Admiring, sees her in her every shape; Feels all her sweet emotions at his heart; Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more. Pour every lustre on th' exalted eye. A friend, a book, the stealing hours secure, Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind, Are of the social, still, and smiling kind. This is the life which those who fret in guilt, Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt, When angels dwelt, and God himself, with man! Oh, Nature! all-sufficient! over all! Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works, A search, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust! In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin, ARGUMENT. The subject proposed. Address to the Earl of Wilmington. First approach of Winter. According to the natural course of the season, various storms described. Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the snows: a man perishing among them; whence reflections on the wants and miseries of human life. The wolves descending from the Alps and Apennines. A winter-evening described; as spent by philosophers; by the country people; in the city. Frost. A view of winter within the polar circle. A thaw. The whole concluding with moral reflections on a future state. |