"Know, thou vain Bard, within thy manfion

❝ dwells

"The wond'rous fource of all this wild

uproar ;

"Thence round my cave the din of discord fwells,

"And I my rebel offspring rule no more.

V.

"To own my laws my mad'ning fons refuse,
"All, all are deaf to my paternal pow'r ;
"Struggling alike to kifs that vagrant Muse,
"Who deigns to vifit thy fequefter'd bow'r.

VI.

"Rough Boreas, us'd in these ftill months to

"fleep,

"Starts from his cell, in paffion's wild alarms;

"While dripping Aufter rushes from the deep,

"To fnatch the Fair-one from his brother's

arms.

VII.

"Each other's fond ambition to destroy,

"Alike they struggle, merciless as death;
"See my young Zephyr, Nature's tender joy,
"Encounters Eurus with contentious breath.

7

VIII.

"Cease,

VIII.

"Ceafe, my rafh fons, this cruel war to wage,
"Tho' tempting beauty gave your conflict birth,
"Left Famine, waken'd by your frantic rage,
"Stalk in fell triumph o'er the blasted earth.

IX.

"See fhiv'ring mortals mourn th' inverted year,
"While Ceres weeps her golden pride depreft:
"If ye no longer Nature's law revere,

"Yet mildly liften to your fire's request :-

X.

"Let each in order tafte the tempting blifs,
"For which these mutual wounds ye vainly bear;
"Each unmolested take one precious kifs,

"And freely clasp this phrenzy-kindling Fair."

XI.

He paus'd;-black Boreas, eldest of his race,

Whose stormy paffion the chill Maiden shocks,
Binds her reluctant in his strong embrace,

And sports licentious in her auburn locks.

XII. Eurus

XII.

Eurus fucceeds, of lefs difgufting mién,
Yet mad the trembling Fair-one to assail ;
Beneath his preffure, more intensely keen,
The wounded ruby of her lip grows pale.

XIII.

Next, with mild charms, and lefs tumultuous love,
By melting Aufter fee the nymph carest ;
He, with the softness of the murm'ring dove,
Waves his moift pinions o'er her softer breast.

XIV.

Now, lively Zephyr, the sweet Mufe is thine, O long embrace her in our laughing skies! And round her bid this joyous landscape shine, Rich as her verfe, and radiant as her eyes!

CON

66

CONTENT.

Written at the request of a Lady, for the Vase at

"H

Batheafton, 1781.

OW idle are mortals !" (faid Wisdom to
Youth)

"They flight the clear dictates of Reason and

"Truth ;

They worship Ambition, to Pleasure they bend, "Yet blindly o'erlook a more excellent friend : "And hence their vain hopes are eternally croft, "Their life in a tempeft of wishes is loft t; "Still deftin'd to toil, and of toil to repent, "For neglect of juft vows to the Goddess Content; "That Goddess from whom all felicity flows, "Who unites every good in the gift she bestows; "So free of her bounty to all who confess it, "To folicit her smile is almoft to poffefs it." When I heard this fine fpeech, my fond paffion

was rais'd,

And I fet forth in queft of the Being fo prais'd;

2

At

At the manfion of Grandeur my fearch I begin,
And afk if the Goddess Content is within:

But Pride, who as centinel guarded the door,
Said bluntly he ne'er heard her title before;
He told me I wanted a poor ruftic flut,
And bade me go look in fome little thatch'd hut.
I march'd to the Villager's lowly abode,

'Twas a fnug pretty cottage, and ftood near the road :

And here a good woman, poffeffing, tho' humble, A face that could frown, and a tongue that would grumble,

Said-the perfon I afk'd for had lodg'd in her cot, But, alas! fuch good luck was no longer her lot; For fhe quitted her roof, where the oft had repos'd, When yon great house was built, and the common inclos'd.

I conceiv'd, as I now bade the village farewell, With the mild fons of Science this Goddess muft

dwell;

But thofe, where I fought fome obliging instructor, Were fquabbling about an electric conductor.

Some