Then skilful most when most severely judg'd.
But chance is not; or is not where thou reign'st:
Thy providence forbids that fickle pow'r
(If pow'r she be, that works but to confound)
To mix her wild vagaries with thy laws.
Yet thus we dote, refusing while we can
Instruction, and inventing to ourselves

Gods such as guilt makes welcome; gods that sleep
Or disregard our follies, or that sit
Amus'd spectators of this bustling stage.
Thee we reject, unable to abide

Thy purity, till pure as thou art pure,

Made such by thee, we love thee for thy cause,
For which we shunn'd and hated thee before.
Then we are free. Then liberty, like day,
Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from Heav'n
Fires all the faculties with glorious joy.

A voice is heard, that mortal ears hear not,
Till thou hast touch'd them; 'tis the voice of song
A loud Hosanna sent from all thy works;
Which he that hears it with a shout repeats,
And adds his rapture to the gen❜ral praise.
In that blest moment Nature, throwing wide
Her veil opaque, discloses with a smile
The author of her beauties, who, retir'd
Behind his own creation, works unseen
By the impure, and hears his pow'r denied.
Thou art the scource and centre of all minds,
Their only point of rest, eternal Word!
From thee departing they are lost, and rove
At random without honour, hope, or peace.
14*

VOL. II.

From thee is all, that soothes the life of man,
His high endeavour, and his glad success,
His strength to suffer, and his will to serve.
But thou bounteous Giver of all good,

Thou art of all thy gifts thyself the crown!
Give what thou canst, without thee we are poor
And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away.

THE TASK.

BOOK VI

'ARGUMENT OF THE SIXTH BOOK..

Bells at a distance.-Their effect.-A fine noon in

winter. A sheltered walk.-Meditation better than books. Our familiarity with the course of nature makes it appear less wonderful than it is, -The transformation that spring effects in a shrubbery described.—A mistake concerning the course of nature corrected.-God maintains it by an unremitted act.-The amusements fashionable at this hour of the day reproved.-Animals happy, a delightful sight.-Origin of cruelty to animals. -That it is a great crime proved from Scripture. -That proof illustrated by a tale.--A line drawn between the lawful and unlawful destruction of them. Their good and useful properties insisted on.-Apology for the encomiums bestowed by the author on animals.-Instances of man's extravagant praise of man.-The groans of the creation shall have an end.--A view taken of the restoration of all things.--An invocation and an invitation of Him, who shall bring it to pass-The retired man vindicated from the charge of uselessness.-Conclusion.

THE TASK.

BOOK VI.

THE

WINTER WALK AT NOON.

THERE is in souls a sympathy with sounds, And as the mind is pitch'd the ear is pleas'd With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave; Some chord in unison with what we hear Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies. How soft the musick of those village bells, Falling at intervals upon the ear In cadence sweet, now dying all away, Now pealing loud again, and louder still, Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes on!

With easy force

opens all the cells

Where Mem'ry slept. Wherever I have heard

A kindred melody, the scene recurs,

And with it all its pleasures and its pains.

Such comprehensive views the spirit takes,
That in a few short moments I retrace

(As in a map the voyager his course)

The windings of my way through many years,