* 
 
 II 
 
 ■ 
 
 >■• ■ 
 
 3« 
 
 
 W 
 
 3* 
 
 ■Eft 
 
 8hm 
 
 la 
 
 \* 
 
> m t^-~ 
 
 \7i 
 
 Ulrich Middeldorf 
 
THE 
 
 JlL* J 
 
 By 
 
 » 
 
 /////AV 
 
 V/V//.//V/V 
 
 with his 
 
 FE pNOIES 
 
 cLtsdfofaMl //y/V^//v//Av// _//^.v 
 
 Z^«^« 'Hint*.* tcr L*>i StocA>dal*, < %2**<6My 17^4- 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES THOMSON, 
 
 James Thomson 7 was born September the 7^ 
 J 700, at Ednam, in the mire of Roxburgh, of 
 which his father was paftor. His mother, whofe 
 name was Hume ; was co-heirefs of a fm.3ll eftate 
 in that country. It was probably in commifera- 
 tion of the difficulty with which Mr.Thomfon's 
 father fuppoTted his family, having nine children, 
 that Mr. Riccarton, a neighbouring miniiter, dif- 
 covering in James uncommon promifes of future 
 excellence, undertook to fuperintend his educa- 
 tion, and provide him books. 
 
 He was taught the common rudiments of learn- 
 ing at the fchool of Jedburg, a place which he de- 
 lights to recoiled in his poem of •' Autumn/ but 
 was not confidered by his matter as- fuperior to 
 common boys, though in thofe early days he 
 amufed his patron and his friends with poetical 
 competitions 5 w 7 ith which, however, he fo little 
 
 A 
 
. li LIFE OF THOMSON. 
 
 pleafed himfelf, that on every new-year's day he 
 threw into the fire all the productions of the fore- 
 going year. 
 
 From the fchool he was removed to Edinburgh, 
 where he had not refided two years when his father 
 died, and left all his children to the care of their 
 mother, who raifed upon her little eftate what 
 money a mortgage could afford, and, removing with 
 her family to Edinburgh, lived to fee her fon rifing 
 into eminence. 
 
 The defign of Thomfon's friends was to breed 
 liim a minifter. He lived at Edinburgh, as at 
 ichool, without diftinction or expectation, till, at 
 -the ufual time, he performed a probationary exercife 
 "by explaining a pfalm. His di&ion was fo poeti- 
 cally fplendid, that Mr. Hamilton, the profeffor of 
 divinity, reproved him for fpeaking language un- 
 intelligible to a popular audience. 
 
 This rebuke is faid to have repreffed his thoughts 
 of an ecclefiaftical character, and he probably culti- 
 vated with new diligence his talent for poetry, 
 which, however, was in fome danger of a blaft; 
 for fubmitting his productions to fome who thought 
 themfelves qualified to criticife, he heard of nothing 
 but faults -, but finding other judges more favour- 
 able, he did not fuffer himfelf to fink into abfolute 
 defpondence. 
 
LIFE OF TH0M50N-. ill 
 
 He eafily difcovered that the only ftage on which 
 a poet could appear, with any hope of advantage, 
 was London ; a place too wide for the operation of 
 petty competition and private malignity -, where 
 merit might foon become confpicuous. and would 
 find friends as foon as it became reputable to be- 
 friend it. A lady, who was acquainted with his 
 mother, advifed him to the journey, and promifed 
 fome countenance and a fli fiance, which however 
 he never received. 
 
 At his arrival in town he found his way to Mr. 
 Mallet, then tutor to the fons of the duke of Mon- 
 trofe. He had recommendations to leveral perfons 
 of confequence, which he had tied up carefully iu 
 his handkerchief} but as he pafTed alow 5 the ftreet, 
 with the gaping curiofity of a new-comer, his at- 
 tention was upon every thing rather than his pocket, 
 and his magazine of credentials was fiolen from 
 him. 
 
 His firfl want was a pair of fhoes. For the fup- 
 ply of all his necefiities, his whole fund was his 
 ' Winter,' which for a time could find no pur- 
 chafer j till, at laft, Mr. Millar, a bookfeller in the 
 Strand, was perfuaded to buy it at a low price; and 
 this low price he had for fome- time reafon to re- 
 gret 3 but, by accident, Mr.Whatley, a man pot 
 wholly unknown among authors, happening to turn 
 
 A2 
 
IV LIFE OP THOMSON. 
 
 his eye upon it, was fo delighted that he ran from 
 place to place celebrating its excellence. Thomfon 
 obtained likewife the notice of Aaron Hill, whom 
 (being friendlefs and indigent, and gladofkindnefs) 
 he courted with every expreflion of fervile adula- 
 tion. 
 
 ' Winter' was dedicated to Sir Spencer Comp- 
 ton,but attracted no regard from him to the author $ 
 till Aaron Hill awakened his attention by fome 
 verfes addrefied to Thomfon, and published in one 
 of the newfpapers, which cenfured the great for 
 their neglect, of ingenious men. Thomfon then 
 received a prefent of twenty guineas, of which he 
 gives this account to Mr. Hill : 
 
 f I hinted to ycu in my laft, that on Saturday 
 r morning I was with Sir Spencer Compton. A 
 1 certain gentleman, without my defire, fpoke to 
 
 * him concerning me: his anfwer was, that I had 
 ' never come near him. Then the gentleman put 
 ' the queftion, If he defired that I mould wait on 
 
 * him? he returned,, he did. On this, the gentle- 
 ' man gave me an introductory letter to him. He 
 « received me in what they commonly call a civil 
 f manner j afked me fome common-place quef- 
 
 * tionsj and made me a prefent of twenty guineas. 
 ' I am very ready to own that the prefent was 
 
 * larger than my performance defervedj and fhall 
 
LIFE OF THOMSON. V 
 
 1 a'fcrtbe it to his generofity, or any other caufe, 
 ' rather than the merit of the addrefs." 
 
 The poem, which, being of a new kind, few 
 would ventuie at nrit to like, by degrees gained 
 upon the public; and one edition was very fpeedily 
 fucceeded by another. 
 
 Thomfon's credit was now high, and every day 
 brought him new friends ; among others Dr.Randel, 
 a man afterwards unfortunately famous, fought his 
 acquaintance, and found his qualities fuch, thai he 
 recommended him to the lord chancellor Taibot. 
 
 ' Winter' was accompanied, in many editions, 
 not only with a preface and dedication, but with 
 poetical prailes by Mr. Hill, Mr. Mallet (then Mal- 
 loch,) and Mira, the fictitious name of a lady once 
 too well known. Why the dedications to ' Winter' 
 and the other Seafons are, contrarily tocuftom, lett 
 out in the collected works, is not known. 
 
 The next year (1/2/) he difiinguilhed himfelf by 
 three publications; of ' Summer,' in purfuance of 
 his plan; of * A Poem on the Death of Sir Ifaac 
 Newton,' which he was enabled to perform as aa 
 exact philolopher by the inliruction ol Mr. Gray; 
 and of ' Britannia,' a kind of poetical invective 
 againft the miniflry, whom the nation then thought 
 not forward enough in relenting the depredations of 
 the Spaniards. By this piece he declared himfelf an. 
 
VI LIFE OF THOMSON. 
 
 adherent to the oppofition, and had therefore n» 
 favour to expect from the court. 
 
 Thomfon, having been fome time entertained in 
 the family of lord Binning, was defirous of teftify- 
 ing his gratitude by making him the patron of his 
 ' Summer;' but the fame kindnefs which had firft 
 difpofed lord Binning to encourage him, deter- 
 mined him to refufe the dedication, which was by 
 his advice addrei-fed to Mr. Dodington, a man who 
 had more power to advance the reputation and for- 
 tune of the poet. 
 
 ' Spring' was publimed next year, with a dedi- 
 cation to the countefs of Hertford ; whofe practice 
 it was to invite every fummer fome poet into the 
 country, to hear her verfes and aiTift her lludies. 
 This honour was one fummer conferred on Thom- 
 fon, who took more delight in caroufing with lord 
 Hertford and his friends, than amfting her lady- 
 ship's poetical operations, and therefore never re- 
 ceived another fummons. 
 
 ' Autumn/ the feafon to which the ' Spring' 
 and ' Summer' are preparatory, ftill remained un- 
 fung, and was delayed till he publitiied (1/30) his 
 works collected *. 
 
 * The autumn was his favourite feafon for poetical com- 
 pofitions, and the deep faience of the night, the time he com» 
 
LIFE OF THOMSON. Vll 
 
 He produced in 1/27 the tragedy of • Sopho- 
 nifba/ which raifed fuch expectation, that every 
 rehearfal was dignified with a fplendid audience, 
 collected to anticipate the delight that was prepar- 
 ing for the public. It was obferved, however, that 
 nobody was much affected, and that the company 
 rofe as from a moral lecture. 
 
 Thomfon wa?, not long afterwards, by the influ- 
 ence of Dr. Rundle, fent to travel with Mr.Charles 
 Talbot, the eldeft fon of the Chancellor. He was 
 yet young enough to receive new impreffions, to 
 have his opinions rectified, and his views enlarged} 
 nor can he be fuppofed to have wanted that curiolity 
 which is infeparable from an active and compre- 
 hensive mind. He may therefore now be fuppofed 
 to have revelled in all the joys of intellectual luxury) 
 he was every day fearted with instructive novelties 5 
 he lived fplendidly without expenfe j and might ex- 
 pect when he retured home a certain eftablifliment. 
 
 At this time a long courfe of opposition to Sir 
 Robert Walpole had filled the nation with clam- 
 ours for liberty, of which no man felt the want ; 
 and with care for liberty, which was not in danger. 
 Thomfon, in his travels on the continent, found or 
 
 monly chofe for ftudy j fo that he was often heard walking in 
 his library, repeating what he was to correct or write out the 
 next day. 
 
VH1 LITE OF THOMSON. 
 
 fancied fo many evils arifing from the tyranny of 
 other governments, that he refolved to write a 
 very long poem, in five parts, upon Liberty. 
 
 While he was bufy on the flrft book, Mr.Talbot 
 diedj. and Thomfon, who had been rewarded for 
 his attendance by the place of fecretary of the 
 briefs, pays, in the initial lines, a decent tribute to 
 his memory. 
 
 Upon this great poem two years were fpent, and 
 the author congratulated himfelf upon it as his 
 nobleft work ; but an author and his reader are not 
 always of a mind. Liberty called in vain upon her 
 votaries to read her praifes, and reward her en- 
 comiaft: her praifes were condemned to harbeur 
 fpiders, and to gather duft. 
 
 Thomfon now lived in eafe and plenty, and 
 feems for a while to have fufpended his poetry 5 
 but he was foon called back to labour by the death 
 of the Chancellor, for his place then became 
 vacant j and though the lord Hardwicke delayed 
 for fome time to give it away, Thomfon's bathful- 
 nefs, or pride, or fome other motive, withheld him 
 from foliciting; and the new Chancellor would not 
 give him what he would not afk. 
 
 He now relapfed to his former indigence; but 
 the prince of Wales was at that time ftruggling for 
 popularity, and by the influence of Mr. Lyttelton, 
 
LIFE OF THOMSON. IX 
 
 -profefied himfelf the patron of wit: to him Thom- 
 fon was introduced, and being interrogated about 
 the (late of his affairs, faid, ' that they were in a 
 more poetical poliure than formerly}' and had a 
 penfion allowed him of one hundred pounds a year. 
 
 Being now obliged to write, he produced (1/38) 
 the tragedy of Agamemnon, which was much fhort- 
 ened in the reprefentation. It had ihe fate which 
 molt commonly attends mythological ftories, and 
 was only endured, bat not favoured. It ftruggled 
 with fuch difficulty through the firft night, that 
 Thomfon, coming late to his friends with whom he 
 was to fup, excufed his delay by telling them how 
 the fweat of his ditfrefs had fo difordered his wig, 
 that he could not come till he had been refitted 
 by a barber. 
 
 He fo interefted himfelf in his own drama, that, 
 if I remember right, as he fat in the upper gallery, 
 he accompanied the players by audible recitation, 
 till a friendly hint frighted him to filence. Pope 
 countenanced f Agamemnon,' by coming to it the 
 firft night, and was welcomed to the theatre by a 
 general elap^ he had much regard for Thomfon, and 
 once expreffed it in a poetical Epiflle fent to Italy. 
 
 He was foon after employed, in conjunction with 
 Mr. Mallet, to write the mafque of ' Alfred/ which 
 was acled before the prince at Cliefden-houfe, 
 
X LIFE OF THOMSON. 
 
 His next work (1745) was ' Tancred and Sigif- 
 munda,' the mod fuccefsful of all his tragedies; 
 for it fiill keeps its turn upon the ftage. 
 
 His friend Mr. Lyttelton was now in power, and 
 conferred upon him the office of furveyor-general 
 of the Leeward Tflandsj from which, when his de- 
 puty was paid, he received about three hundred 
 pounds a year. 
 
 The laft piece that he lived to publifli was the 
 ' Cattle of Indolence,' which was many years 
 under his hand, but was at laft finithed with great 
 accuracy. The firft canto opens a fcene of lazy 
 luxury, that fills the imagination. 
 
 He was now at eafe, but was not long to enjoy 
 it | for, by taking cold on the water between Lon- 
 don and Kew, he caught a diforder which termi- 
 nated in a fever that put an end to his life, Auguft 
 27, 1748. He was buried in the church of Rich- 
 mond, without an infcriptionj but a monument 
 has been erected to his memory in Weftminfter- 
 abbey. 
 
 Thomfon was of nature above the middle fize, 
 and ' more fat than bard befeems,' of a dull coun- 
 tenance, and a grofs, unanimated, uninviting ap- 
 pearance ; filent in mingled company, but cheerful 
 among felect friends, and by his friends very 
 tenderly and warmly beloved. 
 
LIFE OF THOMSON. XI 
 
 He left behind him the tragedy of ' Coriolanus,' 
 which was, by the zeal of his patron Sir George 
 Lyttleton, brought upon the ftage for the benefit of 
 his family, and recommended by a prologue, which 
 Quin, who had long lived with Thomfon in fond 
 intimacy, fpoke in fuch a manner as mewed him, 
 ' to be,' on that occaiion, ' no actor.' The com- 
 mencement of this benevolence is very honourable 
 to Quin ; who is reported to have delivered Thom- 
 fon, then known to him only for his genius, from 
 an arreft, by a very considerable prefent; and its 
 continuance is honourable to bothj for friendlriip 
 is always the fequel of obligation. By this tragedy 
 a confiderable fura was raifed, of which, part dif- 
 charged his debts, and the relt was remitted to his 
 fifters. 
 
 The benevolence of Thomfon was fervid, but not 
 active; he would give on all occasions what aflift- 
 ance his purfe would fupply ; but the offices of in- 
 tervention or folicitation he could not conquer his 
 fluggithnefs fufficiently to perform*. 
 
 * As for the diftinguifhing qualities of his mind and heart, 
 they are better reprefented in his writings, than they can be 
 by the pen of a biographer: there, his love of mankind, of his 
 country, and his friends; his devotion to the Supreme Being; 
 and his humanity and benevolence, mine out in every page, 
 
"Xll LIFE OF THOMSON. 
 
 Among his peculiarities was a very unfkilful and 
 inarticulate manner of pronouncing any lofty or 
 folemn compofltion. He was once reading to Dod- 
 ington, who, being himfelf a reader eminently ele- 
 gant, was fo much provoked by his odd utterance, 
 that he matched the paper from his hands, and told 
 him that he did not underftand his own verfes. 
 
 The biographer of Thornton has remarked, that 
 an author's life is beft read in his works : his ob- 
 fervation was not well-timed. Savage, who lived 
 much with Thorn fon, once told me, how he heard 
 a lady remarking that the could gather from his 
 works three parts of his character, that he was a 
 1 great lover, a great fwimmer, and rigorouily abfti- 
 nentj' but, laid Savage, he knows not any love but 
 that of the fex ; he was perhaps never in cold water 
 in his life; and he indulges himfelf in all the luxury 
 that comes within his reach. Yet Savage always 
 fpoke with the moft eager praife of his focial quali- 
 ties, his warmth and con ft. in cy of friend (hip, and 
 his adherence to his firft acquaintance when the 
 advancement of his reputation had left them be- 
 hind him. 
 
 As a writer, he is entitled to one praife of the 
 higheft kind: his mode of thinking, and of exprefs- 
 ing his thoughts, is original. His blank verfe is no 
 
LTFE OF THOMSON. XUI 
 
 more the blank verfe of Milton, or of any other 
 poet, than the rhymes of Prior are the rhymes of 
 Cowley. His numbers, his paufes, his di&ion, are 
 of his own growth, without tranfcription, without 
 imitation. He thinks in a peculiar train, and he 
 thinks always as a man of genius; he looks round 
 on nature and on life with the eye which nature 
 beftows only on a poet j the eye that diftinguimes, 
 in everything prefented to its view, whatever there 
 is on which imagination can delight to be detained, 
 and with a mind that at once comprehends the 
 vaft, and attends to the minute. The reader of the 
 ' Seafons' wonders that he never faw before what 
 Thomfon (hews him, and that he never yet has felt 
 what Thomfon imprefTes. 
 
 His is one of the works in which blank verfe 
 feems properly ufed. Thomfon's wide expanfion 
 of general views, and his enumeration of circum- 
 flantial varieties, would have been obftructed and 
 embarraffed by the frequent interferon of the 
 fenfe, which are the neceflary effects of rhyme. 
 
 His defcriptions of extended fcenes and general 
 effects, bring before us the whole magnificence of 
 nature, whether pleafing or dreadful. The gaiety 
 of Spring, the fplendor of Summer, the tranquillity 
 of Autumn, and the horror of Winter,, take in their 
 
XIV LIFE OF THOMSON. 
 
 turns poffeflion of the mind. The poet leads us 
 through the appearances of thiugs, as they are fuc- 
 ceffively varied by the viciffitudes of the year, and 
 imparts to us fo much of his own enthufiafm, that 
 our thoughts expand with his imagery, arid kindle 
 with his fentiments. Nor is the naturalift without 
 his part in the entertainment ; for he is affified to 
 recollect and to combine 3 to arrange his difcoveries, 
 and to amplify the fphere of his contemplation. 
 
 His di&ion is in the higheti degree florid and 
 luxuriant, fuch as may be faid to be to his images 
 and thoughts 'both their luftre and their made;' 
 fuch as inveft them with fplendor, through which 
 perhaps they are not always difcerned. It is too 
 exuberant, and fometimes may be charged with 
 filling the ear more than the mind. 
 
 The higheft praife which he has received ought 
 »ot to be fuppreft : it is faid by Lord Lyttelton, in 
 the prologue to his polthumous play, that his works 
 contained 
 
 * No line which, dying, he could vrifh to blot.' 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ?AGE, 
 
 LIFE OF THOMSON i 
 
 SPRING 3 
 
 SUMMER 55 
 
 AUTUMN 133 
 
 WINTER 193 
 
 HYMN 239 
 
 NOTES to the Seasons, by Percival Stockdalr 245 
 INDEX an a GLOSSARY 
 
LIST OF PLATES 
 
 1. Emblematical Frontifpiece of the Four Seafons. 
 
 2. Title, with a Portrait of the Author. 
 
 3. Sowing - - - - to face page 5~ 
 
 4. Contemplation - - 45 
 
 5. Paternal inftruftion - - - - - - 50 
 
 6. Hay-making - - - 6g 
 
 7. Shepherding - - - 75 
 
 8. Bathing - - - . 108 
 
 9. Gleaning - - - = - - 142 
 
 10. Nutting - - - - 158 
 
 11. Harveft Home - - - - 183 
 
 12. Fire-fide Scene - - - - 196 
 
 13. Perifhing Traveller - - - 204 
 
 14. Skating - - - - - - 225 
 
 
SPRING, 
 
 B 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 The fubjeft propofed. Infcribed to the Countefs of Hart- 
 ford. The Seafon is described as it affe&s the various 
 parts of Nature, afcending from the lower to the higher; 
 with digreffions arifing from the fubjeft. Its influence on 
 inanimate Matter, on Vegetables, on brute Animals, and 
 laft on Man ; concluding with a difluafive from the wild 
 and irregular pafiion of Love, oppofed to that of a pure and 
 happy kind. 
 
SPRING. 
 
 Now teeming buds and cheerful greens appear, 
 And weftern gales unlock the lazy year. 
 
 Dbyden. 
 
 Come, gentle Spuing, ethereal Mildnefs, come, 
 And from the bofom of yon dropping cloud, 
 While mufic wakes around,, veil'd in a mower 
 Of fhsdowing roles, on our plains defcend. 
 
 O Hartford, fitted or to fhine in courts 
 With unaffected grace, or walk the plain 
 With innocence and meditation join'd 
 In foft aiTemblage, liften to my fong, 
 Which thy own Seafon paints ; when Nature all 
 Is blooming and benevolent, like thee. 
 
 And fee where furly Winter paffes cfF, 
 Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blafts. 
 His blafts obey, and quit the howling hill, 
 The matter' d foreft, and the ravag'd vale; 
 While fofter gales fucceed, at whofe kind touch, 
 DifTolving mows in livid torrents loft, 
 The mountains lift their green heads to the fky. 
 
 B2 
 
4 SPRING. 
 
 As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd, 
 And Winter oft at eve refumes the breeze, 
 Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving fleets 
 Deform the day delightlefs } fo' that fcarce 
 The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht 
 To thake the founding marfh ; or from the lhore 
 The plovers when to fcatter o'er the heath, 
 And fing their wild notes to the liftening wafte. 
 
 At laft from Aries rolls the bounteous fun, 
 At;d the bright Bull receives him. Then no more 
 Th' expanfive atmofphere is cramp'd with cold; 
 But, full of life and vivifying foul, 
 Lifts the light clouds fublime, and fpreads them 
 
 thin, 
 Fleecy and white, o'er all-furrounding heaven. 
 
 Forth fly the tepid airs; and unconfin'd, 
 Unbinding earth, the moving foftnefs flrays. 
 Jovohs, th' impatient hufbandman perceives 
 Relenting Nature, and his lufty fleers 
 Drives from their flails, to where the well-us'd 
 
 plough 
 Lies in the furrow, loofen d from the fro ft. 
 There, unrefufing, to the harnefs'd yoke 
 They lend their fhoulder, and begin their toil, 
 Cheer'd by the fimple fong and foaring lark. 
 
§ own* <& 
 
 "^ 
 
 •y..j/otA4Vr-(/ t/e./. 
 
 v >^T C/jiy/m /ty -J«c Oi . 
 
 H/ufc t/i it' t/ic /t.(t//r r,ttf/ /t>y //<■/(/ f/tc .tt'<i<f.//iiiAu , 
 
 ffbtn //ic'U-j/e r(/ .t/r/i ; tine/ ///■, fit/ /// fftf.i //ir i/rrittt 
 ■Sjitf f/u' /ttt't/i/ttf fi.tcin t'/ f/i<- yrriL/iii : 
 
 ./tt/c't/hi/ Jan. lija-i /}■ Z.Stcc/c c/tt /c .Jt \cca e/i/(y . 
 
SPRTNG. • 5 
 
 Meanwhile incumbent o'er the mining mare 
 The mailer leans, removes th' obftrucling clay, 
 Winds the whole work, and iidelong lays the glebe. 
 
 White thro' the neighbouring field the fower 
 (talks, 
 With meafur'd ftep j and liberal throws the grain 
 Into the faithful bofom of the ground: 
 The harrow follows harfii, and fhuts the fcene. 
 
 Be gracious, Heaven ! for now laborious Man 
 Has done his patt. Ye foflering breezes, blow ! 
 Ye foftening dews, ye tender mower? , defcend I 
 And temper all, thou world- reviving fun, 
 Into the perfect year ! Nor ye who live 
 In luxury and eafe, in pomp and pride, 
 Think thefe loft themes unworthy of your ear : 
 Such themes as thefe the rural Maro fung 
 To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height 
 Of elegance and tafte, by Greece refin'd, 
 In ancient times, the facred plough employ d 
 The kings, and awful fathers of mankind : 
 And fome, with whom compar'd your infect- tribes 
 Are but the being's of a fummer's day, 
 Have held the fcale of empire, rul'd the ftorm 
 Of mighty war j then, with unwearied hand, 
 
6 SPRING. 
 
 Difdaining little delicacies, feiz'd 
 
 The plough, and greatly independent liv'd. 
 
 Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough j 
 And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing vales, 
 Let Autumn fpread his treafures to the fun, 
 Luxuriant and unbounded : as the fea, 
 Far thro' his azure turbulent domain, 
 Your empire owns, and from a thoufand mores 
 Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports; 
 So with fuperior boon may your rich foil, 
 Exuberant, Nature's better bleffings pour 
 O'er every land, the naked nations clothe, 
 And be th' exhauftlefs granary of a world ! 
 
 Nor only thro' the lenient air this change, 
 Delicious, breathes; the penetrative fun, 
 His force deep-darting to the dark retreat 
 Of vegetation, fets the learning Power 
 At large, to wander o*er the vernant earth, 
 In various hues -, but chiefly thee, gay Green ! 
 Thou fmiling Nature's univerfal robe! 
 United light and fhade! where the fight dwells 
 With growing ftrength, and ever-new delight. 
 
 From the moift meadow to the withered hill, 
 Led. by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, 
 
SPRING. 7 
 
 And fwells, and deepens; to the cherifli'd eye 
 The hawthorn whitens; and the juicy groves 
 Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 
 Till the whole leafy foreft ftands difplay'd, 
 In full luxuriance to the fighing gales; 
 Where the deer ruflle thro' the twining brake, 
 And the birds fing conceal'd. At once, array'd 
 In all the colours of the flufhing year, 
 By Nature's fwift and fecret- working hand, 
 The garden glows, and fills the liberal air 
 With lavifh fragrance; while the promis'd fruit 
 Lies yet a little embryo, unperceiv'd, 
 Within its crimfon folds. Now from the town 
 Buried in fmoke, and ileep, and noifome damps, 
 Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields, 
 Where frefhnefs breathes, and dam the trem- 
 bling drops 
 From the bent bum, as thro' the verdant maze 
 Of fweet-briar hedges I purfue my walk; 
 Or ta(le the fmell of dairy; or afcend 
 Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains, 
 And fee the country, far difFus'd around, 
 One boundlefs blum, one white-empurpled fhower 
 Of mingled bloflbms; where the raptur'd eye 
 
8 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath 
 The fair profufion, yellow Autumn fpies. 
 
 If, bruuYd from Ruffian wilds, a cutting gale 
 Rife not, and fcatter from his humid wings 
 The clammy mildew; or, dry-blowing, breathe 
 Untimely froft; before whofe baleful blaft 
 The full blown Spring thro' all her foliage (brinks, 
 Joylefs and dead, a wide-dejected wafte. 
 For oft, engender'd by the hazy north, 
 Myriads on myriads, infect, armies warp 
 Keen in the poifon'd breeze ; and wafteful eat, 
 Thro' buds and bark, into the blackened core, 
 Their eager way. A feeble race ! yet oft 
 The facred fons of vengeance; on whofe courfe 
 Corrofive famine waits, and kills the year. 
 To check this plague, the ikilful farmer chaff 
 And blazing ftraw before his orchard burns; 
 Till, all involv'd in fmoke, the latent foe 
 From every cranny fuffocated falls : 
 Or fcatters o'er the blooms the pungent duft 
 Of pepper, fatal to the frofty tribe : 
 Or, when th' envenom'd leaf begins to curl, 
 With fprinkled water drowns them in their neft; 
 Nor, while they pick them up with bufy bill, 
 The little trooping birds un wifely fcares, 
 
SPRING. g 
 
 Be patient, fwains; thefe cruel-feeming winds 
 Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep reprefs'd 
 Thofe deepening clouds on clouds, furcharged 
 
 with rain, 
 That o'er the vaft Atlantic hither borne, 
 In endlefs train, would quench the fummer-blaze, 
 And, cheerlefs, drown the crude unripene-d year. 
 
 The north-eaft fpends bis rare; he now mat up 
 Within his iron cave, th' effuuve fouth 
 Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven 
 Breathes tbe big; clouds with vernal (bowers diflent. 
 At firft a dufky wreath they feera to rife, 
 Scarce ftaining ether; but by fwift degrees, 
 In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour fails 
 Along the loaded iky, and mingling deep 
 Sits on th' horizon round a fettled gloom: 
 Not fuch as wintry-ftorms on mortals (bed, 
 Oppreffing life; but lovely, gentle, kind, 
 And full of every hope and every joy, 
 The with of Nature. Gradual finks the breeze 
 Into a perfect calm; that not a breath 
 Is heard to quiver through the clofing woods. 
 Or milling turn the many-twinkling leaves 
 Of afpen tall. Th' uncurling floods, dittus'd 
 In glaffy breadth, feem through delufive lapfs 
 
10 SPRING. 
 
 Forgetful of their courfe. 'Tis filence all, 
 And pleafing expectation. Herds and flocks 
 Drop the dry fprig, and mute-imploring eye 
 The falling verdure. Hufh'd in fhort fufpenfe, 
 The plumy people ftreak their wings with oil, 
 To throw the lucid moifture trickling orFj 
 And wait th' approaching fign to ftrike at once, 
 Into the general choir. Even mountains, vales, 
 And forefts feem, impatient, to demand 
 The prorais'd fweetnefs. Man fuperior walks 
 Amid the glad creation, mufing praife, 
 And looking lively gratitude. At laft, 
 The clouds confign their treafures to the fields j 
 And, foftly making on the dimpled pool 
 Prelufive drops, let all their moifture flow, 
 In large effufion, o'er the frefhened world. 
 The ftealing mower is fcarce to patter heard, 
 By fuch as wander thro' the foreft walks, 
 Beneath the umbrageous multitude of leaves. 
 But who can hold the fhade, while Heaven defcends 
 In univerfal bounty, fliedding herbs, 
 And fruits, and flowers, on Nature's ample lap? 
 Swift fancy fir'd anticipates their growth ; 
 And, while the milky nutriment diftils, 
 Beholds the kindling country colour round. 
 
SPRING. 11 
 
 Thus all day long the full-diftended clouds 
 Indulge their genial ftores, and welMhower'd earth 
 Is deep enrich'd with vegetable life; 
 Till in the weftern fky, the downward fun 
 Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flum 
 Of broken clouds, gay-fhifting to his beam. 
 The rapid radiance inftantaneous flrikes 
 Th' illumin'd mountain, thro' theforeft ftreams, 
 Shakes on the flood?, and in a yellow mift, 
 Far fmoking o'er th' interminable plain., 
 In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 
 Moift, bright, and green, the landfcape laughs 
 
 around, 
 Full fwell the woods j their every raufic wakes, 
 Mix'd in wild concert with the warbling brooks 
 Increas'd, the diftant bleatings of the hills, 
 And hollow lows refponfive from the vales, 
 Whence blending all the fweetened zephyr fprings. 
 Meantime refracted from yon eaftern cloud, 
 Beftriding earth, the grand ethereal bow 
 Shoots up immenfe; and every hue unfolds, 
 In fair proportion running from the red, 
 To where the violet fades into the fky. 
 Here, awful Newton, the diffolving clouds 
 Form, fronting on the fun, thy (howery prifm; 
 
12 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 And to the fage-inftructed eye unfold 
 The various twine of light, bv thee difclos'd 
 From the white mingling maze. Not fo the boy,- 
 He wondering views the bright enchantment bend, 
 Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs 
 To catch the falling glory; but amaz'd 
 Beholds th' amufive arch before him fly, 
 Then vanilh quite away. Still night fucceeds, 
 A foftened ("hade, and fa tu rated earth 
 Awaits the morning-beam, to give to light, 
 Kais'd thro' ten thoufand different plaltic tubes, 
 The balmy treafures of the former day. 
 
 Then fpring the living herbs, profufely wild, 
 O'er all the deep green earth, beyond the power 
 Of botanift to number up their tribes: 
 Whether he lieals along the lonely dale, 
 In filent fearchj or thro' the forett rank 
 With what the dull incurious weeds account, 
 Burfts his blind way ; or climbs the mountain-rock, 
 Fir'd by the nodding verdure of its brow. 
 With fuch a liberal hand has nature flunsr 
 Their feeds abroad, blown them about in winds, 
 Innumerous mix'd them with the nuriing mould, 
 The moiftening current, and prolific rain. 
 
SPRING. 13 
 
 But who their virtues can declare ? who pierce, 
 [With virion pure, into thefe fecret (lores 
 Of health, and life, and joy? the food of Man, 
 While yet he liv'd in innocence, and told 
 A length of golden years; unnVfh'd in blood, 
 A itranger to the favage arts of life, 
 Death, rapine, carnage, furfcit, and difeafe; 
 The Lord, and not the tyrant, of the world. 
 
 The firft frelli dawn then wak'd the gladdened 
 race 
 
 Of uncorrupted Man, nor bluuYd to fee 
 The Haggard Deep beneath its facred beam : 
 For their light (lumbers gently fum'd away j 
 And up they rofe as vigorous as the fun, 
 Or to the culture of the willing glebe, 
 Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock. 
 Meantime the fong went roundj and dance and 
 
 fport, 
 Wifdom and friendly talk, fucceflive, ftole 
 Their hours away : while in the rofy vale 
 Love breath'd his infant fighs, from anguifh free, 
 And full replete with blifs -, fave the fweet pain, 
 That, inly thrilling, but exalts it more. 
 Nor yet injurious ad, nor furly deed, 
 Was known among thofe happy fons of Heaven ; 
 
14 S P R I tf G. 
 
 For reafon and benevolence were law. 
 Harmonious Nature too look'd fmilinsr on. 
 Clear flione the fkies, cool'd with eternal gales, 
 And balmy fpirit all. The youthful fun 
 Shot his bed rays, and ftill the gracious clouds 
 Drop'd fatnefs down ; as o'er the fwelling mead. 
 The herds and flocks, commixing, play'cl fecure. 
 This when, emergent from the gloomy wood, 
 The glaring lion faw, his horrid heart 
 Was meeken'd, and he join'd his fullen joy. 
 For mulic held the whole in perfect peace : 
 Soft figh'd the flute ; the tender voice was heard, 
 Warbling ihe varied heart; the woodlands round 
 Apply'd their quire ; and winds and waters flow'd 
 In confonance. Such were thofe prime of days. 
 But now thofe white unblemifh'd manners, 
 whence 
 The fabling poets took their golden age, 
 Are found no more amid thefe iron times, 
 Thcfe dregs of life! Now the diftemper'd mind 
 Has loft that concord of harmonious powers, 
 Which forms the foul of happinefsj and all 
 Is off the poife within : the paflions all 
 Have burft their bounds ; and reafon half extin&, 
 Or impotent; or elfe approving, fees 
 
SPRING. 15 
 
 The foul dilbrder. Senfelefs, and deform'd, 
 
 Convulfive anger ftorms at large; or, pale 
 
 And filent, fettles into fell revenge. 
 
 Bafe envy withers at another's joy, 
 
 And hates that excellence it cannot reach. 
 
 Defponding fear, of feeble fancies full, 
 
 Weak and unmanly, loofens every power. 
 
 Even love itfelf is bitternefs of foul, 
 
 A penfive anguifh pining at the heart; 
 
 Or, funk to fordid intereft, feels no more 
 
 That noble wifh, that never-cloy'd deflre, 
 
 Which felfifh joy difdaining, feeks alone 
 
 To blefs the dearer objeft of its flame. 
 
 Hope fickens with extravagance; and grief, 
 
 Of life impatient, into madnefs fwells ; 
 
 Or in dead filence waftes the weeping hours. 
 
 Thefe, and a thoufand mixt emotions more, 
 
 From ever-changing views of goo 1 and ill, 
 
 Form'd infinitely various, vex the mind 
 
 With endlefs ftorm : whence, deeply rankling, 
 
 grows 
 The partial thought, a liftlefs unconcern, 
 Cold, and averting from our neighbour's good; 
 Then dark difguft, and hatred, winding wiles, 
 Coward deceit, and ruffian violence : 
 
16 SPRING. 
 
 At laft, extin6t each focial feeling, fell 
 
 And jovlefs inhumanity pervades 
 
 And petrifies the heart. Nature difturb'd 
 
 Is deem'd, vindictive, to have chang'd her courfe. 
 
 Hence, in old dufky time, a deluge came: 
 When the deep-cleft difparting orb, that arch'd 
 The cent pal waters round, impetuous rulh'd, 
 With univerfal burtt into the gulph, 
 And o'er the high-pil'd hills of fra&ur'd earth 
 Wide dafh'd the waves, in undulation vaft; 
 Till, from the centre to the ftreaming clouds, 
 A fhorelefs ocean tumbled round the globe. 
 
 The Seafons fince have, with feverer fway, 
 Opprefs'd a broken world : the Winter keen 
 Shook forth his wafte of fnows; and Summer (hot 
 His peitilential heats. Great Spring, before, 
 Green'd all the year ; and fruits and bloffoms blufh'd, 
 In focial fweetnefs, on the felf-fame bough. 
 Pure was the temperate air; an even calm 
 Perpetual reign'd, fave what the zephyrs bland 
 Breath'd o'er the blue expanfe : for then nor ftorms 
 Were taught to blow, nor hurricanes to rage; 
 Sound flept the waters; no fulphureous glooms 
 Swell' d in the fky, and fent the lightning forth; 
 While fickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs, 
 
S PR IK G. 
 
 Hung not, relaxing, en the fprings of life. 
 But now, of turbid elements the fport, 
 From clear to cloudy toft, from hot to cold. 
 And dry to moift, with inward- eating changi 
 Our drooping days are dwindled down to nougrhl 
 Their period finifli'd ere 'tis well begun. 
 
 And yet the wholefomc herb negle&ed dies 5 
 Though with the pure exhilarating foul 
 Of nutriment and health, and vital powers, 
 Beyond the feafch of nrt, 'tis copious bleft. 
 For, with hot ravine fir'd, enfanguin'd Man 
 Is now become the lion of the plain, 
 And worfe. The wolf, who from the nightly fold 
 Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk, 
 Nor wore her warming fleece: nor has the fteer, 
 At whole ftrong cheft the deadly tyger hang 
 E'er plow'd for him. They too are tempered high, 
 "With hunger flung and wild necefuty, 
 Nor lodges pity in their fhaggy bread. 
 But Man, whom Nature form'd of milder clay, 
 With every kind emotion in his heart, 
 And taught alone to weep 3 while from her lap 
 She pours ten thoufand delicacies, herbs, 
 And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain 
 Or beams that gave them birth : (hall he, fair "form ! 
 
 C 
 
19 S P R I N G. 
 
 Who wears fweet fmiles.and looks erect on Heaven, 
 k'er (loop to mingle with the prowling herd, 
 And dip his tongue in gore! The heart of prey. 
 Blood -ftahfd, deferves to bleed : but you, ye flocks, 
 What have you done; ye peaceful people, what, 
 To merit death? you, who have given us milk 
 In lulcious ftreams, and lent us your own coat 
 Againii the winter's cold ? And the plain ox. 
 That harmlefs, hcnefi, guiklefs animal, 
 In what has he offended ? he, whofe toil, 
 Patient and ever ready, clothes the land 
 With all the pomp of harveftj fhall he bleed, 
 And llru^linor groan beneath the cruel hands 
 Even of the clown he feeds? and that, perhaps, 
 To fwdl the riot of Uv autumnal feafi, 
 Won by his labour? Thus the feeling heart 
 Would tenderly fuggeft: but 'tis enough, 
 In this late age, adventurous, to have touch'd 
 Light on the numbers of the Samiaa fage. 
 High Heaven forbids the bold prefumptuous Ilrarn ; 
 Whofe wifeft will has nVd us in a ftate 
 That mull not yet to pure perfection rife* 
 
 Now when the firft foul torrent of the brook?, 
 Swell'd with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away; 
 And, whitening; down their moiTy-tincUtr'd ltrearo 
 
S P R i X G, ig 
 
 Defcends the billowy foam: now is the time, 
 While yet the dark-brown water aids the guile, 
 To tempt the trout. The well-dirT-mbled fly, 
 The rod fine-tapering with elaftic fprin?, 
 Snatch'd from the hoary fteed the floating line. 
 And all thy (lender wat'ry ftorcs prepare. 
 Eat let not on thy hook the tortnr'd worm, 
 Convulfive, fewiii in agonizing folds ; 
 Which, by rapacious hunger fwallow'd deep. 
 Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breaft 
 Of the weak helplefs uncomplaining wretch, 
 Harih pain and horror to the tender hand. 
 "When with his lively ray the potent fun 
 Has piere'd the iireams, and rous'd the finny race. 
 Then, iiTuing cheerful, to thy [pert repair; 
 Chief ihou'J i.he weftern breezes curling play r 
 And light o'er ether bear the ihadowy clouds. 
 High to their fount, this day, c.m'id the hill?, 
 And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks $ 
 The next, purine their rocky-channei'd maze, 
 Down to the river, in whofe ample wave 
 : Their little naiads love to fport at large, 
 Juft in the dubious point, where with the pool 
 Is mix'ci the trembling ltream,cr where it boil 5 
 Around the ftcne > or from the hollow'd bank. 
 
 
20 S P R I N G. 
 
 Reverted plays in undulating flo\r, 
 There throw, nice-judging, the delufive fly , 
 And, as you lead it round in artful curve, 
 With eye attentive mark the fpringiqg game. 
 •Strait as above the furface of the flood 
 They wanton rife, or urg'd by hunger leap, 
 Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hook: 
 Some lightly toiling to the grafly bank, 
 And to the (helving more flow-dragging forr.r. 
 With various hand proportion**! to their force. 
 If yet tco young, and eaiily deceiv'd, 
 A worth.le.fs prey fcarce bends your pliant rod, 
 Him, piteous of his youth and the fnort 'pace 
 He has enjoy'd the vital light of Heaven, 
 Soft difengage, and back into the ft ream 
 The fpcrkled captive throw. But mould you lure 
 . From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 
 Of pendent trees, the monarch of the brook, 
 Behoves ycu then to ply your fined art. 
 Long time he, following cautious, fcans the flyj 
 And oft attempts to feize it, but as oft 
 The dimpled water fpeaks his jealous fear. 
 At la ft, while haply o'er the (haded fun 
 Pafles a cloud, he defperate takes the death, 
 With fullui plunge. At once he darts along-, 
 
SPRING. 21 
 
 Deep ftrackj and runs out all the lengthen'd line; 
 
 Then leeks the fa-theft ooze, the fiieltering weed, 
 The cavernd bank, his old fecure abode ; 
 And files aloft, and flounces round the pool, 
 
 lignant of the guile. With yielding band, 
 That feels him fill, yet to his furious courfe 
 Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 
 Acrofs the iireara, exhauit his idle rage : 
 Till floating broad npon his breathlefs fide, 
 And to his fate abandon'd, to the fhore 
 •You gaily drag your un refitting prize. 
 
 Thus pals the temperate hours: but when the fun 
 Shakes from his noon-day throne the Scattering 
 
 clouds, 
 Even mooting liltlefs langaor fhro' the deep:, 
 Then feefc the bank where flowering elders crowd, 
 Where fcatter'd wild the lily of the vale 
 Its balmy eifence breathes-, where cowfiips hang 
 The dewy head, where purple violets lark, 
 "With all the lowly children of the made : 
 Or lie rcclin'd beneath yon fpreading afh, 
 Hung o'er the fteep; whence, borne on liquid 
 
 wing, 
 The founding culver fhoots; or where the hawk, 
 High, in the beetling clifr, his air) 7 bui: 
 
22 S P R I X G. 
 
 There let the claftic page thy fancy lead 
 Thro' rural fcenes, fuch as the Mantoan Twain 
 Paints in the matchiefs harmony of fong. 
 Or catch thyfeif the landfcape, gliding fwift 
 Athwart imagination's vivid eye; 
 Or, by ihe vocal woods and waters lull'd, 
 And lofl in lonely urafing, in the dream, 
 Confh-s'd, of carelefs folitude, where mix 
 Ten thpufand wandering images of things, 
 Soothe every gull of pafiion into peace 3 
 All but the (\veliings of the foften'd heart, 
 That waken, not difturb, the tranquil mind. 
 
 Behold yon breathing profpeft bids the mole 
 Throw all her beauty forth. But who can paint 
 Like Nature? Can imagination boa ft, 
 Amid its gay creation, hues like hers ? 
 Or can it mix them with that matchiefs {kill, 
 And lofe them in each other, as appears 
 In every bud that blows? If fancy then 
 Unequal fails beneath the pleating talk, 
 Ah what thall language do? ah where find words 
 Ting'd with fo many colours; and whofe power, 
 To life approaching, may perfume my lays 
 With that fine oil, thofe aromatic gales, 
 That inexhauftive flow continual round.? 
 
SPRING. 23 
 
 Yet, iho' fuccefslefs, will the toil delight. 
 Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whofe hearts 
 Have felt the raptures of refining love; 
 And thou, Amanda, com?, pride of my fong! 
 Form'd by the Graces, lovelineis itfelf ! 
 Come with thofe downcaft eyes, fedate and fweet, 
 Thofe looks demure, that deeply pierce the foul, 
 Where, with ihe light of thoughtful reaibn mix'd, 
 Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart : 
 Oh come ! and while the rofy-footed May 
 Steals blufhing on, together let us tread 
 The morning-dews, and gather in their prime 
 Frefh-blooming flowers, to grace thy braided hair,, 
 And thy lov'd bofom that improves their fweets. 
 
 See, where the winding vale its laviih ftores, 
 Irriguous, fpreads. See, how the lily drinks 
 The latent rill, fcarce oozing thro' the grafs, 
 Of growth luxuriant; or the humid bank, 
 In fair profufion, decks. Long let us walk, 
 "Where the breeze blows from yon extended field 
 Of bloifom'd beans. Arabia cannot boaft 
 A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence 
 Breathes thro' the fenfe, and takes the ravifh'd foul. 
 Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot, 
 Full of frefla verdure, and unnumberd flowers, 
 
S P K I X G. 
 
