EPISTLES.
65
O'er many a shining league the level mainHere spreads itself into a glassy plain: 20There 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. 28Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew,The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to viewThe face of nature in a rich disguise,And brighten'd ev'ry object to my eyes: 32For 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. 36The 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
