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SUMMER 
 
 BY/ 
 
 / 
 
 v 
 
 JAMES THOMSON 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 §ostott 
 
 ESTES AND LAURIAT 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
 OOPYftit 
 
 
Copyright, 1892, 
 By ESTES and LAURIAT. 
 
 Typography by J S. Gushing & Co., Boston. 
 Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 UROM brightening fields of ether fair dis- 
 closed, 
 Child of the sun, refulgent Summer comes, 
 In pride of youth, and felt through Nature^s 
 
 depth : 
 He comes attended by the sultry hours. 
 And ever fanning breezes, on his way ; 
 7 
 
2rf)e Sea00n0» 
 
 While, from his ardent look, the turning 
 
 Spring 
 Averts her blushful face ; and earth and skies, 
 All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves. 
 Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood 
 
 shade. 
 Where scarce a sunbeam wanders through 
 
 the gloom ; 
 And on the dark-green grass, beside the 
 
 brink 
 Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak 
 Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large. 
 And sing the glories of the circling year. 
 
 Come, Inspiration! from thy hermit-seat, 
 By mortal seldom found : may Fancy dare, 
 From thy fixed serious eye, and raptured 
 
 glance 
 Shot on surrounding heaven, to steal one look 
 Creative of the poet, every power 
 Exalting to an ecstasy of soul. 
 
 And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend. 
 In whom the human graces all unite, — 
 Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart ; 
 Genius, and wisdom ; the gay social sense, 
 8 
 
Summer* 
 
 By decency chastised ; goodness and wit, 
 In seldom-meeting harmony combined ; 
 Unblemished honour, and an active zeal, 
 For Britain's glory, liberty, and man, — 
 O Dodington! attend my rural song. 
 Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line. 
 And teach me to deserve thy just applause. 
 
 With what an awful world-revolving Power 
 Were first the unwieldy planets launched 
 
 along 
 The illimitable void ! thus to remain. 
 Amid the flux of many thousand years. 
 That oft has swept the toiling race of men. 
 And all their laboured monuments away. 
 Firm, unremitting, matchless, in their course ; 
 To the kind-tempered change of night and 
 
 day, 
 And of the seasons ever stealing round, 
 Minutely faithful : such the all-perfect hand, 
 That poised, impels, and rules the steady 
 
 whole. 
 When now no more the alternate twins are 
 
 fired, 
 And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze, 
 
 9 
 
Wi}z Seasons. 
 
 Short is the doubtful empire of the night ; 
 And soon, observant of approaching day, 
 Tlie meek-eyed morn appears, mother of dews, 
 At first faint-gleaming in the dappled east : 
 Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow, 
 And, from before the lustre of her face. 
 White break the clouds away. With quick- 
 ened step, 
 Brown night retires. Young day pours in 
 
 apace. 
 And opens all the lawny prospect wide. 
 The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top, 
 Swell on the sight, and brighten with the 
 
 dawn. 
 Blue, through the dusk, the smoking currents 
 
 shine ; 
 And from the bladed field the fearful hare 
 Limps, awkward ; while along the forest-glade 
 The wild deer trip, and, often turning, gaze 
 At early passenger. Music awakes, 
 The native voice of undissembled joy ; 
 And thick around the woodland hymns arise. 
 Roused by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd 
 leaves 
 
 ro 
 
Summer^ 
 
 His mossy cottage, where with peace he 
 
 dwells ; 
 And from the crowded fold, in order, drives 
 His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn. 
 
 Falsely luxurious, will not man awake. 
 And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy 
 The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour, 
 To meditation due, and sacred song? 
 For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise ? 
 To lie in dead oblivion, losing half 
 The fleeting moments of too short a life, — 
 Total extinction of the enlightened soul ! 
 Or else, to feverish vanity alive, 
 Wildered, and tossing through distempered 
 
 dreams ! 
 Who would in such a gloomy state remain 
 Longer than Nature craves ; when every muse 
 And every blooming pleasure wait without, 
 To bless the wildly devious morning-walk? 
 
 But yonder comes the powerful king of day, 
 Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud. 
 The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow 
 Illumed with fluid gold, his near approach 
 Betoken glad. Lo ! now apparent all, 
 13 
 
Wi)t Seagong* 
 
 Aslant the dew-bright earth and coloured 
 
 air, 
 He looks in boundless majesty abroad ; 
 And sheds the shining day, that burnished 
 
 plays 
 On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering 
 
 streams. 
 High-gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer, 
 
 light ! 
 Of all material beings first, and best ! 
 Efflux divine! Nature^s resplendent robe ! 
 Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapt 
 In unessential gloom ; and thou, O sun ! 
 Soul of surrounding worlds, in whom best 
 
 seen 
 Shines out thy Maker, may I sing of thee ? 
 
 'T is by thy secret, strong, attractive force, 
 As with a chain indissoluble bound, 
 Thy system rolls entire ; from the far bourn 
 Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round 
 Of thirty years, to Mercury, whose disk 
 Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye. 
 Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze. 
 Informer of the planetary train, 
 14 
 
<Sttmtner» 
 
 Without whose quickening glance their cum- 
 brous orbs 
 Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead, 
 And not as now the green abodes of life, 
 How many forms of being wait on thee, 
 Inhaling spirit ; from the unfettered mind. 
 By thee sublimed, down to the daily race. 
 The mixing myriads of thy setting beam. 
 
 The vegetable world is also thine. 
 Parent of seasons ! who the pomp precede 
 That waits thy throne, as through thy vast 
 
 domain, 
 Annual, along the bright ecliptic-road. 
 In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime. 
 Meantime the expecting nations, circled gay 
 With all the various tribes of foodful earth. 
 Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up 
 A common hymn: while, round thy beaming 
 
 car, 
 High-seen, the seasons lead, in sprightly dance 
 Harmonious knit, the rosy-fingered hours. 
 The zephyrs floating loose, the timely rains. 
 Of bloom ethereal the light-footed dews. 
 And, softened into joy, the surly storms. 
 15 
 
Wi)z Reasons* 
 
 These, in successive turn^ with lavish hand, 
 Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower, 
 Herbs, flowers, and fruits ; till, kindling at thy 
 
 touch. 
 From land to land is flushed the vernal year. 
 
 Nor to the surface of enlivened earth, 
 Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy 
 
 woods — 
 Her liberal tresses — is thy force confined : 
 But, to the bowelled cavern darting deep, 
 The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power, 
 EiTulgent, hence the veiny marble shines ; 
 Hence Labour draws his tools ; hence bur- 
 nished War 
 Gleams on the day ; the nobler works of Peace 
 Hence bless mankind, and generous Com- 
 merce binds 
 The round of nations in a golden chain. 
 
 The unfruitful rock itself impregned by thee, 
 In dark retirement, forms the lucid stone. 
 The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays, 
 Collected light, compact ; that, polished 
 
 bright. 
 And all its native lustre let abroad, 
 i6 
 
Sutnmet* 
 
 Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast, 
 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, solid ether, takes 
 
 Its hue cerulean ; and, of evening tinct. 
 The purple-streaming amethyst is thine. 
 With thy own smile the yellow topaz burns ; 
 17 
 
Cfje Seasons* 
 
 Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, 
 When first she gives it to the southern gale, 
 Than the green emerald shows. But, all com- 
 bined, 
 Thick through the whitening opal play thy 
 
 beams ; 
 Or, flying several from its surface, form 
 A trembling variance of revolving hues, 
 As the site varies in the gazer's hand. 
 
 The very dead creation, from thy touch, 
 Assumes a mimic life. By thee refined. 
 In brighter mazes, the relucent stream 
 Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt, 
 Projecting horror on the blackened flood. 
 Softens at thy return. The desert joys. 
 Wildly, through all his melancholy bounds. 
 Rude ruins glitter ; and the briny deep. 
 Seen from some pointed promontory's top. 
 Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge. 
 Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But this. 
 And all the much-transported Muse can sing. 
 Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use 
 Unequal far, — great delegated source 
 Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below! 
 i8 
 
Slimmer* 
 
 How shall I then attempt to sing of Him, 
 Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light 
 Invested deep, dwells awfully retired 
 From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken ; 
 Whose single smile has, from the first of time, 
 Filled, overflowing, all those lamps of heaven 
 That beam forever through the boundless sky : 
 But, should he hide his face, the astonished 
 
 sun. 
 And all the extinguished stars, would, loosen- 
 ing, reel 
 Wide from their spheres, and chaos come 
 again. 
 And yet was every faltering tongue of man, 
 Almighty Father! silent in thy praise, 
 Thy works themselves would raise a general 
 
 voice ; 
 E'en in the depth of solitary woods, 
 By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power, 
 And to the choir celestial thee resound, 
 The Eternal Cause, Support, and End of all! 
 To me be Nature's volume broad displayed ; 
 And to peruse its all-instructing page. 
 Or, haply catching inspiration thence, 
 19 
 
Cf)0 Seasons, 
 
 Some easy passage, raptured, to translate, 
 My sole delight ; as through the falling glooms 
 Pensive I stray, or with the rising dawn 
 On fancy's eagle-wing excursive soar. 
 
 Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun 
 Melts into limpid air the high-raised clouds, 
 And morning fogs, that hovered round the 
 
 hills 
 In party-coloured bands ; till wide unveiled 
 The face of Nature shines, from where earth 
 
 seems, 
 Far-stretched around, to meet the bending 
 
 sphere. 
 Half in a blush of clustering roses lost. 
 Dew-dropping coolness to the shade retires ; 
 There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed. 
 By gelid founts and careless rills to muse ; 
 While tyrant heat, dispreading through the 
 
 sky. 
 With rapid sway, his burning influence darts 
 On man, and beast, and herb, and tepid 
 
 stream. 
 Who can, unpitying, see the flowery race, 
 Shed by the morn, their new-flushed bloom 
 
 resign, 20 
 
Summer* 
 
 Before the parching beam ? so fade the fair, 
 When fevers revel through their azure veins. 
 But one, the lofty follower of the sun, 
 Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves. 
 Drooping all night ; and, when he warm re- 
 turns. 
 Points her enamoured bosom to his ray. 
 Home, from his morning task, the swain 
 retreats, 
 His flock before him stepping to the fold : 
 While the full-uddered 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 arms, 
 Sheltering, embrace) direct their lazy flight ; 
 Where on the mingling boughs they sit em- 
 bowered, 
 All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise. 
 Faint, underneath, the household fowls con- 
 vene ; 
 And, in a corner of the buzzing shade, 
 23 
 
2ri}e Seasons* 
 
 The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, 
 
 hes, 
 Outstretched and sleepy. In his slumbers 
 
 one 
 Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults 
 O'er hill and dale ; till, wakened by the wasp, 
 They starting snap. Nor shall the Muse dis- 
 dain 
 To let the little noisy summer race 
 Live in her lay, and flutter through her song. 
 Not mean though simple : to the sun allied, 
 From him they draw their animating fire. 
 Waked by his warmer ray, the reptile 
 young 
 Come winged abroad ; by the light air up- 
 borne, 
 Lighter, and full of soul. From every chink 
 And secret corner, where they slept away 
 The wintry storms ; or, rising from their 
 
 tombs. 
 To higher life, by myriads, forth at once. 
 Swarming they pour ; of all the varied hues 
 Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose. 
 Ten thousand forms, ten thousand different 
 tribes, 24 
 
Summer* 
 
 People the blaze. To sunny waters some 
 By fatal instinct fly : where on the pool 
 They, sportive, wheel ; or, sailing down the 
 
 stream. 
 Are snatched immediate by the quick-eyed 
 
 trout, 
 Or darting salmon. Through the green-wood 
 
 glade 
 
 25 
 
3Cf}0 Seagons* 
 
 Some love to stray ; there lodged, amused, 
 
 and fed, 
 In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make 
 The meads their choice, and visit every 
 
 flower, 
 And every latent herb : for the sweet task. 
 To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap, 
 In what soft beds, their young, yet undis- 
 closed. 
 Employs their tender care. Some to the 
 
 house. 
 The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their 
 
 flight; 
 Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling 
 
 cheese ; 
 Oft, inadvertent, from the milky stream 
 They meet their fate ; or, weltering in the 
 
 bowl. 
 With powerless wings around them wrapt, 
 
 expire. 
 But chief to heedless flies the window proves 
 A constant death ; where, gloomily retired. 
 The villain spider lives, cunning and fierce, 
 Mixture abhorred ! amid a mangled heap 
 26 
 
Summer* 
 
 Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits, 
 Overlooking all his waving snares around. 
 Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft 
 Passes ; as oft the ruffian shows his front. 
 The prey at last ensnared, he dreadful darts. 
 With rapid glide, along the leaning line ; 
 And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs, 
 Strikes backward^ grimly pleased : the flutter- 
 ing wing 
 And shriller sound declare extreme distress, 
 And ask the helping hospitable hand. 
 
 Resounds the living surface of the ground : 
 Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum. 
 To him who muses through the woods at 
 
 noon ; 
 Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclined, 
 With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating 
 
 shade 
 Of willows grey, close crowding o'er the 
 brook. 
 Gradual, from these what numerous kinds 
 descend. 
 Evading even the microscopic eye! 
 Full nature swarms with life ; one wondrous 
 mass 27 
 
Wcjt Seasons* 
 
 Of animals, or atoms organised, 
 Waiting the vital breath, when Parent Heaven 
 Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen. 
 In putrid streams, emits the living cloud 
 Of pestilence. Through subterranean cells, 
 Where searching sunbeams scarce can find 
 
 a way, 
 Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf 
 Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure, 
 Within its winding citadel, the stone 
 Holds multitudes. But chief the forest 
 
 boughs, 
 That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze. 
 The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 
 Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed 
 Of evanescent insects. Where the pool 
 Stands mantled o^er with green, invisible 
 Amid the floating verdure millions stray. 
 Each liquid too, whether it pierces, soothes. 
 Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste, 
 With various forms abounds. Nor is the 
 
 stream 
 Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air. 
 Though one transparent vacancy it seems, 
 28 
 
Summer* 
 
 Void of their unseen people. These, con- 
 cealed 
 By the kind of art of forming Heaven, escape 
 The grosser eye of man : for, if the worlds 
 In worlds enclosed should on his senses 
 
 burst, 
 From cates ambrosial, and the nectared bowl, 
 He would abhorrent turn ; and in dead night. 
 When silence sleeps o^er all, be stunned with 
 noise. 
 Let no presuming impious railer tax 
 Creative Wisdom, as if aught was formed 
 In vain, or not for admirable ends. 
 Shall little haughty Ignorance pronounce 
 His works unwise, of which the smallest 
 
 part 
 Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind ? 
 As if upon a full proportioned dome. 
 On swelling columns heaved, the pride of art, 
 A critic fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads 
 An inch around, with blind presumption bold. 
 Should dare to tax the structure of the whole. 
 And lives the man, whose universal eye 
 Has swept at once the unbounded scheme of 
 things; 31 
 
Wi)z Seasons* 
 
 Marked their dependence so, and firm accord, 
 As with unfaltering accent to conclude 
 That this availeth naught? Has any seen 
 The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 
 From infinite perfection to the brink 
 Of dreary nothing, — desolate abyss! 
 From which astonished thought, recoiling, 
 
 turns ? 
 Till then, alone let zealous praise ascend. 
 And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power, 
 Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds, 
 As on our smiling eyes his servant sun. 
 
 Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand 
 ways. 
 Upward and downward, thwarting and con- 
 volved, 
 The quivering nations sport ; till, tempest 
 
 winged, 
 Fierce winter sweeps them from the face of 
 
 day. 
 Even so luxurious men, unheeding, pass 
 An idle summer life in fortune's shine, — 
 A season's glitter ! Thus they flutter on 
 From toy to toy, from vanity to vice ; 
 32 
 
<Siitnmer» 
 
 Till, blown away by death, Oblivion comes 
 Behind, and strikes them from the book of life. 
 
 Now swarms the village o'er the jovial 
 mead : 
 The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil, 
 Healthful and strong ; full as the summer- 
 rose 33 
 
2EI}e Seasons. 
 
 Blown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid, 
 Half naked, swelling on the sight, and all 
 Her kindled graces burning o^er her cheek. 
 Even stooping age is here ; and infant-hands 
 Trail the long rake, or with the fragrant load 
 Overcharged, amid the kind oppression roll. 
 Wide flies the tedded grain ; all in a row 
 Advancing broad, or wheeling round the 
 
 field, 
 They spread the breathing harvest to the sun, 
 That throws refreshful round a rural smell : 
 Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground, 
 And drive the dusky wave along the mead. 
 The russet haycock rises thick behind. 
 In order gay : while heard from dale to dale. 
 Waking the breeze, resounds the blended 
 
 voice 
 Of happy labour, love, and social glee. 
 
 Or rushing thence, in one diffusive band. 
 They drive the troubled flocks, by many a 
 
 dog 
 Compelled, to where the mazy-running brook 
 Forms a deep pool ; this bank abrupt and 
 
 high, 
 
 34 
 
Slimmer. 
 
 And that fair-spreading in a pebbled shore. 
 Urged to the giddy brink, much is the toil, 
 The clamour much of men and boys and dogs, 
 Ere the soft fearful people to the flood 
 Commit their woolly sides. And oft the 
 
 swain, 
 On some, impatient, seizing, hurls them in : 
 Emboldened then, nor hesitating more. 
 Fast, fast, they plunge amid the flashing 
 
 wave, 
 And, panting, labour to the farther shore. 
 Repeated this, till deep the well-washed fleece 
 Has drunk the flood, and from his lively 
 
 haunt. 
 The trout is banished by the sordid stream. 
 Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow 
 Slow move the harmless race : where, as they 
 
 spread 
 Their swelling treasures to the sunny ray, 
 Inly disturbed, and wondering what this wild 
 Outrageous tumult means, their loud com- 
 plaints 
 The country fill ; and, tossed from rock to 
 rock, 
 
 3S 
 
Cfje Seasons. 
 
 Incessant bleatings run around the hills. 
 At last, of snowy white, the gathered flocks 
 Are in the wattled pen, innumerous, pressed, 
 Head above head : and, ranged in lusty rows, 
 The shepherds sit, and whet the sounding 
 
 shears. 
 The housewife waits to roll her fleecy stores, 
 With all her gay-drest maids attending round. 
 One, chief, in gracious dignity enthroned. 
 Shines o^er the rest, the pastoral queen, and 
 
 rays 
 Her smiles, sweet-beaming, on her shepherd- 
 king ; 
 While the glad circle round them yield their 
 
 souls 
 To festive mirth, and wit that knows no gall. 
 Meantime, their joyous task goes on apace : 
 Some mingling stir the melted tar, and some. 
 Deep on the new-shorn vagrant's heaving 
 
 side, 
 To stamp his master's cipher ready stand ; 
 Others the unwilling wether drag along ; 
 And, glorying in his might, the sturdy boy 
 Holds by the twisted horns the indignant ram. 
 
 36 
 
Summer* 
 
 Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft, 
 By needy man, that all-depending lord. 
 How meek, how patient, the mild creature 
 
 lies! 
 What softness in its melancholy face, 
 What dumb complaining innocence appears! 
 Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 't is not the knife 
 Of horrid slaughter that is o'er you waved ; 
 No, 't is the tender swain's well-guided shears, 
 Who having now, to pay his annual care, 
 Borrowed your fleece, to you a cumbrous load. 
 Will send you bounding to your hills again. 
 A simple scene ! yet hence Britannia sees 
 Her solid grandeur rise : hence she com- 
 mands 
 The exalted stores of every brighter cHme, 
 The treasures 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 sublime, and now, even 
 
 now. 
 Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coast : 
 39 
 
SDfjE Seasons. 
 
 Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the 
 world. 
 'T is raging noon ; and, vertical, the sun 
 Darts on the head direct his forceful rays. 
 O^er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye 
 Can sweep, a dazzling deluge reigns ; and all, 
 From pole to pole, is undistinguished blaze. 
 In vain the sight, dejected to the ground. 
 Stoops for relief ; thence hot-ascending steams 
 And keen reflection pain. Deep to the root 
 Of vegetation parched, the cleaving fields 
 And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose. 
 Blast fancy's blooms, and wither even the 
 
 soul. 
 Echo no more returns the cheerful sound 
 Of sharpening scythe : the mower, sinking, 
 
 heaps 
 O'er him the humid hay, with flowers per- 
 fumed ; 
 And scarce a chirping grasshopper is heard 
 Through the dumb mead. Distressful nature 
 
 pants. 
 The very streams look languid from afar ; 
 Or, through the unsheltered glade, impatient, 
 seem 40 
 
Summer^ 
 
 To hurl into the covert of the grove. 
 
 All-conquering heat, O, intermit thy wrath ! 
 And on my throbbing temples, potent thus, 
 Beam not so fierce ! incessant still you flow. 
 
