THE TRAVELLER: OR, A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY *. REMOTE, unfriended, melancholy, slow, Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, And round his dwelling guardian saints attend: Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire: * In this Poem, as it passed through different editions, several alterations were made, and some additional verses introduced. We have followed the ninth edition, which was the last that appeared in the life-time of the Author. Blest that abode, where want and pain repair, Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd, Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail, But me, not destin'd such delights to share, Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view; E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend, I sit me down a pensive hour to spend ; And plac'd on high above the storm's career, Look downward where an hundred realms appear; Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide, The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride. When thus Creation's charms around combine, Amidst the store, should thankless Pride repine? Say, should the philosophie mind disdain That good which makes each humbler bosom vain? Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can, These little things are great to little man; And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind Ye glittering towns, with wealth and splendor crown'd; As some lone miser, visiting his store, Pleas'd with each good that Heaven to man supplies: To see the hoard of human bliss so small; Where my worn soul, each wandering hope at rest, But where to find that happiest spot below, Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave, Nature, a mother kind alike to all, Still grants her bliss at labour's earnest call; With food as well the peasant is supply'd On Idra's cliffs as Arno's shelvy side; And though the rocky-crested summits frown, These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down. From art more various are the blessings sent; Wealth, commerce, honour, liberty, content. Yet these each other's power so strong contest, That either seems destructive of the rest. Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails; And honour sinks where commerce long prevails. Hence every state to one lov'd blessing prone, Conforms and models life to that alone. Each to the fav'rite happiness attends, And spurns the plan that aims at other ends: "Till carried to excess in each domain, This fav'rite good begets peculiar pain. |