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 T 3HC 3EL 
 
 JAME5 XHOKIOTT. 
 
 TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 BY PATRICK MURDOCH, D. D. F. R. S. 
 
 AND 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PLAN AND CHARACTER OF THE TOEM, 
 
 HAMBURG, 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. H. and J. G. HEROLD, 
 BY G. F. SCHNIEBES. 
 
 MDCCXCI. 
 
P R 3 7 3- 
 
 n c v 
 
 
 £8 4 VC 4 
 
TO 
 
 CHRISTIAN DANIEL EBELING, 
 
 Professor of History and of the Greek 
 
 LANGUAGE AT THE GYMNASIUM 
 
 in Hambvrgh. 
 
 SIR 
 
 'Your known goodnefs gives my preemption 
 the hopes of a pardon, for prefixing to this 
 
 new edition of the immortal work of an author, 
 
 » 4 * # 
 
 whofe beauties you can , fo exquifltely relifh in 
 the original , the Name of a. Man , whofe cha- 
 ra<5ter and great univerfal learning defervedly 
 are the pride of my countrymen, and the boaft 
 of all that have the honour of your acquaintance. 
 
 I could not deny myfelfthe fatisfa&ion of laying 
 hold on this Firft opportunity of alluring you of 
 my fincereft efteem , and declaring at the fame 
 time to the world, the infinite obligations I have 
 to you. 
 
 To 
 
To know you, and not love your goodnefe 
 would betray a total want of feeling and 
 humanity in any one. In me it would amount 
 to the higheft ingratitude if I could ever be in- 
 fenfible or unmindful of that great degree of 
 kindnefe and friendfhip , you have been pleafed 
 to fhow me, ever fince I have been a nearer 
 witnefs and ardent admirer of your worth. 
 
 But my pen cannot accompany my heart 
 when I fpeak, and whilft I am pleafing myfelf 
 I fear to offend you. Be pleafed therefore to 
 accept of thefe few lines as an acknowledgment 
 of the favour you have fhown me, and a pledge 
 of the fincere gratitude and perfed regard of 
 
 SIR 
 
 Your moft obliged 
 
 humble fervant 
 
 John Timaeus. 
 
Preface, 
 
 I have very little to inform the Reader concerning 
 this new edition of a poet whofe immortal fame is 
 fo univerfally eftablished in every country, where 
 due honour is paid to genius , and uncommon 
 natural endowments. It being chiefly intended for 
 the ufe of fchools, correftnefs and cheapnefs 
 have been more confulted than that elegance 
 and fplendour, which too often exceeds the 
 narrow circumftances of the diligent, but in- 
 digent youth. 
 
 The beft editions have been carefully 
 compared, as well thefe that appeared during 
 the author’s life as thofe flnce his death: the 
 variations of the text have been conftantly 
 attended to, the differences duly weighed, and 
 thofe readings chofen and oftentimes replaced, 
 that had been either corrupted by the care- 
 lefsnefs and inadvertency of former editors, or 
 
 X altered 
 
II Preface. 
 
 altered for the worfe without tafte and critical 
 judgment. I fubmit them to the decifion of able 
 critics; and fhould think myfelf highly rewarded 
 for many a laborious and toilfome hour , if by 
 this new edition the unrivalled mafterpiece of 
 the Britifh Bard fhould be more univerlally 
 ip read and acknowledged among!! my country- 
 men; and the favourite of the Mufes, the inimi- 
 table painter of Nature be more ftudied in the 
 original. 
 
 Murdoch’s life of the author , and Aikins ex- 
 cellent EJfaij on the plan and character of the poem 
 will I hope, meet with a favourable reception, 
 they never having been printed in Germany. 
 Notwithftanding my unremitted affiduity and 
 ftrift accuracy a few errors of the prels may 
 have crept in, which, I flatter myfelf, the Reader 
 will kindly excufe. 
 
 The Editor . 
 
 AN 
 
AN 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 LIFE AND WRITINGS 
 
 O F 
 
 Mr. JAM3E.-S XSOMiOIf. 
 
 J*T is commonly faid , that the life of a good writer is beft 
 read in his works; which can fcarce fail to receive a 
 peculiar tincture from his temper, manners, and habits: the 
 diftinguifhing charafter of his mind, his ruling paffion, at 
 lead:, will there appear undifguifed. But however juft this 
 observation may be; and although we might fafely reft Mr. 
 Thomfon's fame, as a good man , as well as a man of genius, 
 on this foie footing; yet the defire which the Public always 
 fhews of being more particularly acquainted with the hiftory 
 of an eminent author, ought not to be difappointed ; as it 
 proceeds not from mere curiofity, but chiefly from affection 
 and gratitude to thofe by whom they have been entertained 
 and inftrufted. 
 
 To give fome account of a deceafed friend is often a piece 
 of juftice likewife, which ought not to be refufed to his 
 memory : to prevent or efface the impertinent fiftions which 
 
 X $ officious 
 
IV 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 officious Biographers are fo apt to collect and propagate. 
 And we may add, that the circumftaruces of an author’s life 
 will fometimes throw the befl light upon his writings; in- 
 fiances whereof we f hall meet with in the following pages. 
 
 Mr. Thomfon was born at Ednam, in the fhire of Rox- 
 burgh , on the nth of September , in the year 1700. His 
 father, minifter of that place was but little known beyond 
 the narrow circle of his co-presbyters, and to a few gentle- 
 men in the neighbourhood; but highly refpefted by them, 
 for his piety, and his diligence in the pafloral duty: as ap- 
 peared afterwards in their kind offices to his widow and 
 orphan family. 
 
 The Reverend Meffrs. Riccarton and Guflhart , particu- 
 larly, took a mod atfe&ionate and friendly part in all their 
 concerns. The former, a man of uncommon penetration 
 and good tafte, had very early difcovered, through the ru- 
 denefs of young Thomson's puerile effays, a fund of genius 
 well deferving culture and encouragement. He undertook 
 therefore, with the father’s approbation, the chief direction 
 of his lludies, furnifhed him with the proper books, cor- 
 rected his performances , and was daily rewarded with the 
 pleafure of feeing his labours fo happily employed. 
 
 The other Reverend gentleman, Mr. Guflhart , who is 
 Hill living *, one of the minifters of Edinburgh , and fenior 
 of the Chapel Royal, was no lefs ferviceable to Mrs. Thomfon 
 in the management of her little affairs; which, after the 
 deceafe of her husband, burdened as fhe was with a family 
 
 of 
 
 * 1762. 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON. v 
 
 of nine children, required the prudent counfels and affiftance 
 of that faithful and generous friend. 
 
 Sir William Bennet likewife, well known for his gay 
 humour and ready poetical wit, was highly delighted with 
 our young poet, and ufed to invite him to pafs the Summer 
 vacation at his country feat: a fcene of life which Mr. Thom~ 
 fon always remebered with particular pleafure. But what he 
 wrote during that time, either to entertain Sir William and 
 Mr. Riccarton , or for his own amufement, he deftroyed 
 every new year’s day: committing his little pieces to the 
 flames, in their due order: and crowning the folemnity 
 with a copy of verfes, in which were humoroully recited the 
 feveral grounds of their condemnation. 
 
 After the ufual courfe of Tchool education, under an able 
 matter at gfedbiirgh, Mr. Thomfon was fent to the Univerfity 
 of Edinburgh . But in the fecond year of his admiffion, his 
 ftudies were for fome time interrupted by the death of his 
 father; who was carried off fo fuddenly, that it was not 
 poffible for Mr. Thomfon , with all the diligence he could 
 ufe, to receive his laft blefilng. This affefted him to an un- 
 common degree; and his relations ftill remember fome extra- 
 ordinary inttances of his grief and filial duty on that occaflon. 
 
 Mrs. Thomfon , whofe maiden name was Hume, and who 
 was co-heirefs of a fmall eftate in the country, did not fink 
 under this misfortune. She confulted her friend Mr. Gujlhart ; 
 and having, by his advice, mortgaged her moiety -of the 
 farm, repaired with her family to Edinburgh; where The 
 
 )( 2 lived 
 
 i 
 
VI THE LIFE OF 
 
 lived in a decent frugal manner, till her favourite fon had not 
 only finifhed his academical courfe, but was even diftinguifhed 
 and patronifed as a Man of genius. She was, herfelf, a 
 perfon of uncommon natural endowments; poffeffed of every 
 focial and domeftic virtue ; with an imagination , for vivacity 
 and warmth , fcarce inferior to her fon’s , and which raifed 
 her devotional exercifes to a pitch bordering on enthufiafm. 
 
 But whatever advantage Mr. Thomfon might derive from 
 the complexion of his parent, it is certain he owed much to 
 a religious education; and that his early acquaintance with the 
 facred writings contributed greatly to that fublime , by which 
 his works will be for ever diftinguifhed. In his firft pieces, 
 the Seafons , we fee him at once affume the majeftic freedom 
 of an Eaftern writer; feizing the grand images as they rife, 
 clothing them in his own exprefiive language, and preferving, 
 throughout, the grace, the variety, and the dignity which 
 belong to a juft compofition; unhurt by the ftiffnefs of for- 
 mal method. 
 
 About this time, the ftudy of poetry was become general 
 in Scotland , the beft Englifh authors being univerfally read, 
 and imitations of them attempted. Addijon had lately difplayed 
 the beauties of Milton's immortal work ; and his remarks on 
 it, together with Mr. Pope's celebrated Effay , had opened 
 the way to an acquaintance with the beft poets and critics. 
 
 But the molt learned critic is not always the beft judge of 
 poetry; tafte being a gift of Nature, the want of which, 
 Arijlotle and JBoJfu cannot fupply; nor even the ftudy of the 
 
 beft 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON. vii 
 
 belt originals, when the reader's faculties are not tuned in a 
 certain confonance to tliofe of the poet: and this happened to 
 be the cafe with certain learned gentlemen, into whofe hands 
 a few of Mr. Thomfon's firft effays had fallen. Some inaccu- 
 racies of ftyle , and thofe luxuriancies which a young writer 
 can hardly avoid, lay open to their cavils and cenfure; fo far 
 indeed they might be competent judges: but the fire and 
 enthufiafm of the poet had entirely efcaped their notice. Mr* 
 Thomfon , however, confcious of his own ftrength, was not 
 difcouraged by this treatment; efpecially as he had fome 
 friends on whofe judgment he could better rely, and who 
 thought very differently of his performances. Only, from 
 that time, he began to turn his view towards London; where 
 works of genius may always expect a candid reception and 
 due encouragement: and an accident foon after entirely deter- 
 mined him to try his fortune there. 
 
 The divinity chair at Edinburgh was then filled by the 
 reverend and learned Mr. Hamilton ; a gentleman univerfally 
 refpefted and beloved ; and who had particularly endeared 
 himfelf to the young divines under his care, by^ his kind 
 offices, his candour and affability. Our author had attended 
 his lectures for about a year, when there was prefcribed to 
 him for the fubjeft of an exereife, a pfalm, in which the 
 power and majefty of God are celebrated. Of this plalm he 
 gave a paraphrafe and illuftration , as the nature of the exer- 
 cife required ; but in a ftyle fo highly poetical as furprifed 
 the whole audience. Mr. Hamilton , as his cuftom was, 
 complimented the orator upon his performance, and pointed 
 
 )( 4 out 
 
VIII THE LIFE OF 
 
 out to the ftudents the moft mafterly ftriking parts of it ; hut 
 atlaft, turning to Mr. Thomfon , he told him, fmiling, that 
 if he thought of being ufeful in the miniftry, he mull keep a 
 ftri&er rein upon his imagination, and exprefs himfelf in 
 language more intelligible to an ordinary congregation. 
 
