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WALKS IN A FOREST:
OR,
POEMS
DESCRIPTIVE OF SCENERY AND INCIDENTS
CHARACTERISTIC OF
A FOREST,
AT DIFFERENT SEASONS OF THE TEAR,
By THOMAS GISBORNE, M.A.
THE FOURTH EDITION, CORRECTED.
Poetlcae propofitum aut duplex, aut ex duobus alterum,
v\ilgo ftatuitur ; nimirum aut Prodefle, aut Delegare, aut etiam
Utrumque. Mallem equidem Utilitstem folummodo, quafi
ultimum ejus finem, ftatulflent; Deledationem vero, quad
rationem & viam, per quam ad iftum finem unice perveniret;
ita ut judicaretur Prodeffe Deledando.
LowTH, De Sacra Poefi Hebraeorum.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR T. CADELL JUN. AND W. DAVIES,
IN THE STRAND.
1799,
?R
nil
TO THE
Rev. WILLIAM MASON,
OF JSrONy rORKSHIRE,
THE FOLLOWING
POEMS
ARE INSCRIBED
BY HIS OBLIGED AND
AFFECTIONATE FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
JL HE fcenes and Incidents noticed In
the fubfequent Poems are fuch, with fome
exceptions, Introduced by way of contraft,
as occur in the Forefts of Great Britain.
The Author has endeavoured to delineate
them with fuch a degree of particularity
as might mark the charaderiftic features
of each ; and to avoid on the one hand
florid and indeterminate defcrlptlon, and
on the other, that minutenefs of detail
which would be fear eel y Intelligible to
perfons not accuftomed ftudioufly to
examine the face of nature, and might
prove tedious even to accurate obfervers.
He has alfo had in view another objed:
which he willingly avows ; namely, to in-
culcate, on every fit occafion, thofe moral
VI PREFACE.
truths, which the contemplation of the
works of God in the natural world fug-
gefts, and that reverence and love for
the great Creator which it is adapted to
infpire. He trufts therefore that, not
only when occupied in a profelTed enquiry
into human duties, but alfo when engaged
in compofmg the following pages, he
has been employed in his proper vocation.
And he would gladly hope that the pre-
fent performance may tend to infufe into
the minds of perfons who delight in na-
tural fcenery, and efpecially of the young,
thofe momentous principles, the influence
of which, whether he follcits attention in
profe or in verfe, he is chiefly anxious
to promote.
YoxALL Lodge,
December 2, 1795.
CONTENTS.
Page
WALK THE FIRST. SPRING - - I
WALK THE SECOND. SUMMER NOON - 27
WALK THE THIRD. SUMMER MOONLIGHT 4I
WALK THE FOURTH, AUTUMN " " 57
WALK THE FIFTH. WINTER SNOW • S^
WALK THE SIXTH. WINTER FROST - 9^
WALK THE FIRST.
ARGUMENT.
An ancient Poet's Comparifon of the fuppofed Non-exlftence of
Man after Death with the vernal Revival of the Vegetable
World — Tb.e Leflbn which O'jght to have been deduced from
that Revival— /appearance of a Foreftin May — Foreft Trees—
The Angler — Forefl Flowers — Analogy between the Diverfity
of Vegetable Produftions and the Diverfity of Human Talents
— Foreft Birds — Addrefs to Parents— Deer— Cattle from the
Highlands of Scotland, and their attendant Herdfman — Bene-
fits of tlie Union of England and Scotland— The Herdfman's
Hiftory — Fall of Timber — Charcoal-burners — Nature pro-
vides for the Succertion of Trees — Comparative Freedom of
Foreft Trees, and of Trees taken under tl^e more immediate
Control of Man — This Subjed illiiftrated by a Comparifon
between the State of the People of Great Britain and that of
the Hindoos— Duty of the former towards the latter.
WALKS IN A FOREST.
WALK THE FIRST.
SPRING.
u 1 HE meaneft * herb we trample In the field,
" Or in the garden nurture, when its leaf
" In Autumn dies, forebodes another Spring,
" And from fhort flumber wakes to life again.
** Man wakes no more ! Man, peerlefs, valiant, wife,
** Once chillM by death, fleeps hopelefs in the duft,
" A long, unbroken, never-ending fleep !"
At, at, Tat ijLxKaxa.1 ^iv sttccv Kctlac xcx,7iov oXuvlui^
H Ta )(\u}^x az7^\vxy to t' iV^aXiq aXov avr.QoVf
A|M.jM.e; ^ ot fAsyccT^Q., y.oci KX^ZB^otf n croCpoi uvcpc';,
Qirr^'jc r.'^Jia ^xvoj^icj avxjtook ev p^Oovt xot^a
Efao^E? ev [AsiAoi jjixxpoii, ciliffj.'-Aci, vny^Oov vtr\fjV»
MoscKus, in Epitaph. Bion,
WALKS IN A FOREST.
Such was thy plaint, untutor'd bard, when May,
As now, the lawns reviv'd ! 'Twas thine to rove
Darkling, ere yet * from Death's reludtant fhade.
In cloudlefs majefty, the Son of God
Sprang glorious ; while HelFs Ruler, he who late.
With frantic feoffs of triumph, to his powers
Pointed the fad proceffion as it moved
From Calvary to the yet unclofed tomb.
Viewed the grave yield its Conqueror j and aghaft,
ShunnM, in the deepeft midnight of his realms.
The wrath of earth's and heaven's Almighty Lord.
Said the defponding lay, " Man wakes no more :"
O blind ! who read'ft not in the teeming foil,
The frefhening meadow, and the burfting wood,
A nobler leffon ! — He, who fpake the word.
And the fun rofe from Chaos, while the abyfs
From the new fires with fhuddering furge recoil'd ;
He, at whofe voice the moon's nodurnal beam,
And ftarry legions, on the admiring earth
Rain'd luftre ; He, whofe providence the change
Of day and night and feafons crown'd with food
* Mofchus flouiifhtd about two hundrtd year? before the Chrif-
tii'.n str&»
SPRING.
And health and peace proclaimM j bade Nature's hand
Point to the fcenes of dinn futurity.
He on a world, in Gentile darknefs loft.
Pitying look'd down ; He to bewilder'd man
Bade Spring, with annual admonition, hold
Her emblematic taper ; not with light
Potent each fhade of doubt and fear to chafe, '
Yet friendly through the gloom to guide his way,
'Till the dawn crimfonM, and the impatient Eaft,
Shouting for joy, the Day-ftar^s advent hail'd.
That ftar has rifen, and with a glow that Ihames
The fun's meridian fplendor, has illumed
The diftant wonders of eternity.
Yet may this fylvan wild, from winter's grafp
Now refcued, bid the foul, on loftieft hopes
Mufmg elate, anticipate the hour *
When, at the Archangel's voice, the flumbering duft
Shall wake, nor earth nor fea withhold its dead ;
* " Vide quam in folatium noftri refurredionem futuram
omnis natura meditetur. Sol demergit & nafcitur; aftra labuntur
&redeuntj flores occidunt & revivifcuntj poft fenium arbufta
frondefcuntj femina non nifi corriipta revirefcunt. Ita corpus in
feculo, ut arbores in hiberno occultant virorem ariditate mentita.
Quid feftinas ut cruda adhuc hyeme revivifcat & redeat ? Expec-
tandum nobis etiam corporis ver eft." — Minvcius Felix.
2 3
WALKS IS A FOREST.
When ftarting at the crafh of biirlUng tombs,
Of maufoleums rent, and pyramids
Heaved from their bafe, the tyrant of the grave,
Propt on his broken fceptre, while the crown
Falls from his head, beholds his prifon-houfe
Emptied of all its habitants ; beholds
Mortal in immortality abforb'd.
Corruptible in incorruption loft.
How fwells the enraptured bofom, while the eye
Wanders unfated with delight from (hade
To fhade, from grove to thicket, from near groups
To yon primaeval woods with darkening fweep
Retiring ; and with bsauty fees the whole
Kindle, and glow with renovated Hfe !
For now, at Spring's reanimating call,
Each native of the foreft, from the trunk
Towering and huge down to the tangled bufh,
Its own peculiar charader refumes.
Chief of the fylvan realms, its verdant wreath
With tender olive ftain'd the oak protrudes.
Proud of a fhelter'd monarch, proud to lend
A chaplet ftill to Britiih loyalty.
Even yet with ruddy fpoils from autumn won
Loaded, the beech its lengthenM buds untwines.
Its knotted bloom fecured, the afh puts forth
SPRING.
The winged leaf : the hawthorn wraps its boughs
In fnowy mantle : from the vivid greens
That fhine around, the holly, winter's pride,
Recedes abafh'd : the willow, in yon vale,
Its filver lining to the breeze upturns ;
And ruftling afpens fhiver by the brook ;
While the unfullied dream, from April fhowers
Refined, each fparkling pebble fhews that decks
The bottom ; and each fcaly habitant
Quick glancing in the fhallows, or in queft
Of plunder' ilowly failing in the deep.
There oft at eve, by fhadowing alders veil'd
From keen- eyed trouts, fix'd where the fable flood
Mantled with foam, with twifted roots o'erhung.
Portends a giant prey, the angler drops
His fly in quivering circles on the pool
Fluttering with mimic wings ; then, while his hand
Trembles with hope, beholds, ill-omen'd fight.
That tells of dire misfortune ! fradlured lines
Dependent, or in complicated folds
Linking the tangled boughs that fweep the ftream,
And rife and fall with every paffing wave.
Beneath the fylvan canopy, the ground
Glitters with flowery dyes : the primrofe, firfl;
In molfy deli returning Spring to greet ;
B4
WALKS IN A FOREST.
Pilewort, that o'er her roots of old renown
Expands the radiance of her ftarry bloom :
Arum, that in a mantling hood conceals
Her fanguine club, and fpreads her fpotted leaf
Arm'd with keen tortures for the unwary tongue :
Anemone *, now robed in virgin white,
Now blufhlng with faint crimfon : fraudful fpurge f ,
That feeks in beauty's garb her fnares to hide.
In milky ftream her poifon veils, her ftem
In ruddy mantle wraps, and from a zone
Of dulky foliage elevates more bright
Her creft of gold : forrel J, that hangs her cups,
Ere their frail form and ftreaky veins decay.
O'er her pale verdure, till parental care
Inclines the fliortening ftems, and to the fhade
Of clofmg leaves her infant race withdraws :
Orchis § with crowded pyramids the bank
♦ Wood anemone. Anemone nemorofa Linn.
■f "Wood fpurge. Euphorbia amygdaloides Linn.
X Wood forreh Oxalis acetofa Linn. This plant, as foon as
its petals have fallen ofF, thrufts its feed-veflels, with a motion in
appearance almoft voluntary, under the contiguous leaves j the
foot-ftalk, which till then had been ftraight, bending itfelf back
in a (harp angle, and thus bringing down its charge to the fhelter
provided by nature.
§ Orchis mafcula Linn. Wood orchis.
SPRING.
Purpling : the harebell, as with grief depreft,
Bowing her fragrance : and the fcentlefs plant *,
That with the violet's borrowM form and hue
The unfkilful wanderer in the Ihade deceives.
In fize, in form, in texture, and in ufe,
How various are the tribes whofe verdure warms
And decorates the earth ! Some from the wild
Untrack'd by foot of man, from mountain glens,
And rifted precipices darting, urge
Aloft their tapering boles and knotted flrength,
Deftined with fleets to fpread the main, or build
Engines, whofe ponderous and convulfive llrokes
Thundering fliallrock the ground. Withpenfile boughs
Some droopo'er willowy ftreams, and yield their growth
For humbler fervice. Some in graffy pile
And flowery broidure clad, with fragrance cheer,
With food fuftain, the animated world.
Yet all one forming hand, one fource fupreme.
Own mid diftindlions infinite, one Lord,
Boundlefs in might, in wifdom, and in love ;
And as his eye with vivifying beam
Smiles, or the golden flood of life withdraws.
Dog^s violet* Viola canina Linn.
lO WALKS IN A FOREST.
Flourifh or fade. Plans of concordant aim
Speak the fame Author. Mark the varied dower
Of talents given to men. Thefe trace the laws
That bind the planet to its orb, and heave
The billowy tide. The helm of empire thofe
Rule, in the ftorm ferene ; or poife the fcales
Of juftice ; or when mad ambition feoffs
The facred league, nor recks the landmark, hurl
The long-fufpended thunderbolt of war.
Some in tranflucent narrative recall
Paft ages, or in vifionary fong
Heroic worth pourtray. Inventive, fome
Call art the paths of life with needful aid
To fmooth, or grace with ornament. Some ply
The fpade and ploughfhare, fkilful to foreknow
What beft each foil may yield. Vain of his powers,
Thee, the great Giver, thee. Parent of good,
Man overlooks or fcorns. Thy feveral gifts,
Harmonious though diffimilar, all confpire
To fwell the fum of general blifs, all work
Thy glory ; all well pleafmg In thy fight,
Who bad'ft the children of the duft perform
Each his peculiar office, and combln'd
Tn one vail family with fraternal lo%-e.
Lend mutual aid, and praife their common God.
SPRING. II
While thus the imprifon'd leaves and waking flowers
Burfl: from their tombs, the birds that lurk'd unfeen
Amid the hybernal Ihade, in bufy tribes
Pour their forgotten multitudes, and catch
New life, new rapture, from the fmile of Spring.
The oak's dark canopy, the mofs-grown thorns.
Flutter with hurried pinions, and refound
With notes that fuit a foreft ; fome perchance,
Rude fmgly, yet with fweeter notes combin'd,
In unifon harmonious ; notes that fpeak.
In language vocal to the liftening wood.
The fears and hopes, the griefs and joys, that heave
The feather'd bread. Proud of coerulean ftains
From heaven's unfullied arch purloin'd, the jay
Screams hoarfe. With fhrill and oft-repeated cry.
Her angular courfe, alternate rife and fall.
The woodpecker prolongs ; then to the trunk
Clofe clinging, with unwearied beak aifails
The hollow bark ; through every cell the ftrokes
Roll the dire echoes that from wintry fleep
Awake her infed prey ; the alarmed tribes
Start from each chink that bores the mouldering ftem :
Their fcatter'd flight with lengthening tongue the foe
Purfues ; joy liftens on her verdant plumes,
And brighter fcarlet fparkles on her creft.
From bough to bough the reftlefs magpie roves,
12 WALKS IN A FOREST.
And chatters as fhe flies. In fober brown
Dreft, but with nature's tendereft pencil touch'd.
The w^ryneck her monotonous complaint
Continues ; harbinger * of her who, doom'd
Never the fympathetic joy to know
That warms the mother cowering o'er her young>
A ftranger robs, and to that ftranger's love
Her Qgg commits unnatural : the nurfe,
Unwitting of the change, her neftling feeds
With toil augmented ; its portentous throat
Wondering ilie views with ceafelefs hunger gape.
Starts at the glare of its capacious eyes.
Its giant bulk, and wings of hues unknown.
Meanwhile the little fongfters, prompt to cheer
Their mates clofe brooding in the brake below.
Strain their fhrill throats ; or, with parental care.
From twig to twig their timid offspring lead ;
Teach them to feize the unwary gnat, to poife
Their pinions, in fliort flights their ftrength to prove,
And venturous truft the bofom of the air.
* The Welfh confider this bird as the forerunner or fervant of
the cuckoo, and call it gwas y gog, or the cuckoo's attendant.
The Swedes regard it in the fame light. Pennant's Brie. Zool.
4th edit. vol. i, p. 238. In the midland counties of England, the
conimon people call it the cuckoo's maiden.
Spring,
O ye ! whofe knees a youthful progeny climbs,
While mirth, the fruit of innocence and love,
Dimples their cheeks, and fhuts their laughing eyes.
Think on your charge ! Faft as the expanding mind
Imbibes the lefTon, from her fount above
Bid Truth in ampler ftream infufe her lore.
Leave not, in vernal dawn when life invokes
Your culturing hand, the vacant field a prey
To weeds quick fprouting : plant with earlieft care
The feeds you moft defire fhould fill the foil ;
And nurfe, with zeal proportioned to its worth,
Each rifing produce. Teach your infant race.
That 'tis not theirs, like fongfters of the grove.
Born but to fport and flutter for a day.
To dote on vain and tranfitory joys.
Teach them the harder nobler taik decreed
To prove the fons of Adam. Teach them love
Supreme of God, and, next to God, of man.
Teach them 'tis theirs, in arduous confli<5l ranged
'Gainft Sin and Powers of darknefs, to make known
Their firm allegiance to the King of Kings.
Teach them, though weak, to triumph in the ftrength
Omnipotence, fpectator of the war,
At fupplication's cry delights to yield
The faithful combatant ; while Heaven fpreads wide
I^ WALKS IN A FOREST.
Her glories, and difplays the victor's crown,
A crown eternal ; and beneath, Hell yawns
Infatiate, thunders through each quivering gulf.
And heaves her floods of ever-during fire.
Nor want thefe lawns that terminate the woods
Their tenants. O'er the gorfe the fportive deer
Vault with elaftic bound, and fweep the plain
In mock purfuit. Pour'd from the neighbouring farms.
O'er their new^ realms, with broad inquiring gaze.
The wide-fpread cattle ftray. Behold yon herd
Dragging, as worn with toil, the heavy ftep.
Or ftretch'd innumerous in recumbent eafe :
Mark the unguarded front, the (lender limb,
The tawny ear, the fable-veiled fide.
From Scotian hills they come. There were they wont
To pick from rocky chinks the blade, and crop
The fiiplefs twigs of heath ; there, fchool'd in arts
Taught by neccflity, with docile feet
Uplifted and again defcending quick.
The ftubborn furze they bruifed, and of its arms.
