When all creation started into birth,

The infant elements receiv'd a law

200

From which they swerv'd not since. That under force

Of that controlling ordinance they move,

And need not His immediate hand who first

Prescrib'd their course, to regulate it now.

Thus dream they, and contrive to save a God

205

Th' encumbrance of his own concerns, and spare

The great artificer of all that moves

The stress of a continual act, the pain
Of unremitted vigilance and care,
As too laborious and severc a task.

210

So man, the moth, is not afraid, it seems,
To span omnipotence, and measure might
That knows no measure, by the scanty rule
And standard of his own, that is to-'ay,
And is not ere to-morrow's sun go down.
But how should matter occupy a charge,
Dull as it is, and satisfy a law

215

So vast in its demands, unless impell'd
To ceaseless service by a ceaseless force,

And under pressure of some conscious cause?

220

The Lord of all, himself through all diffus'd,
Sustains, and is the life of all that lives.
Nature is but a name for an effect,

Whose cause is God. He feeds the secret fire,
By which the mighty process is maintain'd,
Who sleeps not, is not weary; in whose sight
Slow circling ages arc as transient days;
Whose work is without labour; whose designs
No flaw deforms, no difficulty thwarts;

225

And whose beneficence no charge exhausts.

230

Him blind antiquity profan'd, not serv'd,

With self-taught rites, and under various names,

Female and male, Pomona, Pales, Pan,

And Flora, and Vertumnus; peopling earth

235

With tutelary goddesses and gods,

That were not; and commending as they would

To each some province, garden, field, or grove,
But all are under one. One spirit--His

Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding browsRules universal nature. Not a flower 240

But shows some touch, in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of his unrivall'd pencil. He inspires
Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues,
And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes,
In grains as countless as the seaside sands,
The forms with which he sprinkles all the earth.
Happy who walks with him! whom what he finds
Of flavour or of scent in fruit or flower,
Of what he views of beautiful or grand
In nature, from the broad majestick oak
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun,
Prompts with remembrance of a present God
His presence, who made all so fair, perceiv'd,
Makes all still fairer As with him no scene
Is dreary, so with him all seasons please.

245

250

255

Though winter had been one, had man been true
And earth be punish'd for its tenant's sake,

Yet not in vengeance; as this smiling sky,
So soon succeeding such an angry night,

And these dissolving snows, and this clear stream 260
Recov'ring fast its liquid musick, prove.

Who, then, that has a mind well strung and tun d To contemplation, and within his reach

A scene so friendly to his fav'rite task,

Would waste attention at the checker'd board.

265

His host of wooden warriours to and fro
Marching and countermarching, with an eye
As fix'd as marble, with a forehead ridg`d
And furrow'd into storms, and with a hand
Trembling, as if eternity were hung
In balance on his conduct of a pin ?
Nor envies he aught more their idle sport,
Who pant with application misapplied
To trivial toys, and, pushing iv'ry balls

270

Across a velvet level, feel a joy

Akin to rapture, when the bauble finds

Its destin'd goal, of difficult access.

Nor deems he wiser him, who gives his noon

To miss, the mercer's plague from shop to shop
Wand'ring, and litt'ring with unfolded silks
The polish'd counter, and approving none,
Or promising with smiles to call again.
Nor him, who by his vanity seduc'd,

275

280

And sooth'd into a dream, that he discerns

The diffrence of a Guido from a daub,

285

Frequents the crowded auction station'd there
As duly as the Langford of the show,

With glass at eye, and catalogue in hand,

And tongue accomplish'd in the fulsome cant

And pedantry that coxcombs learn with ease :
Oft as the price-deciding hammer falls,
He notes it in his book, then raps his box,
Swears 'tis a bargain, rails at his hard fate,
That he has let it pass-but never bids!

Here unmolested, through whatever sign
The sun proceeds, I wander. Neither mist,
Nor freezing sky nor sultry, checking me,
Nor stranger intermeddling with my joy.
E'en in the spring and playtime of the year,
That calls the unwonted villager abroad
With all her little ones, a sportive train,
To gather kingcups in the yellow mead,

290

295

300

And prink their hair with daisies, or to pick

A cheap but wholesome salad from the brook-

These shades are all my own. The tim'rous hare,
Grown so familiar with her frequent guest,
Scarce shuns me; and the stock-dove, unalarm'd,
Sits cooing in the pinetree, nor suspends
His long love ditty for my near approach.

305

Drawn from his refuge in some lonely elm,

310

That age or injury has hollow'd deep,

Where, on his bed of wool and inatted leaves,

He has outslept the winter, ventures forth,
To frisk awhile, and bask in the warm sun,
The squirrel, flippant, pert, and full of play;
He sees me, and at once, swift as a bird,

315

Ascends the neighb'ring beech; there whisks his brush, And perks his ears, and stamps, and cries aloud,

To love and friendship both, that is not pleas'd

With sight of animals enjoying life,

325

Nor feels their happiness augment his own.

The bounding fawn, that darts across the glade

When none pursues, through mere delight of heart
And spirits buoyant with excess of glee;

The horse as wanton, and almost as fleet,

330

That skims the spacious meadow at full speed,

Then stops, and snorts, and, throwing high his heels,

Starts to the voluntary race again;

The very kine that gambol at high noon,

The total herd receiving first from one,

335

That leads the dance, a summons to be gay,

Though wild their strange vagaries, and uncouth
Their efforts, yet resolv'd, with one consent,

To give such act and utt'rance as they may

To ecstasy too big to be suppress'd—
These, and a thousand images of bliss,

340

With which kind Nature graces ev'ry scene,

Man scarce had ris'n, obedient to his call
Who form'd him from the dust, his future grave,
When he was crown'd as never king was since.

350

God set the diadem upon his head,

And angel choirs attended. Wond'ring stood
The new-made monarch, while before him pass'd,
All happy, and all perfect in their kind,

The creatures, summon'd from their various haunts,

356

To see their sov'reign, and confess his sway.
Vast was his empire, absolute his pow'r,
Or bounded only by a law, whose force
"Twas his sublimest privilege to feel

-the law of universal love.

And own

He rul'd with meekness, they obey'd with joy;

No cruel purpose lurk'd within his heart,

And no distrust of his intent in theirs.

So Eden was a scene of harmless sport,

360

Where kindness on his part who rul'd the whole, 365 Begat a tranquil confidence in all,

And fear as yet was not, nor cause for fear.

But sin marr'd all; and the revolt of man,
That source of evils not exhausted yet,

Was punish'd with revolt of his from him.
Garden of God, how terrible the change

370

Thy groves and lawns then witness'd! Ev'ry heart, Each animal, of ev'ry name, conceiv'd

A jealousy and an instinctive fear,

And, conscious of some danger, either fled

375

Precipitate the loath'd abode of man,

Or growl'd defiance in such angry sort,

As taught him too to tremble in his turn.
Thus harmony and family accord

Were driv'n from Paradise; and in that hour

380

The seeds of cruelty, that since have swell'd

To such gigantick and enormous growth,

Were sown in human nature's fruitful soil.
Hence date the persecution and the pain,
That man inflicts on all inferiour kinds,

385

Regardless of their plaints. To make him sport,
To gratify the frenzy of his wrath,

Or his base gluttony, are causes good

VOL. II.

12