Rous'd into life and action, light in air Th' acquitted parents see their foaring race, And, once rejoicing, never know them more. High from the summit of a craggy cliff, Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns On utmost Kilda's * shore, whose lonely race Resign the fetting fun to Indian worlds, The royal eagle draws his vigorous young, Strong-pounc'd, and ardent with paternal fire: Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own, He drives them from his fort, the towering seat, For ages, of his empire, which in peace Unstain'd he holds, while many a league to sea He wings his course, and preys in distant isles.
Should I my steps turn to the rural feat
Whose lofty elms and venerable oaks
Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs, 765 In early Spring, his aeiry city builds, And ceaseless caws amusive, there, well-pleas'd, I might the various polity survey
Of the mixt household kind. The careful hen
Calls all her chirping family around,
Fed and defended by the fearless cock, Whose breast with ardour flames as on he walks, Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond The finely-checker'd duck, before her train, Rows garrulous. The stately-failing swan
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale, And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet
Bears forward fierce, and guards his ofier-ifle,
Protective of his young. The turkey nigh,
Loud-threatening,reddens; while the peacock spreads
His every-colour'd glory to the fun,
And fwims in radiant majesty along.
O'er the whole homely scene the cooing dove Flies thick in amorous chace, and wanton rolls The glancing eye, and turns the changeful neck. 785 While thus the gentle tenants of the shade Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world Of brutes below, rush furious into flame And fierce defire. Thro' all his lufty veins The bull, deep-fcorch'd, the raging paffion feels: 790 Of pasture fick, and negligent of food, Scarce seen, he wades among the yellow broom, While o'er his ample fides the rambling sprays Luxuriant shoot; or thro' the mazy wood
Dejected wanders, nor th' enticing bud Crops, tho' it presses on his careless sense: And oft' in jealous madning fancy wrapt, He seeks the fight; and, idly butting, feigns His rival gor'd in every knotty trunk:
Him should he meet the bellowing war begins: 800 Their eyes flash fury: to the hollow'd earth, Whence the fand flies, they mutter bloody deeds, And, groaning deep, th' impetuous battle mix; Volume I.
While the fair heifer, balmy-breathing, near, Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling steed, With this hot impulse seiz'd in every nerve.
Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the founding thong: Blows are not felt; but tossing high his head, And by the well-known joy to distant plains Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away; O'er rocks, and woods, and craggy mountains, flies; And, neighing, on the aërial fummit takes Th' exciting gale; then, steep-descending, cleaves The headlong torrents foaming down the hills, Even where the madness of the straiten'd stream 815 Turns in black eddies round: such is the force With which his frantic heart and finews fwell.
Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep; From the deep ooze and gelid cavern rous'd, 820 They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy. Dire were the strain, and dissonant, to fing
The cruel raptures of the savage kind;
How by this flame their native wrath fublim'd,
They roam, amid the fury of their heart,
The far-refounding waste in fiercer bands, And growl their horrid loves: but this the theme
I fing, enraptur'd, to the British fair,
Forbids, and leads me to the mountain-brow,
Where fits the shepherd on the grassy turf, Inhaling, healthful, the descending fun :
Around him feeds his many-bleating flock,
Of various cadence; and his sportive lambs, This way and that convolv'd, in friskful glee Their frolics play. And now the sprightly race 835 Invites them forth; when swift, the signal given, They start away, and sweep the massy mound That runs around the hill, the rampart once Of iron War, in ancient barbarous times, When disunited Britain ever bled, Loft in eternal broil; ere yet she grew To this deep-laid indissoluble state,
Where Wealth and Commerce lift their golden heads, And o'er our labours Liberty and Law,
Impartial, watch, the wonder of a world!
What is this mighty Breath, ye Sages! fay, That in a powerful language, felt, not heard, Instructs the fowls of heaven, and thro'their breasts These arts of love diffuses? What but God? Inspiring God! who, boundless Spirit all, 850
And unremitting Energy, pervades, Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole. He ceaseless works alone, and yet alone Seems not to work with such perfection fram'd Is this complex stupendous scheme of things, 855 But tho' conceal'd to every purer eye Th' informing Author in his works appears, Chief, lovely Spring! in thee, and thy foft scenes, The smiling God is feen, while water, earth,
And air, attest his bounty, which exalts
The brute creation to this finer thought, And annual melts their undesigning hearts Profusely thus in tenderness and joy.
Still let my fong a nobler note affume, And fing th' infusive force of Spring on Man: 865 When heaven and earth, as if contending, vie To raife his being and serene his foul, Can he forbear to join the general smile Of Nature? can fierce passions vex his breast,
While every gale is peace, and every grove Is melody? Hence! from the bounteous walks Of flowing Spring, ye fordid Sons of Earth,
Hard, and unfeeling of another's woe,
Or only lavish to yourselves: away!
But come, ye generous Minds! in whose wide thought,
Of all his works, creative Bounty burns
With warmest beam, and on your open front And liberal eye fits, from his dark retreat
Inviting modest Want: nor till invok'd Can restless Goodness wait; your active search 880 Leaves no cold wintry corner unexplor'd! Like silent-working Heaven, surprising oft' The lonely heart with unexpected good. For you the roving spirit of the wind
Blows Spring abroad! for you the teeming clouds 885 Descend in gladsome plenty o'er the world, And the fun sheds his kindest rays for you, Ye flower of human race! In these green days, Reviving Sickness lifts her languid head,
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