Pungent in vain, defpoiFd their wintry fare :
Or in the ftormy Hebrides forlorn,
Rufh'd duly from the moor, fcenting afar *
* See Pennant's Voyage to the Hebrides, 4to. 1774? P* 3°^ »
and Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, vol. ii. p. 906.
SPRING.
The ebbing tide ; and prowling on the fand.
And o'er the flippery ftones, with weeds marine
And ocean's refufe famine's rage repell'd.
Now to gay funs and fields of plenty brought,
Their driver quits them ; he who, deck'd in plaid
And plumed bonnet, had their fteps purfued,
While flocking children gaz'd and wonder'd loud.
All the long tedious march ; and ftill, when fnow^ers
Beat fleety, round his limbs regardlefs WTapt
His chequer'd covering ; and when crofs the road
A bright rill hurried, from the knapfack drew
His bow^l and oaten flour, and frugal mix'd
The food delicious to his palate braced
By labour, and by luxury unpall'd.
How bleft thy counfels. Policy, infpir'd
By Wifdom, Juftice, Mercy ! At thy nod,
Contiguous kingdoms, once by rival aims
And favage feuds disjoin'd, and mutual wrong,
Like kindred drops of living filver blend
In one congenial mafs. Their bordering plains
No more with piles of flaughter'd warriors heap'd,
Invaders and invaded, nor illum'd
By midnight gleams from hamlets waked by Ihout
Of dire incurfion fpreading flames and death.
Smile grateful. Mouldering on its craggy bafe.
l6 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Its ufelefs towers unvifited by man.
Years of alarm, of conflid, and of woe
The caftellated manfion fcarce records.
O'er the rude florms that vexM a jarring ifle
Her veil oblivion draws : refentment, hate,
In fjlence with the buried warrior deep.
Hence with a fifter*s love, her wealth, her arts,
Albion to Thule's utmoft beach, to feas
That round Hebridian cliffs rebellow, yields
Unfparing. Hence yon herdfman, he whofe fires
Trod not on Englifh ground but fire and blood
And rapine mark'd their fteps, from Thule's beach
And Hebrid cliffs the pledge of concord bears,
And pours o*er Mercian * vales the annual joy.
Far other toils his early youth engag'd,
"When with unequal hands the huge clymore f
* The ancient kingdom of Mercia comprehended ftventeen of
the middle counties of England.
f The great two-handed hroad-fword of the Highlanders, ufed
from ancient times down to the battle of Killicrankie ; and pro-
bably of the fame kind with the " ingentes gladii," which Tacitus
dtfcribes the Caledonians as employing at the battle of the Gram-
pian Hills. The target was commonly ufed in conjundion with
it. See Pennant's Voyage to the Hebrides, 4to. 1774, P* ^89>
290 j and his Tour in Scotland, 410. 3d edit. p. 191 j and Part
2d, 4to. 1776, Additions at the end, p. a8.
SPRING. 17
Staggering he ftrove to whirl, and fcarce upheld
The target's weight. Oft have 1 feen his fears.
And often have I liften'd to his tale.
Him uninform'd attachment to his chief,
That chief mifguided loyalty, arranged
Beneath Rebellion's ftandard. At thy frown,
Infulted Albion, on Culloden's plain
Each frantic hope expired ! With terror wing'd,
Through pathlefs folitudes the chieftain fled
The hot purfuit ; together fled the youth
Breathlefs and pale, nor reck'd the throbbing wound.
Long were the hours, O Morvern ! ere thy beach.
Way-worn, with tottering fpeed they trod, and gazed
Impatient for the bark, ordain'd to plow
Thy unfrequented billows, if mifchance
Should blight their enterprife : as he who, ftretch'd
Sleeplefs and tofling on his feverifli bed,
Pants for the dawn, and to the adverfe wall
Still turns his wearied fight, eager to catch
The firft pale ray that mitigates the gloom,
And tells of twilight's birth. Four tedious days
Each formlefs fpeck, that on the horizon's verge
Hover'd obfcure, with ftraining eyes they watch'd
From morn to lateft eve ; whether the moon
Bade ocean his recoiling floods abforb.
Or hurl'd the deluge on the expeding fhore.
l8 WALKS IN A FOREST.
The fifih morn rofe : a bark drew nigh ! the chief.
High on a rock projecting o'er the deep^
The appointed fignal waved. — At once the cliffs
Rebellowing fhook.— The foes, who on his track
With vengeful wile had hung, noted their prey,
And launch'd the murderous bullet. Prone he fell j
And o'er his head the reddening furges clofed.
Fear-ftruck, and forrowing for his haplefs lord.
The youth from flaughter fled : the adverfe band
Perceived him not. O'er many a houfelefs moor,
And bog beneath his footfteps quivering wide,
And craggy height he wander'd, till he gain'd
The piny fdreft that o'er Jurna's * deeps
Flung its black horrors ; while amid the gloom
Gray rocks their glittering fummits rear'd, and dalli'd
From precipice to precipice, through clouds
Of fparkling mill the headlong torrent flione.
There in a cavern, from whofe beetling roof
The native fir fhot pillaiMike to heaven,
And lightly waving in the wind the birch
Stream'd its long branches, he found refuge. Mod
* Loch Jurn, a falt-water loch on the weftern coaft of Inver-
nefs-ftiire, penetrating many miles inland, and furrounded by
mountains and pine-forefts of Alpine magnificence. See Pennant'*
Voyage to the Hebrides, p. 34*, 343.
SPRING. 19
Supplied his couch, decaying boughs his fire.
With fylvan berries, and thy tuberous root,
Cormeille *, by Famine's delving hand explored,
* The Heath- pea, Orobus tuberofus Linn. ; called Cormeille, or
Carmele, in the Highlands.
*' Among other vegetables, we have in great plenty' in the
*< htaths and v\'oods the following berries ; wild rafps, wild ftraw-
** berries, blueberries, burberries, uva urfi, &c. And we have
*' one root I cannot but take notice of, which v/e call Carmele.
*' Jt is a root that grows in heaths and birch woods to the bignefs
*' of a large nut, and fometimes four or five roots are joined by
*' fibrts ; it bears a green flalk, and a fmall red flower. Dio,
*' fpeaking of the Caledonians, fays, Certum dbi genus parant ad
** omnia j quern fi ceperint, quantum ejl umu% faba magmtudo^ m'lmme
** cjurh-e aut fit'ire jolent. Caefar, de Bell. Civ. lib. 3tio, writes that
*' Valerius's foldiers found a root called Chara, quod admijium laEJe
*' multam inopiam h'vahat \ id ad fimilitudinem punh efficiebant. lam
** inclined lo think that our Carmele (that is, fwect root) is Dio's
*' Qbi genusy and Csefar's Chara. I have often feen it dried, and
" kept for journies through hills, where no provifions could be
" had. I have llkevvife feen it pounded and infufed; and when
*' yeft or barm is put to it, it ferments, and makes a liquor more
** agreeable and wholefome than mead. It grows fo plentifully,
*' that a cart-load of it can eafily be gathered ; and the drink of
*Mt is very balfamic." Mr. Shaw's Account of Elgin. Pennant's
Tour in Scotland, p. 292.
" The Highlanders have a great efteem for the tubercles of the
*' roots of the Cormeille j they dry and chew them, in general to
«' give a better relifh to their liquor : they alfo affirm them to be
" good againft moft diforders of the thorax, and that by the ufe
♦' of them they are enabled to repel hunger and thirfl for a long
C 2
20 WALKS IN A FOREST.
His ftrength exhaufted he renew'd. And oft
With fliaft uncouth, while envious falcons fcream'd,
Floating in air, and from the mountain's brow
The indignant eagle mark'd him, he transfix'd
The roe *, bounding in vain ; and fnowy hare f
Changeful ; and from the pine's high top brought down
The giant grous J:, while boaftful he difplay'd
** time. In Breadalbane and Rofsfhlre, they fom-times bruife and
*' fteep them in water, and make an agreeable fermented liquor
** with them. They have a fweet tafte, fomething like tlie roots
" of liquorice j and when boiled, we are told, are well flavoured
*' and nutritive, and in times of fcarcity have ferved as a fubftitute
" for bread." Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, vol. i. p. 3S9.
* Roes are mentioned by Mr. Pennant as common inhabitants
of the Scotch pine forefts, from the banks of Loch Lomond to the
entrance into Caithnefs. When the ground is covered with fnow,
tliey broufe on the extreme branches of the pine and juniper.
Pennant's Tour, p. 54. Eagles and falcons alfo frequent the fame
fcenes.
f Tlie Alpine Hare; of which Mr. Pennant (Tour, p. 84)
fays, that it inhabits the fummits of the higheft hills, is lefs than
the common hare, and, when purfued, feeks fhelter as foon as pof-
fible under ftones. During fummer its predominant colour is grey.
About September it begins to aflume a fnowy whitenefs ; and be-
comes entirely white, except about the edges and tips of the ears.
In April it refumcs its grey coat.
J The Capercalze, called alfo Auercalze, Capercally, and Cock
of the Wood, and occafionally from its great fize the Horfe of the
Woods, as it fometimes weighs fifteen pounds, is the largeft of the
grous fpecies. It inhabits pine forefts, and perches on the top of
SPRING. 21
His bread of varying green, and crow'd, and clapp'd
His gloffy wings. Oft, peering round with eye
That fear'd the glance of human eye to meet,
Beneath the cliff, where many a fragment rude
Skirted the ebbing lake, at eve he roam'd ;
Sprang on the feaguU fluttering in the fnare
His art had woven ; from their caverns drew
The fhell-clad race, or feiz'd the finny prize
Left floundering in the ftiallows. Peace meanwhile
Brighten'd the land, and Jufl:ice through the depths
Of glens and woods proclaimed the fated fword.
He heard, and joyful fought his much-loved home.
A deeper tinge imbrowns the wild ; yon hill
With bridling terror heaves ; the foreft quakes ;
Through every glade portentous echoes roll.
Heard ye not Britain's voice ? Her oaks mature.
To brave the fliock of elements, the might
Of Gaul, fhe fummons ; bids them guard her peace
very tall trees, and feeds on the extreme fhoots. The colour of the
bread is green, refembling that of the peacock, Pennant's Tour
in Scotland, p. 198 and 293; and do. part 2d, 4to, 1776, p, 23,
24. In the fpring, this bird is accuftomed to take its ftation on a
high tree, clapping its wings, and crowing with a loud and fhrill
voice. It may then be approached with the utmoft eafe by the
fowkr. See Pennant's Britifli Zoology, 4th edit, vol, i. p. 264,
and p. 266, note,
c 3
22 WALKS IN A FOREST.
With tributary aid, and round her ifle
Build on the feas an adamantine wall.
Pierce we the dells. The folitude refounds
With bufy life. The uplifted axe, urged deep
By finewy arms, while the well-planted feet
Keep firm each mufcle of the draining back,
Delves the refifting trunk ; from every ftroke
Wide fly the fragments. Now the affailants paufe,
Breathlefs and faint ; now, to determined rage
By mutual exhortation fired, return
Pierce to the charge. The fylvan monarch groans,
And fhakes his leafy crown prefageful. Hark !
That blow was fatal. From his bafe disjoined,
While from his furious fweep the victors fly,
He falls ; loud founds the fhock ; his fplinter'd arms
Craih ; the hills tremble ; ruin fpreads the ground.
So, Youth of Pella, by thy vengeful arm
Caft from her throne when mitred Perfia fell,
Earth, ocean, fliook : fnapt from their parent flock,
Her hundred provinces in fragments huge
Spread Empire's ruin o'er the aftonilh'd Eaft.
Now this, now that way draAvn the harfli faw grates.
Severing the mighty limbs. Thofe ftrip the bark ;
In heaps thefe build it. Thofe the feebler boughs
Hew to fit lengths ; thefe in well-order'd tiers
Arrange them, fedulous the pile to form,
SPRING,
23
Where fmother'd heat fhall drink the fap, and change
The green to footy charcoal. Near its fide
Yon children deep in earth their yielding poles,
Ribs of the temporary cabin, fix
With tops united : thefe with pliant fhoots
Wattled, his wigwam as the Indian weaves
In tranfiitlantic fhade, or cloth'd with turf,
The funimer hut on Snowdon's wind}'- brow
As Cambrian herdfmen rear, from dews of eve
And noontide funs the clamorous train fhall guard,
While the flow-kindling mafs they tend, and watch
To ope in time frefh inlets for the breeze.
And pierce new chimnies for the imprifon'd fmoke.
Thus eager in the fylvan toil unite
Brifk youth and flurdy manhood ; each abforb'd
In his own tafk, nor confcious that the arm
Of induflry, plied hard for daily bread,
Plants the foundations of a kingdom's power.
And props the fplendid fabric of the ftate.
Soon the peel'd trunk, reft of its branched head.
Seized by thy grafp. Mechanic Art, fhall quit
Its native lawn ; while the tired oxen pant,
And the wain groans beneath the ponderous load.
So fade the chieftains of the wood ; their plac§
Knows them no more ; the defolated blank
Gapes, and admits the long -excluded day.
C4
24 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Yet fhall contiguous faplings through the void
Puili their fwift growth ; and with columnar Hems
Mounting through ether, and with ample fpread
Darkening the plain, Ihall emulate their fires.
Thus when the ftatefman and the warrior fall,
Dejeded Albion mourns. Ere long a race,
With memory of paternal virtue warm'd,
Pleads in the fenate, conquers in the field ;
And while approving heaven the purpofe crowns.
Upholds the reign of freedom and of law,
Of focial order and domeftic peace.
All hail, free forefters ! I hail you free,
Though at the call of Man, Vicegerent Lord
Of earth, your heads in homage bow. For man
Regards your rights, nor haraffes the wild
With needlefs interference. There his hand
Controls you not : while yet he fpares the tree,
He fpares its freedom ; leaves the trunk to fhoot
As nature prompts the kind ; nor drains the boughs
To forms uncouth, nor trims with plaftic fheers,
And calls the havock beauty. Think on thofe.
Your kindred, whom the taftelefs tyrant fhapes
At his own will ; and dooms their living ftems
To fervice more degrading than his pile
Of roots and logs and refufe brufhwood knows.
Think on the yew, that fix'd in lucklefs hour
SPRING. 25
Its growth befide his dwelling. See its ere (I
Lopt to a flump, Its horizontal range
Curtail'd ; while from the mutilated (lock
Pillars and pyramids and ftatues rife,
Giants and dwarfs. Behold the tortured box.
Now frown, a bear ; now grin, an ape ; now feign
A peacock's pride, and In eternal green
Still ftrut, ftili fpread its unrelenting tail.
Mark, happy forefters, your brethren's ftiame.
And triumph In your liberty ! And ye,
Britons, ye fons of freedom, turn your eyes
To climes that Ganges floats with ftreams of gold :
In links of fteel where fuperftltlon binds
The unfufpedling native ; to his caft
Tethers him ; cramps his powers ; condemns to ply
With joylefs hands the trade his fires have plied
With joylefs hands for centuries ; profcrlbes
All hope of change, all profpedl to o'erleap
Or burft her barriers, to the ikies upraifed.
And ftedfaft as the chambers of the grave.
Behold, and blefs the Power who gave your lot
In Freedom's land, where Genius unconfined
Purfues his favourite path ; where Science warms
Each latent energy of foul ; and Truth
Heaven-born her only radiance pours abroad.
And O ! for India's wretched fons ye deem
26 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Your fubjetfls, yet, even yet, at length fulfil
A mafter's charge. Ye have a Mafter too,
Throned In the {kies, and watchful to avenge
Neglefted duty. With perfuafive lore,
Not force, but truth perfuafive, loofe the chains
They ignorantly prize ; bid them be free
To aa as men ; teach them alike to fcorn
The fenfelefs image and the wily prieft,
Bow to the fceptre of impartial law,
And hail the dawn of evangelic day.
WJLK THE SECOND.
ARGUMENT.
A Summer Noon contrafted with a Summer Morning — Burners
of Fern — Great Conflagrations occafioned by Fern Fires-
Story cf a Cottager — A Forefl Pool — Horfes and Cattle col-
led^ed by it— Village boy come in fcarch of his Mafter's
Cattle — Hazy EfFeft of Noon on remote Woods— Dil^nt
View of a Church — Refledtions— A Foreft, though without
the charadcriftic Grandeur and Beauty of Mountains, of
Rocks, of Lakes, or of Sea-fhores, has Grandeur and Beauty
of its own.
WALK THE SECOND.
SUMMER. NOON.
The folftlce rages: Nature fmks opprefl
Beneath the fultry glow. Hide me, ye woods.
Hide In your Ihades Impenetrable ; waft
A breeze reviving from your Inmoft depths ;
While your tall trunks between 1 gaze abroad
On the parch'd world, or watch the trooping deer
Safe In the covert from the fcorching ray.
What though with lifted ears to every found
They turn ? They fly not me ; no murderous tube
Gleams in my hand : but far aloof they fliun
Him, whofe green vefture and infidlous gait
Mark him their authorized deftroyer. Few
And Ihort the hours fmce from its height the lark
Sang the firft carol to approaching morn.
And broke the twilight (lumber of the grove :
Yet that brief interval the clime has changed
3^ WALKS IN A FOPvEST,
From temperate zone to torrid. Scatter'd clouds,
With orient blufh empurpled, half obfcured
The afcending orb of light ; gray mifts, effufed
O'er the wide lawn, and from the wooded hill
Dim through their fkirts difcern'd retiring flow,
His labouring beams jcftraiu'd ; yon reverend oaks,
Fronting the eaft, acrofs the illumined vale
Stretch'd their long fhadows ; dewy fpanglcs gemm'd
The grafs ; o'er thymy banks and opening flowers
On gelid wings a gale of fragrance mov'd.
Now from the burning firmament the fun
Each cloud has driven ; with univerfal light
Blazing, the earth repels the dazzled eye.
