No More Learning

Nor well alive, nor wholly dead, they were:
But some/dint signs of feeble life appear.
601
On Missisippi's bank, should sleep surprise
The wearied peasant, close in ambush lies
The crafty alligator, gorg'd with blood:
He lorks conceal'd beneath the troubled flood,
Or ranges fierce the reedy shore around,
Climbs thX steep bank, and crouches on the ground.
602
oft have I seen, beneath the hawthorn shade,
th? green rwr/'reclin'd, a rustic maid,
Watching, with anxious eye, her fav'rite lambs
In playful circles sporting round their dams;
O'ercome with noontide heaf, have heard her hail
The cooling freshness of the rising gale.
603. -- Rooks and Crows.
From field to field the flock increasing goes,
To level crops most formidable foes.
Their danger well the wary plund'rers know,
And pla'qf a watch on some conspi-|-cwows bough. \
Yet oft the skulking gunwer, by surprise,
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? Key to English Prosody. 97
Will scatter death among them, as they rise.
604
oft may the spir&s of the dead descend,
To watch the silent slumbers of a friend;
To hover round his ev'ning walk unseen,
And hold siweet converse on the dusky green ;
To hail the spot where first their friendship grew,
And heav'n and nature open'd to their view.
605
Night her moist wings extends o'er hill aiid dale,
And spreads on sha-\-dowy earth | a misty veil;
The pictur'd forms of vivid nature fade,
And, melting, sink in undistinguish'd shade.
Unheard, the dews descend i unseen, the show'rs
Cool the parch'd earth, revive the fainting flow'rs. . . .
606
Now the' tlr'd /ab'rers bless their sheh'iing home,
When midnight and the frightful tempest come.
The farmer wakes, and sees, with silent dread,
The angry shafts of heav'n gleam round his head.
The bursting cloud re-iterated roars,
Shakes his straw roof and jars his bolted doors.
607
Twilight's soft dews steal o'er the village green,
With magic tints to harmonise the scene.
StilFd ts the hum, that through the hamlet broke,
When round the ruStws . Xf their ancient oak
The peasants flock'd to hear the minstrel play,
And games and carols clos'd the busy day.
K
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? 98 Key to English Prosody.
608. --To Memory.
When Joy's bright sun has shed his ev'ning ray,
And Hope's delusive me-\-tebrs cease | to play ;
When clouds on clouds the smiling prospect close,
Still through the gloom thy star serenely glows :
Like yon fair orb, she gilds the brow of night,
With the mild magic of reflected light.
609
Distracting thoughts by turns his bosom rul'd,
Nowfir'd by wrath, and now by reason cool'd.
That prompts his hand to draw the deadly sword,
Force through the Greeks, and pierce their haughty
This whispers soft, his vengeance to control, [lord;
And calm the rising temp&f of his soul.
610
Not so his loss the fierce Achilles bore:
But, sad, returning to the sounding shore,
o'er the" wild margin of the deep he hung,
That kindred deep, from which his mother sprung;
There, bath'd in tears of anger and disdain,
Thus loud lamented to the stormy main.
611. -- The Farmer's Boy.
From the fire-side, with ma-|-ny a shrug, | he hies,-
Glad if\he full-orb'd moon salute his eyes,
And, through th' unbroken stillness 6f the night,
Shed tin his path her beams of cheering light.
With saunt'ring step, he climbs the distant stile;
Whilst all around him wears a placid smile;
There views the white-rob'd clouds in clusters driv'n,
And all the glo-l-nows pa-\-geantry of heav'n.
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? Key to English Prosody. 99
, , 612
Swift to" the seas profound the goddess flies,
J&ve to his starry mansion in the skies.
The shining synod of th' immortals wait
The coming god, and,frHin their thrones of state,
Arising silent, rapt in holy fear,
Before the Majesty of heav'n appear.
Trembling they stand, while Jove assumes the throne,
all but the god's imperious queen alone.
613
Lo! Faith's bright visions burst upon the sight,
And put the phantom host of Fear to flight.