 The negligence of Nature, wide, and wild; 
 Where,, undiiguis'd by mimic Art, (lie fpreads 
 Unbounded beanl roving eve. 
 
 Here their delicious tafk the fervent bees, 
 In fwanning millions, tend: around, athwart. 
 Thro' the foft air, the bufy nations fly, 
 Qing to the bud, and with inferted tube, 
 
 •k its pure eflfeqce, its ethereal foul ; 
 And oft, with bolder wing, they (baring dare 
 The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows, 
 And yellow load them with the lulcious fpoil. 
 
 At length the finifii'd garden to the view 
 Its villas opens, and its alleys green. 
 Snatch'd thro' the verdant maze, the hurried eye 
 Diffracted wanders; now the bowery walk 
 Of covert clofe, where fcarce a fpeck of day 
 Falls on the lengthen'd gloom, protracled f weeps: 
 Now meets the bending iky; the river now 
 Dimpling along, the breezy ruffled lake, 
 The foreft darkening round, the glittering fpire, 
 Th' ethereal mountain, and the diflant main. 
 But why lb far excurfr.e ? when at hand, 
 Along thefe blulhing borders, bright with dew, 
 And in yon mingled v.ilderrefs of flower.-, 
 Fain handed Spi sej 
 
SPRING. 25 
 
 Throws out the fnow-drop, and the crocus firft; 
 
 The daily, primrofe, violet darkly blue, 
 
 And polyanthus of unnumber'd dyes; 
 
 The yellow wrafl -flower, ftain'd with iron brown j 
 
 And la vilh Hock that fccnls the garden round J 
 
 From the foft wins; of vernal breezes fhed, 
 
 Anemonies; auriculas, enrick'd 
 
 With (hieing meal o'er all their velvet leaves-, 
 
 And foil ranunculas, of g'owing red. 
 
 Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty plays 
 
 Her idle freaks ; from family cifras'd 
 
 To family, as flies the father-daft, 
 
 The varied colours run \ and while they break 
 
 On the charm'd eye, th' exulting florifi marks, 
 
 With fecret pride, the wonders of his hand. 
 
 No gradual bloom is wanting; from the bud, 
 
 Firit-born of Spring, to Summer's mufky tribes: 
 
 Nor hyacinths, of purefl. virgin white, 
 
 Low-bent, and bluthing inward ; nor jonquils, 
 
 Of potent fragrance; nor NarciiTus fair, 
 
 As o'er the fabled fountain hanging ftill ; 
 
 Xor broad carnations, nor gay fpotted pinks; 
 
 Nor, inower'd from every bufli, the damaik-rofe. 
 
 Infinite numbers,, delicacies, fmells, 
 
26 S P R I N G. 
 
 With hues on hues expreffion cannot paint, 
 The breath of Nature, and her endlefs bloom. 
 
 Hail, Source of Being! Universal Soul 
 Of Heaven and earth ! Essential Presence, hail ! 
 To Thee I bend the knee; to Thee my thoughts,. 
 Continual, climb; who, with a mafter-hand, 
 Haft the great whole into perfection touch'd. 
 By Thee the various vegetative tribe?, 
 Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves, 
 Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew: 
 By Thee difpos'd into congenial foils, 
 Stands each attractive plant, and fucks, and fvveils 
 The juicy tide; a twining mafs of tubes. 
 At thy command the vernal fun awakes 
 The torpid fap, detruded to the root 
 By wintry winds; that now in fluent dance, 
 And lively fermentation, mounting, fpreads 
 All this innumerous-colour'd fcene of things. 
 
 As riling from the vegetable world 
 My theme afcends, with equal wing afcend, 
 My panting Mufe! and hark, how loud the woods 
 Invite you forth in all your gayeil trim. 
 Lend me your fong, ye nightingales ! oh pour 
 The mazy-running foul of melody 
 
S P It I N G. 37 
 
 Into my varied verfe! while I deduce, 
 From the firft rote the hollow cuckoo fmes, 
 The fymphony cf Spring, and touch a theme 
 Unknown to fame, c the paffioo of the groves.' 
 
 When firft the foul of love is fetit abroad, 
 Warm thro' the vital air, and on the heart 
 Harmonious feizes, the gay troops begin, 
 In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing; 
 And try agnin the long-forgotten drain, 
 At firft faint warbled. But no fooner grows 
 The foft infulion prevalent, and wide, 
 Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows, 
 In mufic unconftn'd. Up-fprings the lark, 
 Shrill-voic'd, and loud, the racflenger of morn: 
 Ere yet the fhadows fly, he mounted fings 
 Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 
 Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copfe 
 Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bufli 
 Bending with dewy moifiure, o'er the heads 
 Of the coy quirifters that lodge within, 
 Are prodigal of harmony. The thrufh 
 And wood-lark, o'er the kind contending throng 
 Superior heard, run thro' the iweetefl length 
 Of notes ; when liflening Philomela deigns 
 To let them joy, and purpofes, in thought 
 
29 S P R I N G. 
 
 Elate, to make her night excel their day. 
 The black-bird whittles from the thorny brake ; 
 The mellow bulfinch anfwers from the grove : 
 Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze 
 Pour'd out prof'ufely, filent. Join'J to thefe 
 Innumerous fongiters, in the freihenhig nV.ds 
 Of new-fprung leaves, their modulations mix 
 Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw, 
 And each harm pipe, difcordant heard alone, 
 Aid the full concert : while the fmck-dove breathes 
 A melancholy murmur thro' the whole. 
 'Tis love creates their melody, and all 
 This wafte of mufic is the voice of love \ 
 That even to birds, and beafrs, the tender arts 
 Cf pleafing teaches. Hence the gloiTy kind 
 Try every winning way inventive love 
 Can dictate, and in courtfhip to their males 
 Pour forth their little fouls. Firft, wide around, 
 With diftant awe, in airy rings they rove, 
 Endeavouring by a thoufand tricks to catch 
 The cunning, confeious, half-averted glance 
 Of the regardlefs charmer. Should the feem 
 Softening the lead approvance to beflow, 
 Their colours burnifh, and, by hope infpir'd, 
 They briik advance; then on a fadden flruck, 
 
S P R I N 8. 29 
 
 Retire er'dj then again approach; 
 
 In fond rotation fpread the fpotted wing, 
 And ihiver every feather with defire. 
 
 Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep woods 
 They hafte away, all as their fancy leads, 
 Pleasure, or food, or iecret farVty prompts; 
 That Nature's great command may be obey'd, 
 Nor all the fweet fenfations they perceive 
 Indulg'd in vain. Some to the holly-hedge 
 Nc a Q,d to the thicket f ) me ; 
 
 Some to ide rrcteccicn of the thorn 
 
 Commit their feeble offspring: the cleft tree 
 Offers its kind concealment to a few, 
 Their food its infects, and its mofs their ncf~- 
 Others apart far in the gratify dale. 
 Or roughening wafte, their ' texture we 
 
 But moft in wcodian^ folitn les deli ;ht, 
 In unfrequented glooms, or ihaggy bank?, 
 Steep, and divided by a b :g brook, 
 
 Whofe murmurs Looihe them all the live-long cay, 
 When by kind duty fix'd. Among the rcots 
 Of hazel, i t o'er the plaintive ftream, 
 
 They frame the fii ft . i n of their domes 3 
 
 Dry fprigs of trees, in artful fabric lai 
 And bound with clay together, Now 't's nought 
 
30 SPRING. 
 
 But reftlefs hurry thro' the bufy air, 
 Beat by unnumber'd wings. The fwallow f weeps 
 The (limy pool, to build his hanging houfe 
 Intent. And often, from the carelefs back 
 Of herds and flocks, a thoufand tugging bills 
 Plnck hair and wool: and oft, when unobferv'd,. 
 Steal from the barn a ftraw : till foft and warm, 
 Clean, and complete, their habitation grows. 
 
 As thus the patient dam aiiiduous fits, 
 Not to be tempted from her tender talk, 
 Or by (harp hunger, or by fmooth delight, 
 Tho' the whole loofened Spring around her blows, 
 Her fympathizing lover takes his (tand 
 High on tb' opponent bank, and ceafelefs Mugs 
 The tedious time away; or elfe fupplies 
 Hi r place a moment, while the fudden flits 
 To pick the feanty meal. Th' appointed time 
 With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young, 
 Warm'd and expanded into perfect life, 
 Their brittle bondage break, and come to light, 
 A helpleis family, demanding food 
 With conftnnt clamour : O what paflions then y 
 What melting fentiments of kindly care, 
 On the new parents feize! away they fly 
 Alfe&ionate, and undefiring bear 
 
SPRING. 31 
 
 The naoft delicious morfel to their young; 
 Which equally distributed, again 
 The fearch begins. Even fo a gentle pair, 
 By fortune funk, but form'd of generous mold, 
 And charm'd with cares beyond the vulgar breaft. 
 In Tome lone cot amid the diftant woods, 
 Suftain'd alone by providential Heaven, 
 Oft as they weeping eye their infant train, 
 Check their own appetites, and give them all. 
 
 Xor toil alone they fcorn; exalting love, 
 By the great Father of the Spring infpir'd, 
 Gives inftant courage to the fearful race, 
 And to the (imple, art. With Healthy wing, 
 Should fome rude foot their woody haunts moieft, 
 Amid a neighbouring bum they hlent drop, 
 And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive 
 Th' unfeeling fchool-boy. Hence, around the head 
 Of wandering f.vain, the wbite-wing'd plover 
 
 wheels 
 Her founding flight, and then directly on 
 In long: excursion fkims the level lawn, 
 To tempt him from her neft. The wild-duck, 
 
 hence, 
 O'er the rough mofs, and o'er the tracklefs waffe 
 
32 3 P R I N G. 
 
 The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud ! to lead 
 The hot-purfuing fpaniel far aftfay. 
 
 Ee not the Mufe atham'd, here to bemoan 
 Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man 
 Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage 
 From liberty confin'd, and boundlefs air. 
 Dull are the pretty flaves, their plumage dull, 
 Ragged, and all its brightening luftre loft; 
 Nor is that fprightly wildnefs in their notes, 
 Which. clear and vigorous, warbles from the beech. 
 Oh then, ye friends of love and love-taught fong, 
 Spare the foft tribes, this barbarous art forbear; 
 If on your bofom innocence can win, 
 Mufic engage, or piety perfuade. 
 
 But let not chief the nightingale lament 
 Her ruin'd care, too delicately fram'd 
 To brook the haifh confinement of the cage. 
 Oft when, returning with her loaded bill, 
 Th' aftonilh'd mother finds a vacant neft, 
 By Ihe hard hand of unrelenting clowns 
 Kobb'd, to the ground the vain provifion falls j 
 Her pinions runle, and, low- drooping, fcarcc 
 Can bear the mourner to the poplar fhade; 
 Where, all abandon'd to defpair, ihe fings 
 
SPRING. 33 
 
 Her forrows thro' the night ; and on the bough 
 Sole-fitting, frill at every dying fill 
 Takes up again her lamentable drain 
 Of winding woej till wide around the woods 
 Sigh to her fong, and with her wail nefound. 
 But now the feather'd youth their former 
 bounds, 
 Ardent, difdain; and, weighing oft their wing?, 
 Demand the free pofieffion of the iky: 
 This one glad office more, and then ditfolves 
 Parental love at once, now needlefs grown. 
 Unlavifh Wiidom never works in vain. 
 Tis on fome evening, funny, grateful, mild, 
 When nought but balm is breathing thro' the 
 
 woods, 
 With yellow luftre bright, that the new tribes 
 Vifit the fpacious heavens, and look abroad 
 On Nature's common, far as they can fee, 
 Or wing, their range and pafture. O'er the boughs 
 Dancing about, ftill at the giddy verge 
 Their refolution fails ; their pinions Mill, 
 In loofe vibration fttetch'd, to truft the void 
 Trembling refufe: till down before them fly 
 The parent-guides, and chide, exhort, command, 
 Or pufh them off. The furging air receives 
 
 D 
 
34 SPRING. 
 
 Its plumy burden j and their felf-taught wings 
 Winnow the waving element. On ground 
 Alighted, bolder up again they lead, 
 Farther and farther ©n, the lengthening flight} 
 Till, vanifti'd every fear, and every power 
 Rous'd into life and action, light in air 
 Th' acquitted parents fee their foaring race. 
 And, once rejoicing, never know them more. 
 
 High from the fummit of a craggy cliff, 
 Hung o'er the deep, fuch as amazing frowns 
 On utmoft * Kilda's more, whofe lonely race. t 
 Refign the fetting fun to Indian worlds, 
 The royal eagle draws his vigorous young, 
 Strong pounc'd, and ardent with paternal fire. 
 Now fit to raife a kingdom of their own, 
 He drives them from his fort, the towering feat, 
 For ages, of his empire j which, in peace, 
 Unftain'd he holds, while many a league to fea 
 JJe wings his courfe, and preys in diftant ifies. 
 
 Should I my fteps turn to the rural feat, 
 Whofe lofty elms, and venerable oaks, 
 Invite, the rook, who high amid the boughs, 
 In early Spring, his airy city builds, 
 
 * The fartheft of the weftern iflands of Scotland, 
 
SPRING. 35 
 
 And ceafelefs caws amufive ; there, well -pleas'd, 
 I might the various polity furvey 
 Of the raix'd houfehold kind. The careful hen 
 Calls all her chirping family around, 
 Fed and defended by the fearlefs cock; 
 "Whofe breaft with ardour flames, as on he walks 
 Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond, 
 The finely-checker'd duck before her train 
 Rows garrulous. The {lately-failing fwan 
 Gives out his fnowy plumage to the gale; 
 And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet 
 Bears forward fierce, and guards his ofier-ifle, 
 Protective of his young. The turkey nigh, 
 Loud-threat'ning, reddens 3 while the peacock 
 
 fpreads 
 His ever) -colour' d glory to the fun, 
 And fwims in radiant majetty along. 
 O'er the whole homely (bene, the cooing dove 
 Flies thick in amorous chafe, and wanton rolls 
 The glancing eye, and turns the changeful .neck. 
 
 While thus the gentle tenants of the lliade 
 Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world 
 Of brutes, b^low, rum. furious into flame. 
 And fierce defire. Thro* all his luftv veins 
 The bull, deep-fcorch'd, the raging r paflion feels. 
 
 D2 
 
30 SPRING. 
 
 Of pafture fick, and negligent of food, 
 Scarce feen, he wades among the yellow broorfi. 
 While o'er his ample fides the rambling fprays 
 Luxuriant fhoot; or thro' the mazy wood 
 Dejected wanders, nor th' enticing bud 
 Crops, tho' it prefles on his carelefs fenfe. 
 And oft, in jealous madd'ning fancy wrapt, 
 He feeks the fight ; and, idly-butting, feigns 
 His rival gor'd in every knotty trunk. 
 Him fhould he meet, the bellowing war begins : 
 Their eyes flaih fury; to the hollow'd earth, 
 Whence the fand flies, they mutter bloody deeds, 
 And, groaning deep, th' impetuous battle mix: 
 While the fair heifer, balmy-breathing, near 
 Standi kindling up their rage. The trembling Heed, 
 With this hot impulfe feiz'd in every nerve, 
 Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the founding thong: 
 Blows are not felt; but, toffing high his head, 
 And by the well-known joy to diftant plains 
 Attracted Itr^ng, all wild he burrts away; 
 O'er rocks, and woods, and craggy mountains flies, 
 And, neighing, on the aerial fummit fakes 
 Th' exciiing gale; then, fieep defcending, cleaves 
 The headlong torrents foaming down the hi'ls, 
 Even where the madnefs of the jftraiten'd ftream 
 
SPRING. 37 
 
 Turns in black eddies round; fuch is the force 
 With which his frantic heart and (inews fwell. 
 
 Nor undelighted by the boundlefs Spring 
 Are the broad monfters of the foaming deep: 
 From the deep ooze and gelid cavern rous'd, 
 They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy. 
 Dire were the ftrain, and diflbnant, to ling 
 The cruel raptures of the favage kind : 
 How by this flame their native wrath fublim'd, 
 They roam, amid the fury of their heart, 
 The far-refounding wade in fiercer bands, 
 And growl their horrid loves. But this the theme 
 I fing, enraptur'd, to the Britiih Fair, 
 Forbids, and leads me to the mountain-brow, 
 Where lits the fhepherd on the grafly turf, 
 Inhaling, healthful, the defcending fun. 
 Around him feeds his many- bleating flock, 
 Of various cadence; and his fportive lambs, 
 This way and that convolv'd, in frifkful glee, 
 Their frolics play. And now the fprightly race 
 Invites them forth ; when fwift, the fignal given, 
 They ftart away, and fweep the mafly mound 
 That runs around the hill; the rampart once 
 Of iron war, in ancient barbarous times, 
 When difnnited Britain ever bled, 
 
38 SPRING. 
 
 Loll in eternal broil : ere yet (he grew 
 
 To this deep-laid indiflbluble ftate, 
 
 Where Wealth and Commerce lift their golden 
 
 heads j 
 And o'er our labours. Liberty and Law, 
 Impartial, watch j the wonder of a world! 
 
 What is this mighty Breath, ye fages, fay, 
 That, in a powerful language, felt not heard, 
 Inftructs the fowls of heaven ; and thro' their breaft 
 Thefe arts of love diffufes ? What, but God ? 
 Infpiring God ! who, boundlefs Spirit all, 
 And unremiting Energy, pervades, 
 Adjufts, fuftains, and agitates the whole. 
 He ceafelefs works alone ; and yet alone 
 Seems not to work: with fuch perfection fram'd 
 Is this complex ftupendous fcheme of things. 
 But, tho' conceal'd, to every purer eye 
 Th' informing Author in his works appears : 
 Chief, lovely Spring, in thee, and thy foft fcenes, 
 The Smiling God is feen; while water, earth, 
 And air atteft his bounty; which exalts 
 The brute-creation to this finer thought, 
 And annual melts their undeflgning hearts 
 Profufely thus in tendernefs and joy. 
 
SPRING. 39 
 
 Still let my fong a nobler note aflame, 
 And ring th' infufive force of Spring on Man; 
 When heaven and earth, as if contending, vie 
 To raife his being, and ferene his foul. 
 Can he forbear to join the general fmile 
 Of Nature ? Can fierce paffions vex his breaft^ 
 While every gale is peace, and every grove 
 Is melody ? Hence ! from the bounteous walks 
 Of flowing Spring, ye fordid fons of earth, 
 Hard, and unfeeling of another's woe; 
 Or only laviuh to yourfelves; away ! 
 But come, ye generous minds, in whofe wide 
 
 thought, 
 Of all his works, creative Bounty burns 
 With warmeft beam: and on your open front 
 And liberal eye. fits, from his dark retreat 
 Inviting modeft want. Nor till invok'd 
 Can reftlefs goodnefs wait; your active fearch 
 Leaves no cold wintry corner unexplor'd; 
 Like lilent-working Heaven, furprifing oft 
 The lonely heart with unexpected good. 
 For you the roving fpirit of the wind 
 Blows Spring abroad; for you the teeming clouds 
 Defcend in gladfome plenty o'er the world ; 
 And the fun (heds his kindeft rays for you. 
 
40 SPRING. 
 
 Ye flower of human race! In thefe green days, 
 Reviving Sicknefs Jifts her languid head ; 
 Life flows afrefhj and young-ey'd Health exalts 
 The whole creation ro.ind. Contentment walks 
 The funny glade, and feels an inward blifs 
 Spring o'er his mind, beyond the power of kings 
 To purchafe. Pure ferenity apace 
 Induces thought, and contemplation Hill . 
 By fwift degrees the love of Nature works, 
 And warms the bofom; till at laft fublim'd 
 To rapture, and emhufiaflic heat, 
 We feel the prefent Delty, and taite 
 The joy of God to fee a happy world! 
 
 Thefe are the facred feelings of thy heart, 
 Thy heart inform'd by reafon's purer ray, 
 O Lyttelton, the friend! thy paflions thus 
 And meditations vary, as at large, 
 Courting theMufe, thro' Hagley Park thou ftrayeftj 
 Thy Britim Tempe! There along the dale, 
 With woods o'er-hung, and ihagg'd with mofTy 
 
 rocks, 
 Whence on each hand the guming waters play, 
 And down the rough cafcade white-dafhing fall, 
 Or gleam in lengthened villa thro' the trees, 
 You filent Ileal; or fit beneath the made 
 
SPRING 41 
 
 Of folemn oaks, that tuft the fwelllng mounts 
 
 Thrown graceful round by Nature's carelefs hand, 
 
 And pen five liften to the various voice 
 
 Of rural peace : the herds, the flocks, the birds, 
 
 The hollow-whifpering breeze, the plaint of rills, 
 
 That, purling down amid the twifted roots 
 
 Which creep around, their dewy murmurs (hake 
 
 On the footh'd ear. From thefe abftracled oft, 
 
 You wander thro' the philofophic world ; 
 
 Where in bright train continual wonders rife, 
 
 Or to the curious or the pious eye. 
 
 And oft, conducted by hiltoric truth, - 
 
 You tread the long extent of backward time: 
 
 Planning, with warm benevolence of mind, 
 
 And honeft zeal unwarp'd by party rage, 
 
 Britannia's weal; how from the venal gulph 
 
 To raife her virtue, and her arts revive. 
 
 Or, turning thence thy view, thefe graver thoughts 
 
 The Mufes charm; whii , with fure tafle refin'd, 
 
 You draw th' infpiring breath of ancient fongj 
 
 Till nobly rifes, emulous, thy own. 
 
 Perhaps thy lov'd Lucinda ("hares thy walk, 
 
 With foul to thine attun'd. Then Nature all 
 
 Wears to the lover's eye a look of love; 
 
 And all the tumult of a guilty world, 
 
42 SPRING. 
 
 Toft by ungenerous paflions, finks away. 
 The tender heart is animated peace \ 
 And, as it pours its copious treafures forth, 
 In varied converfe, foftening every theme, 
 You, frequent-pauflng, turn, and from her eyes, 
 Where meekened fenfe, and amiable grace, 
 And lively fweetnefs dwell, enraptur'd, drink 
 That namelefs fpirit of ethereal joy, 
 Unutterable happinefs! which love 
 Alone beftows, and on a favoured few. 
 Meantime you gain the height, from whofe fair 
 
 brow 
 The burfting profpect fpreads immenfe around : 
 And, fnatch'd o'er hiiland dale, and wood and lawn, 
 And verdant field, and darkening heath between, 
 And villages embofom'd foft in trees, 
 And fpiry towns by furging columns mark'd 
 Of houfehold fmoke, your eye excurfive roams : 
 Wide ftretching from the Hall, in whofe kind haunt 
 The Hofpitable Genius lingers ftil I, 
 To where the broken landfcape, by degrees 
 Afcending, roughens into rigid hills j 
 O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds 
 That fkirt the blue horizon, dulky rife. 
 
SPRING. 43 
 
 Flufti'd by the fpirit of the genial year, 
 Now from the virgin's cheek a frefher bloom 
 Shoots, lefs and lefs, the live carnation round ; 
 Her lips blufh deeper fweets : fhe breathes of youth ; 
 The ihining moifture fwells into her eyes, 
 In brighter flow; her wifliing bofom heaves, 
 With palpitations wild; kind tumults feize 
 Her veins, and all her yielding foul is love. 
 From the keen gaze her lover turns away, 
 Full of the dear ecflatic power, and tick 
 With fighing languifhment. Ah then, ye fair! 
 Be greatly cautious of your Hiding hearts : 
 Dare not th' infectious figh; the pleading look, 
 Down caft, and low, in meek fubmiflion dreft, 
 But full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue, 
 Prompt to deceive, with adulation fmooth, 
 Gain on your purpos'd will. Nor in the bower, 
 Where woodbinds flaunt, and rofes (bed a couch, 
 While evening draws her crimfon curtains round, 
 Truft your foft minutes with betraying Man. 
 
 And let th' afpiring youth beware of love, 
 Of the fmooth glance beware; for 'tis too late, 
 When on his heart the torrent- foftnefs pours, 
 Then wifdom prolirate lies, and fading fame 
 Diffolves in air away; while the fond foul, 
 
44 SPRING. 
 
 Wrapt in gay vifions of unreal blifs, 
 Still paints th" illufive form ; the kindling grace; 
 Th' inticing fmile; the modeft teeming eye, 
 Beneath whofe beauteous beams, belying heaven, 
 Lurk fearchlefs cunning, cruelty, and death: 
 And ftill, falle- warbling in his cheated ear, 
 Her fyren voice, enchanting, draws him on 
 To guileful mores, and meads of fatal joy. 
 
 Even prefent, in the very lap of love 
 Inglorious laid; while mufic flows around, 
 Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton hours; 
 Amid the rofes fierce Repen ance rears 
 Her fnaky crell : a quick-returning pang 
 Shoots thro' the confcious heart} where honour ftill, 
 And great defign, againlt the oppreffive load 
 Of luxury, by fits, impatient heave. 
 
 But abfent, what fantaftic woes, arous'd, 
 Rage, in each thought, by reftlefs muting fed, 
 Chill the warm cheek, and blaft the bloom of life ! 
 Neglected fortune flies 3 and Aiding fwift, 
 Prone into ruin, fall his fcornd affairs. 
 'Tis nought but gloom around : The darkened fun 
 Lofes his light : The rofy-bofom'd Spring 
 To weeping fancy pines 3 and yon bright arch, 
 Contracted, bends into a duiky vault. 
 
C o;>' t vv>i pi .A' n o > 
 
 ."/ . /fi<t/ia >f/ ,/c/. 
 
 V'/Z/n/tucr .utt//i. 
 
 jft <■'/// .i./'/ci>../ ./,n/, ■,,,,/'/,'<>:, //<<■ ///;/,/ sir 
 
 /«/■/> ;>i</ ./<r>i.J-ir?t (■vJ..S'/<:. .'■■/■'/■ Jt'tVtl* 
 
S P R I N G. 45 
 
 All Nature fades extinct ; and (lie alone 
 Heard, felt, and feen, pofifclTes every thought,, 
 Fills every fenfe, and pants in every vein. 
 Books are but formal dulnefs, tedious friends j 
 And fad amid the focial band he fits, 
 Lonely, and unattentive From his tongue 
 Th' unfinith'd period falls: while borne away 
 On f A-e ling thought, his wafted fpirit flies 
 To the vain bofcm of his difbnt fair j 
 And leaves the femblance of a lover, nVd 
 In melancholy fite, with head declin'd, 
 And love-dejefted eyes. Sudden he ftarts, 
 Shook from his tender trance, and reftlefs runs 
 To glimmering (hades, and fympathetic glooms ; 
 Wh-re the dun umbrage o'er the'falling dream, 
 Bomantic, hangs; there thro' the penfive dufk 
 Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation loft, 
 Indulging all to love : or on the bank 
 Thrown, amid drooping lilies, fwells the breeze 
 With fighs unceafing, and the brook with tears. 
 Thus in foft anguilh he confumes the day, 
 Kor quits his deep retirement, till the Mcon 
 Peeps thro' the chambers of the fleecy eaft, 
 Enlightened by degrees, and in her train 
 Leads on the gentle boars ; then forth he walks, 
 
46 SPRING. 
 
 Beneath the trembling languifh of her beam, 
 With foftened foul, and wooes the bird of eve 
 To mingle woes with his : or, while the world 
 And all the fons of Care lie hufh'd in fleep, 
 Affociates with the midnight ihadows drear; 
 And, fighing to the lonely taper, pours 
 His idly-tortur'd heart into the page, 
 Meant for. the moving meifenger of love ; 
 Where rapture burns on rapture, every line 
 With rifing frenzy fir'd. But if on bed 
 Delirious flung, fleep from his pillow flies. 
 All night he toife*, nor the balmy power 
 In any poflure finds j till the grey morn 
 Lifts her pale luftre on the paler wretch, 
 Exanimate by love : and then perhaps 
 Exhaufted Nature finks a while to reft, 
 Still interrupted by diftraeled dreams, 
 That o'er the fick imagination rife, 
 And in black colours paint the mimic fcene. 
 Oft with th' enchantrefs of his foul he talks; 
 Sometimes in crowds diftrefs'd ; or, if retir'd 
 To fecret winding flower- en woven bowers, 
 Far from the dull impertinence of Man, 
 Juft as he, ere lulous, his endlefs cares 
 Begins to lofe in blind obi rious love. 
 
SPRING. 47 
 
 Snatch'd from her yielded hand, he knows not how, 
 Thro' forefts huge, and long untravel'd heaths 
 With defolation brown, he wanders wafte, 
 In night and tempeft wrapt; or fhrinks aghalt, 
 Back, from the bending precipice ; or wades 
 The turbid flream below, and flrives to reach 
 The farther lliore ; where fuccourlefs, and fad, . 
 She with extended arms his aid implores ; 
 But itrives in vain : borne by th' outrageous flood 
 To dillance down, he. rides the ridgy wave, 
 Or whelm'd beneath the boiling eddy links. 
 
 Thefe are the charming agonies of love, 
 Whofe mifery delights. But thro' the heart 
 Should jealoufy its venom once dirfufe, 
 'Tis then delightful mifery no more, 
 Bat agony unmix'd, incerTant gall. 
 Corroding every thought, and Dialling all 
 Love's paradife. Ye fairy profpects, then, 
 Ye beds of roles, and ye bowers of joy, 
 Farewell ! Ye gl earnings of departed peace, 
 Shine out your laft! the yellow-tinging plague 
 Internal vifion taints, and in a night . 
 Of livid gloom imagination wraps. 
 Ah then : inftead of love-enlivened cheeks, 
 Of funny features, and of ardent eyes 
 
48 SPRING. 
 
 With flowing rapture bright, dark looks fucceed, 
 Suffus'd and glaring with untender fire 5 
 A clouded a^*pe6t, and a burning cheek, 
 Where the whole poifon'd foal, malignant, fits, 
 And frightens love away. Ten thoufand fears 
 Invented wild, ten thoufand frantic views 
 Of horrid rivals, hancrins: on the charms 
 For which he melts in fondnefs, eat him up 
 With fervent anguifh, and con fuming rage. 
 In vain reproaches lend their idle aid, 
 Deceitful pride, and refolution frail, 
 Giving falfe peace a moment. Fancy pours, 
 Afrefh, her beauties on his bufy thought, 
 Her firft endearments twining round the foul, 
 With all the witchcraft of enfnaring love. 
 Straight the fierce ftorm involves his mind anew, 
 Flames thro' the nerves, and boils along the veins; 
 While anxious doubt diftra&s the tortur'd heart: 
 For even the fad afTurance of his fears 
 Were eafe to what he feels. Thus the warm youth, 
 Whom love deludes into his thorny wilds, 
 Thro' flowery-tempting p2ths, or leads a life 
 Of fevered rapture, or of cruel care; 
 His brighteft flames extinguilh'd all, and all 
 His lively moments running down to wafte c 
 
SPRING. 49 
 
 But happy they ! the happieft of their kind \ 
 Whom gentler ftars unite, and in one fate 
 Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 
 Tis not the coarfer tie of human laws, 
 Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind, 
 That binds their peace, but harmony itfelf, 
 Attuning all their paffions into love; 
 Where friendihip full-exerts her foftett power, 
 Perfect elteem enlivened by defire 
 Ineffable, and fympathy of foul; 
 Thoughtmeeting thought, and will preventing will, 
 With boundlefs confidence : for nought but love 
 Can anfwer love, and render blifs fecure. 
 Let him, ungenerous, who, alone intent 
 To blefs himfelf, from fordid parents buys 
 The loathing virgin, in eternal care, 
 Well-merited, confume his nights and day : 
 Let barbarous nation?,, whofe inhuman love 
 Is wild defire, fierce as the funs they feel- } 
 Let eaftern tyrants, from the light of Heaverv 
 Seclude their bofom-ilaves,. meanly poflefs'd 
 Of a mere, lifelefs, violated form : 
 While thofe whom love cements in holy faith, 
 And equal tranfport, free as nature live, 
 Difdaining fear. What is the world to them., 
 
 E 
 
50 SPRING. 
 
 Its pomp, its pleafure, and its nonfenfe all I 
 Who in each other clafp whatever fair 
 High fancy forms, and lavifli hearts can wifh? 
 Something than beauty dearer, fhould they look 
 Or on trie mind, or mind-illumin'd face; 
 Truth, goodnefs, honour, harmony, and love, 
 The richeft bounty of indulgent Heaven. 
 Meantime a fmiling offspring rifes round, 
 And mingles both their graces. By degrees, 
 The human blofibm blows; and every day, 
 Soft as it rolls along, lhews fome new charm. 
 The father's luftre, and the mother's bloom. 
 Then infant reafon grows apace, and call's 
 For the kind hand of an affiduous care. 
 Delightful talk! to rear the tender thought, 
 To teach the young idea how to moot, 
 To pour the frefh inflruftion o'er the mind, 
 To breathe th' enlivening fpirit, and to fix 
 The generous purpofe in the glowing breafr. 
 Oh fpeak the joy ! ye, whom the fudden tear 
 Surprifes often, while you look around. 
 And nothing ftrikes your eye but fights of blifs. 
 All various Nature prefling on the heart : 
 An elegant fiifficiency, content, 
 Metirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 
 
PATT.3<> AL 12* S T KT I' T I ()>' 
 
 f y. ^/tt-t/ici rtt ,/<■/ '. 
 
 //'. /iiJi n. / ■'i-i/ //I . 
 
 's 
 
 . /'. -/ty/it/tit /Jty/.'/V /• ii /' tAt /,)!,/,/■ f/nn ■</// A , 
 
 T/i /tm/i t/tt i/rnity it/ol /nit /f .// 1 rl ' , 
 
 Jteli/kX OettM-ajot, /■< U'fn /</i'/, . fitx»4&/(y. 
 
SPRING. il 
 
 Eaie and alternate labour, ufeful life, 
 Progrefllve virtue, and approving Heaven : 
 Thefe are the matchlefs joys of virtuous love ; 
 And thus their moments fly. The Seafons thus, 
 As ceafelefs round a jarring world they roll, 
 Still find them happy ; and confenting Spring 
 Sheds her own rofy garland on their heads: 
 Till evening comes at laft, ferene and mild; 
 When after the long vernal day of life, 
 Enamour'd more ; as more remembrance fwells 
 With many a proof of recollected love, 
 Together down they fink in focial deep ; 
 Together freed, their gentle fpirits fly 
 To fcenes where love and blifs immortal reign. 
 
 
 E 2 
 
SUMMER, 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 The fubject propofed. Invocation. Addrefs to Mr. Dod- 
 ington. An introductory reflection on the motion of the 
 heavenly bodies ; whence the fucceffion of the feafons. 
 As the face of nature in this feafon is almoft uniform, the 
 progrefs of the poem is a defcription of a fummer's day. 
 The dawn. Sun-riiing. Hymn to the fun. Forenoon. 
 Summer infects defcribed. Hay-making. Sheep-fhearing. 
 Noon-day. A woodland retreat. Group of herds and 
 flocks. A folemn grove : how it affects a contemplative 
 mind. A cataract, and rude fcene. View of Summer in 
 the torrid zone. Stcrm of thunder and lightning. A tale. 
 The ftorm over, a ferene afternoon. Ba f hing. Hour of 
 walking. Transition to the profpect of a rich well-cultivated 
 country; which introduces a panegyric en Great Britain. 
 Sun-fet. Evening. Night. Summer meteors. A comet. 
 The whole concluding with the praife of philofophy. 
 
S U M M E R. 
 
 Now fragrant flow'rs difplay their fweeteft bloom, 
 While gentle Zephyrs breathe a rich perfume. 
 
 Rowe. 
 
 Fkom brightening fields of ether fair difclos'd, 
 Child of the fun, refulgent Summer comes, 
 In pride of youth, and felt thro' Nature's depth: 
 He comes attended by the fultry Hours, 
 And ever-fanning Breezes, on his way; 
 While, from his ardent look, the turning Spring 
 Averts her bluhhful face; and earth, and ikies, 
 AU-fmiling, to his hot dominion leaves. 
 
 Hence, let me hafte into the mid-wood lhade, 
 Where fcarce a fun-beam wanders thro' the gloom; 
 And on the dark green grafs, befide the brink 
 Of haunted ftream, that by the roots of oak 
 Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large, 
 And ling the glories of the circling year. 
 
 Come, Infpiration ! from thy hermit-feat, 
 By mortal feldom found: may Fancy dare, 
 From thy fix'd ferious eye, and raptur'd glance 
 
56 S U M M E R. 
 
 Shot on furrounding Heaven, to (leal one look 
 Creative of the Poet, every power 
 Exalting to an ecftafy of foul. 
 
 And tbou, my youthful Mufe's early friend, 
 In whom the human graces all unite : 
 Pure light of mind, and tendernefs of heart j 
 Genius, and wifdom j the gay focial fenfe, 
 By decency chaftis'dj goodnefs and wit, 
 In feldom-meeting harmony combin'd j 
 Unblemifh'd honour, and an active zeal 
 For Britain's glory, Liberty, and Man: 
 O Dodington! attend my rural fong, 
 Stoop to my theme, infpirit every line, 
 And teach me to deferve thy juft applaufe. 
 
 With what an awful world-revolving power 
 Were firft the unwieldy planets launch'd along 
 Th' illimitable void! Thus to remain, 
 Amid the flux of many thoufand years, 
 That oft has fwept the toiling race of Men, 
 And all their labour'd monuments away, 
 Firm, unremitting, matchlefs, in their courfe; 
 To the kind temper'd change of night and day, 
 And of the feafons ever Healing round, 
 Minutely faithful : Such Th' all perfect Hand! 
 That pois'd, impels, and rules the fleady Whole. 
 
SUMMER. 57 
 
 When now no more th' alternate Twins are fir'd, 
 And Cancer reddens with the folar blaze, 
 Short is the doubtful empire of the night j 
 And foon, obfervant of approaching day, 
 The meek-ey'd Morn appears, mother of dews, 
 At firft faint-gleaming in the dappled eaft: 
 Till far o'er ether fpreads the widening glowj 
 And, from before the luftre of her face, 
 White break the clouds away. With quickened 
 
 flep, 
 Brown Night retires : Young Day pours in apace, 
 And opens all the lawny profpect wide. 
 The dripping rock, the mountain's mifty top 
 Swell on the fight, and brighten with the dawn. 
 Blue, thro' the dufk, the fmoking currents fhinej 
 And from the bladed field the fearful hare 
 Limps, awkward: while along the foreft glade 
 The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze 
 At early pafTenger. Mufic awakes 
 The native voice of undiffembled joy; 
 And thick around the woodland hymns arife. 
 Rous'd by the cock, the foon-clad (hepherd leaves 
 His mofly cottage, where with Peace he dwells j ' 
 And from the crowded fold, in order, drives 
 His flock, to tafle the verdure of the morn. 
 
58 SUMMER. 
 
 Falfely luxurious, will not Man awake ; 
 And, fpringing from the bed of floth, enjoy 
 The cool, the fragrant, and the filcnt hour, 
 To meditation due and facred fong ? 
 For, is there aught in fleep can charm the wife ? 
 To lie in dead oblivion, lo(ing half 
 The fleeting moments of too fhort a life; 
 Total extinction of th' enlightened foul ! 
 Or elfe to feverifh vanity alive, 
 Wildered, and tolling thro' ditlemper'd dreams? 
 Who would in fuch a gloomy flate remain 
 Longer than Nature craves ; when every Mufe 
 And every blooming pleafure wait without, 
 To blefs the wildy-devious morning-walk? 
 
 But yonder comes the powerful King of Day, 
 Rejoicing in the eaft. The lefTening cloud, 
 The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow 
 Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach 
 Betoken glad. Lo$ now, apparent all, 
 Aflant the dew-bright earth, and coloured air, 
 He looks in boundlefs majefty abroad ; 
 And iheds the fhining day, that burnith'd plays 
 On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering 
 
 ftreams, 
 High-gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer Light ! 
 
SUMMER. 5$ 
 
 Of all material beings firft, and beft ! 
 ErTl.ix divine! Nature's refplendent robe! 
 Wiihout whofe vetting beauty all were wrapt 
 In uneffential gloom; and thou, O Sun! 
 Soul of furroundin? worlds! in whom bed feen 
 Shines out thy Maker ! may I ling of thee? 
 
 'Tis by thy fecret, ftrong, attractive force, 
 As with a chain indifToluble bound, 
 Thy Syltem rolls entire: from the far bourne 
 Of utmoft Saturn, wheeling wide his round 
 Of thirty years ; to Mercury, whofe difk 
 Can fcarce be caught by philofophic eye, 
 Loft in the near effulgence of thy blaze, 
 
 Informer of the planetary train ! 
 Without whofe quickening glance their cumbrous 
 
 orbs 
 Were brute unlovely mafs, inert and dead, 
 And not, as now, the green abodes of life ! 
 How many forms of being wait on thee, 
 Inhaling fpiritj from th' unfetter'd mind, 
 By thee fublim'd, down to the daily race, 
 The mixing myriads of thy fetting beam. 
 
 The vegetable world is alfo thine, 
 Parent of Seafons! who the pomp precede 
 
©0 SUMMER. 
 
 That waits thy throne, as thro' thy vaft domain, 
 Annual, along the bright ecliptic road, 
 In world-rejoicing ftate, it moves fublime. 
 Meantime th' expecting nations, circled gay 
 With all the various tribes of foodful earth, 
 Implore thy bounty, or fend grateful up 
 A common hymn : while, round thy beaming car, 
 High-feen, the Seafons lead, in fprightly dance 
 Harmonious knit, the rofy finger' d Hours, 
 The Zephyrs floating loofe, the timely Rains, 
 Of bloom ethereal the light-footed Dews, 
 And foftened into joy the furly Storms. 
 Thefe, in fucceflive turn, with lavilh hand, 
 Shower every beauty, every fragrance fhower, 
 Herbs, flowers, and fruits j till, kindling at thy 
 
 touch, 
 From land to land is flufli'd the vernal year. 
 
 Nor to the furface of enlivea'd earth, 
 Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods, 
 Her liberal trefles, is thy force confin'd : 
 Eut, to the bowel'd cavern darting deep, 
 The mineral kinds confefs thy mighty power. 
 Effulgent, hence the veiny marble fhines ; 
 Hence Labour draws his tools; hence burnifh'd War 
 
S U M M E R. 6l 
 
 Gleams on the day; the nobler works of Peace 
 Hence blefs mankind, and generous Commerce 
 
 binds 
 The round of nations in a golden chain. 
 
 The unfruitful rock itfelf, impregn'd by thee, 
 In dark retirement forms the lucid ftone. 
 The lively Diamond drinks thy pureft rays, 
 Collected light, compact; that, polifh'd bright, 
 And all its native luftre let abroad, 
 Dares, as it fparkles on the fair-one's breaft, 
 With vain ambition emulate her eyes. 
 At thee the Ruby lights its deepening glow, 
 And with a waving radiance inward flames. 
 From thee the Sapphire, folid ether, takes 
 Its hue cerulean; and of evening tinct, 
 The purple-ftreaming Amethyft is thine : 
 With thy own fmile the yellow Topaz burns, 
 Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, 
 When firft fhe gives it to the fouthern gale, 
 Than the green Emerald fhows. But, all com- 
 
 bin'd, 
 Thick thro' the whitening Opal play thy beams j 
 Or, flying feveral from its furface, form 
 A trembling variance of revolving hues. 
 As the lite varies in the gazer's hand. 
 
02 SUMMER. 
 
 The very dead creation, from thy touch, 
 Affumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd, 
 In brighter mazes the relucent ltream 
 Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt, 
 Projecting horror on the blackened flood, 
 Softens at thy return. The defert joys 
 Wildly, thro' all his melancholy bounds. 
 Rude ruins glitter 5 and the briny deep, 
 Seen from fome pointed promontory's top, 
 Far to the blue horizon's utmoft verge, 
 Reftlefs, reflects a floating gleam. But this, 
 And all the much-tranfported Mufe can hng, 
 Are to thy beauty, dignity, and ufe, 
 Unequal far; great delegated fource 
 Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below ! 
 Kow fhall I then attempt to fing of Him ! 
 Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light 
 InvelVed deep, dwells awfully retir'd 
 From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken; 
 Whofe fmgle fmile has, from the firfl of time, 
 Fill'd, overflowing, all thofe lamps of Heaven, 
 That beam for ever thro' the boundlefs iky: 
 But, fhould he hide his face, th' aftonifh'd fun, 
 And all the extinguith'd itars, would loofening reel 
 Wide from their inheres, and Chaos come again 
 
SUMMER. 6i 
 
 And yet was every faltering tongue of Man, 
 Almighty Father! filent in thy praifej 
 Thy works themfelves would raife a general voice, 
 Even in the depth of folirary woods 
 By human foot untrod; proclaim thy power, 
 And to the quire celeftial Thee refound, 
 Th' eternal caufe, fupport, and end of all ! 
 
 To me be Nature's volume broad-difplay'd; 
 And to perufe its all -in (trucking page, 
 Or, haply catching inspiration thence, 
 Some eafy pafiage, rap'ur'd, to tranflate, 
 My fole delight 3 as thro' the falling glooms 
 Pen five I ftray, or with the riling dawn 
 On Fancy's eagle-wing excnrfive foar. 
 
 Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent fun 
 Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds, 
 And morning fogs, that hovered round the hills 
 In party-colour'd bands -, till wide unvcil'd 
 The face of Nature mines, from where earth feems, 
 Far ftretch'd around, to meet the bending fphere 
 
 Half in a blufli of cluttering rofes loft, 
 Dew-dropping Coolnefs to the (hade retires ; 
 There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed, 
 By gelid founts and carelefs rills to mufe; 
 While tyrant Heat, difpreading thro' the fky. 
 