 This gave Mr. Thomfon to underlland, that his expefta- 
 tions from the Itudy of theology might be very precarious; 
 even though the Church had been more his free choice than 
 probably it was. So that having, foon after, received fome 
 encouragement from a lady of quality, a friend of his 
 mother’s , then in London , he quickly prepared himfelf for 
 his journey. And although this encouragement ended in 
 nothing beneficial , it ferved for the prefent as a good pretext, 
 to cover the imprudence of committing himfelf to the wide 
 World, unfriended and unpatronifed , and with the ilender 
 ftock of money he was then poffeffed of. 
 
 But his merit did not long lie concealed. Mr. Forbes , 
 afterwards Lord Prelident of the Seffion, then attending the 
 fervice of Parliament, having feen a fpecimen of Mr. Thom- 
 fon s poetry in Scotland , received him very kindly, and re- 
 commended him to fome of his friends: particularly to Mr. 
 Aikman , who lived in great intimacy with many perfons 
 of diftinguifhed rank and worth. This gentleman, from a 
 connoiffeur in painting, was become a profelfed painter ; and 
 his tafte being no lefs juft and delicate in the kindred art of 
 defcriptive poetry, than in his own, no wonder that hejfoon 
 conceived a friendfhip for our author. What a warm return 
 he met with, and how Mr. Thomfon was affefted by his 
 
 friend's 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON. ix 
 
 friend’s premature death , appears in the copy of verfes which 
 he wrote on that occafion. 
 
 In the mean time, our author’s reception, where-ever he 
 was introduced, emboldened him to rifque the publication of 
 his IVinter: in which, as himfelf was a mere novice in fuch 
 matters, he was kindly affifted by Mr. Mallet , then private 
 tutor to his grace the Duke of Montrofe , and his brother the 
 Lord George Graham , fo well known afterwards as an able 
 and gallant fea officer. To Mr. Mallet he likewife owed his 
 firfl acquaintance with feveral of the wits of that time; an 
 exaft information of their chara&ers, perfonal and poetical, 
 and how they flood affefted to each other. 
 
 The Poem of IVinter , publifhed in March 1726, was no 
 fooner read than univerfally admired; thofe only excepted 
 who had not been ufed to feel , or to look for any thing in 
 poetry, beyond a point of fatirical or epigrammatic wit, a 
 fmart antithefis richly trimmed with rhime , or the foftnefs 
 of an elegiac complaint. To fuch his manly claffical fpirit 
 could not readily recommend itfelf ; till after a more attentive 
 perufal, they had got the better of their prejudices, and either 
 acquired or affefted a truer tafle. A few others flood aloof, 
 merely becaufe they had long before fixed the articles of their 
 poetical creed, and refigned themfelves to an abfolute defpair 
 of ever feeing any thing new and original. Thefe were 
 fomewhat mortified to find their notions diflurbed by the 
 appearance of a poet, who feemed to owe nothing but to 
 Nature and his own genius. But, in a fhort time, the 
 applaufe became unanimous; every one wondering how fo 
 
 X 5 many 
 
X 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 many pi&ures, and pi&ures fo familiar, fhould have moved 
 them but faintly to what they felt in his defcriptions. His 
 digreflions too, the overflowings of a tender benevolent heart, 
 charmed the reader no lefs: leaving him in doubt, whether 
 he fhould more admire the Poet , or love the Man • 
 
 From that time Mr. Thomfon's acquaintance was courted 
 by all men of tafte ; and feveral ladies of high rank and di- 
 ftinftion became his declared patroneifes : the Countefs of Hert- 
 ford , Mifs Drelincourt , afterwards Vifcountefs Primrofe , 
 Mrs. Stanley , and others. But the chief happinefs which his 
 Winter procured him was, that it brought him acquainted 
 with Dr. Randle , afterwards Lord Bifhop of Derry: who, 
 upon converting with Mr. Thomfon , and finding in him qual- 
 ities greater ftill, and of more value, than thofe of a poet, 
 received him into his intimate confidence and friendfhip; pro- 
 moted his charafter everywhere; introduced him to his great 
 friend the Lord Chancellor Talbot ; and, fome years after, 
 when the eldeft fon of that nobleman was to make his tour 
 of travelling , recommended Mr. Tkonifon as a proper com- 
 panion for him. His affe&ion and gratitude to Dr. Run die, 
 and his indignation at the treatment that worthy prelate had 
 
 i 
 
 met with , are finely exprelfed in his poem to the memory of 
 Lord Talbot . The true caufe of that undeferved treatment 
 has been fecreted from the Public, as well as the dark 
 manoeuvres that were employed: but Mr. Thomfon , who had 
 accefs to the beft information, places it to the account of 
 
 Slanderous zeal, and politics infirm. 
 
 Jealous of worth, — 
 
 Meanwhile 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON. xi 
 
 Meanwhile, our poet’s chief care had been, in return for 
 the public favour, to finifb the plan which their wifhes laid 
 out for him; and the expectations which his Winter had railed, 
 were fully fatisfied by the fucceffive publication of the other 
 Seafons: of Summer, in the year 1727; of Spring , in the 
 beginning of the following year; and of Autumn, in a quarto 
 edition of his works, printed in 1730. 
 
 In that edition, the Seafons are placed in their natural 
 order ; and crowned with that inimitable Hymn , in 
 which we view them in their beautiful fucceffion, as one 
 whole , the immediate effeft of infinite Power and Goodnefs ♦ 
 In imitation of the hebrew Bard , all Nature is called forth to 
 do homage to the Creator, and the reader is left enraptured 
 in filent adoration and praife. 
 
 Befides thefe, and his tragedy of Sophonifba, written and 
 afted with applaufe, in the year 1729. Mr. Thomfon had, in 
 1727, publifhedhis poem to the memory of Sir Ifaac Newton, 
 then lately deceafed ; containing a deferved encomium of that 
 incomparable Man, with an account of his chief difcoveries; 
 fublimely poetical; and yet fo juft, that an ingenious foreigner, 
 the Count Algarotii, takes a line of it for the text of his 
 philofophieal dialogues , II N eutonianifmo per le dame : this 
 was in part owing to the aftiftance he had of his friend Mr. 
 Gray , a gentleman well verfed in the Newtonian Philofophy , 
 who, on that occafipn, gave him a very exafr, though general, 
 abftraft of its principles* 
 
 That fame year, the refentment of our merchants, for 
 the interruption of their trade by the Spaniards in America, 
 
 running 
 
XII THE LIFE OF 
 
 running very high, Mr. Thomfon zealoufly took part in it; 
 and wrote his poem Britannia , to route the nation to revenge* 
 And although this piece is the lefs read that its fubjeft was 
 but accidental and temporary; the fpirited generous fentiments 
 that enrich it, can never be out of feafon: they will at leaft 
 remain a monument of that love of his country, that devotion 
 to the Public , which he is ever inculcating as the perfeftion 
 of virtue, and which none ever felt more pure, or more 
 intenfe, than himfelf. 
 
 Our author’s poetical ftudies were now to be interrupted, 
 or rather improved, by his attendance on the Honourable 
 Mr. Charles Talbot in his travels. A delightful tafk indeed! 
 endowed as that young nobleman was by Nature, and accom- 
 plifhed by the care and example of the beft of fathers, in 
 whatever could adorn humanity : graceful of perfon, elegant 
 in manners and addrefs, pious, humane, generous; with an 
 exquilite tafte in all the finer arts. 
 
 With this amiable companion and friend, Mr. Thomfon 
 vifited moft of the courts and capital cities of Europe ; and 
 returned with his views greatly enlarged; not of exterior 
 Nature only, and the works of art, but of human life and 
 manners , of the conftitution and policy of the feveral ftates, 
 their connexions , and their religious inftitutions. How par- 
 ticular and judicious his obfervations were, we fee in his poem 
 of Liberty , begun foon after his return to England . We fee, 
 at the fame time, to what a high pitch his love of his country 
 was raifed , by the comparifons he had all along been making 
 of our happy well-poifed government with thofe of other 
 
 nations. 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON. xm 
 
 / 
 
 nations. To infpire his fellow-fubjetts with the like fenti- 
 ments; and to fhew them by what means the precious free- 
 dom we enjoy may be preferved, and how it may be abufed 
 or loft; he employed two years of his life in compofing that 
 noble work: upon which, confcious of the importance and 
 dignity of the fubjeft, he valued himfelf more than upon all 
 his other writings. 
 
 While Mr. Thomfon was writing the firft Part of Liberty , 
 he received a fevere fhock, by the death of his noble friend 
 and fellow-traveller: which was foon followed by another 
 that was feverer ftill, and of more general concern ; the death 
 of Lord Talbot himfelf; which Mr. Thomfon fo pathetically 
 and fo juftly laments in the poem dedicated to his memory. 
 In him, the nation faw itfelf deprived of an uncorrupted 
 patriot, the faithful guardian of their rights, on whofe wifdom 
 and integrity they had founded their hopes of relief from many 
 tedious vexations : and Mr. Thomfon , befides his fhare in the 
 general mourning, had to bear all the afflifrion which a heart 
 like his could feel, for the perfon whom, of all mankind, he 
 mo ft revered and loved. At the fame time, he found himfelf, 
 from an eafy competency reduced to a ftate of precarious 
 dependence, in which he palled the remainder of his life; 
 excepting only the two laft years of it, during which he en- 
 joyed the place of Surveyor-General of the Leeward Iflands , 
 procured for him by the generous friendfhip of my Lord 
 Lyttelton . 
 
 Immediately upon his return to England with Mr. Talbot , 
 the Chancellor had made him his Secretary of Briefs: a place 
 
 of 
 
XIV THE LIFE OF 
 
 of little attendance, fuiting his retired indolent way of life, 
 and equal to all his wants. This place fell with his patron: 
 and although the noble Lord , who fucceeded to Lord Talbot 
 in office., kept it vacant for fome time, probably till Mr. 
 Thomfon fhould apply for it, he was fo difpirited, and fo 
 liftlefs to every concern of that kind, that he never took one 
 ftep in the affair: a negleft which his beft friends greatly 
 blamed in him. 
 
 Yet could not his genius be depreffed, or his temper hurt, 
 by this reverfe of fortune. He refumed, with time, his ufual 
 chearfulnefs, and never abated one article in his way of living; 
 which, though Ample, was genial and elegant The profits 
 arifing from his works were not inconfiderable; his tragedy 
 of Agamemnon, afted in 1738, yielded a good fum; Mr. Millar 
 was always at hand, to anfwer, or even to prevent his de- 
 mands; and he had a friend or two befides, whofe hearts, 
 he knew, were not contracted by the ample fortunes they 
 had acquired; who would, of themfelves, interpofe, if they 
 faw any occafion for it. 
 
 But his chief dependence, during this long interval, was 
 on the protection andbounty of his Royal HighnefsFnEDERic 
 Prince of Wales ; who , upon the recommendation of Lord 
 Lyttelton , then his chief favourite, fettled on him a handfome 
 allowance. And afterwards, when he was introduced to his 
 Royal Highnefs, that excellent prince, who truly was what 
 Mr. Thomfon paints him, the friend of mankind and of merits 
 received him very gracioully , and ever after honoured him 
 with many marks of particular favour and confidence. A 
 
 circum- 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON. xv 
 
 circumftance , which does equal honour to the patron and the 
 poet, ought not here to be omitted; that my Lord Lyttelton's 
 recommendation came altogether unfolicited, and long before 
 Mr. Thomfon was perfonally known to him. 
 
 It happened, however, that the favour of his Royal High- 
 nefs was in one inftance of fome prejudice to our author; in 
 the refufal of a licence for his tragedy of Edward , and 
 Eleonora , which he had prepared for the ftage in the year 
 273 p. The reader may fee that this play contains not a line 
 which conld juftly give offence; but the miniftry, ftill fore 
 from certain pafquinades, which had lately produced the 
 ftage-aft; and as little fatisfied with fome parts of the prince’s 
 political conduct , as he was with their management of the 
 public affairs ; would not rifque the reprefentation of a piece 
 written under his eye, and, they might probably think, by 
 his command. 
 
