a liberal hand has nature flung

Their seeds abroad; blown them about in winds, 230 Innumerous mix'd them with the nursing mould,

The moistening current, and prolific rain.

BUT who their virtues can declare? who pierce,

With vision pure, into these secret stores

Of health, and life, and joy? The food of Man, 235
While yet he liv'd in innocence, and told

A length of golden years; unflesh'd in blood,
A stranger to the savage arts of life,

Death, rapine, carnage, surfeit, and disease;

The lord, and not the tyrant, of the world.

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THE first fresh dawn then wak'd the gladden'd race

Of uncorrupted Man, nor blush'd to see

The sluggard sleep beneath its sacred beam;

For their light slumbers gently fum'd away;

And up they rose as vigorous as the sun,

245

Or to the culture of the willing glebe,

Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock.

Meantime the song went round; and dance and sport, Wisdom and friendly talk, successive, stole

Their hours away. While in the rosy vale

Love breath'd his infant sighs, from anguish free,
And full replete with bliss; save the sweet pain,
That, inly thrilling, but exalts it more.

NOR yet injurious act, nor surly deed,

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Was known among those happy sons of Heaven; 255
For reason and benevolence were law.
Harmonious Nature too look'd smiling on;
Clear shone the skies, cool'd with eternal gales,
And balmy spirit all. The youthful sun
Shot his best rays, and still the gracious clouds
Drop'd fatness down; as o'er the swelling mead,
The herds and flocks, commixing, play'd secure.
This when, emergent from the gloomy wood,
The glaring lion saw, his horrid heart

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Was meeken'd, and he join'd his sullen joy; 265
For music held the whole in perfect peace;

Soft sigh'd the flute; the tender voice was heard,
Warbling the varied heart; the woodlands round

Apply'd their quire; and winds and waters flow'd
In consonance. Such were those prime of days. 270

BUT now those white unblemish'd manners, whence The fabling poets took their golden age,