Classic Poem

E UPHELIA , C LEORA , P ASTORELLA , L AURINDA .

Cle. Welcome, ye humble vales, ye flow'ry shades,
Ye crystal fountains, and ye silent glades!
From the gay misery of the thoughtless great,
The walks of folly, the disease of state;
From scenes where daring guilt triumphant reigns,
Its dark suspicious and its hoard of pains;
Where pleasure never comes without alloy,
And art but thinly paints fallacious joy;
Where languor loads the day, excess the night,
And dull satiety succeeds delight;
Where midnight vices their fell orgies keep,
And guilty revels scare the phantom sleep;
Where dissipation wears the name of bliss:
From these we fly in search of happiness.
Eu. Not the tir'd pilgrim, all his dangers past,
When he descries the long-sought shrine at last,
E'er felt a joy so pure as this fair field,
These peaceful shades, and smiling valleys yield;
For, sure, these oaks, which old as Time appear,
Proclaim Urania's lonely dwelling near.
Pas. How the description with the scene agrees!
Here lowly thickets, there aspiring trees;
The hazel copse excluding noonday's beem,
The tufted arbor, the pallucid stream;
The blooming sweetbriar, and the hawthorn shade,
The springing cowslips and the daisied mead,
The wild luxuriance of the full-blown fields,
Which spring prepares, and laughing summer yields!
Eu. Here simple nature strikes th' enraptur'd eye
With charms which wealth and art but ill supply;
The genuine graces, which without we find,
Display the beauty of the owner's mind .
Lau. These deep embow'ring shades conceal the cell,
Where sage Urania and her daughters dwell:
Florella, too, if right we've heard the tale,
With them resides — the lily of the vale.
Cle. But soft! what gentle female form appears,
Which smiles of more than mortal beauty wears?
Is it the guardian genius of the grove,
Or some fair angel from the choirs above?

Whom do I see? ye beauteous virgins, say,
What chance conducts your steps this lonely way?
Do you pursue some fav'rite lambkin stray'd?
Or do you alders court you to their shade?
Declare, fair strangers! if aright I deem,
No rustic nymphs of vulgar rank you seem.
Cle. No cooling shades allure our eager sight,
Nor lumbkins lost our searching steps invite.
Flo. Or is it, haply, yonder branching vine,
Whose tendrils round our low-roof'd cottage twine:
Whose spreading height, with purple clusters crown'd,
Attracts the gaze of ev'ry nymph around?
Have these lone regions aught that charms beside?
Yours are my shades, my flow'rs, my fleecy pride.
Eu. Florella! our united thanks receive;
Sole proof of gratitude we have to give:
And since you deign to ask, O courteous fair!
The motive of our unremitting care:
Know then, kind mind, our joint researches tend
To find that sovereign good of life — a friend;
From whom the wholesome counsel we may gain,
How our young hearts may happiness obtain.
By fancy's mimic pencil oft portray'd,
Still have we woo'd the visionary maid:
The lovely phantom mocks our eager eyes;
And still we chase, and still we miss the prize!
Cle. Long have we search'd throughout this bounteous isle,
With constant ardour and with ceaseless toil;
The various ways of various life we've tried;
But still the bliss we seek has been denied.
We've sought in vain through every different state;
The murm'ring poor, the discontented great;
If peace and joy in palaces reside,
Or in obscurer haunts delight to hide;
If happiness with worldly pleasures dwell,
Or shrouds her graces in the hermit's cell;
If wit, if science, teach the road to bliss,
Or torpid dulness find the joys they miss;
To learn this truth, we've bid a long adieu
To all the shadows blinded men pursue.
— We seek Urania; whose sagacious mind
May lead our steps this latent good to find:
Her worth we emulate; her virtues fire
Our ardent hearts to be what we admire:
For though with care she shuns the public eye,
Yet worth like hers, unknown can never lie.
Lau. On such a fair and faultless model form'd,
By prudence guided and by virtue warm'd,
Perhaps Florella can direct our youth,
And point our footsteps to the paths of truth.
Flo. Ill would it suit my unexperienced age
In such important questions to engage.
Young as I am, unskilful to discern,
Nor fit to tench; who yet have much to learn.
But would you with maturer years advise,
And reap the counsel of the truly wise,
The dame, in whom such worth and wisdom meet,
Dwells in the covert of yon green retreat:
All that the world calls great she once possess'd,
With wealth, with rank, her prosp'rous youth was bless'd.
In adverse fortune, now, serene and gay,
" Who gave, " she said, " had right to take away, "
Two lovely daughters bless her growing years,
And, by their virtues, well repay her cares.
With them, beneath her shelt'ring wing I live,
And share the bounties she has still to give;
For heav'n, who in its dispensations join'd
A narrow fortune to a noble mind,
Has bless'd the sage Urania with a heart
Which wisdom's noblest treasures can impart;
In duty's active round, each day is past
As if she thought each day might prove her last:
Her labours for devotion best prepare,
And meek Devotion smooths the brow of Care.
Pas. Then lead, Florella, to that humble shed
Where peace resides — from courts and cities fied!

SONG.

I.

O Happiness, celestial fair,
Our earliest hope, our latest care,
O hear our fond request!
Vouchsafe, reluctant nymph, to tell
On what sweet spot thou lov'st to dwell,
And make us truly blest.

II.

Amidst the walks of public life,
The toils of wealth, ambition's strife,
We long have sought in vain;
The crowded city's noisy din,
And all the busy haunts of men,
Afford but care and pain.

III.

Pleas'd with the soft, the soothing power
Of calm reflection's silent hour
Sequester'd dost thou dwell?
Where care and tumult ne'er intrude,
Dost thou reside with solitude;
Thy humble vat'ries tell?

IV.

O Happiness, celestial fair,
Our earliest hope, our latest care!
Let us not sue in vain!
O deign to hear our fond request,
Come, take possession of our breast,
And there for ever reign.