Page:The Poetical Works of Thomas Parnell (1833).djvu/24

viii Spreads the rich frieze in marble beauty round, And calls the distant quarry from the ground. Each mirror'd wall in silver lustre blooms, And Persia blushes through her flow'ry looms. There the blue lake reflects the growing scenes, The glittering terraces, and pendant greens, How glow its banks! how winds each opening glade, Thro' blooming thickets, and thro' walks of shade; A bolder shore the admiring waters lave, And the green island trembles in the wave. Mark, where new vistas ope, new temples rise, And Athens smiles beneath our northern skies. The Enchanter calls!—the mountain waves its brow, Through softer vales the obedient rivers flow; Yon bending arch,where Thames his tribute pours, Spans the long wave, and weds the opposing shores, Pleas'd he receives his granite yoke again, And glides with gentler murmur to the main. Now in thy calm suburban walks we stray, Or catch from beauty's lips the warbled lay, When masque and music close the long declining day.

From yon grey Abbey mark the glittering beam, O'er the rich shrines with ruby lustre stream, Lighting the oriel;—tread, ah! gently tread! Each stone a scholar's, or a soldier's bed. Yon time-worn tombs, and sculptured marbles hold