Winter

SEE, Winter comes, to rule the varied year,Sullen, and sad, with all his rising train;Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these my theme,These! that exalt the soul to solemn thought,And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms!5Cogenial horrors, hail! with frequent foot,Pleas'd have I, in my chearful morn of life,When nurs'd by careless solitude I liv'd.And sung of Nature with unceasing joy,Pleas'd have I wander'd thro' your rough domain;10Trod the pure virgin-snows, myself as pure;Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burst;Or seen the deep fermenting tempest brew'd,In the grim evening-sky. Thus pass'd the time,Till thro' the lucid chambers of the south 15Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smil'd.

To thee, the patron of her first essay,The Muse, O Wilmington! renews her song.Since has she rounded the revolving year:Skim'd the gay Spring; on eagle-pinions borne,20Attempted thro' the summer-blaze to rise;Then swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale;

And now among the wintry clouds again,Roll'd in the doubling florin, she tries to soar;To swell her note with all the rushing winds;25To suit her sounding cadence to the floods;As is her theme, her numbers wildly great:Thrice happy! could she fill thy judging earWith bold description, and with manly thought.Nor art thou skill'd in awful schemes alone.30And how to make a mighty people thrive;But equal goodness, sound integrity,A firm unshaken uncorrupted soulAmid a sliding age, and burning strong,Not vainly blazing for thy country's weal, 35A steady spirit regularly free;These, each exalting each, the statesman lightInto the patriot; these, the public hopeAnd eye to thee converting, bid the MuseRecord what envy dares not flattery call. 40

Now when the cheerless empire of the skyTo Capricorn the Centaur-Archer yields,And fierce Aquarius, stains th' inverted year;Hung o'er the farthest verge of heaven, the sunScarce spreads o'er ether the dejected day.45Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shootHis struggling rays, in horizontal lines,Thro' the thick air; as cloath'd in cloudy storm,Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky;And, soon descending, to the long dark night,50Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns.Nor is the night unwish'd; while vital heat,Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forsake.Mean-time, in fable cincture, shadows vast,Deep-ting'd and damp, and congregated clouds,55And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven

Involve the face of things. Thus Winter falls,A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world,Thro' Nature shedding influence malign,And rouses up the seeds of dark disease.60The soul of Man dies in him, loathing life,And black with more than melancholy views.The cattle droop; and o'er the furrow'd land,Fresh from the plough, the dun discolour'd flocks,Untended spreading, crop the wholesome root.65Along the woods, along the moorish fens,Sighs the sad Genius of the coming storm;And up among the loose disjointed cliffs,And fractur'd mountains wild, the brawling brookAnd cave, presageful, send a hollow moan70Resounding long in listening Fancy's ear.

Then comes the father of the tempest forth,Wrapt in black glooms. First joyless rains obscureDrive thro' the mingling skies with vapour foul;Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the woods, 75That grumbling wave below. The unsightly plainLies a brown deluge; as the low-bent cloudsPour flood on flood, yet unexhausted stillCombine, and deepening into night shut upThe day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven, 80Each to his home, retire; fave thofe that loveTo take their pastime in the troubled air,Or skimming flutter round the dimply pool.The cattle from the untasted fields return,And ask, with meaning lowe, their wonted stalls, 85Or ruminate in the contiguous shade.Thither the houshold feathery people crowd,The crested cock, with all his female train,Pensive, and dripping; while the cottage-hindHangs o'er th' enlivening blaze, and taleful there 90

Recounts his simple frolic: much he talks,And much he laughs, nor recks the storm that blowsWithout, and rattles on his humble roof.

Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent swell'd.And the mix'd ruin of its banks o'erspread, 95At last the rous'd-up river pours along:Resistless, roaring, dreadful, down it comes,From the rude mountain, and the mossy wild,Tumbling thro' rocks abrupt, and sounding far;Then o'er the sanded valley floating spreads, 100Calm, sluggish, silent; till again, constrain'd,Between two meeting hills, it bursts a way,Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid stream;There gathering triple force, rapid, and deep,It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders thro'. 105

Nature! great parent! whose unceasing handRolls round the seasons of the changeful year,How mighty, how majestic, are thy works!With what a pleasing dread they swell the soul!That sees astonish'd! and astonish'd sings! 110Ye too, ye winds! that now begin to blow,With boisterous sweep, I raise my voice to you.Where are your stores, ye powerful beings! say,Where your aërial magazines reserv'd,To swell the brooding terrors of the storm? 115In what far-distant region of the sky,Hush'd in dead silence, sleep you when 'tis calm?

