Still hovering rouud the Nine agpear,
pour the foul-transporting ftrain;
Join'd to the Loves' gay train.
The loofe-rob'd Graces crown'd with flow'rs,
The light-wing'd gales that lead the vernal year,
And wake the rofy-featur'd hours.
O'er all bright Fancy's beauty radsance fhone,
How flam'd thy bofom as her charms reveal!
Her fire-clad eye fublime. her ftarry zone,
Her treffes loofe that wanton'd on the gale:
On thee the goddess fix'd her ardent look,
Tben from her glowing lips thefe melting acccnts broke:
I. 3.
To thee, my favourite fon, belong
The lays that fleal the liftening hour;
To pour the rapture-darting fong,
To paint gay Hope's Ely fian bow'r.
From Nature's hand to fnatch the dart,
To cleave with pangs the bleeding heart;
Or lightly fweep the trembling ftring,
And call the Loves with purple wing
From the blue deep, where they dwell
• With Na'ads in the pearly cell,
• Soft on the fea-born goddess gaze*;
• Or in the loose robe's floating maze,
• Diffolv'd in downy flumbers reft;
• Or flutter o'er her panting breast.
• Or wild to melt the yielding foul,
Let Sorrow, clad in fable ftole,
Slow to thy mufing thought appear;
• Or pensive Pity pale ;
• Or Love's defponding tale
• Call from th' intender'd heart the fympathetic tear.
Say, whence the magic of thy mind ?
Why thrills thy mufic on the fprings of thought?
Why, at thy pencil's touch refin'd,
Starts into life the glowing draught ?
On yonder fairy carpet laid,
Where beauty pours eternal bloom,
And zephyr breathes perfume;
There nightly to the tranced eye
Profufe the radiant goddess stood display'd,
With all her fmiling offspring nigh.
Sudden the mantling cliff, the arching wood,
The broider'd mead, the landfkip, and the grove,
Hills, vales, and sky-dipt feas, and torrents rude,
Grots, rills, and shades, and bow'rs that breath'd of love,
All burft to fight! while glancing on the view,
Titania's fporting train brush'd lightly o'er the dew.
The pale-eyed Genius of the fhade
Led thy bold ftep to Profper's magic bow'r;
Whofe voice the howling winds obey❜d,
Whofe dark spell chain'd the rapid hour:
Then rofe ferene the fea-girt ifle;
Gay fcenes, by Fancy's touch'd refin'd,
Glow'd to thee musing mind:
Such vifions blefs the hermit's dream,
When hovering angels prompt his placid fmile,
Or paint fome high ecftatic theme.
Then flam'd Miranda on th'enraptur'd gaze,
Then fail'd bright Ariel on the bat's fleet wing :'
Or ftarts the lift'ning throng in ftill amaze,
The wild note trembling on th'aerial ftring!
The form, in Heaven's refplendent vefture gay,
Floats on the mantling cloud, and pours the melting lay
Oh lay me near yon limpid fiream,
Whofe murmur foothes the ear of woe!
There in fome sweet poetic dream
Let Fancy's bright Elyfium glow!
'Tis done- o'er all the blushing mead
The dark wood shakes his cloudy head;
* Ariel: fee the Tempeft.
Below, the lily-fringed dale
Breathes its mild fragrance on the gale;
While, in paftime all-unfeen,
Titania rob'd in mantle green
Sports on the moffy-bank: her train
Skims light along the gleaming plain;
Or to the flutt'ring breeze unfold,
The blue wing ftreak'd with beamy gold;
Its pinions op'ning to the light!
Say, burfts the vision on my fight?
Ah, no! by Shakespeare's pencil drawn.
The beauteous fhapes appear;
While meek-eyed Cynthia near
Illumes with streamy ray the filver-mantled lawn*,
But, hark! the tempeft howls afar !
Burfts the loud whirlwind o'er the pathless wafte!
What cherub blows the trump of war ?
What demon rides the ftormy blast ?
Red from the lightning's livid blaze,
The bleak heath rushes on the fight;
Then wrapt in fudden night
Diffolves. But, ah! what kingly form
Roams the lone defart's defolated mazet
Unaw'd, nor heeds the fweeping florm?
* See the Midfummer Night's Dream. + Lear.
Ye pale-eyed lightnings, fpare the cheek of age!
Vain with! tho' anguifh heaves the burfling groan,
Deaf as the flint, the marble ear of rage
Hears not the mourner's unavailing moan:
Heart-pierc'd he bleeds; and, ftung with wild despair, Bares his time-blafted head, and tears his filver hair.
Lo! on yon long-refounding fhore,
Where the rock totters o'er the headlong deep;
What phantoms bath'd in infant gore
Stand mutt'ring on the dizzy fleep!
Their murmur fhakes the zephyr's wing!
The form obeys their pow'rful fpell ;
See, from his gloomy cell
Fierce Winter ftarts! his fcowling aye
Blots the fair mantle of the breathing Spring,
And lowers along the ruffled fky.
To thee deep vault the yelling harpies run*;
Its yawning mouth receives th'infernal crew.
Dim thro' the black gloom winks the glimmering fun,
And the pale furnace gleams with brimftone blue.
Hell howls; and fiends that join the dire acclaim
Dance on the bubbling tide, and point the livid flame.
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