With bounding heart he shows his spotted prize, And marks, exulting, the well-feigned surprise. A second moment sees him locked in sleep, And placid slumbers o’er his senses creep; In dreams he rests along some river’s side, Where giant trout beneath clear waters glide. The following figure illustrates the toilsome ascent of youth to Greatness: So up yon cliffs that frown in stern array, The hardy pilgrim climbs his painful way; His form bends forward—see! how he expands O’er each frail mountain-shrub his fearful hands; Will it resist?—or, from the rocky steep, Whirl him below unnumbered fathoms deep? He grasps it firm—he keeps his dizzy ground— Though blasts and foaming torrents roar around; Soon from the summit, views, with raptured eye, The lovely scenes that far extended lie; The smiling hamlet; the deep-tangled grove; The lake whose breast reflects the hills above; The lowing herds that through green pastures stray, Where limpid streams pursue their pebbled way. After showing that imagination is most powerful in youth, and the different manner in which it operates upon men, leading some to public life, and some to retirement; after drawing a picture of domestic felicity, and dwelling upon the question whether the happiness derived from the indulgence of an ardent fancy is not ill exchanged for a reasonable view of human life,—the poet speaks of the moral influence of a fine imagination; and here occur these lines— Shall the pale Autumn shed his leaves in vain, Sear the green woods, and all their glories stain? Shall Winter clouds and bitter frosts impart, Yet force no saddening moral on the heart? Oh! let the warning past one thought employ! Have not our projects, marked by grief or joy, And all that we call beauty, talent, worth, Mimicked the transient fashion of the Earth? The fragile bloom has withered in the storm— The pride of better years now feeds the worm! The next subject of contemplation is the death of a beloved and distinguished friend; afterwards the poet goes on to describe the influence of sublime scenery in awakening corresponding sensations in the mind. An address to the Deity is attempted: next it is shown that external beauties alone cannot soothe a wounded heart; a fact happily illustrated by the disappointment of Tasso on his return to his native Sorrento—