When from the pallid sky the sun descends,With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orbUncertain wanders, stain'd; red fiery streaks 90Begin to flush around. The reeling cloudsStagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yetWhich master to obey: while rising slow,

Blank, in the leaden-colour'd east, the moonWears a wan circle round her blunted horns. 125Seen thro' the turbid fluctuating air,The stars obtuse emit a shivering ray;Or frequent seem to shoot athwart the gloom,And long behind them trail the whitening blaze.Snatch'd in short eddies, plays the wither'd leaf; 130And on the flood the dancing feather floats.With broaden'd nostrils to the sky up-turn'd,The conscious heifer snuffs the stormy gale.Even as the matron, at her nightly task,With pensive labour draws the flaxen thread, 135The wasted taper and the crackling flameForetell the blast. But chief the plumy race,The tenants of the sky, its changes speak.Retiring from the downs, where all day longThey pick'd their scanty fare, a blackening train 140Of clamorous rooks thick-urge their weary flight.And seek the closing shelter of the grove;Assiduous, in his bower, the wailing owlPlies his sad song. The cormorant on highWheels from the deep, and screams along the land. 145Loud shrieks the soaring hern; and with wild wingThe circling sea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds.Ocean, unequal press'd, with broken tideAnd blind commotion heaves; while from the shore,Eat into caverns by the restless wave, 150And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice,That solemn-sounding bids the world prepare.Then issues forth the storm with sudden burst,And hurls the whole precipitated air,Down, in a torrent. On the passive main 155Descends th' etherial force, and with strong gustTurns from its bottom the discolour'd deep.Thro' the black night that sits immense around,

Lash'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brineSeems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn; 160Meantime the mountain-billows, to the cloudsIn dreadful tumult swell'd, surge above surge,Burst into chaos with tremendous roar,And anchor'd navies from their stations drive,Wild as the winds across the howling waste 165Of mighty waters: now th' inflated waveStraining they scale, and now impetuous shootInto the secret chambers of the deep,The wintry Baltick thundering o'er their head.Emerging thence again, before the breath 170Of full-exerted heaven they wing their course,And dart on distant coasts; if some sharp rock,Or shoal insidious break not their career,And in loose fragments fling them floating round.

Nor less at land the loosened tempest reigns. 175The mountain thunders; and its sturdy sonsStoop to the bottom of the rocks they shade.Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast,The dark way-faring stranger breathless toils,And, often falling, climbs against the blast. 180Low waves the rooted forest, vex'd, and shedsWhat of its tarnish'd honours yet remain;Dash'd down, and scattered, by the tearing wind'sAssiduous fury, its gigantic limbs.Thus struggling thro' the dissipated grove, 185The whirling tempest raves along the plain;And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof,Keen-fastening, shakes them to the solid base.Sleep frighted flies; and round the rocking dome,For entrance eager, howls the savage blast. 190Then too, they say, thro' all the burthen'd air,Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sighs,

That utter'd by the Demon of the night,Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death.

Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commix'd 195With stars swift-gliding sweep along the sky.All Nature reels. Till Nature's King, who oftAmid tempestuous darkness dwells alone,And on the wings of the careering windWalks dreadfully serene, commands a calm; 200Then straight air, sea and earth, are hush'd at once.

As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds,Slow-meeting, mingle into solid gloom.Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleep,Let me associate with the serious Night, 205And Contemplation her sedate compeer;Let me shake off th' intrusive cares of day,And lay the meddling senses all aside.

Where now, ye lying vanities of life!Ye ever-tempting ever-cheating train! 210Where are you now? and what is your amount?Vexation, disappointment, and remorse.Sad, sickening thought! and yet deluded Man,A scene of crude disjointed visions past,And broken slumbers, rises still resolv'd, 215With new-flush'd hopes, to run the giddy round.

Father of light and life! thou Good supreme!O teach me what is good! teach me Thyself!Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,From every low pursuit! and feed my soul 220With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure,Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!

The keener tempests rise: and fuming dunFrom all the livid east, or piercing north,

Thick clouds ascend; in whose capacious womb 225A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congeal'd.Heavy they roll their fleecy world along;And the sky saddens with the gathered storm.Thro' the hush'd air the whitening shower descends,At first thin-wavering; 'till at last the flakes 230Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the day,With a continual flow. The cherish'd fieldsPut on their winter-robe, of pureest white.'Tis brightness all; save where the new snow melts,Along the mazy current. Low, the woods 235Bow their hoar head; and, ere the languid sunFaint from the west emits his evening-ray,Earth's universal face, deep-hid, and chill,Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wideThe works of Man. Drooping, the labourer-ox 241Stands cover'd o'er with snow, and then demandsThe fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven,Tam'd by the cruel season, croud aroundThe winnowing store, and claim the little boonWhich Providence assigns them. One alone, 245The red-breast, sacred to the houshold gods,Wisely regardful of th' embroiling sky,In joyless fields, and thorny thickets, leavesHis shivering mates, and pays to trusted ManHis annual visit. Half-afraid, he first 250Against the window beats; then, brisk, alightsOn the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor,Eyes all the smiling family askance,And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is:Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 255Attract his slender feet. The foodless wildsPour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare,Tho' timorous of heart, and hard besetBy death in various forms, dark snares, and dogs,

And more unpitying Men, the garden seeks, 260Urg'd on by fearless want. The bleating kindEye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening earth,With looks of dumb despair: then, sad-dispers'd,Dig for the wither'd herb thro' heaps of snow.

Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge be kind, 265Baffle the raging year, and fill their pensWith food at will; lodge them below the storm,And watch them strict: for from the bellowing east,In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wingSweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains 270In one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks,Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills,The billowy tempest whelms; 'till, upward urg'd,The valley to a shining mountain swells,Tipt with a wreath, high-curling in the sky. 275

As thus the snows arise; and foul, and fierce,All Winter drives along the darkened air;In his own loose-revolving fields, the swainDisaster'd stands; sees other hills ascend,Of unknown joyless brow; and other scenes, 280Of horrid prospect, shag the trackless plain:Nor finds the river, nor the forest, hidBeneath the formless wild; but wanders onFrom hill to dale, still more and more astray:Impatient flouncing thro' the drifted heaps, 285Stung with the thoughts of home; the thoughts of homeRush on his nerves, and call their vigour forthIn many a vain attempt. How sinks his soul!What black despair, what horror fills his heart!When for the dusky spot, which fancy feign'd 290His tufted cottage rising thro' the snow,He meets the roughness of the middle waste,Far from the track, and blest abode of Man:

While round him night resistless closes fast,And every tempest, howling o'er his head, 295Renders the savage wilderness more wild.Then throng the busy shapes into his mind,Of cover'd pits, unfathomably deep,A dire descent! beyond the power of frost,Of faithless bogs; of precipices huge, 300Smooth'd up with snow; and, what is land, unknown,What water, of the still unfrozen spring,In the loose marsh or solitary lake,Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils.These check his fearful steps; and down he sinks 305Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift,Thinking o'er all the bitterness of death,Mix'd with the tender anguish Nature shootsThro' the wrung bosom of the dying Man,His wife, his children, and his friends unseen. 310In vain for him th' officious wife preparesThe fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm;In vain his little children, peeping outInto the mingling storm, demand their fire,With tears of artless innocence. Alas! 315Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold,Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every nerveThe deadly winter seizes; shuts up sense;And, o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold,Lays him along the snows, a stiffen'd corse, 320Stretch'd out, and bleaching in the northern blast.

Ah little think the gay licentious proud,Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround;They, who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth,And wanton, often cruel, riot waste; 325Ah little think they, while they dance along,How many feel, this very moment, death

And all the sad variety of pain!How many sink in the devouring flood,Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 330By shameful variance betwixt Man and Man!How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms;Shut from the common air, and common useOf their own limbs. How many drink the cupOf baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 335Of misery! Sore pierc'd by wintry winds,How many shrink into the sordid hutOf cheerless poverty! How many shakeWith all the fiercer tortures of the mind,Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse; 340Whence tumbled headlong from the height of life,They furnish matter for the tragic Muse.Even in the vale, where wisdom loves to dwell,With friendship, peace, and contemplation join'd.How many, rack'd with honest passions, droop 345In deep retir'd distress! how many standAround the death-bed of their dearest friends,And point the parting anguish! Thought fond ManOf these, and all the thousand nameless ills,That one incessant struggle render life, 350One scene of toil, of suffering, and of fate,Vice in his high career would stand appall'd,And heedless rambling impulse learn to think;The conscious heart of charity would warm,And her wide wish Benevolence dilate; 355The social tear would rise; the social sigh;And into clear perfection, gradual bliss,Refining still, the social passions work.

And here can I forget the generous band,Who, touch'd with human woe, redressive search'd 360

Into the horrors of the gloomy jail?Unpity'd, and unheard, where misery moans;Where sickness pines; where thirst and hunger burn,And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice.While in the land of liberty, the land; 365Whose every street and public meeting glowWith open freedom, little tyrants rag'd:Snatch'd the lean morsel from the starving mouth;Tore from cold wintry limbs the tatter'd weed;Even robb'd them of the last of comforts, sleep; 370The free-born Briton to the dungeon chain'd,Or, as the lust of cruelty prevail'd,At pleasure mark'd him with inglorious stripes;And crush'd out lives, by secret barbarous ways,That for their country would have toil'd, or bled. 375O great design! if executed well,With patient care, and wisdom-temper'd zeal:Ye sons of mercy! yet resume the search;Drag forth the legal monsters into light,Wrench from their hands oppression's iron rod, 380And bid the cruel feel the pains they give.Much still untouch'd remains; in this rank age,Much is the patriot's weeding hand requir'd.The toils of law, (what dark insidious MenHave cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 385And lengthen simple justice into trade)How glorious were the day! that saw these broke,And every Man within the reach of right.

By wintry famine rous'd, from all the tractOf horrid mountains which the shining Alps, 390And wavy Appenines, and Pyrenees,Branch out stupendous into distant lands;Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave!Burning for blood! bony, and ghaunt, and grim!

Assembling wolves In raging troops descend; 395And, pouring o'er the country, bear along,Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy snow.All is their prize. They fasten on the steed,Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart.Nor can the bull his awful front defend. 400Or shake the murdering savages away.Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly,And tear the screaming infant from her breast.The godlike face of Man avails him nought.Even beauty, force divine! at whose bright glance 405The generous lion stands in softened gaze,Here bleeds, a hapless distinguish'd prey.But if, appriz'd of the severe attack,The country be shut up, lur'd by the scent,On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate!) 410The disappointed prowlers fall, and digThe shrouded body from the grave; o'er which,Mix'd with foul shades, and frighted ghosts, they howl.

