To range the murmuring market-place, and view The motley groups that faithful TENIERS drew. When Spring bursts forth in blossoms thro' the vale, And her wild music triumphs on the gale, Oft with my book I muse from stile to stile; * Oft in my porch the listless noon beguile, Framing loose numbers, till declining day Thro' the green trellis shoots a crimson ray; Nor boast, O Choisy! seat of soft delight, The secret charm of thy voluptuous night. Vain is the blaze of wealth, the pomp of power! * Tantôt, un livre en main, errant dans les préries— BOILEAU. Thy closet-supper, serv'd by hands unseen, Sheds, like an evening-star, its ray serene, m To hail our coming. Not a step prophane Dares, with rude sound, the cheerful rite restrain; 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, The busy people wing their various flight, Culling unnumber'd sweets from nameless flowers, 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; Haste to the tranquil shade of learned ease, * * 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! |