 This refufal drew after it another; and in a way which, 
 as it is related , was rather ludicrous. Mr. Faterfon , a com- 
 panion of Mr. Thomfon , afterwards his deputy and then his 
 fucceffor in the general-furvey orfhip , ufed to write out fair 
 copies for his friend , when fuch were wanted for the prefs 
 or for the ftage. This gentleman likewife courted the tragic 
 Mufe; and had taken for his fubjeft, the ftory of Arminius , 
 the German hero. But his plot, guiltlefs as it was, being 
 prefented for a licence, no fooner had the cenfor caft his eyes 
 on the hand-writing in which he had feen Edward and 
 Eleonora , than he cried out: away with it! and the author’s 
 
 ^"ofits 
 
XVI 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 profits were reduced to what his bookfeller could afford for 
 a tragedy in diftrefs. 
 
 Mr. Thomfon's next dramatic performance was the Mafque 
 of Alfred; written, jointly with Mr. Mallet, by command 
 of the Prince of Wales , for the entertainment of his Royal 
 Highnefs’s court, at his fummer-refidence. This piece, with 
 fome alterations, and the mufic new, has been fince brought 
 upon the ftage by Mr. Mallet: but the edition we give is 
 from the original, as it was a<fted at Clifden, in the year 1740, 
 on the birth-day of her Royal Highnefs the Princefs Augujla. 
 
 In the year 1745, his Tancred and Sigifmunda , taken 
 from the novel in Gil Bias , was performed with applaufe; 
 and from the deep romantic diftrefs of the lovers, continues 
 to draw crowded houfes. The fuccefs of this piece was indeed 
 enfured from the firft by Mr. Garrick and Mrs. Cibber, there 
 appearing in the principal charafters ; which they heighten and 
 adorn with all the magic of their never-failing art. 
 
 He had, in the mean time, been finifhing his Cajlle of 
 Indolence , in two Canto’s. It was, at firft, little more than 
 a few detached ftanzas, in the way of raillery on himfelf, and 
 on fome of his friends, who would reproach him with indo- 
 lence; while he thought them, at leaft, as indolent as himfelf. 
 But he faw very foon, that the fubjeft deferved to be treated 
 more ferioufly , and in a form fitted to convey one of the 
 moft important moral leffons. 
 
 The flanza which he ufes in this work is that of Spenfer 9 
 borrowed from the Italian poets; in which he thought 
 
 rhymes 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON, xvii 
 
 rhymes had their proper place, and were even graceful: the 
 compafs of the ftanza admitting an agreable variety of final 
 founds; while the fenfe of the poet is not cramped or cut 
 fhort, nor yet too much dilated: as muft often happen, when 
 it is parcelled out into rhymed couplets; the ufual meafure 
 indeed of our elegy and fatire ; but which always weakens 
 the higher poetry, and, to a true ear, will fometimes give 
 it an air of the burlefque . 
 
 This was the laft piece Mr. Thomfon himfelf publif hed ; 
 his tragedy o £ Coriolanus being only prepared for the theatre, 
 when a fatal accident robbed the world of one of the beft 
 men, and beft poets, that lived in it. 
 
 He had always been a timorous horfeman ; and more fo # 
 in a road where numbers of giddy or unfkilful riders are con- 
 tinually paffing; fo that when the weather did not invite him 
 to go by water, he would commonly walk the diftance between 
 London and Richmond , with any acquaintance that offered; 
 with whom he might chat and reft himfelf, or perhaps dine, 
 by the way. One fummer evening, being alone, in his walk 
 from town to Hammerfmith , he had overheated himfelf, and 
 in that condition, imprudently took a boat to carry him to 
 Kew ; apprehending no bad confequenee from the chill air on 
 the river, which bis walk to his houfe, at the upper end of 
 Kew- lane, had always hitherto prevented. Rut, now, the 
 cold had fo feized him, that next day he found himfelf in a 
 high fever, fo much the more to be dreaded that he was 
 of a full habit. This, however, by the ufe of proper medi- 
 cines, was removed, fo that he was thought to be out of 
 
 X X danger: 
 
XVIII THE LIFE OF 
 
 danger: till the fine weather having tempted him to expofe 
 himfelf once more to the evening dews , his fever returned 
 with violence, and with fuch fymptoms as left no hopes of a 
 cure. Two days had palled before his relapfe was known in 
 town; at laft Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Reid , with Dr. Armflrong , 
 being informed of it, polled out at midnight to his affiitance: 
 but alas! came only to endure a fight of all others the’ 
 moft fhocking to nature, the laft agonies of their beloved 
 friend. This lamented death happened on the 27th day of 
 Augufl , 1748 * 
 
 His teframentary executors were, the Lord Lyttelton , 
 whofe care of our poet’s fortune and fame ceafed not with 
 his life; and Mr. Mitchell , a gentleman equally noted for the 
 truth and conftancy of his private friendfhips, and for his 
 addrefs and fpiritas a public minifter. By their united intereft, 
 the orphan play of Coriolanus was brought on the llage to 
 the belt advantage : from the profits of which, and the fale 
 of manufcripts, and other effects , all demands were duly 
 fatisfied, and a handfome lum remitted to his filters. My Lord 
 Lyttelton's prologue to this piece was admired as one of the 
 belt that had ever been written : the belt fpoken it certainly 
 was. The fympathyzing audience faw that then indeed 
 Mr. Quin was no affor; that the tears he fhcd, were thofe 
 of real friendfhip and grief. 
 
 Mr. Thomson's remains were depofited in the church of 
 Richmond , under a plain ftone, without any infcription : nor 
 did his brother poets at all exert themfeives on the occalion, 
 as they had lately done for one who had been [the terror of 
 
 poets 
 
Mr. JAMES THOMSON. xix 
 
 poets all his lifetime. This lilence furnifhed matter to one 
 of his friends for an excellent fatirical epigram, which we 
 are forry we cannot give the reader* Only one gentleman, 
 Mr. Collins , who had lived feme time at Richmond , but 
 forfook it when Mr. Thom [on died, wrote an Ode to his 
 memory. This, for the dirgelike melancholy it breathes* 
 and the warmth of affe&ion that feems to have dictated it^ 
 we fhall Subjoin to the prefent account. 
 
 Our author himfelf hints, fomewhefe in his works, that 
 his exterior was not the moft promifmg; his make being 
 rather fobuft than graceful: though it is known that in his 
 youth he had been thought handfome. His worft appearance 
 was, when you faw him walking alone, in a thoughtful 
 mood: but let a friend accoft him, and enter into converfa* 
 tion, he Would inftantly brighten into a mod amiable afpeft, 
 his features no longer the fame, and his eye darting a peculiar 
 animated fire* The cafe was much alike in company; where, 
 if it was mixed, or Very numerous, he made but an indifferent 
 figure: but with a few feiedt friends, he was open, Uprightly 
 and entertaining. His Wit flowed freely, but pertinently, 
 and at due intervals, leaving room for eVefy one to contribute 
 his fhate* Such Was his extreme fenfibility, fo perfeft the 
 harmony of his organs with the fentiments of his mind, that, 
 his looks always announced, and half exprefifed , what he 
 Was about to fay; and his Voice Correfponded exactly to the 
 manner and degree in which he Was affefleds This fenfibility 
 had one inconvenience attending it, that it rendered him the 
 very worft reader of good poetry: a found} Or a copy of 
 
 X X $ tame 
 
XX 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tame verfes, he could manage pretty well; or even improve 
 them in the reading: but a paffage of Virgil , Milton or 
 Shakefpeare, would fomctimes quite opprefs him, that you 
 could hear little elfe than fome ill-articulated founds, rifmg 
 as from the bottom of his breath 
 
 He had improved his tafte upon the bed originals, ancient 
 and modern ; but could not bear to write what was not driftly 
 his own, what had not more immediately (truck his imagi- 
 nation, or touched his heart: fo that he is not in the lead 
 concerned in that queltion about the merit or demerit of imita- 
 tors . What he borrows from the ancients, he gives us in an 
 avowed faithful paraphrafe or tranilation; as we fee in a few 
 palfages taken from Virgil , and in that beautiful pifture from 
 Pliny the elder, where the courfe, and gradual increafe, of 
 the Nile are figured by the ftages of man’s life. 
 
 The Autumn was his favourite feafon for poetical com- 
 pofition, and the deep filence of the night, the time he com- 
 monly chofe for fuch ftudies; fo that he would often be heard 
 walking in his library till near morning, humming over, in 
 his way, what he was to correct and write out next day. 
 
 The amufements of his leifure hours were civil and natural 
 hidory, voyages, and the relations of travellers, the mod 
 authentic he could procure: and, had his fituation favoured 
 it, he would certainly have excelled in gardening, agriculture 
 and every rural improvement and exercife. Although he per- 
 formed on no inftrument, he was paffionately fond of mufic, 
 and would fometimes liften a full hour at his window to the 
 
 nightingales 
 
XXI 
 
 Mr, JAMES THOMSON. 
 
 nightingales in Richmond gardens. While abroad, he had 
 been greatly delighted with the regular Italian drama, fuch 
 as Metajlafio writes; as it is there heightened by the charms 
 of the beft voices and inftruments; and looked upon our theat- 
 rical entertainments as, in one refpeft, naked and imperfect, 
 when compared with the ancient , or with thofe of Italy; 
 wifhing fometimes that a chorus , at leaft, and a better mi- 
 tative , could be introduced. 
 
 Nor was his tafte lefs exquiiite in the arts of painting , 
 fculpture 9 and architecture . In his travels, he had feen all 
 the mod celebrated monuments of antiquity, and the bell: 
 productions of modern art; and ftudied them fo minutely, 
 and with fo true a judgment, that in fome of his defcriptions, 
 in the poem of Liberty , we have the mafter-pieces, there 
 mentioned, placed in a ftronger light perhaps than if we faw 
 them with our eyes; at leaft more juftly delineated than in 
 any other account extant : fo fuperior is a natural tafte of the 
 grand and beautiful , to the traditional leffons of a common 
 virtuofo. His collection of prints, and fome drawings from 
 the antique, are now in the poffeffton of his friend Mr. Gray 
 of Richmond-Hill. 
 
 As for his more diftinguifhing qualities of mind and heart , 
 they are better reprefented in his writings, than can be by 
 the pen of any biographer. There, his love of mankind, 
 of his country and friends ; his devotion to the Supreme Being , 
 founded on the moft elevated and juft conceptions of his 
 operations and providence, hine out in every page. So un- 
 bounded was his tendernels of heart, that it took in even the 
 brute creation: judge what it muft have been towards his 
 
 XX 3 
 
 own 
 
XXII THE LIFE OF Mr. JAMES THOMSON. 
 
 own lpecies. He is not indeed known , through his whole 
 life, to have given any perfon one moments pain, by his 
 writings, or other wile. He took no part in the poetical 
 fquabbles which happened in his time; and was reflected and 
 left undifturbed by both fides, He would even refufe to take 
 offence when he juftly might; by interrupting any perfonal 
 liory that was brought him, with feme jeft, or fome humour- 
 ous apology for the offender. Nor was he ever feen 
 ruffled or difeompofed, but when he read or heard of fome 
 flagrant inPrance of injuftice, oppreffion, or cruelty 5 then, 
 indeed, the ftrongeft marks of horror and indignation were 
 vifible in his countenance, 
 
 Thefe amiable virtues, this divine temper of mind, did 
 not fail of their due reward. His friends loved hirri with an 
 enthufiaftic ardor, and lamented his untimely fate in a 
 manner that is Hill frefh in every one's memory; the beft and 
 greateft men of his time honoured him with their friendfhip 
 and protection; the applaufe of the Public attended every 
 appearance he made; the a&ors, of whom the more eminent 
 were his friends and admirers, grudging no pains to do juftice 
 to his tragedies. At prefent indeed, if we except Tailored, 
 they are feidom called for; the fimplicity of his plots, and 
 the models he worked after, not fluting the reigning tafte, 
 nor the impatience of an Englifh theatre. They may hereafter 
 come to be in vogue; but we hazard no comment or con- 
 jecture upon them , or upon any part of Mr, Thomjon’s 
 works: neither need they any defence or apology, after the 
 reception they have had at home, and in the foreign languag- 
 es into which they have been tranflated. We fhall only 
 fay, that, to judge from the imitations of his manner, which 
 have been following him clofe, from the very firlt publication 
 of JVinter y he feems to have fixed no inconfiderable aera of 
 the Englifh poetry. 
 