Terror's gaunt Myrmidons recede afar,
Before the beams of Hope's resplendent star,
That shoots soft rays, for ever sparkling clear,
Through Sorrow's realms, and Doubt's dark heau-
Cheers the faint pilgrim on his dreary way, [sphere;
With finer prospects, and a hap-\-pur day; j
And points the vir-|-*wows sage, | by toils oppress'd,
To lasting pleasures, and a land of rest.
614
From this tall cliff, whose rough impending brow
Frowns o'er the cataract that foams below,
I view the plain, where ma. -\-ny a 6w-|-sy hand
Tills, fSr another's gain, the stubborn land.
Their cheerful song, borne on the ev'ning breeze,
Stamps <ln my soul soft images of ease.
ah! why, to man and social converse dead,
Do I alone the rugged mountain tread,
Where Nature, coy and stubborn, seems to fly
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? 100 Key to English Prosody.
The human race, and all approach defy.
615
On closing flow'rs when genial gales diffuse
The fragrant inbute of refreshing dews,
When chants the mWkmaixd at her balmy pail,
And weary reapers whisf/e o'er the vale,
Charm d by the murmurs of the quiv'ring shade,
Along the river's willow'd banks 1 stray'd,
And, calmly musing through the twilight way,
In pensive mood, I fram'd my rustic lay ;
When, lo ! from op'ning clouds, a golden gleam
Pour'd sudden splendors b"er<he sha-[-dowy stream; |
and from the wave arose its guardian queen,
Known by her sweeping stole of glossy green.
616
o ' say, celestial Muse, whose purer birth
Disdains the low material ties of earth,
By what bright images shall be defin'd
The mystic naJwre o/'th' eternal mind i
Or how shall thought the dazzling height explore,
When all, that reason can, is to adore ? . . *. .
Through the immeasurable tracts of space,
Go, Muse divine, and present Godhead trace
Could thy fondflight beyond the starry sphere
The radiant morning's lucid pinions bear,
There should las brighter presence shine confess'd,
There his almighty arm thy course arrest.
617. --The imprisoned Debtor.
0 stranger] hear the famish'd debtor's pray'r !
Let gentle pity siatch him from despair.
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? Key to English Prosody. 101
Though harden'd guilt and folly revel here,
The guiltless oft shed ma-\-ny a blt-\-ter tear ;
And ina-|-ny a wrong | in silence they devour,
And feel the iron hand of ruthless pow'r.
In vain my woes, my wants, cry loud for aid,
Since laws severe with ixgSr are obey'd.
There ties my wife on damp and sickly bed,
Her peace destroy'd, her youth and spirits fled.
With tearless eye she saw her child expire--
To all indiff'rent--death her sole desire.
fil8
d lasting infamy! o due disgrace
To chiefs of vig'rous youth, and manly race!
I trusted >n the gods and you, to see
Brave Greece victo-|-r<<cws, und | her navy free.
ah no! the glorious combat you disclaim,
And one black day clouds alt her former fame.
Heav'ns! what a prodigy these eyes survey,
Unseen, unthought, 'till this amazing day!
Fly we at length from Troy's oft. conquer'd bands ?
And falls our fleet by such inglorious hands--
A rout undisciptin'd, a straggling train,
Not born to glorift of the dusty plain;
Like frighted fawns, from hill to hill pursu'd,
A prey to ev'ry swage of the wood?
619
With look erect, I dart my longing eye,
Seem wlng'd lo part, and gain my native sky.
1 strive to mount, but strive, alas! in vain,
Tied tV this massy globe with magic chain.
K3
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? 102 Kty to English Prosody.
Now, with swift thought, I range from pole to pole,
View worldt around their flaming centres roll;
What steady pow'rs their endless motions guide
Through the same trackless paths of boundless void.
I trace the blazing comet's fiery tail,
And weigh the whirling planers hi a scale.