$4 SUMME R. 
 
 With rapid fway, his burning influence darts 
 On Man, and heart, and herb, and tepid ftream. 
 
 Who can unpitying fee the flowery race, 
 Shed by the morn, their new-flu fh'd bloom refigti, 
 Before the parching beam ? So fade the fair, 
 When fevers revel thro' their azure veins. 
 But one, the lofty follower of the fun, 
 Sad when he fets, thuts up her yellow leaves, 
 Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns, 
 Points her enamour'd bofom to his ray. 
 
 Home, from his morning talk, the fwain retreats; 
 His flock before him fiepping to the fold : 
 While the full-udder' d mother lows around 
 The cheerful cottage, then expecting food, 
 The food of innocence, and health ! The daw, 
 The rook and magpie, to the grey-grown oaks 
 That the calm village in their verdant arras, 
 Sheltering, embrace, direct their lazy flight; 
 Where on the mingling boughs they tit embower'd, 
 All the hot noon, till cooler hours arife. 
 Faint, underneath, the houfehold fowls convene ; 
 And, in a corner of the buzzing made, 
 The houfe-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies, 
 Out-ftretch'd, and ileepy. In his {lumbers one 
 Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults 
 
SUMMER. 65 
 
 O'er hill and dale; till, wakened by the wafp, 
 They ftarting fnap. Nor iriall the Mnfe difdain 
 To let the little noi fy fummer-race 
 Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her fong : 
 Not mean tho' fimple; to the fun ally'd, 
 From him they draw their animating fire. 
 
 Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young 
 Come wing'd abroad ; by the light air upborn, 
 Lighter, and full of foul. From every chink, 
 And fecret corner, where they flept away 
 The wintry florins; or rifing from their tombs, 
 To higher life; by myriads, forth at once, 
 Swarming they pour; of ail the vary'd hues 
 Their beauty-beaming parent C3n difclofe. 
 Ten thoufand forms ! ten thoufand different tribes ! 
 People the blaze. To funny waters fome 
 By fatal inftinct fly; where on the pool 
 They, fportive, wheel; or, failing down theftream, 
 Are fnatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd trout, 
 Or darting falmon. Thro' the green-wood glade 
 Some love to ftray; there lodg'd, amus'd and fed, 
 In the frefh leaf. Luxurious, others make 
 The meads their choice, and vifit every flower, 
 And every latent herb: for the fweet tafk, 
 To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap, 
 
 F 
 
66 S IT M M E R. 
 
 In what foft beds, their young yet undifclos'd, 
 Employs their tender care. Some to the houfe, 
 The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight j 
 Sip round the pale, or tafte the curdling cheefe : 
 Oft, inadvertent, from the milky ftream 
 They meet their fate ; or, weltering in the bowl, 
 With powerlefs wings around them wrapt, expire. 
 
 But chief to heedlefs flies the window proves 
 A conftant death} where, gloomily retir'd, 
 The villain fpider lives, cunning, and fierce, 
 Mixture abhor'd ! Amid a mangled heap 
 Of carcaffes, in eager watch he fits, 
 O'erlooking all his waving fnares around. 
 Near the dire cell the dreadlefs wanderer oft 
 PafTes, as oft the ruffian fhows his front j 
 The prey at laft enfnar'd, he dreadful darts, 
 With rapid glide, along the leaning line j 
 And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs, 
 Strikes backward grimly pleas'd: the fluttering 
 
 wing, 
 And fhrilier found declare extreme diilrefs, 
 And afk the helping hofpitable hand. 
 
 Refounds the living furface of the ground : 
 Nor undelightful is the ceafelefs hum, 
 To him who mufes thro' the woods at noon j 
 
SUMMER. 67 
 
 Or drowfy fhepherd, as he lies reclin'd, 
 With half-fhut eyes, beneath the floating {hade 
 Of willows grey, clofe-crowding o'er the brook. 
 Gradual, from thefe what numerous kinds dc- 
 fcend, 
 Evading even the microfcopic eye ! 
 Full nature fwarms with life 3 one wondrous mafs 
 Of animals, or atoms organiz'd, 
 Waiting the vital Breath 5 when Parent-Heaven 
 Shall bid his ipirit blow. The hoary fen, 
 In putrid fleams, emits the living cloud 
 Of peftileoce. Thro' fubterranean cells, 
 Where fearching fun -beams fcarce can find a way, 
 Earth animated heaves. The flowerv leaf, 
 Wants not its foft inhabitants. Secure, 
 "Within its winding citadel, the ftone 
 Holds multitudes. But chief the foreft-boughs, 
 That dance unnumber'd 10 the playful breeze, 
 The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 
 Of mellow fruit, the namelefs nations feed 
 Ofevanefcent infects. Where the pool 
 Stands mantled o'er with green,, invisible, 
 Amid the floating verdure millions ftray. 
 Each liquid too, whether it pierces, Ibc-ths, 
 Inflames, refreflies, or exalts the taite, 
 
 F 2 
 
68 SUMMER. 
 
 With various forms abounds. Nor is the ftrearn 
 Of pureft cryftal, nor the lucid air, 
 Tho' one tranfparent vacancy it feems, 
 Void of their unfeen people. Thefe, conceal d 
 By the kind art of forming Heaven, eicape 
 The groffer eye of Man : for, if the worlds 
 In worlds enclos'd mould on his fenfes burit, 
 From cates ambrofial-, and the ne&ar d bowl, 
 He would abhorrent tarn j and in dead night, 
 When filence lleeps o'er all, be itunn'd with noife. 
 
 Let no prefuming impious railer tax 
 Creative Wisdom, as if aught was form'd 
 In vain, or not for admirable ends. 
 Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce 
 His works unwife, of which the fmalleft part 
 Exceeds the narrow vifion of her mind ? 
 As if upon a full proportion'd dome, 
 On fwelling columns heav'd, the pride of art \ 
 A critic-fly, whofe feeble ray fcarce fpreads 
 An inch around, with blind preemption bold, 
 Should dare to tax the ftruaure of the whole. 
 And lives the Man, whofe univerfal eye 
 Has fwept at once th' unbounded fcheme of things $ 
 Mark'd their dependance fo, and firm accord, 
 As with unfaltering accent to conclude 
 
IELAX MAK.IW G 
 
 .'/, . //f//ttt i ,/ . A/; ' 
 
 //''.' /<t./lltf/ ,,tl//t 
 
 , \t-u> .itrn rni.1 //u itY/tti/,- <■'</■ Mi /rf'tt/ linn,/: 
 Ty/l,- /!/.>/ it i/,tt//t, /■it'ttii it i/n in, rt,//, t it ?<■//, 
 
 /',,//t//i:/ J,ii,. i 2 7 a ; fyISfocAda/c. /r,,;u/,//r 
 
SUMMER. 69 
 
 That This availeth nought? Has any leen 
 
 The mighty chain of beings, leflening down 
 
 From Infinite Perfection to the brink 
 
 Of drear}'- Nothing, defolate abyfs! 
 
 From which altonilh'd thought, recoiling, turns ? 
 
 Till then alone let zealous praife afcend, 
 
 And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power, 
 
 Whofe wifdom Alines as lovely on our minds, 
 
 As on cur imiling eyes his fervant-fun. 
 
 Thick in yon ftream of light, a thoufand ways, 
 
 Upward, and downward, th waning, and convolv'd, 
 
 The quivering nations fportj till, tempefl-wing'd, 
 
 Fierce Winter I weeps them from the face of dav 
 
 Even fo luxurious Men, unheeding, pafs 
 
 An idle fnmmer life in fortune's lhine, 
 
 A feafon's glitter! Thus they flatter on 
 
 From toy to toy, from vanity to vice; 
 
 Till, blown away by death, oblivion comes 
 
 Behind, and ftrikes them from the book of life. 
 
 Now fwarms the village o'er the jovial mead: 
 The rultic youth, brown with meridian toil, 
 Healthful and firong; full as the fummer-rofe 
 Blown by prevailing funs, the ruddy maid, 
 Half naked, fvvelling on the fight, and all 
 Her kindled graces burning o'er her cheek. 
 
70 SUM M E R. 
 
 Even Hooping age is here ; and infant-hands 
 Trail the long rake, or, with the fragrant load 
 O'ercharg'd, amid the kind oppreflion roll. 
 Wide flies the tedded grain j all in a row 
 Advancing broad, or wheeling round the field, 
 They fpread the breathing harveft to the fun, 
 That throws refrefhful round a rural fmell : 
 Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground, 
 And drive the dufky wave along the mead, 
 The ruflet hay-cock rifes thick behind, 
 In order gay. While heard from dale to dale, 
 Waking the breeze, refounds the blended voice 
 Of happy labour, love, and focial glee. 
 
 Or rafhing thence, in one difTulive band, 
 They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog 
 Compell'd, to where the mazy-running brook 
 Forms a deep pool 5 this bank abrupt and high, 
 And That fair-fpreading in a pebbled fhore. 
 Urg'd to the giddy brink, much is the toil, 
 The clamour much, of men, and boys, and dogs, 
 Ere the foft fearful people to the flood 
 Commit their woolly fides. And oft the fvvain, 
 On fome impatient feizing, hurls them in : 
 Embolden d then, nor hefitating more, 
 Faft, fait, they plunge amid the flaming wave, 
 
SUMMER. 7* 
 
 And panting labour to the fartheft fhore. 
 Repeated this, till deep the well-wafli'd fleece 
 Has drunk the flood, and from his lively haunt 
 The trout is baniih'd by the fordid ftream ; 
 Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow 
 Slow move the harmlefs race : where, as they 
 
 fpread 
 Their fwelling treafures to the funny ray, 
 Inly difturb'd, and wondering what this wild 
 Outrageous tumult means, their loud complaints 
 The country fill; and, tofs'd from rock to rock, 
 IncelTant bleathigs run around the hills. 
 At lalt, of fnowy white, the gathered flocks 
 Are in the wattled pen innumerous prefs'd, 
 Head above head : and, rang'd in lufly rows 
 The fhepherds fit, and whet the founding fliear-. 
 The houfewife waits to roll her fleecy ftores, 
 With all her gay-drefl maids attending round. 
 One, chief, in gracious dignity enthron'd, 
 Shines o'er the reft, the paftoral queen, and rays 
 Her fmiles, fweet- beaming, on her fhepherd-king; 
 While the glad circle round them yield their fouls 
 To feftive mirth, and wit that knows no gall. 
 Meantime, their joyous talk goes on apace : 
 Some mingling ftir the melted tar, and fome, 
 
n SUMMER. 
 
 Deep on the new-morn vagrant's heaving fide, 
 To (lamp his mailer's cipher ready fland j 
 Others th' unwilling wether drag along ; 
 And, glorying in his might, the fturdy boy 
 Holds by the twirled horns th' indignant ram. 
 Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft, 
 By needy Man, that all-depending lord, 
 How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies ! 
 What foftnefs in its melancholy face, 
 "What dumb complaining innocence appears 1 
 Pear not, ye gentle tribes, 'tis not the knife 
 Of horrid flaughter that is o'er you wav'd ; 
 No, 'tis the tender fwain's well-guided fhears, 
 Who having now, to pay his annual care, 
 Borrowed your fleece, to you a cumbrous load, 
 Will fend you bounding to your hills again. 
 A fimple fcene! yet hence Britannia fees 
 Her folid grandeur rife: hence the commands 
 Th' exalted flores of every brighter clime, 
 The treafures of the Sun without his rage: 
 Hence, fervent all, with culture, toil, and arts, 
 Wide glows her land : her dreadful thunder hence 
 Rides o'er the waves fublime, and now, even now, 
 Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coatl; 
 Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the world. 
 
SUMMER. 73 
 
 *Tis raging Noon ; and, vertical, the Sun 
 Darts on the head direct his forceful rays. 
 Oer heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye 
 Can fweep, a dazzling deluge reigns 5 and all 
 From pole to pole is undiliinguifh'd blaze. 
 In vain the light, dejected to the ground, 
 Stoops for relief: thence hot afcending fleams 
 And keen reflection pain. Deep to the root 
 Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields 
 And flippery lawn an arid hue difclofe, 
 Blait Fancy's blooms, and wither even the Soul. 
 Echo no more returns the cheerful found 
 Of fhnrpening fcythe: the mower finking heaps 
 O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfum'd j 
 And fcarce a chirping grafs-hopper is heard 
 Thro' the dumb mead. Diilrefsful Nature pants. 
 The very ftreams look languid from afar; 
 Or, thro' th' unlhelter'd glade, impatient, feem 
 To hurl into the covert of the grove. 
 
 All-conquering Heat, oh intermit thy wrath I 
 And on my throbbing temples potent thus 
 Beam not fo fierce ! Incefiant ftill you flow, 
 And. full another fervent flood fucceeds, 
 Pour'd on the head profule. In vain I figh, 
 And reftlefs tuin, and look around for Night j 
 
74 SUMMER. 
 
 Night is far off; and hotter hours approach. 
 Thrice happy he ! who on the funlefs fide 
 Of a romantic mountain, foreft-crown'd, 
 Beneath the whole collected fhade reclines: 
 Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought, 
 And frefh bedew'd with ever-fpouting ftreams, 
 Sits coolly calm ; while all the world without, 
 Unfatisfied, and fick, tofles in noon. 
 Emblem inftructive of the virtuous Man, 
 •Who keeps his temper'd mind ferene and pure, 
 And every paflion aptly barmoniz'd, 
 Amid a jarring world with vice inflam'd. 
 
 Welcome, ye {hades! ye bowery thickets, hail! 
 Ye lofty pines ! ye venerable oaks ! 
 Ye afhes wild, refounding o'er the fteep ! 
 Delicious is your (belter to the foul, 
 As to the hunted hart the fallying fpring, 
 Or ftream full-flowing, that his fvvelling fides 
 Laves, as he floats along the herbag'd brink. 
 Cool, thro' the nerves, your pleating comfort glidesj 
 The heart beats glad j the frelli-expanded eye 
 And ear refume their watch j the finews knit ; 
 And life (hoots fwift thro' all the lightened limbs. 
 
 Around th' adjoining brook, that purls along 
 The vocal grove, now fretting o'er a rock, 
 

SlIETHE Tk U I >~ t-'r 
 
 C/. istct&art/ ■/''. 
 
 y. is%/t < /' t -> s y .'<-'////. 
 
 • '/// /t//t r.j //ft WHHiDVlt ,)ftu/ >r , ///.■ ,,ty,/fi.i /> ■ r>n 
 
 Hi/fa/h d ,7hn ujg^. /'y Z, ! V*< c/v/,/ /?. /erfin////}- . 
 
SUMMER. ?5 
 
 Now fcarcely moving thro' a reedy pool, 
 Now ftarting to a fudden ftream, and now 
 Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain 5 
 A various group the herds and flocks compofe, 
 Rural confufion ! On the graffy bank 
 Some ruminating lie; while others Hand 
 Half in the flood, and often bending fip 
 The circling furface. In the middle droops 
 The itrong laborious ox, of honert front, 
 Which incompos'd he (hakes; and from his fides 
 The troublous infects laflies with his tail, 
 Returning (till. Amid his fubjec~ts fafe, 
 Slumbers the monarch-fwain; his careleJ^ arm 
 Thrown round his head, on downy mofs fuftain'dj 
 Here laid his fcrip, with wholefome viands AH d; 
 There, liitening every noife, his watchful dog. 
 Light fly his flumbers, if perchance a flight 
 Of angry gad-flies fallen on the herd ; 
 That ftartling fcatters from the (hallow brook, 
 In fearch of lavifh ftream. Tolling the foam, 
 They fcorn the keeper's voice, and fcour the plain, 
 Thro' all the bright feverity of noon 3 
 While, from their labouring breads, a hollow moan 
 Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills. 
 
76 SUMMER. 
 
 Oft in this feafon too the horfe, provok'd, 
 While his big finews full of fpirits fwell, 
 Trembling with vigour, in the heat of blood, 
 Springs the high fence ; and, o'er the field effus'd, 
 Darts on the gloomy flood, with fteadfaft eye, 
 And heart eftranged to fear : his nervous cheft, 
 Luxuriant, and erect, the feat of ftrength! 
 Bears down th' oppofing ftream ; quenchlefs his 
 
 thirfl; 
 He takes the river at redoubled draughts; 
 And with wide noftrils, fnorting, ikims the wave. 
 
 Still let me pierce into the midnight depth 
 Of yonder grove, of wildeft largeft growth ; 
 That, forming high in air a woodland quire, 
 Nods o'er the mount beneath. At every itep, 
 Solemn, and flow, the fhadows blacker fall, 
 And all is awful liflening gloom around. 
 
 Thefe are the haunts of Meditation, thefe 
 The fcenes where ancient bards th' infpiring breath, 
 Ecftatic, felt ; and, from this world retir'd, 
 Convers'd with angels, and immortal forms, 
 On gracious errands bent : to fave the fall 
 Of virtue (truggling on the brink of vice j 
 In waking whifpcrs, and repeated dreams, 
 
S U M II E ft. ft 
 
 To hint pure thought, and warn the favour'd foul 
 
 For future trials fated to prepare} 
 
 To prompt the poet, who devoted gives 
 
 His mufe to better themes; to lbothe the pangs 
 
 Of dying worth, and from the patriot's breatt, 
 
 (Backward to mingle in detefted war, 
 
 But foremoft when engag'd) to turn the death; 
 
 .And numberlefs fuch offices of love, 
 
 Daily, and nightly, zealous to perform. 
 
 Shook fudden from the bofom of the fky, 
 A thoufand fhapes or glide athwart the duik, 
 Or flalk majefiic on. Deep-rous'd, I feel 
 A facred terror, a fevere delight, 
 Creep thro' my mortal frame; and thus, methinks, 
 A voice, than human more, th' abftracted ear 
 Of fancy ftrikes. " Be'not of us afraid, 
 " Poor kindred Man! thy fellow-creatures, we 
 M From the fame Parent-Power our beings drew, 
 " The fame our Lord, and laws, and great purfuit. 
 " Once fome of us, like thee, thro' flormy life, 
 u Toil'd, tempeft-beaten, ere we could attain 
 " This holy calm, this harmony of mind, 
 " "Where purity and peace immingle charms. 
 « Then fear not us; but with refponfive fong, 
 " Amid thefe dim recefles, undifturb'd 
 
78 SUMMER. 
 
 " By noify folly and difcordant vice, 
 
 u Of Nature ling with us, and Nature's God. 
 
 " Here frequent, at the vifionary hour, 
 
 " When mufing midnight reigns or filent noon, 
 
 w Angelic harps are in full concert heard, 
 
 " And voices chanting from the wood-crown'd hill, 
 
 *' The deepening dale, or inmoft fylvan glade: 
 
 " A privilege beftow'd by us, alone, 
 
 " On contemplation, or the hallow'd ear 
 
 <f Of Poet, fwelling to feraphic drain." 
 
 And art thou, ■ Stanley, of that facred band? 
 Alas, for us too foon ! Tho' rais'd above 
 The reach of human pain, above the flight 
 Of human joy; yet, with a mingled ray 
 Of fadly pleas'd remembrance, mud thou feel 
 A mother's love, a mother's tender woe : 
 Who feeks thee dill, in many a former lcene; 
 Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely-beaming eyes, 
 Thy pleafing converfe, by gay lively fenfe 
 Infpir'd : where moral wifdom mildly fhone, 
 Without the toil of art ; and virtue glow'd, 
 In all her fmiles, without forbidding pride. 
 But, O thou bed of parents! wipe thy tears; 
 
 * A young lady, well known to the Author, who died at 
 the age of eighteen, in the year 1738. 
 
SUMMER. ft 
 
 Or rather to Parental Nature pay 
 The tears of grateful joy, who for a while 
 Lent thee this younger felf, this opening bloom 
 Of thy enlightened mind and gentle worth. 
 
 ; Believe the Mufe: the wintry blaft of death 
 Kills not the buds of virtue; no, they fpread, 
 
 I Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter funs, 
 Thro' endlefs ages, into higher powers. 
 Thus up the mount, in airy vilion rapt, 
 
 I I ftray, regardlef* whither; till the found 
 Of a near fall of water every fenfe 
 Wakes from the charm of thought: fwift-fhrink- 
 
 ing back, 
 I check my iteps, and view the broken fcene. 
 
 Smooth to the (helving brink a copious flood 
 Rolls fair, and placid; where collected all, 
 In one impetuous torrent, down the fteep 
 It thundering (hoots, and (hakes the country round. 
 At firft, an azure (heet, it ru(hes broad; 
 Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 
 And from the loud-refounding rocks below^ 
 Dafti'd in a cloud of foam, it fends aloft 
 A hoary mi ft, and forms a ceafelefs fhower. 
 Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repofe 
 
eo S U M MEfi. 
 
 But, raging full amid the Ihaggy rocks, 
 Now flames o'er the fcatter'd fragments, now 
 Ailant the hollowed channel rapid darts; 
 And, falling fart from gradual Hope to Hope, 
 With wild infracted courfe, and lefTened roar, 
 It gains a fafer bed, and fteals, at lafl, 
 Along the mazes of the quiet vale. 
 
 Invited from the cliff, to whole dark brow 
 He clings, the fleep-afcending eagle foars, 
 With upward pinions, thro' the flood of day; 
 And, giving full his bofom to the blaze, 
 Gains on the fun; while all the tuneful race, 
 Smit by afflictive noon, diforder'd droop, 
 Deep in the thicket; or, from bower to bower 
 Refponfive, force an interrupted itrain. 
 The flock-dove only thro' the forelt cooes, 
 Mournfully hoarfe; oft ceafing from his plaint, 
 Short interval of weary woe ! again 
 The fad idea of his murder' d mate, 
 Struck from his fide by favage fowler's guile, 
 Acrofs his fancy comes; and then refounds 
 A louder fong of forrow thro' the grove. 
 
 Befide the dewy border let me lit, 
 All in the freftinefs of the humid air j 
 
SUMMER. 8i 
 
 There in that hollowed rock, grotefque and wild, 
 An ample chair mofs-lin'd, and over head 
 13 y flowering umbrage (haded; where the bee 
 Strays diligent, and with th' extracted balm 
 Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh. 
 
 Now, while I tafte the fweetnefs of the ihade, 
 While nature lies around deep-lull'd in Noon, 
 Now come, bold Fancy, fpread a daring flight, 
 And view the wonders of the torrid Zone: 
 Climes unrelenting! with whofe rage cjmpar'J, 
 Yon blaze is feeble, and yon Ikies are cool. 
 
 See, how at once the bright-effulgent fun, 
 Riling direct, fwift chafes from the iky 
 The fhort-liv'd twilight; and with ardent blaze 
 Looks gayly fierce o'er all the dazzling air: 
 He mounts his throne; but kind before him fends, 
 IiTuing from out the portals of the morn, 
 The * general Breeze, to mitigate his fire, 
 And breathe refrefhment on a fainting world, 
 Great are the fcenes, with dreadful beauty crown'J 
 And barbarous wealth, that fee, each circling year* 
 
 * Which blows conftantiy between the tropics from the eaft, 
 or the collateral points, the north-eaft and fouth-eaft : cau'ed 
 by the preiiure of the rarefied air on that before it, accordiri 
 to the diurnal motion of the fun from eaft to weft, 
 
 G 
 
S3 S U M M E ft. 
 
 Returning Suns and * double Seafons pafs: 
 
 Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines, 
 
 That on the high equator ridgy rife, 
 
 Whence many a burfiing ft/earn auriferous plays: 
 
 Majeftrc woods, of every vigcrous green, 
 
 Stage above Rage, high-waving o'er the hillsj 
 
 Or to the far horizon wide diffus'd, 
 
 A boundJefs deep immenfity of (hade. • 
 
 Here iofty trees, to ancient foDg unknown, 
 
 The noble fons of potent heat and floods 
 
 Prone-rulhing from the clouds, rear high to Heaven 
 
 Their thorny items, and broad around them throw 
 
 Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime, 
 
 (Jnnumber'd fruits, of keen delicious tafte 
 
 And vital fpirit, drink amid the cliffs, 
 
 And burning fands that bank the fhrubby vales, 
 
 Redoubled day, yet in their rugged coats 
 
 A friendly jtaice to cool its rage contain. 
 
 Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves; 
 To where the lemon and the piercing lime, 
 With the deep orange, glowing thro' the green, 
 Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclin'd 
 
 * In all climates between the topics, the fun, as he pafTes 
 and repafils in his annual motion, is twice a-year vortical, 
 which produces this ette S k m 
 
S U M M E R. S3 
 
 Beneath the fpreading tamarind that (hakes, 
 Fann'd by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit. 
 Deep in the night the maffy locuft ftieds, 
 Quench my hot limbs 3 or lead me thro' the maze, 
 Bnboweriag endlefs, of the Indian fig: 
 Or thrown at gayer eafe, on ibme fair brow, 
 Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd, 
 Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave, 
 And high palmetos lift their graceful (hade. 
 O flretch'd amid thefe orchards of the fun, 
 Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl, 
 And from the palm to draw its freshening wine! 
 3,Iore bounteous far than all the frantic juice 
 Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its (lender twigs 
 Low-bending,. be the full pomegranate fcorn'dj 
 Nor, creeping thro' the woods, the gelid race 
 Of berries. Oft in humble ft at ion dwells 
 Unboaftful worth, above failidious pemp. 
 Witnefs, thcu brft Anaiia, thcu the pride 
 Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er 
 The poets imag'd in the golden age : 
 "Quick let me (trip thee of thy tufty coat, 
 Spread thy ambrofial ftores, and feaft with Jove? 
 
 From thefe the profpe6t varies. Plains immenfc 
 Lie ilretch'd below, interminable meads, 
 
 G2 
 
84 S U M M E R. 
 
 And vaft favannahs, where the wandering eye., 
 Unfixt, is in a verdant ocean loft. 
 Another Flora there, of bolder hues, 
 And richer fweets, beyond our garden's pride, 
 Plays o'er the fields, and (bowers with fudden hand 
 Exuberant fpring : for oft thefe valleys fhift 
 Their green-embroider'd robe to fiery brown, 
 And fwift to green again, as fcorching fans, 
 Or ftreaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 
 
 Along thefe lonely regions, where retir'd 
 From little fcenes of art, great Nature dwells 
 In awful folitude, and nought is feen 
 But the wild herds that own no matter's (iailj 
 Prodigious rivers roll their fatt'ning feas: 
 On whofe luxuriant herbage half-conceal'd, 
 Like a fall'n cedar, far-dirtus'd his train, 
 Cas'd in green-fcales, the crocodile extends. 
 The flood difparts : behold! in plaited mail, 
 * Behemoth rears his head. Glanc'd from his fide, 
 The darted fteel in idle (hi vers flies : 
 He fearlefs walks the plain, or feeks the hills; 
 Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds, 
 In widening circle round, forget their food, 
 And at the harmltfs tlranger wondering gaze. 
 
 * The Hippopotamus, or river-horfe. 
 
S U M M E R. 85 
 
 Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that cad 
 The : r ample (hade o'er Niger's yellow fiream, 
 And where the Ganges rolls his (acred wave} 
 Gr mid the central depth of blackening woods, 
 High-rais'd in folemn theatre around, 
 Leans the huge elephant : wifeft of brutes 1 
 O truly wife! with gentle might endow'd, 
 Tho' powerful, not definitive! Here he fees 
 Revolving ages fweep the changeful earth, 
 And emoires rife and fall : reoardlefs he 
 Of what the never- retting race of Men 
 Project : thrice happy! could he 'fcape their guile, 
 "Who mine, from cruel avarice, his fteps ; 
 Or with his towery grandeur fwell their ftate, 
 The pride of kings ! or elfe his ftrength pervert, 
 And bid him rage amid the mortal fray, 
 Aftonilli'd at the madnefs of mankind. 
 
 Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods, 
 Like vivid bloffoms glowing from afar, 
 Thick-fwarm the brighter birds. For nature's hand, 
 That with a fportive vanity has deck'd 
 The plumy nations, there her gayeil hues 
 Profufely pours. * But, if fhe bids them ihine, 
 
 * In all the regions of the torrid zone, the birds, though 
 more beautiful in their plumage, are obferved to be kTs melo- 
 dious than ours. 
 
8(5 S U M M E R. 
 
 Array 'd in all the beauteous beams of dayy 
 Yet frugal ftill, fhe humbles them in fong. 
 Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent 
 Proud Montezuma's realm, whofe legions cad 
 A boundleis radiance waving on the fun, 
 While Philomel is ours; while in cur fbacles, 
 Thro' the foft iilence of the liftening nighty 
 The fober-fuited fongftrefs trills her lay. 
 
 But come, my Mule, the defeit-bairier burfr, 
 A wild expanfe of lifelefs fand and fky: 
 And, fwifter than the toiling caravan, 
 Shoot o'er the vale cf Sennar : ardent climb 
 The Nubian mountains, and the fecret bounds 
 Of jealous Abyfiinia boM'y pierce. 
 Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mafk 
 Of facial commerce com'fl to rob their wealth j 
 No hoI\ Fury thou, bl.ifpheming Heaven, 
 Willi confecrated iteel to flab their peace, 
 And thro' the land, yet red from civil wounds, 
 To fpread the purple tyranny of Rome. 
 Thou, like the harmlefs bee, may'ft: freely range, 
 From mead to mead bright with exalted flowers, 
 From jafmine grove to grove, may'ft wander gay. 
 Thro* palmy (hades and aromatic woods, 
 That grace the plains, invert the peopled hills.. 
 
S U M M E R. s; 
 
 And up the more than Alpine mountains wave. 
 There on the breezy fummit, fpreading fair, 
 For many a league; or on lmpendous rocks, 
 That from the fun-redoublirg valley liftj 
 Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops; . 
 Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rife; 
 And gardens imile around, and cultur'd fields; 
 And fountains guflij and carelefs herds and fleck:. 
 Securely ftray; a world within itfelr", 
 Difdaining all afi'ault : there let me draw 
 Ethereal foul, there drink reviving gales, 
 Profuiely breathing from the fpicy groves, 
 And vales of fragrance; there at diflance hear 
 The roaring floods, and cataracts, that fweep 
 From difembowel'd earth the virgin gold ; 
 And o'er the varied landfcape, reftleiS; rove, 
 Fervent with life of every fairer kind : 
 A land of wonders ! which the fun ftill eyes 
 With ray direct, as of the lovely realm 
 Enamour'd, and delighting there to dwell. 
 
 How changd the fcene! In blazing height of 
 noon, 
 The fun, opprefs'd, is plung'd in thickeft gloom. 
 Still Horror reigns, a dreaiy twilight round, 
 Of ftruggling night and day malignant mi&'d. 
 
68 S U M M E E. 
 
 For to the hot equator crowding fait, 
 
 Where, highly rarefy'd, the yielding air 
 
 Admits their ftream, inceffant vapours roll, 
 
 Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd; 
 
 Or whirl'd tempettuous by the gutty wind,, 
 
 Or filent borne along, heavy, and flow, 
 
 With the big flores of Seaming oceans charg'd. 
 
 Meantime, amid thefe upper feas, condens'd. 
 
 Around the cold aerial mountain's brow, 
 
 And by conflicting winds together dafh'd, 
 
 The Thunder holds his black tremendous throne: 
 
 From cloud to cloud the rending Lightnings ragej 
 
 Till, in the furious elemental war 
 
 DiiTblv'd, the whole precipitated mafs 
 
 Unbroken floods and folid torrents pours. 
 
 The treafures thefe, hid from the bounded fearch 
 Of ancient knowledge ; whence, with annual pomp, 
 Rich kinsr of floods! o'erflows the fwellina; Nile. 
 From his two fprings. in Gojam's funny realm, 
 Pure- welling cut, he thro' the lucid lake 
 Of fair Dambea rolls his infant-flream. 
 There, by the Naiads nurs'd, he fpcrts away 
 His playful youth, amid the fragrant iiles, 
 That with unfading verdure fmi!e around. 
 Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks; 
 
S U M M E R. 89 
 
 And gathering m3ny a flood, and copious ftd 
 With all the mellowed treafures of the iky, 
 Winds in progrefiive majefty along: 
 Thro' fplendid kingdoms now devolves his maze, 
 Xow wanders wild o'er folitary traces 
 Of life-deferted land; till, glad to quit 
 The joylefs delert, down the Nubian rocks, 
 From ihundering fteep to deep, he pours his urn, 
 And Egypt joys beneath the fpreading wave. 
 
 His brother Niger too, and all the floods 
 In which the full-form'd maids of Afric lave 
 Their jetty limbs j and all that from the tract 
 Of woody mountains ftretch'd thro' gorgeous Ind 
 Fall on Cormandel's coat!, or Malabar \ 
 From * Meuam's orient ftrcam, that nightly fhines 
 With in feet-lamps, to where Aurora lheds 
 On Indus' fmiling banks the rofy mower: 
 All, at this bounteous feafon, ope th-ir urns, 
 And pour untoiling harveft oVr the land. 
 
 Nor lefs ihy world, Columbus, drinks, refrem'd, 
 The lavilh moillure of the melting year. 
 Wide. o"er his ifles, the branching Oronoque 
 
 * The river that runs through Siam ; on whofe banks i vaft 
 multitude of thofe infefls called F.re-flie3 make a beaatifnl 
 appearance in ths night. 
 
oo S U M M E R. 
 
 Eolls a brown deluge; and the native drives 
 To dwell aloft on. life-furficing trees, 
 At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms. 
 Swell'd by a thoufand flrearas, fmpetuous huri'd 
 From all the roaring Andes, huge defcends 
 The mighty * Orcllana. Scarce the Mufe 
 Dares ftretch her wing o'er this enormous mafs 
 Of ruthing water ; fcarce flie dares attempt 
 The fea-like Plata; to tvhofe dread expanfe, 
 Continuous depth, and wondrous length of courfe^ 
 Our floods are rills. With unabated force, 
 In filent dignity they fweep along, 
 And traverfe realms unknown, and blooming wilds, 
 And fruitful deferts, worlds of folitude, 
 Where the fun fmiles and feafons teem in vain, 
 Unfeen, and unenjo/d. Forfaking thefe, 
 O'er peopled plains they fair-diffufive flow, 
 And many a nation feed, and circle fafe, 
 In their foft bofom, many a happy iile: 
 The feat of blamekfs Pan, yet undifturb'd 
 By Chriftian crimes and Europe's cruel fons= 
 Thus pouring on they proudly feek the deep, 
 Whofe vanquinYd tide, recoiling from the fhockj 
 
 * The river of the Amazons, 
 
SUMMER. 91 
 
 Yields to the liquid weight of half the globe ; 
 And Ocean trenbles for his sfceen domain. 
 
 But what avails this wondrous watte of wealth ? 
 This gay profusion of luxurious blifs? 
 This pump of Nature ? what their balmy meads, 
 Their powerful herbs and Ceres void of pain? 
 By vagrant birds difpers'd, and wafting wind c , 
 What their implanted fruits? What the cool 
 
 draughty 
 Th' ambrofial food, lich gums, and fpicy health, 
 Their forefts yield? Their toiling infects what, 
 Their filky pride, and vegetable robes ? 
 Ah! what avail their fatal treafures, hid 
 Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 
 Golconda's gems, and fad Potoffs mines; 
 "Where dwelt the gentleit children of the fun ? 
 What all that Afric's golden rivers roll. 
 Her odorous woods, and (Inning ivory ftores ? 
 Ill-fated race! the fattening arts of Peace, 
 Whate'er the humanizing Mufes teach; 
 The godlike wifdom of the temper'd breaft ; 
 Progreflive truth, the patient force of thought; 
 Inveftigation calm, whofe filent powers 
 Command the world; the Light that leads to 
 Heaven 5 
 
02 SUMME R. 
 
 Kind equal rule, the government of laws,, 
 And all-protecling Freedom, which alone 
 Suftains the name and dignity of Man : 
 Thele are not theirs. The parent-fun himfelf 
 Seems o'er this world of ilaves to tyrannize 5 
 And, with oppreffive ray, the rofeat bloom 
 Of beauty blafting, gives the gloomy hue, 
 And feature grofs : or worfe, to ruthlefs deeds, 
 Mad jealoufy, blind rage, and fell revenge, 
 Their fervid fpirit fires Love dwells not there, 
 The foft regards, the tendernefs of life, 
 The heart-died tear, th' ineffable delight 
 Of fweet humanity: thele court the beam 
 Of milder climes: in felfilh fierce defire, 
 And the wild fury of voluptuous fenfe, 
 There loft. The very brute-creation there 
 This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire. 
 Lo ! the green ferpeut. from his dark abode, 
 Which even Imagination fears to tread, 
 At noon forth-ifluing, gathers up his train 
 In orbs immenfe, then, darting out anew, 
 Seeks the refreihing fount ; by which difFus'd, 
 He throws his folds: and while, with threat nin<r 
 
 tongue, 
 And deathful jaws erect, the monfter curls 
 
S U M M E R. 93 
 
 His flaming creft, all other thirti, appall'd, 
 Or fhivering flies, or check'd at distance {lands, 
 Nor dares approach. But ftill more direful he., 
 The fmall clofe-lurking minifter of late, 
 Whole high-conco&ed venom thro' the veins 
 A rapid lightning darts, arrefting fwift 
 The vital current. Form'd to humble Man, 
 This child of vengeful Nature! There, fublim'd 
 To fearlefs luft of b!ood ; the favage race 
 Roam, licens'd by the (hading hour of guilt, 
 And foul mifdeed, when the pure day has fhut 
 His facrod eye. The tyger darting fierce 
 Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd : 
 The lively- ibining leopard, fpeckled o'er 
 With many a fpot, the beauty of the walte; 
 And, fcorning all the taming arts of Man, 
 The keen hyena, felleft of the fell. 
 Thefe, rufhirg from th' inholpitable woods 
 Of Mauritania, or the tufted ifles, 
 That verdant rife amid the Libyan wild. 
 Innr.merous glare around their fliaggy king, 
 Majeilie, fhlking o'er the printed fand; 
 And with imperious and repeated roars, 
 Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks 
 Crowd near the guardian f wains the nobler herds, 
 
94 SUMME R. 
 
 Where round their lordly bull, in rural eafe, 
 They ruminating lie, with horror hear 
 The coming rage. Th 1 awakened village flartsj 
 And to her fluttering breaft the mother It rains 
 Her thoughtlefs infant. From the Pyrate's den, 
 Or (tern Morocco's tyrant fang efcap'd, 
 The wretch half-wifhes for his bonds asjain : 
 While, uproar all, tiie wildernefs refounds, 
 From Atlas eaftward to the frighted Nile. 
 Unhappy he ! who from the firft of joys, 
 Society, cut off, is left alone 
 Amid this world of death. Day after day, 
 Sad on the jutting eminence he fits, 
 And views the main that ever toils below ; 
 Still fondly forming in the fartheft verge 
 Where the round ether mixes with the wave, 
 Ships, dim difcovered, dropping from the clouds; 
 At evening, to the fetting fun he turns 
 A mournful eye, and down his dying heart 
 Sinks helplefs ; while the wonted roar is up, 
 And hifs continual through the tedious night. 
 Yet here, even here, into thefe black abodes 
 Of monfters, unappall'd, from ftooping Rome, 
 And guilty Caefar, Liberty retir'd, 
 Her Cato following thro' Numidian wilds : 
 
S U M M E R. 95 
 
 Diidainful of Campania's gentle plains, 
 And all the green delights Aufonia pours ; 
 When for them me mult bend the ferviie knee, 
 And fawning take the fplendid roboer's boon. 
 
 Nor flop the terrors of thefe regions here. 
 Commifi'on'd demons oft, angels of wrath, 
 Let loofe the raging elements. Breath'd her 
 From all the boundlefs furnace of the iky, 
 And the wide glittering wafte of burning fsud, 
 A furTbcating wind the pilgrim fmites 
 With initant death. Patient of thirft and toil. 
 Son of the defert ! even the camel feels, 
 Sbct through his wither d heart, the fiery blaft. 
 Or from the black-red ether, burning broad, 
 Sallies the fudden whirlwind. Straight the fandr 3 
 Commov'd around, in gathering eddies play ; 
 X -rarer and nearer ftill they darkening come 5 
 Till, with the general all-involving ftorm 
 Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arife -, 
 And, by their noon day fount dejected thrown. 
 Or funk at night in fad difaftrous lleep, 
 Beneath defcending hills, the caravan 
 Is buried deep. In Cairo's crowded Ilreets 
 Th' impatient merchant, wondering, waits in vain^ 
 And Mecca faddens at the long delay. 
 
96 SUM M E It. 
 
 But chief at fen, whofe every flexile wave 
 Obeys the blaft, the aerial tumult fwells. 
 In the dread ocean, undulating wide, 
 Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe, 
 The circling * Typhon, whirl' d from point to point, 
 Exhaufting all the rage of all the iky, 
 And dire * Ecnephia reign. Amid the heavens, 
 Falfely ferene, deep in a cloudy f fpeck 
 Comprefs'd, the mighty tempeft brooding dwells : 
 Of no regard, fave to the fkilful eye, 
 Fiery, and foul, the fmall prognoftic hangs 
 Aloft, or on the promontory's brow 
 Mufters its foice. A faint deceitful calm, 
 k fluttering gale, the demon fends before, 
 To tempt the fprcading fail. Then down at once, 
 Precipitant, defcends a mingled mafs 
 Of roaring winds, and flame, -and rufliing floods. 
 In wild amazement nVd the failor (lands. 
 Art is too flow : By rapid fate opprefs'd, 
 His broad- wing'd veffel drinks the whelming tide, 
 Hid in the bofom of the black abyfs. 
 
 * Typhon and Ecnephia, names of particular ftorms or 
 hurricanes, known only between the tropics. 
 
 f Called by failois the Ox-eye, being in appearance at firft 
 oo bigger. 
 
SUMMER. 97 
 
 With fuch mad feas the daring * Gama fought,, 
 
 For many a day, and many a dreadful night, 
 
 IncefThnt, lab'ring round the ftormy Cape; 
 
 By bold ambition led, and bolder thirft 
 
 Of gold. For then from ancient gloom emerg'd 
 
 The rifing world of trade: the Genius, then, 
 
 Of navigation, that, in hopelefs floth, 
 
 Had -flumber'd on the raft Atlantic deep, 
 
 For idTe ages, flarting, heard at Lift 
 
 The f Lufitanian Prince ; who, Heav'n-infpir'd, 
 
 To love of ufeful glory roes'd mankind, 
 
 And in unbounded Commerce mix'd the worM. 
 
 Increasing ftill the terrors of thefe florms, 
 His jaws horrific arm'd with threefold fate, 
 Here dwells the direful fhark. Lur'd by the fcent 
 Of (learning crowds, of rank difeafe, and death, 
 Behold ! he ruthing cuts the briny flood, 
 Swift as the gale can bear the fnip along 3 
 And, from the partners of that cruel trade, 
 Which fpoils unhappy Guinea of her fons, 
 
 * Vafco de Gama, the firft who (ailed round Africa, by the 
 Cape of Good Mope, to the Eaft Indies. 
 
 f Don Henry, third fon to John the firft, king of Portugal. 
 His ftrong genius to the difcovery of new countries was the 
 chief fource of ail th- modern improvements in navigation, 
 
 H 
 
(JS SUMME R. 
 
 Demands his (hare of prev ; demands themfelves. 
 The ttormy fates defcend: one death involves 
 Tyrants and flavesj when ftrait, their mangled 
 
 limbs 
 Cradling at once, he dyes the purple feas 
 With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 
 
 When o'er this world, by equinoctial rains 
 Flooded immenle, looks out the joylefs fun, 
 And draws the copious fteam: from fwampj fens, 
 Where putrefaction into life ferments, 
 And breathes deftrucUve myriads ; or from woods. 
 Impenetrable fhades, recelTes foul, 
 In vapours rank and blue corruption wrapt, 
 Whofe gloomy horrors yet no defperate foot 
 Has ever dar'd to pierce ; then, wafteful, forth 
 Walks the dire Power of peftilent difeafe. 
 A thoufand hideous fiends her courfe attend,, 
 Sick Nature blafting, and to heartlefs woe, 
 And feeble defolation^ calling down 
 The towering hopes and all the pride of Man, 
 Such as, of late, at Carthagena quench'd 
 The Brhifli fire. You, gallant Vernon, faw 
 The miferable fcene ; you, pitying, faw 
 To infant-weaknefs funk the warrior's arm; 
 Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghaftly form, 
 
SUM M E R. gg 
 
 The lip pale- quivering, and the beamlefs eye 
 Xo more with ardour bright : you heard the groans 
 Of agonizing (hips, from lhope to fhore ; 
 Heard, nightly plung'd amid the fallen waves, 
 The frequent corfej while on each other fix'd, 
 In fad pref-.ge, the blank aliitiants feem'd, 
 Silent, to aik, whom Fate would next demand. 
 
 What need I mention thofe inclement fkies, 
 Where, frequent o'er the fickening city, Plague, 
 The fiercer! child of Neracii, divine, 
 Defrends ? * From Ethiopia's pollened woods, 
 From ir.fltd Cairo's filth, and fetid fields 
 With locult-armies putrefying heap'd, 
 This great deitroyer fprung. Her awful rcge 
 
 2 brutes efcape: Man is her defrin'd prey, 
 Intemperate man! and o'er his guilty domes 
 She draws a clofe incumbent cloud of death ; 
 Uninterrupted by the living winds, 
 Forbid to blow a wholefome breeze; and fiain'd 
 With many a mixture by the fun, fufFus'd, 
 Of angry afpecl. Princely wifdom, then, 
 Dejects his watchful eye; and from the hand 
 
 * Thefe are the caufes fuppofed to be the firft origin of the 
 Plague, in Dr. Mead's elegant book on that fubjeft. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 SUMMER. 
 
