Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/99

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THE INVITATION.
15


The Muse invites; my Delia, haste away,
And let us sweetly waste the careless day.
Here gentle summits lift their airy brow;
Down the green slope here winds the labouring plough;
Here, bathed by frequent showers cool vales are seen,
Clothed with fresh verdure and eternal green;
Here smooth canals, across the extended plain,
Stretch their long arms to join the distant main[1]:
The sons of toil with many a weary stroke
Scoop the hard bosom of the solid rock;
Resistless, through the stiff opposing clay,
With steady patience work their gradual way;
Compel the genius of the unwilling flood
Through the brown horrors of the aged wood;

  1. The Duke of Bridgewater's canal, which in many places crosses the road, and in one is carried by an aqueduct over the river Irwell. Its head is at Worsley, where it is conveyed by deep tunnels under the coal pits, for the purpose of loading the boats.