 And still another fervent flood succeeds, 
 Poured on the head profuse. In vain I sigh. 
 And restless turn, and look around for night ; 
 Night is far off; and hotter hours approach. 
 Thrice happy he, who, on the sunless side 
 41 
 
2rf}e &zamn^. 
 
 Of a romantic mountain, forest-crowned, 
 Beneath the whole collected shade reclines : 
 Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought, 
 And fresh bedewed with ever-spouting 
 
 streams. 
 Sits coolly calm ; while all the world without, 
 Unsatisfied, and sick, tosses in noon. 
 Emblem instructive of the virtuous man. 
 Who keeps his tempered mind serene and 
 
 pure. 
 And every passion aptly harmonised, 
 Amid a jarring world with vice inflamed. 
 Welcome, ye shades! ye bowery thickets, 
 hail! 
 Ye lofty pines ! ye venerable oaks ! 
 Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the steep! 
 Delicious is your shelter to the soul. 
 As to the hunted hart the sallying spring, 
 Or stream full flowing, that his swelling sides 
 Laves, as he floats along the herbaged brink. 
 Cool, through the nerves, your pleasing com- 
 fort glides ; 
 
 42 
 
Summer, 
 
 The heart beats glad ; the fresh-expanded eye 
 And ear resume their watch ; the smews 
 
 knit ; 
 And life shoots swift through all the lightened 
 limbs. 
 Around the adjoining brook, that purls 
 along 
 The vocal grove, now fretting o^er a rock. 
 Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool, 
 Now starting to a sudden stream, and now 
 Gently diffused into a limpid plain, 
 A various group the herds and flocks com- 
 pose, — 
 Rural confusion! On the grassy bank 
 Some ruminating lie ; while others stand 
 Half in the flood, and, often bending, sip 
 The circling surface. In the middle droops 
 The strong, laborious ox, of honest front, 
 Which, incomposed, he shakes ; and from 
 
 his sides 
 The troublous insects lashes with his tail. 
 Returning still. Amid his subjects safe, 
 Slumbers the monarch-swain ; his careless 
 
 45 
 
^\)t Seasons* 
 
 Thrown round his head, on downy moss sus- 
 tained ; 
 Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands 
 
 filled ; 
 There, listening every noise, his watchful dog. 
 Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight 
 Of angry gad-flies fasten on the herd. 
 That, startling, scatters from the shallow 
 
 brook. 
 In search of lavish stream. Tossing the 
 
 foam. 
 They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the 
 
 plain 
 Through all the bright severity of noon ; 
 While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow 
 
 moan 
 Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the 
 
 hills. 
 Oft in this season, too, the horse, provoked, 
 While his big sinews full of spirits swell. 
 Trembling with vigour, in the heat of blood. 
 Springs the high fence ; and, o'er the field 
 
 effused. 
 Darts on the gloomy flood, with steadfast eye, 
 
 46 
 
Summer* 
 
 And heart estranged to fear : his nervous 
 
 chest, 
 Luxuriant and erect, the seat of strength! 
 Bears down the opposing stream ; quenchless 
 
 his thirst, 
 He takes the river at redoubled draughts ; 
 And with wide nostrils, snorting, skims the 
 
 wave. 
 Still let me pierce into the midnight depth 
 Of yonder grove, of wildest, largest growth ; 
 That, forming high in air a woodland choir. 
 Nods o'er the mount beneath. At every step, 
 Solemn and slow, the shadows blacker fall. 
 And all is awful listening gloom around. 
 
 These are the haunts of meditation, these 
 The scenes where ancient bards the inspiring 
 
 Breath, 
 Ecstatic, felt ; and, from this world retired. 
 Conversed with angels, and immortal forms, 
 On gracious errands bent : to save the fall 
 Of virtue struggling on the brink of vice ; 
 In waking whispers, and repeated dreams. 
 To hint pure thought, and warn the favoured 
 
 soul, 
 
 47 
 
9Cf)e Seasons* 
 
 For future trials fated, to prepare ; 
 
 To prompt the poet, who, devoted, gives 
 
 His muse to better themes ; to soothe the 
 
 pangs 
 Of dying worth, and from the patriot's breast 
 (Backward to mingle in detested war, 
 But foremost when engaged) to turn the 
 
 death ; 
 And numberless such offices of love, 
 Daily and nightly, zealous to perform. 
 
 Shook sudden from the bosom of the sky, 
 A thousand shapes or glide athwart the dusk. 
 Or stalk majestic on. Deep-roused, I feel 
 A sacred terror, a severe delight. 
 Creep through my mortal frame ; and thus, 
 
 methinks, 
 A voice, than human more, the abstracted ear 
 Of fancy strikes. '' Be not of us afraid, 
 Poor kindred man ! thy fellow-creatures, we 
 From the same Parent Power our beings 
 
 drew; 
 The same our Lord, and laws, and great pur- 
 suit. 
 Once some of us, like thee, through stormy 
 life, 48 
 
.Slimmer* 
 
 Toiled, tempest-beaten, ere we could attain 
 This holy calm, this harmony of mind, 
 Where purity and peace immingle charms. 
 Then fear not us ; but with responsive song, 
 Amid these dim recesses, undisturbed 
 
 By noisy folly and discordant vice. 
 Of Nature sing with us, and Nature's God. 
 Here frequent, at the visionary hour. 
 When musing midnight reigns, or silent noon, 
 49 
 
2tf}e Seasons, 
 
 Angelic harps are in full concert heard, 
 And voices chanting from the wood-crowned 
 
 hill, 
 The deepening dale, or inmost sylvan glade ; 
 A privilege bestowed by us, alone, 
 On contemplation, or the hallowed ear 
 Of poet, swelling to seraphic strain." 
 
 And art thou, Stanley, of that sacred band? 
 Alas, for us too soon! — though raised above 
 The reach of human pain, above the flight 
 Of human joy, yet, with a mingled ray 
 Of sadly pleased remembrance, must thou feel 
 A mother's love, a mother's tender woe? 
 Who seeks thee still, in many a former scene ; 
 Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely beaming eyes, 
 Thy pleasing converse, by gay lively sense 
 Inspired ; where moral wisdom mildly shone. 
 Without the toil of art, and virtue glowed, 
 In all her smiles, without forbidding pride. 
 But, O thou best of parents, wipe thy tears ! 
 Or rather to parental nature pay 
 The tears of grateful joy, who, for a while. 
 Lent thee this younger self, this opening 
 
 bloom 
 
 50 
 
r^t> 
 
 T?^^ 
 
Summer* 
 
 Of thy enlightened mind and gentle worth. 
 Believe the Muse : the wintry blast of death 
 Kills not the buds of virtue ; no, they spread, 
 Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter suns, 
 Through endless ages, into higher powers. 
 
 Thus up the mount, in airy vision rapt, 
 I stray, regardless whither ; till the sound 
 Of a near fall of water every sense 
 Wakes from the charm of thought : swift- 
 shrinking back 
 I check my steps, and view the broken scene. 
 Smooth to the shelving brink a copious 
 flood 
 Rolls fair and placid ; where, collected all 
 In one impetuous torrent, down the steep 
 It thundering shoots, and shakes the country 
 
 round. 
 At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad ; 
 Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 
 And from the loud-resounding rocks below 
 Dashed in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft 
 A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shoAver. 
 Nor can the tortured wave here find repose : 
 But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks, 
 53 
 
STfje &tmm^\ 
 
 Now flashes o'er the scattered fragments, now 
 Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts ; 
 And falling fast from gradual slope to slope, 
 With wild infracted course and lessened roar, 
 It gains a safer bed, and steals, at last, 
 Along the mazes of the quiet vale. 
 
 Invited from the cliff, to whose dark brow 
 He clings, the steep-ascending eagle soars, 
 With upward pinions, through the flood of 
 
 day; 
 And, giving full his bosom to the blaze, 
 Gains on the sun ; while all the tuneful race, 
 Smit by afflictive noon, disordered droop, 
 Deep in the thicket ; or, from bower to bower 
 Responsive, force an interrupted strain. 
 The stock-dove only through the forest cooes. 
 Mournfully hoarse ; oft ceasing from his 
 
 plaint, 
 Short interval of weary woe ! again 
 The sad idea of his murdered mate. 
 Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile, 
 Across his fancy comes : and then resounds 
 A louder song of sorrow through the grove. 
 
 Beside the dewy border let me sit, 
 54 
 
Summer* 
 
 All in the freshness of the humid air : 
 
 There on that hollowed rock; grotesque and 
 
 wild, 
 An ample chair moss-lined, and overhead 
 By flowering umbrage shaded ; where the bee 
 Strays diligent, and with the extracted balm 
 Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh. 
 Now, while I taste the sweetness of the 
 shade. 
 While Nature lies around deep-lulled in noon, 
 Now come, bold fancy, spread a daring flight, 
 And view the wonders of the Torrid Zone : 
 Climbs unrelenting ! with whose rage com- 
 pared. 
 Yon blaze is feeble, and yon skies are cool. 
 See, how at once the bright effulgent sun, 
 Rising direct, swift chases from the sky 
 The short-lived twilight ; and with ardent 
 
 blaze 
 Looks gayly fierce o^er all the dazzling air. 
 He mounts his throne ; but kind before him 
 
 sends. 
 Issuing from out the portals of the morn, 
 The general breeze, to mitigate his fire, 
 55 
 
Cf}e Seasons* 
 
 And breathe refreshment on a fainting world. 
 Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty 
 
 crowned 
 And barbarous wealth, that see, each circling 
 
 year 
 Returning suns and double seasons pass 
 Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with 
 
 mines. 
 That on the high equator, ridgy, rise. 
 Whence many a bursting stream auriferous 
 
 plays ; 
 Majestic woods, of every vigorous green, 
 Stage above stage, high waving o'er the hills ; 
 Or to the far horizon wide-diffused, 
 A boundless deep immensity of shade. 
 Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown, 
 The noble sons of potent heat and floods 
 Prone-rushing from the clouds, rear high to 
 
 heaven 
 Their thorny stems, and broad around them 
 
 throw 
 Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime. 
 Unnumbered fruits of keen delicious taste 
 And vital spirit, drink, amid the cliffs 
 S6 
 
Summer* 
 
 And burning sands that bank the shrubby 
 
 vales, 
 Redoubled day, yet in their rugged coats 
 A friendly juice, 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 through the 
 
 green. 
 Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclined 
 Beneath the spreading tamarind, that shakes. 
 Fanned by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit. 
 Deep in the night the massy locust sheds. 
 Quench my hot limbs ; or lead me through 
 
 the maze. 
 Embowering endless, of the Indian fig; 
 Or thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow, 
 Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cooled, 
 Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave, 
 And high palmettoes lift their graceful shade. 
 O, stretched amid these orchards of the sun. 
 Give me to drain the cocoa^s milky bowl. 
 And from the palm to draw its freshening 
 
 wine ; 
 More bounteous far than all the frantic juice 
 59 
 
Wi}z Seasons* 
 
 Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its slender 
 
 twigs 
 Low-bending, be the full pomegranate scorned ; 
 Nor, creeping through the woods, the gelid 
 
 race 
 Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells 
 Unboastful worth, above fastidious pomp. 
 Witness, thou best Anana, thou the pride 
 Of vegetable life, beyond whatever 
 The poets imaged in the Golden Age : 
 Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat. 
 Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with 
 Jove ! 
 From these the prospect varies. Plains im- 
 mense 
 Lie stretched below, interminable meads, 
 And vast savannas, where the wandering eye. 
 Unfixed, is in a verdant ocean lost. 
 Another Flora there, of bolder hues. 
 And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride. 
 Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden 
 
 hand 
 Exuberant Spring : for oft these valleys shift 
 Their green embroidered robe to fiery brown, 
 60 
 
Summer. 
 
