Whose ragged walls the ivy creeps;
And with her arm from falling keeps;
So both a safety from the wind
One mutual dependance find.

'Tis now the raven's bleak abode;
"Tis now th' appartment of the toad;
And there the fox securely feeds;
And there the pois'nous adder breeds,
Conceal'd in ruins, moss, and weeds:
While, ever and anon, there falls
Huge heaps of hoary moulder'd walls.
Yet time has been that lifts the low,
And level lays the lofty brow,
Has seen this broken pile complete
Big with the vanity of state;
But transient is the smile of fate;
A little rule ,а little sway,
A sun-beam in a winter's day,
Is all the proud and mighty have
Between the cradle and the grave.

And see the rivers how they run,
Through woods and meads, in shade and sun,
Sometimes swift, sometimes slow
Wave succeeding wave, they go
A various journey to the deep,
Like human life to endless sleep!
Thus is nature's vesture wrought,
To instruct our wand'ring thought;
Thus she dresses green and gay,
To disperse our cares away.
Ever charming, ever new,

When will the landscape tire the view!
The fountain's fall, the river's flow,
The woody vallies, warm and low,
The windy summit wild and high,
Roughly rushing on the sky

The pleasant seat, the ruin'd tow'r,
The naked rock, the shady bow'r,
The town and village, dome and farm
Each give each a double charm,
As pearls upon an AEthiop's arm.

}

See on the mountain's southern side, Where the prospect open's wide, Where the evening gilds the tide! How close and small the hedges lie! What streaks of meadow cross the eye! A step methinks may pass the stream So little distant dangers seem; So we mistake the future's face Ev'd thro' Hope's deluding glass; A's yon summits soft and fair, Clad in colours of the air, Which to those who journey near Barren, brown, and rough appear; Still we tread the same coarse way, The present's still a cloudy day. O may I with myself agree, And never covet what I see! Content me with an humble shade My passions' tam'd, my wishes laid; For while our wishes wildly roll, We banish quiet from the soul: 'Tis thus the busy beat the air! And misers gather wealth and care. Now, ev'n now, my joys run high, As on the mountain-turf I lie; While the wanton Zephyr sings, And in the vale perfumes his wings; While the waters murmur deep i While the shepherd charms his sheep; While the birds unbounded fly, And with music fill the sky, Now, ev'n now, my joys run high.

As

Be full, ye courts, be great who will, Search for peace with all your skill; Open wide the lofty door,

Seek her on the marble floor;:

In vain you search, she is not there ;;
In vain ye search the domes of Care!
Grass and flowers Quiet treads,
On the meads and mountain heads
Along with pleasure close ally'd,

Ever by each other's side:
And often, by the murm'ring rill,
Hears the thrush, while all is still,
Within the groves of Grongar-Hill.

CHAP. VIII.

Hymn to Adversity.

DAUGHTER of Jove, relentless power,

Thou tamer of the human breast,
Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour
The bad affright, afflict the best!
Bound in thy adamantine chain 9
The proud are taught to taste of pain,
And purple tyrants vainly groan

DYER.

With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.

When first thy sire to send on earth
Virtue, his darling child, design'd,
To thee he gave the heav'nly birth,
And bade thee form her infant mind.
Stern, rugged nurse! thy rigid lore
With patience many a year she bore,

What sorrow was, thou bad'st her know,

And from her own she learn'd to melt at other's woe.

Scar'd at thy frown terrific, Dy

Self-pleasing Folly's idle brood,

Wild laughter, Noise, and thoughtless Joy,

And leave us leisure to be good.

Light they disperse, and with them go

The summer friend, the flatt'ring foe;

By vain prosperity receiv'd,

To her they vow their truth, and are again believ'd.

Wisdom in sable garb array'd,

Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound,

And Melancholy silent maid,

With leaden eye, that loves the ground,

Still on thy solemn steps attend

Warm Charity the general friend,
With Justice to herself severe 1

And Pity, dropping soft the sadly pleasing tear.

Oh! gently on thy suppliant's head,
Dread goddess lay thy chast'ning hand!
Not in thy Gorgon terrors clad,
Nor circled with the vengeful band!
(As by the impious thou art seen)

With thund'ring voice, and threat'ning mien,
With screaming horror's fun'ral cry,
Despair, and fell Disease, and ghastly Poverty.

Thy form benign, oh, Goddess! wear,
Thy milder influence impart,

Thy philosophic train be there

To soften, not to wound my heart.

The gen'rous spark, extinct, revive,
Teach me to love and to forgive;

Exact my own defects to scan,

What others are to feel, and know myself a man.

CHAP. IX.

GRAY.

Ode on a distant Prospect of Eton College.

Yz distant spires, ye antique towers,

That crown the wat'ry glade,

Where grateful Science still adores

Her Henry's holy shade;

And ye that from the stately brow

Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below

Of grove, of lawn, of mead, survey,

Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among Wanders the hoary Thames along

His silver-winding way.

Ah happy hills, ah pleasing shade,
Ah fields belov'd in vain,

Where once my careless childhood stray'd,
A stranger yet to pain!

I feel the gales that from ye blow
A momentary bliss bestow,

As waving fresh their gladsome wing,
My weary soul they seem to sooth
And redolent of joy and youth,
To breathe a second spring.

Say, Father Thames (for thou hast seen
Full many a sprightly race

Disporting on thy margent green,
The paths of pleasure trace)

Who foremost now delight to cleave
With pliant arm thy glassy wave?
The captive linnet which enthral ?
What idle
progeny succeed

To chase the rolling circle's speed,
Or urge the flying ball?

While some, on earnest business bent, Their murm'ring labours ply

'Gainst graver hours, that bring constraint To sweeten liberty:

Some bold adventurers disdain
The limits of their little reign,
And unknown regions dare descry:
Still as they run they look behind,
They hear a voice in every wind,
And snatch a fearful joy.

Gay hope is their's by fancy fed,
Less pleasing when possest;
The tear forgot as soon as shed,
The sunshine of the breast;
Their's buxom health of rosy hue,
Wild wit, invention ever new •
And lively cheer of vigour born;
The thoughtless day, the easy night,
The spirits pure, the slumbers light,
That fly th' approach of morn.
Alas, regardless of their doom,