Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/79

Rh Here the winged crowds, that ſkim the air, With artful toil, their little dams prepare, Here, hatch their young, and nurſe their riſing care! Up the ſteep-hill aſcends the nimble doe, While timid comes ſcour the plains below; Or in the pendent rock’s elude the ſcenting foe, He bade the ſilver majeſty of night, Revolve her circle, and increaſe her light. But if one moment, then thy face ſhould’ſt hide, Thy glory clouded, or thy ſmiles denied, Then widow’d nature veils her mournful eyes, And vents her grief, in univerſal cries! Then gloomy death, with ill his meagre train; Wide o’er the nations ſpreads his iron reign! Sea, earth, and air, the bounteous ravage mourn, And all their hoſts to native duſt return! Again thy glorious quick’ning influence ſhed, The glad creation rears its drooping head: New riſing forms, thy potent ſmiles obey, And life re-kindles at the genial ray: United thanks repleniſhed nature pays, And heaven, and earth reſound their maker’s praiſe.


 * When time ſhall in eternity be loſt,

And hoary nature languiſh into duſt, Forever young, thy glories ſhall remain, Vaſt as thy being, endleſs as thy reign! Then from the realms of everlaſting day, See’ſt all thy works, at one immence ſurvey! Pleased at one view, the whole to comprehend, Part join’d to part, concurring to one end. If thou to earth, but turn’ſt thy wrathful eyes, Her baſis trembles, and her offspring dies. Thou ſmites the hills, and at th’ almighty blow, Their ſummits kindle, and their entrails glow.

While