 And swift to green again, as scorching suns, 
 Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 
 Along these lonely regions, where, retired 
 From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells 
 In awful solitude, and naught is seen 
 But the wild herds that own no master^s stall, 
 Prodigious rivers roll their fattening seas : 
 On whose luxuriant herbage, half-concealed, 
 Like a fallen cedar, far diffused his train. 
 Cased in green scales, the crocodile extends. 
 The flood disparts : behold ! in plaited mail 
 Behemoth rears his head. Glanced from his 
 
 side. 
 The darted steel in idle shivers flies : 
 He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills ; 
 Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds, 
 In widening circle round, forget their food. 
 And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze. 
 
 Peaceful, beneath primeval trees that cast 
 Their ample shade o'er Niger's yellow stream, 
 And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave ; 
 Or, mid the central depth of blackening woods. 
 High raised in solemn theatre around. 
 Leans the huge elephant : wisest of brutes! 
 6i 
 
2rf}e Seasons* 
 
 O truly wise, with gentle might endowed, 
 Though powerful, not destructive ! Here he 
 
 sees 
 Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth, 
 And empires rise and fall ; regardless he 
 Of what the never-resting race of men 
 Project: thrice happy! could he 'scape their 
 
 guile. 
 Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps ; 
 Or with his towery grandeur swell their state, 
 The pride of kings ! or else his strength per- 
 vert. 
 And bid him rage amid the mortal fray. 
 Astonished at the madness of mankind. 
 Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the 
 floods. 
 Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar. 
 Thick swarm the brighter birds. For Na- 
 ture's hand. 
 That with a sportive vanity has decked 
 The plumy nations, there her gayest hues 
 Profusely pours. But, if she bids them shine. 
 Arrayed in all the beauteous beams of day. 
 Yet frugal still, she humbles them in song. 
 62 
 
Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent 
 Proud Montezuma-s reahn, whose legions cast 
 A boundless radiance waving on the sun. 
 While Philomel is ours ; while in our shades, 
 Through the soft silence of the listening 
 night, 
 
 The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. 
 But come, my Muse, the desert-barrier 
 burst, 
 A wild expanse of lifeless sand and sky ; 
 
 63 
 
2D}}0 Seasons* 
 
 And, swifter than the toiling caravan, 
 Shoot o'er the vale of Sennar, ardent climb 
 The Nubian mountains, and the secret bounds 
 Of jealous Abyssinia boldly pierce. 
 Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mask 
 Of social commerce com'st to rob their wealth ; 
 No holy Fury thou, blaspheming Heaven, 
 With consecrated steel to stab their peace, 
 And through the land, yet red from civil 
 
 wounds, 
 To spread the purple tyranny of Rome. 
 Thou, like the harmless bee, mayst freely 
 
 range. 
 From mead to mead bright with exalted 
 
 flowers. 
 From jasmine grove to grove ; mayst wander 
 
 gay 
 
 Through palmy shades and aromatic woods, 
 That grace the plains, invest the peopled hills. 
 And up the more than Alpine mountains wave. 
 There on the breezy summit, spreading fair, 
 For many a league ; or on stupendous rocks, 
 That from the sun-redoubling valley lift, 
 Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops ; 
 
 64 
 
Stitntner* 
 
 Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rise ; 
 And gardens smile around, and cultured fields ; 
 And fountains gush, and careless herds and 
 
 flocks 
 Securely stray, — a world within itself. 
 Disdaining all assault, — there let me draw 
 Ethereal soul, there drink reviving gales. 
 Profusely breathing from the spicy groves, 
 And vales of fragrance ; there at distance hear 
 The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep 
 From disembowelled earth the virgin gold ; 
 And o'er the varied landscape, restless, rove, 
 Fervent with life of every fairer kind : 
 A land of wonders ! which the sun still eyes 
 With ray direct, as of the lovely realm 
 Enamoured, and delighting there to dwell. 
 How changed the scene ! In blazing height 
 
 of noon. 
 The sun, oppressed, is plunged in thickest 
 
 gloom. 
 Still horror reigns, a dreary twilight round. 
 Of struggling night and day malignant mixed. 
 For to the hot equator crowding fast, 
 Where, highly rarefied, the yielding air 
 6s 
 
STi^e Seagons* 
 
 Admits their stream, incessant vapours roll, 
 Amazing clouds on clouds continual heaped ; 
 Or whirled tempestuous by the gusty wind, 
 Or silent borne along, heavy and slow, 
 With the big stores of steaming oceans 
 
 charged. 
 Meantime, amid these upper seas, condensed 
 Around the cold aerial mountain's brow. 
 And by conflicting winds together dashed, 
 The thunder holds his black tremendous 
 
 throne ; 
 From cloud to cloud the rending lightnings 
 
 rage; 
 Till, in the furious elemental war 
 Dissolved, the whole precipitated mass 
 Unbroken floods and solid torrents pours. 
 The treasures these, hid from the bounded 
 
 search 
 Of ancient knowledge ; whence, with annual 
 
 pomp. 
 Rich king of floods! overflows the swelling 
 
 Nile. 
 From his two springs, in Gojam's sunny realm, 
 Pure-welling out, he through the lucid lake 
 66 
 
Summer^ 
 
 Of fair Dambea rolls his infant stream. 
 There, by the Naiads nursed, he sports away 
 His playful youth, amid the fragrant isles, 
 That with unfading verdure smile around. 
 Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks ; 
 And gathering many a flood, and copious fed 
 With all the mellowed treasures of the sky. 
 Winds in progressive majesty along : 
 Through splendid kingdoms now devolves his 
 
 maze ; 
 Now wanders wild o'er solitary tracts 
 Of life-deserted sand ; till, glad to quit 
 The joyless desert, down the Nubian rocks 
 From thundering steep to steep, he pours his 
 
 urn. 
 And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave. 
 
 His brother Niger too, and all the floods 
 In which the full-formed maids of Afric lave 
 Their jetty limbs : and all that, from the tract 
 Of woody mountains stretched through gor- 
 geous Ind, 
 Fall on Cormandel's coast, or Malabar ; 
 From Menam's orient stream, that nightly 
 shines 
 
 67 
 
W^z Seasons^ 
 
 With insect-lamps, to where Aurora sheds, 
 On Indus' smiHng banks the rosy shower : 
 All, at this bounteous season, ope their urns, 
 And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land. 
 Nor less thy world, Columbus, drinks, re- 
 freshed, 
 The lavish moisture of the melting year. 
 Wide o'er his isles, the branching Oronoque 
 Rolls a brown deluge, and the native drives 
 To dwell aloft on life-sufficing trees, — 
 At once his dome, his robe, his food, and 
 
 arms. 
 Swelled by a thousand streams, impetuous 
 
 hurled 
 From all the roaring Andes, huge descends 
 The mighty Orellana. Scarce the Muse 
 Dares stretch her wing o'er this enormous 
 
 mass 
 Of rushing waters ; scarce she dares attempt 
 The sea-like Plata ; to whose dread expanse, 
 Continuous depth, and wondrous length of 
 
 course, 
 Our floods are rills. With unabated force, 
 In silent dignity they sweep along, 
 68 
 
<Summet* 
 
 And traverse realms unknown, and blooming 
 
 wilds, 
 And fruitful deserts, — worlds of solitude, 
 Where the sun smiles and seasons teem in vain. 
 Unseen and unenjoyed. Forsaking these. 
 O'er peppled plains they, fair-diffusive, flow. 
 And many a nation feed, and circle safe. 
 In their soft bosom, many a happy isle ; 
 The seat of blameless Pan, yet undisturbed 
 By Christian crimes and Europe's cruel sons. 
 Thus pouring on they proudly seek the deep. 
 Whose vanquished tide, recoiling from the 
 
 shock. 
 Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe ; 
 And ocean trembles for his green domain. 
 But what avails this wondrous waste of 
 
 wealth. 
 This gay profusion of luxurious bliss, 
 This pomp of Nature ? what their balmy meads. 
 Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain ? 
 By vagrant birds dispersed and wafting winds. 
 What their unplanted fruits? what the cool 
 
 draughts. 
 The ambrosial food, rich gums, and spicy 
 
 health, 71 
 
STfje Seasons* 
 
 Their forests yield? their toiUng insects what, 
 Their silky pride, and vegetable robes ? 
 Ah! what avail their fatal treasures, hid 
 Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 
 Golconda's gems, and sad Potosi's mines. 
 Where dwelt the gentlest children of the sun? 
 What all that Afric's golden rivers roll. 
 Her odorous woods, and shining ivory stores ? 
 Ill-fated race ! the softening arts of peace ; 
 Whatever the humanising muses teach ; 
 The godlike wisdom of the tempered breast ; 
 Progressive truth, the patient force of thought ; 
 Investigation calm, whose silent powers 
 Command the world ; the light that leads to 
 
 heaven ; 
 Kind equal rule, the government of laws. 
 And all-protecting freedom, which alone 
 Sustains the name and dignity of man, — 
 These are not theirs. The parent sun himself 
 Seems o'er this world of slaves to tyrannise ; 
 And, with oppressive ray, the roseate bloom 
 Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue. 
 And feature gross : or worse, to ruthless 
 
 deeds, 
 
 72 
 
Summer^ 
 
 Mad jealousy, blind rage, and fell revenge, 
 Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells not there : 
 The soft regards, the tenderness of life, 
 The heart-shed tear, the ineffable delight 
 Of sweet humanity, — these court the beam 
 Of milder climes ; in selfish fierce desire. 
 And the wild fury of voluptuous sense. 
 There lost. The very brute creation there 
 This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire. 
 Lo! the green serpent, from his dark abode, 
 Which even imagination fears to tread. 
 At noon forth-issuing, gathers up his train 
 In orbs immense, then, darting out anew, 
 Seeks the refreshing fount, by which diffused. 
 He throws his folds : and while, with threaten- 
 ing tongue. 
 And deathful jaws erect, the monster curls 
 His flaming crest, all other thirst, appalled. 
 Or shivering flies, or checked at distance 
 
 stands, 
 Nor dares approach. But still more direful he. 
 The small close-lurking minister of fate. 
 Whose high-concocted venom through the 
 veins 
 
