The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse :: :: University of Virginia Library

Come, Botany; belov'd Acquaintance! come;
And o'er the rich, productive, precincts roam.
Thy prying, rosey, pupils, hither ask,
To ply their pleasant, but laborious, task.
Tell them each pace with transport shall be paid,
Which traces panting steep, or tangled glade.
Declare true wonders to each raptur'd Soul,
While ranging swampy copse, or burning knowle—
Of teeming stones, and pregnant hedgerows tell,
In field adust, moist mead, or oozey dell—
What novel births, hills, lawns, and thickets, throng,
Too much for Memory—Names unfit for Song!

With these, let Art's depicturing Son, attend;
Nature's Amanuensis! Fortune's Friend!
Let the clear colours on his easel shine
With which their Parent proves His Art divine!
Mix'd with that ever-varying light and shade,
In which His manufactures all are made!
The countless works His skilful fingers weave,
At dapple dawn, midday, or chequer'd eve,
In Heav'n's bright robes, which so sublimely sweep
Rich folds of drapery round the azure deep—
The mournful shades when show'rs profusely flow,
On which He paints His seven-striped bow;
Or pours, with lustre pure, o'er glittering streams,
In gold's broad blaze, or silver's twinkling gleams,
As winds repose, or whispering zephyrs wake
The wavey waters, o'er each rill and lake—
All hues His shuttle throws, thro' Earth's large loom,
O'er every verdant leaf, and varied bloom,
Which clothe each plain, and crown each painted wood,
Proving Heav'n's Artist pow'rful—wise—and good!
Let Genius join, to trace creative skill,
By semblance clear, sketch'd round the beauteous Hill;
Each graceful attribute, of objects grand,
That there discriminate, or deck, the Land.

Swell the domestic Steep's extended Mound,
With all its groups of convex hillocks crown'd.
Reveal each vision, fair, in prospect spread,
O'er ample plain, and azure mountain's head.
The bordering objects bold, distinct, and bright,
With all expressive pow'rs of shade and light;
Of shape, size, tints, and attitudes, and dress,
That round the raptur'd eye, profusely, press!
Those more remote, whose hues, and figures, fade,
With weaker colours on the canvas laid;
Faint, and more faint, till character decay,
Clad, all alike, in knapless garments, gray.
Remoter, still, let hazey hills appear,
Like misty meteors, rising in the rear;
While endless dales dissolve before the view,
With Heav'n's arch bent, in soft celestial blue.

Rear high the towering Hailstone's rocky crest—
Stretch fair festoons across its kerchief'd breast—
Let its white shoulders o'er the woodland shine—
Show vassal rocks low shrinking, near its shrine—
Group on its polish'd crown gay Nymphs and Swains,
Who scale its lofty top to scan the plains;
Climb humbler craggs which rudely rise beneath,
Or, on their dizzy summits, labouring breathe—
To naked roots, that cross their bosoms, cling—
Or, on each low-bent bough, suspended, swing—
Couch on the silky sod, or, sportive, play,
Or trace, thro' devious tracks, their winding way.
Depict each neighbouring hill's transcendent height,
With all the beauties of their coiffure, bright,
Where Taste, delighted, eyes all Heav'n bestows,
To deck their broider'd sides, and turban'd brows—
All its best wardrobe yields, rich veils and vests,
To crown their brows, and clothe their rock-ribb'd breasts—
The graceful slopes, and furbelows of grove,
By pucker'd copses form'd, and flow'rs inwove—
Their plaited skirts full folds, and wavey falls,
With fringey hedge-rows flounc'd, or hemm'd with walls—
While each eye roams, each heart with rapture thrills,
Round this unrivall'd Sisterhood of Hills!

Spread thence unfolded canvas far, and wide,
To stretch the pictur'd space, on every side—
Westward begin, where Phebus' rising ray,
First stamps, distinct, fair signatures of day;
As from his arched fount, profuse, he pours
Full floods of liquid gold, o'er trees and tow'rs—
Whilst orient hills, which front his flowing urn,
And glowing with his new-born glories, burn;
Before the eye, their shadowy shoulders rear,
Tlll western skies receive his flaming sphere.

The Amphitheatre's wide terrace range,
Unfolding every view some rapturous change—
Trace fertile farms, that crown its cultur'd tops,
With brightest herbage, and with crowded crops.
Disperse, o'er spangled meads, fair milky kine,
Whose mottled coats, show many-colour'd shine;
Whose turgid udders swell, with strutting teats,
To feast their Owners with nectareous treats;
Which with profuse repletion overflow,
Spouting a portion every step they go.

Sketch brick-built mansions, with vermilion crown'd,
With gardens, rich, and glowing orchards, round—
Gregarious hamlets, and sequester'd cots,
That liven, and adorn, respective spots;
Where Industry and Art employ their pow'rs,
In raising esculents, and fostering flow'rs.
Where no indulg'd Deformity appears,
But love of Beauty each bright Offspring rears
Whilst labouring bands enlarge their heightening hopes,
As Culture tills, and trims, their native Slopes.
While thus the prospect spreads fair, calm, and clear,
To exercise Imagination's ear,
Let throngs of humble Artists ply, with zeal,
The clanking hammer, and the humming wheel,
Chaunting, on every side, some rustic song,
To lull their cares, and course their hours along;
While Toil surveys her stores, with calm content,
Irriguous rising o'er each bold Ascent!