Save where a lonely fpot of fliade lies clofe
Beneath fome maffy tree, or woods extend
Their dark recefles ; the faint traveller's ftep
On the tann'd plain Aides printlefs, as when froft
Has glazed the downward path ; no wondering breeze
The hufli'd aerial ocean moves ; and fierce
As when through Indian flcies it rages, heat
Cleaves the parch'd earth, anddrains the ebbing ftream.
Yet cannot heat's meridian rage deter
The cottage-matron from her annual toil.
On that rough bank Jbehold her, bent to re^p
The full-grown fern, her harveft, and prepare
Her afliy balls of purifying fame.
SUMMER. NOON. 3I
Lo, yon bare fpot flie deftlnes for the hearth ;
Now flrikes the fteel, the tinder covers light
With withered leaves and dry ; now (loops to fan
The glimmering fparks, and motionlefs remains,
Watching the infant flame from fide to fide
Run through the thin materials. Round her flray
Children or grandchildren, a cheerful train,
Difperfed among the bufhes ; earnell each
To execute the talk her nod affigns,
Half fport, half labour, fit for early youth.
One plies the hook, the rake another trails ;
Another, daggering, bears the verdant load
Uplifted In his arms ; another haftes
Her apron's burthen to difcharge. Each ftep
A(5llve and prompt obedience quickens, zeal
Infpired by love ; the temper of the foul
Which to the parent moft endears the child.
The chrlftian to his God. Well-pleafed the dame
Receives their tribute ; part fhe heaps afide
in ftore for night, the embers to preferve
From quenching dews ; part on the kindled pile
Adroit fhe fprlnkles ; duly with her fork
Then opes the fmklng ftrata to admit
Currents of needful air ; at every gale
The enllven'd mafs glows bright, and crackles loud.
Puffing from numerous chinks the fmoke unfolds
32 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Its wreathed volumes ; not as when, condenfed
By evening's gelid atmofphere, It creeps
Below the hill, and draws along the ground
Its lengthening train, and fpreading as it rolls,
Melts in blue vapour ; but afpiring fhoots
Its growth columnar, and difplays adu-
lts broad and dulky head, to pilgrim's eye
As view'd o'er Salem's plain the palm afcends.
Hence fhall the matron in the diftant town
With lifted hands her fnowy flax admire.
And fcorn the produce of Hibernian looms.
Oft from thefe fires malignant fparks adrift
Borne by the wind ; or thrown by ruftic hands
With inward purpofe that the foil, from bafe
And noxious vegetation freed, may yield
Salubrious pafture to the grazing herd ;
Seize the dead grafs, the furzy brake invade.
Kindle the matted brufhwood, and from hill
To hill the fudden conflagration pour.
Woe to the mighty oak that on the plain
Grown old in folitary grandeur, meets
The fiery deluge in its courfe : the blaze
Round the root rattles, climbs the finged trunk.
Devours the leaves, and o'er the topmoft bough
Its fmoke ftaln'd canopy triumphant rears.
Thus when with dizzy heads and armed hands
SUMMER. NOON. $$.
The unbridled multitude the tafk afTiimes
To deanfe from ftains and mould to happier form
A ftate's well-order 'd frame, if time or craft
Some nuifance to the public weal has raifed,
The caufe that moved or feem'd to move the florm.
It fmks unpitied : but the infatiate blaft
Still rages, Uproar thunders, Havock ftalks
Fearlefs ; Law, Empire falls ; the reverend pile
By hoary wifdom plann'd, by patriot ftrength
Uprear'd, by patriot blood cemented, falls
Headlong, and frantic myriads fhout for joy.
Wider and wider o'er the blacken'd wafte
Her burning tide Deftru6lion rolls. From deep
Roufed by the unaccuftom'd found, the fox
Starts, hftens quick, the fcent of fire inhales
Appall'd, and ruflies forth : the heath-cock wakes,
And fprings in terror through the fervid air.
Meanwhile the clouds dark rifing from the fpoil
The neighbouring hamlets with familiar gaze
View unalarm'd : but at the clofe of day.
The horizon red with fettled glow, and oft
With fpiry flalhes gleaming, fills with awe
Trads far remote ; and to the boding mind
The pi<5lure holds of harvefts reap'd in vain.
Of ravaged farms, and villages deftroy'd.
And are thefe terrors vain ? Behold yon (pot
D
34 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Beneath the Hoping covert, where the eye
Along the ditch yet faintly to be traced,
And edged with interrupted mounds of earth
By mouldering time but half worn down, purfues
The fence that once exifled ; while within.
The fmoother furface and the livelier green
The cultivating hand of man record.
There by the fhelter'd vale a peafant youth
Attracted, fought his cot to rear ; nor fought
Hopelefs : the indulgent lord of the domain
Nodded aflent. Swift rofe the humble wall.
And fwift the flraw-clad roof. Thither ere long
The happy bridegroom led the maid whofe charms
Had won his heart. Soon his induftrious fpade
Reclaim'd a corner from the wafte : in vain
The lofty-vaulting deer, the fearching hare,
His wattled hedge affail'd. The garden fpread
Its herbs falubrious, gay with mingled flowers.
Crocus and fnowdrop, tulip brought from far,
Violet now blue, now white, and primrofe drawn
From neighbouring thicket. Rolling feafons nurfei
"^iis orchard's vernal fragrance, and weighed low
The boughs far gleaming with autumnal gold.
Oft when the plain before the rulhing North
In fnowy waves moved wild, his chimney's fmoke,
WhirPd rapid in blue eddies, to his door
SUMMER. NOON. 35
The wilder'd traveller led. The peafant grafp'd
His oaken ftafF, and wading through the drift,
Pointed the buried road ; or to his fire
Convey'd the Ihivering ftranger, and renew'd
The crackling blaze, while from her fecret ftore
His partner cuU'd the hofpitable meal.
Thus glided on the peaceful years, till age
Sprinkled their locks with filver : fcarce had grief
E'er clogg'd the wing of time, fave when their child,
An only daughter, o'er her hufband's grave
Mourn'd ceafelefs, and by wafting anguifh bow^'d,
Soon follow'd him ; yet left two orphan babes
The ancient pair to footh. Their prattling mirth
Cheer'd the long winter-eve, and added joy
To blifsful fummer. One unhappy night.
The grandHre, who had mark'd the neighbouring hill
By kindled furze illumed o'erpower the moon.
From unrefrelhing fleep with fudden ftart
Woke gafping : fuffocating vapour denfe
The cottage fill'd. Scarce confcious, he fprang forth
Untainted air to breathe. He turn'd, and faw
The fiercely voUied fparks, the pillar'd fire,
Burft from the thatch. Inward he rufh'd to fave
What more than life he lovM. At once the roof
Sunk; higher tower'd the flame ; wife, hufband, babes.
One ruin whelm'd j one' grave their bones received.
D 2
$6 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Behold yon pool, by unexhaufted fprings
Still nurtured, draw the multitudes that graze
The plains adjacent ! On the bank worn bare,
And printed with ten thoufand fteps, the colts
In fhifting groups combine ; or, to the brink
Defcending, dip their pafterns in the wave.
Bolder the horned tribes, or lefs of heat
And teafmg infeds patient, far from fliore
Immerge their chefts ; and while the hungry fwarm
Now foars aloof, now refolute defcends,
Lafh their tormented fides ; and, (lamping quick
And oft, the muddy fluid fcatter round.
Fix'd many an hour, till milder fkies recall
Defire of long forgotten food, they ftand
Each in its place ; fave when fome wearied bead
The preffure of the crowd no longer brooks.
Or in mere vagrant mood her ftation quits
Reftlefs ; or fome intruder, from afar
Flying o'er hill and plain the gadbee's fting,
(For ftill the dreaded hum fhe hears, and fliakes
The air with iterated lowings,) fpies
The wat'ry gleam. With wildly-tofllng head.
And tail proje<5led far, and maddening gait.
She plunges in, and breaks the ranks, and fpreads
Confufion, till conftrain'd at length fhe (lops,
Wedged in the throng. Beneath a neighbouring bufh,
SUMMER. NOON. 37
Poor ilielter from the potent ray, reclines
The ruftic boy, to count his mafter's herd
Sent from yon hamlet ; left feme ftraggler, feized
By fharp and fudden malady, fhould pine
Untended in the wood ; or, refolute
To crop forbidden pafture, overleap
The well-plafn'd fence, and roam the diftant field.
Panting, bareheaded, and with out-ftretch'd arms
He deeps ; and dreams of winter's frofty gale,
Of funlefs thickets, rills with breezy courfe,
Morn's dewy frefhnefs, and cool reft at eve.
So when in flumber the poor exile feeks
A paufe from woe, delufive fancy's hand
Prefents each objed of his fond defire.
He reads the joyful fummons to return ;
Beholds the bark prepared, the fwelling fail ;
Hears the impatient feamen murmur ; grafps
The pendent rope exulting ; climbs the deck ;
Skims o'er the wave, and hails his native fhore,"
From the whole furface of the tepid earth.
But moft from rivers rippling fwift, and pools,
And trickling fprings, and oozy fwamps exhaled,
A vapoury fteam floats, with the loaded air
Yet uncombined ; and undulating ftill
And ever twinkling, o*er the diftant woods.
Sheds a blue haze, aad dims their Ihadowy forms.
38 ^VALKS IN A FOREST.
Where through the tufted coverts of the grove
That opening glade defcends, and leads the eye
To fcenes beyond the foreft's bound removed,
How nobly mid the fading landfcape (lands
Yon * fane pre-eminent ! It warms my heart.
When through the wide-fpread provinces I ftray
Of this fair realm, to view the {lender fpire
And maffy tower from deep-embowering (hades
Oft rifmg in the vale, or on the fide
Of gently-floping hills, or, loftier placed.
Crowning the wooded eminence. It looks
As though we own'd a God, adored his power.
Revered his wifdom, loved his mercy ; deem'd
He claims the empire of this lower world,
And marks the deeds of Its Inhabitants.
It looks as though we deemM he fills all fpace
Prefent throughout ; and bends from heaven's high
throne,
With ear attentive to the poor man*s prayer.
It looks as though we fhrunk not from the thought
Of that laft manfion (laft as far as earth
Detains us) where, In folemn filence laid,
Our duft (hall (lumber, till a voice, like that
Which, fpeaking by the aftonifh'd f prophet's mouth,
* Lichfield Cathedral. f Ezeklel, chap, xxxvil.
SUMMER. NOON. 39
Roufed the dry bones that ftrew'd the ample vale
To fudden life, fliali call the unnumbered dead,
Primaeval Adam with his lateft fons,
From every clime before their Judge's face
To ftand, and hear their everlafting doom.
God clothes his works with beauty. What tho* here
He has not wrapped in clouds the mountain's head
Magnificent, nor piled the fradured rock ;
Nor delved the ftony cavern ftretching wide
Its unfupported roof; nor down the fteep
Pour'd the rude cataradt ; nor bid the lake
Expand its lucid mirror to the fun ;
Nor ocean's billowy furges wafh the bafe
Of promontories, whofe white cliffs, with fowl
Swarming of every feabprn tribe, refound
With countlefs wings, and never-wearied cries ;
Yet has his hand the intermingling charms
Of hill and valley, lawn, and winding dell.
In rich exuberance fpread ; yet has his hand
Hung thefe wild banks with fylvan majefty.
D4
WALK THE THIRD.
ARGUMENT.
A Summer Evening defcribed — Moon rifes — Stars and Planets—
Addrefs to tlum — Noaurnal Birds in purfuit of Infeds — The
Siibjeft illuftrared by the annual Migration of Herrings — Wild-
Cat — "Weafel dcftroyinga Leveret— An Evening in an African
Foreft — Deer-Stealer— His Method of proceeding defcribed—
Purfuit of him by the Keepers — Addrefs to the Votaries of
Luxury — The Turtle — EfFeds of the Luxury of the Wealthy
on the Morals and Fate of the Foreft Peafant.
WALK THE THIRD.
SUMMER. MOONLIGHT.
1 HE glow of eve is faded. Scarce the Wed
Retains a pale memorial of tlie beams
That fired it, v/hen the horizontal clouds.
With purple dyes and fiflures edged with gold,
Streak'd the calm ether; while through fparkling haze
The faint hills glimmer'd, fainter as their chain
Approached the fount of brightnefs, fainter ftill
Where funk the parting orb, and with the (ky
In undiftinguifhable fplendor joinM.
Frowning on yonder eminence, the oak
Stretch'd his wild arms, and with contrafting gloom
Athwart the blaze his fable fhadows flung.
Milder, ftill milder, the fubfiding glow
Spared the pain'd eyeball, and with fober rays
Quench'd in the gathering dufk refrefh'd the fight :
As when remembrance of a buried friend
44 WALKS IN A FOREST.
No longer with intenfity of grief
Harrows the foul ; but, mellow'd down by time.
From fadnefs to compofure fooths the breaft,
Sacred compofure, near allied to joy.
Soon o'er the hill the yellow-tindured moon
Rofe through the twilight, and with flanting ray
Gilded the topmoft boughs ; while all the vale
And all Its floping boundaries lay wrapt
In fliade unvaried. Now with lelTening orb
And filver afpect climbing, through the leaves
And thinner fpray a tremulous gleam fhe throws,
Chequering the moffy path beneath our feet.
Round her the ftars and planetary balls
With cloudlefs lullre burn ; not ranged in heaven
With mere defign a twinkling aid to yield
To the late-wandering flranger, nor ordain'd
To rule our deftinies, as craft averr'd,
And ignorance believed ; thy power, thy love.
Parent of all, they fpeak : they tell of worlds
Innumerable, warm'd by other funs.
And peopled with innumerable hofls
Of beings, wondrous all, nor lefs than man
Work of thy hand, and children of thy care !
Ye fparkling ifles of light that ftud the fea
Of empyrean ether 1 Ye abodes
Of unknown myriads, fpirits, or in bands
SUMMER. — MOONLIGHT. 4$
Held of corporeal frame ! Fain would my foul,
Athirft for knowledge unreveal'd to man,
Queftion your habitants, and fain would hear
A voice refponfive from your diftant bourn.
Tell, tell me who pofTefs your radiant climes ;
What are their forms, their faculties, their hopes.
Their fears, if fubjeft or to hope or fear ?
What fond purfuits, what animating toils,
Diverfify exiftence with delight ?
Rove they In courfe aerial unconfined
From fphere to fphere, with interchange of joy
Heightening their mutual blifs ; or dwell they fixM,
Each in his native folitary orb,
Unconfcious of the lot of neighbouring worlds ?
What homage, what returns of grateful love
Yield they to Him who made them ? Stand they fad
In undecaying bleffednefs, fecure
From riik of lofs : or tread they yet the flage
Of perilous probation ? Hath Sin won
Conquefts through difobedience o'er thofe hofts ?
In your bright regions yawns the gate of Death ?
Falls he, who falls, for ever ? — Power fupretne !
Pardon the afpiring thoughts that would prefume
To pierce the veil which Ihrowds from mortal eye
The wonders of thy realms 1 Enough, to know
That thou art Lord ! Thy univerfal love
46 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Pervades Creation ; on each living form
Showers down its proper happinefs ; and, when guilt
Wakes thy reludant vengeance, ftays the bolt
Of wrath, and pales its mitigated fire !
While with their heads beneath their ruffled plumes
Conceal'd, the birds that fported during day,
Reft in thefe iheltering buflies, at whofe roots
The vivid worm her nightly fpark illumes ;
And couching in that brake, the timorous deer
Slumbers forgetful of each paft alarm ;
The tribes of evening ifTue from their cells.
To animate the dulk. Heard ye the owl
Hoot to her mate refponfive ? 'Twas not fhe
Whom floating on white pinions near his barn
The farmer views well pleafed, and bids his boy
Porbear her neft ; but ihe whoj clothM in robe
Of unobtrufive brown, regardlefs flies
Moufe-haunted cornftacks, and the threfher^s floor.
And prowls for plunder in the lonely wood.
On leathern wing in changeful jerks the bat
Flittingv and twittering fhrill and weak, renews
The wonted chace. Nor is the chace in vain.
For ever and anon the beetle dull
Smites us with fudden ftroke, flopping at once
Its heavy hum : while moths of frze and form
And motion various, flutter by, with plumes
SUMMER.— MOONLIGHT. 4^
Lefs gorgeous, not lefs delicate, than theirs
Whofe painted wings the noontide flowers adorn.
Hark ! from yon quivering branch your direft foe,
Infers of night, Its whirring note prolongs *,
Loud as the found of bufy maiden's wheel :
Then with expanded beak, and throat enlarged
Even to its utmoft ftretch, its cuftomed food
Purfues voracious. Thus from Zembla's deep
On warmer climes when herring armies f pour
» The goatfucker. *' This bird agrees with the fwallow tribe in
*' food, and in the manner of taking it ; differs in the time of
*' jM-eying, flying only by night; fo with fome juflice may be
<* called a nodurnal fwallow. It feeds on moths, gnats, dorrs, or
" chaffers ; from which Charlton calls it a Dorr-hawk ; its food
*< being entirely that fpecies of beetle during the month of July.
a — Scopoli fe^ms to credit the report of its fucking the teats
*' of goats J an error delivered down from the days of Ariflotie.
" Its notes are moft fingular; the loudefl: fo much refembles that
*' of a large fpinning-wheel, that the Welch call this bird aderyn
" y droell, or the wheel-bird. It begins its fong moft pundtuall)'
" on the clofe of day, fitting ufually on a bare bough. The noife
** is fo very violent, as to give a fenfible vibration to any littltt
<* building it chances to alight on, and emit this fpecies of note."
Pennant's Britifli Zoology, vol. i. p. 416, 417. See alfo White's
Naturalift's Calendar, p. 79.
f The winter habitation of the herrings is the fea within th»
Arctic circle. " This mighty army," fays Mr. Pennant (Britifh
Zoology, 4th ed. vol. iii- p. 336, 337), *' begins to put itfelf in
** motion in the fprins. We diftinguiih this v^ body by that name j
/J.8 WALKS IN A FOREST.