 73 
 
Wi}z Seasons^ 
 
 A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift 
 The vital current. Formed to humble man, 
 This child of vengeful Nature ! There, sub- 
 limed 
 To fearless lust of blood, the savage race 
 Roam, licensed by the shading hour of guilt 
 And foul misdeed, when the pure day has shut 
 His sacred eye. The tiger, darting fierce. 
 Impetuous on the prey his glance has doomed, 
 The lively shining leopard, speckled o'er 
 With many a spot, the beauty of the waste ; 
 And, scorning all the taming arts of man, 
 The keen hyena, fellest of the fell : 
 These, rushing from the inhospitable woods 
 Of Mauritania, or the tufted isles 
 That verdant rise amid the Libyan wild, 
 Innumerous glare around their shaggy king, 
 Majestic, stalking o'er the printed sand ; 
 And, with imperious and repeated roars, 
 Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks 
 Crowd near the guardian swain ; the nobler 
 
 herds. 
 Where round their lordly bull, in rural ease. 
 They ruminating lie, with horror hear 
 74 
 
Summer* 
 
 The coming rage. The awakened village 
 
 starts ,• 
 And to her fluttering breast the mother strains 
 Her thoughtless infant. From the pirate's den, 
 Or stern Morocco's tyrant fang, escaped, 
 The wretch half wishes for his bonds again : 
 While, uproar all, the wilderness resounds, 
 From Atlas eastward to the frighted Nile. 
 Unhappy he ! who from the first of joys, 
 Society, cut off, is left alone 
 Amid this world of death. Day after day, 
 Sad on the jutting eminence he sits, 
 And views the main that ever toils below ; 
 Still fondly forming in the farthest verge, 
 Where the round ether mixes with the wave. 
 Ships, dim-discovered dropping from the 
 
 clouds. 
 At evening, to the setting sun he turns 
 A mournful eye, and down his dying heart 
 Sinks helpless ; while the wonted roar is up. 
 And hiss continual through the tedious night. 
 Yet here, even here, into these black abodes 
 Of monsters, unappalled, from stooping Rome, 
 And guilty Caesar, Liberty retired, 
 IS 
 
STi^e Seasons* 
 
 Her Cato following through Numidian wilds ; 
 Disdainful of Campania's gentle plains, 
 And all the green delights Ausonia pours, 
 When for them she must bend the servile knee, 
 And fawning take the splendid robber's boon. 
 Nor stop the terrors of these regions here. 
 Commissioned demons oft, angels of wrath, 
 Let loose the raging elements. Breathed hot 
 From all the boundless furnace of the sky, 
 And the wide glittering waste of burning sand, 
 A suffocating wind the pilgrim smites 
 With instant death. Patient of thirst and toil, 
 Son of the desert, e'en the camel feels, 
 Shot through his withered heart, the fiery blast. 
 Or from the black-red ether, bursting broad. 
 Sallies the sudden whirlwind. Straight the 
 
 sands, 
 Commoved around, in gathering eddies play ; 
 Nearer and nearer still they darkening come ; 
 Till, with the general all-involving storm 
 Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arise ; 
 And by their noonday fount dejected thrown. 
 Or sunk at night in sad disastrous sleep, 
 Beneath descending hills, the caravan 
 
 76 
 
Sutttnt0t» 
 
 Is buried deep. In Cairo's crowded streets 
 The impatient merchant, wondering, waits in 
 
 vain, 
 And Mecca saddens at the long delay. 
 
 But chief at sea, whose every flexile wave 
 Obeys the blast, the aerial tumult swells. 
 In the dread ocean, undulating wide, 
 Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe, 
 The circling Typhon, whirled from point to 
 
 point, 
 Exhausting all the rage of all the sky. 
 And dire Ecnephia reign. Amid the heavens, 
 Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy speck 
 Compressed, the mighty tempest brooding 
 
 dwells. 
 Of no regard, save to the skilful eye. 
 Fiery and foul, the small prognostic hangs 
 Aloft, or on the promontory's brow 
 Musters its force. A faint deceitful calm, 
 A fluttering gale, the demon sends before, 
 To tempt the spreading sail. Then down at 
 
 once. 
 Precipitant, descends a mingled mass 
 Of roaring winds, and flame, and rushing 
 
 floods. ^^ 
 
^\}z Seasons* 
 
 In wild amazement fixed the sailor stands. 
 Art is too slow. By rapid Fate oppressed, 
 His broad-winged vessel drinks the whelming 
 
 tide, 
 Hid in the bosom of the black abyss. 
 With such mad seas the daring Gama fought, 
 For many a day, and many a dreadful night. 
 Incessant, labouring round the stormy cape ; 
 By bold ambition led, and bolder thirst 
 Of gold. For then from ancient gloom 
 
 emerged 
 The rising world of trade : the genius, then, 
 Of navigation, that, in hopeless sloth. 
 Had slumbered on the vast Atlantic deep. 
 For idle ages, starting, heard at last 
 The Lusitanian prince ; who. Heaven-inspired, 
 To love of useful glory roused mankind. 
 And in unbounded commerce mixed the world. 
 Increasing still the terrors of these storms, 
 His jaws horrific armed with threefold fate. 
 Here dwells the direful shark. Lured by the 
 
 scent 
 Of steaming crowds, of rank disease, and 
 
 death, 
 
 78 
 
Summer* 
 
 Behold, he, rushing, cuts the briny flood, 
 Swift as the gale can bear the ship along ; 
 And, from the partners of that cruel trade, 
 Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons. 
 Demands his share of prey, — demands them- 
 selves. 
 
 The stormy fates descend : one death involves 
 Tyrants and slaves ; when straight, their man- 
 gled limbs 
 
 79 
 
STfje cSeasons* 
 
 Crashing at once, he dyes the purple seas 
 With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 
 
 When o^er this world, by equinoctial rains 
 Flooded immensCj looks out the joyless sun. 
 And draws the copious steam from swampy 
 
 fens, 
 Where putrefaction into life ferments, 
 And breathes destructive myriads; or from 
 
 woods, 
 Impenetrable shades, recesses foul. 
 In vapours rank and blue corruption wrapt, 
 Whose gloomy horrors yet no desperate foot 
 Has ever dared to pierce ; then, wasteful, forth 
 Walks the dire power of pestilent disease. 
 A thousand hideous fiends her course attend, 
 Sick Nature blasting, and to heartless woe 
 And feeble desolation, casting down 
 The towering hopes and all the pride of man. 
 Such as, of late, at Carthagena quenched 
 The British fire. You, gallant Vernon, saw 
 The miserable scene ; you, pitying, saw 
 To infant-weakness sunk the warrior's arm ; 
 Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form. 
 The lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eye 
 80 
 
Summer* 
 
 No more with ardour bright ; you heard the 
 
 groans 
 Of agonising ships, from shore to shore ; 
 Heard, nightly plunged amid the sullen waves, 
 The frequent corse ; while on each other fixed. 
 In sad presage, the blank assistants seemed. 
 Silent, to ask, whom fate would next demand. 
 What need I mention those inclement skies. 
 Where, frequent o'er the sickening city, 
 
 Plague, 
 The fiercest child of Nemesis divine, 
 Descends? from Ethiopia's poisoned woods. 
 From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields 
 With locust-armies putrefying heaped. 
 This great destroyer sprung. Her awful rage 
 The brutes escape. Man is her destined prey, 
 Intemperate man! and, o'er his guilty domes 
 She draws a close incumbent cloud of death ; 
 Uninterrupted by the living winds. 
 Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze ; and 
 
 stained 
 With many a mixture by the sun, suffused. 
 Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then. 
 Dejects his watchful eye ; and from the hand 
 8i 
 
Wint Seasons* 
 
 Of feeble justice, ineffectual, drop 
 
 The sword and balance : mute the voice of 
 
 joy? 
 
 And hushed the clamour of the busy world : 
 Empty the streets^ with uncouth verdure clad : 
 Into the worst of deserts sudden turned 
 The cheerful haunt of men: unless, escaped 
 From the doomed house where matchless 
 
 horror reigns. 
 Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch, 
 With frenzy wild, breaks loose, and, loud to 
 
 Heaven 
 Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns. 
 Inhuman and unwise. The sullen door, 
 Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge 
 Fearing to turn, abhors society. 
 Dependants, friends, relations, love himself, 
 Savaged by woe, forget the tender tie, 
 The sweet engagement of the feeling heart. 
 But vain their selfish care : the circling sky. 
 The wide enlivening air, is full of fate ; 
 And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs 
 They fall, unblest, untended, and unmourned. 
 Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair 
 82 
 
Summer* 
 
 Extends her raven wing : while, to complete 
 The scene of desolation, stretched around, 
 The grim guards stand, denying all retreat, 
 And give the flying wretch a better death. 
 
 Much yet remains unsung : the rage intense 
 Of brazen- vaulted skies, of iron fields, 
 Where drought and famine starve the blasted 
 
 year; 
 Fired by the torch of noon to tenfold rage, 
 The infuriate hill that shoots the pillared 
 
 flame ; 
 And, roused within the subterranean world, 
 The expanding earthquake, that resistless 
 
 shakes 
 Aspiring cities from their solid base. 
 And buries mountains in the flaming gulf. 
 But 't is enough ; return, my vagrant muse ; 
 A nearer scene of horror calls thee home. 
 
 Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove. 
 Unusual darkness broods ; and, growing, 
 
 gains 
 The full possession of the sky, surcharged 
 With wrathful vapour, from the secret beds. 
 Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn. 
 