 Of feeble ju (lice, ineffectual, drop 
 
 The fword and balance: mute the voice of joy, 
 
 And hufh'd the clamour of the bufy world. 
 
 Empty the ftreets, with uncouth verdure clad; 
 
 Into the worft of deferts fudden turn'd 
 
 The cheerful haunt of Men : unlefs elcap'd 
 
 From the dcom'd houfe, where rratchlefs horror 
 
 reigns, 
 Shut up by barbarous fear, the fmitten wretch, 
 With frenzy wild, breaks loofe; and, loud to 
 
 heaven 
 Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns, 
 Inhuman, and nnwife. The fullen door, 
 Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge 
 Fearing to turn, abhors fociety: 
 Dependants, friends, relations, Love himfelf, 
 Savag'd by woe, forget the tender tie, 
 The fweet engagement of the feeling heart. 
 But vain their felfifh care: the circling fky, 
 The wide enlivening air, is full of fate j 
 And, ftruck by turns, in folitary pangs 
 They fall, unbleft, untended, and unmourn'd. 
 Thus o'er the proftrate city black Defpair 
 Extends her raven wing; while, to complete 
 
SUMMER. 101 
 
 The fcene of defolation, flretch'd around, 
 The grim guards Hand, denying all retreat, 
 And give the flying wretch a better death. 
 
 Much yet remains unfung : the rage intenfe 
 Of brazen-vaulted fkies, of iron fields, 
 Where drought and famine ltarve the blafted year : 
 Fir'd by the torch of noon to tenfold rage, 
 The infuriate hill that (hoots the pillar'd flame; 
 And, rous'd within the fubterranean world, 
 Th' expanding earthquake, that refifilefs makes 
 Afpiring cities from their folid bafe, 
 And buries mountains in the flaming gulph. 
 But 'tis enough ; return, my vagrant Mufe: 
 A nearer fcene of horror calls thee home. 
 
 Behold, flow-fettling o'er the lurid grove 
 Unufual darknefs broods; and growing gains 
 The full poffeffion of the fky, furcharg'd 
 With wrathful vapour, from the fecret beds, 
 Where lleep the mineral generations, drawn. 
 Thence Nitre, Sulphur, and the fiery fpume 
 Of fat Bitumen, fteaming on the day, 
 With various-tinctur'd trains of latent flame, 
 Pollute the Iky, and in yon baleful cloud, 
 A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate, 
 Ferment ; till, by the touch ethereal rousd, 
 
102 S U M M E R. 
 
 The dafli of clouds, or irritating war, 
 Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, 
 They furious fpring. A boding filcnce reigns. 
 Dread thro' the dun expanfe; fave the dull found 
 That from the mountain, previous to the ftorm, 
 Rolls o'er the muttering earth, difturbs the flood, 
 And (hakes the foreft leaf without a breath. 
 Prone, to the loweft vale, the aerial tribes 
 Defcend: the tempeft-loving raven fcarce 
 Dares wing the dubious dufk. In rueful gaze 
 The cattle fland, and on the fcowling heavens 
 Caft a deploring eye ; by Man forfook, 
 Who to the crowded cottage hies him faft, 
 Or feeks the fhelter of the downward cave. 
 
 'Tis liftening fear, and dumb amazement all : 
 When to the ftartled eye the fudden glance 
 Appears far fouth, eruptive thro' the cloud j 
 And following flower, in exploiion vail, 
 The Thunder raifes his tremendous voice. 
 At firfl, heard folemn o'er the verge of heaven, 
 The tempeft growls j but as it nearer comes, 
 And rolls its awful burden on the wind, 
 The lightnings flaili a larger curve, and more 
 The noife aftounds : till over head a iheet 
 Of livid flame difclofes wide; then fliuts, 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 And opens wider 3 fhuts and opens ftill 
 Expanlive, wrapping ether in a blaze. 
 Follows the loofen'd aggravated roar, 
 Enlarging, deepening, mingling; peal on peal 
 Crufh'd horrible, convulfing heaven and earth. 
 
 Down comes a deluge of fonorous hail, 
 Or prone-defcending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds 
 Pour a whole flood ; and yet, its flame unquench'd, 
 Th' unconquerable lightning ftruggles through, 
 Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls, 
 And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 
 Black from the ftroke, above, the fmouldring pine 
 Stands a fad (battered trunk j and, ftretch'd below, 
 t A lifclefs group the blafted cattle lie : 
 Here the loft flocks, with that fame harmlefs look 
 They wore alive, and ruminating ftill 
 In fancy's eye 5 and there the frowning bull, 
 And ox half-rais'd. Struck on the caftled cliff, 
 The venerable tower and fpiry fane 
 Refign their aged pride. The gloomy woods 
 Start at the flaih, and from their deep recef>, 
 Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates iliake. 
 Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud 
 The repercullive roar: with mighty crufh, 
 
104 SUMMER. 
 
 Into the flaming deep, from the rude rocks 
 Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the fky, 
 Tumble the fmitten cliffs ; and Snowden's peak, 
 DifTolving, inilant yields his wintry load. 
 Far-feen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze, 
 And Thule bellows thro' her utmoft ifles. 
 
 Guilt hears appall'd, with ceeply troubled 
 thought. 
 And yet not always on the guilty head 
 Defcends the fated flam. Young Celadon 
 And his Amelia were a matchlefs pair 5 
 With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace, 
 The fame, diftinguim'd by their fex alone: 
 Her's the mild lultre of the blooming morn, 
 And his the radiance of the rifen day. 
 
 They lov'd : But fuch their guilelefs paffion was, 
 As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart 
 Of innocence, and undiiTembling truth. 
 'Twas friendfhip heightened by the mutual with, 
 Th' enchanting hope, and fympathetic glow, 
 Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all 
 To love, each was to each a dearer felf; 
 Supremely happy in th' awakened power 
 Of giving joy. Alone, amid the fliades, 
 
SUMMER. 105 
 
 Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd 
 The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart, 
 Or figh'd and look'd unutterable things. 
 
 So pafs'd their life, a clear united flream, 
 By care unruffled ; till, in evil hour, 
 The tempeft caught them on the tender walk, 
 Heedlefs how far, and where its mazes ftray'd, 
 While, with each other bleft, creative love 
 Still bade eternal Eden fmile around. 
 Prefaging inftant fate her bofom heav'd 
 Unwonted fighs, and ftealing oft a look 
 Of the big gloom on Celadon her eye 
 Fell tearful, wetting her diforder'd cheek. 
 In vain afThring love, and confidence 
 In Heaven, reprefs'd her fear ; it grew, and ihook 
 Her frame near diflblution. He perceiv'd 
 Th' unequal conflict, and as angels look 
 On dying faints, his eyes companion fhed, 
 With love illumin'd high. " Fear not," he (aid, 
 '* Sweet innocence! thou ftranger to offence, 
 " And inward ftorm ! He, who yon fkies involves 
 w In frowns of darknefs, ever fmiies on thee 
 " With kind regard. O'er thee the fecret fhaft 
 " That waftes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour 
 " Of noon, flies harmlefs : and that very voice, 
 
106 SUM M E R. 
 
 " Which thunders terror thro' the guilty heart, 
 " With tongues of feraphs whifpers peace to thine. 
 " 'Tis fafety to be near thee fure, and thus 
 " To clafp perfection !" From his void embrace, 
 Myfterious Heaven! that moment, to the ground, 
 A blackened corfe, wasflruck the beauteous maid. 
 But who can paint the lover, as he flood, 
 Pierc'd by fevere amazement, hating life, 
 Speechlefs, and fix'd in all the death of woe! 
 So, faint refemblance! on the marble tomb, 
 The well-difTembled mourner Hooping (lands, 
 For ever filent, and for ever fad. 
 
 As from the face of heaven the mattered clouds 
 Tumultuous rove, th' interminable fky 
 Sublimer fvvells, and o'er the world expands 
 A purer azure. Thro' the lightened air 
 A higher luflre and a clearer calm, 
 DifFufive, tremble; while, as if in fign 
 Of danger pad, a glittering robe of joy, 
 Set off abundant by the yellow ray, 
 Invefls the fields; and nature fmiles reviv'd. 
 
 'Tis beauty all, and grateful fong around, 
 Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat 
 Of flocks thick-nibbling thro' the clover'd vale. 
 And (hall the hymn be marr'd by thanklefs Man, 
 
S U M M E R. 107 
 
 Moft-favour'd 5 who with voice articulate 
 Should lead the chorus of this lower world? 
 Shall he, fo foon forgetful of the hand 
 That hufh'd th e thunder, and ferenes the fky, 
 Extinguiih'd feel that fpark the tempeft wak'd, 
 That fenfe of powers exceeding far his own, 
 Ere yet his feeble heart has loft its fears ? 
 
 Cheer d by the milder beam, the fprightly youth 
 Speeds to the well-known pool, whofe cryital depth 
 A fandy bottom (hews. Awhile he (lands 
 Gazing th' inverted landfcape, half afraid 
 To meditate the blue profound below ; 
 Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. 
 His ebon trefies, and his rofy cheek, 
 Inftant emerge ; and thro' the obedient wave, 
 At each fhort breathing by his lip repeil'd, 
 With arms and legs according well, he makes, 
 As humour leads, an eafy winding path ; 
 While, from his polifh'd fides, a dewy light 
 Effufes on the pleas'd spectators round. 
 
 This is the pureft exercife of health, 
 The kind refrelher of the fummer-heats; 
 Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood^ 
 Would I weak ihiverng linger on the brink. 
 Thus life redoubles, and is oft preferv'd, 
 
103 SUMMER. 
 
 By the bold fwimmer, in the fwift illapfe 
 Of accident difaftrous. Hence the limbs 
 Knit into force j and the fame Roman arm, 
 That rofe victorious o'er the conquer'd earth, 
 Firft learn'd, while tender, to fubdue the wave. 
 Even, from the body's purity, the mind 
 Receives a fecret fympathetic aid. 
 
 Clofe in the covert of an hazel copfe, 
 Where winded into pleafing folitudes 
 Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon fat, 
 Penfive, and pierc'd with love's delightful pangs. 
 There to the ftream that down the diftant rocks 
 Hoarfe-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that 
 
 play'd 
 Among the bending willows, falfely he 
 Of Musidora's cruelty complain'd. 
 She felt his flame ; but deep within her bread, 
 In baftiful coynefs, or in maiden pride, 
 The foft return conceal'd ; fave when it ftole 
 In iide long glances from her downcaft eye, 
 Or from her fvvelling foul in flifled fighs. 
 Touch'd by the fcene, no flranger to his vows, 
 He fram'd a melting lay, to try her heartj 
 And, if an infant paflion ftruggled there, 
 To call that paffion forth. Thrice happy fwain ' 
 
~_Bathi:>~ s 
 
 . ,./ ' / 
 
 
 'I //A Ar //t */ f'f//.*A///tr *// /// / ,/,//////// /■j-tr'^r 
 
 fid '- '/./.- //../ /-,y f, 'i y.l>. •,- ( ./,//, . ft. . - , /('//% . 
 
SUMMER. JO9 
 
 A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 
 Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine. 
 For \o ! conducted by the laughing Loves, 
 This cool retreat his Musidoka fought: 
 Warm in her cheek the fultry feafon giow'd ; 
 And, rob'd in locfe array, fhe came to bathe 
 Her fervent limbs in the refrefhing ^ream. 
 What (hall he do ? In fweet confufiou loft, 
 And dubious flutterings, he a while remain'd: 
 A pure ingenuous elegance of foul, 
 A delicate refinement, known to few, 
 Ferplex'd his bread, and urg'd him to retire : 
 But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, fay, 
 Say, ye feverefr, what would you have done? 
 Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever bleft 
 Arcadian ftream, with timid eye around 
 The banks furveying, ftripp'd her beauteous limbs. 
 To tafte the lucid coolnefs of the flood. 
 Ah then! not Paris on the piny top 
 Of Ida panted ftronger, when afide 
 The rival-SfodderTes the veil divine 
 Caft unconnn'd, and gave him all their charm?. 
 Than, Damon, thou 5 as from the fnowy leg, 
 And flender foot, th' inverted (ilk fhe drew; 
 As the foft touch diflolv'd the virgin zone; 
 
110 SUMMER. 
 
 And, thro' the parting robe, th' alternate bread, 
 With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawlefs gaze 
 In full luxuriance rofe. But, defperate youth, 
 How durit thou rifque the foul-dinVa6f.ing view ; 
 As from her naked limbs, of glowing white, 
 Harmonious fwell'd by Nature's fineft hand, 
 In folds loofe- floating fell the fainter lawn: 
 And fair expos'd Hie flood, fbrunk from herftrlf, 
 With fancy blufliing, at the doubtful breeze 
 Alarm'd. and liartin^ like the fearful fawn ? 
 Then to the flood flie ruuYd; the parted flood 
 Its lovely gueti with clofing waves receiv'dj 
 And every beauty foftening, every grace 
 Flufhing anew, a mellow luflre fhed : 
 As fhines the lily thro' the cryftal mild ; 
 Or as the rofe amid the morning dew, 
 Fretli from Aurora's hand, more fvveetly glows. 
 While thus the wanton'd, now beneath the wave 
 But ill conceal'dj and now with ftreaming locks, 
 That half-embrac'd her in a humid veil, 
 Riling again, the latent Damon drew 
 Such madd'ning draughts of beauty to the foul, 
 As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptur'd thought 
 With luxury too daring. Check'd, at lafl, 
 By love's refpectful modelly, he deem'd 
 
SUMMER. Ill 
 
 The theft profane, if aught profane to love 
 
 Can e'er be deem'd ; and, ftruggling from the (hade, 
 
 With headlong hurry fled: but firft thefe lines, 
 
 Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank 
 
 With trembling hand he threw. " Bathe on, my 
 
 fair, 
 " Yet unbeheld fave by the facred eye 
 *' Of faithful love : I go to guard thy haunt, 
 " To keep from thy recefs each vagrant foot, 
 
 And each licentious eye." With wild furprife, 
 As if to marble (truck, devoid of fenfe, 
 A itnpid moment motionlefs fhe flood: 
 So (lands the * flatue that enchants the world, 
 So bending tries to veil the matchlefs boaft, 
 The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. 
 Recovering, fwift (lie flew to find thofe robes 
 Which blifsful Eden knew not j and, array'd 
 In carelefs hafle, th' alarming paper fnatch'd. 
 But, when her Damon's well-known hand (he faw, 
 Her terrors vaniih'd, and a fofter train 
 Of mixt emotions, hard to be defcrib'd, 
 Her fudden bofom feiz'd : (hame void of guilt, 
 The charming blufh of innocence, efteem 
 
 * The Venus of Medici. 
 
112 SUMMER. 
 
 And admiration of her lover's flame, 
 
 By modefty exalted : even a fenfe 
 
 Of felf-approving beauty fiole acrofs 
 
 Her bufy thought At length, a tender calm 
 
 HufrYd by degrees the tumult of her foul; 
 
 And on the fpreading beech, that o'er the ftream 
 
 Incumbent hung, me with the filvan pen 
 
 Of rural lovers this conkilion carvd, 
 
 Which foon her Damon kifs'd with weeping joy: 
 
 '" Dear youth ! fole judge of what thefe verfcs mean, 
 
 '* By fortune too much favour'd, but by love, 
 
 " Alas! not favour'd lefs, be rtill as now 
 
 " Difcreet : the time may come you need not fly." 
 
 The fun has loft his rage: his downward orb 
 Shoots nothing now but animating warmth, 
 And vital lullre j that, with various ray, 
 Lights up the clouds, thofe beauteous robes of 
 
 heav'n, 
 Jnceffant roll'd into romantic fhapes, 
 The dream of waking fancy ! Broad below, 
 Cover' d with ripening fruits, and fwelling fa ft 
 Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth 
 And all her tribes rejoice. Now the foft hour 
 Of walking comes : for him who lonely loves 
 To feek the diitant hills, and there converfe 
 
SUMMER. 113 
 
 With Nature; there to harmonize his heart, 
 And in pathetic fong to breathe around 
 The harmony to others. Social friends, 
 Attun'd to happy unifon of foul; 
 To whofe exalting eye a fairer world, 
 Of which the vulgar never had a giinipfe, 
 Difplays its charms ; whofe minds are richly fraught 
 With philofophic ftores, fuperior light; 
 And in whole breaft, enthuiiaitic, burns 
 Virtue, the fons of intereft deem romance 5 
 Now call'd abroad enjoy the falling day: 
 Now to the verdant Portico of woods, 
 To Nature's vail Lyceum, forth they walk; 
 By that kind School where no proud matter reigns, 
 The full free converfe of the friendly heart, 
 Improving and improv'd. Now from the world, 
 Sacred to fweet retirement, lovers ileal, 
 And pour their fouls in tranfport, which the Sin*, 
 Of love approving hears, and "calls it good " 
 "Which way, Amanda, {hall we bend our courfe? 
 The choice perplexes. V> herefore mould we choofe? 
 All is the fame with thee. Say, iliall we wind 
 Along the itre^ms ? or walk the mailing mead? 
 Or court the foreft-glades ? or wander wild 
 Among the waving harvefts? or afcend, 
 
 I 
 
] 14 SUMMER. 
 
 AVhile radiant Summer opens all its pride, 
 Thy hill, delightful * Sherie? Here let us fweep 
 The boundlefs landfcape : row the raptur'd eye, 
 Exulting fvvift, to huge Augusta fend, 
 Now to the t Sifter-Hills that ikirt her. plain, 
 To lofty Harrow now, and now to where 
 [ajeftic Wiridfor lifts his princely brow. 
 [n lovely contrafl: to this glorious-view 
 Calmly magnificent, then will we turn 
 To where the filver Thames firft rural grows. 
 There let the hailed eye unwearied ftray: 
 Luxurious, there, rove thro' the pendant woods 
 That nodding bang o'er Harrington's retreat; 
 And, ti oping therce to Ham's embowering wa:ks, 
 Beneath whcfe (hades, in fpotlefs peace retir'd, 
 "With Her the pleating partner or his heart, 
 The woithy Uueensb'ky yet laments his Gay, 
 And polilh'd Co;inbuky wooei, the v illing Mufe, 
 Slow let us trace the matchlefs Vale of Thames; 
 Fair-winding up to a here the Mnfes ..aunt 
 In Twit'nam's bowers, and for their Pupe implore 
 
 * The old nr-Tie of Richmond, flgnifying in Saxon 
 'Shining,' or ' Splendor.' 
 
 f H irrigate and Harnpftead. 
 
SUMMER. 115 
 
 The healing God *; to royal Hampton's pile, 
 
 To Clermont's tt-rrafVd height, and Efher's groves, 
 
 Where in the fvveeteft folitude, embraced 
 
 By the fort windings of the filent Mole, 
 
 From courts and fenates Peluam finds repofe. 
 
 Enchanting vale! beyond whate'er the Mufe 
 
 Has of Achaia or Hcfperia fang! 
 
 O vale of biifs ! O foftly-fwelling hills ! 
 
 On which the Power of Cultivation lies, 
 
 And jo} s to fee the wonders of his toil. 
 
 Heavens! what a goodly' profpect fpreads 
 
 around, 
 Of hills, and dalesj and woods, and lawns, and 
 
 fpires, 
 And glittering towns, and gilded flreams, till all 
 The ftretcbing landfcape into fmoke decays ! 
 Happy Britannia.! where the Queen of Arts, 
 Infpiiing vigour, Liberty abroad 
 Walks, unconfj '], ven to thy f-nhed: cots, 
 And fcatt rs plenty with un! paring hand. 
 Rich is thy foil, and merciful thy clime; 
 Thy itream- unfa ling in the bummer's droughtj 
 Unmatch'd thy guardian-oaks, thy \aheys float 
 
 * In his laft ficki.efs. 
 I 2 
 
116 SUMMER. 
 
 With golden waves : and on thy mountains flocks 
 Eleat numberlefs; while, roving round their, fides, 
 Bellow the blackening herds in lu fly droves. 
 Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rile unquell'd 
 Again ft the mower's fey the. On every hand 
 Thy villas mine. Thy country teems with wealth; 
 And property allures it to the fwain, 
 Pleas'd, and unwearied, in his guarded toil. 
 
 Full are thy cities with the fons of art ; 
 And trade and joy, in every bufy flreet, 
 Mingling are heard: even Drudgery himfclf, ' 
 As at the car he iweats, or dully hews 
 The palace flone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, 
 Where riling mafts an endlefs profpecl yield, 
 With labour burn, and echo to the fhouts 
 Of hurried frllor, as he hearty waves 
 His laft adieu, and loofening every meet, 
 Kefigns the fp reading vefTcl to the wind. 
 
 Bold, firm,, and graceful, arc thy generous youth, 
 By hard&ip finewM, and by ci nYd, 
 
 Scattering the nations v\ here the}' go ; and fir ft 
 Or on the lifted plain, or ftormy teas. 
 Mild are thy glori' s too, as o'er the plans 
 Of thriving peace thy thoughtful fires prefidej 
 In genius, and iubltdiu.al learning, high; 
 
SUMMER. H7 
 
 For every virtue, every worth, renown d ; 
 Sincere, plain-hearted, hofpitable, kind; 
 "iet like the muttering thunder when provok'd, 
 The dread of tyrants, and the fule refource 
 Of thofe that under grim opprefficn groan. 
 Thy Sons of Glory many! Alfred thine, 
 In whom the fplendor of heroic war, 
 And more heroic peace, when govern'd well, 
 Combine; whole hallowed name the virtues faint, 
 And his own mufes love; the beft of Kings! 
 With him thy Edwards and thy Henrys fhine, 
 Names dear to Fame ; the fird who deep imprefs'd 
 On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, 
 That awes her genius ftill. In Statefmen thou, 
 And Fatriots, fertile. Thine a iteady More, 
 Who, with a generous tho' mi (taken zeal, 
 Withftood a brutal tyrants ufeful rage, 
 Like Cato firm, like Ariitides juit, 
 Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor. 
 A dauntlefs foul erect, who fmil'd on death. 
 Frugal, and wife, a Walsingham is thine; 
 A Drake, who made thee milirefs of the deep, 
 And bore thy name in thunder round the world. 
 Then flam' d thy fpirit high : but who can fpeak 
 The numerous worthies of the Maiden Beism ? 
 
118 SUMMER. 
 
 In Raleigh mark their every glory mix ! d 5 
 Raleigh, the fcourge of Spain ! whole bread 
 
 with all 
 The fage, the patriot, and the hero burn'd. 
 Nor funk his vigour, wheu a coward rrign 
 The. warrior fetter'd, and at lafi n ngn'd, 
 To glut the vengeance of a vanquiih'd foe. 
 Then, active (till and unreftrain'd. his mind 
 Explored the vaft extent of ages pa ft, 
 And with his prifon-hours enrich'd the world; 
 Yet found no times, in all the long refearch, 
 So glorious, or fo bafe, as ihofe be prov'd, 
 
 which be conquer'd, and in which he bled. 
 Nor can the Mule the gallant Sidney pafs, 
 The plume of war ! v. itb early laurels crown'd. 
 The Lover's myrtle, and the Port's bay. 
 A Hamden too is thine, illuftrioijs land, 
 Wife, ftrennons, firm, of unfubmitting foul, 
 Who ftem'd the torrent o c 2. downward age 
 To fla ery prone, and bade thee rife again, 
 In ai! thy native "nmp of freedom bold. 
 Bright, at his call, thy Age of Met effulg'd, 
 Of Men on whom 'ate time a kindling eye 
 Shall turn, and i)rjnts tremble while they read. 
 Bring every fweeteft flower, and let me ftrew 
 
SUMMER. ug 
 
 The grave where Russel lies j vvhofe temper'd 
 
 blood, 
 With calmed cheerfulnefs for thee refign'd, 
 Stain'd the fad annals of a giddy reign; 
 Aiming at lawlefs power, tho' meanly funk 
 In loofs inglorious luxury. With him 
 His friend, the * British Cassius, fearlefs bled; 
 Of high determin'd fpirit, loughly brave, 
 
 antieot learning to tii* enlightened love 
 Of antient freedom warm'd. Fair thy renown 
 In awful Sages and in noble Bards; 
 Soon as the light of dawning Science fpread 
 Her orient ray, and wak'd the Mules' fong. 
 Thine is a Bacon; haplefs in his choice, 
 Unfit to Hand the civil ltorm of ftate, 
 And thro' the fmooth barbarity of courts, 
 With firm but pliant virtue, forward (till 
 To urge his courfe: him for the fludious made 
 Kind Nature form'd, deep, comprehensive, clear. 
 Exact, and elegant; in one rich foul, 
 Plato, the Stagyrite. and Tullv join'd. 
 The great deliverer he ! who from the gloom 
 Of cloifter'd monks, and jargon-teaching fchools, 
 
 * Algernon Sidney. 
 
120 SUMMER. 
 
 Led forth the true Philofophy, there long 
 Held in the magic chain of words and form?, 
 And definitions void : he led her forth, 
 Daughter of Heaven ! that flow-afcending (till* 
 Investigating fare the chain of things, 
 With radiant finger points to Heaven again. 
 The generous * Ashley thine, the friend of Man 5 
 V/ho fcann'd his Nature with a brother's eye, 
 Kis weaknefs prompt to made, to raife his aim, 
 To touch the finer movements of the mind, 
 And with the moral beaut)' charm the heart. 
 Why need I name thy Boyle, whole pious fearch 
 
 .id the dark receifes of his works, 
 The great Creator fought ? And why thy Locke, 
 Who made the whole internal world his own ? 
 Let Newton, pure Intelligence, whom God 
 To mortals lent, to trace his boundlefs works 
 From laws fublimely fimple, fpeak thy fame 
 In all philofophy. For lofty fenfe, 
 Creative, fancy, and inipetiion keen 
 Thro' the deep windings of the human heart, 
 
 ot wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's boafl ? 
 i r - not each grtai, each amiable Mufe 
 
 •A 
 
 ntcny Afhley Cooper, earl of Shaftefoury. 
 
SUMMER. 121 
 
 Of claffic ages in thy Milton met? 
 A genius univtrfal as his theme ; 
 Aftoniihingj a s Chaos, as the bloom 
 Of blowi g Eden fair, as Heaven fublime. 
 Nor Qiall my ve/.e that elder bard forget, 
 The gentle Spenseh, Fancy's- pleating fon; 
 Who, like a copious river, ponr'd his fong 
 -O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground : 
 Nor thee, his antient matter, laughing fage, 
 Chaucer, whcfe native manners-painting verfe, 
 Well-moraliz'd, mines thro' the Gothic cloud 
 Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown. 
 
 May my long (often, as thy Daughters I, 
 Britannia, hail' for beauty is their own, 
 The feeling heart, fimplicity of life, 
 And eleganc?, and tafle : the faultlefs form, 
 Shap'd by the hand of harmony; the cheek, 
 Where the live-crimfen, thro* the native white 
 Soft-mooting, o'er the face difFufes bloom, 
 And every namelefa grace ; the parted lip, 
 Like the red rofe-bud moifc with morning-dew, 
 Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet, 
 Or funny ringlets, or of circling brown, 
 The neck flight- maded, and the fwelling breaft j 
 The look retiftlefs, piercing to the foul, 
 
122 S U M M E R. 
 
 And b)' the foul inform'd, when dreft in lov 
 She fits high-fmiliftg in the confcioiis eye. 
 
 Iiland of blifs! amid the fubje£t feas, 
 That thunder round thy rocky coafb, fet up, 
 At once the wonder, terror, and delight. 
 Of diftant naiions; whofe remoteft fhores 
 Can Toon be fhaken by thy naval arm ; 
 Not to be ("hook thyfelf, but all aflaults 
 Bafflii g, as thy hoar cliffs the loud lea-wave. 
 
 O Thou ! by whole almighty Nod the fcaie 
 Of empire rifes, or alternate falls, 
 Send forth the faving Virtues round the land. 
 In bright patrol : white Peace, and focial Love; 
 The ten ; er-looking Charity, intent 
 On gentle deeds, and {bedding tears thro' fmUes; 
 Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of mind ; 
 Courage compos'd, and keen ; found Temperance.. 
 Healthful in heart and look; clear Chaftity, 
 Wiih bluthes reddening as the moves along, 
 Bifordered at the derp regard fhe draws j 
 Rough Indufiry; Activity untir'd, 
 With copious life inform'd, and all awake : 
 While in the radiant front, fuperior fhines 
 That firft paternal virtue, Public Zealj 
 Who throws o'er all an equal wide furvey, 
 
S U M M E R. 123 
 
 And, ever muling on the common weal, 
 Still labours glorious with Come great defign. 
 
 Low walks the fun, and broadens by degrees., 
 Juft o'er the verge of day. The fliifting clouds 
 Aflembled gay, a richly-gorgeous train, 
 In all their pomp attend his letting throne, 
 Air, earth, and ocean fmile immenle. And now, 
 As if his weary chariot fought the bowers 
 Of Amphitrite, and her tending nymphs, 
 (So Grecian fable fung) he dips iris orb; 
 Now half-immers'd j and now a golden curve 
 Gives one bright glance, tin n total difapperrs,- 
 
 For ever running an enchanted round, 
 Paries the day, deceitful, vain, and void 5 
 As fleets the virion o'er the formful brain, 
 This moment hurrying wild th" impaffion'd foul, 
 The next in nothing loft. 'Tis fo to him, 
 The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank : 
 A fight of horror to the cruel wretch, 
 Who all day long in fordid pleafure roll'd, 
 Himfelf an ufelefs load, has fquander'd vile, 
 Upon hisfcoundrel train, what might have cheer'd 
 A drooping family <">f modeft worth. 
 But to the generous ftill improving mind, 
 That gives the hopelefs heart to fing. for joy, 
 
124 S U M M E K. 
 
 DifTufing kind beneficence around, 
 Boaftlefs, as now defcends the fileut dew^ 
 To him the long review cf order' d life 
 Is inward rapture, only to be felt. 
 
 Confefs'd from yonder flow-extinguifh'd clouds, 
 All ether fofiening, fober Evening takes 
 Her wonted ftation in the middle air , 
 A thoufand lhadows at her beck, Firft this 
 She fends on earth ; then that of deeper dye 
 Steals foft behind j and then a deeper frill, 
 In circle following circle, gathers round, 
 To clofe the face of things. A frefber gale 
 Begins to wave the wood, and fiir the ftream, 
 Sweeping with lhadowy guft the fields of corn 5 
 While the quail clamours for his running mate. 
 Wide o'er the thiftly lawn, as fwells the breeze, 
 A whitening fhower of vegetable down 
 Anoufive floats. The kind impartial care 
 Of Nature nought difdains : thoughtful to feed 
 Her loweft fons, and clothe the coming year, 
 From field to field the feathered feeds the wings. 
 
 His folded flock fecure, the fhepherd home 
 Hies, merry-hearted ; and by turns relieves 
 The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail j 
 The beauty whom perhaps his witlefs heart, 
 
S U M M E R. 125 
 
 Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguifh means, 
 Sincerely loves, by that beft language (hewn 
 Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. 
 Onward they pal's, o'er many a panting height, 
 And valley funk, and unfrequented ; where 
 At fall of eve the fairy people throng, 
 In various g3me, and revelry, to pafs 
 The fummer-night, as vi ■lage-ftories tell. 
 But far about they wander from the grave 
 Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd 
 Againft his own fad brealt to lift the hand 
 Of impious violence. The lonely tower 
 Is alfo ihunn'd: whofe mournful chambers hold. 
 So night-ftrnck Fancy dreams, the yelling ghoft. 
 
 Among the crooked lane=, on every hedge, 
 The glow-worm lights his gem ; and, thro' the dark, 
 A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields 
 The world to Night ; not in her winter-robe 
 Of maffy Stygian woof, but ioofe array 'd 
 In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, 
 Glanc'd from th' imperfect turfaces of things, 
 Flings half an image on the ftraining eye; 
 While wavering woods, and villages, and ftreams, 
 And rocks, and moui tain-tops, that long retain'd 
 Th' atcending gkaEB, are all one fwimming fcene, 
 
126 SUMME It. 
 
 Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven 
 
 Thence weary virion turns; where, leading foil 
 
 The filcnt hoars of love, with purer! ray 
 
 Sweet Venus (hints; and from her genial rife, 
 
 When day-light fickens til! it fprings afreih, 
 
 Unrival'd reigns, the fa i reft lamp of night. 
 
 As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink, 
 
 With cherifh'd gaze, the lambent lightnings {hoot 
 
 Acrofs the fky j or horizontal dart 
 
 In wondrous trapes: by fearful murmuring crowds 
 
 •Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs, 
 
 That more than deck, that animate the fky, 
 
 The life-ink. hug" fons of other worlds; 
 
 Lo! from the dread immenfity of fpace 
 
 Returning, with accelerated courfe, 
 
 The ruining comet to the fun descends j 
 
 And as he fii ks below the (hading earth, 
 
 With awful train proje&ed o'er the heavens. 
 
 The guilty nations tremble. But, above 
 
 Th"ie lupprftitious horrors that eoflave 
 
 The fond fequacious herd, to myftic faith 
 
 And blind amazement prone, the enlightened few, 
 
 Whole codlike minds philosophy exalts, 
 
 The ^loriou- Jtranger hail. They feel a joy 
 
 Dnine'.y geatj they in their powers exult, 
 
SUMMER. 12; 
 
 That wondrous force of thought, which mount- 
 ing fpurns 
 This dufky ipot, ami in: a fares all the iky ; 
 V. hile, from his far exeurfion th:o' the wil 
 Of barren eth r, aith u to bis time, 
 They fee the blazing wonder fife anew, 
 In feeming terror clad, bnt kindly bent 
 To . the wiil of ill Gaining Love: 
 
 From his ; oury train perhaps to fha e 
 
 Reviving moirlure en ibe numerous orbs, 
 Thro' which hi . . (is winds; perhaps 
 
 To lend new fuel to declining funs. 
 To light up worlds, and feed th' eternal fire. 
 With thee, ferene Philo , with thee, 
 
 And thy bright garland, let me v.:o.\n my fong ' 
 Effuuve fource of evidence, and tiuth! 
 A luftre V i-ng o'er th' ennobled mind, 
 Stronger than fumrae -nc nj and pure as that, 
 Whofe mild vibratl ns footh the parted foul, 
 Nc .v to the awning ofceleftial day. 
 Hence thm' I rnouriuVd powers, enlarg'd by thee, 
 She fpringf- a! .it, with elevated p.ide, 
 Above Liic- t igli g 'f cU low defires, 
 That bind thi ...■ ringcrou I, and, ngel-wing'd. 
 
 : nee an I of virtue gains, 
 
128 SUMMER. 
 
 Where all is calm and clear ; with Nature round, 
 Or in the ftarry regions, or th' abyfs, 
 To Reafon's and to Fancy's eye difplay'd : 
 The Firft up-tracing, from the dreary void, 
 The chain of cnufes and effects to Him, 
 The world-prddti ::ig' : EssENCE, who alone 
 Poffeffes being; while the Laft receives 
 
 v, h >le ma^incencc of heaven and earth, 
 And every beauty, delicate or bold, 
 O: i or more remote, with livelier fen. 
 DifTufive painted on the rapid mind. 
 
 Tutor'd by thee, hence Poetry exalts 
 Her voice to ages^and informs the page 
 With mafic, image, fentiment, and thought, 
 Never to die! the treafure of mankind ! 
 Their I ft honour, and their trueft joy! 
 
 Without thee what were unenlightened Man ? 
 A lavage roaming thro' the woods and wilds, 
 In quell of prey ; and with th" unfalhioned fur 
 Ro^gh-clad ; devoid of every finer art, 
 And elegance of life. Nor happinefs 
 Domeftic, mix'd of tendernefs and care, 
 Nor moral excellence, nor focial blifs, 
 Nor guardian law were his ; nor various fkili 
 To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool 
 
S U M M E R. 120 
 
 Mechanic; nor the heaven-conducted prow 
 Or navigation bold, that fearlefs braves 
 The burning line or dares the wintry pole ; 
 Mother fevere of infinite delights ! 
 Nothing, lave rapine, indolence, and guile, 
 And woes on woes, a full- revolving train 1 
 Whofe horrid circle had made human life 
 Than non-exirience worfe: but, taught by thee, 
 Ours are the plans of policy, and peace; 
 To live like brothers, and conjunctive all 
 Embellilh life. While thus laborious crowds 
 Ply the tough oar, Philofophy directs 
 The ruling helm ; or, like the liberal breath 
 Of potent Heaven, invifible, the fail 
 Swells out, and bear^ th' inferior world along. 
 
 Nor to this evanefcent fpeck of earth 
 poorly connVd, the radiant tracts on high 
 Are her exalted range) intent to gaze 
 Creation through; and, from that full complex 
 Of never-ending wonders, to conceive 
 Of the Sole Eeing right, who "fpoke the Word," 
 And Nature mov'd complete. With inward view, 
 Thence on th' ideal kingdom fwift {he turns 
 Her eye; and inftant, at her powerful glance, 
 Th' obedient phantoms vanifh or appear; 
 
 K 
 
130 SUMMER. 
 
 Compound, divide, and into order (Lift, 
 Each to his rank, from plain perception up 
 To the fair forms of Fancy's fleeting train: 
 To reafon then, deducing truth from truth ; 
 And notion quite abftraft ; where flrft begins 
 The world of fpirits, action all, and life 
 Unfettered, and unmixt. But here the cloud, 
 So wills Eternal Providence, fits deep. 
 Enough for us to know that this dark ftate, 
 In wayward paffions loft, and vain pnrfuits., 
 This Infancy of Being, cannot prove 
 The final iflue of the works of God, 
 By boundlefs Love and perfect Wifdom form'ci, 
 And ever riling with the :i£ng mind, 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 The fabjeft propofed. Addre(ied to Mr. Onsi.ow. A prof- 
 pc& of the fields ready for harvefl. Reflections i« praife 
 of induftry raifed by that view. Reaping. A tale relative 
 to it. A harveft ftorm. Shooting and hunting, their 
 barbarity. A ludicrous account of fox-hunting. A view 
 of an orchard. Wall-fruit. A Tineyard. A defcription 
 of fogs, frequent in the latter part of Autumn : whence a 
 digreffion, inquiring into the rife of fountains and rivers. 
 Birds of feafon conlidered, that now fhift their habitation. 
 The prodigious number of them that cover the northern 
 and weftern ifles of Scotland. Hence a view of the coun- 
 try. A profpe£l of the difcoloured, fading woods. After 
 a gentle dufky day, moon-light. Autumnal meteors. 
 Morning : to which fucceeds a calm, pure, fun-fhiny day, 
 fuch as ufually fhuts up the feafon. The harveft being 
 gathered in, the country diffolved in joy. The whole con- 
 cludes with a panegyric on a philofophical country life. 
 
A U T U M N. 
 
 Now fun-burnt reapers feek the corn-clad field, 
 And ripcn'd fruits delicious flavour yield. 
 
 Csown'd with the fickle and the wheaten flieai, 
 While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain, 
 Comes jovial onj the Doric reed once more. 
 Well pleas'd, I tune. Whate'er the Wintry froft 
 Nitrous prtpar'd ; the various-blofTom'd Spring 
 Put in white promife forth ; and Summer-fans 
 Concocted ftrong, ruth boundlefs now to view, 
 Full, perfect all, and fwe'.l my glorious theme. 
 
 Onslow ! the Mufe, ambitious of thy name, 
 To grace, infpire, and dignify her fong, 
 Y/ould from the Public Voice thy gentle ear 
 A while engage. Thy noble care (he knows, 
 The patriot virtues that diftend thy thought, 
 Spread on thy front, and in thy bofom glowj 
 While litlening fenates hang upon thy tongue, 
 Devolving thro' the maze of eloquence 
 A roll of periods, fweeter than her fong. 
 
134 AUTUMN. 
 
 But {he too pants for public virtue, (he, 
 Tho' weak of power, yet flrong in ardent will, 
 Whene'er her country rufhes on her heart, 
 Affumes a bolder note, and fondly tries 
 To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame. 
 
 When the bright Virgin gives the beauteousdays, 
 And Libra weighs in equal fcales the year; 
 From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence (hook 
 Of parting Summer, a ferener blue, 
 With golden light enlivened, wide invefls 
 The happy world. Attemper'd funs arife, 
 Sweet-beam'd, and lhedding oft thro' lucid clouds 
 A pleafing calm; while broad, and brown, below ; 
 Extenlive harvtits hang the heavy head. 
 Rich, filent, deep, they ftand; for not a gale 
 Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain: 
 A calm of plenty ! till the ruffled air 
 Falls from its poife, and gives the breeze to blow., 
 Rtnt is the fleecy mantle of the iky ; 
 The clouds fly different; and the fudden fun' 
 By fits effulgent gilds th' illumined field, -i 
 
 And black by fits the fhadows fweep along. 
 A gaily-checker'd htart-expanding view, 
 Far as the circling eye can moot around, 
 Unbounded tofling in a flood ©f corn. 
 
AUTUMN. 135 
 
 Thefe are thybleffings, Induftry! rough power! 
 Whom labour ftill attends, and fweat, and pain j 
 Yet the kind fource of every gentle art, 
 And all the foft civility of life : 
 Raifer of human kind! by Nature call-, 
 Naked, and helplefs, out amid the woods 
 And wilds, to rude inclement elements; 
 With various feeds of art deep in the mind 
 Implanted, and profufely pour'd arcund 
 Materials infinite; but idle ail. 
 Still unexerted, in th' unconfcious bread, 
 Slept the lethargic power; corruption ftill, 
 Voracious, fwallowed what the liberal hand 
 Of bounty fca.tter'd o'er the favage year: 
 And ftill the fad barbarian, roving, mix'd • 
 With beafts of prey; or for his acorn-meal 
 Fought the fierce tuiky boar; a fhivering wretch! 
 Aghaft, and comfortlefs, when the bleak north, 
 With Winter charg'd, let the mix'd tempeft fly, 
 Hail, rain, and fnow, and bitter-breathing froft: 
 Then to the fhelter of the hut he fled ; 
 And the wild feafon, fordid, pin'd away. 
 For home he had not; home is the refort 
 Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where, 
 Supporting and fupported, polifh'd friends 
 
\36 AUTUMN. 
 
 And dear relations mingle into blifs. 
 But this the rugged favage never felt, 
 Even defolate in crowds; and thus his days 
 Roli'd heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd, along : 
 A waftc of time ! till Induftry approach'd^ 
 And rous'd him from his miferable iloth: 
 Mis faculties unfolded j pointed out, 
 Where lavifh Nature the directing band 
 Of Art demanded; Ihew'd him hosv to raife 
 His freble force by ihe mechanic powers, 
 To dig the mineral from the vaulted earthy 
 On what to turn the piercing rage of fire, 
 Ofi what the torrent, and the gather'd blafij 
 Gave the tall ancient f^reft to his ax ; 
 Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the ftone. 
 Till by degrees the finiih'd fabric rofe ; 
 Tore from his lirnbs the blood-polluted fur, 
 And wrapt them in the woolly veftment warm, 
 Or bright in glofify (ilk, and flowing lawn ; 
 With wholefome viands ull'd his table, poar'd 
 The generous glafs around, infpir'd to wake 
 The life-refining foul of decent wit : 
 Xor ftonp'd at barren bare neceilityj 
 But, ft ill advancing bolder, led him on 
 To pomp, to pleafure, elegance, and grace j 
 
AUTUMN. 137 
 
 And, breathing high ambition thro' his foul, 
 Set fcience, wifdom, glory, in his view, 
 And bade him be the Lord of all below. 
 
 Then gathering men their natural powers 
 combin'd, 
 And form'd a Public ; to the general good 
 Submitting, aiming, and conducting all. 
 For this the Patriot-Council met, the full, 
 The free, and fairly reprefented Whole j 
 For this they piann'd the holy guardian laws, 
 Diflinguifh'd orders, animated arts, 
 And with joint force Oppreffion chaining, fet 
 Imperial Juftice at the helm ; yet ftili 
 To them accountable: nor flavifli dream'd 
 That toiling millions muft refign their weal, 
 And all the honey of their fearch, to fuch 
 As for themfelves alone themfelves have rais'd 
 
 Hence every form of cultivated life 
 la order fet, protected, and infpir'd, 
 Into perfection wrought. Uniting all, 
 Society grew numerous, high, polite, 
 And happy. Nurfeofart! the city rear' d 
 In beauteous pride her tower-encircled head; 
 And, uretching ftreet on ftreet, by thoufendsdrew,, 
 
138 AUTUMN. 
 
 From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew 
 To bows flrong-ftraining, her afpiring fons. 
 
 Then Commerce brought into the public walk 
 The bufy merchant; the big warehoufe built; 
 Rais'd the flrong crane; chok'd up the loaded ilreet 
 With foreign plenty; and thy ft ream, O Thames, 
 Large, gentle, deep, majeftic, king of floods ! 
 Chofe for his grand refort. On either hand, 
 Like a long wintry forefl, groves of marts 
 Shot up their fpires ; the bellying meet between 
 PofTeiVd the breezy void ; the footy hulk, 
 Steer d ilaggiih on; the fplendid barge along 
 Kow'd, regular, to harmony; around, 
 The boat, light-fkimming, ftretch'd its oary wingsj 
 While deep the various voice of fervent toil 
 From bank to bank increas'd ; whence, ribb'd 
 
 with oak. 
 To bear the Britifh Thunder, black, and bold, 
 The roaring veflel ruuYd into the main. 
 
 Then too the pillar'd dome, magnific, heav'd 
 Its ample roof; and Luxury within 
 Pour'd out her glittering ftores: the canvas fmootb, 
 With glowing life protuberant, to the view 
 Embodied rofe - } the ftatue feem'd to breathe, 
 
AUTUMN. 139 
 
 And fof'en into fleih. bmeath the touch 
 Of forming art. imaeina'ioD-flufh'd. 
 
