# The Seasons (Thomson)/Winter

WINTER.
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The Argument.
The subject proposed. Address to the earl of Wilmington. First approach of Winter. According to the natural course of the season, various storms described. Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the snows: a Man perishing among them; whence reflections on the wants and miseries of human life. The wolves defending from the Alps and Apennines. A winter evening described: as spent by philosophers; by the country people; in the city. Frost. A view of Winter within the polar Circle. A thaw. The whole concluding with moral reflections on a future state.
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WINTER.
SEE, Winter comes, to rule the varied year, Sullen, and sad, with all his rising train; Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these my theme, These! that exalt the soul to solemn thought, And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms!5 Cogenial horrors, hail! with frequent foot, Pleas'd have I, in my chearful morn of life, When nurs'd by careless solitude I liv'd. And sung of Nature with unceasing joy, Pleas'd have I wander'd thro' your rough domain;10 Trod the pure virgin-snows, myself as pure; Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burst; Or seen the deep fermenting tempest brew'd, In the grim evening-sky. Thus pass'd the time, Till thro' the lucid chambers of the south 15 Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smil'd.
To thee, the patron of her first essay, The Muse, O Wilmington! renews her song. Since has she rounded the revolving year: Skim'd the gay Spring; on eagle-pinions borne,20 Attempted thro' the summer-blaze to rise; Then swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale;
And now among the wintry clouds again, Roll'd in the doubling florin, she tries to soar; To swell her note with all the rushing winds;25 To suit her sounding cadence to the floods; As is her theme, her numbers wildly great: Thrice happy! could she fill thy judging ear With bold description, and with manly thought. Nor art thou skill'd in awful schemes alone.30 And how to make a mighty people thrive; But equal goodness, sound integrity, A firm unshaken uncorrupted soul Amid a sliding age, and burning strong, Not vainly blazing for thy country's weal, 35 A steady spirit regularly free; These, each exalting each, the statesman light Into the patriot; these, the public hope And eye to thee converting, bid the Muse Record what envy dares not flattery call. 40
Now when the cheerless empire of the sky To Capricorn the Centaur-Archer yields, And fierce Aquarius, stains th' inverted year; Hung o'er the farthest verge of heaven, the sun Scarce spreads o'er ether the dejected day.45 Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot His struggling rays, in horizontal lines, Thro' the thick air; as cloath'd in cloudy storm, Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky; And, soon descending, to the long dark night,50 Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns. Nor is the night unwish'd; while vital heat, Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forsake. Mean-time, in fable cincture, shadows vast, Deep-ting'd and damp, and congregated clouds,55 And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven
Involve the face of things. Thus Winter falls, A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world, Thro' Nature shedding influence malign, And rouses up the seeds of dark disease.60 The soul of Man dies in him, loathing life, And black with more than melancholy views. The cattle droop; and o'er the furrow'd land, Fresh from the plough, the dun discolour'd flocks, Untended spreading, crop the wholesome root.65 Along the woods, along the moorish fens, Sighs the sad Genius of the coming storm; And up among the loose disjointed cliffs, And fractur'd mountains wild, the brawling brook And cave, presageful, send a hollow moan70 Resounding long in listening Fancy's ear.
Then comes the father of the tempest forth, Wrapt in black glooms. First joyless rains obscure Drive thro' the mingling skies with vapour foul; Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the woods, 75 That grumbling wave below. The unsightly plain Lies a brown deluge; as the low-bent clouds Pour flood on flood, yet unexhausted still Combine, and deepening into night shut up The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven, 80 Each to his home, retire; fave thofe that love To take their pastime in the troubled air, Or skimming flutter round the dimply pool. The cattle from the untasted fields return, And ask, with meaning lowe, their wonted stalls, 85 Or ruminate in the contiguous shade. Thither the houshold feathery people crowd, The crested cock, with all his female train, Pensive, and dripping; while the cottage-hind Hangs o'er th' enlivening blaze, and taleful there 90
Recounts his simple frolic: much he talks, And much he laughs, nor recks the storm that blows Without, and rattles on his humble roof.
Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent swell'd. And the mix'd ruin of its banks o'erspread, 95 At last the rous'd-up river pours along: Resistless, roaring, dreadful, down it comes, From the rude mountain, and the mossy wild, Tumbling thro' rocks abrupt, and sounding far; Then o'er the sanded valley floating spreads, 100 Calm, sluggish, silent; till again, constrain'd, Between two meeting hills, it bursts a way, Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid stream; There gathering triple force, rapid, and deep, It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders thro'. 105
Nature! great parent! whose unceasing hand Rolls round the seasons of the changeful year, How mighty, how majestic, are thy works! With what a pleasing dread they swell the soul! That sees astonish'd! and astonish'd sings! 110 Ye too, ye winds! that now begin to blow, With boisterous sweep, I raise my voice to you. Where are your stores, ye powerful beings! say, Where your aërial magazines reserv'd, To swell the brooding terrors of the storm? 115 In what far-distant region of the sky, Hush'd in dead silence, sleep you when 'tis calm?
