Thy closet-supper, serv'd by hands unseen, Sheds, like an evening-star, its ray serene, To hail our coming. Not a step prophane Still clad in bloom, and veil'd in azure light;- Thus, in this calm recess, so richly fraught With mental light, and luxury of thought, dapes inemtas. HOR. My life steals on; (O could it blend with thine!) Careless my course, yet not without design. So thro' the vales of Loire the bee-hives glide, So, till the laughing scenes are lost in night, That scent the vineyard in its purple hours. Rise, ere the watch-relieving clarions play, Caught thro' St. James's groves at blush of day; Ere its full voice the choral anthem flings Thro' trophied tombs of heroes and of kings. Haste to the tranquil shade of learned * ease, Tho' skill'd alike to dazzle and to please; * Innocuas amo delicias doctamque quietem. Tho' each gay scene be search'd with anxious eye, Nor thy shut door be pass'd without a sigh. If, when this roof shall know thy friend no more, Some, form'd like thee, should once, like thee, explore; Invoke the lares of his lov'd retreat, And his lone walks imprint with pilgrim-feet; Then be it said, (as, vain of better days, Some grey domestic prompts the partial praise;) "Unknown he liv'd, unenvied, not unblest; Reason his guide, and Happiness his guest. In the clear mirror of his moral page, We trace the manners of a purer age. His soul, with thirst of genuine glory fraught, -One fair asylum from the world he knew, One chosen seat, that charms with various view! |