 83 
 
3C|je Seasons* 
 
 Thence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spume 
 Of fat bitumen, steaming on the day, 
 With various-tinctured trains of latent flame, 
 Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud, 
 A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate. 
 Ferment ; till, by the touch ethereal roused, 
 The dash of clouds, or irritating war 
 Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, 
 They, furious, spring. A boding silence 
 
 reigns. 
 Dread, through the dun expanse ; save the 
 
 dull sound 
 That from the mountain, previous to the 
 
 storm,. 
 Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the 
 
 flood. 
 And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath. 
 Prone, to the lowest vale, the aerial tribes 
 Descend : the tempest-loving raven scarce 
 Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful 
 
 gaze 
 The cattle stand, and on the scowling heav- 
 ens 
 Cast a deploring eye ; by man forsook, 
 
 84 
 

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Slimmer. 
 
 Who to the crowded cottage hies hnn fast, 
 Or seeks the sheher of the downward cave. 
 'T is Hstening fear, and dumb amazement 
 
 all; 
 When to the startled eye the sudden glance 
 Appears far south, eruptive through the 
 
 cloud ; 
 And following slower, in explosion vast, 
 The thunder raises his tremendous voice. 
 At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of 
 
 heaven. 
 The tempest growls ; but as it nearer comes, 
 And rolls its awful burden on the wind. 
 The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more 
 The noise astounds ; till overhead a sheet 
 Of livid flame discloses wide, then shuts, 
 And opens wider ; shuts and opens still 
 Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze. 
 Follows the loosened aggravated roar. 
 Enlarging, deepening, mingling, peal on 
 
 peal 
 Crushed horrible, convulsing heaven and 
 
 earth. 
 Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail, 
 
 87 
 
2r|}0 Seasons* 
 
 Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the 
 
 clouds 
 Pour a whole flood ; and yet, its flame un- 
 
 quenched, 
 The unconquerable lightning struggles 
 
 through, 
 Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls. 
 And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 
 Black from the stroke, above, the smoulder- 
 ing pine 
 Stands a sad shattered trunk ; and, stretched 
 
 below, 
 A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie : 
 Here the soft flocks, with that same harmless 
 
 look 
 They wore alive, and ruminating still 
 In fancy's eye ; and there the frowning bull. 
 And ox half raised. Struck on the castled 
 
 cliff. 
 The venerable tower and spiry fane 
 Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods 
 Start at the flash, and, from their deep recess, 
 Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates 
 
 shake. 
 
Summer, 
 
 Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud 
 The repercussive roar : with mighty crush, 
 Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks 
 Of Penmanmaur, heaped hideous to the sky, 
 Tumble the smitten cliffs ; and Snowden's 
 
 peak. 
 Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load. 
 Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze, 
 And Thule bellows through her utmost isles. 
 Guilt hears appalled, with deeply troubled 
 thought ; 
 And yet not always on the guilty head 
 Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon 
 And his Amelia were a matchless pair, 
 With equal virtue formed, and equal grace. 
 The same, distinguished by their sex alone : 
 Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn, 
 And his the radiance of the risen day. 
 
 They loved : but such their guileless pas- 
 sion was, 
 As in the dawn of time informed the heart 
 Of innocence and undissembling truth. 
 'T was friendship heightened by the mutual 
 wish ; 
 
 89 
 
2Cf)e Seasons, 
 
 The enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow, 
 Beamed from the mutual eye. Devoting all 
 To love, each was to each a dearer self; 
 Supremely happy in the awakened power 
 Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades. 
 Still in harmonious intercourse they lived 
 The rural day, and talked the flowing heart, 
 Or sighed, and looked unutterable things. 
 
 So passed their life, a clear united stream. 
 By care unruffled ; till, in evil hour. 
 The tempest caught them on the tender walk. 
 Heedless how far and where its mazes strayed. 
 While, with each other blest, creative love 
 Still bade eternal Eden smile around. 
 Heavy with instant fate, her bosom heaved 
 Unwonted sighs, and stealing oft a look 
 Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye 
 Fell tearful, wetting her disordered cheek. 
 In vain assuring love, and confidence 
 In Heaven repressed her fear; it grew, and 
 
 shook 
 Her frame near dissolution. He perceived 
 The unequal conflict, and, as angels look 
 On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed, 
 90 
 
Summer^ 
 
 With love illumined high. "Fear not/' he 
 
 said, 
 " Sweet Innocence! thou stranger to offence 
 91 
 
2r|)e ^Seasons* 
 
 And inward storm! He who yon skies in- 
 volves 
 In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee 
 With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft 
 That wastes at midnight, or the undreaded 
 
 hour 
 Of noon, flies harmless : and that very voice, 
 Which thunders terror through the guilty 
 
 heart. 
 With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to 
 
 thine. 
 'T is safety to be near thee sure, and thus 
 To clasp Perfection ! " From his void em- 
 brace. 
 Mysterious Heaven! that moment, to the 
 
 ground, 
 A blackened corse, was struck the beauteous 
 
 maid. 
 But who can paint the lover, as he stood, 
 Pierced by severe amazement, hating life, 
 Speechless, and fixed in all the death of woe! 
 So, faint resemblance ! on the marble tomb. 
 The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands, 
 Forever silent and forever sad. 
 92 
 
Summer, 
 
 As from the face of Heaven the shattered 
 
 clouds 
 Tumultuous rove, the interminable sky 
 Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands 
 A purer azure. Nature from the storm 
 Shines out afresh ; and through the lightened 
 
 air 
 A higher lustre and a clearer calm, 
 Diffusive, tremble ; while, as if in sign 
 Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy, 
 Set off abundant by the yellow ray. 
 Invests the fields, yet dropping from distress. 
 
 'T is beauty all, and grateful song around. 
 Joined to the low of kine, and numerous bleat 
 Of flocks thick-nibbling through the clovered 
 
 vale. 
 And shall the hymn be marred by thankless 
 
 man. 
 Most favoured ; who with voice articulate 
 Should lead the chorus of this lower world ? 
 Shall he, so soon forgetful of the Hand 
 That hushed the thunder, and serenes the sky, 
 Extinguished feel that spark the tempest 
 
 waked, 
 
 93 
 
8Ef}e Seasons* 
 
 That sense of powers exceeding far his own, 
 Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears ? 
 Cheered by the milder beam, the sprightly 
 
 youth 
 Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal 
 
 depth 
 A sandy bottom shows. Awhile he stands 
 Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid 
 To meditate the blue profound below ; 
 Then plunges headlong down the circling 
 
 flood. 
 His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek 
 Instant emerge ; and through the obedient 
 
 wave. 
 At each short breathing by his lip repelled, 
 With arms and legs according well, he makes, 
 As humour leads, an easy-winding path ; 
 While, from his polished sides, a dewy light 
 Effuses on the pleased spectators round. 
 
 This is the purest exercise of health, 
 The kind refresher of the Summer-heats ; 
 Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening 
 
 flood. 
 Would I, weak-shivering, linger on the brink. 
 94 
 
Summer* 
 
 Thus life redoubles ; and is oft preserved, 
 By the bold swimmer, in the swift elapse 
 Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs 
 Knit into force ; and the same Roman arm 
 That rose victorious o'er the conquered earth, 
 First learned, while tender, to subdue the 
 
 wave. 
 Even from the body's purity, the mind 
 Receives a secret sympathetic aid. 
 
 Close in the covert of an hazel copse. 
 Where, winded into pleasing solitudes. 
 Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon 
 
 sat, 
 Pensive, and pierced with love's delightful 
 
 pangs. 
 There to the stream that down the distant 
 
 rocks 
 Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze 
 
 that played 
 Among the bending willows, falsely he 
 Of Musidora's cruelty complained. 
 She felt his flame ; but deep within her breast, 
 In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride. 
 The soft return concealed, — save when it 
 
 stole 95 
 
STfje Seasons* 
 
 In sidelong glances from her downcast eye, 
 Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. 
 Touched by the scene, no stranger to his 
 
 vows, 
 He framed a melting lay, to try her heart ; 
 And, if an infant passion struggled there. 
 To call that passion forth. Thrice happy 
 
 swain ! 
 A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 
 Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine. 
 For lo ! conducted by the laughing loves, 
 This cool retreat his Musidora sought : 
 Warm in her cheek the sultry season glowed ; 
 And, robed in loose array, she came to bathe 
 Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. 
 What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost. 
 And dubious flutterings, he a while remained. 
 A pure ingenuous elegance of soul, 
 A delicate refinement, known to few. 
 Perplexed his breast, and urged him to retire. 
 But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say. 
 Say, ye severest, what would you have done ? 
 Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest 
 Arcadian stream, with timid eye around 
 
 96 
 
Summer. 
 
 The banks surveying, stripped her beauteous 
 
 limbs, 
 To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. 
 Ah then, not Paris on the piny top 
 Of Ida panted stronger, when aside 
 The rival goddesses the veil divine 
 Cast unconfined, and gave him all their 
 
 charms, 
 Than, Damon, thou ; as from the snowy leg, 
 And slender foot, the inverted silk she drew ; 
 As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone ; 
 And, through the parting robe, the alternate 
 
 breast. 
 With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless 
 
 gaze 
 In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth, 
 How durst thou risk the soul-distracting view ; 
 As from her naked limbs, of glowing white, 
 Harmonious swelled by Nature's finest hand. 
 In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn, 
 And fair exposed she stood, shrunk from her- 
 self. 
 With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze 
 Alarmed, and starting like the fearful fawn ? 
 99 
 
SCfje &zmom. 
 