When from the pallid sky the sun descends, With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb Uncertain wanders, stain'd; red fiery streaks 90 Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet Which master to obey: while rising slow,
Blank, in the leaden-colour'd east, the moon Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. 125 Seen thro' the turbid fluctuating air, The stars obtuse emit a shivering ray; Or frequent seem to shoot athwart the gloom, And long behind them trail the whitening blaze. Snatch'd in short eddies, plays the wither'd leaf; 130 And on the flood the dancing feather floats. With broaden'd nostrils to the sky up-turn'd, The conscious heifer snuffs the stormy gale. Even as the matron, at her nightly task, With pensive labour draws the flaxen thread, 135 The wasted taper and the crackling flame Foretell the blast. But chief the plumy race, The tenants of the sky, its changes speak. Retiring from the downs, where all day long They pick'd their scanty fare, a blackening train 140 Of clamorous rooks thick-urge their weary flight. And seek the closing shelter of the grove; Assiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl Plies his sad song. The cormorant on high Wheels from the deep, and screams along the land. 145 Loud shrieks the soaring hern; and with wild wing The circling sea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds. Ocean, unequal press'd, with broken tide And blind commotion heaves; while from the shore, Eat into caverns by the restless wave, 150 And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice, That solemn-sounding bids the world prepare. Then issues forth the storm with sudden burst, And hurls the whole precipitated air, Down, in a torrent. On the passive main 155 Descends th' etherial force, and with strong gust Turns from its bottom the discolour'd deep. Thro' the black night that sits immense around,
Lash'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brine Seems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn; 160 Meantime the mountain-billows, to the clouds In dreadful tumult swell'd, surge above surge, Burst into chaos with tremendous roar, And anchor'd navies from their stations drive, Wild as the winds across the howling waste 165 Of mighty waters: now th' inflated wave Straining they scale, and now impetuous shoot Into the secret chambers of the deep, The wintry Baltick thundering o'er their head. Emerging thence again, before the breath 170 Of full-exerted heaven they wing their course, And dart on distant coasts; if some sharp rock, Or shoal insidious break not their career, And in loose fragments fling them floating round.
Nor less at land the loosened tempest reigns. 175 The mountain thunders; and its sturdy sons Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they shade. Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast, The dark way-faring stranger breathless toils, And, often falling, climbs against the blast. 180 Low waves the rooted forest, vex'd, and sheds What of its tarnish'd honours yet remain; Dash'd down, and scattered, by the tearing wind's Assiduous fury, its gigantic limbs. Thus struggling thro' the dissipated grove, 185 The whirling tempest raves along the plain; And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof, Keen-fastening, shakes them to the solid base. Sleep frighted flies; and round the rocking dome, For entrance eager, howls the savage blast. 190 Then too, they say, thro' all the burthen'd air, Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sighs,
That utter'd by the Demon of the night, Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death.
Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commix'd 195 With stars swift-gliding sweep along the sky. All Nature reels. Till Nature's King, who oft Amid tempestuous darkness dwells alone, And on the wings of the careering wind Walks dreadfully serene, commands a calm; 200 Then straight air, sea and earth, are hush'd at once.
As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds, Slow-meeting, mingle into solid gloom. Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleep, Let me associate with the serious Night, 205 And Contemplation her sedate compeer; Let me shake off th' intrusive cares of day, And lay the meddling senses all aside.
Where now, ye lying vanities of life! Ye ever-tempting ever-cheating train! 210 Where are you now? and what is your amount? Vexation, disappointment, and remorse. Sad, sickening thought! and yet deluded Man, A scene of crude disjointed visions past, And broken slumbers, rises still resolv'd, 215 With new-flush'd hopes, to run the giddy round.
Father of light and life! thou Good supreme! O teach me what is good! teach me Thyself! Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, From every low pursuit! and feed my soul 220 With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure, Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!
The keener tempests rise: and fuming dun From all the livid east, or piercing north,
Thick clouds ascend; in whose capacious womb 225 A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congeal'd. Heavy they roll their fleecy world along; And the sky saddens with the gathered storm. Thro' the hush'd air the whitening shower descends, At first thin-wavering; 'till at last the flakes 230 Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the day, With a continual flow. The cherish'd fields Put on their winter-robe, of pureest white. 'Tis brightness all; save where the new snow melts, Along the mazy current. Low, the woods 235 Bow their hoar head; and, ere the languid sun Faint from the west emits his evening-ray, Earth's universal face, deep-hid, and chill, Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide The works of Man. Drooping, the labourer-ox 241 Stands cover'd o'er with snow, and then demands The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven, Tam'd by the cruel season, croud around The winnowing store, and claim the little boon Which Providence assigns them. One alone, 245 The red-breast, sacred to the houshold gods, Wisely regardful of th' embroiling sky, In joyless fields, and thorny thickets, leaves His shivering mates, and pays to trusted Man His annual visit. Half-afraid, he first 250 Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor, Eyes all the smiling family askance, And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is: Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 255 Attract his slender feet. The foodless wilds Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare, Tho' timorous of heart, and hard beset By death in various forms, dark snares, and dogs,
And more unpitying Men, the garden seeks, 260 Urg'd on by fearless want. The bleating kind Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening earth, With looks of dumb despair: then, sad-dispers'd, Dig for the wither'd herb thro' heaps of snow.
Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge be kind, 265 Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens With food at will; lodge them below the storm, And watch them strict: for from the bellowing east, In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains 270 In one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks, Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills, The billowy tempest whelms; 'till, upward urg'd, The valley to a shining mountain swells, Tipt with a wreath, high-curling in the sky. 275
As thus the snows arise; and foul, and fierce, All Winter drives along the darkened air; In his own loose-revolving fields, the swain Disaster'd stands; sees other hills ascend, Of unknown joyless brow; and other scenes, 280 Of horrid prospect, shag the trackless plain: Nor finds the river, nor the forest, hid Beneath the formless wild; but wanders on From hill to dale, still more and more astray: Impatient flouncing thro' the drifted heaps, 285 Stung with the thoughts of home; the thoughts of home Rush on his nerves, and call their vigour forth In many a vain attempt. How sinks his soul! What black despair, what horror fills his heart! When for the dusky spot, which fancy feign'd 290 His tufted cottage rising thro' the snow, He meets the roughness of the middle waste, Far from the track, and blest abode of Man:
While round him night resistless closes fast, And every tempest, howling o'er his head, 295 Renders the savage wilderness more wild. Then throng the busy shapes into his mind, Of cover'd pits, unfathomably deep, A dire descent! beyond the power of frost, Of faithless bogs; of precipices huge, 300 Smooth'd up with snow; and, what is land, unknown, What water, of the still unfrozen spring, In the loose marsh or solitary lake, Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils. These check his fearful steps; and down he sinks 305 Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift, Thinking o'er all the bitterness of death, Mix'd with the tender anguish Nature shoots Thro' the wrung bosom of the dying Man, His wife, his children, and his friends unseen. 310 In vain for him th' officious wife prepares The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm; In vain his little children, peeping out Into the mingling storm, demand their fire, With tears of artless innocence. Alas! 315 Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold, Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every nerve The deadly winter seizes; shuts up sense; And, o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold, Lays him along the snows, a stiffen'd corse, 320 Stretch'd out, and bleaching in the northern blast.
Ah little think the gay licentious proud, Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround; They, who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth, And wanton, often cruel, riot waste; 325 Ah little think they, while they dance along, How many feel, this very moment, death
And all the sad variety of pain! How many sink in the devouring flood, Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 330 By shameful variance betwixt Man and Man! How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms; Shut from the common air, and common use Of their own limbs. How many drink the cup Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 335 Of misery! Sore pierc'd by wintry winds, How many shrink into the sordid hut Of cheerless poverty! How many shake With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse; 340 Whence tumbled headlong from the height of life, They furnish matter for the tragic Muse. Even in the vale, where wisdom loves to dwell, With friendship, peace, and contemplation join'd. How many, rack'd with honest passions, droop 345 In deep retir'd distress! how many stand Around the death-bed of their dearest friends, And point the parting anguish! Thought fond Man Of these, and all the thousand nameless ills, That one incessant struggle render life, 350 One scene of toil, of suffering, and of fate, Vice in his high career would stand appall'd, And heedless rambling impulse learn to think; The conscious heart of charity would warm, And her wide wish Benevolence dilate; 355 The social tear would rise; the social sigh; And into clear perfection, gradual bliss, Refining still, the social passions work.
And here can I forget the generousband, Who, touch'd with human woe, redressive search'd 360
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail? Unpity'd, and unheard, where misery moans; Where sickness pines; where thirst and hunger burn, And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice. While in the land of liberty, the land; 365 Whose every street and public meeting glow With open freedom, little tyrants rag'd: Snatch'd the lean morsel from the starving mouth; Tore from cold wintry limbs the tatter'd weed; Even robb'd them of the last of comforts, sleep; 370 The free-born Briton to the dungeon chain'd, Or, as the lust of cruelty prevail'd, At pleasure mark'd him with inglorious stripes; And crush'd out lives, by secret barbarous ways, That for their country would have toil'd, or bled. 375 O great design! if executed well, With patient care, and wisdom-temper'd zeal: Ye sons of mercy! yet resume the search; Drag forth the legal monsters into light, Wrench from their hands oppression's iron rod, 380 And bid the cruel feel the pains they give. Much still untouch'd remains; in this rank age, Much is the patriot's weeding hand requir'd. The toils of law, (what dark insidious Men Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 385 And lengthen simple justice into trade) How glorious were the day! that saw these broke, And every Man within the reach of right.
By wintry famine rous'd, from all the tract Of horrid mountains which the shining Alps, 390 And wavy Appenines, and Pyrenees, Branch out stupendous into distant lands; Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave! Burning for blood! bony, and ghaunt, and grim!
Assembling wolves In raging troops descend; 395 And, pouring o'er the country, bear along, Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy snow. All is their prize. They fasten on the steed, Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart. Nor can the bull his awful front defend. 400 Or shake the murdering savages away. Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly, And tear the screaming infant from her breast. The godlike face of Man avails him nought. Even beauty, force divine! at whose bright glance 405 The generous lion stands in softened gaze, Here bleeds, a hapless distinguish'd prey. But if, appriz'd of the severe attack, The country be shut up, lur'd by the scent, On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate!) 410 The disappointed prowlers fall, and dig The shrouded body from the grave; o'er which, Mix'd with foul shades, and frighted ghosts, they howl.
