'Tis morning; and the fun, with ruddy orb
Afcending, fires th' horizon; while the clouds,
That crowd away before the driving wind,
More ardent as the difk emerges more,
Refemble most fome city in a blaze,
Seen through the leaflefs wood.
Slides ineffectual down the fnowy vale,
And, tinging all with his own rofy hue,
From ev'ry herb and ev'ry spiry blade
Stretches a length of fhadow o'er the field.
Mine, fpindling into longitude immense,
a fpite of gravity, and fage remark
That I myself am but a fleeting fhade,
Provokes me to a smile. With eye askance
I view the muscular proportion'd limb
Transform'd to a lean fhank. The fhapeless pair,
As they defign'd to mock me, at my fide
Take ftep for step; and, as I near approach
The cottage, walk along the plafter'd' wall,
Prepoft'rous fight! the legs without the man.
The verdure of the plain lies buried deep
Beneath the dazzling deluge; and the bents,
And coarfer grafs, upfpearing o'er the reft,
Of late unfightly and unfeen, now fhine
Confpicuous, and, in bright apparel clad
And fledg'd with icy feathers, nod fuperb.
The cattle mourn in corners where the fence
Screens them, and feem half petrified to fleep
In unrecumbent fadnefs. There they wait
Their wonted fodder; not like hung'ring man,
Fretful if unfupplied; but filent, meek,
And patient of the flow-pac'd fwain's delay.
He from the stack carves out th' accustom❜d load,
Deep plunging, and again deep-plunging oft,
His broad keen knife into the folid mafs:
Smooth as a wall the upright remnant stands,
With fuch undeviating and even force
He fevers it away: no needlefs care,
Left ftorms fhould overfet the leaning pile
Deciduous, or its own unbalanc'd weight. Forth goes the woodman, leaving unconcern'd ! The cheerful haunts of man; to wield the axe And drive the wedge in yonder forest drear, From morn to eve his solitary task.
Shaggy, and lean, and fhrewd, with pointed ears And tail cropp'd fhort, half lurcher and half cur→→→ His dog attends him. Close behind his heel Now creeps he flow; and now, with many a frisk Wide-fcamp'ring, fnatches up the drifted fnow With iv'ry teeth, or ploughs it with his fnout; Then shakes his powder'd coat, and barks for joy. Heedlefs of all his pranks, the sturdy churl Moves right toward the mark; nor ftops for aught, But now and then with preffure of his thumb T'adjust the fragrant charge of a fhort tube That fumes beneath his nofe: the trailing cloud Streams far behind him, fcenting all the air. Now from the rooft, or from the neighb'ring pale, Where, diligent to catch the firft faint gleam Of fmiling day, they goffip'd fide by fide, Come trooping at the housewife's well-known call The feather'd tribes domeftic. Half on wing, And half on foot, they brush the fleecy flood, Confcious and fearful of too deep a plunge. The fparrows peep, and quit the fhelt'ring eaves
To feize the fair occafion. Well they eye
The fcatter'd grain; and, thievifhly resolv'd
T' escape th' impending famine, often scar'd,
As oft return-a pert voracious kind.
Clean riddance quickly made, one only care
Remains to each-the fearch of funny nook,
Or fhed impervious to the blaft. Refign'd
To fad neceffity, the cock forgoes
His wonted ftrut; and, wading at their head
With well-confider'd steps, seems to refent
His alter'd gait and stateliness retrench'a.
How find the myriads, that in fummer cheer
The hills and valleys with their ceaseless songs,
Due fuftenance, or where fubfift they now?
Earth yields them nought: th' imprison'd worm is fafe
Beneath the frozen clod; all feeds of herbs
Lie cover'd clofe; and berry-bearing thorns,
That feed the thrufh, (whatever fome fuppofe)
Afford the fmaller minstrels no fupply.
The long protracted rigour of the year
Thins all their num'rous flocks.
Ten thoufand feek an unmolested end,
As inftinct prompts; felf-buried ere they die.
The very rooks and daws forfake the fields,
Where neither grub, nor root, nor earth nut. now
Repays their labour more; and, perch'd aloft
By the way-fide, or ftalking in the path,
Lean penfioners upon the trav❜ller's track,
Pick up their nauseous dole, though sweet to them,
Of voided pulfe or half-digested grain.
The streams are loft amid the fplendid blank,
O'erwhelming all distinction. On the flood,
Indurated and fix'd, the fnowy weight
Lies undiffolv'd; while filently beneath,
And unperceiv'd, the current steals away.
Not fo, where fcornful of a check, it leaps
The mill-dam, dashes on the restless wheel,
And wantons in the pebbly gulph below:
No froft can bind it there; its utmost force
Can but arreft the light and fmokey mist
That in its fall the liquid sheet throws wide.
And see where it has hung th' embroider'd bank
With forms fo various, that no powers of art,
The pencil or the pen, may trace the scene!
Here glitt❜ring turrets rife, upbearing high
(Fantastic mifarrangement!) on the roof
Large growth of what may feem the sparkling trees
And fhrubs of fairy land. The crystal drops
That trickle down the branches, faft congeal'd,
Shoot into pillars of pellucid length,
And prop the pile they but adorn'd before.
Here grotto within grotto safe defies
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