Page:The Seasons - Thomson (1791).djvu/216

 A rural, shelter'd, solitary, scene; Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join, To cheer the gloom. There studious let me sit, And hold high converse with the ; Sages of ancient time, as gods rever'd, As gods beneficent, who blest mankind With arts, and arms, and humaniz'd a world. Rous'd at th' inspiring thought, I throw aside The long-liv'd volume; and, deep-musing, hail The sacred shades, that slowly-rising pass Before my wondering eyes. First , Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, Against the rage of tyrants single stood, Invincible! calm reason's holy law, That voice of within th' attentive mind, Obeying, fearless, or in life, or death: Great moral teacher! wisest of Mankind! the next, who built his common-weal On equity's wide base; by tender laws A lively people curbing, yet undamp'd Preserving still that quick peculiar fire, Whence in the laurel'd field of finer arts, And of bold freedom, they unequal'd shone, The pride of smiling, and human-kind. then, who bow'd beneath the force Of strictest discipline, severely wise, All human passions. Following him, I see, As at Thermopylæ he glorious fell, The firm, who prov'd by deeds The hardest lesson which the other taught. Then lifts his honest front; Spotless of heart, to whom th' unflattering voice Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just; In