Among those hilly regions, where embrac'd In peaceful vales the happy Grisons dwell; 415 Oft, rushing hidden from the loaded cliffs, Mountains of snow their gathering terrors roll. From steep to steep, loud-thundering, down they come, A wintry waste in dire commotion all; And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and swains, 420 And sometimes whole brigades of marching troops, Or hamlets sleeping in the dead of night, Are deep beneath the smothering ruin whelm'd.
Now, all amid the rigours of the year, In the wild depth of Winter, while without 425 The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat, Between the groaning forest and the shore, Beat by a boundless multitude of waves,
A rural, shelter'd, solitary, scene; Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join, 430 To cheer the gloom. There studious let me sit, And hold high converse with the Mighty Dead; Sages of ancient time, as gods rever'd, As gods beneficent, who blest mankind With arts, and arms, and humaniz'd a world. 435 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 Socrates, Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, 440 Against the rage of tyrants single stood, Invincible! calm reason's holy law, That voice of God within th' attentive mind, Obeying, fearless, or in life, or death: Great moral teacher! wisest of Mankind! 445 Solon 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, 450 And of bold freedom, they unequal'd shone, The pride of smiling Grece, and human-kind. Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the force Of strictest discipline, severely wise, All human passions. Following him, I see, 455 As at Thermopylæ he glorious fell, Thefirm Devoted Chief, who prov'd by deeds The hardest lesson which the other taught. Then Aristides lifts his honest front; Spotless of heart, to whom th' unflattering voice 460 Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just;
In pure majestic poverty rever'd; Who, even his glory to his country's weal Submitting, swell'd a haughtyRival's fame. Rear'd by his care, of softer ray, appears 465 Cimon sweet-soul'd; whose genius, rising strong, Shook off the load of young debauch; abroad The scourge of Persian pride, at home the friend Of every worth and every splendid art; Modest, and simple, in the pomp of wealth. 470 Then the last worthies of declining Greece, Late-call'd to glory, in unequal times, Pensive, appear. The fair Corinthian boast, Timoleon, happy temper! mild, and firm, Who wept the Brother while the Tyrant bled. 475 And, equal to the best, theTheban Pair, Whose virtues, in heroic Concord join'd, Their country rais'd to freedom, empire, fame. He too, with whom Athenian honour sunk, And left a mass of sordid lees behind, 480 Phocion the Good: in public life severe, To virtue still inexorably firm; But when, beneath his low illustrious roof, Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth'd his brow, Not friendship softer was, nor love more kind. 485 And he, the last of old Lycurgus' sons, The generous victim to that vain attempt, To save a state, Agis, who saw Even Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk. The two Achaian heroes close the train. 490 Aratus, who a while relum'd the soul Of fondly-lingering liberty in Greece: And he her darling as her latest hope, The gallant Philopemen; who to arms
Turn'd the luxurious pomp he could not cure; 495 Or toiling in his farm, a simple swain; Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field.
Of rougher front, a mighty people come! A race of heroes! in those virtuous times Which knew no stain, save that with partial flame 500 Their dearest country they too fondly lov'd. Her better founder first, the light of Rome, Numa, who soften'd her rapacious sons: Servius the King, who laid the solid base On which o'er earth the vast republic spread. 505 Then the great consuls venerable rise. ThePublic Father who the Private quell'd, As on the dread tribunal sternly sad. He, whom his thankless country could not lose, Camillus, only vengeful to her foes. 510 Fabricius, scorner of all-conquering gold; And Cincinnatus, awful from the plough. Thywilling Victim, Carthage, bursting loose From all that pleading Nature could oppose, From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith 515 Imperious call'd, and honour's dire command. Scipio, the gentle chief, humanely brave, Who soon the race of spotless glory ran, And, warm in youth, to the Poetic shade With Friendship and Philosophy retir'd. 520 Tully, whose powerful eloquence a while Restrain'd the rapid fate of rushing Rome. Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in extreme. And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart, Whose steady arm, by awful virtue urg'd, 525 Lifted the Roman steel against thy Friend.
Thousands, besides, the tribute of a verse Demand; but who can count the stars of heaven? Who sing their influence on this lower world?
Behold, who yonder comes! in sober state, 530 Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun: 'Tis Phœbus' self, or else the Mantuan Swain! Great Homer too appears, of daring wing, Parent of song! and equal by his side, The British Muse; join'd hand in hand they walk, 535 Darkling, full up the middle steep to fame. Nor absent are those shades, whose skilful hand Pathetic drew th' Impassion'd heart, and charm'd Transported Athens with the moral Scene: Nor those who, tuneful, wak'd th' enchanting Lyre. 540
First of your kind! society divine! Still visit thus my nights, for you reserv'd, And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like yours. Silence, thou lonely power! the door be thine; See on the hallowed hour that none intrude, 545 Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes deign To bless my humble roof, with sense refin'd, Learning digested well, exalted faith, Unstudy'd wit, and humour ever gay. Or from the Muses' hill will Pope descend, To raise the sacred hour, to bid it smile, And with the social spirit warm the heart: For tho' not sweeter his own Homer sings, Yet is his life the more endearing song.
