University of Virginia Library

Ye who come with hallowed Feet
To this grave, Time-honoured Seat,
Sit [ye] down in Passion's Rest:
'Tis Peace who bids You here be bless'd!
Here is Silence and a Grove
That the pensive pleasures love;
Here are Meads and limpid Springs,
Where sportive Fancy strays and sings.
In living Rock the mossy Cave,
Silver Avon's sleeping Wave,
Solitude and Conscience clear,
And Quiet and the Muse, are here.
Then sit ye down, and know my Rest:
'Tis Peace who bids you here be bless'd!

Gentle Peace, Commands like thine
Every feeling Heart incline
To sit and to enjoy the Good
Of thy delicious Solitude;
Within thy favourite Scene to dwell
Thy Poet has described so well;
And feel how sweet it is to dream
By silver Avon's sober Stream,
While yet with silent Pace it moves
And prompts the Flight that Fancy loves.

Here we survey each lovely Place;
The Rock, the Stream, the Mead admire;
Dwell on each unobtrusive Grace;
Then to the mossy Cave retire;
And sit us down at thy Request,
O gentle Power, and feel us blest.
But No! we own there is a Debt
We ought to pay and rest not yet;
Before thy Call can be obeyed,
That sacred Debt must first be paid;
For can we all these Blessings share
And not enquire—how came they there?
[Ere] Peace upon the Bosom steals,
It would express the Joy it feels;
Although the Eye delights to rove
In Scenes that all the Muses love.
Though much of Good these Views impart,
'Tis other Good that fills the Heart:
'Tis inbred Worth and feelings Kind,
With Manners that bespeak the Mind
Enriched, informed, replete, refined;
And Hospitality, that lives
Delighted with the Joy it gives;
And native Ease, and pure good Sense,
And unalloyed Benevolence.
To him, to her, who kindly press
Each Friend to share what they possess,
To them be all the Good each Heart
Desires so largely to impart;
And ever to their Hearts may flow
The Tide of Blessings they bestow!
With them may Peace, who loves to dwell
In mossy Cave and lonely Cell—
The Peace of Nature, she who loves
The quiet Streams and shady Groves—
May she within her Entrance find,
And there be lasting Peace of Mind!