 ODE 
 
o 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 DEATH of Mr. THOMSON. 
 
 By Mr. COLLIN S. 
 
 (The feene of the following flanzas is fnppofed to lie: 
 on the Thames near Richmond .) 
 
 Jn yonder grave a Druid lies 
 
 Where llowly winds the ftealing wave! 
 
 The year’s bell Tweets fhall duteous rife 
 To deck its Poet's fylvan gravel 
 
 111 yon deep bed of whifpering reeds 
 His airy harp * fhall now be laid, 
 That he, whofe heart in forrow bleeds* 
 May love thro* life the Toothing fhade* 
 
 Then maids and youths Thai! linger here. 
 
 And while its founds at difiance fwell. 
 
 Shall fadly Teem in Pity’s ear. 
 
 To hear the Woodland Pilgrim’s knelL 
 
 Remembrance oft fhall haunt the fhore 
 When Thames in Cummer wreaths is dre& 
 
 And oft lufpend the dafhing oar 
 To bid his gentle fpirit relil 
 
 X X 4 And 
 
 * The harp of «<£qlus, of which Tee a defeription in the Castle 
 of Indolence* 
 
 <? 
 
XXIV 
 
 ODE. 
 
 And oft as Eafe and Health retire 
 To breezy lawn, or foreft deep, 
 
 The friend fhall view yon whitening fpire *, 
 And 'mid the varied landfcape weep, 
 
 But Thou, who own’d that earthy bed, 
 
 Ah! what will every dirge avail? 
 
 Or tears which Love and Pity fhed 
 That mourn beneath the gliding fail! 
 
 Yet lives there one, whofe heedlefs eye, 
 
 Shall fcorn thy pale fhrine glimmering near? 
 With him, fweet bard, may Fancy die, 
 
 And Joy defert the blooming year. 
 
 But thou, lorn ftream, whofe fullen tide 
 No fedge-crown’d Sifters now attend. 
 Now waft me from the green hill's fide 
 Whofe cold turf hides the buried friend! 
 
 And fee the fairy valleys fade, 
 
 Dun Night has veil'd the folemn view! 
 
 Yet once again, dear parted fhade. 
 
 Meek Natur’s Child, again adieu! 
 
 The genial meads afllgn’d to blefs 
 
 Thy life, fhall mourn thy early doom, 
 
 Their hinds, and fhepherd-girls fhall drefs 
 With fimple hands thy rural tomb. 
 
 Long, long, thy ftone, and pointed clay, 
 Shall melt the mufing Briton’s eyes, 
 
 O! vales, and wild woods, fhall he fay, 
 In yonder grave Your Druid lies! 
 
 * Richmond Church. 
 
 # 
 
A N 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 PLAN AND CHARACTER 
 
 T H 0 M S 0 N’s SEASONS. 
 
 XX 5 
 

 > 
 
 : • 
 
 
 ■x : 
 
 4 
 
 
A N 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PLAN and CHARACTER 
 
 HEN a work of art to mafterly execution adds novelty 
 
 of defign, it demands not only a curfory admiration, 
 but fuch a mature enquiry into the principles upon which ifc 
 has been formed , as may determine how far it deferves to be 
 received as a model for future attempts in the fame walk. 
 Originals are always rare productions. The performances of 
 artifts in general , even of thofe who Hand high in their re- 
 fpeftive clafles, are only imitations; which have more or lefs 
 merit, in proportion to the degree of f kill and judgment 
 with which they copy originals more or lefs excellent. A 
 good original , therefore , forms an sera in the art itfelf ; and 
 the hiftory of every art divides itfelf into periods comprehend- 
 ing the intervals between the appearance of different approved 
 originals. Sometimes, indeed, various models of a very 
 different call may exercife the talents of imitators during a 
 hngle period; and this will more frequently he the cafe, as 
 arts become more generally known and ftudied; difference of 
 tafte being always the refult of liberal and varied purfuit* 
 
 O F 
 
 THOMSON’* SEASONS . 
 
 How 
 
XXVIII 
 
 AN ESSAY ON 
 
 How llrongly thefe periods are marked in the hiflory of 
 Poetry, both antient and modern, a curfory view will fuffice 
 to fhew. The fcarcity of originals here is univerfally 
 acknowledged and lamented, and the prefent race of poets 
 are thought particularly chargeable with thisdefeft. It ought, 
 however, to be allowed in their favour, that if genius has 
 declined, talle has improved; and that if they imitate more, 
 they choofe better models to copy after. 
 
 That Thomson’s Seasons is the original whence our 
 modern defcriptive poets have derived that more elegant and 
 correct ftyle of painting natural objefts which diftinguifhes 
 them from their immediate predeceffors, will, I think, appear 
 evident to one who examines their feveral calls and manners. 
 That none of them, however, have yet equalled their mailer ; 
 and that his performance is an exquifite piece, replete with 
 beauties of the moll engaging and delightful kind ; will be 
 fenfibly felt by all of congenial talle: — and perhaps no poem 
 was ever compofed which addreffed itfelf to the feelings of a 
 greater number of readers. It is, therefore, on every account 
 an objeft well worthy the attention of criticifm; and an 
 enquiry into the peculiar nature of its plan and the manner of 
 its execution may be an agreeable introduction to a re-perufal 
 of it in the elegant edition now offered to the public. 
 
 The defcription of fuch natural obje&s as by their beauty, 
 grandeur, or novelty agreeably imprefs the imagination, has 
 at all times been a principal and favourite occupation of Poetry. 
 Various have been the methods in which fuch defcriptions 
 have been introduced. They have been made fubfervient to 
 thepurpofesof ornament and illuftration, in the more elevated 
 and abllrafted kinds of Poetry, by being ufed as objects of 
 fimilitude. They have conftituted a pleafing and neceffary 
 part of epic narration , when employed in forming a fcenery 
 fuitable to the events. The funple tale of paftoral life could 
 
 fcarcely 
 
THOMSON’S SEASONS, xxix 
 
 fcarcely without their aid be rendered in any degree interefting. 
 The precepts of an art, and the fyftems of philofophers, 
 depend upon the adventitious ornaments afforded by them for 
 almoft every thing which can render them fit fubjefts for 
 poetry. 
 
 Thus intermixed as they are with almoft all, and effential 
 to fome fpecies of poetry, it was, however, thought that 
 they could not legitimately conftitute the whole , or even 
 the principal part, of a capital piece. Something of a more 
 folid nature was required as the groundwork of a poetical 
 fabric; pure defcription was oppofed to fenfe; and binding 
 together the wild flowers which grew obvious to common 
 fight and touch , was deemed a trifling and unprofitable 
 amufement. 
 
 Such was the ftate of critical opinion, when Thomfon 
 publifhed, in fucceffion , but not in their prefect order,* the 
 pieces which compofe his Seafons ; the firft capital work in 
 which natural defcription was profeffedly the principal object. 
 To paint the face of nature as changing through the changing 
 feafons; to mark the approaches, and trace the progrefs of 
 thefe viciffitudes, in a feries of landfkips all formed upon 
 images of grandeur or beauty; and to give animation and 
 variety to the whole by interfperfing manners and incidents 
 fuitable to the fcenery; appears to be the general defign of 
 this Poem. Efient ally different from a didaftic piece, its 
 bufinefs is to defcribe , and the occupation of its leifure to 
 teach. And as in the Georgies, whenever the poet has, for 
 a while , borne away by the warmth of fancy , wandered 
 through the flowery wilds of defcription, he fuddenly checks 
 himfelf, and returns to the toils of the hufbandman; fo 
 
 Thomfon, 
 
 * They appeared in the following order ; Winter , Summer , Springs 
 Autumn . 
 
XXX 
 
 AN ESSAY ON 
 
 Thomfon , in the midfl: of his delightful lelfons of morality * 
 and affe&ing relations , recurs to a view of that ftate of the 
 feafon which introduced the digreffion* 
 
 It is an attention to this leading idea* that in this piece 
 there is a progreflive feries of defcrlptions* all tending to a 
 certain point* and all parts of a general plan* which alone 
 can enable us to range through the vaft variety- and quick 
 fucceflion of objefts prefen ted in it * with any clear con- 
 ception of the writer’s method* or true judgment concerning 
 what may be regarded as forwarding his main purpofe* or as 
 merely ornamental deviation. The particular elucidation of 
 this point will conftitute the principal part of the prefent 
 Effay. 
 
 Although each of the Seafons appears to have been 
 intended as a complete piece* and contains within itfelf the 
 natural order of beginning* middle, and termination, yet* 
 as they were at length collefted and modelled by their author* 
 they have all a mutual relation to each other , and concur in 
 forming a more eomprehenflve whole. The annual fpace in 
 which the earth performs its revolution round the fun* is fo 
 ftrongly marked by nature for a perfect period, that all 
 mankind have agreed in forming their computations of time 
 upon it. In all the temperate climates of the globe * the four 
 feafons are fo many progreflive ftages in this circuit* which* 
 like the acts in a well-conftru£ted drama* gradually difclofe* 
 ripen* and bring to an end the various bufinefs tranfafted on 
 the great theatre of nature. The ftriking analog}’' which this 
 period with its feveral divifions bears to the courfe of human 
 exiftence , has been remarked and purfued by writers of alt 
 ages and countries. Spring has been reprefented as the youth 
 of the years — the feafon of pleafuig hope* lively energy* 
 and rapid increafe. Summer has keen refemhled to perfect 
 manhood — the feafon of steady warmth* confirmed ftrengtb* 
 
 and 
 
THOMSON’S SEASONS, xxxi 
 
 and unremitting vigour. Autumn, which while it beftows 
 the rich prod lifts of full maturity, is yet ever haftening to 
 decline, has been aptly compared to that period, when the 
 man, mellowed by age, yields the moft valuable fruits of 
 experience and wifdom, but daily exhibits increafing fymptoms 
 of decay. The cold, cheerlefs, and fluggifh Winter has 
 almoft without a metaphor been termed the decrepid and 
 hoary old age of the year, purfued through its changing 
 feafons, is that of an individual, whofe exiftence is marked 
 by a progreffive courfe from its origin to its termination. 
 It is thus reprefented by our Poet; this idea preferves an unity 
 and connexion through his whole work; and the accurate 
 obferver will remark a beautiful chain of circumftances in his 
 defcription, by wich the birth, vigour, decline, and ex- 
 tinction of the vital principle of the year are piftured in the 
 moft lively manner. 
 