Where art thou, Hammond? Thou the darling pride, 555 The friend and lover of the tuneful throng! Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime Of vernal genius, where disclosing fast Each active worth, each manly virtue lay?
Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon? 560 What now avails that noble thirst of fame, Which stung thy fervent breast? That treasur'd store Of knowledge, early gain'd? That eager zeal To serve thy country, glowing in the band Of youthful Patriots, who sustain her name? 565 What now, alas! that life-diffusing charm Of sprightly wit? that rapture for the Muse That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy, Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile? Ah! only shew'd, to check our fond pursuits, 570 And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain!
Thus in some deep retirement would I pass, The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant soul. Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspir'd: With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame 575 Was call'd, late-rising from the void of night, Or sprung eternal from th' eternal Mind; Its springs, its laws, its progress, and its end. Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole Would, gradual, open on our opening minds; 580 And each diffusive harmony unite, In full perfection, to th' astonish'd eye. Then would we try to scan the moral World, Which, tho' to us it seems embroil'd; moves on In higher order; fitted, and impell'd, 585 By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all In general Good. The sage historic Muse Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time: Shew us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell, In scatter'd states; what makes the nations smile, 590 Improves their soil, and gives them double suns; And why they pine beneath the brightest skies, In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd,
Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale That portion of divinity, that ray 595 Of purest heaven, which lights the public soul Of patriots, and of heroes. But if doom'd, In powerless humble fortune, to repress These ardent risings of the kindling soul; Then, even superior to ambition, we 600 Would learn the private virtues; how to glide Thro' shades and plains, along the smoothest stream Of rural life: or snatch'd away by hope, Thro' the dim spaces of futurity, With earnest eye anticipate those scenes 605 Of happiness, and wonder; where the mind, In endless growth and infinite ascent, Rises from state to state, and world to world. But when with these the serious thought is foil'd, We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 610 Of frolic Fancy; and incessant form Those rapid pictures, that assembled train Of fleet ideas, never join'd before, Whence lively Wit excites to gay surprize; Or folly-painting Humour, grave himself, 615 Calls laughter forth, deep-shaking every nerve.
Mean-time the village rouzes up the fire; While well attested, and as well believ'd, Heard solemn, goes the goblin-story round; Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all. 620 Or, frequent in the sounding hall, they wake The rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round: The simple joke that takes the shepherd's heart, Easily pleas'd; the long loud laugh, sincere; The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the sidelong maid, 625 On purpose guardless, or pretending sleep: The leap, the slap, the haul; and, shook to notes
Of native music, the respondent dance. Thus jocund fleets with them the winter-night.
The city swarms intense. The public haunt, 630 Full of each theme, and warm with mixt discourse, Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flow Down the loose stream of false inchanted joy, To swift destruction. On the rankled soul, The gaming fury falls; and in one gulph 635 Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace, Friends, families, and fortune, headlong sink. Up-springs the dance along the lighted dome, Mix'd, and evolv'd, a thousand sprightly ways. The glittering court effuses every pomp; 640 The circle deepens: beam'd from gaudy robes, Tapers, and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes, A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves: While, a gay insect in his summer-shine, The fop, light-fluttering, spreads his mealy wings. 645
Dread o'er the scene, the ghost of Hamlet stalks: Othello rages; poor Monimia mourns; And Belvidera pours her soul in love. Deep-thrilling terror shakes; the comely tear Steals o'er the cheek: or else the Comic Muse 650 Holds to the world a picture of itself, And raises sly the fair impartial laugh. Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the scenes Of beauteous life; whate'er can deck mankind, Or charm the heart, in generousBevil shew'd. 655
O Thou, whose wisdom, solid yet refin'd, Whose patriot-virtues, and consummate skill To touch the finer springs that move the world,
Join'd to whate'er the Graces can bestow. And all Apollo's animating fire, 660 Give thee, with pleasing dignity, to shine At once the guardian, ornament, and joy, Of polish'd life; permit the rural Muse, O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her song! Ere to the shades again she humbly flies, 665 Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train, (For every Muse has in thy train a place) To mark thy various full-accomplish'd mind: To mark that spirit, which, with British scorn, Rejects th' allurements of corrupted power; 670 That elegant politeness, which excels Even in the judgement of presumptuous France, The boasted manners of her shining court; That wit, the vivid energy of sense The truth of Nature, which, with Attic point, 675 And kind well-temper'd satire, smoothly keen, Steals through the soul, and without pain corrects. Or, rising thence with yet a brighter flame, O let me hail thee on some glorious day, When to the listening senate, ardent, croud 680 Britannia's sons to hear her pleaded cause. Then drest by thee, more amiably fair, Truth the soft robe of mild persuasion wears: Thou to assenting reason giv'st again Her own enlighten'd thoughts; call'd from the heart, 685 Th' obedient passions on thy voice attend; And even reluctant party feels a while Thy gracious power: as thro' the vary'd maze Of eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now strong, Profound and clear, you roll the copious flood. 690
To thy lov'd haunt return, my happy Muse: For now, behold, the joyous winter-days,
Frosty, succeed; and thro' the blue serene, For light too fine, th' etherial niter flies; Killing infectious damps, and the spent air 695 Storing afresh with elemental life. Close crouds the shining atmosphere; and binds Our strengthen'd bodies in its cold embrace, Constringent; feeds, and animates our blood; Refines our spirits, thro' the new-strung nerves, 700 In swifter sallies darting to the brain; Where sits the soul, intense, collected, cool, Bright as the skies, and as the season keen. All Nature feels the renovating force Of Winter, only to the thoughtless eye 705 In ruin seen. The frost-concocted glebe Draws in abundant vegetable soul, And gathers vigour for the coming year. A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek Of ruddy fire: and luculent along 710 The purer rivers flow; their sullen deeps, Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze, And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost.