 Then to the flood she rushed ; the parted 
 
 flood 
 Its lovely guest with closing waves received ; 
 And every beauty softening, every grace 
 Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed : 
 As shines the lily through the crystal mild, 
 Or as the rose amid the morning dew, 
 Fresh from Aurora^s hand, more sweetly 
 
 glows. 
 While thus she wantoned, now beneath the 
 
 wave 
 But ill-concealed, and now with streaming 
 
 locks. 
 That half embraced her in a humid veil. 
 Rising again, the latent Damon drew 
 Such maddening draughts of beauty to the 
 
 soul. 
 As for a while overwhelmed his raptured 
 
 thought 
 With luxury too daring. Checked, at last. 
 By love's respectful modesty, he deemed 
 The theft profane, if aught profane to love 
 Can e'er be deemed, and, struggling, from the 
 
 shade, 
 
 100 
 
Summer* 
 
 With headlong hurry fled : but first these 
 
 lines, 
 Traced by his ready pencil, on the bank 
 With trembling hand he threw. " Bathe on, 
 
 my fair, 
 Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye 
 Of faithful love. I go to guard thy haunt. 
 To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, 
 And each licentious eye." With wild surprise, 
 As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, 
 A stupid moment motionless she stood : 
 So stands the statue that enchants the world ; 
 So, bending, tries to veil the matchless boast, 
 The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. 
 Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes 
 Which blissful Eden knew not ; and, arrayed 
 In careless haste, the alarming paper snatched. 
 But, when her Damon^s well-known hand she 
 
 saw. 
 Her terrors vanished, and a softer train 
 Of mixed emotions, hard to be described. 
 Her sudden bosom seized : shame void of 
 
 guilt. 
 The charming blush of innocence, esteem 
 
 lOI 
 
2Cf)e Seasons, 
 
 And admiration of her lover's flame, 
 
 By modesty exalted. E'en a sense 
 
 Of self-approving beauty stole across 
 
 Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm 
 
 Hushed by degrees the tumult of her soul ; 
 
 And on the spreading beech, that o'er the 
 
 stream 
 Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen 
 Of rural lovers this confession carved, 
 Which soon her Damon kissed with weeping 
 
 joy : 
 " Dear youth, sole judge of what these verses 
 
 mean. 
 By fortune too much favoured, but by love, 
 Alas! not favoured less, be still as now 
 Discreet : the time may come you need not 
 
 fly." 
 The sun has lost his rage : his downward 
 
 orb 
 Shoots nothing now but animating warmth 
 And vital lustre ; that, with various ray. 
 Lights up the clouds, — those beauteous robes 
 
 of heaven. 
 Incessant rolled into romantic shapes ; 
 
 102 
 
Summer* 
 
 The dream of waking fancy ! Broad below, 
 Covered with ripening fruits, and swelHng fast 
 Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth 
 And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour 
 Of walking comes ; for him who lonely loves 
 To seek the distant hills, and there converse 
 With Nature, there to harmonise his heart, 
 And in pathetic song to breathe around 
 The harmony to others. Social friends, 
 Attuned to happy unison of soul ; 
 To whose exalting eye a fairer world. 
 Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse, 
 Displays its charms ; whose minds are richly 
 
 fraught 
 With philosophic stores, superior light ; 
 And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns 
 Virtue the sons of interest deem romance. 
 Now called abroad enjoy the falling day : 
 Now to the verdant portico of woods. 
 To Nature^s vast lyceum, forth they walk ; 
 By that kind school where no proud master 
 
 reigns. 
 The full free converse of a friendly heart. 
 Improving and improved. Now from the 
 
 world, 103 
 
E\}z Seasons* 
 
 Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, 
 And pour their souls in transport, which the 
 
 sire 
 Of love approving hears, and calls it good. 
 Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our 
 
 course ? 
 The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we 
 
 choose? 
 All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind 
 Along the streams ? or walk the smiling mead ? 
 Or court the forest glades ? or wander wild 
 Among the waving harvests ? or ascend. 
 While radiant summer opens all its pride, 
 Thy hill, delightful Shene? Here let us 
 
 sweep 
 The boundless landscape : now the raptured 
 
 eye, 
 Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send, 
 Now to the sister hills that skirt her plain. 
 To lofty Harrow now, and now to where 
 Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow. 
 In lovely contrast to this glorious view, 
 Calmly magnificent, then will we turn 
 To where the silver Thames first rural grows. 
 104 
 
Summer* 
 
 There let the feasted eye unwearied stray ; 
 Luxurious, there, rove through the pendant 
 
 woods 
 That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat ; 
 And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering 
 
 walks, 
 Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace re- 
 tired, 
 With her, the pleasing partner of his heart, 
 The worthy Queensberry yet laments his Gay, 
 And polished Cornbury wooes the willing 
 
 Muse, 
 Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames ; 
 Fair winding up to where the Muses haunt 
 In Twit'nam's bowers, and for their Pope 
 
 implore 
 The healing god, to royal Hampton's pile. 
 To Clermont's terraced height, and Esher's 
 
 groves, 
 Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced 
 By the soft windings of the silent mole. 
 From courts and senates Pelham finds repose. 
 Enchanting vale ! beyond whate'er the Muse 
 Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung ! 
 105 
 
3C{}£ Seasons* 
 
 O vale of bliss ! O softly swelling hills ! 
 On which the power of cultivation lies, 
 And joys to see the wonders of his toil. 
 Heavens ! what a goodly prospect spreads 
 
 around, 
 Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, 
 
 and spires. 
 And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till 
 
 all 
 The stretching landscape into smoke decays ! 
 Happy Britannia! where the queen of arts. 
 Inspiring vigour, Liberty abroad 
 Walks, unconfined, even to thy farthest cots, 
 And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. 
 Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime ; 
 Thy streams unfailing in the summer's 
 
 drought ; 
 Unmatched thy guardian oaks ; thy valleys 
 
 float 
 With golden waves ; and on thy mountains 
 
 flocks 
 Bleat numberless ; while, roving round their 
 
 sides, 
 Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves. 
 1 06 
 
Summer* 
 
 Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise un- 
 
 quelled 
 Against the mower's scythe. On every hand 
 Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with 
 
 wealth ; 
 And property assures it to the swain, 
 Pleased and unwearied in his guarded toil. 
 
 Full are thy cities with the sons of art ; 
 And trade and joy, in every busy street, 
 Mingling are heard ;- even Drudgery himself, 
 As at the car he sweats, or, dusty, hews 
 The palace stone, looks gay. Thy crowded 
 
 ports. 
 Where rising masts an endless prospect yield. 
 With labour burn, and echo to the shouts 
 Of hurried sailor, as he, hearty, waves 
 His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet. 
 Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind. 
 Bold, firm, and graceful are thv generous 
 
 youth, 
 By hardship sinewed, and by danger fired. 
 Scattering the nations where they go ; and 
 
 first 
 Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas. 
 109 
 
^\jz Seasons* 
 
 Mild are thy glories too, as o^er the plans 
 Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires pre- 
 side ; 
 In genius, and substantial learnings high ; 
 For every virtue, every worth renowned ; 
 Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind ; 
 Yet like the mustering thunder when pro- 
 voked, 
 The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource 
 Of those that under grim oppression groan. 
 Thy sons of glory many ! Alfred thine. 
 In whom the splendour of heroic war. 
 And more heroic peace, when governed well. 
 Combine ; whose hallowed name the virtues 
 
 saint. 
 And his own Muses love — the best of 
 
 kings ! 
 With him thy Edwards and thy Henries 
 
 shine. 
 Names dear to fame ; the first who deep im- 
 pressed 
 On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, 
 That awes her genius still. In statesmen thou. 
 And patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More, 
 no 
 
Summer* 
 
 Who, with a generous though mistaken zeal, 
 
 Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage. 
 
 Like Cato firm, like Aristides just, 
 
 Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor — 
 
 A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death. 
 
 Frugal and wise, a Walsingham is thime, 
 
 A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep. 
 
 And bore thy name in thunder round the 
 
 world. 
 Then flamed thy spirit high : but who can 
 
 speak 
 The numerous worthies of the maiden reign? 
 In Raleigh mark their every glory mixed ; 
 Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! whose breast 
 
 with all 
 The sage, the patriot, and the hero burned. 
 Nor sunk his vigour, when a coward-reign 
 The warrior fettered, and at last resigned. 
 To glut the vengeance of a vanquished foe. 
 Then, active still and unrestrained, his mind 
 Explored the vast extent of ages past. 
 And with his prison-hours enriched the world ; 
 Yet found no times, in all the long research. 
 So glorious, or so base, as those he proved, 
 III 
 
2E{}e Seasons. 
 
 In which he conquered^ and in which he bled. 
 Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass. 
 The plume of war ! with early laurels crowned, 
 The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay. 
 A Hampden too is thine, illustrious land, 
 Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul. 
 Who stemmed the torrent of a downward 
 
 age 
 To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again. 
 In all thy native pomp of freedom bold. 
 Bright, at his call, thy age of men effulged ; 
 Of men on whom late time a kindling eye 
 Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they 
 
 read. 
 Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew 
 The grave where Russel lies * whose tempered 
 
 blood, 
 With calmest cheerfulness for thee resigned. 
 Stained the sad annals of a giddy reign. 
 Aiming at lawless power, though meanly sunk 
 In loose inglorious luxury. With him 
 His friend, the British Cassius, fearless bled ; 
 Of high determined spirit roughly brave. 
 By ancient learning to the enlightened love 
 
 112 
 
Summer* 
 
 Of ancient freedom warmed. Fair thy re- 
 nown 
 In awful sages and in noble bards ; 
 Soon as the light of dawning science spread 
 Her orient ray, and waked the Muses' song. 
 Thine is a Bacon, hapless in his choice, 
 Unfit to stand the civil storm of state, 
 And through the smooth barbarity of courts, 
 With firm but pliant virtue, forward still 
 To urge his course. Him for the studious 
 
 shade 
 Kind nature formed, deep, comprehensive, 
 
 clear, 
 Exact, and elegant ; in one rich soul, 
 Plato, the Stagirite, and Tully joined. 
 The great deliverer he ! who, from the gloom 
 Of cloistered monks, and jargon-teaching 
 
 schools. 
 Led forth the true Philosophy, there long 
 Held in the magic chain of words and forms, 
 And definitions void : he led her forth, 
 Daughter of Heaven ! that slow-ascending 
 
 still. 
 Investigating sure the chain of things, 
 113 
 
Wi}t Seasons* 
 
 With radiant finger points to Heaven again. 
 The generous Ashley thine, the friend of man ; 
 Who scanned his nature with a brother's eye, 
 His weakness prompt to shade, to raise his 
 
 aim, 
 To touch the finer movements of the mind, 
 And with the moral beauty charm the heart. 
 Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious 
 
 search. 
 Amid the dark recesses of his works, 
 The great Creator sought? And why thy 
 
 Locke, 
 Who made the whole internal world his own ? 
 Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom God 
 To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works 
 From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame 
 In all philosophy. For lofty sense. 
 Creative fancy, and inspection keen 
 Through the deep windings of the human 
 
 heart, 
 Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's 
 
 boast ? 
 Is not each great, each amiable Muse 
 Of classic ages in thy Milton met ? — 
 114 
 
Stimnter* 
 
 A genius universal as his theme^ 
 Astonishing as chaos, as the bloom 
 Of blowing Eden fair, as Heaven sublime. 
 115 
 
Wt}z Seasons* 
 
 Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget, 
 The gentle Spenser, Fancy's pleasing son ; 
 Who, like a copious river, poured his song 
 O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground : 
 Nor thee, his ancient master, laughing sage, 
 Chaucer, whose native manners-painting verse, 
 Well moralised, shines through the gothic 
 
 cloud 
 Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown . 
 