Among those hilly regions, where embrac'dIn peaceful vales the happy Grisons dwell; 415Oft, rushing hidden from the loaded cliffs,Mountains of snow their gathering terrors roll.From steep to steep, loud-thundering, down they come,A wintry waste in dire commotion all;And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and swains, 420And sometimes whole brigades of marching troops,Or hamlets sleeping in the dead of night,Are deep beneath the smothering ruin whelm'd.

Now, all amid the rigours of the year,In the wild depth of Winter, while without 425The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat,Between the groaning forest and the shore,Beat by a boundless multitude of waves,

A rural, shelter'd, solitary, scene;Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join, 430To cheer the gloom. There studious let me sit,And hold high converse with the Mighty Dead;Sages of ancient time, as gods rever'd,As gods beneficent, who blest mankindWith arts, and arms, and humaniz'd a world. 435Rous'd at th' inspiring thought, I throw asideThe long-liv'd volume; and, deep-musing, hailThe sacred shades, that slowly-rising passBefore my wondering eyes. First Socrates,Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, 440Against the rage of tyrants single stood,Invincible! calm reason's holy law,That voice of God within th' attentive mind,Obeying, fearless, or in life, or death:Great moral teacher! wisest of Mankind! 445Solon the next, who built his common-wealOn equity's wide base; by tender lawsA lively people curbing, yet undamp'dPreserving still that quick peculiar fire,Whence in the laurel'd field of finer arts, 450And of bold freedom, they unequal'd shone,The pride of smiling Grece, and human-kind.Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the forceOf strictest discipline, severely wise,All human passions. Following him, I see, 455As at Thermopylæ he glorious fell,The firm Devoted Chief, who prov'd by deedsThe hardest lesson which the other taught.Then Aristides lifts his honest front;Spotless of heart, to whom th' unflattering voice 460Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just;

In pure majestic poverty rever'd;Who, even his glory to his country's wealSubmitting, swell'd a haughty Rival's fame.Rear'd by his care, of softer ray, appears 465Cimon sweet-soul'd; whose genius, rising strong,Shook off the load of young debauch; abroadThe scourge of Persian pride, at home the friendOf every worth and every splendid art;Modest, and simple, in the pomp of wealth. 470Then the last worthies of declining Greece,Late-call'd to glory, in unequal times,Pensive, appear. The fair Corinthian boast,Timoleon, happy temper! mild, and firm,Who wept the Brother while the Tyrant bled. 475And, equal to the best, the Theban Pair,Whose virtues, in heroic Concord join'd,Their country rais'd to freedom, empire, fame.He too, with whom Athenian honour sunk,And left a mass of sordid lees behind, 480Phocion the Good: in public life severe,To virtue still inexorably firm;But when, beneath his low illustrious roof,Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth'd his brow,Not friendship softer was, nor love more kind. 485And he, the last of old Lycurgus' sons,The generous victim to that vain attempt,To save a state, Agis, who sawEven Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk.The two Achaian heroes close the train. 490Aratus, who a while relum'd the soulOf fondly-lingering liberty in Greece:And he her darling as her latest hope,The gallant Philopemen; who to arms

Turn'd the luxurious pomp he could not cure; 495Or toiling in his farm, a simple swain;Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field.

Of rougher front, a mighty people come!A race of heroes! in those virtuous timesWhich knew no stain, save that with partial flame 500Their dearest country they too fondly lov'd.Her better founder first, the light of Rome,Numa, who soften'd her rapacious sons:Servius the King, who laid the solid baseOn which o'er earth the vast republic spread. 505Then the great consuls venerable rise.The Public Father who the Private quell'd,As on the dread tribunal sternly sad.He, whom his thankless country could not lose,Camillus, only vengeful to her foes. 510Fabricius, scorner of all-conquering gold;And Cincinnatus, awful from the plough.Thy willing Victim, Carthage, bursting looseFrom all that pleading Nature could oppose,From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith 515Imperious call'd, and honour's dire command.Scipio, the gentle chief, humanely brave,Who soon the race of spotless glory ran,And, warm in youth, to the Poetic shadeWith Friendship and Philosophy retir'd. 520Tully, whose powerful eloquence a whileRestrain'd the rapid fate of rushing Rome.Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in extreme.And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart,Whose steady arm, by awful virtue urg'd, 525Lifted the Roman steel against thy Friend.

Thousands, besides, the tribute of a verseDemand; but who can count the stars of heaven?Who sing their influence on this lower world?