What art thou, frost? and whence are thy keen stores Deriv'd, thou secret all-invading power, 715 Whom even th' illusive fluid cannot fly? Is not thy potent energy, unseen, Myriads of little salts, or hook'd, or shap'd Like double wedges, and diffus'd immense Thro' water, earth, and ether? Hence at eve, 720 Steam'd eager from the red horizon round, With fierce rage of Winter deep suffus'd, And icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the pool Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career Arrests the bickering stream. The loosen'd ice, 725 Let down the flood, and half dissolv'd by day,
Rustles no more; but to the sedgy bank Fast grows, or gathers round the pointed stone, A crystal pavement, by the breath of heaven Cemented firm; till, seiz'd from shore to shore, 730 The whole imprison'd river growls below. Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflects A double noise; while, at his evening watch, The village dog deters the nightly thief; The heifer lows; the distant water-fall 735 Swells in the breeze; and, with the hasty tread Of traveller, the hollow-sounding plain Shakes from afar. The full ethereal round, Infinite worlds disclosing to the view, Shines out intensely keen; and, all one cope 740 Of starry glitter, glows from pole to pole. From pole to pole the rigid influence falls, Thro' the still night, incessant, heavy, strong, And seizes Nature fast. It freezes on; Till morn, late-rising o'er the drooping world, 745 Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears The various labour of the silent night: Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cascade, Whose idle torrents only seem to roar, The pendant icicle; the frost-work fair, 750 Where transient hues, and fancy'd figures rise; Wide-spouted o'er the hill, the frozen brook, A livid tract, cold-gleaming on the morn; The forest bent beneath the plumy wave; And by the frost refin'd the whiter snow, 755 Incrusted hard, and sounding to the tread Of early shepherd, as he pensive seeks His pining flock, or from the mountain-top, Pleas'd with the slippery surface, swift descends.
On blithsome frolicks bent, the youthful swains, 760 While every work of Man is laid at rest,
Fond o'er the river croud, in various sport And revelry dissolv'd; where mixing glad, Happiest of all the train! the raptur'd boy Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 765 Branch'd out in many a long canal extends, From every province swarming, void of care, Batavia rushes forth; and as they sweep, On sounding skates, a thousand different ways, In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, 770 The then gay land is madden'd all to joy. Nor less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow, Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds, Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel The long-resounding course. Meantime, to raise 775 The manly strife, with highly-blooming charms, Flush'd by the season, Scandinavia's dames, Or Russia's buxom daughters glow around.
Pure, quick, and sportful, is the wholesome day; But soon elaps'd. The horizontal sun, 780 Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost noon; And, ineffectual, strikes the gelid cliff: His azure gloss the mountain still maintains, Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale Relents a while to the reflected ray; 785 Or from the forest falls the cluster'd snow. Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam Gay-twinkle as they scatter. Thick around Thunders the sport of those, who with the gun, And dog impatient bounding at the shot, 790 Worse than the season, desolate the fields; And, adding to the ruins of the year, Distress the footed or the feathered game.
But what is this? our infant Winter sinks, Diverted of his grandeur, should our eye 795
Astonish'd shoot into the Frigid Zone; Where, for relentless months, continual night, Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry reign.
There, thro' the prison of unbounded wilds, Barr'd by the hand of Nature from escape, 800 Wide-roams the Russian exile. Nought around Strikes his sad eye, but desarts lost in snow; And heavy-loaded groves; and solid floods, That stretch, athwart the solitary vast, Their icy horrors to the frozen main; 805 And cheerless towns far-distant, never bless'd, Save when its annual course the caravan Bends to the golden coast of richCathay With news of human-kind. Yet there life glows; Yet cherish'd there, beneath the shining waste, 810 The furry nations harbour: tipt with jet, Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press; Sables, of glossy black; and dark-embrown'd, Or beauteous freakt with many a mingled hue, Thousands besides, the costly pride of courts. 815 There, warm together press'd, the trooping deer Sleep on the new-fallen snows; and, scarce his head Rais'd o'er the heapy wreath, the branching elk Lies slumbering sullen in the white abyss. The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 820 Nor with the dread of sounding bows he drives The fearful-flying race; with ponderous clubs, As weak against the mountain-heaps they push Their beating breast in vain, and piteous bray, He lays them quivering on th' ensanguin'd snows, 825 And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home. There thro' the piny forest half-absorpt,
Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear, With dangling ice all horrid, stalks forlorn; Slow-pac'd, and sourer as the storms increase, 830 He makes his bed beneath th' inclement drift, And, with stern patience, scorning weak complaint, Hardens his heart against assailing want.