 All is the gin or Indaftry; whate'er 
 Kxiit . embelliflies, ati ! renders lilfe 
 Delightful, Ft ti five Wiuter cbeer*d by him 
 
 Sits at the focial fire, and Iiappj hears 
 Th' excluded temp.it idly rave along; 
 
 His harden'd fingers deck ihe gaudy Spring; 
 "Without him Summer were an arid wafte; 
 Nor to th! Autumnal months could thug tranfmit 
 Thofe full, mature, imcaeafurable Q.cxes 3 
 
 That waving round,, recall my wandering long. 
 
 Soon as the morning bremUes o'er the iky, 
 And, unnerceiv'd, u tcA th fpreadicg day; 
 Before the ripened field the reapers ftaod, 
 In fair array ; each by the hfs he loves, 
 To bear the rougher art, and mitigate 
 By namelefs gentle offices her toil. 
 At once they ttoop and fwell. the lufty (heaves ; 
 While thro' their cheerful band the rural talk, 
 The rural fcandal, and the rural jelt, 
 Fiy harmleiSj to deceive the tedious time, 
 And ileal unfelt the fuitry hours away. 
 Behind the matter walks, builds up the fhocks ; 
 And, coiifdcus, glancing oft en every £de 
 
140 AUTUM N. 
 
 His fated eye, feels his heart heave with joy. 
 The gleaners fpread around, and here and there, 
 Spike after fpike, their fcanty harveft pick. 
 Be not too narrow, hufbandrnen ! but fling 
 From the full fheaf, with charitable Health, 
 The liberal handful. Think, oh grateful think! 
 Fow good the Go of Harvelt is to you, 
 Who pours abundance o'er your flowing fields; 
 While thefe unhappy partners of your kind 
 Wide-hover round you, like the fowls of heaven, 
 And afk their humble dole. The various turns 
 Of fortune ponder; that your fons may want 
 What now, with hard relucla nee, faint, ye give. 
 The lovely young Lavinia once had friends; 
 And Fortune fmil'd, deceitful, on her birth. 
 For, in her helplefs years depriv'd of all, 
 Of every flay, fave Innocence and Heaven, 
 She, with her widow'd mother, feeble, old, 
 And poor, Hv'd in a cottage, far retir'd 
 Among the windings of a woody vale; 
 By folitude and deep furrounding fhades, 
 But more by bafhful madeny, conceal'd. 
 Together thus they (hunn'd the cruel fcorn 
 Which virtue, funk to poverty, would meet 
 From giddy paflion and low-minded piide: 
 
AUTUMN. 141 
 
 Almoft on Nature's common bounty fed; 
 Like the gay birds that lung them to repofe, 
 Content, and carelefs of to-morrow's fare. 
 Her form was frefher than the morning rofe, 
 When the dew wets its leaves; unftain'd, and pure, 
 As is the lily, or the mountain fnow. 
 The modeft virtues mingled in her eyes, 
 Still on the ground dejected, darting all 
 Their humid beams into the blooming flowers: 
 Cr when the mournful tale her mother told, 
 Of what her faithlefs fortune promis'd once, 
 Thrill' d in her thought, they, like the dewy {tar 
 Of evening, fhoue in tears. A native grace 
 Sat fair-proportion'd on her poliih'd limbs, 
 Veil'd in a fimple robe, their beft attire, 
 Beyond the pomp of drefs; for lovelinefs 
 Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 
 But is when unad rn'd adorn'd the moft. 
 Thoughtiefs of beauty, fhe was beauty's felf, 
 Reclufe amid the clofe-embowering woods, 
 As in the hollow breait of Appenine, 
 Beneath the fhelter of encircling hills, 
 A myrtle rifes, far from human eye, 
 And breathe rs its balmy fragrance o'er the wild j 
 So flourilh'd blooming, and unfecn by all. 
 
142 AUTUMN. 
 
 The fweet Laviniaj till, at length compell'd 
 By ftiDDg Neceliity's fupreroe command, 
 With fmiling patience in her looks, the went 
 To glean Pa lemon's fields. The pride of fwains 
 Palemon was, the generous, and the rich} 
 Who led the rural life in all its joy 
 And elegance, fuch as Arcadian fong 
 Tranfmits from ancient uncorrupted times; 
 When tyrant cuftom had not fhackled Man. 
 But free to follow Nature was the mode. 
 He then, his fancy with autumnal fcenes 
 Amufing, chane'd betide his reaper-train 
 To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye; 
 Unconfcious of her power, and turning quick 
 With unaffecled bluihes from his gaze : 
 He law her charming, but he faw not haJf 
 The charms her downcaft modefty conceal'd. 
 That very moment love and chafte delne 
 Sprung in his boibm, to himfelf unknown 5 
 For ftiil the world prevail'd, and its dread laugh, 
 Which fcarce the firm philofopher can fcorn, 
 Should his heart own a gleaner in the held: 
 And thus in Garret to his foul he figifd. 
 " What pity ! that lb delicate a form, 
 " By beaury kindled, where enlivening fenfe 
 
.-/ . /. .,,.,,./ ■/,/' 
 
 '/ . ' /// icn < / ■'■ " 
 
 
 '/.v /////./ Jan- t-tj04 /•! /''An Sit •c/u/a/*: . ¥'.•., .i^/Z&y . 
 
AUTUM N. 14* 
 
 '* And more than vulvar soodnels feem to dwell, 
 
 H Should be devoted to tiie rude e nbrace 
 
 M Of foms indecent clown! She looks, metblnks, 
 
 " Of old Acast/s linej and to my mind 
 
 ** Recalls that patron of my hajjpy life, 
 
 " From whom :ny liberal fortune took its rife: 
 
 •• Now to the duit gone down ; his houfe-^, lands, 
 
 " And once fair-fpieading family, diifjlv'd. 
 
 " 'lis fatd that in fame lone obiure retreat, 
 
 " Urg'd by remembrance fad, and decent pride, 
 
 '* Far from thofe fcene 3 which knew their better 
 
 days, 
 " His aged widow, and his daughter live, 
 w .Whom yet my fruitless fjarch could never find. 
 M Romantic wiih! would this the daughter were!' 
 When, Uriel enquiring, from herfelf he fouud 
 She was the fame, the daughter of his friend, 
 Of bountiful Ae.vsTo, who can fpsait 
 The mingled paSTons ihat furpris'u his heart, 
 And thro' his nerves in nVivering tranfport ran' 
 Then blaz'd his {mother' d dame, avow'd, and boldj 
 And as he view'd her, ardent, o'er and o'er, 
 Love., gratitude, and pity, wept at once. 
 Confus'J,.and frighten d at his fudden teais, 
 Ker riling beauties fluuYd a higher bloom, 
 
144 AUTUMN. 
 
 As thus Palemon, paffionate, and juft, 
 Pour'd out the pious rapture of his foul. 
 
 " And art thou then Acasto's dear remains? 
 " She, whom my reftlefs gratitude has fought, 
 ** So long in vain ? O heavens ! the very fame, 
 " The foftened image of my noble friend, 
 " Alive his every look, his every feature, 
 " More elegantly touch'd. Sweeter than Spring ! 
 *' Thou fole furviving bloffom from the root 
 " That nouriih'd up my fortune ! Say, ah where, 
 " In what fequefter'd defert, haft thou drawn 
 V The kindeft afpe& of delighted Heaven? 
 " Into fuch beauty fpread, and blown fo fair; 
 " Tho' poverty's cold wind, and crufliing rain, 
 '* Beat keen, and heavy, on thy tender years ? 
 " O let me now, into a richer foil, 
 " Tranfplant thee fafe ! where vernal funs, and 
 
 fhowers, 
 " DifFufe their warmeft, larger! influence; 
 '* And of my garden be the pride, and joy ! 
 " 111 it befits thee, oh it ill befits 
 " Acasto's daught-r, his whofe open Mores, 
 " Tho' vafl, were little to his ampler heart, 
 " The father of a country, thus to pick 
 e * The very refufe of thofe harveft- fields, 
 
AUTUMN. 145 
 
 '* Which frcm his bounteous friend (hip I enjoy. 
 <( Then throw that fbameful pittance from thy hand., 
 " But ill apply'd to fuch a rugged tafk ; 
 " The fields, the matter, all, my fair, are thine; 
 " If to the various bleffings which thy houfe 
 " Has on me laviflYd, thou wilt add that blifs, 
 " That cleared blifs, the power of blefling thee !" 
 
 Here ceas'd the youth: yet ftill his fpeaking eye 
 Exprefs'd the facred triumph of his foul, 
 Wish confcious virtue, gratitude, and love, 
 ' bove the vulgar joy divinely rais'd. 
 Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm 
 Of goodnefs irreiiftible, and all 
 In fweet diforder loft, fhe bluhYd confent. 
 The news immediate to her mother brought, 
 While, pierc'd with anxious thought, fhe pirrd 
 
 away 
 The lonely moments for Lavinia's fate; 
 Amaz'd, and fcarce believing what fhe heard, 
 Joy feiz'd her wither'd veins, and one bright gleam 
 Of fetting life fhone on her evening-hours : 
 Not lefs enraptur'd then the happy pair; 
 Who flourilh'd long in tender blifs, and rear'd 
 A numerous offspring, lovely like themfelves ; 
 And good, the grace of all the country roun'L 
 
 L 
 
U6 AUTUMN. 
 
 Defeating oft the labours of the year, 
 The lultry ibuth collects a potent blalt. 
 At firfl the groves are fcarrely feen to ftir 
 Their trembling tops; and a (till murmur runs 
 Along the foft-inclining fields of corn. 
 But as the ae;ial temped fuller fwells, 
 Ai:d in one mighty ftream, in\ ilibie, 
 hnmenfc, the whole excited atmofphere 
 Impetuous rulhes o'er the founding world ; 
 Strain'd to the root, the {looping fore ft pours 
 A ruffling thower of yet untimely leaves. 
 High-beat, the circling mountains eddy in, 
 From the bare wild, the diiiipated ftorm, 
 And fend it in a torrent down the vale. 
 Expos'd, and naked, to its utmoft rage, 
 Uhro' all the fea of harveft rolling round, 
 The billowy plain floats wide; nor can evade. 
 The' pliant to the blaft, its feizing force $ 
 Or v. hirl'd in air, or into vacant chaff 
 Shook wafte. And fome times too a burft of rain, 
 Swept fi cm the black horizon, broad, defcends 
 In or.e continuous flood. Still over head 
 The mingling temped weaves its gloom, and ftill 
 The. deluge deepens; till the fields around . 
 Lie funk, and- flatted, in the fordid wave. 
 Sudden the ditches fv !ls lows fwim. 
 
AUTUMN. 147 
 
 Red, from the hills, innumerable ftreams 
 Tumultuous roar 5 and high above its banks 
 The river lift; before whofe milling tide 
 Herds, flocks, and harvefts, cottages, and fwains, 
 Boll mingled down; all that the winds had fpar'd 
 In one wild moment ruin'dj the big hopes, „ 
 And well-earn'd Ireafures of the painful year. 
 Fled to fome eminence, the hulbaiidman 
 Helplefs beholds the miserable wreck 
 Driving along) his drowning ox. at once 
 Defcenu:ng, with his iaoours fcatter'd round, 
 He fees j and inltant o'er his lhivering thought 
 Comes winter unprovided, and a train 
 Of claimant children dear. Ye mailers, then, 
 Be mindful of the rough laborious hand 
 That links you foft in elegance and eafe$ 
 Be mindful of thole limbs in ruflet clad 
 Whofe toil to yours is warmth, and graceful pride j 
 And oh be mindful of that fparing board 
 Which covers yours with luxury profule, 
 Makes your glafs fparkle, and your fenlc rejoice ! 
 Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains 
 And all-involving winds have fwept away. 
 
 Here the rude clamour of the fportfman's jov, 
 The gun fait thundering, and the winded b 
 
 L'2 
 
148 A U T U M N. 
 
 Would tempt the Mufe to fing the rural Game : 
 How, in his mid-career, the fpaniel flruck, 
 Stiff, by the tainted gale, with open nofe, 
 Outftretch'd, and finely fenlible, draws full, 
 Fearful, and cautions, on the latent prey j 
 As in the fun the circling covey balk 
 Their varied plumes, and, watchful every way, 
 Thro' the rough ftubble turn the fecret eye. 
 Caught in the mefliy fnarc, in vain they bea*" 
 Their idle wings, entangled more and more: 
 Nor on the furges of the boundiefs air, 
 Tho' borne triumphant, are they fafe; the gun 
 Glanc'd jutt, and Hidden, from the fowler's eye 
 O'ertakes their founding pinions; and again, 
 Immediate, brings them from the towering wing, 
 Dead to the ground ; or drives them wide-difpers'd, 
 Wounded, and wheeling various, down the wind. 
 
 Thefe are not fubje&s for the peaceful mufe, 
 Nor will the (lain with fuch- her fpotlefs fongj 
 Then moft delighted, when flie foeial fees 
 The" whole mix'd animal creation round 
 Alive, and happy. 'Tis not joy to her, 
 This falfely-cheerful barbarous game of death ; 
 This rage of pleafure, which the reftlefs youth 
 Awakes, impatient, with the gleaming morn; 
 
AUTUMN. 149 
 
 When beafts of prey retire, that all night long, 
 Urg'd by necefTity, had rang'd the dark, 
 As if their confcious ravage fhunn'd the light, 
 Aiham'd. Not fo the fteady tyrant man, 
 Who with the thoughtlefs infolence of power 
 Inflam'd, beyond the raoft infuriate wrath 
 Of the worft rnonlter that e'er roam'd the wade, 
 For fport alone purfues the cruel chafe, 
 Amid the beamings of the gentle days. 
 Upbraid, ye ravening tribes, our wanton rage, 
 For hunger kindles you, and lawlefs want j 
 But lavith fed, in Nature's bounty roll'd, 
 To joy at anguiih, and delight in blood, 
 Is what your horrid bofoms never knew. 
 
 Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hare ! 
 Scar'd from the corn, and now to fome lone feat 
 Retir'd: the rufhy fen; the ragged furze, 
 Stretch'd o'er the It any heath ; the ttubble chapt j 
 The thiftly lawn; the thick-entangled broom; 
 Of the fame friendly hue, the wither' d feyi; 
 The fallow ground laid open to the fun, 
 Conco&ive; and the nodding fandy bank, 
 Hung o'er the mazes of the mountain brock. 
 Vain is her beft precaution ; tho' me fits 
 Conceal'd, with folded ears; unfleeping eyes, 
 By Nature rais'd to take the horizon in j 
 
150 AUTUMN. 
 
 And head couch'd clofe betwixt her hairy feel, 
 In act to fpring away. The fcented dew 
 Betrays her early labyrinth ; and deep, 
 In fcattered Allien openings, far behind, 
 With every breeze (he hears the coming florin. 
 But nearer, aud more frequent, as it loads 
 The fighing gale, the fprings amaz'd, and all 
 The favage foul of game is up at once: . 
 The paek full-opening, various ; the fhrill horn 
 Refounded from the hills ; the neighing fleed, 
 Wild for the chafe ; and the loud hunters (hout j 
 O'er a weak, harmlefs, flying creature, all 
 Mix'd in mad tumult, and difcordant joy. 
 
 The ling too, tingled from the herd, where long 
 He rang'd the branching monarch of the fhades, 
 Before the tempeft drives. At nrft, in fpeed, 
 He fprightly, puts his faith) and, rous'd by fear, 
 Gives all his fwift aerial foul to flight j 
 Againft the breeze he darts, that way the more 
 To leave the leflening murderous cry behind: 
 Deception fhort! tho' fleeter than the winds 
 Blown o'er the keen-air' d mountain by the north, 
 He burrls the thickets, glances thro' the glades, 
 And plunges deep into the wildeft wood ; 
 If flow, yet fure, adhefive to the track ■ 
 
AUTUMN", lol 
 
 Hot-fteaming, up behind him come again 
 
 Th' inhuman rout, and from the fhady depth 
 
 Expel him, circling thro' his every fhift. 
 
 He 1 weeps the foreft oft; and fobbing fees 
 
 The glades, mild opening to the golden day; 
 
 Where, in kind conteft, with his butting friends 
 
 He wont to flruggle, or h unloves enj 
 
 Oft in tlie full- defceriding flood he tries 
 
 To lofe the fcent, and lave his burning fides: 
 
 Oft feeks the herd; the -watchful herd, alarm'd, 
 
 With felfifh care avoid a brother's woe. 
 
 What (ball he do ? His once fo vivid nerves, 
 
 So full of buoyant fpirit, now no more 
 
 Infpire the courfej but fainting breathlefs toil^ 
 
 Sick, feizes on his heart: he ftands at bay; 
 
 And puts his la ft weak refuge in defpair. 
 
 The big round tears run down his dappled face) 
 
 Ke groans in anguifh; while the growling pack, 
 
 Blood-happy, hang at his fair jutting cheft, 
 
 And mark his beauteous checker'd fides with gore. 
 
 Of this enough. But if the fylvan youth, 
 Whofe fervent blood boils into violence, 
 Muft have the chafe ; behold, defpifing flight, 
 The rous'd-up lion, refolute, and flow, 
 Advancing full on the portended fpear, 
 
i52 AUTUMN. 
 
 And coward-band, that circling wheel aloof 
 Slunk from the cavern, and the troubled wood, 
 See the grim wolf; on him his fhaggy foe 
 Vindictive fix, and let the ruffian die : 
 Or, growling horrid, as the brindled boar 
 Grins fell deftruction, to the moniter's heart 
 Let (he dart lighten from the nervous arm. 
 
 Thefe Britain knows not; gi-ve, ye Britons., then 
 Your fportive fury, pitileis, to pour 
 Ixx>fe on the nightly robber of the fold: 
 Him, from his craggy winding haunts unearth'd, 
 Let all the thunder of the chafe purfue. 
 Throw the broad ditch behind you;, o'er the hedge 
 High-bound, refiftlefs; nor the deep morafs 
 Refufe, but thro' the making wildernefs 
 Pick your nice way; into the perilous flood 
 Bear fearlefs, of the raging in ft i net full; 
 And as you r'ule the torrent, to the banks 
 Your triumph found fonorous, running round, 
 From rock to rock, in circling echos toft; 
 Then fcale the mountains to their woody tops; 
 Rufli down the dangerous fteep ; and o'er the lawn, 
 In fancy fwallowing up the fpace between, 
 Pour all your fpeed into the rapid game. 
 For happy he! who tops the wheeling chafe; 
 
J$XJ T T I If G 
 
 ."/.//; f/i,,,;/ ,/</. 
 
 >/. Vct7tj/r ./<•// //i ■■• 
 
 Z/At /cit) /t>u/' tifii/r/ //,- ,i,-,r,/ .//if/,/ , 
 
 Jtt/'/e/Jiit J£zn,.l'j.J04 /v I.S/ 1 , i/da/ .Trccac/i// . 
 
AUTUMX. 15 
 
 •. 
 
 Has every maze evolv'd, and every guile 
 Difclos'd ; who knows the merits of the pack 5 
 Who law the villain ftiz'd, and dying hard, 
 Without complaint, tho' by an hundred mouths 
 Relentlefs torn : O glorious he, beyond 
 His daring peers! when the retreating horn 
 Calls them to ghoitly halls of grey renown, 
 With woodland honours grae'd; the fox's fur, 
 Depending decent from the roof; and fpread 
 Round the drear walls, with antic figures fierce, 
 The fiacr's large front: he then is loudefl heard, 
 When the night fbggers with feverer toils, 
 With feats Tbeflaliao Centaurs never knew, 
 And their repeated wonders fhake the come. 
 
 But firft the fuel'd chimney blazes widej 
 The tankards foam; and the flrong table groans 
 Beneath the fmoking firloin, ftretch'd immenfe 
 From fide to fide; in which, with defperate knife, 
 They deep incifion make, and talk the while 
 Of England's glory, ne'er to be defae'd 
 While hence they borrow vigour : or amain 
 Into the parly plung'd, at intervals, 
 If ftomach keen can intervals allow, 
 Relating all the glories of the chafe. 
 Then fated Hunger bids his brother Thirft 
 
154 AUTU M N. 
 
 Produce the mighty bowl; the mighty bow], 
 Swell'd high with fiery juice, (teams liberal round 
 A potent gale, delicious, as the breath 
 Of aia to the love-fick fhepherdefs, 
 On violets difTus'd, while foft me hears 
 Her panting fhepherd Healing to her arms. 
 Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn, 
 .Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat 
 Of thirty years j and now his honeft front 
 Flames in the light refulgent, not afraid 
 Even with the vineyard's befl: produce to vie. 
 To cheat the thirfty moments, whirl a while 
 Walks his dull round, beneath a cloud of fmoke, 
 Wreath'd, fragrant, from the pipe j or the quick 
 
 dice, 
 In thunder leaping from the box, awake 
 The founding gammon : while romp-loving mifs 
 Is haul'd about, in gallantry robuft. 
 At laft thefe puling idleneffes laid 
 Afide, frequent and full, the dry divan 
 Clofe in firm circle; and fet, ardent, in 
 For ferious drinking. Nor evation fly, 
 Nor fober fhift, is to the puking wretch 
 Indulg'd apart; but earneft, brimming bowls 
 Lave every foul, the tabic floating round, 
 
AUTUM N. 155 
 
 And pavement, faithlefs to the fuddled foot. 
 Thus as they (Vim in mutual fwill, the talk, 
 Vociferous at ones from twenty tongues, 
 Reels faft from theme to theme ; from horfes, 
 
 .hounds, 
 To church or mirtrefs, politics or ghoft, 
 In endlefs mazes, intricate, perplex'd. 
 Meantime, with fudden interruption, loud, 
 Th' impatient catch burits from the joyous heart j 
 That moment touch'd is every kindred foul ; 
 And, opening in a full-mouth'd Cry of joy, 
 The laugh, the flap, the jocund curie go round 5 
 While, from their {lumbers fnook, the kennel'd 
 
 hounds 
 Mix in the raufic of the day again. 
 As when the tempeft, that has vex'd the deep 
 The dark night long, with fainter murmurs falls: 
 So gradual links their mirth. Their feeble tongues, 
 Unable to take up the cumbrous word, 
 Lie quite diffolv'd. Before their maudlin eyes,5 
 Seen dim, and blue, the double tapers dance, 
 Like the fun wading thro' the mifty fky. 
 Then, Aiding foft, they drop. Confus'd above, 
 Glafles and bottles, pipes and gazetteers, 
 As if the table even itfelf was drunk, 
 
lot) AUTUMN. 
 
 Lie a wet broken fcene ,- and wide., below, 
 Is heap'd the focial Slaughter: where aftride 
 The lubber Power in filthy triumph fits, 
 Slumbrous, inclining flill from fide to fide, 
 And fteeps them drench'd in potent fleep till morn. 
 Perhaps fome doctor, of tremendous paunch, 
 Awful and deep, a black abyfs of drink, 
 Outlives them all j and from his bury'd flock 
 Retiring, full of rumination fad, 
 Laments the weaknefs of'thefe latter times. 
 But if the rougher fex by this fierce fport 
 Is hurried wild, let not fuch horrid joy 
 E'er ftain the bofom of the Britifh Fair. 
 Far be the fpirit of the chafe from them I 
 Uncomely courage, unbefeeming (kill ; 
 To fpring the fence, to rein the prancing fteed; 
 The cap, the whip, the mafculine attire, 
 In which they roughen to the fenfe, and all 
 The winning ioftnefs of their fex is loft. 
 In them 'tis graceful to diflolve at woe 5 
 With every motion, every word, to wave 
 Quick o'er the kindling cheek the ready blufhj 
 And from the fmaliefl violence to fhrink 
 Unequal, then the lovelieft in their fears; 
 And by this filent adulation, foft, 
 
AUTUMN. 15/ 
 
 To tbeir protection more engaging Man. 
 O may their eyes no miferable fight, 
 Save weeping lovers, fee! a nobler game. 
 Thro' Love's enchanting wiles purfued, yet fled, 
 In chafe ambiguous. May their tender limbs 
 Float in the loole fim,)licity of drefs! 
 And, faihion'd ail to harmony, alone 
 ■ Know they to feize the captivated foul, 
 ; In rapture warbled from love-breathing lips; 
 To leach the lute to ianguilh; with fmooth flop, 
 Difclofing motion to irs every charm, 
 To fwim along, and fwell the mazy dance ; 
 To train the foliage o'er the fhowv lawn; 
 To guide the pencil, turn the tuneful p^ge j 
 To lend new flavour to the fruitful year, 
 And heighten Nature's dainties; in their race 
 To rear their graces into fecond life; 
 To give Society its higheit tafte; 
 Well-ordered Home Man's beft delight to make; 
 And by fubmifiive wifdom, modeft ikill, 
 With every gentle care-eluding art, 
 To raife the virtues, animate the blifs, 
 And fweeten all the toils of human life: 
 This be the female dignity, and praife. 
 
158 AUTUMN. 
 
 Ye fwains now baften to the hazel-bank; 
 Where, down yon dale, the wildly-winding brook 
 Falls hoarfe from fleep to fleep. In clofe array, 
 Fit for the thickets and the tangling lhrub, 
 Ye virgins come. For you their lateft fong 
 The woodlands raife; the cluflering nuts for you 
 The lover finds amid the fecret ihade; 
 And, where they burnilh on the topmoii bough, 
 With active vigour crufhes down the tree; 
 Or makes them ripe from the refigning hulk, 
 A glofly thower, and of an ardent brown, 
 As are the ringlets of Melinda's hair: 
 Melinda! form'd with every grace complete, 
 Yet thefe neglecting, above beauty wife, 
 And far tranfeending fuch a vulgar praife. 
 
 Hence from the bufy joy-refounding fields, 
 In cheerful error, let us tread the maze 
 Of Autumn, unconfin'd; and taiie, reviv'd, 
 The breath of orchard big with bending fruit. 
 Obedient to the breeze and beating ray, 
 From the deep-loaded bough a mellow mower 
 Inceflant melts away. The juicy pear 
 lies, in a fofc profusion, fcaitered round 
 A various fweetnefs fwells the gentle race ; 
 
AUTUMN. log 
 
 By Natures all-refining hand prepar'd; 
 Of temper' d fun, and water, earth, and air, 
 In ever-changing competition mixt. 
 Such, falling frequent thro' the chiller night, 
 The fragrant ftores, the wide-projected heaps 
 Of apples, which the lufty-handed year, 
 Innumerojs, o'er the bluihing orchard iliakcs. 
 A various fpirit, freih, delicious, keen. 
 Dwells in their gelid poresj and, active, points 
 The piercing cyder for the thiifty tongue: 
 Thy native theme, and boon inlpirer too, 
 Phillips, Pomona's bard, the fecond thou 
 Who nobly durlt, in rhyme-unfetter'd verfe, 
 With Britim freedom ling the Britilh fonsr: 
 Kow, from Silurian vats, high-fparkling wines 
 Foam in tranfparent floods ; fome Urong, to cheer 
 • The w in try revels of the labouring hind ; 
 And taiteful fome, to cool the furamer-hours. 
 
 In this glad feafon, while his fweeteft beams 
 The fun iheds equal o'er the meekened day 3 
 Oh lofe me in the green delightful walks 
 Of, Coding ion, thy feat, fercne and plain 5 
 Where (imple Nature reigns; and every view, 
 Diffufive, fpieads the pure Dorfetian downs, 
 In boundlefs profpecc; yor.der Ihaggd witii wood, 
 
160 A U T U M N. 
 
 Here rich with harveft, nnd there white with flocks! 
 Meantime the grandeur of thy lofty dome, 
 Far-fplendid, feizes on the ravinYd eye. 
 New beauties rife with each revolving day> 
 New columns fwell ; and ftill the frelh Spring finds 
 New plants to quicken, and new groves to green. 
 Full of thy genius all! the Mufes 1 feat : 
 Where in the fecret bower, and winding walk, 
 For virtuous Young and thee they twine the bay,. 
 Here wandering oft, nYd with the reliefs thirft 
 Of thy applaufe, T folitary court 
 Th' infpiring breeze: and meditate the book 
 Of Nature ever open; aiming thence, 
 Warm from the heart, to learn the moral fong. 
 Here, as I fteai along the funny wall, 
 Where Autumn balks, with fruit empurpled deep, 
 My pleating theme continual prompts my thought: 
 Prefents the downy peach ; the Ihining plum; 
 The ruddy, fragrant nectarine; and dark, 
 Eeneath his ample leaf, the lufcious fig. 
 The vine too here her cnrling tendrils (hoots; 
 Hangs out her clutters, glowing to the fouth $ 
 And fcarcely wi flies for a warmer iky. 
 
 Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight 
 To vigorous foils, and climes of fair extent 4 
 
AUTUMN. 101 
 
 Where, by the potent fun elated high, 
 The vineyard fwells refulgent on the day; 
 Spreads o'er the valej or up the mountain climbs, 
 Profufe; and drinks amid the funny rocks, 
 From cliff to cliff increas'd, the heightened blaze. 
 Low bend the weighty boughs. The clutters clear, 
 Hjlf thro' the foliage feen, or ardent flame, 
 Or mine tranfparent j while perfection breathes 
 White o'er the turgent film the living dew. 
 As thus they brighten with exalted juice, 
 Touch'd into flavour by the mingling ray,- 
 The rural youth and virgins o'er the field, 
 Each fond for each to cull th' autumnal prime, 
 Exulting rove, and fpeak the vintage nigh. 
 Then comes the crufhing fwain ; the country floats^ 
 And foams unbounded with the maiby flood; 
 That by degrees fermented, and refin'd, 
 Piound the rais'd nations pours the cup of joy: 
 The claret fmooth, red as the lip we prefs 
 In fparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl; 
 The mellow-tafted burgundy ; and quick, 
 As is the wit it gives, the gay champaign. 
 
 Now, by the cool declining year condens'd, 
 Defcend the copious exhalations, check'd 
 
 M 
 
l$2 AUTUMN. 
 
 As up the middle fky unfeen they ftole, 
 And roll the doubling fogs around the hill. 
 No more the mountain, horrid, vaft, fublime, 
 Who pours a fweep of rivers from his fides, 
 And high between contending kingdoms rears 
 The rocky long divifion, fills the view 
 With great variety ; but in a night 
 Of gathering vapour, from the baffled fenfe 
 Sinks dark and dreary. Thence expanding far, 
 The huge duik, gradual, fwallows up the plain : 
 Vanifh the woods; the dim-feen river feems 
 Sullen, andFflow, to roll the mifiy wave. 
 Even in the height of noon oppreft, the fun 
 Sheds weak, and blunt, his wide-refra6ted ray; 
 Whence glaring oft, with many a broadened orb, 
 He frights the nations. Indiftinct on earth, 
 Seen thro' the turbid air, beyond the life 
 Objects appear; and, wilder'd, o'er the wafle 
 The fhepherd llalks gigantic. Till at laft 
 Wreath'd dun around, in deeper circles fiill 
 Succeflive clofing, fits the general fog 
 Unbounded o'er the world; and, mingling thick, 
 A formlefs grey confufion covers all. 
 As when of old (fo fung the Hebrew Bard) 
 
AUTUMN. 163 
 
 Light, uncollected, thro' the chaos urg'd 
 Its infant way ; nor Order yet had drawn 
 His lovely train from out the dubious gloom. 
 
 Thefe roving mills, that conftant now begin 
 To fmoke along the hilly country, thefe 
 With weighty rains, and melted Alpine fnows, 
 The mountain-cifterns fill, thofe ample ftores 
 Of water, fcoop'd among the hollow rocks; 
 Whence gum the ftreams, the ceafelefs fountains 
 
 P la y> 
 
 And their unfailing wealth the rivers draw. 
 Some fages fay, that where the numerous wave 
 For ever laihes the refounding fhore, 
 Drill'd thro' the fandy ftratum, every way, 
 The waters with the fandy ftratum rife; 
 Amid whofe angles infinitely ftrain'd, 
 They joyful leave their jaggy falts behind, 
 And clear and fweeten, as they foak along. 
 Nor flops the reftlefs fluid, mounting ftilj, 
 Though oft amidft th' irriguous vale it fprings; 
 But to the mountain courted by the fand, 
 That leads it darkling on in faithful maze, 
 Far from the parent-main, it boils again 
 Frefh into day; and all the glittering hill 
 Is bright with fpouting rills. But hence this vara 
 
 M 2 
 
i64 AUTUMN. 
 
 Amuflve dream! why mould the waters love 
 
 To take fo far a journey to the hills. 
 
 When the fweet valleys offer to their toil 
 
 Inviting quiet, and a nearer bed ? 
 
 Or if, by blind ambition led aftray, 
 
 They muft afpire, why thould they fudden flop 
 
 Among the broken mountain's rufhy dells, 
 
 \nd, ere they gain its higheft peak, defert 
 
 Th' attractive fand that charm'd their courfe fo 
 
 long? 
 Befides, the hard agglomerating falts, 
 The fpoii of ages, would impervious choak 
 Their fecret channels, or, by flow degrees, 
 High as the hills protrude the fwelling vales: 
 Old Ocean too, fuck'd thro' the porous globe, 
 Had long ere now forfook his horrid bed, 
 And brought Deucalion's wat'ry times again. 
 
 Say then, where lurk the vaft eternal fprings. 
 That, like creating Nature, lie conceal'd 
 From mortal eye, yet with their lavifh ftores 
 Refrelh the globe, and all its joyous tribes? 
 O thou pervading Genius, given to Man, 
 To trace the fecrets of the dark abyfs, 
 O lay the mountains bare 1 and wide difplay 
 Their hidden ftructure to th' aftonifh'd view ! 
 
AUTUMN. 165 
 
 Strip from the branching Alps their piny load; 
 The huge incumbrance of horrific woods 
 From Afian Taurus, from Imaus ftretch'd 
 Athwart the roving Tartar's fallen bounds! 
 Give opening Hemus to my fearching eye, 
 And high Olympus pouring many a flream ! 
 O from the founding fummits of the north, 
 The Dofrine Hills, thro' Scandinavia roll'd 
 To fartheft Lapland and the frozen mainj 
 From lofty Caucafus, far feen by thofe 
 Who in the Cafpian and black Euxine toil; 
 From cold Riphean Rocks, which the wild Rufs 
 Believes the * stony girdle of the world j 
 And all the dreadful mountains, wrapt in ftorm, 
 Whence wide Siberia draws her lonely floods ; 
 O fweep th' eternal fnows ! hung o'er the deep, 
 That ever works beneath his founding bafe, 
 Bid Atlas, propping heaven, as poets feign, 
 His fubterranean wonders fpread ! unveil 
 The miny caverns, blazing on the day, 
 Of Abyffinia's cloud compelling cliffs, 
 
 * The Mofcovites caU the Riphean mountains * Weliki 
 Camenypoys,' that is, ' the great ftony girdle ;' becaufe they 
 fuppofe them to encompafs the whole earth. 
 
166 AUTUM N. 
 
 And of the bending * Mountains of the Moon! 
 O'ertopping all thefe giant fons of earth, 
 Let the dire Andes, from the radiant Line 
 Stretch'd to the ftormy feas that thunder round 
 The fouthern pole, their hideous deeps unfold! 
 Amazing fcene ! Behold ! the glooms difclofe, 
 I fee the rivers in their infant beds ! 
 Deep, deep, I hear them, lab'ring to get free ! 
 I fee the leaning ftrata, artful rang'd ; 
 The gaping fiflures to receive the rains, 
 The melting mows, and ever-dripping fogs. 
 Strow'd bibulous above I fee the lands, 
 The pebbly gravel next, the layers then 
 Of mingled moulds, of more retentive earths, 
 The gutter'd rocks and mazy-running clefts ; 
 That, while the flealing moifture they tranfmit, 
 Retard its motion, and forbid its wafte. 
 Beneath th' inceffant weeping of thefe drains, 
 I fee the rocky fiphons flretch'd immenfe, 
 The mighty refervoirs, of hardened chalk, 
 Or (riff com p acted clay, capacious form'd. 
 O'erflowing thence, the congregated ftores, 
 
 * A range of mountains in Africa, that furround almoft aS 
 Monomotapa. 
 
AUTUMN. 16; 
 
 The cryftal treafurcs of the liquid world, 
 Thro' the ftirr'd fands a bubbling pafiage burft 3 
 And welling out, around the middle fteep, 
 Or from the bottoms of the bofom'd hills, 
 In pure effufion flow. United, thus, 
 Th' exhaling fun, the vapour-burden'd air, 
 The gelid mountains, that to rain condens'd 
 Thefe vapours in continual current draw, 
 And lend them, o'er the fair-divided earth, 
 In bounteous rivers to the deep again, 
 A focial commerce hold, and firm fupport 
 The full-adjufted harmony of things. 
 
 When Autumn fcatters his departing gleam?, 
 Warn'd of approaching Winter, gathered, play 
 The fwallow -people j and tofs'd wide around, 
 O'er the calm iky, in convolution fwift, 
 The feather" d eddy floats : rejoicing once, 
 Ere to their wintry flumbers they retire j 
 In clutters clung, beneath the mouldring bank, 
 And where, unpiercd by froft, the cavern fweats. 
 Or rather into warmer climes convey'd, 
 With other kindred birds of feafon, there 
 They twitter cheerful, till the vernal months 
 Invite them welcome back : for, thronging, now 
 Innumeroua wings are in commotion all. 
 
lrjS AUTUMN. 
 
 Where the Rhine lofes his majeftic force 
 In Belgian plains, won from the raging deep, 
 By diligence amazing, and the ftrong 
 Unconquerable hand of Liberty, 
 The ftork-affembly meets ; for many a day, 
 Confulting deep, and various ere they take 
 Their arduous voyage thro' the liquid fky. 
 And now their rout defign'd, their leaders chofe, 
 Their tribes adj lifted, clean'd their vigorous wings - t 
 And many a circle, many a fhort eflay, 
 Wheel'd round and round, in congregation full 
 The figured flight afcends; and, riding high 
 The aerial billows, mixes with the clouds. 
 
 Or where the Northern ocean, in vaft whirls, 
 Boils round the naked melancholy ifles 
 Of fartheft Thule, and the Atlantic furge 
 Pours in among the ftormy Hebrides; 
 Who can recount what transmigrations there 
 Are annual made? what nations come and go ? 
 And how the living clouds on clouds arife ? 
 Infinite wings ! till all the plume-dark air, 
 And rude refounding more are one wild cry. 
 
 Here the plain harmlefs native his fmall flock, 
 And herd diminutive of many hues, 
 Tends on the little ifland's verdant fwell, 
 
AUTUMN. 169 
 
 The mepherd's fea-girt reign; or, to the rocks 
 Dire-clinging, gathers hi., ovarious food* 
 Or fweeps the ri(hy fhore; or treafnres up 
 The plumage, riling full, to form the bed 
 Of luxury. And here a while the Mufe, 
 High-hovering o'er the broad cerulean fcene, 
 Sees Caledonia, in romantic view: 
 Her airy mountains, from the waving main, 
 Invefted with a keen difTufive fky, 
 Breathing the foul acute; her forefts huge, 
 Incult, robuft, and tall, by Nature's hand 
 Planted of old ; her azure lakes between, 
 Pour'd out extenfive, and of wat'ry wealth 
 Full; winding deep, and green, her fertile vales j 
 With many a cool tranflucent brimming flood 
 Wafh'd lovely, from the Tweed (pure parent 
 
 ftream, 
 Whofe pafloral banks firft heard my Doric reed, 
 With, filvan Jed, thy tributary brook) 
 To where the north-inflated tempeft foams 
 O'er Orca's or Betubium's highelt peak: 
 Nurfe of a people, in misfortune's fchool 
 Train'd up to hardy deeds: foon viiited 
 By Learning, when before the Gothic rage 
 She took her weftern flight, A manly race, 
 
i;o AUTUMN. 
 
 Of unfubmitting fpirit, wife and brave; 
 
 Who ftill thro' bleeding ages flruggled hard, 
 
 (As well unhappy Wallace can atteft, 
 
 Great patriot-hero! ill-requited chief!) 
 
 To hold a generous undiminifhed ftate j 
 
 Too much in vain ! Hence of unequal bounds 
 
 Impatient, and by tempting glory borne 
 
 O'er every land, for every land their life 
 
 Has flow'd profufe, their piercing genius plann'd, 
 
 And fwell'd the pomp of peace their faithful toil. 
 
 As from their own clear north, in radiant ftreams, 
 
 Bright over Europe burfts the Boreal Morn. 
 
 Oh is there not fome patriot, in whofe power 
 That beft, that godlike Luxury is placed, 
 Of bleffing thoufands, thoufands yet unborn, 
 Thro' late pofterity? fome, large of foul, 
 To cheer dejected induftry ? to give 
 A double harveft to the pining fwain ? 
 And teach the labouring hand the fweets of toil ? 
 How, by the fineft art, the native robe 
 To weave ; how, white as hyperborean fnow, 
 To form the lucid lawnj with venturous oar 
 How to dalh wide the billow; nor look on, 
 Shamefully patlive, while ?atavian fleets 
 Defraud us of the glittering finny fwarms, 
 
AUTUMN. i;i 
 
 That heave our friths, and crowd upon our fhoresj 
 How all-enlivening trade to roufe, and wing 
 The profperous fail, from every growing port, 
 Uninjur'd, round the fea-encircled globe j 
 And thus, in foul united as in name, 
 Bid Britain reign the miftrefs of the deep? 
 
 Yes, there are fuch. And full on thee, Argyll., 
 Her hope, her ftay, her darling, and her boaft, 
 From her firft patriots and her heroes fprung, 
 Thy fond imploring Country turns her eye 5 
 In thee, with all a mother's triumph, fees 
 Her every virtue, every grace combin'd, 
 Her genius, wifdom, her engaging turn, 
 Her pride of honour, and her courage try'd, 
 Calm, and intrepid, in the very throat 
 Of fulphurous war, on Tenier's dreadful field. 
 Nor lefs the palm of peace inwreathes thy brow : 
 For, powerful as thy fword, from thy rich tongue 
 Perfuafion flows, and wins the high debate; 
 While mix'd in thee combine the charm of youth, 
 The force of manhood, and the depth of age. 
 Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends, 
 As truth fincere, as weeping friendship kind, 
 Thee, truly generous, and in filence great, 
 Thy country feels thro' her reviving arts, 
 
172 AUTUM $. 
 
 Plann'd by thy wifdom, by thy foul inform'dj 
 And feldom has (he known a friend like thee, 
 
 But fee the fading many-colour'd woods, 
 Shade deepening over fhade, the country round 
 Embrown 5 a crowded umbrage, dutk, and dun, 
 Of every hue, from wan declining green 
 To footy dark. Thefe now the lonefome Mufe, 
 Low-whifpering, lead into their leaf-flrown walks, 
 And give the feafon in its lateft view. 
 
 Meantime, light-fhadowing all, a fober calm 
 Fleeces unbounded ether; whofe leaft wave 
 Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn 
 The gentle current : while, illumin'd wide, 
 The dewy-fkirted clouds imbibe the fun, 
 And thro 1 their lucid veil his foftened force 
 Shed o'er the peaceful world. Then is the time, 
 For thofe whom wifdom and whom nature charm, 
 To fleal themfelves from the degenerate crowd, 
 And foar above this little fcene of things 5 
 To tread low- though ted vice beneath their feetj 
 To foothe the throbbing paflions into peace j 
 And woo lone Quiet in her filent walks. 
 
 Thus folitaiy, and in pen five guife, 
 Oft let me wander o'er the ruflet mead, 
 And thro' the faddened grove, where fcarce is heard 
 
AUTUMN. i;3 
 
 One dying (train, to cheer the woodman's toil. 
 Haply fome widowed fongfter pours his plaint, 
 Far, in faint warblings, thro' the tawny copfe. 
 While congregated thrufhes, linnets, larks, 
 And each wild throat, whofe artlefe ftrain fo late 
 Swell'd all the mufic of the fwarming Ihades, 
 Robb'd of their tuneful fouls, now lhivering fit 
 On the dead tree, a full defpondent flock; 
 With not a brightnefs waving o'er their plumes, 
 And nought fave chattering difcord in their note. 
 O let not, aim'd from fome inhuman eye, 
 The gun the mufic of the coming year 
 Deflroy; and harmlefs, unfufpecling harm, 
 Lay the weak tribes, a miferable prey, 
 In mingled murder, fluttering on the ground! 
 The pale descending year, yet pleafing (till, 
 A gentler mood infpires; for now the leaf 
 Ineeflant ruftles from the mournful grove; 
 Oft fiartling fuch as, ftudious, walk below, 
 And flowly circles thro' the waving air. 
 But mould a quicker breeze amid the boughs 
 Sob, o'er the fky the leafy deluge ftreamsj 
 Till choak'd, and matted with the dreary mower, 
 The foreft-walks, at every riling gale, 
 Roll wide the wither'd walte, and whiftle bleak, 
 
174 AUTUMN. 
 
 Fled is the blafted verdure of the fields j 
 And, fhrunk into their beds, the flowery race 
 Their funny robes refign. Even what remain'd 
 Of ftronger fruits falls from the naked tree -, 
 And wood*, fields., gardens, orchards, all around 
 The defolated profpect thrills the foul. 
 