The living tide of plenty ; to the fun
With gold and green and azure many a league
When ocean glitters like a field of gems,
Gay as the bow of heaven, and burns by night
In every billow with phofphoric fire ;
Their march innumerous foes attend. Behold,
In light-wing'd fquadrons, gulls of every name.
Screaming difcordant, o'er the furface hang,
And ceafelefs ftoop for prey. Lo ! gannets huge
*' for the word herring is derived from the German heer^ an army, to
•' exprefs their numbers. It is divided into dlftind columns of five
<« or fix miles in length, and three or four in breadth." The fame
r.uthor, in his Tour in Scotland, 1772, 2d ed. p. 373, 374, obferves
further: " In a fine day, when the fifh appear near the furface,
** they exhibit an amazing brilliancy of colours. All the various
** corufcations that dart from the diamond, fapphire, and emerald,
« enrich their track; but during night, if they play on the fur-
** face, the fea appears on fire, luminous as the brighteft phof-
*' phorus — The figns of the arrival of the herrings are flocks of
** gulls, which catch up the fifli while they fkim on the furface ;
<* and of gannets, which plunge and bring them up from confi-
*' derable depths. Codfifh, haddocks, and dogfifli follow the
** herrings in vaft multitudes ; whales, pollacks, and porpoifes
** are added to the number of their foes: thefe follow in droves j
<< the whales deliberately, opening their vaft mouths, taking them
*< in by hundreds. Thefe monfters keep on the outfide ; for the
" body of the phalanx of herrings ia fo thick as to be impene-
*' trable."
SUMMER, MOOXLIGHT. 4^/
And ofpreys *, plunging from their cloudy height
With leaden fall precipitate, the waves
Cleave with deep-dafhing bread, and labouring rife.
Talons and beak o'erloaded : while beneath
Monfters marine with fanguine inroad gore
The loofer files ; and, floating vaft, the whale
Infatiate lops the impenetrable hoft.
Unbars his mighty jaws, clofe-crowded troops
Ingulfs at once, and clafps the gates of death.
Frefti from its den, yon hollow trunk, behold
The wild-cat, deadlieft of the favage tribes
That roam in Britifli foreft ; v/ont on high
To feize the rapid fquirrel, or by guile
Pluck from her neft the unfufpeaing dove.
Or to the ground defcending thin the race
That bores the fandy warren. Thus from fea
To fea, from fhore to fhore, athirft for fpoil,
♦ " The ofprey feeds chiefly on fifli, taking them in the fame
** manner as the fea- eagle does, by precipitating iifelf on them —
*' The Itahans compare the violent defcent of this bird on its prey
" to the fall of lead into water, and call it auguifta pwuKibina, the
*' leaden-cagle." Brit. Zool. 4th edit. vol. i. p. 275. The fea-
eagle is thus finely charad^erifed by Pliny: ** Supereft halicectos,
*' clarilTima oculorum acie, librans ex alto fsfcy vifoque in mari
** pifce, pra-ceps in eum mens, & difcuffis peftore aquis rapiens.'*
On the fimilar habits of the gannet, fee Brit. Zool. vol. ii. p. 617,
£
50 WALKS IN A FORFST.
The pirate fteers ; now chafes o'er the wave
The merchantman in ever-changing courfe
Tacking in vain ; now lands the midnight crew
Havock and flame through fome defencelefs town
To fpread ; now, braving noon's indignant eye,
Sacks the lone village : fcatter'd o*er the plains
To every wind, the fhepherds pant ; and oft
Snatching a glance reverted, mark the fmoke
And fiery gleam that tell the tale of woe.
See from his cave beneath the brambly bank
The fox glide forth, fcenting the feather'd prey
Perch'd at the neighbouring cottage. Creeping flow
The weafel, and in filence, through the fern
Steals on the dozing leveret. From her feat
She ftarts, and bears away the aflailant fix'd
Faft to her neck, and from the flowing vein
Sucking the vital current. Lo, fhe falls.
The puny murderer flinks into the brake
From the drainM carcafs, fated with the blood.
Amid the nightly prowlers of thy wilds,
Britain, man walks ferene : in all their tribes
None found to bid him tremble, none to aim
Talon or fang againft their rightful lord.
O wretched he, whom Senegambian fhades
Inclcfe at eve ! He, while a vault of flame
Smote on his brow, and fcorch'd his gafping throat,
SUMMER. MOONLIGHT,
Day after day through fandy oceans toll'd.
Where deathlike filence brooded o^er the wafte.
And boundlefs fpace feem'd but a larger grave :
No fign that ever foot the burning earth
Had tracked, or life inhaled the vapoury fire,
Save when fome earners bleaching ribs he paft.
Or corfe of long-lofl; pilgrim parch'd to ftone.
If to a bordering foreft, vi^hen the fun
Kindles the weft, his weary courfe drav/ nigli ;
Soon as the orb its laft red crefcent dips,
At once the lion's defert-fhaking roar.
The gaunt hyena's ffiriek, the panther's growl,
And yells of every tone that breathes difmay
Strain'd from unnumber'd throats athirft for blood.
Join dlffonant : with ferpcnt hifs the gloom
Quivers : the herded elephants advance
With thundering fliock, and through oppofing woods
Crufli their wide way. Now the brief twilight fades ;
In agony he fhudders ; through the dufk
Sees fiery eyeballs glare ; and hears the rout
Of countlefs antelopes, than tropic ftorms
More fleet, ruih headlong from the gripe of death ;
Hears famifh'd monfters panting in the chace,
And cries and groans proclaim the arrefted flight
Of vidini after victim. Stretch'd on earth,
Each limb with icy dread convulfed, he lies^
E 2
52 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Lies powerlefs, hopelefs : and with vain regret
Sighs for the horrors of the fervid noon,
Where deathhke filence brooded o'er the wild.
And boundlefs fpace feemM but a larger grave ;
Where late the camel's bleaching ribs he paft.
And coife of long-loft pilgrim parch'd to ftone.
wretch, whom noon (hall never light again !
Wliy riilh'd that horfeman with impetuous courfe
Acrofs the glade, ftill looking back ? Why (hook
The foreft with the deep-toned bloodhound's roar ?
1 know his deeds. Ere long on yonder plain
Again fhall we behold him : though he ftrive
His chafers to miflead, and round thefe banks
Artful his circuit takes, there will he feek
The outlet of the wild. This day at noon
With ftaff and halter in his hand he ftray'd
As watchful of the grazing tribes ; and feem'd
An herdfman bent his wandering colt to find.
And from the fcanty common lead him home
To more abundant pafture. Other thoughts
Lay lurking in his breaft. From prying gaze
Within the hollow lining of his coat
Cover'd, the muflcet by malignant art
For depredation form'd, in feparate lengths
Disjointed, as mufician parts his flute,
He bore. With never-erring Ikill, the fruit
SUMMER. MOONLIGHT. 53
Mature of long experience, in the crowd
The well-fed buck he mark'd ; fmgling at once
The viaim, as each herb of flavour choice
With fapient nofe oft fliifting o'er the plain
He cropp'd, unconfcious of impending fate.
PerchM on the fummit of the blafted oak
Tlie raven eyed him (often had fhe traced
His purpofe), and in filence ominous
Waited her ofFal portion of the prey.
Meanwhile, a {hot delufive, in the wood
At diftance due by fly confederate fired,
Alarmed the keeper's ear. Inftant he urged
From glade to glade the vain purfuit, and left
The endangered fpot unguarded. The fafe hour
The plunderer feized ; the tube with fpeed refl:ored
To native fliape he charged, levell'd his aim,
And drew the trigger. Clang'd the fteel, and flafli'd
Deftrudlion. Swift he dragg'd the bleeding fpoil.
And plung'd the quivering limbs and branched crefl
Deep in the brake, and fled. Bold he return'd.
When twilight lent to guilt her dubious veil,
At eve, prepared his booty to convey
To diftant mart, where pamper'd luxury
With indifcriminate rage her dainties buys,
Regardlefs whence they come, or how procured.
But long, as when impatient nelllings peep,
^3
54 WALKS IN A FOREST,
Wide gaping, o'er their walls of mofs, and chide
Clamorous their dam whom fearch of food delays ;
Long with inquiring ftomach llialt thou wait,
O difappointed Alderman ! and drive
To ftill the cravings of the mighty ^oid
With meaner prey, while fympathetic dread
Suggefts the terrors thy purveyor feels !
For, roufed by fudden tramplings, ere the load
Is packed, acrofs his fteed the deer he throws.
And mounts in hafte. For now their nightly round
The keepers hold ; and foon the ranging dogs
Sagacious note the deed, and touch the place
Of ilaughter. With loud roar they tell the talc ;
And over hill and lawn fcenting the blood,
By jolting agitation liquefied,
At intervals ftill dropping from the wound.
Through all his bends the frighted robber chafe.
Mark where they come : eager behind them fweep
Their matters. From our fight lo all are loft,
Purfuers and piufued. Crofs we this knoll,
And meet them as they circle round the fkirts
Of that impenetrable wood. There flies
The caitiff! Nearer, nearer ftill, the foes
Hang ardent on his fteps. And now his form
Shouting they recognize, and fiercer drive
Their fteeds. For long fufpicious had they guefsM
SUMMER. MOONLIGHT.
55
His fecret wiles ; and oft at dead of night
His cottage had they fought, and, arm*d with force
Of legal claim and juft authority,
Entrance demanded, and with patient toil
Explored each dark recefs, anxious to meet
Proofs of his rapine : but his wary fraud
Had baffled all their projedls. Now his reign
Is clofed. Hard preft he drops the deer : the bait
His foes retards not ; on himfelf they pour
Their utmofl fpeed. Mark, his overlaboured horfe
Fails headlong ; from its back unhurt he fprings,
And plies his nimble feet, and hopes efcape.
In vain : the foreft fhakes him from its woods
Indignant, and bids roufe its {lumbering holls
To view their flres avenged. The keepers grafp
Ends his vain ftruggles ; while the baying hounds
Leap round him, and, with rage and triumph flufh'd,
Scarce from his quivering limbs their fangs refrain.
Ye fons of luxury, direr foe to man
Than fword or peftilential vapour, blufh
And tremble as this tale of truth ye read,
Blufh for your fliame, and tremble for your guilt I
Be it enough that earth's remotefl bounds,
That polar fhores and equIno(5tial waves
Pay tribute to your board : be It enough
That at your beck In ftifling dungeon pent,
^4
56 ^ALKS IV A FOREST.
Like Guinea's injured fons, o'er feas unknown
Wafted with pain the familh'd turtle v/eeps
Its miferable voyage ; at your beck
Stretch'd out for butchery feels its fheily mail
Rent from the flefli, of agonifing life
Tenacious, while each mangled fragment heaves.
And crawling fibres quiver on the floor.
Spare yet the innocence of forefts, fpare
The untutored peafant ; lure him not to flight
The majefl:y of law. — Have ye then fped,
Searched out his weaknefs, and with fraudful gold
Sapp'd his integrity ? Lo, train'd by crime
To crime, ere long he aims at nobler fpoil ;
Plunders the fold, drives off the unguarded flieed,
Arrefts the traveller, writhes the midnight lock,
With murderous hand the couch of fleep invades ;
Till, wearied by the deeds ye firfl: infpired.
Avenging juftice fweeps him from the earth.
WALK THE FOURTH.
ARGUMENT.
Addrefs to Autumn— An Autumnal Morning — Fieldfares — Ad-
drefs to them — Appearance of a Foreft in Autumn fuperlor to
its Effect either in Spring or in Summer — Landfcape- Painters
invited to ftudy Chaftenefs and Harmony of colouring, and
Breadth and Proportion of Light and Shade, in Forefts — Illuf-
tration of the latter Subjedt from the Eruption of a Volcano —
Autumnal Harmony of Nature further exemplified — The
Woodcock— Deer waiting for falling Acorns — The Golden-
crefted Wren— Cottagers collecting Fuel — An old Oak blown
down — Contraft of wooded Kills ntar at Hand, in Sunftiine,
with a flat Diftance in deep Shadow — The Heron — A diftant
Shower — Dovedale — Tutbury Caftle — Mary Queen of Scots —
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaftcr— The Minftrel — The Love
of Forelts natural to Man — Mode in which furviving Friends
have praifed departed Genius — Praife of Forefls— Author of
the Talk — Autumn originally unknown— Eteriul Spring fhali
refume her Reign.
WALK rHE FOURTH.
AUTUMN.
Autumn, I hail ihy fteps ! On yonder knoll
Thou ftandeft ; not as in Trinacrian fields.
Thy crown a wheaten wreath, thy robe embofs'd
With golden fickles, jocund thou furvey'ft
The reaper train ; not as on Gallic hills,
Thy brow with vine-leaves mantled, thy attire
Purple with clufters, and its verge with fruit
From the pale olive broider'd, thou art wont
To meet the peafant at his early toil ;
But clad as beft becomes a fylvan lord.
An oaken chaplet, wuth refplendent hues
By thy own pencil warmM, and gemm'd with knots
Of woodland berries, twines thy auburn hair.
Broad pictured on thy many-coloured veft.
Shade beyond fiiade, a mimic forcfl; glows,
With birds innumerous throng'd. Part foar aloft,
6o WALKS IN A FOREST.
Plowing in Heady line their tracklefs way,
Mix'd with the clouds, as fcenting from afar
The vernal gale : their comrades ope their wings
In adt to follow. Part with languid air
And folded plumes, as from a toilfome flight
Yet unrecruited, from the topmoft boughs
Explore the glades unknown ; or, by the call
Of hunger long unfatisfied aroufed.
Pluck the rich harveft of the fruitful wood.
On yonder knoll thou paufeft ! O'er the groves
As flowly waves thy hand, a deeper tinge
Of flains ethereal, brightening every green.
Follows its courfe. But when thy lifted arm
Swift as in anger moves, the fhuddering woods,
Smit with eledtric horror, prone to earth
Their withering glories pour : the rifmg blaft
Groans as it whirls the fylvan deluge wide,
And hills and plains in leafy billows roll.
Long on thy progrefs, Autumn, fhall my feet
Attend obedient 1 O'er the unclouded fky.
The foreft world of fliade, the gleamy vales.
And funny lawns, and dreams in hazy light
Glittering, when thy peculiar ftlllnefs reigns.
As nature kept a fabbath ; when the leaf
Shed from the aerial fpray fcarce quivering drops
Through the lull'd atmofphere, be mine to hail
AUTUMN. 6l
Thy noon's unruffled calm. And when thy winds
Prefageful, ere the brooding ftorms advance,
Sweep through the upper air ; be mine at eve
To climb yon deep, and wandering in its groves,
Groves yet umbrageous, liften while the gale,
Unfelt by me, founds in their fhadowy tops.
As through a diftant region borne, and feems
To tell the converfe of another world.
And when thy tempefts darken earth and heaven.
And lafti the {training wood ; when eddying wild,
Denfe as the fnow-flakes which the unwearied North
Shakes on the buried cliffs of Labrador,
The flood of leaves defcends ; then be it mine
Beneath the fafeguard of a clofe retreat
To mark thy vengeful arm, and hear thy fhout
Impatient on the bands of Winter call
To hafte and feize the defolated year.
Mild is thy brow this morn. A gentle frofl
Spangles with icy dew the grafs. The rime
Floats thin diffufed in air ; not as condenfed
By wintry vapour Its impervious fog
Blots out the neighbouring covert, every tvrig
Thickening with feathery filver, and the locks
Of peafant wilder'd in the dazzling gloom ;
But twinkling in the fun its lucid veil
Softens each harder outline, and apace
62 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Before the afcending radiance melts away.
Where in the hollow footfteps of the herd
The fhower's cool reliques ftagnate, cryftal fhoots
Start from the fides ; and interfering oft.
And linkM in union, while the bibulous earth
Still from beneath the liquid prop withdraws,
Hang their white network gliftening o'er the void.
Lo ! on yon branch, w^hofe naked fpray o'ertops
The oak's ftill clufiering fhade, the fieldfares fit
Torpid and motionlefs, yet peering round
Sufpicious of deceit. At our approach
They mount, and, loudly chattering from on high,
Bid the wild woods of human guile beware.
Ye ftrangers *, banilh'd from your native glades,
Where tyrant Froft with Famine leagued proclaims,
** Who lingers, dies ;" with many a viik ye gain
The privilege to breath our fofter air.
And glean our fylvan berries. O'er the breadth
Of ocean from relentlefs fkies, from waftes
By winter petrified, from forefts whelm'd
Beneath their glittering load, ye come to alk
* Fieldfares migrate hither in autumn from the northern parts
of Europe, being forced thence by the exceflive rigour of the
feafon in thofe regions. See Pennant's Briti(h Zoology, vol. i.
p. 304.
AUTUMN.
63
A tranfient hofpitality. Nor force
Nor fraud ye meditate : yet, roiifed at once
By the firft murmur of your diftant wings.
The kite, the buzzard, and each hooked beak
And griping talon thirlleth for your blood.
The fchoolboy, from his irkfome toil fet free.
Proud of the gun now firft poffefsM, on you
The firft rude effort of deftruclion tries.
He marks your ftatlon, fteals beneath the fhade.
Scarce dares with long-fufpended ftep to prefs
The ground, left leaves Ihould ruftle ; trembles, pants,
With hope, and fear ; his difconcerted aim
Renews ; with faltering hand the trigger draws.
And at the fudden thunder ftarts difmay'd.
Even the dull fuftic as he plods along
By hedgerow fide, or in the foreft roves,
Obferves you, as ye pick your fcanty food,
And whirls the dangerous pebble. What can guard.
