Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates shake.
Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud
The repercussive roar : with mighty crush,
Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks
Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the sky,
Tumble the smitten cliffs; and Snowden's peak,
Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load.
Far-seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze,
And Thule bellows thro' her utmost isles.
Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubled thought. And yet not always on the guilty head Descends the fated flash. Young CELADON And his AMELIA were a matchless pair; With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace, The same, distinguish'd by their sex alone: Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn And his the radiance of the risen day.
They lov'd but such their guileless passion was, As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart Of innocence, and undissembling truth. 'Twas friendship heightened by the mutual wish, Th' enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow, Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all To love, each was to each a dearer self; Supremely happy in th' awakened power Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart, Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things.
So pass'd their life, a clear united stream, By care unruffled; till, in evil hour,
The tempest caught them on the tender walk,
Heedless how far, and where its mazes stray'd,
While, with each other blest, creative love
Still bade eternal Eden smile around.
Presaging instant fate ber bosom heav'd
Unwonted sighs, and stealing oft a look
Of the big gloom on CELADON her eye
Fell tearful, wetting her disordered cheek.
In vain assuring love, and confidence
In HEAVEN, repress'd her fear; it grew, and shook
Her frame near dissolution. He perceiv'd
Th' unequal conflict, and as angels look
On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed,
With love illumin'd high : Fear not, he said,
» Sweet innocence! thou stranger to offence,
» And inward storm! HE, who yon skies involves
> In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee
» With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft
>> That wastes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour
Of noon, flies harmless : and that very voice,
» Which thunders terror thro' the guilty heart,
» With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to thine.
>> 'Tis safety to be near thee sure, and thus
>> To clasp perfection! » From his void embrace,
Mysterious Heaven! that moment, to the ground
A blackened corse, was struck the beauteous maid.
But who can paint the lover, as he stood,
Pierc'd by severe amazement, hating life,
Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe!
So, faint ressemblance! on the marble tomb,
The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands,
For ever silent, and for ever sad.
As from the face of heaven the shattered clouds
Tumultuous rove, th' interminable sky
Sublimer swells and o'er the world expands
A purer azure. Thro' the lightened air
A higher lustre and a clearer calm,
Diffusive, tremble; while, as if in sign
Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy,
Set off abundant by the yellow ray,
Invests the fields; and nature smiles reviv'd
'Tis beauty all, and grateful song around,
Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat
Of flocks thick-nibbling thro' the clover'd vale.
And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless Man.
Most-favour'd; who with voice articulate
Should lead the chorus of this lower world?
Shall he, so soon forgetful of the hand
That hush'd the thunder, and serenes the sky,
Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempest wak'd,
That sense of powers exceeding far his own,
yet his feeble heart has lost its fears?
Chear'd by the milder beam, the sprightly youth Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth A sandy bottom shews. A while he stands
Gazing th' inverted landskip, half afraid
To meditate the blue profound below;
Then plunges headlong down the circling flood.
His ebon tresses, and his rosy cheek
Instant emerge; and thro' the obedient wave,
At each short breathing by his lip repell'd,
With arms and legs according well, he makes,
As humour leads, an easy-winding path;
While, from his polish'd sides, a dewy light
Effuses on the pleas'd spectators round.
This is the purest exercise of health,
The kind refresher of the summer-heats;
Nor, when cold WINTER keens the brightening flood,
Would I weak-shivering linger on the brink.
Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserv'd,
By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse
Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs
Knit into force; and the same Roman arm,
That rose victorious o'er the conquer'd earth,
First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave.
Even, from the body's purity, the mind
Receives a secret sympathetic aid.
Close in the covert of an hazel copse,
Where winded into pleasing solitudes
Runs out the rambling Dale, young DAMON sat, Pensive, and pierc'd with love's delightful pangs. There to the stream that down the distant rocks Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play'd Among the bending willows, falsely he
Of MUSIDORA's cruelty complain'd.
She felt his flame; but deep within her breast,
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride,
The soft return conceal'd; save when it stole
In side-long glances from her downcast eye,
Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs.
Touch'd by the scene
9 no stranger to his vows,
He fram'd a melting lay, to try her heart;
And, if an infant passion struggled there
To call that passion forth. Thrice happy swain!
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine.
For lo! conducted by the laughing Loves,
This cool retreat his MUSIDORA Sought :
Warm in her cheek the sultry season glow'd;
And, rob'd in loose array, she came to bathe
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream.
What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost,
And dubious flutterings, he awhile remain'd:
A pure ingenuous elegance of soul,
A delicate refinement, known to few,
Perplex'd his breast, and urg'd him to retire :
But love forbade Ye prudes in virtue, say,
Say,
, ye severest, what would you have done?
Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest
Arcadian stream, with timid
eye around
The banks surveying, stripp'd her beauteous limbs,
To taste the lucid coolness of the flood.
Ah then! not Paris on the piny top
Of Ida panted stronger, when aside
The rival-goddesses the veil divine
Cast unconfin'd, and gave him all their charms,
Than, DAMON, thou; as from the snowy leg,
And slender foot, th' inverted silk she drew;
As the soft touch dissolv'd the virgin zone;
And, thro' the parting robe, th' alternate breast,
With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze
In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth,
How durst thou risk the soul-distracting view;
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white,
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