Wide o'er the spacious regions of the north, That see Boötes urge his tardy wain, 835 A boisterous race, by frostyCaurus pierc'd, Who little pleasure know and fear no pain, Prolific swarm. They once relum'd the flame Of lost mankind in polish'd slavery sunk, Drove martialhorde on horde, with dreadful sweep 840 Resistless rushing o'er th' enfeebled south, And gave the vanquish'd world another form. Not such the sons of Lapland: wisely they Despise th' insensate barbarous trade of war; They ask no more than simple Nature gives, 845 They love their mountains and enjoy their storms. No false desires, no pride-created wants, Disturb the peaceful current of their days; And thro' the restless ever-tortur'd maze Of pleasure, or ambition, bid it rage. 850 Their rain-deer form their riches. These their tents, Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth Supply, their wholesome fare, and cheerful cups. Obsequious at their call, the docile tribe Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swift 855 O'er hill and dale, heap'd into one expanse Of marbled snow, as far as eye can sweep With a blue crust of ice unbounded glaz'd. By dancing meteors then, that ceaseless shake
A waving blaze refracted o'er the heavens, 860 And vivid moons, and liars that keener play With doubled killer from the radiant waste, Even in the depth of Polar Night, they find A wondrous day: enough to light the chace, Or guide their daring steps to Finland-fairs. 865 Wish'd spring returns; and from the hazy south, While dim Aurora slowly moves before, The welkome sun, just verging up at first, By small degrees extends the swelling curve! Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months, 870 Still round and round, his spiral course he winds, And has he nearly dips his flaming orb, Wheels up again, and reascends the sky. In that glad season, from the lakes and floods, Where pureNiemi's fairy mountains rise, 875 And fring'd with rosesTenglio rolls his stream, They draw the copious fry. With these, at eve, They cheerful-loaded to their tents repair; Where, all day long in useful cares employ'd, Their kind unblemish'd wives the fire prepare. 880 Thrice happy race! by poverty secur'd From legal plunder and rapacious power: In whom fell interest never yet has sown
The seeds of vice; whose spotless swains ne'er knew 885 Injurious deed, nor, blasted by the breath Of faithless love, their blooming daughters woe.
Still, pressing on, beyond Tornea's lake, And Hecla flaming thro' a waste of snow, And farthest Greenland, to the pole itself, 890 Where failing gradual life at length goes out, The Muse expands her solitary flight; And, hovering o'er the wild stupendous scene, Beholds new seas beneathanother sky. Thron'd in his palace of cerulean ice, 895 Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court; And thro' his airy hall the loud misrule Of driving tempest is for ever heard! Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath; Here arms his winds with all-subduing frost; 900 Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up his snows, With which he now oppresses half the globe.
Thence winding eastward to the Tartar's coast, She sweeps the howling margin of the main; Where undissolving, from the first of time, 905 Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky; And icy mountains, high on mountains pil'd, Seem to the shivering sailor from afar, Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds. Projected huge, and horrid, o'er the surge, 910 Alps frown on alps; or rushing hideous down, As if old chaos was again return'd, Wide-rend the deep, and shake the solid pole. Ocean itfelf no longer can resist The binding fury; but, in all its rage 915 Of tempest taken by the boundless frost,
Is many a fathom to the bottom chain'd, And bid to roar no more: a bleak expanse, Shagg'd o'er with wavy rocks, cheerless, and void Of every life, that from the dreary months 920 Flies conscious southward. Miserable they! Who, here entangled in the gathering ice, Take their last look of the descending sun; While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost, The long long night, incumbent o'er their head, 925 Falls horrible. Such was theBriton's Fate, As with first prow, (what have not Britons dar'd!) He for the passage fought, attempted since So much in vain, and seeming to be shut By jealous Nature with eternal bars. 930 In these fell regions, in Arxina caught, And to the stony deep his idle ship Immediate seal'd, he with his hapless crew, Each full exerted at his several task, Froze into statues; to the cordage glued 935 The sailor, and the pilot to the helm.
Hard by these shores, where scarce his freezing stream Rolls the wild Oby, live the last of Men; And, half-enliven'd by the distant sun, That rears and ripens Man, as well as plants, 940 Here human Nature wears its rudest form. Deep from the piercing season sunk in caves, Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer, They waste the tedious gloom. Immers'd in furs, Doze the gross race. Nor sprightly jest, nor song, 945 Nor tenderness they know; nor aught of life, Beyond the kindred bears that stalk without.
