Nor less attractive is the woodland scene, Diversified with trees of ev'ry growth, 300 Alike, yet various. Here the gray smooth trunks Of ash, or lime, or beech, distinctly shine, 310 Within the twilight of their distant shades; Now green, now tawny, and, ere autumn yet 321 Have chang'd the woods, in scarlet honours bright. Hence the declivity is sharp and short, And such the reascent: between them weeps A little naiad her impov'rish'd urn All summer long, which winter fills again. The folded gates would bar my progress now, 330 But that the lord of this enclos'd demesne, Communicative of the good he owns, Admits me to a share; the guiltless eye Commits no wrong, nor wastes what it enjoys. Refreshing change! where now the blazing sun? By short transition we have lost his glare, * See the foregoing note. And stepp'd at once into a cooler clime. Reechoing pious anthems! while beneath 340 The checker'd earth seems restless as a flood Brush'd by the wind. So sportive is the light Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance, Shadow and sunshine intermingling quick, And dark'ning and enlight'ning, as the leaves Play wanton, ev'ry moment, ev'ry spot. with nerves new-brac'd and spirits And now, cheer'd, 350 We tread the wilderness, whose well-roll'd walks, With curvature of slow and easy sweep Deception innocent-give ample space To narrow bounds. The grove receives us next; Between the upright shafts of whose tall elms By ceaseless action all that is subsists. That Nature rides upon, maintains her health, 360 370 An instant's pause, and lives but while she moves. It's own revolvency upholds the World. Winds from all quarters agitate the air, And fit the limpid element for use, Else noxious: oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams, All feel the fresh'ning impulse, and are cleans'd By restless undulation: e'en the oak Thrives by the rude concussion of the storm: Th' impression of the blast with proud disdain, 380 He held the thunder: but the monarch owes His firm stability to what he scorns, More fix'd below, the more disturb'd above. The law, by which all creatures else are bound, Binds man, the lord of all. Himself derives No mean advantage from a kindred cause, From strenuous toil his hours of sweetest ease. The sedentary stretch their lazy length When Custom bids, but no refreshment find, For none they need: the languid eye, the cheek Deserted of it's bloom, the flaccid, shrunk, And wither'd muscle, and the vapid soul, 390 |