The Poetical Works of Anna Seward :: :: University of Virginia Library

Sweet were the joys, that o'er my spirit flow'd
In kind and generous Gilbert's blest abode;
From Nature, and from him, the calm retreat
Boasts all that joins the lovely, and the great.
Charm'd from the track, which winds the mountain's brow,
Peering so proudly on a world below,
I mark'd the circling heights, that bare, and pale,
Zone the rich bosom of his sylvan vale;
Where darksome woods rise murmuring to the gales,
Robe the near hills, and sink into the dales;
With pomp theatric many a mountain crown,
And screen the bulging rock's terrific frown.
How soft, around their sombrous basis drawn,
Shines the green bosom of the sloping lawn!

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While, 'mid their dusky labyrinths widely spread,
Swells the illumin'd bosom of the mead;
And, skirting its light edge in waving rows,
Ting'd with autumnal gold, the umbrage flows.

What wizard dells! how tangled, dark, and steep!
Down whose rough sides the foaming waters leap,
And with meand'ring course, and tuneful wail,
Run silvering onward through the gloomy dale!
How smooth those cliffs, that meet the noon-tide ray,
Rounding in gilt convexity away!
How clear the lake, that on the green hill sleeps!
How full the shrubs, that fringe its crystal deeps!
Whose Dryads o'er the liquid mirror lean,
Braid their light locks, and view their graceful mien.

Still, as, supported by his arm, I stray'd,
Climb'd the bold hill, or trac'd the silent glade,
Listening I heard his honour'd lips explain
The laws there given to Nature's lavish reign;
The just restraints, that chasten'd wanton art,
And prov'd his taste ingenuous as his heart.

But Gilbert's virtues claim an holier meed
Than praises warbled from the doric reed;
Since not alone with beauty's robe he veils
The sterile rocks, and drains the marshy dales,

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His cares the desert wilds of life explore,
He lives the friend, and guardian of the poor;
Seeks, with unwearied aim, their lasting weal,
Their kind warm shelter, and their wholesome meal.
Deep in the lone recesses of the wood,
As leaning, late in pensive mood, he stood,
He mark'd the brook, descending from on high,
In one straight channel tire the earnest eye,
And, in the thirst for scenic beauty, sigh'd
To see its course in numerous streams divide.

High on its brow the rock's stern Genius stood,
And struck the crag, that beetled o'er the flood,
It falls!—huge fragments thunder on the waves!
The startled stream in many a current raves;
Throws her white foam amid the darkling glades,
And rapid flashes through entangled shades.
Thus, at benignant Gilbert's wish to expand
The streams of Charity with skilful hand,
May giant Power suspend each ruthless claim,
Revere his virtue, and assist its aim;

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Strike Law's stern rock, till falling statutes force
The tides of bounty into happier course!
With me not only shall remain the trace
Of his lov'd Colton's bold, romantic grace,
But of each rational and pure delight,
That cheer'd its walls with intellectual light;
Those smiles, awakening with resistless power,
The quick affections of the social hour,
Beam'd from her looks, who bounds his joys on earth,
Choice of his heart, and partner of his worth!

Alluding to his benevolent efforts in the senate, for the better regulation of the Poor's laws.

The accidental fall of part of a rock, in one of the Colton glens, auticipated Mr Gilbert's design of dividing the straight channel of a stream, which fell down the declivity, by throwing into it stony fragments.