 Ke comes ! he comes ! in every breeze the Power 
 Of Philofophic Melancholy comes ! 
 His near approach the fudden-ttarting tear, 
 The glowing cheek, the mild dejefted air, 
 The foftened feature, and the beating heart, m 
 Pierc'd deep with many a virtuous pang, declare. 
 O'er all the foul his facred influence breathes ! 
 Inflames imagination 3 thro' the breaft 
 Infufes every tendernefs; and far 
 Beyond dim earth exalts the fwelling thought. 
 Ten thoufand thoufand fleet ideas, fuch 
 As never mingled with the vulgar dream, 
 Crowd faft into the Mind's creative eye. 
 As faft the correfpondent paffions rife, 
 As varied, and as high. Devotion raia'd 
 To rapture, and divine aftonifhmcntj 
 The love of Nature unconfin'd, and, chief, 
 Of human races the large ambitious with, 
 To make them bleft ; the figh for fuffering worth 
 
AUTUMN. I7i 
 
 Left in obfeurity; the noble fcorn 
 
 Of tyrant-pride ; the fearlefs great refolvej 
 
 The wonder which the dying patriot draws, 
 
 Infpiring glory thro' remoteft time 5 
 
 Th' awakened throb for virtue, and for fame 5 
 
 The fympathies of love, and friendfhip dear; 
 
 With all the focial Offspring of the heart. 
 
 Oh bear me then to vaft embowering ihades, 
 To twilight groves, and vifionary vales; 
 To weeping grottos, and prophetic glooms ; 
 Where angel-forms athwart the folemn dalle, 
 Tremendous fweep, or feem to fweep along; 
 And voices more than human, thro' the void 
 Deep founding, feize th' enthufiaftic ear ! 
 
 Or is this gloom too much? Then lead, ye 
 powers, 
 That o'er the garden and the rural feat 
 PrefiJe, which mining thro' the cheerful land 
 In countlefs numbers bleft Britannia fees ; 
 O lead me to the wide-extended walks, 
 The fair majeflic paradife of Stowe ! * 
 Not Perlian Cyrus on Ionia's more 
 E'er faw fuch filvan fcenes ; fuch various art 
 
 * The feat of the Lord Vifcount Cobhara. 
 
176 AUTUMN. 
 
 By genius fir'd, fuch ardent genius tanVd 
 By cool judicious art j that, in the ftrife, 
 All-beauteous Nature fears to be outdone. 
 And there, O Pitt : thy country's early boaft ; 
 There let me fit beneath the fheltered flopes, 
 Or in that * Temple where, in future times, 
 Thou well (halt merit a diftinguifh'd name; 
 And, with thy converfe bled, catch the laft fmiles 
 Of Autumn beaming o'er the yellow woods. 
 While there with thee th' enchanted round I walk.. 
 The regulated wild, gay Fancy then 
 Will tread in thought the groves of Attic Land 3 
 Will from thy ltandard tafte refine her own,. 
 Correct her pencil to the pureft truth 
 Of nature, or, the unimpafiion'd (hades 
 Forfaking, raife it to the human mind. 
 Or if hereafter me, with jufter hand, 
 Shall draw the tragic fcene, initruct her thou, 
 To mark the varied movements of the heart, 
 What every decent character requires, 
 And every paflion fpeaks: O thro' her flrain 
 Breathe thy pathetic eloquence ! that moulds 
 Th' attentive fenate, charms, perfuades, exalts, 
 
 * The Temple of Virtue in Stowe Gardens. 
 
AUTUMN. 177 
 
 Of honeft zeal th' indignant lightning throws, 
 And lhakes corruption on her venal throne. 
 While thus we talk, and thro' Elyfian Vales 
 Delighted rove, perhaps a figh efcapes : 
 What pity, Cohham, thou thy verdant files 
 Of offered trees (houldft here inglorious range, 
 Inftead of fquadrons flaming o'er the field, 
 And long embattled hofts ! when the proud foe, 
 The faithlefs vain difturber of mankind, 
 Infulting Gaul, has rous'd the world to war; 
 When keen, once more, within their bounds toprefs 
 Thofe poliili'd robbers, thofe ambitious flaves, 
 The Britifh Youth would hail thy wife command, 
 Thy temper'd ardour and thy veteran fkill. 
 
 The weflern fun withdraws the fhortened day 5 
 And humid evening, gliding o'er the fky, 
 In her chill progrefs, to the ground condens'd 
 The vapours throws. Where creeping waters ooze, 
 Where marines ftagnate, and where rivers wind, 
 Clutter the rolling fogs, and fwim along 
 The dufky mantled lawn. Meanwhile the moon 
 Pull-orb'd, and breaking thro' the fcatter'd clouds, 
 Shews her broad vifage in the crimfon'd eaft. 
 Turn'd to the fun direct, her fpotted difk, 
 Where mountains rife, umbrageous dales defcend, 
 
 N 
 
178 AUTUMN. 
 
 And caverns deep, as optic tube defcries, 
 A (mailer earth, gives us his blaze again, 
 Void of its flame, and (beds a fofter day. 
 Now thro' the palling cloud (he feems to Hoop* 
 Now up the pure cerulean rides fublime. 
 Wide the pale deluge floats, and ftreaming mild 
 O'er the iky'd mountain to the fhadowy vale, 
 While rocks and floods refle6t the quivering gleans 
 The whole air whitens with a boundlefs tide 
 Of filver radiance, trembling round the world. 
 
 But when half blotted from the fky her light; 
 Fainting, permits the flarry fires to burn 
 With keener luftre thro' the depth of heaven; 
 Or near extinct her deadened orb appears, 
 And fcarce appears, of lickly beamlefs white j 
 Oft in this feafon, filent from the north 
 A blaze of meteors Ihoots : enfweeping flrfl 
 The lower ikies, they all at once converge 
 High to the crown of heaven, and all at once 
 Relapfing quick as quickly reafcend, 
 And mix, and thwart, extinguifh, and renew, 
 All ether courfing in a maze of light. 
 
 F'oiii look to look, contagious thro* the crowd> 
 The panic runs, and into wondrous fliapes 
 Tli appearance throws : armies in meet array, 
 
AUTUMN. 179 
 
 Throng'd with aerial fpears, and iteeds of fire; 
 
 Till the long lines of full-extended war 
 
 In bleeding fight commixt, the fanguine flood 
 
 Rolls a broad (laughter o'er the plains of heaven. 
 
 As thus they fcan the vifionary fcene, 
 
 On all (ides fwells the fuperllitious din, 
 
 Incontinent ; and bufy frenzy talks 
 
 Of blood and battle 5 cities overturn'd j 
 
 And late at night in^ fwallowing earthquake funk, 
 
 Or hideous wrapt in fierce afcending flame j 
 
 Of fallow famine, inundation, ftorm 3 
 
 Of peftilence, and every great diftrefsj 
 
 Empires fubvers'd, when ruling fate has ftrack 
 
 The unalterable hour: even Nature's felf 
 
 Is deem'd to totter on the brink of time. 
 
 Not fo the Man of philofophic eye, 
 
 And infpeft fage j the waving brightnefs he 
 
 Curious furveys, inquifitive to "know 
 
 The caufes, and materials, yet unhVd., 
 
 Of this appearance beautiful and new. 
 
 Now black, and deep, the night begins to fall, 
 A made immenfe. Sunk in the quenching gloom, 
 Magnificent and vail, are heaven and earth. 
 Order confounded lies 3 all beauty void j ' 
 Diftin&ion lcftj and gay variety 
 
 N 2 
 
18© AUTUMN. 
 
 One univerfal blot : fuch the fair power 
 Of light, to kindle and create the whole. 
 Drear is the ftate of the benighted wretch, 
 Who then, bewilder'd, wanders thro* the dark, 
 Full of pale fancies, and chimeras hugej 
 Nor vifited by one directive ray, 
 From cottage ftreaming, or from airy hall. 
 Perhaps impatient as he Humbles on. 
 Struck from the root of ilimy rumes, blue, 
 The wild-fire fcatters round, or gathered trails 
 A length of flame deceitful o'er the mofs ; 
 Whither decoy'd by the fantaftic blaze, 
 Now loft and now renew'd, he finks abforpt, 
 Rider and horfe, amid the miry gulph : 
 While ftill, from day to day, his pining wife 
 And plaintive children his return await, 
 In wild conjecture loft. At other times, 
 Sent by the better Genius of the night, 
 Innoxious, gleaming on the horfe's mane, 
 The meteor fits j and fhews the narrow path, 
 That winding leads thro' pits of death, or elfe 
 Inftructs him how to take the dangerous ford. 
 
 The lengthened night elaps'd, the morning fhines 
 Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright, 
 Unfolding fair the laft autumnal day. 
 
AUTUMN. 151 
 
 And now the mounting fun difpels the fog; 
 The rigid hoar-froft melts before his beam; 
 And hung on every fpray, on every blade 
 Of grafs, the myriad dew-drops twinkle round. 
 
 Ah fee where robb'd, and murder'd, in that pit 
 Lies the ftill heaving hive! at evening match' d, 
 Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night, 
 And fix'd o'er fnlphur: while, not dreaming ill, 
 The happy people, in their waxen cells, 
 Sat tending public cares, and planning fchemes 
 Of temperance, for Winter poor; rejoiced 
 To mark, full -flowing round, their copious (tores. 
 Sudden the dark opprefiive fleam afcends; 
 And, us'd to milder icents, the tender race, 
 By thoufands, tumble from their honeyed domes, 
 Convolv'd, and agonizing in the dufh 
 And was it then for this you roam'd the Spring, 
 Intent from flower to flower? for this you toil'd 
 Ceafelefs the burning Summer-heats away ? 
 For this in Autumn fearch'd the blooming wafte, 
 Nor loft one funny gleam? for this fad fate? 
 O Man! tyrannic lord! how long, how long, 
 Shall proftrate Nature groan beneath your rage, 
 Awaiting renovation ? When obliged, 
 Mutt you deftroy? Of their ambrofbl food 
 
182 AUTUM N. 
 
 Can you not borrow; and, in juft return, 
 Afford them fhelter from the wintry winds; 
 Or, as the fharp year pinches, with their own 
 Again regale them on fome fmiling day ? 
 See where the ftony bottom of their town 
 Looks defolate, and wild; with here and there 
 A helplefs number, who the ruin'd flate 
 Survive, lamenting weak, caft out to death. 
 Thus a proud city, populous and rich, 
 Full of the works of peace, and high in joy, 
 At theatre or feaft, or funk in fleep, 
 (As late, Palermo, was thy fate) is feiz'd 
 By fome dread earthquake, and convulfive hurl'd 
 Sheer from the black foundation, ftench-involv'd, 
 Into a gulph of blue fulphureous flame. 
 
 Hence every hardier fight ! for now the day, 
 O'er heaven and earth diffus'd, grows warm, and 
 
 . . high, 
 
 Infinite fplendor ! wide invefting all. 
 How flill the breeze ! fave what the filmy threads 
 Of dew evaporate brufhes from the plain. 
 How clear the cloudlefs iky! how deeply ting'd 
 "With a peculiar blue! the ethereal arch 
 How fwell'd immenfe! amid wbofe azure thron'd 
 The radiant fun how gay ! how calm below 
 
HA il^E S T 13 <D M E 
 
 ,"/^ . /Stf//i> > ■/■/ etc/'. 
 
 '/. r/r/rmy .>"t //t 
 
 / /.. /,.,//,;■ ////,///'• cVV////-ry rr'/l/r/ 
 
 /Hi/,./ u'/l'/i /./n. /'/■"/■ 'i' " * ■ /r/y >j/ ■/>/ t //// , 
 
 TtiMt'/ttW .7~„„,i.ipy4. <V f-IVn -/.•f/fr/r.//'rrrrr///A- 
 
AUTUMN. 183 
 
 The gilded earth ! the harveft-treafures all 
 Now gather'd in, beyond the rage of ftorms, 
 Sure to the fwain ; the circling fence fhut up f 
 And inftant Winter's utmoft rage defy'd. 
 While, loofe to feftive joy, the country round 
 Laughs with the loud fincerity of mirth, 
 Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-rtrung 
 
 youth, 
 By the quick fenfe of mufic taught alone, 
 Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance. 
 Her every charm abroad, the village-toart, 
 Young, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich, 
 Darts not unmeaning looks ; and, where her ey* 
 Points an approving fmile, with double force, 
 The cudgel rattles, and the wreltler twines. 
 Age too mines out; and, garrulous, recounts 
 The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice; nor think 
 That, with to-morrow's fun, their annual toil 
 Begins again the never-ceaiing round. 
 
 Oh knew he but his happinefs, of Men 
 The happieft he ! who far from public rage, 
 Deep in the vale, with a choice Few retir'd, 
 Drinks the pure pleafures of the Rural Life. 
 What tho' the dome be wanting, whofe proud 
 gate, 
 
184 AUTUMN. 
 
 Each morning, vomits out the fneaking crowd 
 
 Of flatterers falfe, and in their turn abus'd? 
 
 Vile intercourfe ! What tho' the glittering robe, 
 
 Of every hue reflected light can give, 
 
 Or floating loofe, or ftiff with mazy gold, 
 
 The pride and gaze of fools ! opprefs him not? 
 
 What tho', from utmoft land and fea purvey'd, 
 
 For him each rarer tributary life 
 
 Bleeds not, and his infatiate table heaps 
 
 With luxury, and death? What tho' his bowl 
 
 Flames not with coftly juice; nor funk in beds, 
 
 Oft of gay care, he tofles out the night, 
 
 Or melts the thoughtlefs hours in idle ftate? 
 
 What tho' he knows not thofe fantaftic joys, 
 
 That flill amufe the wanton, ftill deceive; 
 
 A face of pleafure, but a heait of pain; 
 
 Their hollow moments undelighted all ? 
 
 Sure peace is his ; a folid life, eftranged 
 
 To difappointment, and fallacious hope: 
 
 Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich, 
 
 In herbs and fruits; whatever greens the Spring, 
 
 When heaven defcends in fhowers; or bends the 
 
 bough 
 When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams; 
 Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies 
 
AUTUMN, 135 
 
 Conceal'd, and fattens with the richeft fap : 
 Thefe are not wanting ; nor the milky drove, 
 Luxuriant, fpread o'er all the lowing vale; 
 Nor bleating mountains; nor the chide of flreams, 
 And hum of bees, inviting ileep fincere 
 Into the guiltlefs breaft, beneath the made, 
 Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay ; 
 Nor aught befldes of profpedt, grove, or fong, 
 Dim grottos, gleaming lakes, and fountain clear. 
 Here too dwells fimple truth; plain innocence; 
 Unfullied beauty; found unbroken youth, 
 Patient of labour, with a little pleas'd; 
 Health ever blooming; unambitious toil; 
 Calm contemplation, and poetic eafe. 
 
 Let others brave the flood in queft of gain, 
 And beat, for jovlefs months, the gloomy wave. 
 Let fuch as deem it glory to deftro} r , 
 Ruth into blood, the fack of cities feek ; 
 Unpierc'd, exulting in the widow's wail, 
 The virgins fhriek, and infant's trembling cry. 
 Let fome, far-diftant from their native foil, 
 Urg'd or by want or hardened avarice, 
 Find other lands beneath another fun. 
 Let this through cities work his eager way, 
 By legal outrage and eftablifh'd guile. 
 
186 AUTUMN. 
 
 The focial fenfe extinct ; and that ferraeot 
 Mad into tumult the feditious herd, 
 Or melt them down to flavery. Let thefe 
 Infnare the wretched in the toils of law, 
 Fomenting difcord, and perplexing right, 
 An iron race ! and thofe of fairer front, 
 But equal inhumanity, in courts, 
 Delufive pomp, and dark cabals, delight; 
 "Wreath the deep bow, difFufe the lying fmile, 
 And tread the weary labyrinth of ftate. 
 While he, from all the ftormy pa (lions free 
 That reftlefs Men involve, hears, and but hears, 
 At diftance fafe, the human tempeft roar, 
 Wrapt clofe in confcious peace. The fall of kings, 
 The rage of nations, and the crufli of rlates, 
 Move not the man, who, from the world efcap'd, 
 In (till retreats, and flowery folitudes, 
 To Nature's voice attends, from month to month, 
 And day to day, thro' the revolving year ; 
 Admiring, fees her in her every fhape; 
 Feels all her fweet emotions at his heart; 
 Takes what the liberal gives, nor thinks of more. 
 He, when young Spring protrudes the burfling 
 
 gem?, 
 Marks the firft bud, and fucks the healthful gale 
 
AUTUMN. 187 
 
 Into his frefliened foul j her genial hours 
 
 He full enjoys ; and not a beauty blows, 
 
 And not an opening bloffom breathes in vain. 
 
 In Summer he, beneath the living (hade, 
 
 Such as o'er frigid Tempe wont to wave, 
 
 Or Hemus cool, reads what the Mufe, of thefe 
 
 Perhaps, has in immortal numbers fung j 
 
 Or what me dictates writes : and, oft an eye 
 
 Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year. 
 
 When Autumn's vellow luftre snlds the world, 
 
 And tempts the tickled fwain int^. the field, 
 
 Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart diftends 
 
 With gentle throes; and, thro' the tepid gleams 
 
 Deep muring, then he beft exerts his fong. 
 
 Even Winter wild to him is full of blifs. 
 
 The mighty temped, and the hoary wafte, 
 
 Abrupt, and deep, ftretch'd o'er the buried earth, 
 
 Awake to folemn thought. At night the ikies, 
 
 Difclos'd, and kindled, by refining froft, 
 
 Pour every luftre on th' exalted eye. 
 
 A friend, a book, the Healing hours fecure, 
 
 And mark them down for wifdom. With fwift 
 
 wing, 
 O'er land and fea imagination roams ; 
 Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind, 
 
158 A U T U M N. 
 
 Elates his being, and unfolds his powers | 
 
 Or in his breaft heroic virtue burns. 
 
 The touch of kindred too and love he feels; 
 
 The modeft eye, whofe beams on his alone 
 
 Ecftatic fhine; the little ftrong embrace 
 
 Of prattling children, twin'd around his neck, 
 
 And emulous to pleafe him, calling forth 
 
 The fond parental foul. Nor purpofe gay, 
 
 Amufement, dance, or fong, he Iternly fcorns; 
 
 For happinefs and true philofophy 
 
 Are of the fecial ftill, and fmiling kind. 
 
 This is the life which thofe who fret in guilt, 
 
 And guilty cities, never knew; the life, 
 
 Led by primeval ages, nncorrupt, 
 
 When angels dwelt, and God himfelf, with Man! 
 
 Oh Nature ! all fuffieient ! over all ! 
 Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works ! 
 Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there, 
 World beyond world, in infinite extent, 
 Profufely fcattered o'er the blue immenfe, 
 Shew me; their motions, periods, and their laws, 
 Give me to fcan ; thro' the difclofing deep 
 Light my blind way : the mineral ftrata there; 
 Thruft, blooming, thence the vegetable world; 
 O'er that the riling fyftem, more complex, . 
 
AUTUMN. 18§ 
 
 Of animals} and higher ftill, the mind, 
 
 The varied fcene of quick compounded thought,, 
 
 And where the mixing paffions endlefs ihift 5 
 
 Thefe ever open to my ravifh'd eyej 
 
 A fearch, the flight of time can ne'er exhaufl ! 
 
 But if to that unequal} if the blood, 
 
 In fluggifli {beams about my heart, forbid 
 
 That berl: ambition } under doling (hades, 
 
 Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook, 
 
 And whifper to my dreams. From Thee begin. 
 
 Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my fong;, 
 
 And let me never, never ftray from Thee ! 
 
WINTER, 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 The fubjecl propofed. Addreffed to the earl of Wilming- 
 ton. Firft approach of Winter. According to the natural 
 courfe of the feafon, various ftorms defcribed. Rain. 
 Wind. Snow. The driving of the fnows : A man perifh- 
 ing among them ; whence reflections on the wants and 
 miferies of human life. The wolves defcending from the 
 Alps and Apennines. A Winter evening defcribed: as 
 fpent by philofophers ; by the country people ; in the city. 
 Froft. A view of Winter within the polar circle. A thaw. 
 The whole concluding with moral reflections on a future 
 ftate. 
 
WINTER. 
 
 Now drooping Nature fickens and decays, 
 While Winter all his fnowy ftores difplays. 
 
 See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year, 
 Sullen and fad, with all his rifing train; 
 Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be thefe my 
 
 theme, 
 Thefe! that exalt the foul to folemn thought, 
 And heavenly muling. Welcome, kindred glooms ! 
 Congenial horrors, hail! with frequent foot, 
 Plens'd have I, in my cheerful morn of life, 
 When nurs'd by carelefs folitude I liv'd, 
 And fang of Nature with unceafing joy, 
 Pleas'd have I wander'd thro' your rough domain I 
 Trod the pure virgin-fnows, myfelf as pure; 
 Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burft; 
 Or feen the deep fermenting tempeft brew'd, 
 In the grim evening iky. Thus pafs'd the time, 
 Till thro' the lucid chambers of the fouth 
 Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and 
 fmil'd. 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 To thee, the patron of her firft effay, 
 The Mufe, O Wilmington ! renews her fong. 
 Since has fhe rounded the revolving year: 
 Skim'd the gay Spring ; on eagle-pinions borne, 
 Attempted thro' the Summer-blaze to rife; 
 Then fwept o'er Autumn with the fhadowy gale; 
 And now among the wintry clouds again, 
 Xloll'd in the doubling fiorm, fhe tries to foar; 
 To fwell her note with all the milling winds; 
 To fuit her founding cadence to the floods; 
 As is her theme, her numbers wildly great: 
 Thrice happy! coulu fhe fill thy judging ear 
 With bold defcription, and with manly thought. 
 Nor art thou fkill'd in awful fchemes alone, 
 And how to make a mighty people thrive : 
 But equal goodnefs, found integrity, 
 A firm unlhaken uncorrupted foul 
 Amid a Hiding age, and burning ftrong, 
 !Not vainly blazing for thy country's weal, 
 A fteady fpirit regularly free ; 
 Thefe, each exalting each, the ftatefman light 
 Into the patiiot; thefe, the public hope 
 And eye to thee converting, bid the Mufe 
 Record what envy dares not flattery call. 
 
WINTER. 195 
 
 Now when the cheeriefs empire of the fky 
 To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields, 
 And fierce Aquarius, flains th' inverted year j 
 Hung o'er the farther! verge of heaven, the fun 
 Scarce fpreads thro' ether the dejected day. 
 Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual (hoot 
 His. ftruggling rays, in horizontal lines, 
 Thro' the thick air 5 as cloth'd in cloudy florin, 
 Weak, wan, and broad, he ikirts the fouthern fkyj 
 And, foon-defcending, to the long dark night, 
 Wide-fhading all, the pioilrate world refigns. 
 Nor is the night unwihYd; while vital heat, 
 Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forfake. 
 Meantime, in fable cincture, fliadows vafl, 
 Dcep-ting'd and damp, and congregated clouds, 
 And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven, 
 Involve the face of thing?. Thus winter falls, 
 A heavy gloom oppreffive o*er the world, 
 Thro' Nature fhedding influence malign, 
 And routes up the feeds of dark difeafe. 
 The foul of man dies in him, loathing life, 
 And black with more than melancholy views. 
 The cattle droop j and o'er the furrowed land 
 Frefh from the plough, the dun difcolour'd flock 
 Untended fpreading, crop the whoiefome root, 
 
 02 
 
}Q6 WINTER. 
 
 Along the woods, along the moorifh fens, 
 Sighs the fad Genius of the coming ftcrmj 
 And up among the loofe disjointed cliffs, 
 And fractur'd mountains wild, the brawling brook 
 And cave, prefageful, fend a hollow moan 
 Relbunding long in liftening Fancy's ear. 
 
 Then comes the lather of the temper! forth, 
 Wrapt in lack glooms. Firft joyiefs rains obfeure 
 Drive thro' the mingling fkies with vapour foul; 
 Da(h on the mountain's brow, and fhake the woods, 
 That grumbling wave below. The unfightly plain 
 Lies a brown deluge; as the low-bent clouds 
 Pcur flood on flood, yet unexhaufled ftill 
 Combine, and deepening into night fhut up 
 The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven, • 
 Each to his home, retire; fave thofe that love 
 To take their paftime in the troubled air, 
 Or fkimming flutter round the dimply pool. 
 The cattle from th' untafted fields return, 
 And afk, with meaning low, their wonted ftalls, 
 Or ruminate in the contiguous made. 
 Thither the houfehold feathery people crowd, 
 The crefted cock, with all his female train, 
 Penfive, and dripping, while the cottage-hind 
 Hangs o'er th' enlivening blaze, and taleful there 
 
Tna; sidy, svwyv. 
 
 ft. fi'tAu re/ JU* > 
 
 /■ <flt//l 
 
 tnr crttiiye -At m* 
 
 '/<r mil O f / f/: ' V it A it ill it'/ r'n '-'■ , el in/ /tl/f/it / (At rf 
 ^A fn ii ii A, Aci .11 m/i/f /rr/ts : 
 
 Jlt/'/i/Ai/ Jait.l '7<Ji- /v ZA'/fi/t/i/f . /irtwt/t//r 
 
WINTER. 197 
 
 Hecounts his fimple frolic : much he talks, 
 
 And much he laughs, nor recks the florm that 
 
 blows 
 Without, and rattles on his humble roof. 
 
 Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent fwell'd, 
 And the mix'd ruin of its banks o'erfpread, 
 At laft the rous'd-up river pours along : 
 Refiftlefs, roaring, dreadful, down it comes, 
 From the rude mountain, and the molly wild, 
 Tumbling thro' rocks abrupt, and founding far j 
 Then o'er the fanded valley floating fpreads, 
 Calm, fluggifh, filentj till again, contlrain'd 
 Between two meetings hills, it burfts away, 
 Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid ftream; 
 There gathering triple force, rapid, and deep, 
 It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders 
 through. 
 
 Nature! great parent! whofe uncealing hand 
 Rolls round the Seafons of the changeful year, 
 How mighty, how majeflic, are thy works ! 
 With what a plealing dread they fwell the foul 1 
 That {e^ afioniuYd ! and aftonifli'd fings ! 
 Ye too, ye winds! that row begin to blow, 
 With boifterous fweep, I raife my voice to you, 
 Where are your flores, ye powerful beings ! fay, 
 
j£3 WINTER. 
 
 Where your aerial magazines referv'd, 
 To fwell the brooding terrors of the llormr 
 In what far diftant region of the iky, 
 HuuYd in deep filence, fleep ye when 'tis calm? 
 
 When from the pallid iky the fun defcends, 
 With many a fpot, that o'er his glaring orb 
 Uncertain wanders, ftain'd; red fiery ftreaks 
 Begin to fluih around. The reeling clouds 
 Stagger with dizzy poife, as doubting yet 
 Which mailer to obey ; while rifing flow, 
 Blank, in the leaden-cclour'd eafr; the moon 
 Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. 
 Seen thro' the turbid fluctuating air, 
 The ilars obtufe emit a fhivered ray j 
 Or frequent feem to ihoot athwart the gloom, 
 And long behind them trail the whitening blaze, 
 Snatch'd in fhort eddies, plays the wither'd leaf; 
 And on the dood the dancing feather floats. 
 With broadened nofirils to the iky np-turn'd, 
 The confcious heifer muffs the ftormy gale. 
 Even as the matron, at her nightly talk, 
 With penfive labour draws the flaxen thread, 
 The wafted taper and the crackling flame 
 Foretel the blaft. But chief the plumy race., 
 The tenants of the iky, its changes fpesk. 
 
WINTER. 199 
 
 Retiring from the downs, where all day long 
 They pick'd their fcanty fare, a blackening train 
 Of clamorous rooks thick-urge their weary flight, 
 And feek the doting fhelter of the grove j 
 Affiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl 
 Plies his fad fong. The cormorant on high 
 Wheels from the deep, and fcreams along the land. 
 Loud fhrieks the foaring hern ; and with wild wing 
 The circling fea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds. 
 Ocean, unequal piefs'd, with broken tide 
 And blind commotion heaves j while from the 
 
 more, 
 Eat into caverns by the reftlefs wave,, 
 And foreft-mftling mountains, comes a voice, 
 That folemn founding bids the world prepare. 
 Then iffues forth the ltorm with fudden burfr, 
 And hurls the whole precipitated air, 
 Down, in a torrent. On the paffive main 
 Defcends th' ethereal force, and with ftrong gufl 
 Turns from its bottom the difcolour'd deep. 
 Thro' the black night that fits immenfe around, 
 Lafh'd into foam, the fierce confli&ing brine 
 Seems o'er a thoufand raging waves to burn : 
 Meantime the mountain-billows, to the clouds 
 In dreadful tumult fwell'd, furge above furge, 
 
200 \V INTER. 
 
 Burft into chaos with tremendous roar, 
 
 And anchur'd navies from tb< .r : ions drive, 
 
 Wild as the winds acrof- the. howling wafte 
 
 Of mighty waters: now th' inflated wave 
 
 Straining they feale, and now impetuous fhoot 
 
 Into the fecret chambers of the deep, 
 
 The wintry Baltic thundering o'er their head. 
 
 Emerging thence again, before the breath 
 
 Of full-exerted heaven they wing their courfe, 
 
 And dart on diltant coaftsj if fome fharp rock, 
 
 Or fhoal infiduous break not their career, 
 
 And in loofe fragments fling them floating round. 
 
 Nor lefs at land the loofened tempeft reigns. 
 The mountain thunders; and its fturdy fons 
 Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they ihade. 
 Lone on the midnight fleep, and all aghaft, 
 The dark way-faring ftranger breathlefs toils, 
 And, often falling, climbs againft the biaft. 
 Low waves the rooted foreft, vex'd, and fheds 
 What of its tarnifh'd honours yet remain ; 
 Dafti'd down, and fcattered, by the tearing wind's 
 Affiduous fury, its gigantic limbs. 
 Thus flruggling thro' the diflipated grove, 
 The whirling tempeft raves along the plain; 
 And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof, 
 
W INTER. 20i 
 
 Keen -fattening, fhakes them to the folid bafe. 
 SI °n frighted flies; and round the rocking dome., 
 Fur entrai e rager howls the lavage blaft. 
 Then f oo, rhey fay. thro' all the burthen'd air, 
 Long gronns are heard, fhrill founds, and diftant 
 
 fighs, 
 That, uttered by the Demon of the night, 
 Warn the deleted wretch of woe and death. 
 Huge uproar lords it wide The clouds 
 
 commix'd 
 With ftars fwift gliding fweep along the iky. 
 All Nature reels. Till Nature's King, who oft 
 Amid tempeftuous darkr.efe dwells aione, 
 And on the wings of the careering wind 
 Walks dreadfully ferene, commands a calm ; 
 Then ftraight air, fea, and earth, are hum'd at 
 
 once. 
 As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds, 
 Slow-meeting, mingle into folid gloom. 
 Now, while the drowfy world lies loft in ileep, 
 Let me alfociate with the ferious Ni^ht, 
 And Contemplation her fedate compeer ; 
 Let me (hake orFth' intrufive cares of day, 
 And lay the meddling fenfes all afide. 
 
202 WINT K R. 
 
 Where now, ye lying vanities of life ! 
 Ye ever-tempting ever-cheating train ! 
 Where are you now ? and what is your amount i 
 Vexation, difappointment, and remorfe. 
 Sad, fickening thought ! and yet deluded Man, 
 A fcene of crude disjointed virions paft, 
 And broken flumbers, rifes flill reiblv'd, 
 With new-fliiflvd hopes, to run the giddy round. 
 
 Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme! 
 O teach me what is good! teach me Thyfelf ! 
 Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, 
 From every low purfuit ! and feed my foul 
 With knowledge, confcious peace, and virtue pure ; 
 Sacred, fubftantial, never-fading blifs ! 
 
 The keener tempefts rife: and fuming dun 
 From all the livid eaft, or piercing north, 
 Thick clouds afcend; inwhofe capacious womb 
 A vapoury deluge lies, to fnow congeal'd. 
 Heavy they roll their fleecy world along-, 
 And the iky faddens with the gathered liorm. 
 Thro' the huuYd air the whitening fhower de- 
 
 fcends, 
 At firft thin wavering; till at lad the flakes 
 Fall broad,, and wide, and faft, dimming the day, 
 
WINTER. 203 
 
 With a continual flow. The cherifn'd fields 
 Pat on their winter-robe of pureft white. 
 Tis brightnefs all; fave where the new inow melts 
 Along the mazy current. Low, the woods 
 Bow their hoar head; and, ere the languid fun 
 Faint from the weft emits his evening ray, 
 Earth's univerfal face, deep hid, and chill, 
 Is one wild dazzling wafte, that buries wide 
 The works of Man. Drooping, the iabourer-ox 
 Stands cover' d o'er with fnow, and then demands 
 The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven, 
 Tam'd by the cruel feafon, crowd around 
 The winnowing ftore, and claim the little boon 
 Which Providence afligns them. One alone, 
 The red-breaft, facred to the houfehold gods, 
 Wifely regardfnl of th' embroiling iky. 
 In joylefs fields and thorny thickets leaves 
 His mivering mates, and pays to trufted Man 
 His annual vifit. Half-afraid, he firft 
 Againft the window beats; then, brifk, alights 
 On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor, 
 Eyes all the fmiling family afksnce, 
 And pecks, and flarts, and wonders where he is : 
 'Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 
 Attract his (lender feet. The foodlefs wilds 
 
204 W INTER. 
 
 Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare, 
 Tho' timorous of heart, and hard befet 
 By death in various forms, dark fnares, and dogs, 
 And more unpitying Men, the garden feeks, 
 Urg'd on by fearlefs want. The bleating kind 
 Eye the bleak heaven, and next the gliftening 
 
 earth, 
 With looks of dumb defpair; then, fad-difpers'd, 
 Dig for the withered herb thro' heaps of fnow. 
 
 Now, iliepherds, to your helplefs charge be kind, 
 Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens 
 With food at will j lodge them below the ftorm, 
 And watch them Ariel : for from the bellowing eaft, 
 In this dire feafon, oft the whirlwind's wing 
 Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains 
 At one wide waft, and o'er the haplefs flocks, 
 Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills, 
 The billowy temped whelms; til!, upward urg'd, 
 The valley to a mining mountain (Wells, 
 Tipt with a wreath high-curling in the iky. 
 
 As thus the fnows arifej and foul, and fierce, 
 All Winter drives along the darkened airj 
 In his own loofe-revolving fields, the fwain 
 Difafter'd tlands ; fees other hills afcend, 
 Of unknown joylefs brow; and other fcenes. 
 
This p:eri T:;-Jii.iE}i 
 
 . * . r -.. 
 
 . / , '. .,. /, &c*cCA'. 
 
 /■///■ // 
 
 J ■., ■ /. ., , , ; ., , '. /.• /. ■ •■ ficoa 6/{y. 
 
W INTER. 205 
 
 Of horrid profpecl, (hag the tracklefs plain: 
 Nor finds the river, nor the forclt, hid 
 Beneath the formlefs wild j but wanders on 
 F nn hill to dale, ftill more and more a ft ray $ 
 Impatient flouncing thro' the drifted heaps, 
 Stung with the thoughts of home ; the thoughts of 
 
 home 
 Ru(h on his nerves, and call their vigour forth 
 In many a vain attempt How finks his foul ! 
 What black defpair, what horror fills his heart! 
 When for the dufky fpot. which fancy feign'd 
 His tufted cottage rifing thro' the fnow, 
 He meets the rougbnefs of the middle wafte, 
 
 Far from the track, and bleft abode of Man; 
 
 While round him nigdit refiftlefs doles fair. 
 
 And every tempeft, howling o'er his head, 
 
 Renders the lavage wildernefs more wild. 
 
 Then throng the bufy ihapes into his mind 
 
 Of cover'd pits, unfathor/.ably deep, 
 
 A dire defcent! beyond the power of froft, 
 
 Of raithlefs bogs; of precipices huge, 
 
 Smooth'd up with fnow; and, what is land, un< 
 known, 
 
 What water, of the ftill unfrozen fpring, 
 
 In the loofe marlh or folitary lake, 
 
206 WINTE R. 
 
 Where the frefh fountain from the bottom boils. 
 Thefe check his fearful fteps ; and down he finks 
 Beneath the flielter of the fhapelefs drift, 
 Thinking o'er all the bitternefs of death, 
 Mix'd with the tender anguifii Nature moots 
 Thro' the wrung bofom of the dying Man, 
 His wife, his children, and his friends unfeen. 
 In vain for him th' officious wife prepares 
 The fire fair-blazing, and the veftment warm ; 
 In vain his little children, peeping out 
 Into the mingling ftorm, demand their fire, 
 "With tears of artlefs innocence. Alas ! 
 Nor wife, nor children, more fhall he behold, 
 Nor friends, nor facred home. On every nerve 
 The deadly winter feizesj {huts up fenfe j 
 And, o'er his inraoft vitals creeping cold, 
 Lays him along the fnows,' a ftiffened corfe, 
 Stretch'd out, and bleaching in the northern blaft. 
 
 Ah little thirik the gay licentious proud, 
 Whom pleafure, power, and affluence furround; 
 They, who their though tlefs hours in giddy mirth, 
 And wanton, often cruel, riot wafte , 
 Ah little think they, while they dance along, 
 How many feel, this very moment, death, 
 And all the fad variety of pain. 
 
WINTER. 207 
 
 How many fink in the devouring flood, 
 Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 
 By fliameful variance betwixt Man and Man. 
 How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms j 
 Shut from the common air, and common ufe 
 Of their own limbs. How many drink the cup 
 Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 
 Of mifery. Sore piere'd by wintry winds, 
 How many fhrink into the fordid hut 
 Of cheerlefs poverty. How many fhake 
 With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, 
 Unbounded paftion, macnefs, guilt, remorfe; 
 Whence tumbled headlong from the height of life, 
 They furnifh matter for the tragic Mufe. 
 Even in the vale, where wifdom loves to dwell, 
 With friendship, peace, and contemplation join'd, 
 How many, rack'd with honeft paflions, droop 
 In deep retir'd diftrefs. How many ftand 
 Around the death-bed of their dearer! friends, 
 And point the parting anguith. Thought fond man 
 Of thefe, and all the thoufand namelefs ills 
 That one inceuant ftruggle render life 
 One fcene of toil, of fuffering, and of fate, 
 Vice in his high career would ftand appall'd, 
 And heedlefs rambling Impulfe learn to think - f 
 
208 WINTER. 
 
 The confcious heart of Chanty would warn . 
 And her wide wiili Benevolence dilate ; 
 The facial tear would life, the focial fighj 
 And inio clear perfection, gradual blifs, 
 Refining full, the focial paffions work. 
 
 And here can J forget the generous * band, 
 Who, touch'd with human woe, redreflive fearch'd 
 Into the h( rrera of the gloomy jail ? 
 Unpitied.. and unheard, where mifery moans ; 
 Where ficknefs pines ; where thirft and hunger 
 
 burn, 
 And poor misfortune feels the lam of vice. 
 While m the land of liberty, the land 
 Whofe ..very ftreet and public meeting glow 
 With open freedom, little tyrants rag'dj 
 Snatch' d the lean morfel from the ftarving mouth j 
 Tore fiom cold wintry limbs tin: tatter'd weed; 
 Even robb'd them of the laft or comforts, fleep; 
 The free-born Bri! >n to the dungeon chain'd, 
 Or, as tne luft of cruelty prevaii'd. 
 At pleasure maikd him with inglorious ftripesj 
 And crnfti'd out lives, by fecret barbarous vays, 
 That for their country would have toil'd, or bled, 
 
 * The Jail Committee; in the year 1729, 
 
WINTER. 20p 
 
 O great defign! if executed well, 
 With patient care, and wifdom-temper'd zeal. 
 Ye fons of mercy ! yet refume the fearch ; 
 Drag forth the legal monfters into light, 
 Wrench from their hands oppreffion's iron rod, 
 And bid the cruel feel the pains they give. 
 Much ftill untoach'd remains j in this rank age, 
 Much is the patriot's weeding hand requir'd. 
 The toils of law (what dark infidious Men 
 Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 
 And lengthen fimple juftice into trade), 
 How glorious were the day! that faw thefe broke, 
 And every man within the reach of right. 
 
 By wintry famine rous'd, from all the tract. 
 Of horrid mountains which the mining Alps, 
 And wavy Apennine, and Pyrenees, 
 Branch out ftupendous into diftant lands ; 
 Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave J 
 Burning for blood ! bony, and ghaunt, and grim! 
 Aflembling wolves in raging troops defcend ; 
 And, pouring o'er the country, bear along, 
 Keen as the north-wind fvveeps the gloiTy fnow. 
 All is their prize. They fatten on the fleed, 
 Prefs him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart. 
 Nor can the bull his awful front defend^ 
 
 P 
 
210 WINTER. 
 
 Or fhake the murdering favages away. 
 Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly, 
 And tear the fcreaming infant from her breatl, 
 The godlike face of Man avails him nought. 
 Even beauty, force divine! at whole bright glance 
 The generous lion ltands in foftened gaze, 
 Here bleeds, a haplefs undiltinguim'd prey. 
 But if, appriz'd of the fevere attack, 
 The country be fhut up, lur'd by the fcent, 
 On churchyards drear (inhuman to relate!) 
 The difappointed prowlers fall, and dig 
 The mrouded body from the grave j o'er which, 
 Mix'd with foul fhades, and frighted ghofts, they 
 howl. 
 Among thofe hilly regions, where embrac'd 
 In peaceful vales the happy Grifons dwell; 
 Oft, rufhing fudden from the loaded cliffs, 
 Mountains of fnow their gathering terrors roll. 
 From fleep to deep, loud-thundering down they 
 
 come, 
 A wintry wafle in dire commotion allj 
 And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and fwains, 
 And fometimes whole brigades of marching troops, 
 Or hamlets lleeping in the dead of night, 
 Are deep beneath the fmothering ruin whelm'd. 
 
WINTER. 211 
 
 Now, all amid the rigours of the year, 
 In the wild depth of Winter, while without 
 The ceafelefs winds blow ice, be ray retreat, 
 Between the groaning foreft and the (hore 
 Beat by the boundlefs multitude of waves, 
 A rural, fhelter'd, folitary fcene ; 
 Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join 
 To cheer the gloom. There ftudious let me fit, 
 And hold high converfe with the Mighty Dead-; 
 Sages of ancient time, as gods rever'd, 
 As gods beneficent, wl o bleft mankind 
 With arts, with arms, and humaniz'd a wor'd. 
 Rous'd at th' infpiring thought, I throw afide 
 The long liv'd volume j and, deep-muring, hail 
 The facred fhades, that ilowly-rifing pafs 
 Before my wondering eyes. Firft Socrates, 
 Who, firmly good in a corrupted ftate, 
 Againft the rage of tyrants (ingle flood, 
 Invincible ! calm Reaibn's holy law, 
 That Voice of God within th' attentive mind, 
 Obeying, fearlefs, or in life, or death : 
 Great moral teacher! Wife ft of Mankind ! 
 Solon the next, who built his common-weal 
 On equity's wide bafej by tender laws 
 A lively people curbing, yet undamp'd 
 
 P2 
 
2i2 WINTER. 
 
 Preferring ftill that quick peculiar fire, 
 
 Whence in the laurel'd field of finer arts, 
 
 And of bold freedom, they unequal'd fhone, 
 
 The pride of fmtling Greece, and human-kind. 
 
 Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the force 
 
 Of ftricteft difcipline, feverely wife, 
 
 All human paflions. Following him, I fee, 
 
 As at Thermopylae he glorious fell, 
 
 The firm * devoted Chief, who prov'd by deeds 
 
 The hardeft leflbn which the ether taught. 
 
 Then Aristides lifts his honeft front; 
 
 Spotlefs of heart, to whom th' unflattering voice 
 
 Of freedom gave the nobleft name of Juft; 
 
 In puie raajeftic poverty rever'd j 
 
 Who, even his glory to his country's weal 
 
 Submitting, fwell'd a haughty f Rivals fame, 
 
 Rear'd by his care, of fofter ray appears 
 
 Cimon fweet-foul'd; whofe genius, riling ftrong. 
 
 Shook off the load of young debauch , abroad 
 
 The fcourge of Perfian pride, at home the friend 
 
 Of every worth and every fplendid art \ 
 
 Modeft, and fimple, in the pomp of wealth. 
 
 Then the laft worthies of declining Greece, 
 
 * Leonidas. f Themiftoclcs. 
 
WINTER. 213 
 
 Late call'd to glory, in unequal times, 
 
 Penfive, appear. The fair Corinthian boaft, 
 
 Timoleon, happy temper! mild, and firm, 
 
 Who wept the Brother while the Tyrant bled. 
 
 And, equal to the belt, the * Theban Pair, 
 
 Whole virtues, in heroic Concord join'd, 
 
 Their country rais'd to freedom, empire, fame. 
 
 He too, with whom Athenian honour funk, 
 
 And left a mafs of fordid lees behind, 
 
 Phocion the Good; in public life fevere, 
 
 To virtue flill inexorably firm j 
 
 But when, beneath his low Mutinous roof, 
 
 Sweet peace and happy wifdom fmooth'd his brow, 
 
 Not friendlhip fofter was, nor love more kind. 
 
 And he, the laft of old Lycurgus' fons, 
 
 The generous victim to that vain attempt, 
 
 To fave a rotten State, Agis, who faw 
 
 Even Sparta's felf to fervile avarice funk. 
 
 The two Achaian heroes clofe the train. 
 
 Aratus, who a while relum'd the foul 
 
 Of fondly lingering liberty in Greece: 
 
 And he her darling as her later! hope, 
 
 The gallant Philopoemen; who to arms 
 
 # Pelopidas and Epaminondas. 
 
214 WINTER. 
 
 Turn'd the luxurious pomp he could not cure? 
 Or toiling in his farm, a fimple fwain 3 
 Or, bold and fkilful, thundering in the field. 
 Of rougher front, a mighty people come 1 
 A race of heroes ! in thofe virtuous times 
 Which knew no ftain, fave that with partial flame 
 Their deareft country they too fondly lov'd : 
 Her better founder firft, the light of Rome, 
 Numa, who foften'd her rapacious fons: 
 Servius the King, who laid the folid bafe 
 On which o'er earth the vaft republic fpread. 
 Then the great confuls venerable rife. 
 The * Public Father who the Private quel I'd, 
 As on the dread tribunal fternly fad. 
 He, whom his thanklefs country could not lofe, 
 Camillus, only vengeful to her foes. 
 Fabricius, fcorner of all-conquering gold; 
 And Cincinnatus, awful from the plough. 
 Thy f willing Victim, Carthage, burfting loofe 
 From all that pleading Nature could oppofe, 
 From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith 
 Imperious call'd, and honour's dire command. 
 Scipio, the gentle chief, humanely brave, 
 
 * Marcus Junius Brutus. f Regulus. 
 
