Bleat out afresh, ye hills; ye mossy rocks,
Retain the sound; the broad responsive low,
Ye valleys, raise; for the Great Shepherd reigns,
And his unsuffering kingdom yet will come.
Ye woodlands all, awake: a boundless song
Burst from the groves; and, when the restless day,
Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep,
Sweetest of birds, sweet Philomela! charm

The listening shades, and teach the night his praise ! 80
Ye, chief, for whom the whole creation smiles,
At once the head, the heart, the tongue of all,
Crown the great hymn! In swarming cities vast,
Assembled men, to the deep organ join

The long-resounding voice, oft breaking clear
At solemn pauses through the swelling bass;
And, as each mingling flame increases each,
In one united ardour rise to heaven.
Or, if you rather choose the rural shade,
And find a fane in every sacred grove,
There let the shepherd's flute, the virgin's lay,
The prompting seraph, and the poet's lyre
Still sing the God of Seasons as they roll.
For me, when I forget the darling theme,
Whether the blossom blows, the summer-ray
Russets the plain, inspiring autumn gleams,

90

75 And yet again the golden age returns 1730-38; followed byWildest of creatures, be not silent here,

But, hymning horrid, let the desert roar !

struck out in 1744.

76 boundless] general 1730-38.

80 teach the night his

praise] through the midnight hour; followed by

Trilling prolong the wildly-luscious note,

That night as well as day may vouch his praise 1730-38. 84 Assembled] Con

82 the tongue] and mouth 1730-38.

course of 1730-38. 87 frame (a misprint) 1730. 90 And] 91 lay] chant 1730-38. 96 inspiring] delicious

To 1730-38.

1730-38.

Or winter rises in the blackening east,

Be my tongue mute, may fancy paint no more,
And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat!

Should fate command me to the farthest verge Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, Rivers unknown to song, where first the sun Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam Flames on the Atlantic isles, 'tis nought to me; Since God is ever present, ever felt,

In the void waste as in the city full,

And where he vital spreads there must be joy.
When even at last the solemn hour shall come,
And wing my mystic flight to future worlds,
I cheerful will obey; there, with new powers,
Will rising wonders sing: I cannot go
Where universal love not smiles around,
Sustaining all yon orbs and all their sons;
From seeming evil still educing good,
And better thence again, and better still,
In infinite progression. But I lose

Myself in him, in light ineffable!

Come then, expressive Silence, muse his praise.

97 blackening] reddening 1730-38.

all edd., 1730-46.

98 may fancy

IOI distant] hostile 1730-38.

107-13 For these seven lines the original text of the Hymn (1730-38) gives the following three :

Rolls the same kindred Seasons round the world,

In all apparent, wise and good in all;

Since he sustains and animates the whole.

114 educes 1730-38.

THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE:

AN ALLEGORICAL POEM

[First published (probably in May) in 1748; first ed. in 4to, and second in 8vo, both in the same year. Thomson died in the following August, about four months after the appearance of this exquisite poem. The text of the second edition, as being the last to receive the author's revision, is given here.]

ADVERTISEMENT

This Poem being writ in the manner of Spenser, the obsolete words, and a simplicity of diction in some of the lines which borders on the ludicrous, were necessary to make the imitation more perfect. And the style of that admirable poet, as well as the measure in which he wrote, are as it were appropriated by custom to all allegorical poems writ in our language—just as in French the style of Marot, who lived under Francis I, has been used in tales and familiar epistles by the politest writers of the age of Louis XIV.-T.