Ye unoffending helplefs vifitants.
From fnares and death your perfecuted tribes ?
He, who upholds the archangels : He, who marks
With omniprefent eye the fmalleft form
That lives, with arm omnipotent fuftalns :
He, who infpired your flight from fnovv-clad w^aftes
To happier fhores unknown ; and from the depths
Of fm and mifery for defponding man
64 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Has paved a path in mercy, and with voice
Of love divine bids the repentant foul
Rife heir of heaven, nor dread the gulph of death.
How richly varied is the fcene ! In vain
Spring with her emerald verdure, and the tints
Of bloom from every tree and fhrub and herb
Breathing its odour ; Summer's hand in vain,
Thickening with greens mature the wood, with
wreaths
Of pendent woodbine linking bufli to bufh.
And fcattering o'er the bank her blofibm'd furze
Ardent with gold, would emulate the charms
Of waning Autumn. What though one brief night
Of premature feverity, one blaft
Whirling the fleety hail, would ftrip the boughs.
As peftilence the crowded city thins ?
What though already on yon windy brow
The lime and afh with unrefifting fear
Their ftation have deferted ? Unfubdued
Tlie mighty foreft rifes, and difplays
His radiant files. Seize we the prefent hour.
And view the fleeting glories ere they fade.
Mark the nice harmony which blends the whole
In one congenial mafs, brilliant, yet chafte.
With every dye that ftains the withering leaf
Glowing, yet not difcordant. Hither come,
AUTUMN. 65
Ye fons of imitative art *, who hang
The fi6lIons of your pencils on our walls,
And call them landfcapes : where incongruous hues
Seem their conftrain'd vicinity to mourn ;
Where gaudy green with gaudy yellow vies.
And blues and reds with adverfe afpeft glare.
Here deign to learn from nature. Hither come.
Ye fons of imitative art, who fpot
With unconneded and unnumber'd lights
Your motley canvas ; where the eye in vain
Longs for a refting-place, and vainly drives
To trace the dim defign, mid dazzling fpecks
And univerfal glitter undefcried.
Here deign to learn from nature : here, though late,
Learn the peculiar majefty which crowns
The foreft, when the flowly paffing clouds
Triple f preponderance of fhadow fpread,
* It is fcarcely nectffary to fay that the following lines refer only
to the works of fome particular palnttrs, and are by no means in-
tended to convey indifcriminate cenfure.
f The painters nnoft (killed in the management of light gene-
rally allow not above one quarter of the pidlure for the lights, in-
cluding in this portion both the principal and fecondary lights}
another quarter is as dark as poflible ; the remaining half in middle
tint. Sir JoHiua Reynolds's Notes on Mr. Mafon's Tranflation of
Dufrefnoy's Art of Painting, p. 98.
66 WALKS IN A FOREST.
And feparate * the broad colledled lights
With correfponding gloom ; whether, beneath
Thefe oaks, that o'er the darkened foreground hang,
The illumined valley fhines, the pa (luring deer;
Or yon recefs Admits the fronting ray
Between its dulky barriers ; or a gleam,
Stretch'd o'er the tufted furface of the woods,
Deepens the blacknefs of contiguous fhade.
Thus with the rays of noon v;hen Etna blends
Hei* vollied flame, nor with contrafting depth
Of fmoke and fulphurous fleam the glare furrounds,
Scarce feen, fcarce fear'd, the fickly blaze expires.
Wouldft thou furvey her terrors ? Wait the hour,
When from her caves projected Stygian clouds
* In the grouping of lights there fliould be a fuperiorlty of one
over the reft j they fhould be feparated, and varied in their fhapes ;
and there (hculd not be lefs than three lights. The fecondary
lights ought, for the fake of harmony and union, to be of nearly
equal brightnefs, though not of equal magnitude, with the prin-
cipal Sir J. Reynolds's Notes on Dufrefnoy, p. 96. Yet neither
any one of thefe fecondary lights, nor all of them together, muft
come into any degree of competition with the principal rriafs of
light. Sir J. Reynolds's Seven Difcourfes, p. 106. The highell
finifhing is labour in vain, unlefs at the fame time there be pre-
ferved a breadth of light and fhadow — the fligiueft {ketch, where
this breadth is prcferved, will have effedt. Notes on Dufrefnoy,
p. 99.
AUTUMN. 6y
IncefTant rife, and air, earth, fea involve
In more than midnight gloom. Then mark the burft
Of fplendor from the glowing crater ftart
To heaven ; behold the eledric flafh oblique *
Break through tlie darknefs ; view the exploded rocks f
Trail their long light ; prone down the mountain's fide
Watch the red deluge o'er the works of man,
Hamlet and city, mead and cultured plain.
With indifcriminate deftrudion roll'd,
* Sir William Hamilton, in his Obfervations on Mount Etna,
Vcfuvius, and other Volcaftos, mentions tliis phenomenon as a
conftant attendant on great eruptions. " Small aflies fell all day
** at Naples. They ifTued from the crater of the Volcano, and
<« formed a vaft column as black as the mountain itfelf, fo that
«« the fhadow of it was marked out on the furface of the fea.
<' Continued fiafhes of forked or zigzag lightning fliot from this
*' black column." Ed. zd, p. 37. See aifo p. 38, 39, and the
note, and p. 46. 85. ** I find ia all the accounts of great erup-
*' tions mention made of this fort of lightning, which is diftin-
** guiflied here by the name of Fcrilli." lb. p. 164.
■f *' I have feen ftones of an enormous fize fliot up to a great
*' height from Vefuvius. In 1767 a folid flone, meafuring twelve
** feet in height and forty-five in circumference, was thrown a
*' quarter of a mile from the crater." Sir AVilliam Hamilton's
Obfervations, p. 49, note. He adds that " the eruption of 1767
** was very n>ild in comparifon with fome others."
F 2
68 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Plunge headlong into ocean. Ocean's waves,
Loud hiffing, from the invading fires recoil * ;
Catania's bulwarks rock; with tottering creft
Thy towers, pale Syracufe, the conflict hear ;
And Rhegium fhudders at the refluent tide.
Nature, in all her works harmonious, blends
* The Eail of Winchelfea, In his account of the eruption of
Mount Etna in 1669, quoted by Sir William Hamilton, (Obferva*
tions, p. 6G,)defcribes the ftream of lava flowing upon the moun-
tain as fifteen miles in length, and feven in breadth. ** It may be
*' termed," he proceeds, " an inundation of fire, cinders, and
*' burning ftones, burning with that rage as to advance into the
<' fea fix hundred yards, and that to a mile in breadth ; v/hich I
*' faw. And that which did augment my admiration was to fee
*« in tiie fea this matter like ragged rocks burning in four fathom
*' water, two fathoms higher than the fea irftlf j fome parts liquid,
** and throwing off the flones about it; which like a cruft of a
<< vaft bignefs, and red hot, fell into the fea every moment in
*' forne place or other, caufing a great and horrible noife, fmoke,
*' and hiffing in the fea."
During the eruption of Mount Vefuvius in June and July 1794,
the lava ran from the fide of the mountain in a torrent half a mile
wide, and from twelve to forty feet high, through the middle of
the town of Torre del Greco: deflroying the houfcs and vineyards
in its progrefs, and forming a new promontory twenty- four feet
high, and extending fix hundred and twenty-fix feet into the fea.
See Sir W. Hamilton's account of this eruption delivered to the
Royal Society.
AUTUMN. 69
Extremes with foft gradation, and with tints
Kindred throughout her changeful robe adorns.
Bounds yon unbroken wood the level plain ?
Light groups detached and folitary trees
Unite them. Weave yon bufhes o'er the hill
Uninterrupted thickets ? Furzy brakes
Afpire to meet them. Spreads the furzy brake ?
With varying breadth the intruding greenfward winds.
And the rude mafs with velvet m.aze divides.
And lo, even now, when with autumnal gold
She decks the lofty branch, on every twig
Of humbler growth the many-colour'd fruit
Mindful fhe hangs. With fcarlet crown the briar
Glitters : the thorn its ruddy clufters bend :
Scarce can the floe fuftain its purple load,
Not yet from tafte auflere, puckering the lip
And difappointed tongue, by froft reclaimed 5
While from the prickly Ihoots pp.le bryony.
Twined round the oft encircled ftem, fufpends
Its lucid berries : rich in gloffy balls.
Privet's dark fpikes with trembling luftre gleam.
What though yon holly's cold unaltered green.
That tDak embofoming, with contraft harlh
Had met the fplendid foil that glows above ?
Cindured with reddening zones, the fertile fpray,
F3
WALKS IN A FOREST.
Like Indian maiden girt with coral beads *,
Blends with the fylvan monarch's gorgeous robe
Tints that his gorgeous robe will not difdain.
Nor lefs the ground its hues accordant joins,
With faded leaves beftrewn, and floating wings
Of ruflet fern o'erfhadowM, whence upftarts
The woodcock : fhe who in Norweofian dell,
Or birchen glade Lapponian, near the fwamp
Suck'd from the ipongy foil the prey, to cheer
Her tawny young ; till Winter's icy car,
On Summer's ftep clofe f prefling, from his realm
Warn'd her, and earth her probing beak repell'd.
As when the gunner, in his ftubbly way
Paufmg his arms afrelh to prime, fufpends
The lifted flalk, and turns his ready ear,
If to her brood the long-loll partridge call :
Or as, when midnight flills the Atlantic wave,
The pilot, if a found that feems to tell
Of diftant breakers float upon the breeze.
Stands motionlefs in deep attention loft :
Beneaith yon oak why liftening paufe the deer ?
* " The villas with which London ftands begirt,
** Like a fwarth Indian with his belt of beads." Cowpei
f Spring and Autumn are hardly known to the Laplanders.-
Scheffti's Hiftory of Lapland, p. 6i.
AUTUMN. 71
They wait the falling acorn. Hark ! it leaps
From the bare bank. Obedient to the found
At once they turn, and feize it ; then refume
Their patient Hand, and wifli the rifmg gale.
Aloft in mazy courfe the golden wren *
Sports on the boughs ; fhe who her {lender form
Vaunting, and radiant creft, half dares to vie
With thofe gay wanderers f , whofe effulgent wings ;
With infeift hum flill flutter o'er the pride
Of Indiau gardens, while the hollow tongue
Explores the flower, and drains the honied juice.
Now chiller evenings and the near approach
Of winter from the anxious cottage draw
Yon group in fearch of fuel. Youthful hands
Gather the fcatter'd flicks ; or wield the pole
* The golden- crefted wren is tlie leaft of Britifh birds. It may
readily be diftinguifhed, not only by its fize, but by the beautiful
fcarlet mark on the head, bounded on each fide by a yellow line.
It frequents woods, and is found principally on oak trees. Though
fo fmall a bird, it endures our winters. Pennant's Britifh Zoology,
vol. i. p. 379, 380.
f " Humming-birds fubfill on the nedar or fweet juice of
flowers— they never fettle on a flower during the adtion of ex-
trafling the juice j but flutter continually like bees, moving their
wings very quick, and making a humming noife, whence their
name." Latham's Synopfis of Birds, p. 770. On the flrudture
of the tongue of the humming-bird, fee ibid. p. 745.
F4
72 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Arm'd with light fickle, and the mouldering bough
Pluck down with tiptoe efforts oft renew!d :
While the dead flump that fturdy peafant hews ;
Or, looking watchful round left prying eyes
Obferve him, from the oak by tempefts torn
Rends off the fhiver'd ruin with its load
Of leafy fpray. Backward he throws his weight,
And tugs with iron grafp : in vain the branch
Recoils with ftart elaftic, and in vain
Still by tough fplinters to the trunk adheres.
Meantime yon boy in wanton mifchief tears
The ivy twifted in contortions rude
Round the tall maple, and the ftem divides
With ftroke malicious. Soon the verdant mafs,
RobbM of its wonted nutriment, fhall fade.
Yet {hall the lifelefs tendrils ftlU maintain
Their grafp ; and, deaf to Spring's reviving call.
To May's bright greens a dufky foil oppofe.
Stranger, who gazeft on its tangled bower,
Where oft the owl, impatient of the blaze
Pour'd from meridian ardours, dozed in gloom
Impenetrable, then with frighted wing
Long time heard labouring in the deep recefs
Broke forth, when clamorous children faunter'd by ;
Mourn'ft thou its ruln'd honours ? Hither turn,
And mari where, never more to vernal funs
AUTUMN.
73
And fliowers refponfive, proftrate on the earth
A nobler ruin lies, yon oak, the boaft
Of unrecorded centuries. With hound
And horn when Tudor through thefe coverts urged
His game, the monarch oft in mid purfuit
Stopped fliort ; and to his nobles wondering round
Pointed this mighty trunk, with royal praife
Dwelt on its growth majeftic, and forgot,
Enraptured with its Ihade, the flying deer.
Ages rolled on ; and ftill its awful creft
In fhadowy fliate above the fore ft rofe :
And ftill the traveller with admiring gaze
Hail'd from afar the fovereign cf the wood.
But Time, the foe who never knew defpair,
Who crufh'd proud Troy, who cleft thy bulwarks^
Rome,
And fees with fcorn the pilgrim fearch in vain
The fpot where Babel ftood, his ftorms array'd,
Summon'd his mildews from the venom'd Eaft,
Breathed his green damps, the giant fabric Ihook,
Curtail'd its boughs, its leafy honours thinn'd.
And mined its inmoft heart. Yet long it met
The war, fore bruifed but dauntlefs ; and its arms,
ShiverM and bleach'd, as in defiance rear'd.
Frowning with femblance of primaeval ftrength.
74 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Till, as a ftate by flow corruption fapp'd.
Whence one by one the cankering peft withdraws
Each buttrefs of its grandeur, at the root
Decay'd It totter'd. The autumnal blaft
Snapped the few flender firings that fix'd the Ihell,
Sad remnant of the ponderous trunk. The craih
Earth heard, and fliudder'd ; mindful of the hour
Foredoomed ere time began, when all her pomp,
The boaft of nature and the pride of art,
Shall fmk for ever ; when herfelf fliall hear
The knell that calls her to her fiery grave.
Drink the laft glimmerings of the expiring fun,
Clofe her laft round, and fill her place no more.
How forcible the contraft ! Light and gloom.
Beauty and grandeur with contending powers
Heighten the landfcape ! On the tufted heads
Of thefe fteep woods, that hurry down the flope
With headlong plunge eager to meet the vale,
A flood of radiance refts, with brighter hues
Bids Autumn glow, and tells each break that marks
The indented furface : while, as mighty fleets
From Indian fliore deep-laden ftretch their wings
Athwart the fliadowy main, yon low-hung clouds
O'er hamlets faint, and dim-difcover'd meads,
And village towers above the encircling trees
AUTUMN.
7i?
Peering obfcure, in pomp of darknefs float.
And lurid purple chills the expanfe beneath.
There, where in curves now loft, now traced again,
A wandering luftre, as from rippling ftreams
Refle6led, plays ambiguous, oft the heron,
Pofted in Dove's rich meads, with patient guile
And pale gray plumes with watery blue fuffufed
Stands like a fhadow : then with out-ftretch'd neck.
While near with fidelong gait the fowler creeps,
RIfes, and, fteering to the diftant fen,
Shrieks from on high, and flaps her folemn wing.
Hence northward to yon ridgy heights the eye
Glances at large. Lo their magnetic tops
Have feized the paffing cloud : the torrent rain
Smokes on their deluged fides. The fliower drives on :
Hill after hill fuccefTive difappears
Before the encroaching vapour. Loft awhile.
They mingle with the ftcy : now far behind
Gradual emerge, obfcurely through the rear
Of the fpent ftorm difcern*d ; now glimmer faint
With watery beams ; now through the freftien'd air
Swell on the fight, and laugh in cloudlefs day.
There, mid disjointed chlFs and tranquil fhades.
Low in his native dale, with ftream as pure
As melts from Alpine fnows Dove laves his rocks
76 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Wild as by magic planted, yet with grace *
Of fymmetry arranged ; now foaming darts
Along the flony channel, tufted ifles
Now circles, now with glafTy furface calm
Refle<5ls the impending glories of his hills.
There Contemplation at the fall of eve,
By gurgling waters luU'd, with downcaft gaze
Pores on each infect form, that fkims the deep,
Each grafTy blade, that vibrates in the ftream :
Then the green flopes, the craggy barrier views.
And fylvan gloom fequefter'd : then to heaven
Lifts an adoring glance, and thinks on Thee,
Maker of all that lives, of all that, void
Of life, with beauty charms, with grandeur awes.
Dims with admiring gratitude the eye,
With holy rapture fwells the kindiing heart.
Or turn we fouthward, where on yonder clifF
Dove, o'er thy ampler wave projecting fhine
* ** From the defcrlptlon given of Dovedale, even by men of
** tafte, we had conceived it to be a fcene rather of curiofity than
** of beauty. We fuppofed the rocks were formed into the moft
** fantaftic Ihapcs ; and expected to fee a gigantic difplay of all
** the conic feftlons. But we were agreeably deceived. The
** whole compofition is chafte, and pidurefquely beautiful, in a
** high degree." Mr. Gilpin's Obfervations on the Mountains and
Lakes of Cumberland, &c. vol. ii. p. 22, S.
AUTUMN. 77
Thofe Ivy-mantled towers * ; towers once with fighs
Sadden'd of captive Mary, jocund once
With minllrelly, when Lancailer convened
The throng of barons in his feftive hall.
Stretch'd in her cell with pallid cheek the Queen,
And tears faft dropping from her beamlefs eyes,
Wore the long months of grief. With anguilh faiut
If ever the freih gale flie fought to breathe ;
The fullen portal thundering as it clofed.
The huge portcullis rulhing from above,
The frowning battlement and guarded wall,
Prefcribed her limits. Through the ftony chink.
