Τ Η Ε

T RA V

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Remote, unfriended, nielancholy, flow,
Or by the lazy Scheld, or wand'ring Po;
Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor,
Agairft the houseless stranger shuts the door ;.
Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies,
A weary walte expanding to the skies;
Where'er I roam, whatever realnıs to see,
My heart untravellid fondly turns to thee :
Still to my brother turns, with ceaseless pain,
And drags at each remove a length’ning chain.
Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend,
And rour.d his dwelling-guardian saints attend;
Blest be that spot, where chearful guests retire
To pause from toil and trim their ev'ning fire ;
Bleft that abode, where want and pain repair,
And ev'ry stranger finds a ready chair :
Blest be those feasts with sinple plenty crown'd,
Where all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jefts or pranks that never fail,
Or figh with pily at fome mournful tale,
Or press the bathsul Alranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.

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But me, not destin'd such delights to share, My prime of life in wand'ring spent and care: Impelld, with steps unceasing, to pursue

25 Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view; That, like the circle bounding earth and skies ; Allures from far, yet, as I follow, Aies ; My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, And find no spot of all the world my own.

Ev'n now, where Alpine solitudes ascend, I sit me down a pensive hour to spend; And, plac'd on high above the storm's career, Look downward where an hundred realms appear ; Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide, 35 The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride.

When thus Creation's charms around combine,
Aunidst the store, should thankless pride repine ?
Say, should the philofophic mind disdain
That good, which makes each humbler bosom vain? 40
Let school-taught pride diffemble all it can,
These little things are great to little man ;
And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind.
Ye glittring towns, with wealth and splendorcrown'd, 45
Ye fields, where fummer spreads profufion round,
Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale,
Ye bending swains, that dress the flow'ry vale,
For me your tributary ftores combine ;
Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine.

As some lone miser visiting his store,
Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er ;
Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill,
Yet still he fighs, for hoards are wanting Hill:

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Thus to my breast alternate passions rife,

55 Pleas’d with each good that heav'n to man supplies : Yet ost a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall, To see the hoard of human bliss so small; And oft I wish, amidst the scene, to find Some spot to real happiness consign'd,

60 Where my worn foul, each wandring hope at rest, May gather bliss to see my fellows blest.

But where to find that happiest spot below, Who can direct, when all pretend to know? The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own, Extols the treasures of his itormy seas, And his long nights of revelry and ease ; The naked negro, panting at the line, Boasts of his golden sands and palniy wine, Basks in the glare, or ftems the tepid wave, And thanks his Gods for all the good they gave. Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roai, His first, best country ever is, at home. And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare, 75 And estimate the blessings which they share, Tho' patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find An equal portion dealt to all mankind. As different good, by art or nature given, To different nations makes their blessings even. 80

Nature, a mother kind alike to all, Still

grants her bliss at labour's earnest call; With food as well the peasant is supply'd On Idra's cliffs as Arno's shelvy side ; And though the rocky crested fuminits frown, 85 These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down,

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From art more various are the blessings sent ;
Wealth, commerce, honour, liberty, content.
Yet these each other's pow'r so strong contest,
That either seems destructive of the rest.

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Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails,
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.
Hence ev'ry state to one lov'd blessing prone,
Conforms and models life to that alone.
Each to the fav'rite happiness attends,

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And spurns the plan that aiins at other ends ;
Till, carried to excess in each domain,
This fav’rite good begets peculiar pain.

But let us try thefe truths with closer eyes,
And trace them through the prospect as it lies :
Here for a while my proper cares resign'd,
Here let me fit in sorrow for mankind,
Like yon neglected firub at random cast,
That shades the steep, and fighs at every blast.
Far to the right where Appennine ascends,

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Bright as the summer, Italy extends ;
Its uplands lloping deck the mountain's side,
Woods over woods in gay theatric pride;
While oft fome temple's mould'ring tops between,
With venerable grandeur mark the scene.

Could nature's bounty satisfy the breast,
The sons of Italy were surely blest.
Whatever fruits in different climes were found,
That proudly rise, or humbly court the ground;
Whatever bloonis in torrid tracts appear,

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Whofe bright fuccession decks the varied year;
Whatever sweets salute the northern sky
With vernal liv,s that blossom but to die ;

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These here disporting own the kindred soil,
Nor alk luxuriance from the planter's toil;
While fea-born gales their gelid wings expand
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land.

But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
In florid beauty groves and fields appear,

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Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Contrasted faults through all his manners reign,
Though poor, luxurious, though submissive, vain,
Though grave, yet tiling, zealous, yet untiue,
And ev’n in penance planning fins anew.

130 And evils here contaminate the mind, That opulence departed leaves behind ; For wealth was theirs, not far remov'd the date, When commerce proudly flourish'd through the state ; At her command the palace learnt to rise, 135 Again the long-fal’n column sought the skies ; The canvass glow'd beyond e'en Nature warm, The pregnant quarry teein'd with human form. Till, more unsteady than the southern gale, Conimerce on other shores display'd her fail ;

140 While nought remaind of all that riches gave, But towns unmann'd, and lords without a llave : And late the nation found with fruitless skill Its former strength was but plethoric ill. Yet, still the loss of wealth is here supply'd

145 By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride ; From these the feeble heart and long-fall’n mind An easy compensation feem to find. Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp array'd, The paste-board triumph and the cavalcade ; 150