These godlike thoughts while eager i pursue,
Some glitt'ring trifle offZrd to my view,
A gnat, an insecf of the meanest kind,
Erase the new-born image frim my mind :
Some beastly want; craving, importunate,
Vile as the grinning mastiff at my gate,
Culls off from heav'nly trufh this rees'ning me,
And tells me, I'm a brute as much as he.
6S0. --May.
Hail, beauteous May, to nature's vot'ries dear!
Thou love-|-fresr qff-\-spring of the fruitful year!
The sportive Grace's in thy train advance,
Mote their light J set, and form the mazy dance.
To thee fair village maids their garlands bring,
Blush with fresh health, and feel the genial spring--
A little space, ere gloomy years o'ershade,
Like thee to floumA, and like thee to fade.
Hail, choien month of old, when temp'rate show'rs
Enrich'd the meads, and nurs'd the op'ning flow'rs;
When fruits uncropp'd in wild disorder ran,
Peace dwelt on earth, and God convers'd with uian;
"What tune, from Chaos, stormy, dark, and wild,
Creation sprang, and spring perpe-\-tual smtl'd; |
When, shedding health and life, the soft'ning air
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? Key to English Prosody. 103
All darkness chas'd ; at whose mild breath, Despair
Might feel a sullen joy, and cheer'd Disease
Springfrom her couch, to catch th' enliv'ning breeze.
Thus through th' Elysian fields the Zephyrs stray'd,
And munn'iing sooth'd the pensive hero's shade;
Sigh'd, sadly pleasing, through the cypress wood,
Whose gloomy branches wav'd o'er Lethe's flood.
621. --To the Deity.
Thee "potent, let deliver'd Israel praise,
and to thy name their grateful homage raise.
Thee potent God let Egypt's land declare,
That felt thy justice awfully severe.
How did thy frown benight the shadow'd land,
Nature revers'd how own thy high command,
When jarring elements their use forgot,
and the sun felt thy overcasting blot,
When earth produe'd the pestilential brood,
dud the foul stream was crimson'd into blood !
How deep the horrors of that awful night,
How strong the terror, and how wild the fright,
When o'er the hind thy sword vindictive pass'd,
And men and infants breath'd at once their last!
How did thy arm thy favor'd tribes convey,
Thy light conducting point the patent way,
Obedient ocean tt their march divide,
The wat'ry wall distinct on either side,
While through the deep the long procession sped,
And saw the wonders of "its oozy bed !
Nor long they march'd, till, blaclCning tn the rear,
The vengeful tyranf and his host appear,
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? 104 Key to English Prosody.
Plunge down the steep--the waves thy nod obey,
And whelm the threat'ning storm beneath the sea.
Iambics of eight syllables; the epithets supplied.
622
Now balmy Zephyrs fan the grove,
And scatter rich perfumes around;
And feather'd songsters, warbling Jove,
In ev'ry verdant bush are found.
623
oh! Is there not, when dewy eve
Spieads her light texture o'er the vale,
Some gentle fay, that loves to leave
Her moonlight pastime in the dale,
And, where the raptur'd poet sits
To view the blue mists spread around,
Across his mental vision flits,
And wraps his thoughts in peace profound ?
Iambics often syllables; the epithets supplied.
624. -- On the Death of a Daughter.
So fair, so gay, where is my blossom fled?
ah! see! 'tis r&v&g'd by relentless Death :
See in the dust her blooming honors spread,
all pale, and blast&Z by his baleful breath.
625
Go, blushing rose, and bloom on Ella's breast;
And, while thy buds the beauteous maid adorn,
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? Key to English Prosody. 103
Beneath the sunshine Vf her eyes be blest:
But, ah! fairJlow'r, conceal thy ruthless thorn.
626
When sanguine youth, in fond \Jto-]-pian dreams, |
First launches tin the troubled sea of life,
He trusts to sail on pleasure's smoothest streams. --
Alas! he wakes to woe and scenes of strife.
627. -- Evening.
The deep'ning shades o'erspread the golden west:
The mottled clouds sweep on before the breeze:
Rude /abor leaves his weary sons to rest;
And sea-like murmurs sound among the trees.
