Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Thro' the walk, with shrubs o'ergrown,
Scenty shrubs, and flowrets blown,
Mount we yonder green parterre,
Whence the prospect widens far;
Farther yet, and farther shews
Living landschapes, verdant views:
Where the still enraptured sight,
Drinks in draughts of new delight.
Then the limpid rill survey
Thro' the wild that winds its way;
On whose flower-ennamel'd bank,
Weeping willows, oziers dank,
Hang their pensive heads, and say,
Nature's robe is stol'n away,

Stol'n by art, so well express'd,
All seems nature nicely dress'd.
Now the river's liquid clue,
Thro' the mazy wild persue,
To the shell-enwoven cave,
Meditation's living grave:
Or to the arboret's shaded seat,
Where love, the boy, delights to meet
Youth his sister, ever fair,
Nurtur'd by coy virtue's care;
Loves to meet, and sport and twine
Like the rose and eglantine.
Treading, as on fairy ground,
To the temple trip it round,
To the temple consecrate
To fidelity the mate.
He and tenderness the bride
There in form of doves reside:
Happy doves, that all the day,
Live and love, and coo and play;
Happy doves, that constant ever,
Love unites, nor death can sever.

Passing this enchanting place;
See the mansion shews its face!
Comely-Cynic, tho' grown old,
Hospitality behold!
Constant at the door she stands,
Smiles, and opes her courteous hands:
While benevolence, the grace,
Soft of heart, and sweet of face,
To the master will attend,
To the man, her choicest friend;

With whom always she'd remain,
She and all her social train;
Pity, with the melting eye,
Active worth, humanity;
Sincerity, rare seen abroad,
And generosity, the god.

Cynic, come, put out your torch,
I have found him; cease your search!
And the man—tell whom you will—
Is Godin, upon Southgate Hill.

The allusion is to the known story of Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher, who replied to a person that asked him what he was doing with a lighted torch in his hand in the day-time? “I am seeking for a man.”