Behold, who yonder comes! in sober state, 530Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun:'Tis Phœbus' self, or else the Mantuan Swain!Great Homer too appears, of daring wing,Parent of song! and equal by his side,The British Muse; join'd hand in hand they walk, 535Darkling, full up the middle steep to fame.Nor absent are those shades, whose skilful handPathetic drew th' Impassion'd heart, and charm'dTransported Athens with the moral Scene:Nor those who, tuneful, wak'd th' enchanting Lyre. 540

First of your kind! society divine!Still visit thus my nights, for you reserv'd,And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like yours.Silence, thou lonely power! the door be thine;See on the hallowed hour that none intrude, 545Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes deignTo bless my humble roof, with sense refin'd,Learning digested well, exalted faith,Unstudy'd wit, and humour ever gay.Or from the Muses' hill will Pope descend,To raise the sacred hour, to bid it smile,And with the social spirit warm the heart:For tho' not sweeter his own Homer sings,Yet is his life the more endearing song.

Where art thou, Hammond? Thou the darling pride, 555The friend and lover of the tuneful throng!Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming primeOf vernal genius, where disclosing fastEach active worth, each manly virtue lay?

Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon? 560What now avails that noble thirst of fame,Which stung thy fervent breast? That treasur'd storeOf knowledge, early gain'd? That eager zealTo serve thy country, glowing in the bandOf youthful Patriots, who sustain her name? 565What now, alas! that life-diffusing charmOf sprightly wit? that rapture for the MuseThat heart of friendship, and that soul of joy,Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile?Ah! only shew'd, to check our fond pursuits, 570And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain!

Thus in some deep retirement would I pass,The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant soul.Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspir'd:With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame 575Was call'd, late-rising from the void of night,Or sprung eternal from th' eternal Mind;Its springs, its laws, its progress, and its end.Hence larger prospects of the beauteous wholeWould, gradual, open on our opening minds; 580And each diffusive harmony unite,In full perfection, to th' astonish'd eye.Then would we try to scan the moral World,Which, tho' to us it seems embroil'd; moves onIn higher order; fitted, and impell'd, 585By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing allIn general Good. The sage historic MuseShould next conduct us thro' the deeps of time:Shew us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell,In scatter'd states; what makes the nations smile, 590Improves their soil, and gives them double suns;And why they pine beneath the brightest skies,In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd,

Our hearts would burn within us, would inhaleThat portion of divinity, that ray 595Of purest heaven, which lights the public soulOf patriots, and of heroes. But if doom'd,In powerless humble fortune, to repressThese ardent risings of the kindling soul;Then, even superior to ambition, we 600Would learn the private virtues; how to glideThro' shades and plains, along the smoothest streamOf rural life: or snatch'd away by hope,Thro' the dim spaces of futurity,With earnest eye anticipate those scenes 605Of happiness, and wonder; where the mind,In endless growth and infinite ascent,Rises from state to state, and world to world.But when with these the serious thought is foil'd,We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 610Of frolic Fancy; and incessant formThose rapid pictures, that assembled trainOf fleet ideas, never join'd before,Whence lively Wit excites to gay surprize;Or folly-painting Humour, grave himself, 615Calls laughter forth, deep-shaking every nerve.

Mean-time the village rouzes up the fire;While well attested, and as well believ'd,Heard solemn, goes the goblin-story round;Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all. 620Or, frequent in the sounding hall, they wakeThe rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round:The simple joke that takes the shepherd's heart,Easily pleas'd; the long loud laugh, sincere;The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the sidelong maid, 625On purpose guardless, or pretending sleep:The leap, the slap, the haul; and, shook to notes

Of native music, the respondent dance.Thus jocund fleets with them the winter-night.

The city swarms intense. The public haunt, 630Full of each theme, and warm with mixt discourse,Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flowDown the loose stream of false inchanted joy,To swift destruction. On the rankled soul,The gaming fury falls; and in one gulph 635Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace,Friends, families, and fortune, headlong sink.Up-springs the dance along the lighted dome,Mix'd, and evolv'd, a thousand sprightly ways.The glittering court effuses every pomp; 640The circle deepens: beam'd from gaudy robes,Tapers, and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes,A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves:While, a gay insect in his summer-shine,The fop, light-fluttering, spreads his mealy wings. 645

Dread o'er the scene, the ghost of Hamlet stalks:Othello rages; poor Monimia mourns;And Belvidera pours her soul in love.Deep-thrilling terror shakes; the comely tearSteals o'er the cheek: or else the Comic Muse 650Holds to the world a picture of itself,And raises sly the fair impartial laugh.Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the scenesOf beauteous life; whate'er can deck mankind,Or charm the heart, in generous Bevil shew'd. 655

O Thou, whose wisdom, solid yet refin'd,Whose patriot-virtues, and consummate skillTo touch the finer springs that move the world,