628. -- Night.
Within yon Aamlet now the poor enjoy
The balmy bliss that flies the rich and great.
Their quiet breasts no factious cares annoy,
No guilt disturbs", no sorrows agitate.
629
Luxuriant verdure here adorns the plain,
There the grey fallows, and the toiling team,
The farm's neat mansion, and the village fane,
Whose moss-clad tow'r reflects the solar beam.
630. --Spring.
Delightful spring ! I taste thy balmy gales :
Pregn&nt with life, my sadden'd soul they cheer.
Creation smiles: the woods, the hills, the dales,
Hail the pure morning tif the new-born year.
Expand, ye groves, your reworated bloom :
Warble', ye streams : ye swelling buds, uufold :
Waft all the plenty %f y>>ui rich perfume;
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? 106 Key to English Prosody.
And wave, ye flow'rets, wave your leaves of gold.
631. --To a Snow-drop.
Welcome, sweet harbinger of op'ning spring!
Thy early beauties caught my wand'ring eye.
I've pluck'd thee, solitary flow'r, to bring
Thy tender frame where no rude blasts are nigh.
I see, thou scarce canst rear thy drooping head ;
For frosts inclement pierce thy lovely form :
But I'll transplant thee to a safer bed :
My hand shall raise thee, hnd my fire shall warm.
63a
Behold ! the desc/ating storm is past:
The sun relumes the darken'd face of day:
Each timid flow'r, that shrunk before the blast,
Spreads its sweet bosom to the cheering ray.
B7tght and more bright its tints reviving glow;
Its beauteous petals catch the genial gale:
Ver tts soft breast enamour'd Zephyrs blow,
And waft new fragrance thrSugh the smiling vale.
633. -- Summer.
Now spring withdraws her milder-beaming ray,
And summer growing o'er the rip'ning corn,
Leads tt i these northern climes the blushing day,
From Afric's burning plains refulgent borne.
No cloud across the welkin steers its course,
uptin the earth to pour its genial show'rs:
No fountain hwbblKs from its mossy source;
No sparkling dews refresh the fainting flow'rs.
634
o Nature ! eve"r m&y thy gentle sway
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? Key to English Prosody. 107
Lead me" a vot'ry (S thy simple shrine.
May no rude passion chase that sense away,
That feels a bliss in peaceful charms like thine;
Whether, in autumn's fleecy clouds enshrin'd,
With yellow tints you touch the fading leaves,
Or raise, before the reaper's grateful mind,
Abundant grain to fill his future sheaves;
The panting wAnd'rSr, with the Zephyr's breeze,
Whether you cheer 'mid summer's noontide blaze,
Or paint with Yive-\-liest green | the budding trees,
When spring's soft warmth endears her milder days.
635. -- Evening.
When gentle eve, fair child of ardent day,
Throws her soft mantle" 6'er the verdant ground,
How sweet adown the sloping vale to stray,
While Cyn-\-tMa sheds | her silver radiance round !
How sweet to hear the plaintive bird of woe
Pour her sad murmurs to the list'ning grove,
As through the air the warbled numbers flow,
Fraught with, the melody of mourning love !
How sweet to mark the fading landscape near,
The lowly cotfage, and the stately tow'r!
How sweet the distant village peal to hear,
Borne tin the gale at tins soft silent hour!
636
ah! pleasing scenes, where once my childhood stray'd,
In thoughtless innocence securely blest!
JSo busy passions then inspir'd my breast ;
No guilty fears my youthful bosom sway'd.
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? 108
Key to English Prosody.
Iambics of eight syllables, with alterations.
637
Why can no bard, with magic strain,
In slumbers steep the heart of pain ?
638 .
Of conscious rectitude possess'd,
Can sorrow pierce the good man's breast?
639
Justice shall yet unclose her eyes,
Terrific yet in wrath arise,
And trample on the tyrant's breast,
And make oppression groan oppress'd.
Iambics often syllables, with alterations.