WINTER. 215 
 
 Who foon the race of fpotlefs glory ran, 
 And, warm in youth to the Poetic fhacle 
 With Friendihip and Philofophy retir'd. 
 Tui.lt, whofe powerful eloquence a while 
 Rellrain'd the rapid fate of rulhing Rome. 
 Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in extreme. 
 And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart, 
 Whofe ileady arm, by awful virtue urg'd, 
 Lifted the Roman fteel againft thy Friend. 
 Thoufands befides the tribute of a verfe 
 Demand ; but who can count the ftars of heaveoj 
 Who 6ng their influence on this lower world? 
 
 Behold, who yonder comes ! in fober ftate, 
 Fair, mild, and ilrong, as is a vernal fun : 
 'Tis Phoebus' felf, or elfe the Mantuan Swain! 
 Great Homer too appears, of daring wing, 
 Parent of long ! and equal by his fide, 
 The Britilh Mufe ; join'd hand in hand they walk, 
 Darkling, full up the middle fleep to fame. 
 Nor abfent are thofe lhades, whofe ikilful touch 
 Pathetic drew th' impaffion'd heart, and charm'd 
 Tranfported Athens with the moral fcene : 
 Nor thofe who, tuneful, wak'd th* enchanting lyre. 
 
 Fir It of your kind! fociety divine ! 
 .: vifit ihos my nights, for yoj referv'd, 
 
216 WINTER. 
 
 And mount my foaring foul to thoughts like yours. 
 Silence, thou lonely power I the door be thine j 
 See on the hallowed hour that none intrude, 
 Save a few chofen friends, who fometimes deign 
 To blefs my humble roof, with fenfe refin'd, 
 Learning digefted well, exalted faith, 
 Unftudy'd wit, and humour ever gay. 
 Or from the Mufes' hill will Pope defcend, 
 To raife the facred hour, to bid it fmile, 
 And with the locial fpirit warm the heart : 
 For tho' not fweeter his own Homer lings, 
 Yet is his life the more endearing fong. 
 
 Where art thou, Hammond? thou the darling 
 pride, 
 The friend and lover of the tuneful throng I 
 An why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime 
 Of vernal genius, where difcloiing fall 
 Each active worth, each manly virtue lay, 
 Why wert thou ravith'd from our hope fo foon ? 
 What now avails that noble third of fame, 
 Which ftung thy fervent bread ? that treafur'd ftore 
 Of knowledge, early gain'd ? that eager zeal 
 To ferve thy country, glowing in the band 
 Of youthful Patriots, who fuftain her name? 
 What now, alas ! that life-dirTuling charm 
 
WINTER. 217 
 
 Of fprightly wit? that rapture for the Mufe, 
 That heart of friendihip. and that foul of joy, 
 Which bade with fofteft light thy virtues fmile ? 
 Ah ! only mew'd, to check our fond purfuits, 
 And te;;ch our humbled hopes that life is vain! 
 
 Thus in fame deep retirement would I pafs 
 The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant foul, 
 Or blithe, or folemn, as the theme infpir'd: 
 With them wouiu fearch, if Nature's boundlefs 
 
 frame 
 Was call'd, late-riling from the void of night, 
 Or fprung eternal from th" eternal Mind; 
 Its life, its laws, its progrefs, and its end. 
 Hence larger profpe&s of the beauteous whole 
 Would, gradual, open on our opening minds 3 
 And each diffufive harmony unite 
 In full perfection, to th' aftoniuYd eye. 
 Then would we try to fcan the moral World, 
 Which, tho' to us it feems embroil'd, moves on 
 In higher order j fitted, and impell'd, 
 By Wifdom's fined hand, and iffuing all 
 In general Good. The fage hiftoric Mufe 
 Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time : 
 Shew us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell, 
 
218 WINTER. 
 
 In fcatter'd ftates -, what makes the nations fmile, 
 
 Improves their foil, and gives them double funs ; 
 
 And why they pine beneath the brightest fkies, 
 
 In Nature's richeft lap. As thus we talk'd, 
 
 Our hearts would burn within us, would, inhale 
 
 That portion of divinity, that ray 
 
 Of pureft heaven, which lights the public foul 
 
 Of patriots, and of heroes. But if doom'd, 
 
 In powerlefs humble fortune, to reprefs 
 
 Thefe ardent rifings of the kindling foul; 
 
 Then, even fuperior to ambit i n, we 
 
 Would learn the private virtues ; how to glide 
 
 Thro' fhades and plains, along the fmoothetl itream 
 
 Of rural life : or, fnatch'd away by hope, 
 
 Thro' the dim fpaces of futurity, 
 
 With earner! eye anticipate thofe fcenes 
 
 Of happinefs, and wonder; where the mind, 
 
 In endlefs growth and infinite afcent, 
 
 Rifes from ftate to ftate, and world to world. 
 
 But when with thefe the ferious thought is foil'd, 
 
 We, ihifting for relief, would play the fhapes 
 
 Of frolic fancy j and inceflant form 
 
 Thofe rapid pictures, that affembled train 
 
 Of fleet ideas, never join'd before, 
 
WINTER. 219 
 
 Whence lively Wit excites to gay furprife ; 
 Or folly-painting Humour, grave himfelf, 
 Calls Laughter forth, deep making every nerve. 
 
 Meantime the village roufes up the fire 5 
 While well attefted, and as well believ'd, 
 Beard folemn, goes the goblin ftory round; 
 Till fuperftitious horror creeps o'er all. 
 Or, frequent in the founding hall, they wake 
 The rural gambol. Ruftic mirth goes round; 
 The fimple joke that takes the fhepherd's heart, 
 Eafily pleas'd ; the long loud laugh, fincere; 
 The kifs, fnatch'd hafty from the fide-long maul, 
 On purpofe guardlefs, or pretending fleep : 
 The leap, the flap, the haul; and, ihook to notes " 
 Of native mufic, the refpondent dance. 
 Thus jocund fleets with them the winter-night. 
 
 The city fvvarms intenfe. The public haunt, 
 Full of each theme, and warm with mixt difcourfe, 
 Hums indiftincl:. The fons of riot flow 
 Down the loofe ftream of falfe enchanted joy 
 To fwift deftruction. On the rankled foul 
 The gaming fury falls; and in one gulph 
 Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace, 
 Friends, families, and fortune, headlong fink. 
 Up=fprings the dance along the lighted dome, 
 
220 WINTER. 
 
 Mix'd, and evolv'd, a thoufand fprightly ways. 
 
 The glittering court effufes every pomp; 
 
 The circle deepens; beam'd from gaudy robes, 
 
 Tapers, and fparkling gems, and radiant eyes, 
 
 A foft effulgence o'er the palace waves : 
 
 While, a gay infect in his fummer-fhine, 
 
 The fop, light fluttering, fpreads his mealy wings. 
 
 Dread o'er the fcene, the ghoft of Hamlet 
 ftalks ; 
 Othello rages; poorMoNiMiA mourns; 
 And Belvidefa pours her foul in love. 
 Terror alarms the bread ; the comely tear 
 Steals o'er the cheek: or elfe the Comic Mufe 
 Holds to the world a picture of itfelf, 
 And raifes ily the fair impartial laugh. 
 Sometimes me lifts her {train, and paints the fcenes 
 Of beauteous life; whate'er can deck mankind, 
 Or charm the heart, in generous * Bevil (hew'd. 
 
 O Thou, whofe wifdom, folid yet renn'd, 
 Whofe patriot virtues, and confummate ikill 
 To touch the finer fprings that move the world, 
 Join'd to whate'er the Graces can beftow, 
 And all Apollo's animating fire, 
 
 * A chara&er in the Confcious Lovers, written by S ; r 
 Richard Steele. 
 
W INTER. 221 
 
 Give thee, with pleating dignity, to (hine 
 At once the guardian, ornament, and joy, 
 Of polifh'd life 5 permit the Rural Mufe, 
 O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her fong! 
 Ere to the (hades again me humbly flies, 
 Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train, 
 (For every Mufe has in thy train a place) 
 To mark thy various full accomplim'd mind : 
 To mark that fpirit, which, with Britifh fcorn, 
 Rejects th' allurements of corrupted power; 
 That elegant politenefs, which excels, 
 Even in the judgment of prefumptuous France, 
 The boatted manners of her mining court 3 
 That wit, the vivid energy of fenfe, 
 The truth of Nature, which, with Attic point, 
 And kind well-temper'd fatire, fmoothly keen, 
 Steals thro' the foul, and without pain corrects. 
 Or, rifing thence with yet a brighter flame, 
 O let me hail thee on fome glorious day, 
 When to the listening fenate, ardent, crowd 
 Britannia's fons to hear her pleaded caufe. 
 Then drefl by thee, more amiably fair, 
 Truth the foft robe of mild perfuaflon wears: 
 Thou to affenting reafon giv'ft again 
 
222 WINTE R. 
 
 Her own enlightened thoughts; call'd from the 
 
 heart, 
 Th' obedient paffions on thy voice attend ; 
 And even reluctant party feels a while 
 Thy gracious power: as thro' the varied maze 
 Of eloquence, nowfmooth, now quick, now ftrong, 
 Profound and clear, you roll the copious flood. 
 To thy lov'd haunt return, my happy Mufe: 
 For now, behold, the joyous winter-days, 
 Frofty, fucceed; and thro' the blue ferene, 
 For fight too fine, th' ethereal nitre flies; 
 Killing infectious damps, and the fpent air 
 Storing afrefti with elemental life. 
 Clofe crowds the mining atmofphere; and binds 
 Our ftrengthened bodies in its cold embrace, 
 Conftringent; feeds, and animates our blood; 
 Refines our fpirits, thro' the new-fining nerves, 
 In fwifter fallies darting to the brain ; 
 Where fits the foul, intenfe, collected, cool, 
 Bright as the fkies, and as the feafon keen. 
 All Nature feels the renovating force 
 Of Winter, only to the thoughtlefs eye 
 In ruin feen. The froft-conco6led glebe 
 Draws in abundant vegetable foul, 
 
WINTER. 223 
 
 And gathers vigour for the coming year. 
 A itronger glow fits on the lively cheek 
 Of ruddy fire : and luculeut along 
 The purer rivers flow; their fullen deeps, 
 Tranfparent, open to the fhepherd's gaze, 
 And murmur hoarfer at the fixing froft. 
 
 What art thou, froft? and whence are thy keen 
 flores 
 Deriv'd, thou fecret ali-invading power, 
 Whom even th' illufive fluid cannot fly? 
 Is not thy potent energy, unfeen, 
 Myriads of little falts, or hook'd, or (hap'd 
 Like double wedges, and diffus'd immenfe 
 Thro' water, earth, and ether ? Hence at eve, 
 Steam'd eager from the red horizon round, 
 With the fierce rage of Winter deep fuffus'd, 
 An icy gale, oft fhifting, o'er the pool 
 Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career 
 Arrefts the bickering ttreara. The loofened ice, 
 Let down the flood, and half diflblv'd by day, 
 Rultles no more; but to the fedgy bank 
 Fart grows, or gathers round the pointed ftone, 
 A cryftal pavement, by the breath of heaven 
 Cemented firm; till, feiz'd from fhore to fhore, 
 The whole impri&n'd river growls below. 
 
224 WINTER. 
 
 Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflects 
 A double noiTej while, at his evening watch, 
 The village dog deters the nightly thief $ 
 The heifer lows; the diftant water-fall 
 Swells in the breeze; and, with the hafly tread 
 Of traveller, the hollow- founding plain 
 Shakes from afar. The full ethereal round, 
 Infinite worlds difclofing to the view, 
 Shines out intenfely keen, and, all one cope 
 Of ftarry glitter, glows from pole to pole. 
 From pole to pole the rigid influence falls, 
 Thro' the frill night, inceffant, heavy, ftrong, 
 And feizes Nature faft. It freezes on; 
 Till morn, late rifing o'er the drooping world, 
 Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears 
 The various labour of the filent nisrht: 
 Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cafcade, 
 Whofe idle torrents only feem to roar, 
 The pendant icicle; the froft-work fair, 
 Where tranfient hues, and fancy 'd figures rife; 
 Wide-fpouted o'er the hill, the frozen brook, 
 A livid traft, cold-gleaming on the morn ; 
 The foreft bent beneath the plumy wavej 
 And by the froft refln'd the whiter fnow, 
 Incrufted hard, and founding to the tread 
 
 \ 
 
S KAT !>' G 
 
 ~/..fc-t/LarJ «6/„ 
 
 '/'.'/l, <//>!,/ .,<«//> 
 
 ■ 
 
 /'// .jrn ut/t iiy .j/i//i\j r 17 t/ir/t./tt n// i/r/^tff/f/ U-'tlVa 
 • ■^H at rc/< /iy /i<-u<- , .>///// ft. i //.' /<•( >t</o aAny . 
 
 .fttMt/h'd ' JFan.j-ijn j JtyZSteoJkdtUe. Kootuitliy . 
 
WINTER. 225 
 
 Of early fhepherd, as he pe..fne feeks 
 
 His pining flock, or from the mountain top, 
 
 Pleas'd with the flippery furface. fwift defcends. 
 
 On blithfome frolics bent, the youthful fwains, 
 While every work ot Man is laid at relt, 
 Fond o'er the river crowd, in various fport 
 And revelry diflblv'd 5 uhere mixing glad, 
 Happieft of ail the train- the raptur'd boy 
 Lathes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 
 Branch'd out in many a long canal extends, 
 From every province fwarming, void of care, 
 Batavia ruflies forth; and as they fweep, 
 On founding fkates, a thoufand different ways, 
 In circling poife, fwift as the winds, along, 
 The then gay land is maddened all to joy. 
 Nor lefs the northern courts, wide o'er the fnow, 
 Pour a new pomp. . Eager, on rapid fleds, 
 Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel 
 The long-refounding courfe. Meantime, to raife 
 The manly ftrife, with highly blooming charms, 
 Flufh'd by the feafon, Scandinavia's dames, 
 Or Ruflia's buxom daughters, glow around. 
 
 Pure, quick, and fportful, is the wholefome day $ 
 But foon elaps'd. The horizontal fun, 
 Broad o'er the fouth, hangs at his utmoft noon: 
 
 a 
 
225 WINTE R. 
 
 And, ineffe&ual, ftrikes the gelid cliff: 
 His azure glofs the mountain flill maintains, 
 Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale 
 Belents a while to the reflected ray; 
 Or from the foreft falls the clufter'd fnow, 
 Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam 
 Gay-twinkle as they fcatter. Thick around 
 Thunders the fport of thofe, who with 'the gun, 
 And dog impatient bounding at the fhor, 
 "Worle than the feafon, defolate the fields; 
 And, adding to the ruins of the year, 
 Diftrefs the footed or the feathered game. 
 
 But what is this ? Our infant Winter (inks. 
 Diverted of his grandeur, fhould our eye 
 Aftoniih'd moot into the Frigid Zone; 
 Where, for relentlefs months, continual night 
 Holds o'er the glittering wafte her ftarry reign. 
 
 There, thro' the prifon of unbounded wilds, 
 Barr'd by the hand of Nature from efcape, 
 Wide-roams the Ruflian exile. Nought around 
 Strikes his fad eye, but deferts loft in fnow ; 
 And heavy-loaded groves; and folid floods, 
 That ftretch, athwart the folitary vaft, 
 Their icy horrors to the frozen main ; 
 And cheerlefs towns far-diilant, never blefs'd, 
 
WINTER. 227 
 
 Save when its annual courfe the caravan 
 Bends to the golden coaft of rich * Cathay, 
 With news of human kind. Yet there life glows; 
 Yet cherim'd there, beneath the mining wafle, 
 The furry nations harbour: tipt with jet, 
 Fair ermines, fpotlefs as the (bows they prefs ; 
 Sables, of glofly black ; and dark embrown'd, 
 Or beauteous freakt with many a mingled hue, 
 Thoufands befides, the cotfly pride of courts. 
 There, warm together prefa'd, the trooping deer 
 Sleep on the new-fallen mows; and, fcarce his head 
 Rais'd o'er the heapy wreath, the branching elk 
 Lies flumberinor fullen in the white abvfs. 
 The ruthlefs hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 
 Nor with the dread of founding bows he drives 
 The fearful flying race ; with ponderous clubs, 
 As weak againft the mountain-heaps they pufh 
 Their beating breaft in vain, and piteous bray, 
 He lays them quivering on the enfanguin'd fnows, 
 And with loud fhouts rejoicing bears them home. 
 There thro' the piny foreft half-abibrpt, 
 Rough tenant of thefe fhades, the fhapelefs bear, 
 With dangling ice all horrid, ftalks forlorn 5 
 
 * The old name for China. 
 
 a 2 
 
228 WINTER. 
 
 Slow-pac'd, and fourer as the ftorms increafe, 
 He makes his bed beneath th' inclement drift, 
 And, with flern patience, fcorning weak complaint, 
 Hardens his heart againft affailing want. 
 
 Wide o'er the fpacious regions of the north, 
 That fee Bootes urge his tardy wain, 
 A boifterous race, by frofty * Caurus pierc'd, 
 Who little pleafure know and fear no pain, 
 Prolific fwarm. They once relum'd the flame 
 Of loft mankind in poliuYd flavery funk, 
 Drove martial f horde on horde, with dreadful 
 
 fweep 
 Refiftlefs milling o'er th* enfeebled fouth, 
 And gave the vanquifh'd world another form. 
 Not fuch the ions of Lapland: wifely they 
 Defpife th' infenfate barbarous trade of war; 
 They afk no more than fimple Nature gives, 
 They love their mountains and enjoy their ftorms, 
 No falfe defires, no pride-created wants, 
 Difturb the peaceful current of their time ,* 
 And thro' the reftlefs ever-tortur'd maze 
 Of pleafure, or ambition, bid it rage. 
 
 * The north-weft wind. 
 
 ■f The wandering Scythian-clans. 
 
WINT E R. 22$ 
 
 Their rein-deer form their riches. Thefe their 
 
 tents, 
 Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth 
 Supply, their wholefome fair, and cheerful cups. 
 Obfequious at their call, the docile tribe 
 Yield to the fled their necks, and whirl them fwift 
 O'er hill and dale, heap'd into one expanfe 
 Of marbled fnow, as far as eye can fweep 
 With a blue crult of ice unbounded glaz'd. 
 By dancing meteors then, that ceafelefs {hake 
 A waving blaze refracted o'er the heavens, 
 And vivid moons, and flars that keener play 
 With doubled luftre from the glorTy wafte, 
 Even in the depth of Pclar Night, they find 
 A wondrous day : enough to light the chafe, 
 Or guide their daring lieps to Finland-fairs. 
 WiuYd Spring returns; and from the hazy fouth, 
 While dim Aurora (lowly moves before, 
 The welcome fun, juft verging up at firft, 
 By fmall degrees extends the (Veiling curve ! 
 Till feen at laft for gay rejoicing months, 
 Still round and round, his fpiral courfe he winds, 
 And as he nearly dips his flaming orb, 
 Wheels up again, and reafcends the iky. 
 In that glad feafon. from the lakes and floods, 
 
230 WINTE R. 
 
 Where pure * Niemi's fairy mountains rife, 
 And fring'd with rofes f Tenglio rolls his flream, 
 They draw the copious fry. With thefe, at eve, 
 They cheerful- loaded to their tents repair 3 
 Where, all day long in ufeful cares employ'd, 
 Their kind unblemifh'd wives the fire prepare. 
 Thrice happy race! by poverty fecur'd 
 From legal plunder and rapacious power: 
 In whom fell interefl never yet has fown 
 The feeds of vice : whofe fpotlefs fwains ne'er 
 
 knew 
 Injurious deed, nor, blafted by the breath 
 Of faithlefs love, their blocming daughters woe. 
 
 Still preffing on, beyond Tornea's lake, 
 And Hecla flaming thro' a wafte of lhow, 
 
 * M. de Maupertuis, in his book on the Figure of the 
 Earth, after having defcribed the beautiful Lake and Moun- 
 tain of Nienii in Lapland, fa)s — " From this height we had 
 M opportunity feveral times to fee thofe vapours rife from the 
 " Lake which the people of the country call Haltios, and 
 ■' which they deem to be the guardian Spirits of the Moun- 
 " tains. We had been frighted with ftorics of Bears that 
 ** haunted this place, but faw none. It feemed rather a 
 M place of refort for Fairies and Genii, than Bears." 
 
 f The fame Author obferve*— " I was furprifed to fee 
 M upon the banks of this river (the Tenglio) Roles of as 
 ** lively a red as any that are in our gardens." 
 
WINTER. 231 
 
 And fartheft Greenland, to the pole itfelf, 
 Where, failing gradual, life at length goes our, 
 The Mufe expands her folitary flight; 
 And, hovering o'er the wild ftupendous fcene, 
 Beholds new feas beneath * another iky. 
 Thron'd in his palace of cerulean ice, 
 Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court j 
 And thro' his airy hall the loud mifrule 
 Of driving tempeft is for ever heard: 
 Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath ; 
 Here arras his winds with all-fubduing froftj 
 Moulds his fierce bail, and treafures up his fnows, 
 With which he now oppreiTes half the globe. 
 
 Thence winding eaftward to the Tartar's coaft, 
 She fweeps the howling margin of the maioj 
 Where undiiTolving, from the firft of time. 
 Snows fwell on fnows amazing to the iky j 
 And icy mountains high on mountains pil'd, 
 Seem to the fhivering failor from afar, 
 Shapelefs and white, an atmofphere of clouds. 
 Projected huge, and horrid, o'er the furge, 
 Alps frown on Alps; or, ruining hideous down. 
 As if old Chaos was again retcrn'd, 
 
 * The other hemifph«re. 
 
232 WINTE R. 
 
 Wide rend the deep, and (hake the folid pole. 
 Ocean itfelf no longer can refift 
 The binding fury j but, in all its rage 
 Of tempeft taken by the boundlefs froft, 
 Is many a fathom to the bottom chain'd, 
 And bid to roar no more : a bleak expanfe, 
 Shagg'd o'er with wavy rocks, cheerlefs, and void 
 Of every life, that from the dreary months 
 Flies confcious fouthward. Miferable they! 
 Who, here entangled in the gathering ice, 
 Take their laft look of the defcending fun; 
 While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold froft, 
 The long long night, incumbent o'er their heads, 
 Falls horrible. Such was the * Briton's fate, 
 As with firft prow (what have not Britons dar'd!) 
 He for the paffage fought, attempted flnce 
 So much in vain, and feeming to be (hut 
 By jealous Nature with eternal bars. 
 In thefe fell regions, in Arzina caught, 
 And to the ftony deep his idle fliip 
 Immediate feal'd, he with his haplefs crew, 
 Each full exerted at his feveral talk, 
 
 * Sir Hugh Willoughby, fent by Queen Elizabeth to dif- 
 eover the North-Eaft Paffage. 
 
WINTER. 233 
 
 Proze into ftatues; to the cordage glued 
 The Tailor, and the pilot to the him. 
 
 Hard by thefe mores, where fcarce his freezing 
 ftream 
 Rolls the wild Oby, live the laft of Men 5 
 And half enlivened by the diftant fun, 
 That rears and ripens Man, as well as plants, 
 Here human Nature wears its rudeft form. 
 Deep from the piercing lea (on funk in caves, 
 Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer, 
 They wafte the tedious gloom. Immers'd in furs, 
 Doze the grofs race. Nor fprightly jeft, nor long, 
 Nor tendernefs they know 3 nor aught of life, 
 Beyond the kindred bears that flalk without. 
 Till morn at length, her rofes drooping all, 
 Sheds a long twilight brightening o'er their fields, 
 And calls the quivered favage to the chafe. 
 
 What cannot active government perform, 
 New-moulding Man ? Wide-ftretchinp; from thefe 
 
 fhores, 
 A people favage from remoter!, time, 
 A huge neglected empire, one vafl Mind, 
 By Heaven infpir'd, from Gothic darknefs call'd. 
 Immortal Peter! firft of monarchs! He 
 His itubborn country tam'd, her rocks, her fens, 
 
234 WINTER. 
 
 Her floods, her feas, her ill-fubmitting fons; 
 
 And while the fierce Barbarian he fubdu'd, 
 
 To more exalted foul he rais'd the Man. 
 
 Ye (hades of ancient heroes, ye who toil'd 
 
 Thro' long fucceffive ages to build up 
 
 A labouring plan of ftate, behold at once 
 
 The wonder done ! behold the matchlefs prince ' 
 
 Who left his native throne, where reign'd till then 
 
 A mighty fhadow of unreal powerj 
 
 Who greatly fpurn'd the flothful pomp of courts ; 
 
 And, roaming every land, in every port 
 
 His fceptre laid afide, with glorious hand 
 
 Unwearied plying the mechanic tool, 
 
 Gather' d the feeds of trade, of ufeful arts, 
 
 Of civil wifdom, and of martial fkill. 
 
 Charg'd with the ftores of Europe home he goes ! 
 
 Then cities rife amid the illumin'd waftej 
 
 O'er joylefs deferts fmiles the rural reign j 
 
 Far-diftant flood to flood is focial join'd 5 
 
 Th' aftoniih'd Euxine hears the Baltic roar; 
 
 Proud navies ride on feas that never foam'd 
 
 With daring keel before j and armies ftretch 
 
 Each way their dazzling files, repreffing here 
 
 The frantic Alexander of the north, 
 
 And awing there ftern Othman's flirinking fons. 
 
WINTEE. 235 
 
 Sloth flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice, 
 Of old dishonour proud : it glows around, 
 Taught by the Royal Hand that rous'd the whole, 
 One fcene of arts, of arms, of rifing trade : 
 For what his wifdom plann'd, and power enforced, 
 More potent ftill, his great example fbew'd. 
 
 Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point, 
 Blow hollow-blufiering from the fouth. Subdu'd, 
 The frofl refolves into a trickling thaw. 
 Spotted the mountains ihine; looie fleet defcends. 
 And floods the country round. The rivers fwell, 
 Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, 
 O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts, 
 A thoufand fnow-fed torrents fhoot at once ; 
 And, where they ruth, the wide-refounding plain 
 Is left one flimy w r afte. Thofe fallen feas, 
 That wam'd th' ungenial pole, will reft no more 
 Beneath the fhackles of the mighty north j 
 But, roufing all their waves, relilUefs heave. 
 And hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs 
 Athwart the rifted deep: at once it burlts, 
 And piles a thoufand mountains to the clouds. 
 Ill fares the bark with trembling wretches charg'd^ 
 That, toft amid the floating fragments, moors 
 Beneath the fhelter of an icy ifle, 
 
53(5 WINTER. 
 
 While night o'erwhelms the fea, and horror looks 
 More horrible. Can human force endure 
 Th' ?iTembled mifchiefs that befiege them round? 
 Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting wearinefs, 
 The roar of winds and waves, the crufh of ice, 
 Now ceafing, now renew' d with louder rage, 
 And in dire echoes bellowing round the main. 
 More to embroil the deep, Leviathan 
 And his unwieldy train, in dreadful fport, 
 Tempeft the loofened brine, while thro' the gloom, 
 Far, from the bleak, inhofpitable more, 
 Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl 
 Of famifli'd monfiers, their awaiting wrecks. 
 Yet Providence, that ever-waking eye, 
 Looks down with pity on the feeble toil 
 Of mortals loft to hope, and lights them fafe, 
 Thro' all this dreary labyrinth of fate. 
 
 'Tis done! dread Winter fpreads bis lateft glooms, 
 And reisrns tremendous o'er the conquer'd vear. 
 How dead the vegetable kingdom lies ! 
 How dumb the tuneful ! Horror wide extends 
 His defolate domain. Behold, fond Man ! 
 See here thy pictured life; pafs fome few years, 
 Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer'sardentftrength, 
 Thy fober Autumn fading into age, 
 
WINTER. 237 
 
 And pale concluding Winter comes at laft, • 
 And ihuts the fcene. Ah! whither now ^re fled 
 Thofe dreams of greatnefs ? thofe unfoliu hopes 
 Of happinefs ? thofe longings after fame? 
 Thofe reftlefs cares ? thofe bufy buftling days? 
 Thofe gay-fpent, feftive nights? thofe veering 
 
 thoughts 
 Loft between good and ill, that fhurd thy life ? 
 All now are vanifh'd ! Virtue fole furvives, 
 Immortal never-failing friend of Man, 
 His guide to happinefs on high. And fee! 
 'Tis come, the glorious morn ! the fecond birth 
 Of heaven, and earth I awakening Nature hears 
 The new-creating word, and ftarts to life, 
 In every heightened form, from pain and death 
 For ever free. The great eternal fcheme, 
 Involving all, and in a perfect whole 
 Uniting, as the profpect wider fpreads, 
 To reafon's eye refin'd clears up apace. 
 Ye vainly wife ! ye blind prefumptuous ! now^ 
 Confounded in the duft, adore that Power, 
 And Wifdom oft arraign'd : fee now the caufe, 
 Why unafTuming worth in fecret liv'd, 
 And dy'd, neglected: why the good Man's fhare 
 In life was gall and bitternefs of foul ; 
 
238 WINTE K. 
 
 Why the lone widow and her orphans pin'd 
 
 In ftarving folitude ; while luxury, 
 
 In palaces, lay {training her low thought 
 
 To form unreal wants : why heaven-born truth; 
 
 And moderation fair, wore the red marks 
 
 Of fuperftition's fcourge: why licens'd pain, 
 
 That cruel fpoiler, that embofom'd foe, 
 
 Imbittered all our blifs. Ye good diftreft! 
 
 Ye noble few! who here unbending ftand 
 
 Beneath life's preflure, yet bear up a while, 
 
 And what your bounded view, which only faw 
 
 A little part, deem'd Evil is no more : 
 
 The ftorms of Wintry Time will quickly pafs, 
 
 And one unbounded Spring encircle all. 
 
HYM N. 
 
 These, as they change, Almighty Father, thefe. 
 Are but the varied God. The rolling year 
 Is full of thee. Forth in the pleafing Spring 
 Thy beauty walks, thy tendernefs and love. 
 Wide fluth the fields; the foftening air is balm; 
 Echo the mountains round -, the foreft fmiles; 
 And every fenfe, and every heart is joy. 
 Then comes thy glory in the Summer months,, 
 With light and heat refulgent. Then thy fun 
 Shoots full perfection thro' the fwelling year: 
 And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder fpeaksj 
 And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, 
 By brooks and groves, in hollow- whifpering gales. 
 Thy bounty mines in Autumn unconfin'd, 
 And fpreads a common feaft for all that lives. 
 In Winter awful Thou! with clouds and ftorms 
 Around Thee thrown, tempeft o'er temper! roll'd, 
 Majeflic darknefs ! on the whirlwind's wing, 
 
240 HYM N. 
 
 Riding; fublime, Thou bidft ihe world adore, 
 And humbleft Nature with thy northern blaft. 
 
 Myfterious round ! what ikill, what force divine, 
 Deep felt, in thefe appear! a (imple train, 
 Yet fo delightful mixd, with fuch kind art, 
 Such beauty and beneficence combin'd; 
 Shade, unperceiv'd, fo foftening into (hade; 
 And all fo forming an harmonious whole; 
 That, as they ftill fucceed, they ravifh ftill. 
 But wandering oft, vi ith brute unconfeious gaze, 
 Man marks not Thee, marks not the mighty hand;. 
 That, ever-bufy, wheels the (ilent fpheres; 
 "Works in the fecret deep; moots, {teaming, thence 
 The fair profufion that o'erfpreads the Spring : 
 Flincrs from the fun direct the flaming day; 
 Feeds every creature; hurls the tempeft forth; 
 And, as on earth this grateful change revolves, 
 With tranfport touches all the fprings of life. 
 
 Nature, attend! join every living foul, 
 Beneath the fpacious temple of the iky, 
 In adoration join; and, ardent, raife 
 One general fong! To Him, ye vocal gales, 
 Breathe foft, whofe Spirit in your frefhne& 
 breathes : 
 
HYMN. 241 
 
 Oh talk of Him in folitary glooms! 
 
 Where, o'er the rock, the fcarcely waving-pine 
 
 Fills the brown fliade with a religious awe. 
 
 And ye, whofe bolder note is heard afar, 
 
 Whoihake th' aftonifh'd world, lift high to heaven 
 
 Th' impetuous fong, and fay from whom you rage. 
 
 His praife, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills ; 
 
 And let me catch it as I mufe along. 
 
 Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound j 
 
 Ye fofter floods, that lead the humid maze 
 
 Along the vale; and thou, majeflic main, 
 
 A fecret world of wonders in thyfelf, 
 
 Sound His ftupendous praife ; whofe greater voice 
 
 Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall. 
 
 Soft-roll your incenfe, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, 
 
 In mingled clouds to Him; whofe fun exalts, 
 
 Whole breath perfumes you, and whofe pencil 
 
 paints. 
 Ye forefts bend, ye harvefts wave, to Him; 
 Breathe your mil fong into the reaper's heart. 
 As home he goes beneath the joyous moon. 
 Ye that keep watch in heaven, as earth aileep 
 Unconfcious lies, effufe your mi'deft beams, ■ 
 Ye conftellatious, while your angels firike, 
 
 II 
 
'242 HYM N. 
 
 Amid the fpangled fky, the filver lyre. 
 Great fource of day ! heft image here below 
 Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide, 
 From world to world, the vital ocean round, 
 On Nature write with every beam His praife. 
 The thunder rolls : be huih'd the proftrate world ; 
 While cloud to cloud returns the folemn hymn. 
 Bleat out afrefli, ye hills: ye moffy rocks, 
 Retain the found : the broad refponfive low, 
 Ye valleys, raife; for the Great Shepherd reigns | 
 And his unfuffering kingdom yet will come. 
 Ye woodlands all, awake: a bonndlefs fong 
 Burft from the groves ! and when the refllefs day^ 
 Expiring, lays the warbling \«orld afleep, 
 Sweeteft of birds ! fweet Philomela, charm 
 The liftening ihades, and teach the night His 
 
 praife. 
 Ye chief, for whom the whole creation fmiles, 
 At once the head, the heart, and tongue of ail, 
 Crown the great hymn ! in fwarming cities vaft, 
 AiTembled men, to the deep organ join 
 The long-refounding voice, oft- breaking clear, 
 At folemn paufes, through the fwellingbafe} 
 And, as each mingling flame increafes each., 
 
H Y M N. 243 
 
 In one united ardour rife to heaven. 
 Or if you rather choofe the rural (hade, 
 And find a fane in every facred grove; 
 There let the fhepherd's flute, the virgin's lay, 
 The prompting feraph, and the poet's lyre, 
 Still fing the God of Seafons, as they roll, 
 JFor me, when I forget the darling theme, 
 Whether the bloflbm blows, the Summer ray 
 Buffets the plain, infpiring Autumn gleams; 
 Or Winter rifes in the blackening eaft; 
 Be my tongue mute, may fancy paint no more, 
 And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat ! 
 
 Should fate command me to the farthefl verge 
 Of the green earth, to diftant barbarous climes, 
 Rivers unknown to fong; where firft the fun 
 Gilds Indian mountains, or his fetting beam 
 Flames on th' Atlantic ifles j 'tis nought to me ; 
 Since God is ever prefent, ever felt, 
 In the void wafte as in the city full j 
 And where He vital breathes there muft be joy. 
 When even at laft the folemn hour mail come, 
 And wing my myftic flight to future worlds, 
 I cheerful will obey; there, with new powers, 
 Will riling wonders fing: I cannot go 
 
 R2 
 
244 H Y M N. 
 
 Where Univerfal Love not fmiles around, 
 
 Suftaining all yon orbs and all their fonsj 
 
 From feeming Evil ftill educing Good, 
 
 And Better thence again, and Better Hill, 
 
 In infinite progreflion, But I lofe 
 
 Myfelf in Him, in Light ineffable: 
 
 Come then,, exDreflive filence, mnfe His praife, 
 
NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SEASONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMSON, 
 
 By P ERC IVAL STOC KDALE. 
 
 XT erkaps no poems have been read more generally, or with 
 more p'eafure, than the Seafons of Thomfon. This was a 
 natural confequence of the objedts which they prefent, and of 
 the genius which they difplay. In defcriptive poetry, or as 
 a poetical painter, I do not know an equal to Thomfon. The 
 pictures of other poets, comparatively with his, often want 
 precision, colour, and expreffion: becaufe they are more 
 copies from books than originals; rather fecondary defcrip- 
 tbns, than tranfcripts made immediately from the living vo- 
 lume of Nature. With her Thomfon was intimately -ac- 
 iinted: and as his judgment, his fentiment, his tafte, are 
 equal to his diligent obfervation, the whole groupe of objects 
 in his defcription is always peculiarly ltriking, or affecting,, 
 from their natural and happy relation to one another. — Hence, 
 peculiarly in this poet, a little natural object, apparently in- 
 fignif.cant of itfelf, takes confequence from its affociation to 
 others, and very much heightens and enforces the awful or 
 beautiful aflemblage. Thomfon's poetry is ft ill moie nobly 
 recommended to his readers, by a mod amiable morality and 
 religion : by a rational and fublime adoration of God ; and by 
 a tender^ ardent, and univerfal love of man, His rowers in 
 
S46 NOTES TO 
 
 exhibiting natural objects, often ftrongly inculcate his mora-, 
 lity and religion ; — the painter and the fage are very fortunate 
 auxiliaries to each other. The ftructure of his verfe is, cha- 
 rr.&eriftically, his own; — true genius difdains all mechanical 
 and fervile imitation : that verfe is always perfpicuous, ener- 
 getic; — fully and clearly expreffive of his ideas ; — not fo eafy, 
 always, and flowing in its clofe as we could wifh. — The fa- 
 vourite objects of his mind did not captivate his imagination 
 alone ; they actuated and marked his manners and his life, 
 lie was a moft benevolent as well as a great man : — he was a 
 poet of the firft clafs; — he was an honour to Scotland, tc 
 taropc, to mankind. 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 Page 3. line 5. ' O Hartford,' &c. This lady well merited 
 Thomfon's poetical encomium. She was equally dif- 
 tinguifhed by the graces of the perfon and thofe of the mind. 
 Her humanity, and her generous application to queen Caro- 
 line, faved the life of the unfortunate Savage ; when, without 
 that interpolation, he would have fallen a victim to a mis- 
 taken jury, mifled by an unfeeling judge; — ' Hard words and 
 4 hanging if your judge is Pa^e.' — See Johnfon's excellent life 
 of Savage. I by no means think that inhumanity is a cha» 
 ra<5renftic of Mr. Bo well ; — therefore I was furpriied to find, 
 by forne bold and ill-grounded conjectures of this biographer, 
 that the fate of Savage has been Angularly calamitous ; — the 
 injuries which he luffered while living were horrible ; — repofe 
 is not allowed to his afhes ; they are cruelly violated ; and 
 the charge of impofture is dragged into the fociety of his more 
 veninl faults and vices. — ^ee Rof well's Life of .lohnfon, where 
 he makes z particular ment on of Savage. That he was really 
 the fon of Lord River? and the Countefs of Macclesfield we 
 hatfe no folic! foundation to dcubt : indeed, from fome argiv 
 
THE SEASONS. 217 
 
 ments which Mr. Bofwell feels himfelf obliged to introduce, 
 and which of themfehes confirm the faft, that gentleman 
 feems half to recant the charge which he had brought againft 
 the memory of Savage. We might have expected, that from 
 his implicit fubmiffion to every Avto; t-pn of his great Arif- 
 totle, he would have been more tender (I fhould have faid 
 more juft) to the philofopher's departed friend. 
 
 P. 3. 1.17. * The mountains lift,' &c. — The apparent and 
 gradual elevation of the verdure of the mountains is, in fome 
 degree, exemplified in the monofyllables of this line. 
 
 P. 7. 1. 13. ' Now from the town' — The objects and pro- 
 perties of the capital, and of the country, are here finely con- 
 trafted in fentiment, and in poetical perfpective and defcrip- 
 tion. 
 
 P. 9. 1. 7. ' The north-eaft fpends his rage:' — In this 
 vernal flaower, and in the imagery which relates to it, our 
 poet's defcriptive fertility and art are in all their ftrength and 
 beauty. 
 
 — — — * man fuperior walks, 
 
 ' Amid the glad creation ; mufing praife ; 
 ' And looking lively gratitude.' 
 This charming, moral, and pious picture, is a juft and fevere 
 reproof to thofe unfeeling fouls '.vho pay not a tribute of ar- 
 dent gratitude and praife to the goodnefsand greatnefs of their 
 Creator. The many-twinkling leaves is an exprefiion in this 
 defcription. Mr. Gray applies the fame epithet taa different 
 image. Poets, while they wifh to be ftrong, fhould not forget 
 to be elegant and eafy. A fault in the great author of the 
 Seafons, is fomet mes a ftifihefs, a harfhnefs of ftyle: — com- 
 pound epithets fho 1 d be frugal'y ufed; othenviie it will be 
 evident that they glide not naturally into the genius cf our 
 language; Thomfon ufes them too freely. 
 
 P. 14. 1. y. 'The lion's — horrid heart — was meekened:' 
 a word happily made by Thomfon ; — agreeably to the analogy 
 
248 NOTES TO 
 
 ©f our language ; and expreffively in found of the difpofit;cfi 
 which it conveys. 
 P. 14. 1.-23. 
 
 — i Reafon, half-extinft, 
 
 * Or impotent, or elfe approving, lees 
 
 ' The foul diforder.' 
 
 That foul diforder can never, furely, be feen by reason with 
 approbation. 
 
 P. 17. 1. 20. ■ But man whom nature form'd,' Sec — Thi3 
 pathetic paflage from a mufe who was eminent for humanity, 
 if it cannot make us Pythagoreans or Gcntoos, fhould at leaft 
 make us the merciful protedlors of the animed creation while 
 we fuffer them to live. 
 P. 22 I.i. 
 
 * There let the clafiic page thy fancy lead 
 
 * Through rural fcenes ; fuch as the Mantuan fage 
 ' Paints in the matchlefs harmony of fong : 
 
 1 Or catch, thyfelf, the landscape, gliding fwift 
 
 * Athwart Imagination's vivid eye.' 
 
 This is a remarkably beautiful paflage, which clofes with 
 1. 12, in p. 22,— we fhould not only be led by the eisffic page 
 through rural fcenes; but, like Thomfon, we (hculd be at- 
 tentive to catch the landfcapes ourfdves. 
 
 P. 23. I.7. 'Thole looks demure,' — an epithet which is 
 never now ufed (and perhaps fhould not have been ufed by 
 our poet) in pure praife. 
 
 P. 27. 1. 17. ' Call up the tuneful nations' . The 
 
 harmony of the poetical cadence here corresponds with the 
 melody to which it alludes. 
 
 P. 31. 1. 3. ' Even fo a gentle pair,' &c. 
 
 How can the rich and powerful read this meft affecting fimile, 
 without determining to inquire into and relieve the diftrefles 
 of t'.eir obi cure and poor, but patient and virtuous neigh- 
 bour'. The procels of the feathered tribes, in the continue 
 
THE SEASONS. 240 
 
 tton and care of their fpecies, was never defcribed in fo juft 
 and captivating a manner as it is by Thomfon. 
 P. 38. 1.6. 
 
 1 What is this mighty Ireath, ye fage", fay,' &c. 
 
 i ■ ' what but God ! 
 
 ' Infpiring Gcdl' 
 If the wretch who denies the exiftence of the Deity, without 
 having abfolutely loft his reafoning faculty, attentively fur- 
 Teys the works of the creation, and attentively reads the Sea- 
 fons of Thomfon ; — if this wretch can poffibiy flill be an 
 atheift, we muft not impute the monftrous opinion to a weak- 
 nefs of understanding ; but to a mind totally darkened by vice 
 and defpair. 
 P. 40. 1. 14. 
 
 ' Thefe are the facred feelings of thy heart, 
 1 Thy heart, informed by Reafcn's purer ray, 
 ' O Lyttelton, the friend 1' 
 This whole paffage is fraught with the generous enthuflafm 
 of poetry and friendfhip. Its piclurefque parts are likewife 
 admirable. The nobleman here celeorated well deferved the 
 panegyric of Thomfon. He was a mild and benevolent mart, 
 an elegant fcholar, a diftinguifhed orator, an eminent writer 
 both in verfe and profe. Johnfon is grofsly unjuft to his 
 literary merit. But what attention is to be paid to the hyper- 
 critic, who tells us that Akenfide's Odes will never be read? 
 P.43. 1.1. 
 
 * Flufh'd by the fpirit of the genial year,' &c. 
 In his defcriptions of love too, of its effects on the animal 
 world and on the human fpecies, of the effects of the unfor- 
 tunate and the fuccefsfu'l, of the licentious and the lawfal 
 paflion, our poet is without a rival. Thefe defcriptions are 
 very particular; they are circumltantial, yet they never flag ; 
 they are every where characterized with fine painting, with 
 a corifitat and warm attention to nature ; with poetical ten- 
 
£S0 NOTES TO 
 
 <kmefs, ardour, and elevation. The concluding paflage of the 
 Spring, which begins with this line, 
 
 ' But happy they, the happieft of their kind!' 
 prefents to the mind of the reader two connubial examples, 
 which are forcible enough to affect a Dutchman and to re- 
 claim a profligate. 
 
