CROWN'D with the sickle and the wheaten sheaf,
While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain,
Comes jovial on, the Doric reed once more,
Well pleas'd, I tune. Whate'er the wintry frost
Nitrous prepar'd, the various-blossom'd Spring
Put in white promise forth; the Summer-suns
Concocted strong, rush boundless now to view,
Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme.
Onslow! the muse, ambitious of thy name,
To grace, inspire, and dignify, her song,
Would from the public voice thy gentle ear
Awhile engage. Thy noble care she knows,
The patriot virtues that distend thy thought,
Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow,
While listening senates hang upon thy tongue,
Devolving through the maze of eloquence
A roll of periods, sweeter than her song.
But she too pants for public virtue: she,
Though weak of power, yet strong in ardent will,
Whene'er her country rushes on her heart,
Assumes a bolder note, and fondly tries
To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame.
When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days,
And Libra weighs in equal scales the year,
From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence shook
Of parting Summer, a serener blue,
With golden light enliven'd wide, invests
The happy world. Attemper'd suns arise,
Sweet-beam'd, and shedding oft, through lucid clouds,
A pleasing calm; while, broad and brown, below,
Extensive harvests hang the heavy head.
Rich, silent, deep, they stand; for not a gale :
Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain:
A calm of plenty, till the ruffled air
Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to blow.
Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky.
The clouds fly different; and the sudden sun
By fits effulgent gilds th' illumin'd field;
And black by fits the shadows sweep along
A gaily-chequer'd, heart-expanding view,
Far as the circling eye can shoot around,
Unbounded tossing in a flood of corn.
These are thy blessings, industry! rough power!
Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and pain;
Yet the kind source of every gentle art,
And all the soft civility of life:
Raiser of human kind! by nature cast,
Naked, and helpless, out, amid the woods
And wilds, to rude inclement elements;
With various seeds of art deep in the mind
Implanted, and profusely pour'd around
Materials infinite; but idle all
Still unexerted, in the unconscious breast,
Slept in the lethargic powers: corruption still,
Voracious, swallow'd what the liberal hand
Of bounty scatter'd o'er the savage year;
And still the sad barbarian, roving, mix'd
With beasts of prey; or, for his acorn meal,
Fought the fierce tusky boar; a shivering wretch!
Aghast and comfortless, when the bleak north,
With Winter charg'd, let the mix'd tempest fly,
Hail, rain, and snow, and bitter-breathing frost.
Then to the shelter of the hut he fled,
And the wild season, sordid, pin'd away;
For home he had not: home is the resort
Of love, of joy, of peace, and plenty, where,
Supporting and supported, polish'd friends
And dear relations mingle into bliss.
But this the rugged savage never felt,
Even desolate in crowds; and thus his days
Roll'd heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd, along;
A waste of time! till industry approach'd,
And rous'd him from his miserable sloth;
His faculties unfolded; pointed out
Where lavish nature the directing hand
Of art demanded; show'd him how to raise
His feeble force by the mechanic powers,
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth,
On what to turn the piercing rage of fire,
On what the torrent and the gather'd blast;
Gave the tall ancient forest to his axe;
Taught him to chip the wood and hew the stone,
Till, by degrees, the finish'd fabric rose;
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur,
And wrapt them in the woolly vestment warm,
Or bright in glossy silk, and flowing lawn;
With wholesome viands fill'd his table; pour'd
The generous glass around, inspir'd to wake
The life-refining soul of decent wit;
Nor stopp'd at barren bare necessity;
But still, advancing bolder, led him on
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace;
And, breathing high ambition through his soul,
Set science, wisdom, glory, in his view,
And bade him be the lord of all below.
Then, gathering, men their natural powers combin'd,
And form'd a public; to the general good
Submitting, aiming, and conducting, all.
For this the patriot council met, the full,
The free, and fairly represented whole.
For this they plann'd the holy guardian-laws,
Distinguish'd orders, animated arts,
And, with joint force oppression chaining, set
Imperial justice at the helm, yet still
To them accountable; nor slavish dream'd
That toiling millions must resign their weal,
And all the honey of their search, to such
As for themselves alone themselves have rais'd.
Hence every form of cultivated life
In order set, protected, and inspir'd,
Into perfection wrought. Uniting all,
Society grew numerous, high, polite,
And happy. Nurse of art, the city rear'd
In beauteous pride her tower-efcircled head;
And, stretching street on street, by thousands drew,
From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew
To bows strong-straining, her aspiring sons.
Then commerce brought into the public walk The busy merchant; the big warehouse built; Rais'd the strong crane; chok'd up the loaded street With foreign plenty; and thy stream, O Thames, Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods! Chose for his grand resort. On either hand, Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts Shot up their spires: the bellying sheet between, Possess'd the breezy void: the sooty hulk Steer'd sluggish on: the splendid barge along Row'd, regular, to harmony: around,
The boat, light skimming, stretch'd its oary wings; While deep the various voice of fervent toil
From bank to bank increas'd; whence, ribb'd with
To bear the British thunder, black and bold,
The roaring vessel rush'd into the main.
Then, too, the pillar'd dome, magnific, heav'd
Its ample roof; and luxury within
Pour'd out her glittering stores: the canvass smooth
With glowing life protuberant, to the view
Embodied rose: the statue seem'd to breathe,
And soften into flesh, beneath the touch
Of forming art, imagination-flush'd.
All is the gift of industry; whate'er
Exalts, embellishes, and renders life
Delightful. Pensive Winter, cheer'd by him,
Sits at the social fire, and happy hears
|