Then feek the bank where flowering elders crowd, Its balmy effence breathes, where cowflips hang 445 Hung o'er the steep; whence, borne on liquid wing, There let the claffic page thy fancy lead Or catch thyself the landskip, gliding swift Or by the vocal woods and waters lull'd, Behold yon breathing profpect bids the Mufe 455 460 Throw all her beauty forth. But who can paint 465 Like Nature? Can imagination boast, Amid its gay creation, hues like hers? Or can it mix them with that matchlefs fkill, And lofe them in each other, as appears In every bud that blows? If fancy then 470 Ting'd with fo many colours; and whofe power, Yet, though fuccefslefs, will the toil delight. Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whose hearts Have felt the raptures of refining love; And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my fong! Come with those downcaft eyes, fedate and sweet, 475 480 485 The morning dews, and gather in their prime Of bloffom'd beans. Arabia cannot boast A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence 495 Breathes through the fenfe, and takes the ravifh'd foul, 500 The negligence of Nature, wide, and wild; Where, undifguis'd by mimic Art, fhe spreads Here their delicious tafk the fervent bees, 505 In fwarming millions, tend: around, athwart, Through the foft air, the busy nations fly, And oft, with bolder wing, they foaring dare 510 The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows, And yellow load them with the luscious spoil. At length the finifh'd garden to the view Its viftas opens, and its alleys green. 514 Snatch'd through the verdant maze, the hurried eye Distracted wanders; now the bowery walk Of covert close, where scarce a fpeck of day Falls on the lengthen'd gloom, protracted fweeps: 520 The foreft darkening round, the glittering spire, 525 Fair-handed Spring unbofoms every grace; The yellow wall-flower, ftain'd with iron-brown; 530 From the foft wing of vernal breezes fhed, Ane Anemonies; auriculas, enrich'd With fhining meal o'er all their velvet leaves; Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty plays To family, as flies the father-dust, 535 The varied colours run; and, while they break 540 Low-bent, and blushing inward; nor jonquils, 545 Of potent fragrance; nor Narciffus fair, As o'er the fabled fountain hanging ftill; Nor broad carnations, nor gay-fpotted pinks; Nor, fhower'd from every bush, the damask-rose. 550 With hues on hues expreffion cannot paint, The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom. Of heaven and earth! Effential Prefence, hail! Hail, Source of Being! Universal Soul To Thee I bend the knee; to Thee my thoughts, 555 Haft the great whole into perfection touch'd. Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves, By Thee difpos'd into congenial foils, 560 The juicy tide; a twining mass of tubes. My panting Mufe; and hark, how loud the woods 565 570 Lend me your fong, ye nightingales! oh! pour Into my varied verfe! while I deduce, From the first note the hollow cuckoo fings, When first the foul of love is fent abroad, 575 580 In gallant thought to plume the painted wing; At first faint-warbled. But no fooner grows The foft infufion prevalent and wide, 585 Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows Ere yet the shadows fly, he mounted fings Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 590 Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copfe Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush Bending |