But, faireft of the blooming throng,
When Health majestic mov'd along,
Delighted to furvey below
The joys which from her prefence flow,
While earth enliven'd hears her voice,
And fwains, and flocks, and fields rejoice;
Then mighty love her charms confefs'd,
And foon his vows inclin'd her breast,
And, known from that aufpicious morn,
Thee pleafing Cheerfulness was born.
Thou Cheerfulness, by heaven defign'd
To fway the movements of the mind,
Whatever fretful paffion fprings,
Whatever wayward fortune brings
To difarrange the power within,
And ftrain the mufical machine;
Thou, Goddefs, thy attempering hand
Doth each difcordant ftring command,
Refines the foft, and fwells the strong;
And, joining nature's general fong,
Through many a varying tone unfolds
The harmony of human fouls.
Fair guardian of domeftic life,
Kind banisher of homebred ftrife,
Nor fullen lip, nor taunting eye,
Deforms the scene where thou art by:
No fickening husband damns the hour
Which bound his joys to female power;
No pining-mother weeps the cares
Which parents waste on thankless heirs :
The officious daughters pleas'd attend;
The brother adds the name of friend:
By thee with flowers their board is crown'd,
With fongs from thee their walks refound;
And morn with welcome luftre fhines,
And evening unperceiv'd declines.
Is there a youth, whofe anxious heart
Labours with love's unpitied fmart?
Though now he stray by rills and bowers,
And weeping waste the lonely hours,
Or if the nymph her audience deign,
Debase the story of his pain
With flavish looks, difcolor'd eyes,
And accents faltering into fighs;
Yet thou, aufpicious power, with eafe
Canft yield him happier arts to please,
Inform his mien with manlier charms,
Inftruct his tongue with noble arms,
With more commanding paffion move,
And teach the dignity of love.
Friend to the Muse and all her train,
For thee I court the Muse again :
The Mufe for thee may well exert
Her pomp, her charms, her fondest art,
Who owes to thee that pleafing fway
Which earth and peopled heaven obey.
Let Melancholy's plaintive tongue
Repeat what later bards have fung;
But thine was Homer's ancient might,
And thine victorius Pindar's flight:
Thy hand each Lesbian wreathe attir'd:
Thy lip Sicilian reeds inspir'd:
Thy spirit lent the glad perfume
Whence yet the flowers of Teos bloom;
Whence yet from Tibur's Sabine vale
Delicious blows the enlivening gale,
While Horace calls thy fportive choir,
Heroes and nymphs, around his lyre.
But fee where yonder penfive fage
(A prey perhaps to fortune's rage,
Perhaps by tender griefs opprefs'd,
Or blooms congenial to his breaft)
Retires in defart fcenes to dwell,
And bids the joylefs world farewel.
Alone he treads the autumnal fhade,
Alone beneath the mountain laid
He fees the nightly damps afcend,
And gathering ftorms aloft impend ;
He hears the neighbouring furges roll,
And raging thunders shake the pole :
Then, ftruck by every object round,
And stunn'd by every horrid found,
He asks a clue for Nature's ways;
But evil haunts him through the maze :
He fees ten thousand demons rife
To wield the empire of the skies,
And chance and fate affume the rod,
And malice blot the throne of God.
-O thou, whofe pleafing power I fing,
Thy lenient influence hither bring;
Compose the ftorm, difpel the gloom,
Till Nature wear her wonted bloom,
Till fields and fhades their sweets exhale,
And mufic fwell each opening gale:
Then o'er his breaft thy foftness pour,
And let him learn the timely hour
To trace the world's benignant laws,
And judge of that prefiding cause,
Who founds on difcord beauty's reign,
Converts to pleasure every pain,
Subdues each hoftile form to rest,
And bids the universe be blefs'd.
O thou whose pleasing power I fing,
If right I touch the votive ftring,
If equal praife I yield thy name,
Still govern thou thy poet's flame;
Still with the Mufe my bofom share,
And footh to peace intruding care.
But moft exert thy pleafing power
On friendship's confecrated hour;
And while my Sophron points the road
To godlike wifdom's calm abode,
Or warm in freedom's ancient cause
Traceth the fource of Albion's laws,
Add thou o'er all the generous toil
The light of thy unclouded fmile.
But, if by fortune's stubborn fway,
From him and Friendship torn away,
I court the Mufe's healing fpell
For griefs that ftill with abfence dwell,
Do thou conduct my fancy's dreams
To fuch indulgent placid themes,
As juft the struggling breaft may cheer
And juft fufpend the starting tear,
Yet leave that facred fenfe of woe
Which none but friends and lovers know.
NOT for themselves did human kind
Contrive the parts by heaven affign'd
On life's wide fcene to play :
Not Scipio's force, nor Cæfar's skill
Can conquer glory's arduous hill,
If fortune close the way.
Yet ftill the felf-depending foul,
Though laft and least in fortune's roll,
His proper fphere commands;
And knows what nature's feal bestow'd,
And fees, before the throne of God,
The rank in which he ftands.
Who train'd by laws the future age,
Who rescued nations from the rage
Of partial, factious power,
|