Till morn at length, her roses drooping all, Sheds a long twilight brightening o'er their fields, And calls the quiver'd savage to the chace. 950
What cannot active government perform, New-moulding Man? Wide-stretching from these shores, A people savage from remotest time, A huge neglected empire One vast Mind, By Heaven inspir'd, from gothic darkness call'd. 955 Immortal Peter! first of monarchs! he His stubborn country tam'd, her rocks, her fens, Her floods, her seas, her ill-submitting sons; And while the fierce Barbarian he subdu'd, To more exalted soul he raised the Man. 960 Ye f hades of antient heroes, ye who toil'd Thro' long successive ages to build up A laboring plan of state, behold at once The wonder done! behold the matchless prince! Who left his native throne, where reign'd till then 965 A mighty shadow of unreal power; Who greatly spurn'd the slothful pomp of courts; And roaming every land, in every port, His scepter laid aside, with glorious hand Unweary'd plying the mechanic tool, 970 Gather'd the seeds of trade, of useful arts, Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill. Charg'd with the stores of Europe home he goes! Then cities rise amid th' illumin'd waste; O'er joyless desarts smiles the rural reign; 975 Far-distant flood to flood is social join'd; Th' astonish'd Euxine hears the Baltic roar; Proud navies ride on seas that never foam'd With daring keel before; and armies stretch Each way their dazzling files, repressing here 980
The frantic Alexander of the north, And awing there stern Othman's shrinking sons. Sloth flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice, Of old dishonour proud: it glows around, Taught by the Royal Hand that rous'd the whole, 985 One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade: For what his wisdom plann'd, and power enforc'd, More potent still, his great example fhew'd.
Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point, Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Subdu'd, 990 The frost resolves into a trickling thaw. Spotted the mountains shine; loose sleet descends, And floods the country round. The rivers swell, Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts, 995 A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once; And, where they rush, the wide-resounding plain Is left one slimy waste. Those sullen seas, That wash th' ungenial pole, will rest no more Beneath the shackles of the mighty north; 1000 But, rousing all their waves, resistless heave. And hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs Athwart the rifted deep: at once it bursts, And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds. Ill fares the bark with trembling wretches charg'd, 1005 That, soft amid the floating fragments, moors Beneath the shelter of an icy isle, While night o'erwhelms the sea, and horror looks More horrible. Can human force endure Th' assembled mischiefs that besiege them round? 1010 Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness, The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice, Now ceasing, now-renew'd with louder rage,
And in dire echoes bellowing round the main. More to embroil the deep, Leviathan 1015 And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport, Tempest the loosened brine, while thro' the gloom, Far, from the bleak inhospitable shore, Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl Of famish'd monsters, there awaiting wrecks. 1020 Yet Providence, that ever waking Eye, Looks down with pity on the feeble toil Of mortals lost to hope, and lights them safe, Thro' all this dreary labyrinth of fate.
'Tis done! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms, 1025 And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year. How dead the vegetable kingdom lies! How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends His desolate domain. Behold, fond Man! Behold thy pictur'd life; pass some few years, 1030 Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength, Thy sober Autumn fading into age, And pale concluding Winter comes at last, And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled, Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes 1035 Of happiness? those longings after fame? Those restless cares? those busy bustling days? Those gay-spent, festive nights? those veering thoughts, Lost between good and ill, that shar'd thy life? All now are vanish'd! Virtue sole survives, 1040 Immortal, never-failing friend of Man, His guide to happiness on high.—And see! 'Tis come, the glorious morn! the second birth Of heaven, and earth! awakening Nature hears The new-creating word, and starts to life, 1045 In every heightened form, from pain and death
For ever free. The great eternal scheme, Involving all, and in a perfect whole Uniting, as the prospect wider spreads, To reason's eye refin'd clears up apace. 1050 Ye vainly wise! ye blind presumptuous! now, Confounded in the dust, adore that Power, And Wisdom oft arraign'd: see now the cause, Why unassuming worth in secret liv'd, And dy'd, neglected: why the good Man's share 1055 In life was gall and bitterness of soul: Why the lone widow, and her orphans pin'd, In starving solitude; while luxury, In palaces, lay straining her low thought, To form unreal wants: why heaven-born truth, 1060 And moderation fair, wore the red marks Of superstition's scourge: why licens'd pain, That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd foe, Imbitter'd all our bliss. Ye good distrest! Ye noble few! who here unbending stand 1065 Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while, And what your bounded view, which only saw A little part, deem'd Evil is no more: The storms of Wintry Time will quickly pass, And one unbounded Spring encircle all! 1070
* ↑ The jail-committee, in the year 1729.
* ↑ Leonidas. See Leonidas, a Poem (by R. Glover) 2 Vols. 8 Lond. 1770.
* ↑ Themistocles.
* ↑ Pelopidas, and Epaminondas.
* ↑ Marcus Junius Brutus.
* ↑ Regulus.
* ↑ A character in the Conscious Lovers, written by Sir Richard Steele.
* ↑ The old name for China.
* ↑ The north-west wind.
* ↑ The wandering scythian-clans.
* ↑ M. de Maupertuis, in his book on the Figure of the Earth, after having described the beautiful lake and mountain of Niemi in Lapland, says—"From this height we had opportunity several times to see those vapours rise from the lake which the people of the country call Haltios, and which they deem to be the guardian spirits of the mountains. We had been frighted with stories of bears that haunted this place, but saw none. It seem'd rather a place of resort for Fairies and Genii than bears."
* ↑ The same author observes—"I was surprized to see upon the banks of this river, (the Tenglio) roses of as lively a red as any that are in our gardens."
* ↑ The other hemisphere.
* ↑ Sir Hugh Willoughby, sent by Queen Elizabeth to discover the north-east passage.
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