Join'd to whate'er the Graces can bestow.And all Apollo's animating fire, 660Give thee, with pleasing dignity, to shineAt once the guardian, ornament, and joy,Of polish'd life; permit the rural Muse,O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her song!Ere to the shades again she humbly flies, 665Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train,(For every Muse has in thy train a place)To mark thy various full-accomplish'd mind:To mark that spirit, which, with British scorn,Rejects th' allurements of corrupted power; 670That elegant politeness, which excelsEven in the judgement of presumptuous France,The boasted manners of her shining court;That wit, the vivid energy of senseThe truth of Nature, which, with Attic point, 675And kind well-temper'd satire, smoothly keen,Steals through the soul, and without pain corrects.Or, rising thence with yet a brighter flame,O let me hail thee on some glorious day,When to the listening senate, ardent, croud 680Britannia's sons to hear her pleaded cause.Then drest by thee, more amiably fair,Truth the soft robe of mild persuasion wears:Thou to assenting reason giv'st againHer own enlighten'd thoughts; call'd from the heart, 685Th' obedient passions on thy voice attend;And even reluctant party feels a whileThy gracious power: as thro' the vary'd mazeOf eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now strong,Profound and clear, you roll the copious flood. 690

To thy lov'd haunt return, my happy Muse:For now, behold, the joyous winter-days,

Frosty, succeed; and thro' the blue serene,For light too fine, th' etherial niter flies;Killing infectious damps, and the spent air 695Storing afresh with elemental life.Close crouds the shining atmosphere; and bindsOur strengthen'd bodies in its cold embrace,Constringent; feeds, and animates our blood;Refines our spirits, thro' the new-strung nerves, 700In swifter sallies darting to the brain;Where sits the soul, intense, collected, cool,Bright as the skies, and as the season keen.All Nature feels the renovating forceOf Winter, only to the thoughtless eye 705In ruin seen. The frost-concocted glebeDraws in abundant vegetable soul,And gathers vigour for the coming year.A stronger glow sits on the lively cheekOf ruddy fire: and luculent along 710The purer rivers flow; their sullen deeps,Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze,And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost.

What art thou, frost? and whence are thy keen storesDeriv'd, thou secret all-invading power, 715Whom even th' illusive fluid cannot fly?Is not thy potent energy, unseen,Myriads of little salts, or hook'd, or shap'dLike double wedges, and diffus'd immenseThro' water, earth, and ether? Hence at eve, 720Steam'd eager from the red horizon round,With fierce rage of Winter deep suffus'd,And icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the poolBreathes a blue film, and in its mid careerArrests the bickering stream. The loosen'd ice, 725Let down the flood, and half dissolv'd by day,

Rustles no more; but to the sedgy bankFast grows, or gathers round the pointed stone,A crystal pavement, by the breath of heavenCemented firm; till, seiz'd from shore to shore, 730The whole imprison'd river growls below.Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflectsA double noise; while, at his evening watch,The village dog deters the nightly thief;The heifer lows; the distant water-fall 735Swells in the breeze; and, with the hasty treadOf traveller, the hollow-sounding plainShakes from afar. The full ethereal round,Infinite worlds disclosing to the view,Shines out intensely keen; and, all one cope 740Of starry glitter, glows from pole to pole.From pole to pole the rigid influence falls,Thro' the still night, incessant, heavy, strong,And seizes Nature fast. It freezes on;Till morn, late-rising o'er the drooping world, 745Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appearsThe various labour of the silent night:Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cascade,Whose idle torrents only seem to roar,The pendant icicle; the frost-work fair, 750Where transient hues, and fancy'd figures rise;Wide-spouted o'er the hill, the frozen brook,A livid tract, cold-gleaming on the morn;The forest bent beneath the plumy wave;And by the frost refin'd the whiter snow, 755Incrusted hard, and sounding to the treadOf early shepherd, as he pensive seeksHis pining flock, or from the mountain-top,Pleas'd with the slippery surface, swift descends.

On blithsome frolicks bent, the youthful swains, 760While every work of Man is laid at rest,

Fond o'er the river croud, in various sportAnd revelry dissolv'd; where mixing glad,Happiest of all the train! the raptur'd boyLashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 765Branch'd out in many a long canal extends,From every province swarming, void of care,Batavia rushes forth; and as they sweep,On sounding skates, a thousand different ways,In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, 770The then gay land is madden'd all to joy.Nor less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow,Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds,Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheelThe long-resounding course. Meantime, to raise 775The manly strife, with highly-blooming charms,Flush'd by the season, Scandinavia's dames,Or Russia's buxom daughters glow around.

Pure, quick, and sportful, is the wholesome day;But soon elaps'd. The horizontal sun, 780Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost noon;And, ineffectual, strikes the gelid cliff:His azure gloss the mountain still maintains,Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the valeRelents a while to the reflected ray; 785Or from the forest falls the cluster'd snow.Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleamGay-twinkle as they scatter. Thick aroundThunders the sport of those, who with the gun,And dog impatient bounding at the shot, 790Worse than the season, desolate the fields;And, adding to the ruins of the year,Distress the footed or the feathered game.

But what is this? our infant Winter sinks,Diverted of his grandeur, should our eye 795

Astonish'd shoot into the Frigid Zone;Where, for relentless months, continual night,Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry reign.