Wont on the near approaching foe to pour
The arrowy ftorm, on ihefe wild banks fhe gazed :
While Fancy, minifter of woe, with hand
Officious to her view prefented ftill
Gay troops of foreft deer unprifon'd airs
Inhaling, and as frolic fport infpired,
Bounding unfettered. To new dungeon toft
From dungeon, her unpitying rival's ear
With fruitlefs prayer Ihe plied. The cold excufe,
The taunt, the ftudied filence of negled,
* Tutbury Callle, once the prifon of Mary Queen of Scets;
and in earlier times tlic refidence of John of Gaunc.
-78 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Silence than cold evafion and than taunt
More keen, fhe bore : yet dreams of brighter hours
Still cheriili'd ; and ftill hoped, and hoped in vain,
To burft the chains which envious hate had twined ;
Till Freedom on the fable fcaffold's height
Stood hand in hand with all-fubduing Death,
To end her bondage. Other fcenes the bard
Crov/n'd with high harpings ; when unnumber'd
lights
Illumed the fretted roof, the pendent arms
That deck'd the wall ; and glowing through the rows
Of adverfe windows, where the cryftal plain
Art's richeft tracery fpread, proclaimed afar
The princely feaft of Lancafter. He rofe :
Mirth ceafed her tumult ; every found was huftiM ;
All from their feats bent forward. Age and youth.
Warriors, and gorgeous dames enraptured heard
The tale of antient years, the tale of arms
In glorious caufe triumphant : then allured
To fadder themes, with mifty eyeballs learn'd
Of 3^ouths before an aged parent's face
In their firft onfet {lain ; or from the fword
Of hoftile Inroad while on foamy fteeds
They bore the plighted objcfls of their love.
Headlong from midnight precipices hurl'd,
Or plunged in tracklefs bogs, abforb'd, and loft.
AUTUMN« 79
Oft as his lord, to grace the feflal day,
When knighthood's champions on the lifted field
Should cotlch in emulous career the lance.
Bade him the fong prepare ; thefe fylvan depths,
Thefe glades at early dawn he pierced, and hung
Even on yon oak his lyre : then mufmg ftray'd ;
Then vocal tried the meditated lay.
And fwept the ftrings ; while echo fwelPd the chords
Of harmony divine, and flocking deer,
Thoughtlefs of food, in liftening wonder gazed.
Man loves the foreft. To the general flame
My breaft is not a ftranger. I could rove
At morn, at noon, at eve, by lunar ray,
In each returning feafon, through your fliades,
Ye reverend woods ! could vifit every dell,
Each hill, each breezy lawn, each wandering brook.
And bid the world admire ; and when at laft
The fong were clofed, each magic fpot again
Could feek, and tell again of all its charms.
But let me check the partial ftrain, nor fwell
With indifcriminate and trivial praife
The long defcription ; left attending youth
And virgin innocence outwearied loathe
The injudicious rapture, and contemn
What elfe had touch 'd the heart. When Genius dies
(I fpeak what Albion knows), furviving friends.
8o WALKS IN A FOREST.
'
Eager his bright perfedions to difplay
To the laft atom, echo through the land
All that he ever did, or ever faid,
Or ever thought ; recount the coats he wore.
Who made his wig, who ferved him with rappee ;
Whether 'twas March, or April, when he told
The ilory of the pig that crof:iM the lane.
And tripp'd the ill-fated huckfter in the mire ;
Whether he cream'd his teacup firll, or when
'Twas fiU'd and fugar'd ; whether trout or pike.
Veal or boil'd chicken, pleafed his palate moft.
Then for his writings — fearch each delk and drawer.
Sweep his portfolio, publilh every fcrap
And demi-fcrap he penn'd ; beg, borrow. Ileal
Each line he fcribbled, letter, note, or card,
To order fhoes, to countermand a hat,
To bid his fervant bottle off the ale.
To make inquiries of a neighbour's cold.
Or aik his company to fupper. Thus,
Eools ! with fuch vile and crumbling tralh they build
The pedeftal, on which at length they rear
Their huge CololTus, that beneath his weight
*Tis crufh'd and ground ; and leaves himi dropt aflant.
Scarce raifed above the height of common men.
I would not praife you thus, ye foreft wilds !
With warm yet fober tints, with pencil true
AUTUMN. Si
To juft difcrimination, yet averfe
To load the overlaboured canvas, I would paint
Your choicer fcenes. O could I wake the lyre
Like him *, who, lingering on the banks of Oufe,
To nature faithful, and to nature's King,
Purfues the nobleft of poetic aims.
That only aim which gives the poet's lay
A title to the meed of genuine praife 5
Who, blending f In his fong with honeft art
The faithful monitor's and poet's care.
Seeks to delight that he may mend mankind.
And while he captivates exalt the foul !
He fweeps the lyre : one hand excites the ftringSj
Whence ftarts each glowing image that prefcnts
Perfe6t as life the charms that deck the face
Of earth ; the other, with fymphonious touch,
Roufes the moral chords that fwell the heart,
And lift it to its God. O were my notes.
Ye woodlands, with his facred fervour warm'd.
Sweet as his mufic ; to the Have whom pride
Tortures, whom avarice goads, or third of power
Long days and lleeplefs nights hath fcorch'd ; to her
Whom dragg'd in triumph at his chariot wheels
* Cowper.
f See Cowper's Poems, edit. 4th, voL i. p. 179, near the top.
G
?2 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Imperious Diflipation whirls through life.
And hurries from the nurfery to the grave
Without one interval of thought, or time
To afk, ** Who placed me here ; why was I form'd ;
" What Ihall I be hereafter?" I would fpeak
The calm that ftills your wilds, their gueft o'erfpreads
DifFufive, creeps along the confcious frame.
Bids paufe each artery, ftays each adive limb.
Each rebel paffion chains, and through the foul
Breathes holy peace and univerfal love.
For fmce the globe firft roU'd, in every land
Your fnades, ye forefts, the deluded heart
To heavenly meditation ftill have call'd ;
And every fong, that glorified your God,
Have heard with eager gladnefs. Ye with joy,
Frefh from his Maker's hand when man arofe.
Saw him in wondering homage kneel ; ye bade
Your yet unpraclifed echoes fwell the found
High as the Eternal's throne, when grateful praifc
Firft broke the filence of the new-born world.
Ye, when with bloody arm infuriate Rome,
Pagan or Papal, from the haunts of men
Chafed the firm band whom truth forbade to yield,
Crouch to her priefts, and worlliip at her nod :
Ye fcreen'd their flight, with hofpitable gloom
Shelter'd their arguilli, and with mingling boughs»
AUTUMN. 83
Vocal to prayer, a fylvan fane fuppiied.
O yet, even yet, your facred influence breathe.
Oft as I tread your leaf-ftrewn paths ; to reft
Lull each tumultuous wifh ; with reverent awe
My heart infpire ; and, as your ftately growth
Purfues its heaven-direded aim, exalt
My thoughts from earth, and point them to the fkies !
Man loves the foreft. Since in Eden's groves
His fire, yet innocent, enraptured view'd
** Infuperable height of loftieft fhade *,
** Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
** A fylvan fcene," man has the foreft loved.
Thofe groves no autumn knew : eternal fpring
With all the bleffings of the varied year
In rich profufion crown'd them. But when Death
Seized on his prey, falPn man, Deftrudlion ftretch'd
Acrofs the woods her fceptre. With the axe
She fells them : with the tempefl by the roots
Headlong uptears them : with the fcythe of Time
She lays them low : and yearly o'er their boughs
Flings as in fcorn a many-colour'd robe ;
Then ftrips the tranfient pomp, and feoffs the wilJs
Naked and chill'd in emblematic death.
• Milton's Paradifc Loft, book iv. line 138—140.
G 2
^^ WALKS IN A FOREST.
Yet fliall unfading Spring her fway refume
la that new promifed earth, promifed by voice
Of power unbounded and unfailing truth ;
Where by no fm to defolation doom'd,
For fni Ihall not be there, no ftorms annoy'J,
No violence ravaged, no decay impair'd,
Thy works, great God, for fuch thy will, fhall Hand
Firm through the ages of eternity !
WALK THE FIFTH.
G3
ARGUMENT.
PrognoAIcs of Snow — Man ignorantly repines at Its Fall — A
Traveller — apprehends a Storm, and previo'jfly arms himfelf
to encounter it — is caught by it on the middle of a Foreft
—The Storm at Jengtli ceafes — Addrefs to thofe who are
ilruggling with Difficulties in Life — Patient Hope exemplified.
WALK THE FIFTH.
WINTER.. SNOW.
At length the fnows defcend. Her axis thrice
The earth has circled, fmce the northern blafl:
Grew keener, veering eaftward; and v/hlle froil
With richeft blue the arch ethereal dyed.
Incumbent on the gray horizon's verge
A fettled gloom has hung. This morn, when firll
Above the fummit of yon oak the fun
With tardy gleam arofe, a fleecy ftiower
Tinging with thin-fpread white the frozen brook,
The bareworn track, and clofe-depaftured plain,
Accompanied his courfe. Ere long he chafed
The congregated vapour ; yet, while noon
Glow'd with his radiance, from fome half-form*d cloud,
Whofe filmy veil by carelefs eyes unfeen
Dinim'd, yetfcarce dimm'd, the azure vault of heaven,
C4
8B WALKS IN A FOREST.
Defcending oft the folltary flake
Foretold the fecret purpofe of the ikies.
Now mid-day warmth declines : denfe haze obfcures
The turbid atmofphere : the clouds advance,
Not as the vehicles of rain, difpofed
In feparate mafles, and of varying hue ;
Not as the manfions of rebounding hail,
Lurid and dark ; nor thofe where thunder dwells,
Of vvildefl: forms, fcowling with purple dyes,
And 'gainft the nether ftreams of air propell'd
By their own currents ; but of afpe(5l dun,
Of texture uniform, and blending quick
In one unbroken furface, onward move
In firm array, and load the rifmg gale.
Athwart the whole expanfe of air they flretch
Their dulky mantle. Louder, louder ftill.
Now paufmg, now with hollow fwell prolonged.
The wind exalts his voice ; and fweeping wild
Claps o'er the founding earth his fnowy wings,
And drives through heaven the horizontal ftorm.
On the fad whitening world impatient man
Gazes repining ; and already views
The plough with forked handles through the drift
Projecling in the unfinlfli'd furrow ruft ;
The oxen doom'd to floth ; the rapid waftc
Of hayftack leflening duly morn and eve.
WINTER.— SNOW. 8^
Nor thinks that Heaven, oft klndeft when with figus
Of wrath It lowers, fends forth the loaded blall
With merciful commiffion ; bids the fnows
Brood genial o'er the glebe, from blighting frofl
Shield infant harveft, and the ftiffen'd joints
Of beaft and wearied hind prepare by reft.
Salubrious though conftrain'd, for future toil.
While thus the echoing tempeft beats abroad.
Beneath the Impervious covert of this wood
Of antient hollies, whofe umbrageous heads
The gufts of Autunm have in vain affaii'd.
Range we fecure, and view the diftant fcene.
Mark on that road, whofe unobftrucled courfc
With long white line the unburled furze divides.
Yon folitary horfeman urge his way.
He, not unmindful of the brooding ftorm.
Ere yet by flrong necedity compeil'd
Of preffing occupation he exchanged
The blazing hearth, the firm-compacled roof.
For naked forefts and uncertain fkies.
With wife precaution arm'd himfelf to meet
The Winter's utmoft rage. In filken folds
Twice round his neck the handkerchief he twined.
His legs he cafed in boots of mighty fize,
And ftrength experienced oft ; warm'd through and
through
WALKS IN A FOREST.
In chimney-corner ; and with glofly face
Prepared defcending torrents to repel,
As roll the round drops from the filvery leaf
Of rain-befprinkled colewort, or the plumes
Of feagull fporting in the broken wave.
Then o'er his limbs the ftout great-coat he drew.
With collar raifed aloft, and threefold cape
Sweep below fweep in wide concentric curves
Low down his back dependent; on his bread
The folds he crofs'd, and in its deftin'd hole
Each draining button fix'd : erecT: he dood,
Like huge portmanteau on its end uprear'd,
Fearlefs he falHed forth ; nor yet difdain'd
The heartening draught from tankard capp'd with
foam,
By hod officious to the horfeblock borne
With deady hand, and eloquently praifed ;
While hngering on the dep his eye he turn'd
To every wind, and mark'd the embattled clouds
Ranging their fquadrons in the fullen Ead.
How fares he now ? Caught on the middle wade,
Where no deep wood its hofpitable gloom
Extends ; no friendly thicket bids him cower
Beneath its tangled roof; no lonely tree
Prompts him to feek its leeward fide, and cleave^
Ered and into narrowed fpace compred,
WINTER. SNOW. 9I
To the bare trunk, if haply it may ward
The driving tempeft ; with bewilder'd hafte
Onward he comes. ** Hither dired thy fpeed ;
" This fheltering grove — " He hears not ! Mark his
head
Oblique, prefented to the ftorm ; his hand,
Envelop'd deep beneath the inverted cufF,
Strives to confine, with many a fruitlefs grafp,
His ever flapping hat ; the cold drench'd glove
Clings round the imprifon'd fingers. O'er his knees
His coat's broad flcirt, fcanty now proved too late.
He pulls and pulls impatient, muttering wrath
At pilfering tailors. Baffled and perplexM,
With joints benumb'd and aching, fcarce he holds
The rein, fcarce guides the deed with breathlefs toil
O'erpowerM, and fhrinking fideways from the biaft.
Behold that fleed, with icy mane, and head
Deprefs'd, and quivering ears now forward bent,
Now backward fwiftly thrown, and offering ftill
Their convex penthoufe to the lliifting gale ;
Behold that fteed, on indurated balls
Of fnow upraifed, like fchoolboy rear'd on ftilts.
Labour unbalanced : the fallacious prop,
Now this, now that, breaks Ihort : with fudden jerk
He fmks, half falling ; and recovering quick
On legs of length unequal reels along.
92 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Scarce on his feat can clinging knees fuflain
The trembh'ng rider : while the fnow upheaves
In drifts athwart his courfe proje(5ted broad ;
Or o*er the uncovered gravel rattling fweeps^
Caught up in fudden eddies, and aloft,
Like fmoke, In fuffocating volumes whirPd.
The road he quits unwary, wandering wide
O'er the bleak wafte, mid brufliwood wrapt In fnow^
Down rough declivities and fradured banks,
Through miry plafhes, cavities unfeen.
And bogs of treacherous furface ; till afar
From all that meets his recolleflion borne,
Difmay'd by hazards fcarce efcaped, and dread
Of heavier perils Imminent, he ftands
Difmounted, and aghaft. Now Evening draws
Her gathering ftiades around ; the tempeft fierce
Drives fiercer. ChilPd within him finks his heart,
Panting with quick vibrations. The wild blaft
AppalPd he hears, thinks on his wife and babes,
And doubts if ever he ftiall fee them more.
But comfort Is at hand ; the fkles have fpent
In that lafl gufl their fury. From the weft
The fetting fun with horizontal gleam
Cleaves the denfe clouds ; and through the golden
breach
Strikes the fcathe<l oak, whofe branches peer4 and bare
WINTER. SHOW, 93
'Gainft the retiring darknefs of the ftorm
With fiery luftre glow. The traveller views
The well-known landmark, lifts to heaven his eyes
Swimming Vv'ith gratitude, the friendly track
Regains, and fpeeds exulting on his way.
O ye, whom, ftruggling on life's craggy road
With obftacles and dangers, fecrct foes
Supplant, falfe friends betray, difaftrous rage
Of elements, of war, of civil broil
Brings down to Poverty's cold floor, while grief
Preys on the heart, and dims the finking eye ;
Faint not ! There is who rules the ftorm, whofe hand
Feeds the young ravens, nor permits blind chance
To clofe one fparrow's flagging wing in death.
Truft in the Rock of Ages. Now, even now
He fpeaks, and all is calm. Or if to prove
Your inmoft foul the hurricane ftill fpre.ad
Its licenfed ravages, He whifpers hope,
Earneft of comfort ; and through blackeft night
Bids keen-eyed Faith on heaven's pure funfhine gaze.
And learn the glories of her future home.
So when the fon of patience heard the wreck
Of all his fortunes, camels, oxen, flocks,
Sons, daughters, all in one Ihort hour o'erwhelm'd ;
And ere each meffenger his tale of grief
Had clofed, beheld another ftill fucceed
94 WALKS IN A FOREST.
With wilder eyeballs, cheeks more deadi}- pale.
More trembling lips, portending heavier woes :
When every limb thy cankering tooth, Difeafe,
Gnaw*d to the bone : when fcoffing friends arraign'd
His uprightnefs : when (he who Ihould have pour'd
Balm on his wounds, his confort, mock'd his pangs
With venom'd taunt " Still doft thou boaft thy
•* faith ?
** Renounce the ungrateful Power thou ferv'ft in vain ;
** Defy his malice, fhelter'd in the grave '*
His head to earth the fufFerer bow'd, with hands
Preft on his bofom ; yet his eyes upraifed
In hope to heaven. *' Father of all," he cried,
** Thy will be done ! All was thy gift ; thine own
•* Thou haft refumed. Bkft be thy hand that gave ;
** And — peace, my heart ! — bleft when it takes away !
** Yet thefe poor limbs, of fwarming worms the fpoil,
** New life fhall clothe, and rear them from the duft.
** Thou liveft, my Redeemer ! At the hour
** In thy decrees ordainM, careering clouds
** Shall fpeak thine advent : earth beneath thy tread
" Shall fhrink ; this voice fhall hymn thy love, thefe
** knees
•* Adore thy power, thefe eyes behold their God I"
WALK THE SIXTH.
ARGUMENT.
