Provokes me to a fmile. With eye askance,
I view the muscular proportion'd limb,
Transform'd to a lean fhank. The fhapeless pair,
As they defign'd to mock me, at my fide,
Take ftep for ftep, and as I near approach
The cottage, walk along the plaifter'd wall,
Prepoft'rous fight! the legs without the man.
The verdure of the plain lies buried deep
Beneath the dazzling deluge, and the bents,
And coarser grass upfpearing o'er the rest,
Of late unfightly and unfeen, now shine
Confpicuous, and in bright apparel clad,
And fledg'd with icy feathers, nod fuperb.
The cattle mourn in corners, where the fence
Screens them, and feem half petrified to fleep
In unrecumbent sadness. There they wait
Their wonted fodder, not like hung'ring man,
Fretful, if unfupplied, but filent, meek,
And patient of-the flow-pac'd fwain's delay.
He from the ftack carves out th' accuftom'd load,
Deep plunging, and again, deep plunging oft,
His broad keen knife into the folid mafs.
Smooth as a wall, the upright remnant stands,
With fuch undeviating and even force,
He fevers it away. No needlefs care,
Left ftorms fhould overfet the leaning pile
Deciduous, or its own unbalanc'd weight.
Forth goes the woodman, leaving unconcern'd,
The cheerful haunts of man, to wield the axe,
And drive the wedge in yonder forest drear,

From

From morn to eve, his folitary task.

Shaggy, and lean, and fhrewd, with pointed ears,
And tail cropt fhort, half lurcher, and half cur,
His dog attends him. Close behind his heel,
Now creeps he flow, and now with many a frisk,
Wide-fcampering fnatches up the drifted fnow,
With iv'ry teeth, or ploughs it with his fnout;
Then shakes his powder'd coat, and barks for joy.
Heedlefs of all his pranks, the sturdy charl,
Moves right toward the mark. Nor ftops for aught,
But now and then, with preffure of his thumb,
T'adjust the fragrant charge of a fhort tube,
That fumes beneath his nofe. The trailing cloud,
Streams far behind him, fcenting all the air.
Now from the rooft, or from the neighb'ring pale,
Where diligent to catch the first faint gleam
Offmiling day, they goffipp'd fide by side,
Come trooping at the housewife's well-known call,
The feather'd tribes domeftic. Half on wing,
And half on foot, they brush the fleecy flood,
Conscious, and fearful of too deep a plunge.
The fparrows peep, and quit the shelt❜ring eaves,
To feize the fair occafion. Well they eye
The scatter'd grain, and thievifhly refolv'd,
T'escape th' impending famine, often scar'd,
As oft return, a pert voracious kind.
Clean riddance quickly made, one only care
Remains to each, the fearch of funny nook.
Or fhed impervious to the blaft. Refign'd
To fad neceffity, the cock foregoes

His wonted ftrut, and wading at their head,
With well-confider'd fteps, feems to refent
His alter'd gait, and stateliness retrench'd.
How find the myriads, that in fummer cheer
The hills and vallies with their ceaseless songs,
Due fuftenance, or where subsist they now?

Earth yields them nought: the imprison'd worm is fafe,
Beneath the frozen clod; all feeds of herbs
Lie cover'd clofe, and berry-bearing thorns,
That feed the thrush, (whatever fome fuppofe)
Afford the fmaller minstrels no fupply.
The long protracted rigor of the year,

Thins all their num'rous flocks. In chinks and holes,
Ten thoufand feek an unmolested end,

As inftinct prompts, felf bury'd ere they die.
The very rooks and daws forfake the fields,
Where neither grub, nor root, nor earth-nut now
Repays their labor more; and perch'd aloft
By the way-fide, or ftalking in the path,
Lean penfioners upon the trav'ller's track,
Pick up their naufeous dole, though fweet to them,
Of voided pulfe, or half digested grain
The ftreams are loft, amid the fplendid blank,
O'erwhelming all distinction. On the flood,
Indurated and fixt, the fnowy weight
Lies undiffolv'd, while filently beneath,
And unperceiv'd, the current steals away.
Not fo, where fcornful of a check, it leaps
The mill-dam, dashes on the reftlefs wheel,
And wantons in the pebbly gulph below.

No

No frost can bind it there. Its utmost force,
Can but arreft the light and fmoky mift,
That in its fall the liquid fheet throws wide.
And fee where it has hung th' embroider'd banks
With forms fo various, that no pow'rs of art,
The pencil or the pen, may trace the scene!
Here glitt'ring turrets rife, upbearing high
(Fantastic mifarrangement) on the roof,
Large growth of what may feem the fparkling trees,
And fhrubs of fairy land. The chryftal drops,
That trickle down the branches, faft congeal'd,
Shoot into pillars of pellucid length,

And prop the pile they but adorn'd before.

Here grotto within grotto fafe defies

The fun beam. There emboss'd and fretted wild,
The growing wonder takes a thousand shapes
Capricious, in which fancy feeks in vain,
The likeness of some object feen before.
Thus nature works as if to mock at art,
And in defiance of her rival pow'rs;
By these fortuitous and random strokes,
Performing fuch inimitable feats,

As fhe with all her rules can never reach.
Lefs worthy of applaufe, though more admir'd,
Because a novelty, the work of man,

Imperial miftrefs of the fur-clad Rufs!
Thy moft magnificent and mighty freak,
The wonder of the North. No foreft fell

When thou would'st build; no quarry fent its ftores
T'enrich thy walls. But thou didst hew the floods,

And make thy marble of the glaffy wave.
In fuch a palace Ariftæus found
Cyrene, when he bore the plaintive tale,
Of his loft bees, to her maternal ear.
In fuch a palace poetry might place,
The armoury of winter, where his troops,
The gloomy clouds find weapons, arrowy fleet »
Skin-piercing volley, bloffom-bruifing hail,
And fnow, that often blinds the trav❜ller's course, -.
And wraps him in an unexpected tomb.

Silently, as a dream, the fabric rofe.

No found of hammer, or of faw was there.
Ice upon ice, the well-adjufted parts

Were, foon conjoin'd, nor other cement ask'd,
Than water interfus'd to make them one.
Lamps gracefully difpos'd, and of all hues,
Illumin'd ev'ry fide. A wat'ry light

Gleam'd through the clear transparency, that feem'd ;
Another moon new-rifen, or meteor fall'n
From heav'n to earth, of lambent flame ferene.
So ftood the brittle prodigy, though smooth
And flipp'ry the materials, yet frost-bound
Firm as a rock. Nor wanted aught within,
That royal refidence might well befit,

For grandeur or for ufe. Long wavy wreaths
Of flow'rs that fear'd no enemy but warmth,

Blush'd on the pannels.

Mirrour needed none,

Where all was vitreous, but in order due

Convivial table, and commodious feat,

(What feem'd at least commodious feat) were there,

Sofa