There, thro' the prison of unbounded wilds,Barr'd by the hand of Nature from escape, 800Wide-roams the Russian exile. Nought aroundStrikes his sad eye, but desarts lost in snow;And heavy-loaded groves; and solid floods,That stretch, athwart the solitary vast,Their icy horrors to the frozen main; 805And cheerless towns far-distant, never bless'd,Save when its annual course the caravanBends to the golden coast of rich CathayWith news of human-kind. Yet there life glows;Yet cherish'd there, beneath the shining waste, 810The furry nations harbour: tipt with jet,Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press;Sables, of glossy black; and dark-embrown'd,Or beauteous freakt with many a mingled hue,Thousands besides, the costly pride of courts. 815There, warm together press'd, the trooping deerSleep on the new-fallen snows; and, scarce his headRais'd o'er the heapy wreath, the branching elkLies slumbering sullen in the white abyss.The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 820Nor with the dread of sounding bows he drivesThe fearful-flying race; with ponderous clubs,As weak against the mountain-heaps they pushTheir beating breast in vain, and piteous bray,He lays them quivering on th' ensanguin'd snows, 825And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home.There thro' the piny forest half-absorpt,

Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear,With dangling ice all horrid, stalks forlorn;Slow-pac'd, and sourer as the storms increase, 830He makes his bed beneath th' inclement drift,And, with stern patience, scorning weak complaint,Hardens his heart against assailing want.

Wide o'er the spacious regions of the north,That see Boötes urge his tardy wain, 835A boisterous race, by frosty Caurus pierc'd,Who little pleasure know and fear no pain,Prolific swarm. They once relum'd the flameOf lost mankind in polish'd slavery sunk,Drove martial horde on horde, with dreadful sweep 840Resistless rushing o'er th' enfeebled south,And gave the vanquish'd world another form.Not such the sons of Lapland: wisely theyDespise th' insensate barbarous trade of war;They ask no more than simple Nature gives, 845They love their mountains and enjoy their storms.No false desires, no pride-created wants,Disturb the peaceful current of their days;And thro' the restless ever-tortur'd mazeOf pleasure, or ambition, bid it rage. 850Their rain-deer form their riches. These their tents,Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealthSupply, their wholesome fare, and cheerful cups.Obsequious at their call, the docile tribeYield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swift 855O'er hill and dale, heap'd into one expanseOf marbled snow, as far as eye can sweepWith a blue crust of ice unbounded glaz'd.By dancing meteors then, that ceaseless shake

A waving blaze refracted o'er the heavens, 860And vivid moons, and liars that keener playWith doubled killer from the radiant waste,Even in the depth of Polar Night, they findA wondrous day: enough to light the chace,Or guide their daring steps to Finland-fairs. 865Wish'd spring returns; and from the hazy south,While dim Aurora slowly moves before,The welkome sun, just verging up at first,By small degrees extends the swelling curve!Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months, 870Still round and round, his spiral course he winds,And has he nearly dips his flaming orb,Wheels up again, and reascends the sky.In that glad season, from the lakes and floods,Where pure Niemi's fairy mountains rise, 875And fring'd with roses Tenglio rolls his stream,They draw the copious fry. With these, at eve,They cheerful-loaded to their tents repair;Where, all day long in useful cares employ'd,Their kind unblemish'd wives the fire prepare. 880Thrice happy race! by poverty secur'dFrom legal plunder and rapacious power:In whom fell interest never yet has sown

The seeds of vice; whose spotless swains ne'er knew 885Injurious deed, nor, blasted by the breathOf faithless love, their blooming daughters woe.

Still, pressing on, beyond Tornea's lake,And Hecla flaming thro' a waste of snow,And farthest Greenland, to the pole itself, 890Where failing gradual life at length goes out,The Muse expands her solitary flight;And, hovering o'er the wild stupendous scene,Beholds new seas beneath another sky.Thron'd in his palace of cerulean ice, 895Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court;And thro' his airy hall the loud misruleOf driving tempest is for ever heard!Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath;Here arms his winds with all-subduing frost; 900Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up his snows,With which he now oppresses half the globe.

Thence winding eastward to the Tartar's coast,She sweeps the howling margin of the main;Where undissolving, from the first of time, 905Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky;And icy mountains, high on mountains pil'd,Seem to the shivering sailor from afar,Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds.Projected huge, and horrid, o'er the surge, 910Alps frown on alps; or rushing hideous down,As if old chaos was again return'd,Wide-rend the deep, and shake the solid pole.Ocean itfelf no longer can resistThe binding fury; but, in all its rage 915Of tempest taken by the boundless frost,

Is many a fathom to the bottom chain'd,And bid to roar no more: a bleak expanse,Shagg'd o'er with wavy rocks, cheerless, and voidOf every life, that from the dreary months 920Flies conscious southward. Miserable they!Who, here entangled in the gathering ice,Take their last look of the descending sun;While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost,The long long night, incumbent o'er their head, 925Falls horrible. Such was the Briton's Fate,As with first prow, (what have not Britons dar'd!)He for the passage fought, attempted sinceSo much in vain, and seeming to be shutBy jealous Nature with eternal bars. 930In these fell regions, in Arxina caught,And to the stony deep his idle shipImmediate seal'd, he with his hapless crew,Each full exerted at his several task,Froze into statues; to the cordage glued 935The sailor, and the pilot to the helm.