 This order and gradation of the whole runs, as has been 
 already hinted , through each divifion of the poem. Every 
 feafon has its incipient, confirmed, and receding ftate, of 
 which its hiftorian ought to give diftinft views , arranged 
 according to the fucceffion in which they appear. Each, too, 
 like the prifmatic colours, is indiftinguifhably blended in its 
 origin and termination with that which precedes, and which 
 follows it; and it may be expected from the pencil of an artift 
 to hit off thefe mingled fhades fo as to produce a pleafmg 
 and pifturefque effeft. Our Poet has not been inattentive to 
 thefe circumftances in the conduft of his plan. His Spring 
 begins with a view of the feafon as yet unconfirmed, and 
 partaking of the ronghnefs of Winter; * and it is not till 
 after feverai fteps in gradual progrefiion , that it breaks forth 
 
 in 
 
 * A defcriptive piece, in which this very interval of time is reprefented, 
 with all the accuracy of a naturaiift > and vivid colouring of a poet , has 
 lately appeared in a poem of Mr, barton’s , entitled the firfi of April . 
 
XXXII 
 
 AN ESSAY ON 
 
 in all its ornaments, as the favourite of Love and Pleafure. 
 His Autumn , after a rich profpeft of its bounties and fplen- 
 dours, gently fades into “the fere, the yellow leaf , ** and 
 with the lengthened night, the clouded fun, and the rifmg 
 ltorm, finks into the arms of Winter. It is remarkable, that 
 in order to produce fomething of a fimilar effeft in his Sum~ 
 wer, a feafon which, on account of its uniformity of char- 
 after, does not admit of any ftrongly-marked gradations, 
 he has comprized the whole of his defcription within the 
 limits of a fingle day, purfuing the courfe of the fun from 
 its rifing to its fetting. A Summer’s day is , in reality , a 
 juft model of the entire feafon. Its beginning is moift and 
 temperate; its middle, fultry and parching; its clofe, foft 
 and refrefhing. By thus exhibiting all the viciffitudes of 
 Summer under one point of view, they are rendered much 
 more ftriking than could have been done in a feries of feebly 
 contrafted and fcarcely diftinguifhable periods. 
 
 With this idea of the general plan of the whole work, 
 and of its feveral parts, we proceed to take a view of the 
 various fubjefts compofing the defcriptive feries of which it 
 principally confifts. 
 
 Every grand and beautiful appearance in Nature, that 
 diftinguifhes one portion of the annual circuit from another, 
 is a proper fource of materials for the Poet of the Seafons . 
 Of thefe, fome are obvious to the common obferver, and 
 require only juftnefs and elegance of tafte for the feleftion: 
 others difcover themfelves only to the mind opened and en- 
 larged by fcience and philofophy. Ail the knowledge we 
 acquire concerning natural objefts by fuch a train of obfer- 
 vation and reafoning as merits the appellation of fcience , is 
 comprehended under the two divifions of natural philofophy 
 and natural hifiory . Both of thefe may be employed to 
 
 advantage 
 
THOMSON’S SEASONS, xxxm 
 
 advantage in defcriptive poetr} T : for although it be true, that 
 poetical compofition , being rather calculated for amufement 
 than inftru&ion, and addrefiing itfelf to the many who feel, 
 rather than to the few who reafon , is improperly occupied 
 about the abftrufe and argumentative parts of a fcience; yet, 
 to reject thofe grand and beautiful ideas which a philofophical 
 view of Nature offers to the mind , merely becaufe they are 
 above the comprehenffon of vulgar readers , is furely an un- 
 neceffary degradation of this noble art. Still more narrow 
 and unreafonable is that critical precept , which , in confor- 
 mity to the received notion that fidtion is the foul of poetry, 
 obliges the poet to adopt antient errors in preference to 
 modern truths; and this even where truth has the the ad- 
 vantage in point of poetical effect. In fa£t, modern philo- 
 fophy is as much fuperior to the antient in fublimity as 
 in folidity; and the moft vivid Imagination cannot paint 
 bo itfelf fcenes of grandeur equal to thofe which coo! 
 fcience and demo nitration offer to the enlightened mind. 
 Objects fo valt and magnificent as planets rolling with 
 even pace through their orbits , comets rufhing along 
 their devious track , light fpritiging from its unex- 
 haufted fource, mighty rivers formed in their fubterranean 
 beds, do not require, or even admit, a heightening from the ' 
 fancy. The moft faithful pencil here produces the nob left 
 pi&ures; and Thomfon, by ftriftly adhering to the 'charafter 
 of the poet of Nature , has treated all thefe topics with a true 
 fublimity, which a writer of lefs knowledge and accuracy 
 could never have attained. The ftrift propriety with which 
 fubjefrs from Aftronomy and the other parts of Natural Pbi- 
 lofophy are introduced into a poem deicribing the changes of 
 1 the Seafons, need not be infilled on , fmce it is obvious that 
 » the primary caufe of all thefe changes Is to be fought in prin- 
 I ciples derived from thefe feieftces. They are the 'ground- 
 3 work of the whole; and eftablifh that connedfted feries of 
 
 I • "X) C')C" ■ .Caufe 
 
XXXIV 
 
 AN ESSAY ON 
 
 caufe and effeft, upon which all thofe appearances in Nature 
 depend, from whence the deferiptive poet draws his ma- 
 terials. 
 
 Natural History, in its moft extenfive fignification, 
 includes every obfervation relative to the diftinftions , refem- 
 blances, and changes of all the bodies, both animate and 
 inanimate, which Nature offers to us. Thefe obfervations, 
 however, deferve to be confidered as part of a fcience only 
 when they refer to fome general truth , and form a link of 
 that vaft chain which connefts all created being in one grand 
 fyftem. It was my attempt in an Effay lately publifhed, * to 
 fhow how neceffary a more accurate and fcientific furvey of 
 natural objefts than has ufually been taken, was to the 
 avoiding the common defefts, and attaining the higheft 
 beauties of deferiptive poetry ; and fome of the moft ftriking 
 examples of excellence art fmg from this fource were extrafted 
 from the poem now before us. It will he unneceffary here 
 to recapitulate the fubftance of thefe remarks, or to mark out 
 fingly the feveral pafiages of our author which difplay his 
 talents for defeription to the greateft advantage. Our prefent 
 defign rather requires fuch a general view of the materials he 
 has collefted, and the method in which he has arranged them, 
 as may fhew in what degree they forward and coincide with 
 the plan of his work. 
 
 The correfpondelice between certain changes in the 
 animal and vegetable tribes, and thofe revolutions cf the 
 heavenly bodies which produce the viciflitudes of theSeafons, 
 is the foundation of an alliance between Aftronomy and 
 Natural Hiftory, that equally demands attention as a matter 
 of curious fpeculation, and of praftical utility. The aftronom- 
 icai calendar, filled up by the Naturalift, is a combination 
 
 of 
 
 * Effay on the Application of Natural Hiftory to Poetry. 
 
THOMSON S SEASONS, xxxv 
 
 of fcience, at the fame time pregnant with important inftruftion 
 to the hufbandman, and fertile in grand and pleating obje&s 
 to the poet and philofopher. Thomfon feems conftantly to 
 have kept in view a combination of this kind; and to have 
 formed from it fuch an idea of the ceconomy of Nature , as 
 enabled him to prefervea regularity of method and uniformity 
 of defign through all the variety of his defcriptions. We 
 fhall attempt to draw out a kind of luftorical narrative of his 
 progrefs through the Seafons, as far as this order is ob- 
 fervable. 
 
 Spring is characterized as the feafon of the renovation 
 of Nature; in which animals and vegetables, excited by the 
 kindly influence of returning warmth, fhake off the torpid 
 inaftion of Winter, and prepare for the continuance and 
 increafe of their feveral fpecies. The vegetable tribes, as 
 more independent and fel f- provided , lead the way in this 
 progrefs. The poet, accordingly, begins with reprefenting 
 the revivifcent plants emerging , as foon as genial fhowers 
 have foftened the ground, in numbers “ beyond the power 
 “of botanift to reckon up their tribes. ,, The opening blof- 
 foms and flowers foon call forth from their winter retreats 
 thofe induftrious infeCts which derive fuftenance from their 
 neCtareous juices. As the beams of the fun become more 
 potent, the larger vegetables, fhrubs and trees, unfold their 
 leaves; and as foon as a friendly concealment is by their 
 means provided for the various nations of the feathered race, 
 they joyfully begin the courfe of laborious , but pleafmg 
 occupations, which are to engage them during the whole 
 feafon. The delightful feries of pictures, fo truly expreffive 
 of that genial fpirit that pervades the Spring, which Thom- 
 fon has formed on the variety of circumftances attending the 
 pajj'ion of the groves , cannot efcape the notice and admira- 
 tion of the moll negligent eye. AfleCled by the fame foft 
 
 )( X )( a influence. 
 
XXXVI 
 
 AN ESSAY ON 
 
 influence, and equally indebted to the rene\Ved vegetable 
 tribes for food and fhelter, the feveral kinds of quadrupeds 
 are reprefented as concurring in the celebration of this char- 
 ming Seafon with -conjugal and parental rites. Even Man 
 liimfelf , though from his focial condition lefs under the do- 
 minion of phyfical neceflkies, is properly defcribed as par- 
 taking of the general ardour. Such is the order and con- 
 nexion of this whole book, that it might well pafs for a 
 commentary upon a moil beautiful paflage in the philofc- 
 phical poet Lucretius; who certainly wanted nothing but a 
 better fyftem and more circumfcribed fubjeft, to have appear- 
 ed as one of the greateft matters of defcription in either 
 antient or modern poetry. Reafoning on the unperifhable 
 Nature, and perpetual circulation, of the particles of matter, 
 he deduces all the delightful appearances of Spring from the 
 feeds of fertility which defcend in the vernal fhowers. 
 
 pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater ./Ether 
 
 In gremium matris Terras precipitavit. 
 
 At nitidae furgunt fruges, ramique virefcimt 
 Arboribus; crefcunt ipfae, fsetuque gravantur ; 
 
 Hinc alitnr porro noftrum genus atque ferarum: 
 
 Hinc teas urbeis pueris florere videmus, 
 
 Frundiferafque novis avibus canere undique fylvas* 
 
 Hinc feifae pecudes pingues per pabula tea 
 Corpora deponunt, & candens la&eus humor 
 Uberibus manat diftentis; hinc nova prole* 
 
 Artubus infinnis teneras lafciva per herbas 
 Ludit, la&e mero menteis percufla novellas. 
 
 Lib. f, aji, &G 
 
 The rains are loft, when Jove defcends in fhowers 
 Soft on the bofom oft the parent earth: 
 
 But fprings the fhining grain; their verdant robe 
 The trees refume ; they grow, and pregnant bend 
 Beneath their fertile load: hence kindly food 
 The living tribes receive ; the cheerful town 
 Behold* its joyous bunds of flowering youth; 
 
 With 
 
THOMSON’S SEASONS, xxxvii- 
 
 With new-born Tongs the leafy groves refound; 
 
 The full-fled flocks amid the laughing meads 
 Their weary bodies lay, while wide-difleut 
 The plenteous udder teems with milky juice ; 
 
 And o'er the grafs, as their young hearts beat high, 
 
 Swelled by the pure and generous ftreams they drain. 
 
 Frolic the wanton lambs with joints infirm. 
 
