ROWN'D with the fickle and the wheaten fheaf,
While AUTUMN, nodding o'er the yellow plain, Comes jovial on; the Doric reed once more, Well pleas'd, I tune. Whate'er the wintry frost Nitrous prepar'd; the various-bloffom'd Spring Put in white promife forth and Summer-funs Concocted strong, rush boundless now to view, Full, perfect all, and fwell my glorious theme..
ONSLOW! the Mufe, ambitious of thy name,
To grace, infpire, and dignify her song,
Would from the public voice thy gentle ear
A while engage. Thy noble cares she knows,
The patriot virtues that diftend thy thought,
Spread on thy front, and in thy bofom glow;
While lift'ning fenates hang upon thy tongue,
Devolving thro' the maze of cloquence
A roll of periods, sweeter than her fong,
But fhe too pants for public virtue, fhe,
Tho' weak of pow'r, yet ftrong in ardent will,
Whene'er her country rushes on her heart,
Affumes a bolder note, and fondly tries
To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame.
WHEN the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days, And Libra weighs in equal fcales the year;
From heav'n's high cope the fierce effulgence fhook 25 Of parting Summer, a ferener blue,
With golden light enliven'd, wide invests
The happy world. Attemper'd funs arife,
Sweet-beam'd, and shedding oft thro' lucid clouds
A pleafing calm; while broad, and brown, below 30
Extenfive harvefts hang the heavy head.
Rich, frient, deep, they ftand; for not a gale
Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain :
A calm of plenty! till the ruffled air
Falls from its poife, and gives the breeze to blow. 35
Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky;
The clouds fly diff'rent; and the fudden fun
By fits effulgent gilds th' illumin'd field,
And black by fits the fhadows fweep along.
A gaily-chequer'd heart-expanding view,
Far as the circling eye can fhoot around,
Unbounded toffing in a flood of corn.
THESE are thy bleflings, INDUSTRY! rough pow'r!
Whom labour still attends, and fweat, and pain;
Yet the kind fource of ev'ry gentle art,
And all the foft civility of life :
Raifer of human kind! by Nature caft,
Naked, and helplefs, out amid the woods.
And wilds, to rude inclement elements;
With various feeds of art deep in the mind
Implanted, and profufely pour'd around
Materials infinite; but idle all.
Still unexerted, in th' unconscious breast,
Slept the lethargic powers; corruption still,
Voracious, fwallow'd what the lib'ral hand
Of bounty scatter'd o'er the favage year:
And ftill the fad barbarian, roving, mix'd
With beasts of prey; or for his acorn-meal
Fought the fierce tusky koar; a fhiv'ring wretch!
Aghaft, and comfortlefs, when the bleak north,
With Winter charg'd, let the mix'd tempeft fly,
Hail, rain, and fnow, and bitter-breathing frost:
Then to the fhelter of the hut he fled;
And the wild feafon, fordid, pin'd away.
For home he had not; home is the resort
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where,
Supporting and fupported, polish'd friends,
And dear relations mingle into blifs.
But this the rugged favage never felt,
Even defolate in crouds; and thus his days
Roll'd heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd along :
A waste of time! till INDUSTRY approach'd,
And rous'd him from his miferable floth:
His faculties unfolded; pointed out,
Where lavish Nature the directing hand
Of Art demanded; fhew'd him how to raise
His feeble force by the mechanic pow'rs,
To dig the minʼral from the vaulted earth,
On what to turn the piercing rage of fire,
On what the torrent, and the gather'd blast;
Gave the tall ancient foreft to his ax;
Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the stone,
Till by degrees the finish'd fabric rofe;
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur,
And wrapt them in the woolly vestment warm,
Or bright in gloffy filk, and flowing lawn;
With wholesome viands fill'd his table, pour'd
The gen'rous glafs around, infpir'd to wake
The life-refining foul of decent wit:
Nor ftopp'd at barren bare neceffity;
But ftill advancing bolder, led him on
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance and grace;
And, breathing high ambition through his foul,
Set fcience, wisdom, glory, in his view,
And bade him be the Lord of all below.
THEN gath'ring men their natʼral pow'rs combin'd, And form'd a Public; to the gen'ral good Submitting, aiming, and conducting all. For this the Patriot-Council met, the full, The free, and fairly reprefented While; For this they plann'd the holy guardian laws, Distinguish'd orders, animated arts, And with joint force Oppreffion chaining, fet Imperial Justice at the helm ; yet ftill To them accountable: nor flavifh dream'd That toiling millions must resign their weal,
And all the honey of their fearch, to fuch
As for themselves alone themselves have rais'd.
HENCE ev'ry form of cultivated life
In order fet, protected, and infpir'd,
Into perfection wrought. Uniting all,
Society grew num'rous, high, polite,
And happy. Nurfe of art! the city rear'd
In beauteous pride her tow'r-encircled head;
And, ftretching street on street, by thousands drew, 115
From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew
To bows ftrong-ftraining, her afpiring fons.
THEN COMMERCE brought into the public walk The bufy merchant; the big ware-house built; Rais'd the ftrong crane; choak'd up the loaded street With foreign plenty; and thy ftream, O THAMES, Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods! Chofe for his grand refort. On either hand, Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts Shot up their spires; the bellying sheet between
Poffefs'd the breezy void; the footy hulk
Steer'd fluggish on; the fplendid barge along
Row'd, regular, to harmony; around,
The boat, light-fkimming, ftretch'd its oary wings; While deep the various voice of fervent toil
From bank to bank increas'd; whence ribb'd with oak,
To bear the BRITISH THUNDER, black, and bold,
The roaring veffel rufh'd into the main.
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