Hard by these shores, where scarce his freezing streamRolls the wild Oby, live the last of Men;And, half-enliven'd by the distant sun,That rears and ripens Man, as well as plants, 940Here human Nature wears its rudest form.Deep from the piercing season sunk in caves,Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer,They waste the tedious gloom. Immers'd in furs,Doze the gross race. Nor sprightly jest, nor song, 945Nor tenderness they know; nor aught of life,Beyond the kindred bears that stalk without.

Till morn at length, her roses drooping all,Sheds a long twilight brightening o'er their fields,And calls the quiver'd savage to the chace. 950

What cannot active government perform,New-moulding Man? Wide-stretching from these shores,A people savage from remotest time,A huge neglected empire One vast Mind,By Heaven inspir'd, from gothic darkness call'd. 955Immortal Peter! first of monarchs! heHis stubborn country tam'd, her rocks, her fens,Her floods, her seas, her ill-submitting sons;And while the fierce Barbarian he subdu'd,To more exalted soul he raised the Man. 960Ye f hades of antient heroes, ye who toil'dThro' long successive ages to build upA laboring plan of state, behold at onceThe wonder done! behold the matchless prince!Who left his native throne, where reign'd till then 965A mighty shadow of unreal power;Who greatly spurn'd the slothful pomp of courts;And roaming every land, in every port,His scepter laid aside, with glorious handUnweary'd plying the mechanic tool, 970Gather'd the seeds of trade, of useful arts,Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill.Charg'd with the stores of Europe home he goes!Then cities rise amid th' illumin'd waste;O'er joyless desarts smiles the rural reign; 975Far-distant flood to flood is social join'd;Th' astonish'd Euxine hears the Baltic roar;Proud navies ride on seas that never foam'dWith daring keel before; and armies stretchEach way their dazzling files, repressing here 980

The frantic Alexander of the north,And awing there stern Othman's shrinking sons.Sloth flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice,Of old dishonour proud: it glows around,Taught by the Royal Hand that rous'd the whole, 985One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade:For what his wisdom plann'd, and power enforc'd,More potent still, his great example fhew'd.

Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point,Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Subdu'd, 990The frost resolves into a trickling thaw.Spotted the mountains shine; loose sleet descends,And floods the country round. The rivers swell,Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills,O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts, 995A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once;And, where they rush, the wide-resounding plainIs left one slimy waste. Those sullen seas,That wash th' ungenial pole, will rest no moreBeneath the shackles of the mighty north; 1000But, rousing all their waves, resistless heave.And hark! the lengthening roar continuous runsAthwart the rifted deep: at once it bursts,And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds.Ill fares the bark with trembling wretches charg'd, 1005That, soft amid the floating fragments, moorsBeneath the shelter of an icy isle,While night o'erwhelms the sea, and horror looksMore horrible. Can human force endureTh' assembled mischiefs that besiege them round? 1010Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness,The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice,Now ceasing, now-renew'd with louder rage,

And in dire echoes bellowing round the main.More to embroil the deep, Leviathan 1015And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport,Tempest the loosened brine, while thro' the gloom,Far, from the bleak inhospitable shore,Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howlOf famish'd monsters, there awaiting wrecks. 1020Yet Providence, that ever waking Eye,Looks down with pity on the feeble toilOf mortals lost to hope, and lights them safe,Thro' all this dreary labyrinth of fate.

'Tis done! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms, 1025And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year.How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extendsHis desolate domain. Behold, fond Man!Behold thy pictur'd life; pass some few years, 1030Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength,Thy sober Autumn fading into age,And pale concluding Winter comes at last,And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled,Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes 1035Of happiness? those longings after fame?Those restless cares? those busy bustling days?Those gay-spent, festive nights? those veering thoughts,Lost between good and ill, that shar'd thy life?All now are vanish'd! Virtue sole survives, 1040Immortal, never-failing friend of Man,His guide to happiness on high.—And see!'Tis come, the glorious morn! the second birthOf heaven, and earth! awakening Nature hearsThe new-creating word, and starts to life, 1045In every heightened form, from pain and death

For ever free. The great eternal scheme,Involving all, and in a perfect wholeUniting, as the prospect wider spreads,To reason's eye refin'd clears up apace. 1050Ye vainly wise! ye blind presumptuous! now,Confounded in the dust, adore that Power,And Wisdom oft arraign'd: see now the cause,Why unassuming worth in secret liv'd,And dy'd, neglected: why the good Man's share 1055In life was gall and bitterness of soul:Why the lone widow, and her orphans pin'd,In starving solitude; while luxury,In palaces, lay straining her low thought,To form unreal wants: why heaven-born truth, 1060And moderation fair, wore the red marksOf superstition's scourge: why licens'd pain,That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd foe,Imbitter'd all our bliss. Ye good distrest!Ye noble few! who here unbending stand 1065Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while,And what your bounded view, which only sawA little part, deem'd Evil is no more:The storms of Wintry Time will quickly pass,And one unbounded Spring encircle all! 1070