 The period of Summer is marked by fewer and lefs 
 ftriking changes in the face of Nature. A foft and pleating 
 languor, interrupted only by the gradual progreifion of the 
 vegetable and animal tribes towards their ftate of maturity, 
 forms the leading character of this Seafon. The aftive 
 fermentation of the juices , which the fir ft accels of genial 
 warmth had excited , now fubftdes: and the increafing heats 
 rather infpire faintnefs and inaftion than lively exertions. 
 The in feft race alone feem animated with peculiar vigour 
 under the more direft influence of the fun; and are therefore 
 with equal truth and advantage introduced by the Poet to 
 enliven the filent and drooping feenes prefented by the other 
 forms of animal Nature. As this fource, however, together 
 with whatever elfe our fummers afford, is infufficient to 
 furnifh novelty and bufinels enough for this aft of the drama 
 of the year , the Poet judiciouily opens a new field , profu- 
 fely fertile in objefts fuited to the glowing colours of 
 deferiptive poetry. By an eafy and natural tranfition , lie 
 quits the chaftized fummer of our temperate clime for thofe 
 regions where a perpetual fummer reigns , exalted by fuch 
 fuperior degrees of folar heat as give an entirely new face to 
 almoft every part of Nature. The terrific grandeur prevalent 
 in fome of thefe, the exquifite ricimefs and beauty in others, 
 and the novelty in all, afford fuch a happy variety for the 
 poet’s feleftion, that we need not wonder if fome of hi s 
 nobleft pieces are the produft of this delightful excurfion. 
 He returns, however* with apparent fittisfaftion to take a 
 
 )C X X 3 laft 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 AN ESSAY ON 
 
 laft furvey of the fofter fummer of our idand; and after 
 clofing the profpcd of terrellrial beauties, artfully fhifts the 
 fcene to celeftial fplendors, which, though perhaps not 
 more ftriking in this feafon than in fome of the others , are 
 now alone agreeable objefts of contemplation in a northern 
 climate. 
 
 Autumn is too eventful a period in the hiftory of the 
 year within the temperate parts of the globe , to require 
 foreign aid for rendering it more varied and interefting. The 
 promife of the Spring is now fulfilled. The filent and gra- 
 dual procefs of maturation is completed ; and Human Induftry 
 beholds with triumph the rich produfts of its toil. The vege- 
 table tribes difclofe their infinitely various forms of fruit; 
 which term , while , with refped to common ufe it is con- 
 fined to a few peculiar modes of fructification , in the more 
 comprehenfive language of the Naturalift includes every pro- 
 duct of vegetation by which the rudiments of a future pro- 
 geny are developed, and feparated from the parent plant. 
 Thefe are in part collected and ftored up by thofe animals for 
 whofe fuftenance during the enfuing lleep of Nature they 
 are provided. The reft, furnifhed with various contrivances 
 for diffemination, are fcattered, by the friendly winds which 
 now begin to blow, over the furface of that earth which 
 they are to clothe and decorate. The young of the animal 
 race , which Spring and Summer had brought forth and 
 cherifhed, having now acquired fufficient vigour, quit their 
 concealments, and offer themfelves to the purfuit of the car- 
 nivorous among their fellow-animals, and of the great de- 
 irroyer Man. Thus the fcenery is enlivened with the various 
 /ports of the hunter; which, however repugnant they may 
 appear to that fyftem of general benevolence and fympathy 
 which philofophy would inculcate, have ever afforded a moft 
 agreeable exertion to the human powers, and have much to 
 
 plead 
 
THOMSON S SEASONS, xxxix 
 
 plead in their favour as a neceffary part of the great plan of 
 Nature. Indeed, fhe marks her intention with fufficient 
 precifion , by refuting to grant any longer thofe friendly 
 fhades which had grown for the protection of the infant 
 offspring. The grove lofes its honours; but before they are 
 entirely tarnifhed, ail adventitious beauty , arifing from that 
 gradual decay which loofens the withering leaf, gilds the 
 autumnal landfkip with a temporary fplendour, fuperior to 
 the verdure of Spring, or the luxuriance of Summer. The 
 infinitely various and ever-changing hues of the leaves at this 
 feafon , melting into every foft gradation of tint and fhade, 
 have long engaged the imitation of the painter , and are 
 equally happy ornaments in the defcription of the poet. 
 
 These unvarying fymptons of approaching Winter now 
 warn feveral of the winged tribes to prepare for their aerial 
 voyage to thofe happy climates of perpetual fummer, where no 
 deficiency of food orfhelter can ever di ft refs them; and about 
 the fame time, other fowls of hardier conftitution, which 
 are contented with efcaping the iron Winters of the arftic 
 regions, arrive to fupply the vacancy. Thus the ftriking 
 fcenes afforded by that wonderful part of the oeconomy of 
 Nature , the migration of birds , prefent themfelves at this 
 feafon to the poet. The thickening fogs, the heavy rains, 
 the fwoln rivers, while they deform this finking period of 
 the year, add new fubjefts to the pleafing variety which 
 reigns throughout its whole courfe, and which julHfies the 
 Poet’s character of it, as the feafon when the Mufe 44 belt 
 exerts her voice, „ 
 
 Winter, direftly oppofite as it is in other refpeCts to 
 Summer , yet refembles it in this, that it is a Seafon in which 
 Nature is employed rather in fecretly preparing for the mighty 
 changes which it fucceiiively brings to light, than in the 
 
 X )( )( 4 a &ua 
 
xl AN ESSAY ON 
 
 aftual exhibition of them. It is therefore a period equally 
 barren of events; and has ftill lefs of animation than Summer, 
 inafmuch as lethargic infenfibility is a ftate more diftant from 
 vital energy than the languor of indolent repofe. From the 
 fall of the leaf, and withering of the herb, an unvarying 
 death-like torpor oppreiTes almoft the whole vegetable crea- 
 tion, and a confiderable part of the animal, during this entire 
 portion of the year. The whole infeCt race, which filled 
 every part of the Summer landfkip with life and motion, are 
 now either buried in profound ileep, or actually no longer 
 exift, except in the unformed rudiments of a future progeny. 
 Many of the birds and quadrupeds are retired to concealments, 
 from which not even the calls of hunger can force them; and 
 the reft , intent only on the prefervation of a joylefs being, 
 have ceafed to exert thofe powers of pleafing, which, at 
 other feafons, fo much contribute to their mutual happinefs, 
 as well as to the amufement of their human fovereign. Their 
 focial connexions, however, are improved by their wants. 
 In order the better to procure their fcanty fubfiftence, and 
 refill the inclemencies of the fky, they are taught by inftineh 
 to affemble in flocks; and this provifion has the fecondary 
 effeft of gratifying the fpectator with fomefching of novelty 
 and aCtion even in the drearinefs of a wintry profpeft. 
 
 But it is in the extraordinary changes and agitations 
 which the elements, and the fiirrounding atmofphere undergo 
 during this feafon, that the poet of nature muft principally 
 look for relief from the gloomy uniformity reigning through 
 other parts of the creation. Here fcenes are prefen ted to his 
 view, which, were they lefs frequent, muft ftrike with 
 Wonder and admiration the moft incurious fpectator. The 
 effefts of cold are more hidden, and in many inftances more 
 extraordinary and unexpected than thofe of heat. He who 
 lias beheld the vegetable productions of even a northern Sum- 
 mer, 
 
THOMSON S SEASONS. xli 
 
 mer, will not be greatly amazed at t!ie richer and more lu- 
 xuriant, butftill refembling, growths of the tropics. But one 
 who has always been accuftomed to view water in a liquid 
 and colourlefs ftate, cannot form the lead: conception of the 
 fame element as hardened into an extenfive plain of folid 
 chryftal , or covering the ground with a robe of the pureft 
 white. The liigheft poffible degree of aftonifhment muft 
 therefore attend the’firft view of thefe phenomena; and as in 
 our temperate climate but a fmall portion of the year affords 
 thefe fpeftacles , we find that, even here, they have novelty 
 enough to excite emotions of agreeable furprize. But it is 
 not to novelty alone that they owe their charms. Their 
 intrinfic beauty is, perhaps, individually fuperiour to that of 
 the gayeft objects prefented by the other feafons. Where is 
 the elegance and brilliancy that can compare with that which 
 decorates every tree or buffi on the clear morning fucceeding 
 a night of hoar froft? or what is the luftre that would not 
 appear dull and tarnifhed m competition with a field of fnow 
 juft glazed over with froft? By the vivid defcription of fuch 
 objects as thefe, contrafted with the favage fublimity of 
 ftorms and tempefts, our Poet has been able to produce a fet 
 of winter landfkips, as engaging to the fancy at the apparently 
 happier fcenes of genial warmth and verdure. 
 
 But he has not trufted entirely to thefe refources for 
 I combating the natural j fterility of Winter. Repeating the 
 pleafing artifice of his Summer , he lias called in foreign aid, 
 and has heightened the feenery with grandeur and horror not 
 our own. The famifhed troops of wolves pouring from the 
 Alps; the mountains of fnow rolling down the precipices of 
 the fame regions; the dreary plains over which the Laplander 
 urges his rein deer; the wonders of the icy fea, and volcanoes 
 “flaming thro’ a wafte of fnow; are objects judicioufly 
 fele&ed from all that Nature prefents moft lingular and 
 
 XXX 5 ftriking 
 
XLii AN ESSAY ON 
 
 ftriking in the various domains of boreal cold and wintry ; 
 defolation. 
 
 Thus have we attempted to give a general view of thofe 
 materials which conftitute the ground-work of a poem on the 
 Seafons; which are effential to its very nature; and on the 
 proper arrangement of which its regularity and connexion 
 depend. The extent of knowledge, as well as the powers 
 of defcription , which Thomfon has exhibited in this part of J 
 his work, is, on the whole, truly admirable; and though, 
 with the prefent advanced tafte for accurate obfervation in 
 natural hiftory, fome improvements might be fuggefted, 
 yet he certainly remains unrivalled in the lift of defcriptive 
 poets. 
 
 But the rural landfkip is not folely made up of land, and 
 water, and trees, and birds, and beafts; man is a diftinguifhed 
 figure in it; his multiplied occupations and concerns introduce 
 themfelves into every part of it; he intermixes even in the 
 wildeft and rudeft fcenes, and throws a life and intereft upon 
 every furrounding objeCt. Manners and character therefore 
 conftitute a part even of a defcriptive poem; and in a plan fo 
 extenfive as the hiftory of the year, they muft enter under 
 various form, and upon numerous occaftons. 
 
 The moft obvious and appropriated ufe of human figures 
 in pictures of the Seafons, is the introduction of them to afftft 
 in marking out the fuccefiion of annual changes by their vari- 
 ous labours and amufements. In common with other animals, 
 man is directed in the diverlified employment of earning a 
 toilfome fubfiftence by an attention to the viciflitudes of the 
 feafons; and all his diverftons in the fimple ftate of ruftic 
 fociety are alfo regulated by the fame circumftance. Thus a 
 feries of moving figures enlivens the landfkip, and contributes 
 
XLin 
 
 THOMSON’S SEASONS. 
 
 to ftamp on each fccne its peculiar character. The fhepherd, 
 the hufbandman, the hunter, appear iu their turns; and may 
 be confidered as natural concomitants of that portion of the 
 yearly round which prompts their feveral occupations. 
 
 But it is not only the bodily purfuits of' man which are 
 affefted by thefe changes; the fenfations and affeftions of his 
 mind are almoft equally under their influence: and the refult 
 of the whole, as forming the enamoured votary of Nature 
 to a peculiar caft of charafter and manners, is not lefs con- 
 fpicuous. Thus the Poet of the Seafons is at liberty, without 
 deviating from his plan , to defcant on the varieties of moral 
 conftitution, and the powers which external caufes are found 
 to poffefs over the temper of the foul. He may draw piftures 
 of the paftoral life in all its genuine fimplicity; and affuming 
 the tone of a moral inftruftor, may contrail: the peace and 
 felicity of innocent retirement , with the turbulent agitations 
 of ambition and avarice. 
 
 The various incidents too, upon which the Ample tale 
 of rural events is founded, are very much modeled by the 
 difference of feafons. The cataftrophes of Winter differ from 
 thofe of Summer; the fports of Spring from thofe of Autumn. 
 Thus, little hiftory pieces and adventures, whether pathetic 
 or amufing, will fuggeft themfelves to the Poet; which, 
 when properly adapted to the fcenery and circumftances, 
 may very happily coincide with the main defign of the 
 compofition. 
 
