And pofted on this fpeculative height,
Exults in its command. The sheep-fold here
Pours out its fleecy tenants over the glebe.
At first, progreffive as a ftream, they seek
The middle field; but, fcattered by degrees,
Each to his choice, foon whiten all the land.
There from the fun-burnt hay-field homeward
The loaded wain; while, lightened of its charge,
The wain that meets it paffes swiftly by;
The boorish driver leaning over his team
Vociferous, and impatient of delay.
Nor less attractive is the woodland fcene,
Diverfified with trees of every growth,
Alike, yet various. Here the gray smooth trunks
Of afh, or lime, or beech, diftinctly shine,
Within the twilight of their distant shades;
There, loft behind a rifing ground, the wood
Seems funk, and fhortened to its topmoft boughs.
No tree in all the grove but has its charms,
Though each its hue peculiar; paler some,
And of a wannish gray; the willow fuch,
And poplar, that with filver lines his leaf,
And ash far-ftretching his umbrageous arm;
Of deeper green the elm; and deeper ftill,
Lord of the woods, the long-furviving oak.
Some gloffy-leaved, and shining in the fun,
The maple, and the beech of oily nuts
Prolific, and the lime at dewy eve
Diffusing odours: nor unnoted pafs
The fycamore, capricious in attire,
Now green, now tawny, and, ere autumn yet
Have changed the woods, in fcarlet honours bright.
Over thefe, but far beyond (a spacious map
Of hill and valley interpofed between),
The Ouse, dividing the well-watered land,
Now glitters in the fun, and now retires,
As bashful, yet impatient to be seen.
Hence the declivity is fharp and short,
And fuch the re-afcent: between them weeps
A little naiad her impoverished urn
All fummer long, which winter fills again.
The folded gates would bar my progress now,
But that the lord of this enclosed demefne,
Communicative of the good he owns,
* See the foregoing note.
Admits me to a fhare; the guiltless eye.
Commits no wrong, nor waftes what it enjoys.
Refreshing change! where now the blazing fun?
By short tranfition we have loft his glare,
And stepped at once into a cooler clime.
Ye fallen avenues! once more I mourn
Your fate unmerited, once more rejoice
That yet a remnant of your race furvives.
How airy and how light the graceful arch,
Yet awful as the confecrated roof
Re-echoing pious anthems! while beneath
The chequered earth feems restless as a flood
Brushed by the wind. So sportive is the light
Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance,
Shadow and funfhine intermingling quick,
And darkening and enlightening, as the leaves
Play wanton, every moment, every spot.
And now, with nerves new braced and spirits cheered,
We tread the wilderness, whose well-rolled walks, With curvature of flow and easy sweep
Deception innocent-give ample space
To narrow bounds. The grove receives us next;
Between the upright shafts of whose tall elms
We may difcern the thresher at his task.
Thump after thump refounds the conftant flail,
That seems to swing uncertain, and yet falls
Full on the destined ear. Wide flies the chaff,
The rustling ftraw fends up a frequent mift
Of atoms, fparkling in the noon day beam.
Come hither, ye that press your beds of down,
And fleep not; see him sweating over his bread
Before he eats it 'Tis the primal curse,
But foftened into mercy; made the pledge
Of cheerful days, and nights without a groan.
By ceaseless action all that is fubfifts. Conftant rotation of the unwearied wheel That nature rides upon maintains her health, Her beauty, her fertility. She dreads
An inftant's pause, and lives but while she moves. Its own revolvency upholds the world.
Winds from all quarters agitate the air,
And fit the limpid element for use,
Elfe noxious: oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams, All feel the freshening impulse, and are cleanfed
By restless undulation: even the oak
Thrives by the rude concuffion of the storm:
He seems indeed indignant, and to feel
The impreffion of the blaft with proud disdain,
Frowning, as if in his unconscious arm
He held the thunder: but the monarch owes
His firm ftability to what he scorns,
More fixt below, the more disturbed above.
The law, by which all creatures else are bound, Binds man the lord of all. Himself derives
No mean advantage from a kindred cause,
From ftrenuous toil his hours of sweetest ease.
The fedentary stretch their lazy length
When custom bids, but no refreshment find,
For none they need: the languid eye, the cheek
Deserted of its bloom, the flaccid, shrunk,
And withered muscle, and the vapid foul,
Reproach their owner with that love of reft,
To which he forfeits even the reft he loves.
Not fuch the alert and active. Measure life
By its true worth, the comforts it affords,
And their's alone feems worthy of the name.
Good health, and, its affociate in the most,
Good temper; fpirits prompt to undertake,
And not foon spent, though in an arduous task;
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