EPISTLES.
65
O'er many a shining league the level main
Here spreads itself into a glassy plain: 20
There solid billows of enormous size,
Alps of green ice, in wild disorder rise.
Here spreads itself into a glassy plain: 20
There solid billows of enormous size,
Alps of green ice, in wild disorder rise.
And yet but lately have I seen, ev'n here,
The winter in a lovely dress appear. 24
'E're yet the clouds let fall the treasar'd snow,
Or winds begun through hazy skies to blow,
At ev'ning a keen eastern breez arose,
And the descending rain unsully'd froze. 28
Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew,
The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view
The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd ev'ry object to my eyes: 32
For ev'ry shrub, and ev'ry blade of grass,
And ev'ry pointed thorn, seem'd wrought in glass;
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show,
While through the ice the crimson berries glow. 36
The thick sprung reeds, which watry marshes yield,
Seem'd polish'd lances in a hostile field.
The stag in limpid currents, with surprise,
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise: 40
The winter in a lovely dress appear. 24
'E're yet the clouds let fall the treasar'd snow,
Or winds begun through hazy skies to blow,
At ev'ning a keen eastern breez arose,
And the descending rain unsully'd froze. 28
Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew,
The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view
The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd ev'ry object to my eyes: 32
For ev'ry shrub, and ev'ry blade of grass,
And ev'ry pointed thorn, seem'd wrought in glass;
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show,
While through the ice the crimson berries glow. 36
The thick sprung reeds, which watry marshes yield,
Seem'd polish'd lances in a hostile field.
The stag in limpid currents, with surprise,
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise: 40
The
