:

Heard, felt, and seen, possesses every thought,
Fills every sense, and pants in every

vein.
Books are but formal dulness, tedious friends ;
And sad amid the social band he sits,
Lonely, and inattentive. From his tongue 1015
Th' unfinished period falls: while, borne away
On swelling thought, his wafted spirit Aies
To the vain bosom of his distant fair;
And leaves the semblance of a lover, fixed
In melancholy site, with head declined,

1020 And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts, Shook from his tender trance, and restless runs To glimmering shades and sympathetic glooms; Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling stream, Romantic, hangs: there through the pensive dusk Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation lost, 1026 Indulging all to love : or on the bank Thrown, amid drooping lilies, swells the breeze With sighs unceasing, and the brook with tears. Thus in soft anguish he consumes the day, 1030 Nor quits his deep retirement, till the Moon Peeps through the chambers of the fleecy east, Enlightened by degrees, and in her train Leads on the gentle Hours; then forth he walks, Beneath the trembling languish of her beam, 1035 With softened soul, and woos the bird of eve To mingle woes with his : or, while the world And all the sons of care lie hushed in sleep, Associates with the midnight shadows drear; And, sighing to the lonely taper, pours

1040 His idly-tortured heart into the page, Meant for the moving messenger of love ; Where rapture burns on rapture, every line With rising frenzy fired. But if on bed Delirious flung, sleep from his pillow flies, 1045 All night he tosses, nor the balmy power In any posture finds; till the gray Morn Lifts her pale lustre on the paler wretch,

Exanimate by love; and then, perhaps,
Exhausted Nature sinks awhile to rest,

1050
Still interrupted by distracted dreams,
That o'er the sick imagination rise,
And in black colors paint the minic scene.
Oft with th' enchantress of his soul he talks ;
Sometimes in crowds distressed; or if retired 1055
To secret, winding, flower-enwoven bowers,
Far from the dull impertinence of Man,
Just as he, credulous, his endless cares
Begins to lose in blind oblivious love,
Snatched from her yielded hand, he knows not how,
Through forests huge, and long untraveled heaths 1061
With desolation brown, he wanders waste,
In night and tempest wrapped; or shrinks aghast,
Back, from the bending precipice; or wades
The turbid stream below, and strives to reach 1065
The farther shore; where, succorless and sad,
She with extended arms his aid implores;
But strives in vain; borne by th' outrageous flood
To distance down, he rides the ridgy wave,
Or, whelmed beneath the boiling eddy, sinks. 1070

These are the charming agonies of love,
Whose misery delights. But through the heart
Should jealousy its venom once diffuse,
'Tis then delightful misery no more,
But agony unmixed, incessant gall,

1075
Corroding every thought, and blasting all
Love's paradise. Ye fairy prospects, then,
Ye beds of roses, and ye bowers of joy,
Farewell! ye gleamings of departed peace,

, Shine out your last ! the yellow-tinging plague 1080 Internal vision taints, and in a night Of livid gloom inagination wraps. Ah, then ! instead of love-enlivened cheeks, Of sunny features, and of ardent eyes With flowing rapture bright, dark looks succeed, 1085 Suffused and glaring with untender fire,

A clouded aspect, and a burning cheek,
Where the whole poisoned soul, malignant, sits,
And frightens love away. Ten thousand fears
Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views 1090
Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms
For which he melts in fondness, eat him up
With fervent anguish and consuming rage.
In vain reproaches lend their idle aid,
Deceitful pride, and resolution frail,

1095
Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours,
Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought,
Her first endearments twining round the soul,
With all the witchcraft of ensnaring love.
Straight the fierce storm involves his mind anew, 1100
Flames through the nerves, and boils along the veins;
While anxious doubt distracts the tortured heart:
For e'en the sad assurance of his fears
Were ease to what he feels. Thus the warm youth,
Whom love deludes into his thorny wilds, 1105
Through flowery-tempting paths, or leads a life
Of fevered rapture or of cruel care ;
His brightest aims extinguished all, and all
His lively moments running down to waste.

But happy they! the happiest of their kind ! 1110 Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. Tis not the coarser tie of human laws, Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind, That binds their peace, but harmony itself, 1115 Attuning all their passions into love; Where friendship full exerts her softest power, Perfect esteem enlivened by desire Ineffable, and sympathy of soul; Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will, With boundless confidence: for nought but love 1121 Can answer love, and render bliss secure.

Let him, ungenerous, who, alone intent To bless himself, from sordid parents buys

The loathing virgin, in eternal care,

1125 Well merited, consume his nights and days : Let barbarous nations, whose inhuman love Is wild desire, fierce as the suns they feel; Let eastern tyrants from the light of heaven Seclude their bosom-slaves, meanly possessed 1130 Of a mere lifeless, violated form ; While those whom love cements in holy faith, And equal transport, free as Nature live, Disdaining fear. What is the world to them, Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all ? 1135 Who in each other clasp whatever fair High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish; Something than beauty dearer, should they look Or on the mind, or mind-illumined face ; Truth, goodness, honor, harmony, and love, 1140 The richest bounty of indulgent Heaven. Meantime a smiling offspring rises round, And mingles both their graces. By degrees, The human blossom blows; and every day, Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm, 1145 The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom. Then infant reason grows apace, and calls For the kind hand of an assiduous care.

Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot,

1150 To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix The generous purpose in the glowing breast. O, speak the joy! ye, whom the sudden' tear Surprises often, while you look around,

1155 And nothing strikes your eye but sights of bliss, All-various Nature pressing on the heart: An elegant sufficiency, content, Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and alternate labor, useful life,

1160 Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven!

These are the matchless joys of virtuous love; And thus their moments fly. The Seasons thus, As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll, Still find them happy; and consenting SPRING 1165 Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads : Till evening comes at last, serene and mild; When, after the long vernal day of life, Enamored more, as more remembrance swells With many a proof of recollected love,

1170 Together down they sink in social sleep, Together freed, their gentle spirits fly To scenes where love and bliss immortal reign