640
While former wishes still remain within,
Repentance is but want of pow'r to sin.
641
The white-rob'd priest his uprais'd hands extends:
Hush'd is each voice: attention leaning bends.
642
Whenceflows the strain that hails the dawn of morn
The Red-breast warble's in the flow'ring thorn.
643
Now boundless snows the wither'd. heath deform,
and the dim sun scarce wanders through the storm.
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? Key to English Prosody. 109
644
The widow'd Indian, when her lord expires,
Mounts the dread pile, and braves the fun'ral fires.
64. 5
Alas ! with thee how vain is pity's tear,
The widow's anguish, or the orphan's fear!
646
Not by the aid that brass or marble gives,
The mem'ry of the noble pa-l-tires. |
647
Soon would I change existence, with delight,
For the long sleep of one eternal night.
648
Brave and undaunted as the god of war.
When prostrate legions fall around his car.
649
Here early rest makes early rising sure:
Disease or comes not, tr finds easy cure,
Prevented much by diet neat and plain,
Or, if it enter, soon starv'd out again.
650
He comes ! dread Urama shakes the sunless sky
With murm'rirtg wrath, and thunrfeVsfrom on high.
Heavnsfie. y horse, beneath his war-i-norform, \
Paws the tight clouds, and gallVps on the storm.
651
He ceas'd; and silent still remain'd the throng,
While ra\>t attention own'd the pow'r of song.
Then, loud lis whin the wim'ry whirl winds blow,
From ev'ry voice the thund'ring plaudits flow.
I
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? 110 Key to English Prosody,
652
When Egypt's sons, a rude untutor'd race,
Learn d with wild forms the obflisk to grace,
And mould the idol god in ductile earth,
The loom and polish'd needle took their birth.
653
How short is mortal life! Time swift descends:
With htm depart our fathers and our friends;
While we, sad mourners, lag behind, to weep,
To heave vain sighs, and wakeful vigils keep.
654
As wild imagiwory forms affright
The child all darkling in the gloom of night,
Fond dreams, as wild as infant fears, dismay
Our souls with teirtir in the glare of day.
655
In deep despair th' unhappy virgin strays,
Through tangled palhs, and unfrequented ways,
While chilly vapors shroud the moon's pale beam,
As wild she wanders by the murm'ring stream.
656
Bad men, professing friendship's hallow'd name,
Form, in its stead, a covenant of shame,
A dark conl'ed'racy against the laws
Of virtue, and religion's glorious cause.
657
Strelch'dtin that biSr in death's last heavy sleep,
Lies, cold antl still, the friend for whom I weep.
, . ,. . 658. -- The Picture of Venus. . . . . . ,' \'\
When first the Iihodiau's mimic art array'tl
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? Key to English Prosody. 111
The queen of beaufj/ in the Cy-\-pridn shade, |
The happy master m'mglld in his piece
Each look that charm'd him in ihe fair of Greece :
To faultless nature true, he stole a grace
From ev'ry fairer form, and sweeter face.
659
Bright Us the pillar rose at Heav'n's command,
When Israel march'd along the desert land,
Blaz'd, through the night, on lonely wilds, afar,
And told the path -- a never-setting star;
So, keav'nly Genius! in thy course divine,
Hope is thy star: her light is ever thine.
660
Thy daughters, Babylon, to grace the feast,
Weave th<? loose robe, and paint the flow'ry vest:
With ro-\-se&te wieaths | they braid the glossy hair:
They tinge the cheek, which Nature form'd so fair,
Learn the' soft step, the soul-subduing glance,
Melt in the song, and swim adown the dance.
661
Come, gen\le Peace, from realms of endless rest!
Bid the' vex'd earth, like thy own heav'n, be blest.
Bid wasteful War his furious ravage cease.
And Plenty glad the earth with new increase.
oh! bid deploring nations cease to mourn,
And guilty swords to smiling ploughshares turn.
662
ah! what avails it, if the Muse's fire
Must, like the me-\-tgor's trans-\-ientflash, | expire ?