Addrefs to Winter — A Thaw defcribc-d — Froft returns — Hanni-
bal afcending the Alps — A Foreft Brook traced — The EfFeds
of Troft upon it— The Norwegian Traveller— The Wild-Duck
—The Snipe — Cloud on a Mountain — Story of a Foreft Youth
—Naked Wcods — Winter Appearance of the Oak — Afh—
Birch— Yew — Ivy — HoHy — The Foxglove — Erowfing of Deer
—Cottage-Chile ren alTembiing to gather the Branches — EfFefts
of Winter — The never, ceafing Speed of Time compared with
the unrelenting Fury of War — A Foreft Pool frozen — Difap-
pointment of the Cattle — Captain Monk wintering on the
Shore of Hudfon's Bay — Leffons inculcated by the feveral Sea-
fons — The Confequences of neglefting the Voice of Nature
and of Revelation — The Deluge — Addrefs to the Supreme
Being.
WALK THE SIXTH.
WINTER. FROST.
W INTER, whom ficknefs dreads, whom grief abhors,
While yet nor ficknefs on my head nor grief,
Save with a gentle ftroke, her fceptre lays.
All-hail, by me nor dreaded nor abhorr'd !
Whether on thy approach the Southern breeze
Dims with blue damps the pallid face of day ;
Or at thy word the cloud-difpelling North,
Opening the depths of ether, depths unpierced
By Summer's eagle gaze, the brow of night
Binds with new gems, and arms with keener fire :
Whether on whirlwind pinions through the roar
Of torrent rains, or arrowy fleet, or hail
With cryftal bullets {battering blade and branch,
Thy car fweeps onward ; or with noifelefs wings.
While not a breath thy flagging fl:andard moves.
Cleaves the fl:ill flood of prone-defcending fnows :
Whether, on earth imprefl:, thy deadening foot
H
98 WALKS IN A FOREST.
The land to iron chills, the floods to ftone ;
Or vapoury warmth efcapes thy changeful lips.
In univerfal thaw till Nature melts,
While Danube turbid from diflblving hills
Appals the Auftrian, and from Wyddfa's brow *
The pale Snowdonian oft at dead of night
Hears the difparted fragment thunder down,
And views at peep of day its yawning courfe
Plow'd in long ruin through the floping wood ;
Still has thy varied afpe«5t charms for me.
Still haft thou charms for thofe whofe mental eye
Views thee fromHim,who rules the unnumbered worlds,
Sent forth the minifter of good to man ;
Views thee with bleak viciflitude endear
Suns of maturer glow, ferener fkies :
Views from thy piercing blaft overlaboured earth
Inhale new vigour, and in tranfient fleep
Prepare the glories of the coming year !
The fleecy mantle that of late conceal'd
The lawns, and burying deep the furzy brake
Difplay'd, upheaved In undulating mounds,
A rude refemblance of the forms below.
Is vanilh'd. From the fouth dUfolving gales
* '« Wyddfa, the higheft peak of Snowdon." See Pennant's
Tour in North Wales, vol.ii. 4to. 1781, p. j6a. Art. Snowdonia.
WINTER. FROST. 99
Blew : the fnows felt their influence. In the woods.
Humid and comfortlefs, from dawn to eve
Were heard inceifant drippings, pattering loud
When the air moved the branches. The foft mafs
Beneath of every drop the impreffion took,
Pierced into hollov/s numerous as the cells
That hide the golden treafures of the bee.
Oft, from its lodgement on the forked bough
Sliding, a fnowy heap with leaden found
Simk buried in the unrefifting floor.
Soon through the lefTening weight the elaftic gorfe
Its murky fhoots, by contrail darker, pufh'd.
Soon on the level plain green fpots emerged,
Where raifed the bufy ant or delving mole
Her fubi.erranean dwelling : floppy pools
In the furrounding pool lay ftagnant. Streams
From each low bank ran trickling ; while above,
The new-born currents, pouring from the hills.
O'er the fmooth flope in brown difFufion ft ray 'd.
Or deep in echoing gullies roar'd unfeen.
The brook, that late within its hollow bed
In glalTy fetters mourn'd, the brittle chains
Shiver'd, and haiPd the tributary floods :
And oft by congregated piles of ice
Obftrudled, raged aloud, and ftrew'd the vale
With fragments. Of the univerfiil vrhite
H 2
lOO WALKS IN A FOREST.
No fpeck was left, fave where in lonely dell.
Fronting the north, amid the general rout
Unawed its ftation yet the drift n:iaintain'd.
And feem'd to wait for fuccour from the fkies.
Thus when her ftandard civilifmg Art
Plants on fome barbarous fhore, to mountains bleak
And craggy faftnefTes his warrior fons
The a.ngry Genius of the wafte withdraws :
There bids them, from the influence abhorr'd
Of Science free, their fanguinary rites,
Their manners rude, and favage laws uphold ;
Till fiite once more fhall pour them from their caves.
Impatient o'er their long-loft plains again
To fpread the veil of ignorance and night.
Earth of its load was lighten'd, and abforb*J
The moifture ; funny gleams and breezy air
The furface dried. Now Froft again afcends
His throne ; and kindling with unclouded beams
The cope of Heaven, and fixing firm the ground,
Crifp to the tread, from hot and crowded rooms
Calls us his bracing atmofphere to breathe,
And welcome his invigorating power.
Touch'd by his cheering energy, the heart
Beats livelier ; the cheek reddens ; through the frame.
While yet one loitering friend we fummon oft
With loud impatience, every vein expands
With buoyant eagernefs : we feem to tread
WINTER. FROST. lOl
In air, the lawn even now while Fancy Tcours,
Darts o'er the valley, penetraXes the woods
That fhag yon flope, and on the naked brow
Pants, and with joy the frefher breeze inhales.
Thus when his holl o'er Alps oppofed in vain
The Carthaginian led, the laft afcent
Labouring o'er icebuilt rocks as now they trod,
Gafping for breath the way-worn myriads paufed.
His bulk the wearied elephant reclined,
Uncurl'd his trunk, and drank the eternal fnows.
Impatient of a moment loft, the Chief
Prefs'd forward to the fummit ; flung an eye
Of tranfport o'er the wide-fpread realms beneath ;
Then turn'd, and frown'd, and call'd his lingering van ;
Then gazed again on Italy : while Hope
Bade him with glance prophetic mark the ftream.
Of Trebia choked with dead; bade him in thought
View Thrafymene's red waves o'er legions roU'd,
Sweep Cannas's field, and Ihake the towers of Rome.
Bend we our fteps befide this foreft brook.
And trace its windings. In yon flat morafs.
Where fpiry ruflies in divergent files
Rife fledged w^th rime, where many a ftunted bufli,
Alder or fallow, cropt by nibbling deer.
Betrays the dampnefs of the foil beneath,
From fecret fprings it murmurs. Ifluing thence,
"3
102 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Awhile in naked channel o'er the plain
II wanders ; now in Ihort and fudden turns
Twilling round narrow points, as though it fled
Back to its fource ; now in extended curves
Sweeping ; now gliilening in long reaches ; now
With fretted furface and complaining found
Hurrying in bright cafcades. Then fwlft it dives
Into this fylvan glen. Behold it whirl
In fullen eddies round that alder's root ;
And far within the brink, where half congeal'd
Lingers the foam, the trout's dark hold prepare :
Whence, as from couchant ambufh on the fawn
Loitering befide the jungle * fprings the pard,
While brightening with fuccefs his fpotted fides
Gliften ; the fpeckled plunderer of the deep.
When June awakes her infecl tribes, fhall dart
Fierce on the prey, while with unpradlifed wing
It fports and flutters on the dimpled fliream.
Here, the flat turf with eafy flexure meets
The wave ; abrupt the adverfe fide defcends
In contrail: bold, whence the afpiring afli,
Or time-worn maple ftarts, or fmewy oak
Deep-fixed with many a wreathed root o'erhangs
* The vaft thickets in the Eaft Indies, in which leopards and
other wild beads lurk, are known by the appellation of Jungles.
WINTER. FROST.
:C3
The cavern'd margin. View the marl)'" cliff,
Its bafe by oozing Iprings with froftwork glazed.
Various beyond the forms which fancy weaves :
Lo cryftal columns glitter; and dlfpofed
Tier above tier, pellucid cornices,
With plumy darts and fparkling gems embofs'd.
Tell to what height the current lately raifed
Its ampler fwell, and with dimlnifli'd flood
Sunk gradual. Thus when Rome o'er Britilh plains
The tide of conquefl: roll'd, her barrier wall,
To Glotta now thy fhores, Bodotria, join'd *,
Now to thy fand-banks, Solway, and the waves
Of coaly Tyne withdrew, as rapine fped,
Or valour's patriot arm her range curtail'd,
And chafed her baffled eagle from the prey.
Here, where the ftream o'er pebbly fhallows frets
With murmuring fpeed, a narrow range of ice
Grows to the edge, or round the uncover'd ftone
Concretes ; or fringed with points projecting far.
Circles the gravelly ifland by the force
Of floods upralfed. There, where the deeper reach
Spreads fmooth, from fide to fide a glalTy floor
Stretches, nor hides the twinkling rill beneath :
* Tbe Firths of Clyde and Forth.
H 4
104 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Or by the ftream deferted rears in air
Delufive bridges, to the heedlefs foot
Of deer, or ftranger hading o*er the wild,
Dangerous, and loudly crafhing in their fall.
So when o'er Norway's rocks the mountaineer,
Forming on high the dizzy pathway, meets
Some rifted chafm, in whofe unfathom'd depth
The cataract foams, fcarce heard above, and whirls
Its clouds of rifmg vapour ; o'er the void
The withered birch by dorms uptorn he throws.
Ere long within the bark * the treacherous wood
Moulders ; and leaves the rind, a fpecious Ihell,
Bridging the gulf. Beneath the traveller's weight
The fpecious Ihell breaks fhort. He Ihrieks unheard,
Falls undeplored, by pointed crags below
Awaited, and by torrents to the fea
Swept headlong. Mid her babes his widow fits
Penfive, and eyes the fnow-clad hill in vain.
Lo 1 from its haunt, by crowding alders veil'd,
* The bark of the birch has the property of being more durable
than the wood wliich it envelops. When M. Maupertuis, in his
expedition to meafure a degree of latitude, traverfed the birchen
forefts of Lapland, in which numbers of trees lay uprooted by the
winds; he found, on examining thofe which had been long blown
down, that the (ubUance of the wood was entirely gone, and thac
fhe apparently folid trunk confifted only of a fhell of bark.
WINTER. FROST. IO5
Where mantling In the (lill unfrozen flood
Aquatic weeds breathe warmth, at our approach
Alarm'd on founding wing the wild duck foars,
And plies to diftant folitudes her courfe.
The fnipe flies fcreaming from the marihy verge.
And towers In airy circles o'er the wood.
Still heard at Intervals ; and oft returns.
And ftoops, as bent to alight ; then wheels aloft
With fuddcn fear, and fcreams, and fl:oops again.
Her favourite glade reluctant to forfake.
So on thy fteeps, Helvellyn, when the air
Stagnates In noontide calm, a cloud reclines.
Eddying amid thy rocks ere long a breeze
Dlfturbs its reft. Unwilling from its couch
The vapour moves : now, by the guft upborne.
Soars buoyant ; now, whene'er the palling gale
Remits, with glad precipitance fubfides,
And hangs and lingers on the attractive brow.
Once by yon poplars, through whofe twinkling Ihade
With frultlefs glance the oft-refledled beam
Struggled, nor reach'd the dufky flood beneath,
An ancient mill arofe. The reftlefs wheel
Scattered the fparkling wave amid the gloom.
And broke the noonday filence of the wood.
'Twas there a youth with care fraternal footh'J
A iDuch-lov'd fifter, while a parent loft,
I06 WALKS IN A FOREST,
An aged mother whom his toll had fed,
Their mingling tears deplored. One fummer eve,
As from fhort abfence he returnM, her Ihrieks,
Shrieks as though racking pangs o'er life prevail'd,
He heard. The whirling miilftone, as (he moved
Unwitting of the danger, feized her arm.
And crufh'd each mufcle. The remorfelefs gripe
He loofed. Art lent its healing aid in vain.
Nine days in anguilh o'er her couch he hung ;
The tenth he clofed her eyes. The murderous flone,
The floor ftill fpotted v;ith a filler's blood,
The confcious poplars, and the fatal ftream.
He could no more behold. His native land
He left for ever ; ftemm'd the weftern main j
And, fix'd in depths of folitude to hide
His grief, on Pennfylvania's utmoft bound.
Where to man's heaven- appointed rule her fons
Bend the untamed wildernefs, prepared
To rear his dwelling. The ftupendous fcene.
Unlike the humbler wild that gave him birth,
Amazed he view'd, the interminable wafte.
The woods of giant growth, the piny fwamp
Darkening the humid air : and oft would note
Curious the wings unknown that crofs'd the glade.
And mark the fcaly ferpent as he flunk
Through ruftling leaves, or darting onward Ihook
WINTER. FROST. IO7
The warning rattle * ; or befide the root
Of fome time-honour'd trunk in fpiral folds
CoiPd motionlefs, his fafcinating eye
Fix'd on the confcious viftim perch'd above.
Chained by the potent glance, the helplefs prey
With piteous cries and wildly ruffled plumes
Fluttered from bough to bough, defcending ftill.
Nor fhunn'd the jaws of death that gaped below
Meanwhile of rugged logs f his cot he framed,
*= That the Rp.ttlefnake frequents the latitude of Pennfylvania,
appears from Carver^ Travels through the interior Parts of North
America, 2d ed. p. 43 5 and from Long's Voyages and Travels of
r.n Indian Interpreter, p. 149- It is indeed found as far northward
as lat. 49. See Long's Voyages, p. 159. The power which this
animal polfefles of ckarmwg his prey by fixing his eye upon it, is
aiferted by various witneffes ; and its effeft is thus defcribed by
Catcfby: " The animals, particularly birds and fquirrels, which
" principally are its prey, no fooner fpy the fnake, than they Hcip
" from fpray to fpray, hovering and approaching gradually nearer
" to their enemy, regardlefs of any other danger} but with dif-
« traded geftures and outcries defcend, though from the top of
« the loftieft trees, to the mouth of the fnake, who openeth his
" jaws, takes them in, and In an inftant fwallows them." Hiftory
of Carolina, vol. ii. p- 4^*
t In the third volume of the Memoirs of the Literary and
Philofophical Society of Manchefttr, a very curious and interefting
account of the mode of eftabhfhing fettlements in the remote parts
of Pennfylvania is given by Dr. Rurti of Philadelphia. Speaking
of a fettler in the woods, Dr. Ru(h fays, p. 184= " His firft objeft
" is to build a fmall cabin of rough logs for himfclf and his family.
I08 WALKS IN A FOREST.
And ftopp'd each chink with mofs, left fearching rains
Or fnows by winter's gufty breath impell'd
Should drench his nightly couch : then from the foil
Clear'd the rough brufhwood, and round every ftem
Of ampler girth the fatal circle drew.
Blighted and wan the vernal foliage mourn'd
Its intercepted nutriment, and ftrew'd
*' A coarfer building, adjoining to this cabin, affords fhelter to a
** cow and a pair ot poor horfes. The labour of eredling thefc
" biiildings is fucceeded by that of killing the trees on a few
** acres of ground near his cabin. This is done by cutting a circle
*< round the trees two or three feet from the ground. The ground
*' around thefe trees is then ploughed, and Indian corn planted
*' in it."
Mr. Smyth, in a Tour in the United States of America, 8vo.
London 17S4, fpeaks as follows : " The general mode of clearing
** the land in this country, where timber is of no value and lalx)ur
** is of great, is by cutting a circle round the tree through the
** bark quite to the wood before the fap rifes, which kills it. And
" they cultivate the ground below immediately, leaving the trees
** to rot Aanding, which happens within a very few years j and
** they never bear leaves more. A large field in this fituation
** make? a moft fmgular, flriking, and tremendous appearance.
*' It would feem indeed danjierous to walk in it, as the trees are
« of a prodigious height and magnitude ; vafl limbs and branches
** of enormous fize impending in awful ruins from a great height,
<* fometimes breaking ofr, and frequently whole trees falhng to the
** ground with a horrible crafli, the found of which is increased
** and protra<Sled by the reverberation of the furrounding echoes.'*
Vol. i. p. 94, 95.
WINTER. FROST,
109
The ground, as when the gale of autumn whirls
The leafy fhower : the folitary trunks
Frown'd on the rifmg harveft. Time ere long
LoofenM the roots, and tempefts on the plain
The thundering downfall hurPd : the midnight crafh
Startled the foreft. Each fucceeding fpring
Beheld the wafte retire. The paftured field,
The emerald meadow, and the waving gleam
Of corn by breezes moved, and all the charms
Of hard-earn'd home, bade peace the exile's brow
Dilate, and brighten the 3'et-heaving tide
Of antient forrow : in the void of air
As the red moon new rifen o'er Ocean hangs,
Streams a long line of radiance on the flood.
And golden billows welter to the fhore.
One vernal eve, as wrapt in lonely thought
He traced his confines, from the bordering wade
An aged man came forth : his tottering fteps
With looks of filial love a maiden watchM,
And propp'd him with her arm ; and when he figh'd,
Sigh'd deeper, yet in hafte the found reftrain'd.
Left he fhould mark it. From the voice of woe
The exile never turn'd : the fire he join'd.
And afk*d his grief — Long in a diftant wild
He dwelt in peace. With malice unprovoked
And thirft of plunder fired, an Indian band.
fi<i WALKS IN A FOREST.
What time no pitying moonbeam fpoke their guile.
Stole on his fleep. At once with favage yell
The war-whoop echoed from the wood ; the torch
Flung frequent feized the roof; the fliiver'd door
Sunk from the ftroke ; his fon the onfet braved
With fruitlefs arms ; the fhriek of death was heard.
And life's laft drops the galhing tomahawk drain'd.
Fierce on the fpoil the murderers ruih'd : unfeen
The fire and daughter fled, forlorn to roam,
Think on the flain, and beg their daily food. —
Thy throbbings, Memory, in the exile's breaft
The fad recital waked. With faltering lip
He footh'd the wanderers, to his manfion led,
And cried, ** Behold your home ! And may the Power
** Who feeming evil ftill to good transforms,
" Who pitying faw, when forrow at your peace
** Her keeneft arrows aim'd, as once at mine,
** Bind up the wound !" Nor many a moon had fired
And quench'd her varying crefcent, ere that home
Could pleafe no more, unlefs the ftranger maid
Call'd it of right her own. For fhe was fair
As pi<5lured Innocence, and mental grace
Spoke in each feature. Soon the enraptured youth
The impaflion'd fecret told. With downcaft eye
And burning cheek (he llften'd to his tale ;
Own'd the quick pulfe that trembled at her heart.
WINTER. FROST. Ill
And named it gratitude, but felt it love.
Weeping for joy the fire their union hailM ;
With hands to heaven upraifed his children bleft :
And fmiling years proclaimed the blefling heard.
Climb we this brow ; the groves, whofe naked fcenes
Still have their charms, Invite us. In array
Compad they ftand, a various hoft ; as when
The Emprefs of the north her fubjedt tribes
Combined for war, the much enduring Rufs
Slow paced, the Kalmuck glorying In his fpeed.
The dwarfilh Laplander, Livonlan huge,
Siberia's fhaggy race, CircafTia's fons
For beauty famed, and Samoeide comprefs'd
In Nature's rudeft mould. Imperial oak !
Hail on thy central lawn, while rang'd around
In pomp irregular to dillance due
The fubje(5l woods retire. Of ftrength fupreme
Thy every feature tells. Thy rugged roots
Now feize with eagle grafp the earth, now heave
The Incumbent foil. Thy huge and furrow'd trunk.
With many a rough protuberance embofs'd,
The lapfe attefts of numerous ages, fled
With all their generations. Deeply fcorch'd,
Pierced, and fnapp'd fhort, thy top records a blad
Wing'd with tempeftuous lightning, and with rage
Of Alpine florm, for lefs had ne'er atchiev'd
112 WALKS IN A FOREST.
The mighty boaft, impellM. Projedled wide
O'er the bare plain with horizontal ftretch,
Thy arms enormous, girt with wither'd leaves.
And tufted ftill with mifleto, no more
By Druid hands and golden fickle cropt,
Rear their abrupt contortions ; and uphold
With firm fupport the thickly-woven fpray.
Defcifl of ftrength compenfating with grace,
Behold the Ihapely afh from yonder group
Advance : the ftem, with moffy broidure dark.
Its flowing line prolongs ; in airy fweep
Curve above curve the carelefs branches wave,
In beauty's facile bend then upward turn,
Studded with fable gems, gems loth to yield
The leaves they Ihroud to April's fickle gale.
Behold the birch in mimic forrow droop.
With filver mantle torn, and wait the call
Of Spring In many a lucid rill to pour
Nedtarean tears. Behold the fable yew
In ever-during armour frovrn, and vaunt
Its boughs elaftlc, once of Albion deem'd,
What thou art now, imperial oak, the pride
And bulwark, when her fons, at Freedom's nod.
On Kent's white cliffs and Cumbrian hills array'd.
Drew the long bow, and pointed fhafts repell'd
Invading Gaul, and Caledonia's rage.
WINTER. FROST.
1^3
Nor lefs its wintry honours unimpaired
The ivy boafts 2 not as when freakt by art
With motley tints it decorates the wall
Of painted fummer-houfe, or trim alcove :
But o'er its native thicket wanders wide,
Dark-robed ; and round the thorn's imprifonM trunk
Twifting in hairy volumes, fpreads its veil.
And loads the boughs with verdure not their own.
But foremoft of the troop whofe hardy files
Clofe ranged, thy wrath, defpoiling Autumn, fcorn,
The holly glows ; in fummer's gaudy bower
Dull and unnoticed; now, when winter's voice
Roars through the wood, with native coral bright.
And armed leaves ; as virtues in thy glare,
Profperity, long torpid and unfeen,
When Fortune rolls her adverfe waves, break forth,
Refulgent. Now a folitary cone
On pale gray trunk it raifes : now combines
Its crowded tops and intermingling ftems
In fecial groups : now ftretches o*er the hills
In woods continuous, with no6lurnaI gloom
Still dufky, fave where through fome narrow cleft
The prying ray fteals entrance ; or a Ihower
Of fplendid atoms twinkles in the fun.
While the keen thrufli the berried twig invades.
Or from the rimy boughs the ringdove breaks,
1
114 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Clofe crowding to the roots the foxglove fh^lns
The peafant's weighty tread ; and re?.rs its ftems,
Summer's browTi reliques, late with pendent bells
Reddening the wild, now wither'd and forlorn,
Fringed with dry fragments ruftling in the breeze.
Thus o'er the warrior's urn while Victory bends
In monumental woe, his mighty lance
Sordid with dull, and blunt with cankering age.
High on the wall mid tatter'd enfigns hangs.
And mouldering trophies of its paft renown.
Why gleams the axe ? Why falls the verdant branch
Falls it with emblematic green to deck
The fane, or in the cheerful window twined
The village grace ; while man adoring learns
The wonders of his Saviour's birth, or hails
With feftal gratitude the newborn year ?
Hark ! louder ftill the invaded woodlands groan ;
And ampler defolation ftrews the ground.
Caird by the well-known echoes, that announce
To every herd throughout the adjacent lawns
Scattered the hour of food, when fylvan fpoils
The fhrivel'd herbage of the plain fupply,
Lo the deer hafte : as when at farmyard gate "
The noontide bell, fwung long, and tinkling far.
The peafant bands expelling due repaft
Summons from many a field. The prickly leaves
WINTER. FROST. I I5
Fearlefs they crop ; then feize the flender fhoots ;
Then from the firmer branches ftrip the rind,
Not doom'd the fchoolboy's vifcous rods to arm.
And fnare the antient tenants of the fhade.
Hither, ye children of the cot, repair ;
The herds have browfed their fill ; the fpoil is yours.
In thought even now I hear your bufy tongues :
I fee your ruddy cheeks ftill deeper dy'd
By the keen air : I fee your purple hands
Drag the forfaken boughs : I fee you bend
All playful o'er the evening hearth, and rub
The fmarting eyeball, as ye watch the fmoke
Burft forth in puffs ; or touch the fleaming rind
With timorous finger oft and oft withdrawn ;
While foamy fap through every crevice boils.
And hiffes in the half-extinguilhM fire.
Whether Hill green, with leafy guard the boughs
Encircled rife, or bleak with horrent fpray
Shiver in naked ranks, alike o'er all
Winter his petrifying fceptre waves ;
Hurls from her throne the Vegetative Power ;
Chains in its hardened rind the trunk ; with cry
Terrific fhakes the branches ; in the bud
Seals up the leaflet ; and in every vein
Curdles the ftagnant fap. Yet at thy name.
King of the tempefts, though through all her realms
I 2
Il6 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Creation fhudders, and her feebler tribes
Torpid and whelm'd in deathlike fleep furveys ;
Time's active flrength nor flags nor fliimbers ; Time,
Niimb'd by no froft, retarded by no ftorm,
Still fpeeds his never-varied courfe, ftill fwells
With days and months and years his journeyed (lore.
Nor fhall his hafte be flacken'd, till he gains
The peak of that vaft mountain, up whofe fteeps
Straining for ages he has toil'd ; and treads
Unconfcious on the brink of the abyfs,
Thy gulph, Eternity, foredoom'd his grave.
Takes one ftep more, and is for ever loft.
Thus when Its facred reft the Sabbath breathes.
Labour's tired hand, the unyoked ox, the earth
Safe from the fhare, repofes ; in the port
Thy din, clofe anchoring Commerce, ftuns no more;
Mute is the empty mart ; unheard the rage
Of pleaders; Juftice, with relenting brow,
Sheathes on the hallowed morn her fword ; a paufe,
A folemn paufe, all nature feems to feel,
Save in the frowning camp. War knows no reft ;
War owns no fabbath ; War, with impious toil
Unfpent, with blood unfated, to the fiends
Of vengeance ftill rebellows, ftill purfues
His work of death ; nor paufes, nor relents,
For laws divine, or fight of human woe.
WINTER. FROST.
117
Sunk in the vale, whofe concave depth receives
The waters draining from thefe fhelvy banks
When the Ihower beats, yon pool with pallid gleam
Betrays its icy covering. From the glade
IfTuing in penfive file, and moving flow,
The cattle, all unwitting of the change,
To quench their cuftomary thirft advance.
With wondering ftare and fruitlefs fearch they trace
The folid margin : now bend low the head
In a<n: to drink ; now with faftidious nofe
Snuffing the marble floor, and breathing loud.
From the cold touch withdraw. Awhile they fland
In difappointment mute ; with ponderous feet
Then brulfe the furface : to each flroke the woods
Reply ; forth guflies the imprlfon'd wave.
So when thy keel, adventurous Monk *, had plowed
The Ardlic flreight ; when on the beach, convulfed
* Captain Monk was difpatched In the year 1619 ^X Chrif-
tian IV. king of Denmark, to attempt the difcovery of a north-
eaft paflage to China. He wintered on the Ihore of Hudfon's
Bay } and relates that the cold was fo intenfe, that neither beer,
wine, nor brandy could refift it j but were frozen up, and the
vefTels which contained them were fplit into pieces : and that,
before they could ufe the liquors, they were obliged to hew tliem
with hatchets, and diflblve them by fire. The claflical reader will
recolUft Virgil's defcription of a Scythian winter:
cgduntque fecuribus humida vina*
»3
Il8 WALKS IN A FOREST.
With {hock of floating ifles and driving cliffs
Rear'd in pellucid adamant, thy crew
Liftening the crafh their wintry dwelling raifed ;
Nor juice of grape by fouthern funs matufed.
Nor fierce Geneva with internal fire
Ardent the petrifying blaft withftood.
The expanding velTel roarM. Protruded pale
From the ftaved ends the pillar'd ice amazed
The thirlly mariners. The glafly draught
Eager they hew with axes, crufii with bars.
Shiver with hammers, and o'er piny boughs
Heap'd high the fragments in the caldron pile.
Quick moves the hand, the labouring bellows pant ;
The cheer'd flame glows beneath the brazen cave ;
On its hot fides the round drops hifs ; the flood
Slow-rifmg fimmers ; o'er the fmking mafs
Throng'd in clofe circle gleaming faces hang,
And half devour it with impatient eyes.
Through Winter's fylvan realms in devious courfe
Thus rove our fteps. We linger, pleafed to note
His mien peculiar. Deem we then the face
Of changeful feafons varied but to charm
The gazing eye, and footh the vacant mind ?
Say, is not Nature's ample tome difplay'd.
Even to the carelefs wanderer in the field,
With loftier purpofe ? Wifdom's didates pure.
WINTER. FROST. II9
Themes of momentous import, characler'd
By more than human finger, every page
Difclofes. He, who formed this beauteous globe
So fair, amid its brighteft fcenes hath hung
Fit emblems of a perilhable world ;
And graved on tablets he that runs may read
Your fickle date, ye fublunary joys.
The buds doth Spring unfold, and, thick as dew
Spangling the grafs, the purple bloom diffufe ?
Comes a chill blight, and bids the fanguine youth
Read in its ravages a lore that tells
Of fruflrate plans, and hope indulged in vain.
Do Summer funs the mead with herbage load,
And tinge the ripening year ? With fudden rage
The thunderftorm defcends ; the river fwells
Impatient, leaps the mound ; and, while the waves
Devour the promifed harveft, calls on Thee,
O Man, to tremble for thy daily bread.
The faded leaves doth Autumn fcatter wide ;
Or Winter rend the defolated boughs,
And lay the fathers of the foreft low ?
Child of the duft, attend I To thee they cry,
Each from his whirlwind, *^ Earth is not thy home."
They bid thee feek, nor fruitlefs deem the toil,
A more enduring dwelling-place ; the joys
Unutterable, which nor eye hath feen,
14
120 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Nor ear hath heard, nor heart of man * conceived ;
Joys which in worlds to holy peace confign'd,
Empyreal realms, Omnipotence prepares
For thofe who love their God : joys then to ope
Their ftores, when from the Judge's face, as dew
Shrinks from the fun, this earth, thefe heavens, are
fledf;
And all the palm-crown'd fons of holinefs,
With garments wafh'd in their Redeemer's blood J,
Shout their hofannas round his throne ; and, join'd
With angels, and to angels equal made.
Bathe in the fount of ever-during blifs.
Do Seafons teach in vain ? Doth Nature's voice
Sound in dull ears ? Has Truth, difclofed from heaven,
With ufelefs toil on Nature's volume pour'd
New radiance ; and her facred fhafts beheld
Bound unimpreffive from the callous heart ?
Tremble, infenfate triflers ! Tremble, mourn,
O race obdurate ! Ye that flight the love.
That mock the vengeance of eternal Power :
Love, on whofe wonders raptured Angels gaze ;
Vengeance, in flames to fhuddering Fiends reveal'd !
What yet remains ? The hour, that ends the joys
And wakes the throbs of guilt ; the hour, that cries,
* I Cor. ii. 9. f Rev. XX. 11. J Rev. vii. 14.
WINTER.— FROST. 121
** Trial is paft, and Judgement reigns ;" the hour.
That bids accufing Memory barb her darts ;
That brings the fruitlefs figh, the confcious pang,
Of ruin felf-induced, and mercy loft
For ever, the blank horrors of defpair !
So, warn'd of God, from cities long grown deaf
To facred exhortation to the depth
Of mountain woods his fons the Patriarch led.
There with long-drawn and wide-extended line
He ftretch'd the mighty keel and curved the ribs
Of that capacious vefTel, doom'd to fave
The wrecks of nature. Oft would gathering crowds
With ftupid gaze the growing fabric watch,
Or point the taunting finger. He meanwhile.
Year after year, untired the tafl^ purfued ;
Till wonder ceafed to mark his toil, nor fcorn
Deign'd to deride him more. One morn, the heavens
Grew dark with wings ; earth with unnumbered fteps
Sounded ; bird, beaft, in long proceffion fought
Their deftined refuge. With his kindred train
The builder next afcended. From the gloom
Of congregating clouds put forth, a Hand *
The entrance clofed. Then darknefs covered all.
* " They went in unto Noah into the ark — and the Lord ftiut
*< l;im in." Gen. vii. 15, 16.
112 WALKS IN A FOREST.
Deathlike, unfunn'd, as though primeval night
Refumed her empire. Torrents from the fkles
Plunged prone in folid downfall. Earth her depths
Burft. TJironging on the fummits of the hills,
As feamen crowded on the mainmaft's top
While at each billow deeper fmks the fhip
And deeper, nations their defpairing eyes
RoU'd round ; from every furge in leflening orb
Shrunk ; their wild arms uplifted ; ftretch'd their necks
Above the rifmg waves, and fhriek'd their laft.
Father of earth and heaven. Almighty Lord,
Whofe fpan confines infinity *, whofe eye
Surveys eternal ages at a glance ;
How long, in crowding millions round thy throne
On balanced wings while fpirits pure thy nod
Await, In blifs moft blefled when Thou deign'fl
To fpeak thy mandate, and their fervice ufe ;
How long fliall man with cold reludant heart
Ponder the truths thy word, thy works, declare ?
Yet here, even here, in this apoftate vale
Still Thou haft many fervants. But afar
From thy abode the vain, the felfiih throng
On FoUy^s glittering ftream fecurely floats.
-wild uproar
Stood ruled, (lood vaft Infinitude confined. Milton-
WINTER. FROST. 12$
Or toils through ftorms for honour, power, or gold.
Thou art not in their thoughts, nor in their ways.
This to his pleafure turns, this to his farm,
That to his merchandife. The globe rolls round ;
And flill another and another Spring
Beholds the chafers urge the blind purfuit.
Nearer, yet nearer, to the gloom that hangs
In mifly volumes on the horizon's verge,
And hides the gulf wide-yawning for its prey.
Meanwhile they feaft, they dance ; the jocund harp
Rings at their board ; the viol, tabret, horn,
And lute fymphonious to the choral lay,
Pour the full tide of harmony : but Thee
They flight, nor mark the wonders of thy hand !
Yet name they not their God? — What name they more?
Thy holy name the town, the country hears
In ceafelefs repetition ; day and night,
Bufmefs and leifure, indigence and wealth,
All hours, all places hear thy holy name.
Strange to the heart, why dwells it on the tongue ?
To round a period with fonorous clofe ;
To court the fool's applaufe by daring Thee ;
To tell the paffing impulfe of furprife ;
To vent the fumes of difappointed hope ;
To filence doubt, that fcans the uncertain talc ;
To fwell the evening roar of impious mirth,
124 WALKS IN A FOREST.
When wine unchains the proud blafphemer's joy ;
To arm the curfe that for a word, a look.
To realms of endJefs woe a brother hurls,
Stamp'd with thy image, nurtured by thy love.
Father of ?J1, yet fpare ! Thine arm extend
In mercy, not In judgement : loofe the bonds
Thou only canft unlock, bonds firm as links
Of adamant, that gird the flaves of guilt.
Pierce the deaf ear, the fightlefs eyeball cleanfe.
The dull mind quicken, melt the obdurate heart.
Teach the awaken'd foul with kindling joy
In all that air and earth and fea difplay.
Through each returning feafon, to behold
Thee, the great Author : mid the changing fcenes
And varying cares of life bid her on Thee
Fix her fupreme regard, thy will explore,
Revere thy counfels, thy behefts obey !
THE END.
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