 The bare enumeration of thefe feveral occafions of in- 
 troducing draughts of human life and manners, will be 
 fufficient to call to mind the admirable ufe which Thomfon 
 throughout his whole poem has made of them. He, in fa ft, 
 never appears more truly infpiredwith his fubjeft, than when 
 
 giving 
 
XLIV 
 
 AN ESSAY ON 
 
 giving birth to thofe fentiments of tendernefs and beneficence, 
 which feem to have occupied his whole heart. An univerfal 
 benevolence, extending to every part of the animal creation, 
 manifeffs itfelf in almofl every fcene he draws ; and the rural 
 character, as delineated in his feelings, contains all the foft- 
 nefs, purity, and fimplicity that are feigned of the golden 
 age. Yet, excellent as the moral and fentimental part of his 
 work muft appear to every congenial mind , it is , perhaps, 
 that in which he may the mcft eafily be rivalled. A refined 
 and feeling heart may derive from its own proper fources a 
 ftore of correfponding fentiment, which will naturally clothe » 
 itfelf in the form of expreffion beft fuited to the occafion. 
 Nor does the invention of thofe. fimple incidents which are ] 
 mod: adapted to excite the fympathetic emotions, require any \ 
 ftretch of fancy. The nearer they approach to common life, 
 the more certainly will they produce their effeCt. Wonder 
 and furprize are affections of fo different a kind , and fo 
 diftraCt the attention, that they never, fail to diminifh the 
 force of the pathetic. On thefe accounts, writers much 
 inferior in refpeCt to the powers of defcription and imagery, 
 have equalled our Poet in elegant and benevolent fentiment, 
 and perhaps excelled him in intereffing narration. Of thefe, 
 it will be fufficient to mention the ingenious author of a 
 French poem on the Seafons; who, though a mere copy iff 
 in the dcfcriptive parts, has made many pleafing additions 
 to the manners and incidents proper for fuch a com- 
 pofition. 
 
 But there is a ftrain of fentiment of a higher and more 
 digreffive Nature, with which Thomfon has occupied a con- 
 fiderable portion of his poem. The fundamental principles 
 of Moral Philofophy, ideas concerning the origin and pro- 
 grefs of government and civilization, hiftorical fketches, and : 
 reviews of the characters moft famous in antient and modern 
 
 ^ hiftory, 
 
THOMSON’S SEASONS. xlv 
 
 hiftory, are interfperfed through the various parts of the 
 Seafons. The manly, liberal, and enlightened fpirit which 
 this writer breathes in all his works, muft ever endear him 
 to the friends of truth and virtue ; and in particular, his genu- 
 ine patrioti fm and zeal in the caufe of liberty will render 
 his writings always eftimable to the Britifh reader. But, 
 juft and important as his thoughts on thefe topics may be^ 
 there may remain a doubt in the bread; of the critic, whether 
 their introduction in a piece like this do not, in fome in- 
 fiances, break in upon that unity of character which every 
 work of art fhoukl fupport. We have feen, from the general 
 plan and tenor of the poem , that it is profefledly of the rural 
 catt. The objects it is chiefly converlant with are thofe pre- 
 sented by the hand of Nature, not the products of human 
 art; and when man himfelf is introduced as a part of the 
 groupe, it would feem that, in conformity to therelt, he 
 ought to be reprefented in fucfa a ftate only, as the fimpleft 
 forms of fociety, and molt unconftrained fituations in it, 
 exhibit. Courts and cities, camps and fenates, do not well 
 accord with fyivan fcenery. From the principle of congruity, 
 therefore , a critic might be induced to rejeCt fome of thefe 
 digreiilve ornaments , though intrinfically beautiful , and 
 doufctlefs contributing to the elevation and variety of the 
 piece. His judgment in this refpeCt would be a good deal 
 influenced by the manner of their introduction. In fome in- 
 ftances this is fo eafy and natural, that the mind is fcarcely 
 fenflble of the deviation; in others it is more abrupt and 
 unartful. As examples of both, we may refer to the paflages 
 in which various characters from Englifh, and from Grecian 
 and Roman hiftory, are difplayed. The former, by a happy 
 gradation, is introduced at the clofe of a delightful piece, 
 containing the praifes of Britain; which is itfelf a kind of 
 digreflion, though a very apt and feafonable one. The latter 
 has no other connexion with the part at which it is inferted, 
 
 than 
 
XL Vi AN ESSAY ON 
 
 than the very forced and diftant one, that, as reading may 
 be reckoned among the amufements appropriated to Winter, 
 fuch (objects as thefe will naturally offer themfelves to the 
 ftudious mind. 
 
 There is another fource of fentiment to the Poet of the 
 Seafons, which , while it is fuperior to thelaft in real eleva- 
 tion, is alfo ftri&ly connected with the Nature of his work. 
 The genuine philofopher, while he furveys the grand and 
 beautiful objects every where furrounding him, will be 
 prompted to lift. his eye to the great caufe of all thefe won- 
 ders ; the planner and architect of this mighty fabric; every 
 minute part of which fo much awakens his curiofity and 
 admiration. The laws by which this being afts, the ends 
 which he feems to have purfued, muff excite his humble 
 refearches; and in proportion as he difcovers infinite power 
 in the means, directed by infinite goodnefs in the intention, 
 his foul muff be wrapt in aftonifhment, and expanded with 
 gratitude. The <r.conomy of Nature will, to fuch an obferver, 
 be the perfect fcheme of an all-wife and beneficent mind ; 
 and every part of the wide creation will appear to proclaim 
 the praife of its great author. Thus a new connexion will 
 manifeft itfelf between the feveral parts of the univerfe ; and 
 a new order and defign will be traced through the progrefs 
 of its various revolutions. 
 
 Thomson’s Seasons is as eminently a religious, as 
 it is a defcriptive poem. Thoroughly impreffed with fenti- 
 ments of veneration for the author of that affemblage of 
 order and beauty which it was his province to paint, he 
 takes every proper occafion to excite fimilar emotions in the 
 breaft of his readers. Entirely free from the gloom of fuper- 
 ftition and the narrownefs of bigotry , he every where re- 
 prefents the Deity as the kind and beneficent parent of all 
 
 his 
 
THOMSON S SEASONS. 
 
 XLVII 
 
 his works, always watchful over their beft interefts, and 
 from feeming evil ftill educing the greateft poffible good to 
 all his creatures. In every appearance of Nature he beholds 
 the operation of a divine hand; and regards, according to 
 his own emphatical phrafe , each change throughout the 
 revolving year as but the “varied God. ,, This fpirit, which 
 breaks forth at intervals in each divifion of his poem, fhines 
 full and concentred in that noble hymn which crowns the 
 work. This piece, the fublimeft produftion of its kind fince 
 the days of Milton , fliould be ccnfidered as the winding up 
 of all the variety of matter and defign contained in the prece- 
 ding parts; and thus is not only admirable as a feparate com- 
 ; pofition, but is contrived with mafterly fkill to ftrengthen 
 the unity andfConn&\ion*)f th^GRE^T whole. 
 l! 
 
 Thus* is pltnnechand dbnftrfffted ~a Poem, which foun- 
 ded as it is upon the unfading beauties of Nature, will live 
 
 E <&. •& # <9 ^ ^ <m 
 
 as long as the language in which it is written fhall be read, 
 ff the perufal of it be in any refj^ft rendered more intern- 
 etting or inftru&ive by this imperfeft ElTay, the purpofe of 
 the writer will be fully anfwered. 
 
 
 THE 
 
THE 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 SPRING g § « i » 8 8 3- 
 
 SUMMER g « 9 3 9 * « 4 r * 
 
 AUTUMN 1- « 4 8 8 8 9 99 • 
 
 WINTER - H 9 « 8 - - *4* 
 
 A HYMN »••§ « g '8 a * - 
 
 SPRING, 
 
SPRING. 
 
 
 A 
 
The Argument. 
 
 The fubjeU propofed. Infcribed to the Countefs of 
 Hartford. The Seafon is defcribed as it ajfeffis 
 the various parts of Nature ,■ afc ending from the 
 lower to the higher; with digreffions arifing from 
 the fubjebi. Its influence on inanimate Matter on 
 Vegetables , on brute Animals, and lajl on Man; 
 concluding with a dijfuafiue from the wild and irre- 
 gular paffton of Love, oppofed to that of a pure and 
 happy kind. 
 
8 P RING, 
 
 C OME, gentle Spring, ethereal Mildnefs, come, 
 And from the bofom of yon dropping cloud, 
 While mufic wakes around , veil’d in a fhower 
 Of fhadowing rofes, 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 affemblage, liften to my fong, 
 
 Which thy own Seafon paints! when Nature all 
 Is blooming, and benevolent like thee. 
 
 And fee where furly Winter paffes off, 
 
 Far to the north and calls his ruffian blalts: 
 
 His blafts obey and quit the howling hill, 
 
 The f batter’d foreft, and the ravag’d vale; 
 
 While fofter gales fucceed, at whofe kind touch, 
 Diiolving fnows in livid torrents loft, 
 
 The mountains lift their green heads to the fky« 
 
 As yet the trembling year is unconfirm’d, 
 
 And Winter oft at eve fefumes the breeze, 
 
 Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving fleets 
 Deform the day delightlefs; fo that fcarce 
 
 A 2 
 
 5 
 
 
 ts 
 
 20 
 
 The 
 
SPRING. 
 
 4 
 
 The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht, 
 
 To fhake the founding marfh; or from the fhore 
 The plovers when to fcatter o’er the heath, 
 
 And fing their wild notes to the liftening wafte. 125 
 
 At laft from Aries rolls the bounteous fun, 
 
 And 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, 30 
 Fleecy, and white, o’er all - furrounding heaven. 
 
 Forth fly the tepid airs; and unconfin’d. 
 
 Unbinding earth, the moving foftnefs ftrays. 
 
 Joyous, th* impatient hufbandman perceives 
 Relenting nature, and his lufty fleers 35 
 
 Drives from their flails , to where the well -us’d plow 
 Lies in the furrow, loofen’d from the froft. 
 
 There, unrefufing to the harnefs’d yoke, 
 
 They lend their fhoulder, and begin their toil, 
 
 Chear’d by the Ample fong and foaring lark. 40 
 
 Meanwhile, incumbent o’er the fhining fhare. 
 
 The mafter leans, removes th’ obftrufting clay, 
 
 Winds the whole work, and Adelong lays the glebe. 
 
 White, thro’ the neighbouring fields the fower ftalks. 
 With meafur’d ftep ; and liberal throws the grain 45 
 
 Into the faithful bofom of the ground. 
 
 The harrow follows harfh, and fhuts the fcene. 
 
 Be gracious, Heaven! For now laborious man 
 Has done his part. Ye foftering breezes, blow! 
 
 Ye foftening dews, ye tender fhowers, defcend! 50 
 And temper all , thou world - reviving fun, 
 
 Into the perfect year! Nor ye, who live 
 In luxury and eafe, in pomp and pride. 
 
 Think 
 
SPRING . 
 
 5 
 
 Think thefe low fcenes unworthy of your ear: 
 
 Such themes as thefe the rural Maro fung 55 
 
 To wide - imperial Rome , in the full height 
 Of elegance and tafte, by Greece refin'd. 
 
 In ancient times, the facred plow employ’d 
 The kings and awful fathers of mankind: 
 
 And fome, with whom compar’d, your infeft- tribes 60 
 
 Are but the beings of a fummer’s day, 
 
 Have held the fcale of empire, rul’d the ftorm 
 Of mighty war; then, with unwearied hand, 
 
 Difdaining little delicacies, feiz’d 
 
 The plow, and greatly independent liv’d 6g 
 
 Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough! 
 
 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 fhores 
 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 cloathe, 
 
 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 fteaming Power go 
 
 At large, to wander o’er the vernant earth, 
 
 In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay Green l 
 Thou fmiling nature’s univerfal robe! 
 