 May my song soften, as thy daughters I, 
 Britannia, hail ! for beauty is their own, 
 The feeling heart, simplicity of life. 
 And elegance, and taste : the faultless form, 
 Shaped by the hand of harmony ; the cheek, 
 Where the live crimson, through the native 
 
 white 
 Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 
 And every nameless grace ; the parted lip, 
 Like the red rosebud moist with morning dew, 
 Breathing delight ; and, under flowing jet. 
 Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown, 
 The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling 
 
 breast ; 
 The look resistless, piercing to the soul, 
 ii6 
 
Summer* 
 
 And by the soul informed, when dressed in 
 
 love 
 She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye. 
 
 Island of bliss ! amid the subject seas, 
 That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up, 
 At once the wonder, terror, and delight 
 Of distant nations ; whose remotest shore 
 Can soon be shaken by thy naval arm ; 
 Not to be shook thyself, but all assaults 
 Baffling, like thy hoar cliifs the loud sea-wave. 
 O Thou ! by whose almighty nod the scale 
 Of empire rises, or alternate falls, 
 Send forth the saving virtues round the land, 
 In bright patrol : white Peace, and social 
 
 Love; 
 The tender-looking Charity, intent 
 On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through 
 
 smiles ; 
 Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of Mind : 
 Courage composed, and keen ; sound Tem- 
 perance, 
 Healthful in heart and look ; clear Chastity, 
 With blushes reddening as she moves along. 
 Disordered at the deep regard she draws ; 
 117 
 
Wi}z Seasons* 
 
 Rough Industry ; Activity untired, 
 With copious Hfe informed, and all awake : 
 While in the radiant front, superior shines 
 That first paternal virtue, Public Zeal ; 
 Who throws o\er all an equal wide survey, 
 And, ever musing on the common weal, 
 Still labours glorious with some great design. 
 Low walks the sun, and broadens by de- 
 grees. 
 Just o'er the verge of day . The shifting clouds 
 Assembled gay, a richly gorgeous train. 
 In all their pomp attend his setting throne. 
 Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And 
 
 now. 
 As if his weary chariot sought the bowers 
 Of Amphitrite, and her tending nymphs 
 (So Grecian fable sung) , he dips his orb ; 
 Now half immersed ; and now a golden curve. 
 Gives one bright glance, then total disappears. 
 
 Forever running an enchanted round. 
 Passes the day, deceitful, vain, and void; 
 As fleets the vision o'er the formful brain. 
 This moment hurrying wild the impassioned 
 soul, 
 
 ii8 
 
Sumtner* 
 
 The next in nothing lost. 'T is so to him, 
 The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank: 
 A sight of horror to the cruel wretch, 
 Who all day long in sordid pleasure rolled, 
 Himself a useless load, has squandered vile. 
 Upon his scoundrel train, what might have 
 
 cheered 
 A drooping family of modest worth. 
 But to the generous still-improving mind, 
 That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy, 
 Diffusing kind beneficence around, 
 Boastless, as now descends the silent dew, — 
 To him the long review of ordered life 
 Is inward rapture, only to be felt. 
 
 Confessed from yonder slow-extinguished 
 
 clouds. 
 All ether softening, sober Evening takes 
 Her wonted station in the middle air ; 
 A thousand shadows at her beck. First this 
 She sends on earth ; then that, of deeper dye, 
 Steals soft behind ; and then a deeper still, 
 In circle following circle, gathers round, 
 To close the face of things. A fresher gale 
 Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream, 
 119 
 
2Cf)t Seasons* 
 
 Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of 
 
 corn; 
 While the quail clamours for his running mate. 
 Wide o'er the thistly lawn^ as swells the 
 
 breeze, 
 A whitening shower of vegetable down 
 Amusive floats. The kind impartial care 
 Of Nature naught disdains : thoughtful to feed 
 Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming year, 
 From field to field the feathered seeds she 
 
 wings. 
 His folded flock secure, the shepherd home 
 Hies, merry-hearted ; and by turns relieves 
 The ruddy milkmaid of her brimming pail ; 
 The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart. 
 Unknowing what the joy-mixed anguish 
 
 means, 
 Sincerely loves, by that best language shown 
 Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. 
 Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, 
 And valley sunk and unfrequented ; where 
 At fall of eve the fairy people throng, 
 In various game and revelry to pass 
 The summer-night, as village-stories tell. 
 
 120 
 
Sutttttitt* 
 
 But far about they wander from the grave 
 Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urged 
 Against his own sad breast to lift the hand 
 Of impious violence. The lonely tower 
 Is also shunned ; whose mournful chambers 
 
 hold, 
 So night-struck Fancy dreams, the yelling 
 ghost. 
 Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge, 
 The glow-worm lights his gem ; and through 
 
 the dark, 
 A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields 
 The world to night ; not in her winter-robe 
 Of massy Stygian woof, but loose arrayed 
 In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, 
 Glanced from the imperfect surfaces of things, 
 Flings half an image on the straining eye ; 
 While wavering woods, and villages, and 
 
 streams, 
 And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long re- 
 tained 
 The ascending gleam, are all one swimming 
 
 scene, 
 Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven 
 
 121 
 
Wi)z &tmom. 
 
 Thence weary vision turns ; where, leading 
 
 soft 
 The silent hours of love, with purest ray 
 Sweet Venus shines ; and from her genial rise, 
 When daylight sickens till it springs afresh, 
 Unrivalled reigns, the fairest lamp of night. 
 As thus the effulgence tremulous I drink, 
 With cherished gaze, the lambent lightnings 
 
 shoot 
 Across the sky ; or horizontal dart 
 In wondrous shapes : by fearful murmuring 
 
 crowds 
 Portentous deemed. Amid the radiant orbs. 
 That more than deck, that animate the sky. 
 The life-infusing suns of other worlds, 
 Lo ! from the dread immensity of space 
 Returning, with accelerated course. 
 The rushing comet to the sun descends ; 
 And as he sinks below the shading earth, 
 With awful train projected o'er the heavens, 
 The guilty nations tremble. But, above 
 Those superstitious horrors that enslave 
 The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith 
 And blind amazement prone, the enlightened 
 
 few, 122 
 
Summer. 
 
 Whose godlike minds philosophy exalts, 
 The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy 
 Divinely great ; they in their powers exult, 
 That wondrous force of thought, which mount- 
 ing spurns 
 This dusky spot, and measures all the sky ; 
 While, from his far excursion through the 
 
 wilds 
 Of barren ether, faithful to his time, 
 They see the blazing wonder rise anew, 
 In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent 
 To work the will of all-sustaining Love ; 
 From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake 
 Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs 
 Through which his long ellipsis winds ; per- 
 haps 
 To lend new fuel to declining suns. 
 To light up worlds, and feed the eternal fire. 
 
 With thee, serene Philosophy, with thee. 
 And thy bright garland, let me crown my 
 
 song ! 
 Effusive source of evidence and truth ! 
 A lustre shedding o^er the ennobled mind, 
 Stronger than summer-noon ; and pure as that 
 123 
 
Cfte Seasons* 
 
 Whose mild vibrations soothe the parted soul, 
 New to the dawning of celestial day. 
 Hence through her nourished powers, en- 
 larged by thee, 
 She springs aloft, with elevated pride, 
 Above the tangling mass of low desires, 
 That bind the fluttering crowd ; and, angel- 
 winged. 
 The heights of science and of virtue gains, 
 Where all is calm and clear ; with Nature 
 
 round, 
 Or in the starry regions, or the abyss. 
 To Reason's and to Fancy's eye displayed : 
 The first up-tracing, from the dreary void. 
 The chain of causes and effects to Him, 
 The world-producing Essence, who alone 
 Possesses being ; while the last receives 
 The whole magnificence of heaven and earth. 
 And every beauty, delicate or bold. 
 Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense. 
 Diffusive painted on the rapid mind. 
 
 Tutored by thee, hence Poetry exalts 
 Her voice to ages ; and informs the page 
 With music, image, sentiment, and thought, 
 124 
 
Summer* 
 
 Never to die ; the treasure of mankind, 
 Their highest honour, and their truest joy! 
 Without thee what were unenHghtened 
 
 man? 
 A savage, roaming through the woods and 
 
 wilds 
 In quest of prey, and with the unfashioned fur 
 Rough -clad ; devoid of every finer art, 
 And elegance of life. Nor happiness 
 Domestic, mixed of tenderness and care. 
 Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss. 
 Nor guardian law, were his ; nor various skill 
 To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool 
 Mechanic ; nor the Heaven-conducted prow 
 Of navigation bold, that fearless braves 
 The burning line or dares the wintry pole, 
 Mother severe of infinite delights! 
 Nothing, save rapine, indolence, and guile, 
 And woes on woes, a still-revolving train. 
 Whose horrid circle had made human life 
 Than non-existence worse : but, taught by 
 
 thee. 
 Ours are the plans of poHcy, and peace ; 
 To live like brothers, and, conjunctive all, 
 125 
 
2r|}e Seasons* 
 
 Embellish life. While thus laborious crowds 
 
 Ply the tough oar, Philosophy directs 
 
 The ruling helm ; or, like the liberal breath 
 
 Of potent heaven, invisible, the sail 
 
 Swells out, and bears the inferior world along. 
 
 Nor to this evanescent speck of earth 
 Poorly confined : the radiant tracts on high 
 Are her exalted range ; intent to gaze 
 Creation through ; and, from that full complex 
 Of neverending wonders, to conceive 
 Of the Sole Being right, who spoke the word. 
 And Nature moved complete. With inward 
 
 view, 
 Thence on the ideal kingdom swift she turns 
 Her eye ; and instant, at her powerful glance. 
 The obedient phantoms vanish or appear. 
 Compound, divide, and into order shift. 
 Each to his rank, from plain perception up 
 To the fair forms of fancy's fleeting train : 
 To reason then, deducing truth from truth, 
 And notion quite abstract ; where first begins 
 The world of spirits, action all, and life 
 Unfettered and unmixt. But here the cloud. 
 So wills eternal Providence, sits deep. 
 126 
 
Summer^ 
 
 Enough for us to know that this dark state, 
 
 In wayward passions lost and vain pursuits, 
 
 This infancy of being, cannot prove 
 
 The final issue of the works of God, 
 
 By boundless love and perfect wisdom formed, 
 
 And ever rising: with the risino: mind. 
 
 127 
 
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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS