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In such a Night, when every louder Wind
Is to its distant Cavern safe confin’d;
And only gentle Zephyr fans his Wings,
And lonely Philomel, still waking, sings;
Or from some Tree, fam’d for the Owl’s delight, [5]
She, hollowing clear, directs the Wand’rer right:
In such a Night, when passing Clouds give place,
Or thinly vail the Heav’ns mysterious Face;
When in some River, overhung with Green,
The waving Moon and trembling Leaves are seen; [10]
When freshen’d Grass now bears it self upright,
And makes cool Banks to pleasing Rest invite,
Whence springs the Woodbind, and the Bramble-Rose,
And where the sleepy Cowslip shelter’d grows;
Whilst now a paler Hue the Foxglove takes, [15]
Yet checquers still with Red the dusky brakes:
When scatter’d Glow-worms, but in Twilight fine,
Shew trivial Beauties watch their Hour to shine;
Whilst Salisb’ry stands the Test of every Light,
In perfect Charms, and perfect Virtue bright: [20]
When Odours, which declin’d repelling Day,
Thro’ temp’rate Air uninterrupted stray;
When darken’d Groves their softest Shadows wear,
And falling Waters we distinctly hear;
When thro’ the Gloom more venerable shows [25]
Some ancient Fabrick, awful in Repose,
While Sunburnt Hills their swarthy Looks conceal,
And swelling Haycocks thicken up the Vale:
When the loos’d Horse now, as his Pasture leads,
Comes slowly grazing thro’ th’ adjoining Meads, [30]
Whose stealing Pace, and lengthen’d Shade we fear,
Till torn up Forage in his Teeth we hear:
When nibbling Sheep at large pursue their Food,
And unmolested Kine rechew the Cud;
When Curlews cry beneath the Village-walls, [35]
And to her straggling Brood the Partridge calls;
Their shortliv’d Jubilee the Creatures keep,
Which but endures, whilst Tyrant-Man do’s sleep:
When a sedate Content the Spirit feels,
And no fierce Light disturbs, whilst it reveals; [40]
But silent Musings urge the Mind to seek
Something, too high for Syllables to speak;
Till the free Soul to a compos’dness charm’d,
Finding the Elements of Rage disarm’d,
O’er all below a solemn Quiet grown, [45]
Joys in th’ inferiour World, and thinks it like her Own:
In such a Night let Me abroad remain,
Till Morning breaks, and All’s confus’d again;
Our Cares, our Toils, our Clamours are renew’d,
Or Pleasures, seldom reach’d, again pursu’d. [50]
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