 I am unavoidably limited in the extent of my Notes on the 
 Seafons, otherwife I fhould have paid to one of the mod ami- 
 able and greateft of poets a more affiduous attention. I am 
 wnfeignedly willing to acknowledge, that by the circum- 
 fcription to which I muft fubmlt, more will be loft to my own 
 private fatisfaction than to the information or entertainment 
 of the public. Notes, indeed, to the works of true poets, are 
 principally ufcful when they illuftrate facts, which, by a long 
 lapfe of time, may not be generally known ; to fuch facts there 
 is hardly one allulion in the Seafcns; their author judicioufly 
 never refers you but to celebrated perfons or events. His fen- 
 timents and defcriptions are (what poetry fhould ever be) al- 
 ways perfpicuous. The mind is rather diffracted than de- 
 lighted by the poet whofe thoughts and pictures muft be illuf- 
 trated by frequent annotations: — Such a poet is but a tyro in 
 the divine art ; indeed he deferves not the honourable and dif- 
 tinguifning name. 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 Among the many futile, abfurd, and ungenerous pafTages 
 in Johnfon's Lives of the Poets, is the following remark on 
 the Seafons. — 'The great defect of the Seafons,is want of me- 
 ■ thod; but for this I know not that there was any remedy. 
 
 * Of many appearances fubfifting all at once, no rule can be 
 ' given why one fhould b mentioned before another; yet the 
 
 * memory wants the help of order, and the curiofity is not 
 
THE SEASONS. *5l 
 
 r excited by fufpenfe or expectation.' — I muft: beg leave to 
 affert, that what I have now quote! is abfolute nonfenfe. 
 Therefore, as it is not entitled to a particular refutation, let it 
 be refuted by the poem which now engages my attention, and 
 which is longer by feveral hundred lines than the other Sea- 
 sons. It has all the order and method that any fenfible and 
 liberal critic, that any reader, except a dry formal pedant, 
 could wifh. The poet furveys, paints, and enforces, with a 
 glowing and animated pencil, with an affefiing and fublime 
 morality and religion, a fummer's morning, noon, evening, 
 and night, as they fucceed one another in the ccurfe of na- 
 ture (for furely the many appearances in any feafon do not 
 tubsist all at one?). If this is not method, I know not what 
 is. The molt admired poems have their epifodes, which by 
 no means deftroy or confufe the order of the principal fable. 
 His defcripticn of noon is expanded with an interefting pic- 
 ture of the torrid zone, to which he devotes four hundred and 
 fixty lines. The rich and ardent colouring of this picture is 
 congenial with the climate which it reprefents. If thefe lines 
 are a digrefiion, they are naturally connected with the main 
 fubjecl; they never lofe light of it, therefore they keep it con- 
 tinually in the mind of the reader. For his moral and pious 
 apoftrophes originating from his immediate object, for his 
 charming epifodes derived from the fame fources, he cannot 
 be reafonably taxed with a neglect of regularity. To point 
 out the particular beauties of his Celadon and Amelia, of his 
 Damon and Muildora, would be to affront the good fenfe and 
 good fentiments of my readers. They are beautiful tributes 
 to virtue, to piety, to our beft affections They alone evince 
 the falfehood and the folly of another ftrange observation of 
 our arbitrary critic ;— ' that it does not appear that he had 
 much fenfe of the pathetic.'— The perfon who wrote this of 
 Thornton, muft either have loft all remembrance of his au^ 
 tho; when he wrote it, or h's cwn mind muft have been id 
 
252 NOTES TO 
 
 adapted to fympathize with pathetic writing. The pathetic 
 is one of the leading characteristics of the Seafons, it infpired 
 the life and the numbers of this glorious Caledonian poet. 
 What feeling foul can read that letter from him to his fifter, 
 for which we are obliged to Mr. Bofvvell and to Dr. Johnfon, 
 without tears ! It is of infinitely more value than the life in 
 which it is inferted. I would not do the leaft deliberate in- 
 justice to Jchnfon; he remarks Thomfon's want of the 
 pathetic (but he remarks it in general terms, and without re^ 
 ftriction) where he is criticifing his tragedies. But even 
 when applied to them, the remark is not juft. I do not fay 
 that he does not often in his dramas throw cut a ftrain of 
 ftudied eloquence and declamation, which would have been 
 better fubftituted by the fimple and concife language of na- 
 ture ; — yet they are, in feveral places, ftrongly marked with 
 the pathetic: — the whole tenor cf his Edward and Eleonora 
 (the acting of which play was prevented by m'niftcrial refent* 
 ment and injustice) is eminently pathetic. 
 
 After having defcribed Summer, and its effects in our forr 
 tunate ifland, he very forcibly, and I think with great regu- 
 larity, expatiates on thofe ineftimable blefnngs which arc pe- 
 culiarly enjoyed by the inhabitants cf Britain: he then pays 
 his tribute of judicioufly diftinguifhed eulogy (and certainly 
 with no inccherent deviation from his ruling objeftsj to thofe 
 illuftrious characters who have diftinguiihed and elevated the 
 annals of this country : and he clofes the Seafon with a pero- 
 ration to philofophy, the noble instructor and guide of life;— 
 a peroration which is characterized with elegance, and with a 
 fine enthuilafm. Ail this I beg leave to call regularity, and 
 a beautiful method. 
 
 What our formidable critic means by telling us that, in 
 reading the Seafons, * memory wants the help of order, and 
 ' that curiofity is not excited by fufpenfe or expectation,' it is 
 difficult to fay. It is fo unfubftantial and random a cenfure^ 
 
THE SEASONS. 253 
 
 - that it may be applied with equal propriety to the beft poem 
 of Virgil or of Pope. To excite that eager and anxious curi- 
 otity, fufpenfe, and expeflation, which it is incumbent on 
 the writer of a novel or of a drama to raife, did not enter into 
 the plan of the Seafons; yet in reading them, every mind 
 that has a genuine tafte for poetry is always warmly interefted 
 and affected as it goes along; it proceeds with a delightful ex- 
 pectation ; — rfor it expects to meet with moft excellent poetry; 
 and it is never difappointed ; — with poetry which flows in a 
 i.atural and eafy iuccefllon of fentimentsand imagery; by 
 Thomfon ledra potenter erat res ; therefore, 
 
 Nee facundia defer it hunc, nee lucidus ordo. 
 
 Horace's Art of Poetry, v. 40. 
 
 According to the edi6l of Johnfon, • the di&ion of Thom- 
 ' ion is too exuberant, and fometiraes may be. charged with 
 * filling the ear more than the, mind.' 1 fhpuld be forry to 
 lole a fingle expreffion.of that moil amiable and immortal 
 poet ; there is not a feeble, not a luperfluous word in the 
 Seafons ; not a word which does not contribute to inform the 
 mind, to enrich the fancy, o"r to improve the heart. 
 
 I have taken this opportunity, with pleafure, to vindicate 
 in fome degree the tranfeendent merit and fame of one of our 
 firir, poets from the arbitrary cenfures of a rude, vulgar, and 
 dogmatical chair. For. the liberty which I have taken with a 
 critic, who could never have been deemed an oracle but 
 through the infatuation of prefcription, I forefee the ftriclures 
 with which I am to be afiailtd by the ftupidUy of prejudice, 
 and by the fervility of fafhion and imitation, with a calm, 
 and, conlequently, with a proper contempt. 
 
 P. 56. I. 15. 
 
 * With what an awful world-revolving power,' &c. 
 
 This paflage includes abtautiful theology; the firft general, 
 
 - and the fubfequent immediate and ftill active provid.-nce of 
 the Deity. 
 
254 NOTES TO 
 
 P. 58. 1. 5. < To lie in dead oblivion'— a fine incentit* 
 to vigilance; to a moral and intellectual ceconomy of time, 
 1 lay a particular ftrefs on thofe parages which inculcate virtue 
 and piety ; from the practice of them alone flows our genuine 
 happinefs: — and while we practife them, we have lenitives 
 for the worft calamities. 
 P. 67. 1.6. 
 
 • Full nature fwarms with life.'— — — — 
 We have the fame thought amplified by Pope: 
 
 See through this air, this ocean, and this eaith, 
 All matter quick, and burfting into birth: 
 
 Pope's Effay on Man, Ep. i. v. 233. 
 P. ?6. 1. 17. 
 
 * Thefe arc the haunts of meditation !'-■ ■ ■— 
 Here, in forty-two verfes, are magnificently difplayed the 
 great faculties and talents of a great poet, — invention, high 
 moial enthufialm, and rapture. I cannot deny to myfelf the 
 pleal'ure of quoting a fimilar and very beautiful pafiage from 
 Milton ; 
 
 Millions of fpiritual creatures walk the earth, 
 Unfeen both when we wake, and when we fleep, 
 All thefe, with ceafelefs praife, his works behold 
 Both day and night. How often from the deep 
 Of echoing hill, or thicket, have we heard 
 Celeftial voices, to the midnight ail- 
 Sole, or refponfive each to other's note, 
 Singing their great Creator! oft, in bands, 
 While they keep watch, or nightly rounding Walk } 
 "With heavenly touch of inftrumental founds, 
 In full harmonic number joined, their fongs 
 Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven. 
 
 Paradise Lost, B. iv. 6?jr. 
 A fhepherd, in the Amlnta of Taflb, indulges a ftrain of* 
 feiitiment and imagery congenial with that of Thomfon aftd 
 
THE SEASONS. «5» 
 
 Milton, to which I now refer. The reader will be pleated to 
 accept it from my translation of that kalian poem ; 
 
 Together oft we cultivate the mufes ; 
 
 And with their fcenes enrich our fimple life, 
 
 Oft do the mufes, on a beauteous eve, 
 
 The fky ferene, and drowiy nature hufhed, 
 
 Vouchfafe celeftial founds to rural ears; 
 
 And raife our humble minds above their ftretcb, 
 
 With fueh warm fancy, fuch ethereal forms, 
 
 As Tcape the vulgar intellectual eye. 
 
 Amyntas ot laffj, Act i. Scene a, 
 
 P. eg. 1. 20. ' Nor lefs thy world, Columbus,' &c. 
 Striking pictures cf the vaft American rivers. 
 
 P. 100. 1.15. ' Scvagedby woe:' — P. 101.1.15. 'Lurid 
 ' grove.' — Words made by Thomfon. This fpecies of coining 
 efTends a mere philoiogift, when it does not violate the genius 
 of our language; but when it conveys vigorous fenfe or l'enti- 
 ment, it gives no offence to a mind fufceptible of poetical 
 pleafure. 
 
 P. u a. 1. 17. 
 
 — — ■ The clouds, thofe beauteous robes of heaven, 
 
 * Incefiant rolled into romantic fnapes ; 
 
 4 The dream of waking fancy !* 
 Thefe laft expreffions very hupp.ly convey a very happ^ 
 thought. 
 
 P. 12>. 1. 10. 
 
 ' O thou ! by whofe almighty nod'—— — ■ 
 An addrefs to the Supreme Being) worthy of a poet, a pafriolj 
 and a Chriftian* 
 
 P. 123. 1. 13. 
 
 ■ For ever running an enchanted round,' &c. 
 This paffage of feventeen lines would have fufficient energy 
 to reclaim vice, to banifh extravagant luxury, and to Cafr 
 
256 NOTES TO 
 
 ffcitute virtuous oeeonomy and univerfal and active benevo- 
 lence in its place, if inveterate habit, operating on the felfifh 
 depravity of human nature, could be fubdued by the power of 
 numbers. 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 Our beft judgment, or our unfupported fancy, among thcfe 
 four beautiful poems, may have luppofed a fuperior excel- 
 lence of one to another ; thrugh perhaps that fuperior excel- 
 lence cannot with juftice be determined. The Winter of our 
 author has, I think, been commonly preferred to his other 
 Seafons ; I am not without my refpeft for public opinion, 
 though it is frequently, at leaft for a time, but mtre opinion. 
 I own that, after the moft careful perufal of thcfe poems (and 
 they may be read with a moft lively and animated plealure 
 every revolving year), I never could find that any one of 
 them was eminently, or at all diftinguifhed above the reft by 
 genius and compofition. It is probable that the Winter of 
 Thomfon has always been particularly admired, becaufe it 
 Vf&i the firft Seafon which he gave to the world; the f.rft 
 enterprife of his poetical talents which opened his way ft) for- 
 tune and to fame. If his Autumn, the poem which is now 
 under my view, is in the leaft degree inferior to his other i.ea- 
 fons, for that inferiority (which I do not venture to fuppofe 
 without an humble veneration of the manes of this divine 
 <poet) two reafons may be affiled. A mufe, of whom it may 
 be faid, with a far jufter encomium than of that wild rhap- 
 fodift Pindar, that fhe ' fails with fupreme dominion through 
 « the azure deep of air;'— the mufe, who can foar with fuch 
 majefty, reveries her direct. on, in the poem which is now be- 
 fore me, and dives, peihaps with too much diligence and mi- 
 
THE SEASONS. 257 
 
 nutenefs, in'.o the depths of our globe; into the arcana of 
 nature. As foon as a poet become^ icientific, he rather for- 
 gets, and lea\ _> his province ; becaufehe ceafes to addrefs tho 
 common knowledge and the common fentiments of mankind. 
 Hence the Loves of the Plams, iurveyed by Dr.Darwin with 
 the microfcopic eye of a nuturalift, are one of the moft im- 
 proper anl abl'urd fuhjecb for poetry that can be imagined. — 
 Perhaps no poet could have been equal to Thomfon, in the 
 eloquent and interefting manner in which, in his Autumn, he 
 has brought fcisnee to the attention of hi< readers : — his phi- 
 lofophical poetry is as fuperior to that of Lueretiu«, as the 
 theory of the Caledonian poet is fuperior to that of the Reman. 
 — Thi>: poem may not affect and ftrike the mind of the reader 
 fo forcibly as the ether three, for another realon: the infe- 
 riority, if there is any, may be imputed to the fubject. — 
 Autumn, perhaps, has not fuch boid and various charac- 
 terises as nature and (confequently) art have given to 
 Spring, to Summer, and to W inter. 
 
 In nis deieription of the fate of the favage, the following 
 lines mull be very pathetically expreffive to every feeling 
 mind, which, in civilized and polite fociety, is unfupported 
 by the deareft tics of human life : 
 
 P. 135. 1.21. 
 
 ' Home he had not ; home is the refort 
 
 * Of leve, of joy, of peace and p'enty; where, 
 ' Snppt ning and fupported, polifhed friends 
 
 * And dear reiations mingle into blifs.' 
 P. 1 6. 1. 14. 
 
 * Gave the tall ancient foreft to his ax'— 
 
 This is a harfh word for the conclufion of a verfe : it is to 
 be regretted that Thornton (who, when he pleafes, can be 
 moft delightfully harmonious) d;d not oftener clofe his verfe, 
 efpecialiy where the mind was naturally to make a paufe, 
 with an ealy, liquid, and flowing word, that might hav« coc- 
 
 S 
 
25S NOTES TO 
 
 refponded with the foft and temporary intellectual repofe. 
 This obfervation may feem trivial or whimfical to thofe who 
 have not maturely considered the nature of poetry, or whofe 
 fouls maj not be formed for all the pleafure which it affords. 
 Horace tells us, that to put the merit of poetry to an infallible 
 teft, we muft throw it into a profaic order: and Dr.Warton 
 has adopted the rule of the great Roman critic. In experi- 
 ence, however, this rule by no means holds good. Poetical 
 found, melody, harmony, have effects in a ecrtain manuer 
 and proportion fimilar and analogous to thofe of mufic. And 
 thefe combinations and effects are effential to poetry; it is 
 not poetry without them. The influence of a number of fine 
 verfes on the mind of the elegant reader, will be greatly en- 
 forced or enfeebled by the happy or unfortunate choice and 
 ftation of a fingle word. The ftream of Thomfon's poetry is 
 always clear and vigorous, but it is too difdainful of an 
 eafy flow. 
 P. 139. 1. 2. 
 
 * Forming art, imagination- flushed.' 
 The epithet is expreffive, but the compound is harfh ; the 
 bold and abrupt found too grates the ear, and therefore hurts 
 and repels the mind, when at the end of this energetic para- 
 graph, it wifhed to melt away, with the poet, down a more 
 gentle and dying fall. 
 
 P. 140. 1. 14. * The lovely young Lavinia,' &c— 
 Simplicity, elegance, pathos, and the humane and generous 
 virtues, mark this charming tale. When our poet wrote it, 
 his fancy muft have been warmly impreffed with the beauti- 
 ful hiftory of Ruth. That hiftory prefents to us a moft en- 
 gaging pifture of primitive manners and virtues. Its fimpli- 
 city deals upon and captivates the mind. — Ho(v affecting are 
 the following artlefs and eafy expreffions ; becaufe they con- 
 vey all the fincerity and tendernefs of the foul! — ' And Ruth 
 « fa : d [to Naomi] Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return 
 
THE SEASONS. ••o 
 
 * from following after thee ; for whither thou gceft I will go, 
 
 * and where thou lodged I will lodge ; thy people ftiafl be nxy 
 
 * people, and thy God ray God : — where thou diefl will I die, 
 *" and there will I be buried : the Lord do fo to me, and more 
 
 * alfo, if aught but death part thee and me !' — Ruth, chap. i. 
 ver. 16. What a pleafing defcription of early times does the 
 following verfe contain ! — ' And behold Boaz cattle f; 
 
 c Bethlehem, and faid unto the reapers, The Lord be v.:tli 
 
 * you. And they anfwered him, The Lord blefs thee!'— 
 Ruth, chap. ii. ver. 4. The reciprocal language of modern 
 Chriftian farmers and their reapers is, I fear, very different 
 from that of thefe good old Jews. The fine fpirit of the 
 Hebrew narrative loft nothing while it was tiansfuied by 
 Thomfon . 
 
 P. 147. I. 14. ' Clamant children dear:' — a word made 
 by Thomfon. 
 
 The paragraphs beginning on pages 14 8 and 150, do great 
 and equal honour to the genius and to the heart of the author. 
 The intereft which he takes in the fate cf the animal creation, 
 ltrongly recommends his poetry to every good and truly re- 
 ligious man. If a foul, di; graced and debafed with hunting, 
 had any feeling left, what anfwer would it make to this ad- 
 drefs of our poet to beafis of prey ? 
 
 P. 149. 1.10. 
 
 * Upbraid, ye ravening tribes, our wanton rage ; 
 
 * For hunger kindles you, and lawlefs want; 
 
 * But lavifh-fed, in Nature's bounty roll'd, 
 
 * To joy at anguifh, and delight in blood, ■, 
 
 * Is what your horrid bofoms never knew.' 
 
 His defcription of the perfecuted flag is all in his owti 
 warm fentiment and fine colouring. Thefe lines are re- 
 markably beautiful and pathetic, while the flag is purfusii 
 and harafied. 
 
 S* 
 
2flO NOTES TO 
 
 P. 151. 1. 4. 
 
 * He Sweeps the foieft oft, and fobbing fees 
 
 * The glades mild-opening to the golden day; 
 
 4 Where, in kind contcft with his butting friends, 
 ' He wont to ftruggle, or his loves enjoy.' 
 If the ^Ethiopian could change his skin, or the leopard his 
 spots; or if a Nimrod could be humanized, the following 
 pifture of the laft diftrefs and death of this beautiful animal 
 would make him feei femething like fympathy. 
 
 P. 151. 1. 12. 
 
 ' What (hall he do ? his once lb vivid nerves, 
 
 * So full of buoyant ipirit, now no more 
 
 « Infpire the courl'e ; but fainting, breathlefs toil, 
 
 * Sick, feizes on his heart: he (lands at bay; 
 ' And puts his laft weak refuge in defpair. 
 
 ' The big round tears run down his dappled face ; 
 
 * He groans in anguifh ; while the growling pack, 
 « Blcod-happy, hang at his lair jutting cheft ; 
 
 ' And mark, his beauteous checquered fides with gore.' 
 
 P. 156. 1. 11. 
 
 ' But if the rougher fex, by this fierce fport, 
 
 * Is hurried wild,' kc. 
 
 Here, in forty eloquent and perfuafive lines, he fhows how 
 abhorrent the natural foftnefs of the fair fex is from thefperts 
 of the field ; and he ftrongly inculcates to that fex an un- 
 divided attention to their proper duties and accompli fhments. 
 Nothing can be more difgufting than a Harpalyce to a man 
 of experience and reflection. The character includes indif- 
 ference to her hufband and children, a general depravity and 
 barbarity of heart : — roughnefs of difpolition in a man may 
 be combined with fome generous and noble qualities ; for in 
 him the influence of reafon is vigorous, and not eafily eradi- 
 cated : but when woman, in any inftance, habitually violates 
 
THE SEASONS. 261 
 
 humanity, fhe gradually lofes all fentiment : or, in other 
 words, the foundation of her virtues. 
 
 P. 160. 1.11. Thomfon undoubtedly, with the ftri£tefl 
 truth, here defcribes the tenor and habit of his poetical life : 
 
 — — — ' I folitary court 
 
 ' The infpiring breeze; and meditate the book 
 
 * Of Nature, ever open ; aiming, thence, 
 
 f Warm from the heart, to learn the moral fong.' 
 
 P. 174. 1.7. 
 
 * He comes, he comes ; in every breeze, the power 
 f Of philofophic melancholy comes!' 
 
 Here two paflages, or paragraphs, which confift of feventy- 
 three lines, are highly diftinguifhed by poetical fpirit and fire, 
 by invention, and by a glorious eulogy on the illuftrious fa- 
 ther of our prefent minifter. 
 
 P. 181. I. 5. 
 
 * Ah ! fee, where robbed and murdered,' &c. 
 
 A beautiful complaint over the deftrucnon of a bee-hive. 
 Such a mafter of the pathetic is Thomfon, that he actually 
 excites a very lively compaflion in the breaft of the reader for 
 the fate of thei'e little people ! 
 
 P. 183. 1. 19. 
 
 ' Oh ! knew he but his happinefs,' &c. 
 
 From this line to the end of the Autumn flows a ftrain of 
 moral and philofophical poetry, which perhaps was never 
 excelled. It woos every heart which is not corrupted by 
 bad habits and paffions, to innoxious rural pleafures and to 
 rural tranquillity; to that knowledge which purifies and 
 exalts the heart and mind, and rivets the invaluable prin- 
 ciples of virtue and religion. 
 
209 NOTES TO 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 On a careful re-perufal of this Seafon, it feems to deferve 
 all the diftinguifhtd admiration and praife which it has re- 
 ceived. Its unrivalled excellence was perhaps an effecT: which 
 was produced in the mind of Thomfon by the Seafon itfelf, 
 parfimonious of the productions of the earth, but fruitful of 
 poetry. — The objects of Winter peculiarly ftrike fenhbility 
 and feoffment with the folemn and the awful ; we are then 
 deeply affefted with the tremendous majefty of the Divine 
 Maker of Winter ; — and hence the true poet will, at this fea- 
 fon, if he takes it for his fubje£t, difplay the nobleft excel- 
 lences of his powerful art; his ftrainswill be naturally con- 
 fecrated to the grave, the moral, and the fublime. This 
 Seafon prefents no gay, flourifhing, and fportive fcenes; — 
 conlequently the bard retires more into himftlf new than at 
 other times, owes more to his own faculties and acquire- 
 ments, is more intent on the works and achievements of the 
 human and eternal mind. Thefe remarks, I hope, will be 
 thought to have, lome foundation, by him who reads the 
 poem of Winter with that clofe and warm attention which it 
 highly deferves. 
 
 His addrefs to the Seafon and to the Earl of Wilmington, 
 ^t the beginning of Winter, is extremely pathetic and har- 
 monious. 
 
 P. 1Q8. 1. 5. 
 
 ' When from the palid fky,' &c. 
 The various prefaging marks of the ftorm, and the defcrip- 
 tion of the ftorm itfelf, are equally diftinguifhed by their ac- 
 curacy, and by their force j they are ftriking charatteriftics of 
 
T H E S E A S N S. 263 
 
 their great object: they form one of the many eminent ex- 
 amples of that penetrating and indefatigable attention to na- 
 ture, and of thole aftonifhing powers to paint her, in which 
 Thomibn is withouc a rival. In the following lines popular 
 fupcrftition and credulity are converted into fine poetical ma- 
 chinery : 
 
 ' Then, too, they fay, through all the burdened air, 
 
 * Long groans are heard, flirill founds, and diftant fighs, 
 
 * That uttered by the Demon of the night, 
 
 ' Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death.' 
 
 P. 201. I. 19. 
 
 ' Let me affociate with the ferious Night,' Sec. 
 An addrefs to man, and another to God, which would pre* 
 duce excellent effects in our conduct, if attention and re- 
 formation were to be commonly expected from habitual 
 folly and vice. 
 
 P. 203. 1. 14. 
 
 > ■ f One alone, 
 
 « The red-bread,' &c. 
 
 This little, timorous, and beautiful bird, gradually domef- 
 ticating with man in the defolate feafon, deferved the tri- 
 bute of Thomfon's picturefque, humane, and moft amiable 
 mufe. 
 
 P. 204. 1. 20. 
 
 — ■ As thus the fnows arifej and foul, and fierce, 
 * All winter drives along the daikened air;' &c. 
 
 This defcription of the man perifhing in the ftorm of fnow 
 has arretted the attention and the affections of every reader in 
 whofe compofition there was a lpark of feeling. — We enter 
 into all the hopes and fears, into all the recollections, into all 
 the fond images, into all the diftrefs, anguifh, and de.'pair of 
 the dying perfon. With him we feel the icy hand of death 
 creeping over our frame. — Our poet, as a fagacious, moft ob- 
 
9H4 NOTES TO 
 
 ferving, and fympathifing man, not only made himfelfm after 
 of all ih': Rotations and lentiments of his feliow-crf atures ; 
 fo com prt hen five was his mind, and fo exquifite was his 
 fenfibi itv, that he feems to have feen and felt even the pro- 
 cefs of the vecetaole w rid : and the fuSerings and enjoy- 
 ment-, the ideas and the thoughts, of the animal elation. 
 A fhort quotation or two will illuftrate and juftit'y my 
 remark. In his Summer, after the (beep, the foft fearful 
 people, have been forced to commit their woolly fides to 
 the flood, 
 
 * Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow 
 
 * Slow move the harmleis race ; where, as they fpread 
 ' Their fwelling treafures to the funny ray, 
 
 * Inly disturbed, and wondering xehat this wild, 
 
 ' Outrageous tumult means, their loud complaints, 
 ' The country fill ; and tolled from reck to rock, 
 ' Inceffant bleatings run around the hills,' &c. 
 
 Summer, p. 71. 1. 5. 
 
 I regret that the limits of thefe Notes will not allow me 
 to quote, from Autumn, the whole elegy on the ill-fated 
 hive of bees. 
 
 * Ah! fee, where robbed and murdered, in that pit, 
 ' Lies the ftill-neaving hive! at evening fnatched, 
 
 * Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night, 
 
 ' And fix'd o'er fulphur; while, not dreaming ill, 
 
 * The happy people, in their waxen cells, 
 
 * Sat, tending public cares, and planning schemes 
 
 * Of temperance, for winter poor; rejoiced, 
 
 * To mark, full Jlo wing round, their copious stores. 
 
 * Sudden the dark opprefTive fteam afcends ; 
 
 * And used to milder scents, the tender race, 
 
 * By thousands tumble from their honeyed domes, 
 ' Convolved, and agonizing in the dust. 
 
THE SEASONS. 26* 
 
 ' See where the ftony bottom of their town 
 
 * Looks defolate and wild ; w th here and there 
 
 * A helpless number, ivho the ruined state 
 
 * Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death* 
 
 AtJTUMN, p. 181. 1. 5. 
 
 The provident faculties which are here given to bees, will 
 not feem extravagant to thofe who reflect on the wonderful 
 art and conduct of thofe animals, and who recollect that fomc 
 accurate observers of nature 
 
 Efle apibus partem Divinse Mentis, et hauftus 
 Ethereos dixere. 
 
 Virgil, Georg. iv. ver. 221. 
 
 P. 209. 1. 8. 
 
 * Much is the patriot's weeding hand required.' 
 
 Here are fix lines that fhculd be properly confidered by the 
 legiflators of a country whofe freedom and fecure enjoyment 
 of property have been long and often boafied. 
 
 P.211. 1. 1. 
 
 * Now, all amid the rigours of the year, &c. 
 
 From this to page 2-2 2, line 6, we are entertained with 
 (trains of poetry diftinguifhedly fine : — to feveral of the cele- 
 brated characters of Greece and Rome their proper and refpec- 
 tive eulogies are given : fome of our 0wn worthies have their 
 merited diftincton ; the heroes and heroines of the tragic 
 mufe are prefented to us with dramatic force ! — and we 
 are invited, by all the eloquence and power of numbers, to a 
 contemplation of the great objects of morality and of natural 
 religion. 
 
 P. 227. 1. 22. 
 ' Rough tenant of thefe (hades, the fhapelefs bear'— 
 
 From this inftance too, it appears that our admirable poet 
 furveyed the fituations and femiments of animals with a moft 
 pervading imagination. 
 
i66 NOTES TO 
 
 P. 234. 1. 24. 
 
 •* Repreffing, here, 
 
 * The frantic Alexander of the north ;' &c. 
 
 The Czar Peter was a very great man ; though he had very 
 exceptionable, very deteftable qualities. On the banks of 
 the Pruth indeed he behaved in an imprudent and defpicable 
 manner. I am ibrry that Thomfon hath facrificed the glory 
 of Charles to the Ruffian hero. The facrifice was worthy of 
 Lord Cheftcrfield ; but it was unworthy of a poet. However, 
 I am not to loam, from this inftance, that even poets are apt 
 to be very flow and parfimonious in acknowledging and de- 
 fending the merit of the unfortunate. 
 
 P. 23G. 1. 18. 
 
 * 'Tis done ; dread Winter fpreads his lateft glooms j 
 
 4 And reigns tremendous o'er the conquered year,' &c. 
 
 It is not in the magic of poetical numbers more poweifully 
 to captivate us to an active humanity, to gratitude to heaven, 
 and to a perfect and ferene refignation to its will, than we are 
 charmed to thefe virtues in the clofe of the Seafons. The 
 fubfequent hymn to the Deity does equal and infinite honour 
 to the poetical genius, and to the feeling and fubiime piety of 
 its author; — it at leaft equals Mr. Pope's Universal Prayer. 
 Indeed the merit of thefe two prayers is of different kinds. 
 The reafoning and argumentative fubftance of Pope's prayer 
 is adorned and enforced with the beauty and dignity of num- 
 bers. Sentiment and imagery are the effential constituents of 
 Thomfon's hymn : and to his verfification they owe all the 
 colouring and expreffion that verfification can beftow. 
 
 ' Thomfon's Poem of Liberty (fays Dr. Johnfon in his Life 
 of our Poet) when it firit appeared I tried to read, and foon 
 defifted; I have never tried again, and therefore will not 
 hazard either praife or cenlure.' — As that poem was written 
 by the author of the Seafons, I am per.uaded that the reader 
 will eafily forgive me for offering him here lome remarks on 
 
THE SEASONS. 267 
 
 I merit, and on the faftidious manner in which it was 
 treated by Dr. John fon. Mod poets have their confpicuous 
 mafter-piece ; The Seafons are Thornton's, beyond all con- 
 troverfy. The fpirit and ftyle with which a poem is executed 
 depends greatly on the judgment and tafte with which its 
 fable is chofen and arranged. The plan of Liberty, which 
 unfortunately is minutely and circumstantially hiftorical, 
 fpreads a damp and a languor through feveral parts of the 
 poem. I muft iikewile acknowledge, that the compofition 
 of its language often wants the perl'picuity of the author of 
 the Seafons. It is, howler, as often marked with the man- 
 ner of a great mailer ; and it hath feveral pafiages which are 
 completely worthy of the poet by whom they were written. 
 It may feem furprifing that a lexicographer had not patience 
 to perui'e the poem of Liberty; he who one day told the au- 
 thor of thefe. Notes, that he liked muddling work ; that was 
 his exprefiiou. For the difgufl, however, which this un- 
 fortunate poem foon gave him, I can eafily account to thole 
 who are at all acquainted with his real habits and character. 
 
 With all his achievements in the republic of letters, he 
 gave way to long intervals of the mod unmanly and torpid 
 indolence. This indolence prevented him from being pro- 
 perly acquainted with feveral books which are carefully pe- 
 rufed by every man who deferves the title of a feholar. I was 
 not a little furprifed when he told me that he had only read 
 parts of my Lord Clarendon's Hiftory. If he recoiled from a 
 hiftory which is written ftrongly in favour of towering prero- 
 gative, we need not wonder that he was violently repelled from 
 a poem which is fraught with encomiums on equal liberty. 
 Km the other reafon, undoubteJly, why he fo foon deiifted 
 after he had begun to read that poem, was his prejudiced and 
 ungenerous diflike of the glorious fubjecl: he treats the word 
 Liberty, which, properly underfUod, c..mp:ehends every 
 thing that is dear to man, with an indecent and conteaipti- 
 
268 NOTES TO 
 
 b!e contempt in his Lives of the Poets, and in feveral of his 
 other works. The well-proportioned and fair fabric of our 
 conftitution is half-way between the ftar-chamber of Samuel 
 Johnfon and the tap-room of Thomas Paine. 
 
 There are feveral very finepafTages in the Poem of Liberty ; 
 but Johnfon, as I have already obferved, from his inveterate 
 prejudices, difliked the fubjecl:. Surely a poem which is 
 adorned with the following imagery and language might have 
 been perufed by one whofe talents were too often obliged t© 
 fubmit to works of mere induftry and labour. — Liberty thus 
 defcribes the Genius of the Deep, whom fhe met as fhe was 
 advancing towards Britain, after fhe had left the more northern 
 nations : 
 
 - As o'er the wave-refounding deep, 
 
 To my near reign, the happy ifle I fteered, 
 With eafy wing; behold, from furge to furge, 
 Stalked the tremendous Genius of the Deep; 
 Around him clouds in mingled tempeft hung; 
 Thick-flafhing meteors crowned his {tarry head; 
 And ready thunder reddened in his hand ; 
 As from it ftreamed, compreffed the glowing cloud. 
 Where'er he looked, the trembling waves recoiled: 
 He needs but flrike the confcious flood, and fhook, 
 From fhore to fhore, in agitation dire, 
 It works his dreadful will. To me his voice 
 {Like that hoarfe blaft that round the caveru howls) 
 Mixed with the murmurs of the falling main, 
 
 Addreffed, began : &c— — — 
 
 Liberty, Part iv. Ver. 293. 
 
 What I have written of Dr. Johnfon, I have written with- 
 out any anxiety about the illiberal cavils and cenfures which 
 it may excite ; for it has been written without any finifter in- 
 fluence, difpaffionately and impartially in the defence of civil 
 and literary truth. I admire thofc writings of that great man 
 
THE SEASON'S. 269 
 
 whitfh deferve admiration : — his Preface to his Dictionary is 
 a model of fine composition ; his Ramblers are treafures of 
 knowledge, of wifdom, and of eLquence; an eloquence, 
 huwever, which is cfien loaded and injured by fuch heavy 
 and cumberous words as have never been uLd, and will 
 never be ad- >pttd by any truly elegant wri.er. I cannot fay 
 much cf his Raflelas, though it is a favourite of Mr. Bofwdl. 
 It excites not warm attention ; and it is declamatory without 
 being ardent. His Idlers are entertaining ; and they are in 
 general free from that pedantry of fiyle which is too apt to 
 deform his writings. His life of Savage is, in every refpedr, 
 an interefting, amiable, and beautiful production. He has 
 given proofs to the world of his very uncommon poetical 
 abilities. — When he wrote the lives of our poers, he evidently 
 fhewed that his faculties were on the decline, and that he 
 was intoxicated with his coniequence and with his fame. 
 As his intellect was lofing its vigour, his political and fuper- 
 ftitious prejudices were gaining ftrength ; and by them, not 
 by judgment and tafte, he determined the merit or demerit of 
 his authors. Thofe lives, likewile, are haftily and fuperfici- 
 ally written ; in them, and innumerable inftances, he facri- 
 legioufly endeavours, but in vain, to tear from the tombs of 
 the illuftrious dead thofe laurels which had been planted 
 round them by the fine and infallible enthufiafm of human 
 nature. When the prefent bufy and paltry machinations of 
 intereft fhall acl no more, when the talents of the departed 
 and of the living fhall be juftly appreciated by pofterity, 
 it will be found that thofe lives are a difgrace to Englifh 
 literature. 
 
THIS 
 
 IXDEX AND GLOSSARY. 
 
 A. 
 
 Address to Amanda 
 
 ' to Mr. Hammond 
 
 to Philcfophy 
 
 to the Sun 
 
 . to Mr. Onflow 
 
 to the Earl of Wilmington 
 
 Advice to the fair-fex refpecting hunting 
 
 to young men refpecting love 
 
 Age, the manners of the prefent 
 
 Anana, the pine-apple 
 
 Appenine mountains defcribed 
 
 Anglers, inftructions for 
 
 Argyle, the duke of, his character 
 
 Autumn, defoription of 
 
 Augufta, the Roman name for London 
 
 Autonia, a name given to Italy 
 
 B. 
 
 Bees, their haunts defcribed 
 
 Behemoth, the hippopotamus, or river-horfe 
 
 Birds, the different fpecies of them defcribed 
 
 Page. 
 
 Line. 
 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 216 
 
 13 
 
 127 
 
 13 
 
 39 
 
 4 
 
 133 
 
 9 
 
 194 
 
 2 
 
 156 
 
 13 
 
 43 
 
 21 
 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 83 
 
 19 
 
 209 
 
 14 
 
 19 
 
 3 
 
 171 
 
 7 
 
 134 
 
 6 
 
 114 
 
 4 
 
 95 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 4 
 
 64 
 
 19 
 
 27 
 
 IS 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY. 
 
 Page. Lircu 
 
 BritifhCaffiu?, Algernon Sydney,at Enghfh admiral 1 19 6 
 
 Boys deceived by a rainbow - - 12 3 
 
 C. 
 
 Celadon and Amelia, their melancholy ftory 
 Clouds, their ute 
 
 Co; pie, a happy, in the manied fcate, description of, 49 
 Creator, the great, deLribed, and where he dwells 62 
 
 D. 
 
 Damon and Mufidora, their ftory related 
 Daughters of Britain delcribed 
 Deluge, the univerfal, defcribed 
 E> erfions, rural, delcribed 
 Dodington, Mr. his country-feat defcribed 
 
 E. 
 
 Elephant, defcription of the 
 Evaneicent, hardly perceivable 
 Evening, fine, defcription of a fummer's 
 
 Fair, the Britifh, difiuaded from the exercife of 
 the chafe - 
 
 . , propti employments for 
 
 Fear defcribed - 
 
 Fly-fifhmg, rules for - - 
 
 Fox-hunting, a defcription of 
 
 Friths, a kind of fifhing-nets 
 
 Froft, w 1 t it is, defcribed 
 
 G. 
 
 Ghofts, chiefly the dreams of fancy 
 Grove, a folcmn, defcribed 
 
 104 
 
 9 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 ', 49 
 
 1 
 
 5 62 
 
 16 
 
 1C8 
 
 10 
 
 12 1 
 
 13 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 183 
 
 7 
 
 139 
 
 22 
 
 S5 
 
 6 
 
 129 
 
 16 
 
 124 
 
 5 
 
 156 
 
 13 
 
 156 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 2 
 
 152 
 
 10 
 
 171 
 
 1 
 
 223 
 
 7 
 
 125 
 
 15 
 
 76 
 
 11 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hare-hunting defcribed - 
 
 Hertford, the Countefs of, addrefled 
 Hay-making, defcription of - 
 
 Harveft, a profpefr, of the fields ready for 
 Hymn to the fun - 
 
 Hufbandman, a, perifhing in the mow 
 Huntfmen how they entertain themfelves after 
 the chafe is over 
 
 Page. 
 
 Line 
 
 149 
 
 15 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 69 
 
 20 
 
 134 
 
 14 
 
 59 
 
 14 
 
 206 
 
 18 
 
 153 
 
 15 
 
 { 
 
 I. 
 
 Jealoufy, the effects of, in youth 
 loduftry, the praifes of 
 
 Infcription to the Countefs of Hartford 
 Invitation to walk in the fields early, in the fpring 
 
 L. 
 
 Lark, the meffenger of morn 
 Lavinia, her affecting ftory 
 
 ■ , Palemon's addrefs to her 
 Leviathan, the whale - 
 
 Life, a country, recommended 
 
 , the pleafures of _ , _ 
 
 — — , compared to the feafons 
 — — , the vanities of, their amount 
 Lights, the northern, defcribed 
 Love, a diffuafion from wild, juvenile, and irregular 
 — — , genuine, proofs of - 
 
 — — , the matchlefs joys of - 
 
 M. 
 
 Man, the lord of the creation 
 Marriage, the true pleafures of 
 
 47 
 
 14 
 
 136 
 
 5 
 
 139 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 23 
 
 10 
 
 27 
 
 13 
 
 140 
 
 14 
 
 141 
 
 3 
 
 236 
 
 8 
 
 183 
 
 20 
 
 186 
 
 18 
 
 286 
 
 22 
 
 202 
 
 1 
 
 178 
 
 16 
 
 43 
 
 21 
 
 125 
 
 3 
 
 50 
 
 20 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 50 
 
 20 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY. 
 
 Melody, the voice of love 
 
 Mirth, drunken, defcription of - 
 
 Moon- light, defcription of 
 
 Mulidora, fecretly in love with Damon 
 
 . — , verfes written by her to Damon 
 
 N. 
 
 Nemefis, a heathen deity, the arbiter of rewards 
 
 and punishments 
 Night, defcribed in the fpnng, after a fhower 
 Nile, the river, defcribed 
 Nutting, delcuption of 
 
 Palemon, his addrefs to Lavinia 
 Paffions, the, defcription of 
 Philofophy, the praifes of 
 
 Philofophic life recommended, with the advan- 
 tages of it 
 Ploughing, how performed 
 Prifon, the miferies of a 
 Profpect, defcription of a rural 
 Pomona, the goddefs of gardens 
 
 R. 
 
 Rainbow, fine defcription of a 
 Reaping, defcription of 
 Reflections on the motions of the planets 
 ■ — in praife of induflry 
 
 Retirement, the proper time for 
 
 S. 
 
 Seafons, the annual fucceffion of the - 
 
 Sharks, how they feize their prey 
 
 Page. 
 
 Line. 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 155 
 
 2 
 
 178 
 
 6 
 
 108 
 
 16 
 
 112 
 
 10 
 
 99 . 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 88 
 
 18 
 
 158 
 
 6 
 
 144 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 22 
 
 127 
 
 13 
 
 187 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 208 
 
 8 
 
 23 
 
 14 
 
 82 
 
 19 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 139 
 
 15 
 
 126 
 
 4 
 
 135 
 
 1 
 
 113 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 13 
 
 97 
 
 15 
 
Page. 
 
 Line. 
 
 114 
 
 2 
 
 75 
 
 12 
 
 71 
 
 15 
 
 98 
 
 22 
 
 225 
 
 13 
 
 205 
 
 5 
 
 77 
 
 16 
 
 130 
 
 11 
 
 78 
 
 11 
 
 65 
 
 7 
 
 107 
 
 13 
 
 59 
 
 14 
 
 INDEX AND GLOSSARY. 
 
 Shene, the old name of Richmond 
 
 Shepherd and his flock, pleafing, defcription of a 
 
 Sheep-fheann?, defcription of 
 
 Shipwreck, defcription of a 
 
 Skating defcribed -.-.-- 
 
 Snow, defcription of a man perifhing iq the - 
 
 .Spirits, departed, their addrefs tc 
 
 State, the prefent, the infancy of being 
 
 Stanley, a yount; lady well known to the author 
 
 Summer infe£ls defcribed - 
 
 Swimming defcribed and recommended 
 
 Sun, the life of the creation 
 
 , the various effedls of his beams on the 
 
 works of nature - - 62 
 
 T. 
 
 Temple of Virtue, in Stow-gardens, defcribed 
 
 Tempe and Hemus, fields in Theflaly 
 
 Thaw, a defcription of 
 
 Thunder, where it refides 
 
 Typhon and Ecnephia, winds known only be- 
 tween the tropics - - • 
 
 Traveller, a benighted, finely defcribed 
 
 Trout-fifhing, the time and inftruments for it, 
 
 defcribed - - 18 23 
 
 V. 
 
 Vanities of life, their amount - - 202 1 
 
 Vernon, admiral, his fate alluded to 98 21 
 
 Virtue, the friend of man - - 237 9 
 
 Virtues, defcription of the - 122 12 
 
 176 
 
 6 
 
 187 
 
 5 
 
 235 
 
 9 
 
 88 
 
 11 
 
 96 
 
 5 
 
 180 
 
 3 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY. 
 
 W. 
 
 Walking early in the fpring, recommended < 
 
 -, in the fummer, proper time for 
 ■y in the autumn 
 
 Waterfall, defcription of a 
 
 Winter, in the frigid zone, defcribed 
 
 — — — , rural amufements in 
 
 Woods, their appearance in autumn 
 
 Wool, the ftaple commodity of Great Britain 
 
 Page. 
 
 Line 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 112 
 
 22 
 
 172 
 
 10 
 
 79 
 
 34 
 
 226 
 
 13 
 
 225 
 
 4 
 
 172 
 
 3 
 
 72 
 
 17 
 
 Y. 
 
 Youth, the effects of love in 
 
 40 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zone, the torrid, defcribed 
 , the frigid, defcription of 
 
 81 
 2 26 
 
 9 
 15 
 
 THE END. 
 
 T. Ber.fley, Printer, 
 Bolt Court, Fket Street, Londoi. 
 
' liar)