The peripatetic or, Sketches of the heart, of nature and society; In a series of politico-sentimental journals, in verse and prose, of the eccentric excursions of Sylvanus Theophrastus; Supposed to be written by himself [by John Thelwall] |
 | [I]. |
[Hail, Meditation! modest maid!] |
| II. |
| III. |
 | The peripatetic |  |
101
[Hail, Meditation! modest maid!]
Hail, Meditation! modest maid!
Who rov'st full oft, in thoughtful mood,
By haunted brook, or shadowy glade,
Or o'er the heath-clad mountain rude
To meet the Muse, wild Fancy's child!
Companion of thy pensive hours;
Who glads the dark-hued forest wild,
And decks the barren wold with flow'rs.
Who rov'st full oft, in thoughtful mood,
By haunted brook, or shadowy glade,
Or o'er the heath-clad mountain rude
To meet the Muse, wild Fancy's child!
Companion of thy pensive hours;
Who glads the dark-hued forest wild,
And decks the barren wold with flow'rs.
102
And as ye, thus, Enthusiast Pair!
In mental converse loitering stray,
And Nature's cheering beauties share,
Instruction beams to gild your way:
Nor, yet, external scenes alone
The moralizing theme impart—
Your searching glances, inward thrown,
Correct the feelings of the heart.
In mental converse loitering stray,
And Nature's cheering beauties share,
Instruction beams to gild your way:
Nor, yet, external scenes alone
The moralizing theme impart—
Your searching glances, inward thrown,
Correct the feelings of the heart.
For who with serious eye can view
Those scenes the Muse delights to hail,
Or Meditation's flight pursue,
Nor feel the generous thought prevail?
From Nature's hand on all around
(Meads graz'd by flocks, and choral shades)
Since Love's benignant stamp is found,
And Sympathy thro' all pervades.
Those scenes the Muse delights to hail,
Or Meditation's flight pursue,
Nor feel the generous thought prevail?
From Nature's hand on all around
(Meads graz'd by flocks, and choral shades)
Since Love's benignant stamp is found,
And Sympathy thro' all pervades.
Ah! sure, if all to human kind
Their tributary blessings bring,
To glad the sense, or sooth the mind,
Or vibrate pleasure's genial string—
Ah! sure, where'er a nerve is found
To feel delight, or suffer woe,
There Man, by every tie, is bound
Or this to ward, or that bestow.
Their tributary blessings bring,
To glad the sense, or sooth the mind,
Or vibrate pleasure's genial string—
Ah! sure, where'er a nerve is found
To feel delight, or suffer woe,
There Man, by every tie, is bound
Or this to ward, or that bestow.
Then let me, sweet Enthusiasts! moan;
Nor check the tear ye taught to fall;
That future feelings may atone
For scenes I can no more recall.
And let the Woodlark's plaintive trill,
And her's who charms the twilight grove,
Their mournful lessons oft instill,
And virtue's tender pang improve.
Nor check the tear ye taught to fall;
That future feelings may atone
For scenes I can no more recall.
103
And her's who charms the twilight grove,
Their mournful lessons oft instill,
And virtue's tender pang improve.
| The peripatetic | |