Alas ! what boots it ? since the hero's doom
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? 112 Key to English Prosody.
Is Death's dark cavern, and th' obli-|-cious tomb--
Since lasting praise not Fames loud trump can give ;
and, in the grave, nor bays nor laurels live.
668
From the loud camp retir'd, and noisy court,
In howtfrable ease and rural sport
The remnant tif his days he safely pass'd,
Nor found they lagg'd too slow, or flew too fast.
He made his wish with fits estate comply,
Joyful to live, yet not afraid to die.
664
Th' advent'rous boy, who asks his little share,
And hies from home with ma-|-my ag<w-|-sip's pray'r,
Turns on the neighb'ring hill, once more to see
The dear abode of peace and privacy;
and, as he turns, the thatch among the trees,
The smokers blue wreaths ascendjwg wtth the breeze,
all rouse reflexion's sadly-pleasing train;
And oft he looks, and weeps, aud looks again.
665
oh! let me wande"r at the moonlight hour
To some sequester'd grove or silent bow'r,
When cease the carVls of the plumy throng,
And Philomel begins her plaintive song.
Sweet bird of eve, I love thy liquid note,
That flows me\\\-\-JiuousfrVm \ thy quiv'ring throat.
o Zephyr ! fleeting Zephyr! longer stay,
fs'or bear that lovely harmony away.
666
When Zephyr breathes upon the azure waves,
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? Key to English Prosody. 113
My panting breast the peaceful ocean braves,
Glows u-ith the ^fiie, those softer joys inhales)
Dropp'd from the balmy \>\nions of the gales.
But, when the curling billow rears its form,
And silent horror broods upon the storm,
I turn my (outsteps tV yon sAe/t'ring grove,
Misfortune's refuge, the" retreat of love.
66'7. -- The Carrier Pigeon.
Led by what chart, transports the timid dove
The wreaths of conquest, #r the vows of love ? [flight?
Say, through the clouds what compass points her
Monarchs have gaz'd, and nations bless'd the sight.
Pile rocks on rocks: bid woods and mountains rise :
Eclipse her native shades, her native skies:
Tis vain : through aether's pathless wilds she goes,
And lights at last where all her cares repose.
668
Where should we find (those comforts at an end,
Which Scripture yields) or hope to find a friend ?
Sorrow might muse herself to madness then,
And, seeking exile from the sight of men,
Bury herself in solitude profound,
Grow frantic with her pangs, and bite the ground.
Thus often unbelief, grown sick of life,
Flies to the tempting pool, or felon knife.
669
And shall I dread at this dark hour to rove
Amid the solemn stillness of the grove,
or where the time-worn battlements arise,.
or the"proud turret low in ruin lies ?
? ? Generated for Christian Pecaut (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:50 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hnjin7 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 114 Key to English Prosody.
I scorn the thought--assur'd that sov'reign pow'r
Governs alike the dark or noontide hour:
And here, as free from vain alarm, I stray
Amid these sliades, as in the blaze of day;
While to thy care, o thou almighty friend,
By night or day, my spirit i commend.
670
Friend of my heart, companion of my youth,
As fam'd for learnj//g, as rever'd for truth,
In whom united we alike admire
The sage's wisdom, and the poet's fire,
A gen'rous temper and a noble mind,
ardor undamp'd, and genius unconfin'd;
Skilful alike to raise the lofty song,
. Or playful sport the flow'ry meads among ;
The smiling Muse has taught thee all her art,
To catch the fancy, S. nd to seise the heart.
671. -- Tobacco.
Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys,
Unfriend/y tS society's chief joys!
Thy worst effect is banishing for hours
The sex whose presence civilises ours.
Thou art indeed the drug a gard'ner wants,
To poison vermtn that infest his plants.
But are we so to wit and beauty blind,
as to despise the glory of our kind,
And show the soft&f and the fairest forms
As little mercy, as to grubs and worms ?
672
None sends his arroay to the mark in view,
? ? Generated for Christian Pecaut (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:50 GMT / http://hdl.