 United light and fhade! where the fight dwells 
 i With growing ftrength, and ever -new delight, 85 
 
 A 3 From 
 
6 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 From the moift meadow to the withered hill, 
 
 Led bv the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, 
 
 And fwells, and deepens, to the cherifh’d eye* 
 
 The hawthorn whitens; and the juicy groves 
 Put forth their buds , unfolding by degrees, 
 
 Till the whole leafy foreft ltands difplay’d, 
 
 In full luxuriance, to the fighing gales: 
 
 Where the deer ruille thro’ the twining brake, 
 
 And the birds ling 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 noifom damps, 
 
 Oft let me wander o’er the dewy fields, 
 
 Where frefhnefs breathes, and dafh the trembling drops 
 From the bent bufh, as thro’ the verdant maze 
 Of fweet- briar hedges I purfue my walk: 
 
 Or tafte the fmell of dairy; or afcend 
 Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains, 
 
 And fee the country, far- diffus’d around, 
 
 One boundlefs blufh , one white - empurpled fhow’r 
 Of mingled bloffoms; where the raptured e}^ 
 
 Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath 
 The fair profufion, yellow Autumn fpies. 
 
 If, brufh’d 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 fhrinks, 
 Joylefs and dead, a wide-dejedted wafte* 
 
 9 ° 
 
 95 
 
 ioo 
 
 
 no 
 
 II 5 
 
 For 
 
SPRING. 
 
 7 
 
 For oft, engender'd by the hazy North, 
 
 Myriads on myriads, infefr armies warp 120 
 
 Keen in the poifon’d breeze; and wafteful eat, 
 
 Thro’ buds and bark, into the blacken’d core, 
 
 Their eager way. A feeble race! yet oft 
 The facred fons of vengeance, on whofe courfe 
 Corrofive famine waits, and kills the year. I $5 
 
 To check this plague the fkilful 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 dull g3<2 
 
 Of pepper, fatal to the frofty tribe: 
 
 Or, when tli’ envenom’d leaf begins to curl, 
 
 With fprinkled water drowns them in their neft: 
 
 Nor, while they pick them up with bufv bill, 
 
 The little trooping birds unwifely fcares* X $5 
 
 Be patient, fwains; thefe cruel -feeming winds 
 Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep, reprefs’d, 
 
 Thofe deep’ning clouds on clouds, furcharg’d with rain. 
 That o'er the vaft Atlantic hither borne, 
 
 In endlefs train , would quench the fnmmer blaze, 140 
 And, chearlefs, drown de crude unripen’d year. 
 
 The nortb-eaft fpends his rage; he now, fhufc up 
 Within his iron caves, th' effufive fouth 
 Warms the wide air, and o’er the void of heaven 
 Breathes the big clouds with vernal fhowrs diftent. 145 
 At firlt a dufky wreath they feem to rife, 
 
 Scarce {raining ether; but by fwift degrees, 
 
 In heaps on heaps , the doubling vapour fails 
 Along the loaded fky , and mingling deep 
 Sits on th* horizon round a fettled gloom: 150 
 
 Not fuch as wintry - ftorms on mortals fhed, 
 
 A 4 
 
 Oppref- 
 
SPRING. 
 
 8 
 
 Opprefting life; but lovely, gentle, kind, 
 
 And full of every hope and every joy, 
 
 The wifh of nature. Gradual, finks the breeze, 
 
 Into a perfeft calm; that not a breath 155 
 
 Is heard to quiver thro’ the doling woods. 
 
 Or ruftling turn the many -twinkling -leaves 
 
 Of afpin tall, Th’ uncurling floods , diffus’d 
 
 In glaffy breadth, feem thro’ delulive lapfe 
 
 Forgetful of their courfe, ’Tis filence all, 160 
 
 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 off; 163 
 
 And wait th’ appoaching fign to ftrike at once. 
 
 Into the general choir. Ev’n mountains, vales. 
 
 And forefts feem, impatient, to demand 
 
 The promis’d fweetnefs. Man fuperior walks 
 
 Amid the glad creation, muling praife, 1 70 
 
 And looking lively gratitude. At laft. 
 
 The clouds confign their treafures to the fields; 
 
 And, foftly fhaking on the dimpled pool 
 Prelufive drops, let all their moifture flow. 
 
 In large effufion, o’er the frefhen’d world, 175 
 
 The ftealing fhow’r is fcarce to patter heard. 
 
 By fuch as wander thro’ the foreft-walks. 
 
 Beneath th’ umbrageous multitude of leaves. 
 
 But who can hold the fhade, while heaven defcends 
 In univerfal bounty, fhedding herbs, 180 
 
 And fruits and flow’rs on nature’s ample lap ? 
 
 Swift fancy fir’d anticipates their growth ; 
 
 And, while the milky nutriment diftills, 
 
 Beholds the kindling country colour round. 
 
 Thus 
 
SPRING. 
 
 Thus all day long the full-diftended clouds 
 Indulge their genial ftores, and well-fhowr’d earth 
 Is deep enrich’d with vegetable life ; 
 
 Till, in the weftern fky, the downward fun 
 Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flufh 
 I Of broken clouds, gay-fhifting to his beam. 
 
 The rapid radiance inftantaneous ftrikes 
 
 Th’ illumin’d mountain, thro* the forefl: ftreams, 
 
 Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mift, 
 
 Far fmoaking o’er th 1 interminable plain, 
 
 In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 
 
 Moift, bright, and green, the landfkip laughs around. 
 Full fwell the woods; their every mufic 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 fweeteii’d zephyr fprings. 
 Meantime refra&ed 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 fhowery prifm; 
 And to the fage - inftrufted eye unfold 
 The various twine of light, by thee difclos’d 
 From the white mingling maze. Not fo the boyr 
 He wond’ring 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 vanifh quite away. Still night fucceeds, 
 
 A foftened fhade, and faturated earth 
 Awaits the morning-beam to give to light, 
 
 A 5 
 
 9 
 
 i85 
 
 190 
 
 i95 
 
 200 
 
 205 
 
 210 
 
 215 
 
 Rais’d 
 
SPRING . 
 
 io 
 
 Rais’d thro* ten thoufand different plaftic 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 fteals along the lonely dale, 
 
 In filent fearcli ; or thro’ the foreft , 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 flung 
 Their feeds abroad, blown them about in winds, 
 Innumerous mix’d them with the nurfing mold, 
 
 The moiftening current, and prolific rain. 
 
 But who their virtues can declare? Who pierce 
 With vifion pure , into thefe fecret ftores 
 Of health, and life, and joy? The food of man. 
 While yet he liv’d in innocence, and told 
 A length of golden years; unflefh’d in blood, 
 
 A ftranger to the favage arts of life; 
 
 Death, rapine, carnage, furfeit, and difeafe; 
 
 The Lord, and not the tyrant, of the world. ' 
 
 The firft frefh dawn then wak’d the gladden’d race 
 Of uncorrupted man, nor blufh’d to fee 
 The fluggard fleep beneath its facred beam: 
 
 For their light flumbers gently fum’d away; 
 
 And up they rofe as vigorous as the fun. 
 
 Or to the culture of the willing glebe. 
 
 Or to the chearful tendance of the flock. 
 
 Meantime the fong went round ; and dance and fport, 
 Wifdom and friendly talk, fucceflive, flole 
 Their hours away: while in the roly vale 
 
 220 
 
 
 230 
 
 235 
 
 240 
 
 245 
 
 250 
 
 Love 
 
SPRING. 
 
 II 
 
 Lave breath’d his infant fighs, from anguifh free, 
 
 And full replete .with blifs; five the fweet pain, 
 
 That, inly thrilling, but exalts it more. 
 
 Nor yet injurious aft, nor furly deed, 
 
 Was known among thofe happy fons of Heaven} 055 
 For reafon and benevolence were law. 
 
 Harmonious Nature too look’d finding on* 
 
 Clear fhone the fkies, cool’d with eternal gales, 
 
 And balmy fpirit all. The youthful fun 
 
 Shot his belt rays, and ftill the gracious clouds 260 
 
 D.ropt fatnefs down ; as o’er the fwelling mead. 
 
 The herds and flocks, commixing, play’d fecure* 
 
 This when, emergent from the gloomy wood, 
 
 The glaring lion faw, his horrid heart 
 
 Was meeken’d , and he join’d his fallen joy. 265 
 
 For mufic held the whole in perfeft peace: 
 
 Soft figh’d the flute; the tender voice was heard. 
 
 Warbling the varied heart; the woodlands round 
 
 Apply’d their quire ; and winds and waters flow’d 
 
 In confonance. Such were thofe prime of days. 270 
 
 But now thofe white unblemifh’d manners, whence 
 The fabling poets took their golden age, 
 
 Are found no more amid thefe iron times, 
 
 Thefe dregs of life ! Now the diftemper’d mind 
 Has loft that concord of harmonious powers, 
 
 Which forms the' foul of happinefs; and all 
 Is off the poife within: the paflions all 
 Have burft their bounds ; and reafon half ex tin ft, 
 
 Or impotent , or elfe approving , fees 
 
 The foul diforder. Senfelefs and deform’d 280 
 
 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 rftich. 
 
 IDelpon* 
 
12 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 Defponding fear, of feeble fancies full, 285 
 
 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 - defire, 290 
 
 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, 295 
 
 Thefe, and a thoufand mix’d emotions more, 
 
 From ever-changing views of good and ill. 
 
 Form’d infinitely various, vex the mind 
 With endlefs ftorms: whence, deeply rankling, grows 
 The partial thought, a liftlefs unconcern, 300 
 
 Cold, and averting from our neigbour’s good; 
 
 Then dark difguft, and hatred, winding wiles. 
 
 Coward deceit, and ruffian violence: 
 
 At laft, extinft each focial feeling, fell 
 
 And joyiefs inhumanity pervades 305 
 
 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 central waters round, impetuous rufh’d, 310 
 
 With univerfal burft, into the gulph, 
 
 And o’er te high -pil’d hills of fraftur’d earth 
 Wide dafh’d the waves, in undulation vaft; 
 
 Till, from the center to the ftreaming clouds, 
 
 A fhorelefs ocean tumbled round the globe. 315 
 
 The Seafons fince have, with feverer fway, 
 
 Opprefs’d a broken world: the Winter keen 
 
 Shook 
 
SPRING . 
 
 *3 
 
 Shook forth his wafte of fnows; and Summer fhot 
 His peftilential heats. Great Spring, before, 
 
 Green'd all the year : and fruits and blolToms blufh’d, 320 
 In focial fweetnefs, on the felf-fame bough. 
 
 Pure was the temperate air; an even calm 
 Perpetual reign’d, lave what the zephyrs bland 
 Breath’d o’er the blue expanfe; for then nor ftorms 
 Were taught to blow, nor hurricanes to rage; 325 
 
 Sound llept the waters; no fulphureous glooms 
 S well’d in the f ky , and fent the lightening forth ; 
 
 While fickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs, 
 
 Hung not, relaxing, on the fprings of life. 
 
 But now, of turbid elements the fport, 330 
 
 From clear to cloudy toft, from hot to cold. 
 
 And dry to moift, with inward -eating change. 
 
 Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought,' 
 
 Their period finifh’d ere ’tis well begum 
 
 And yet the wholefome herb neglefted dies} 
 
 * Though with the pure exhilarating foul 
 Of nutriment and health , and vital powers, 
 
 Beyond the fearch of art ; ’tis copious bleft. 
 
 For, with hot ravine fir’d, infanguin’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 whofe ftrong cheft the deadly tyger hangs. 
 
 E’er plow’d for him. They too are temper’d high* 
 With hunger ftung and wild neceflity. 
 
 Nor lodges pity in their fhaggy breaft. 
 
 But Man, whom nature form’d of milder clay s 
 With every kind emotion in his heart, 
 
 And taught alone to weep j while from her lap 
 
 335 
 
 34 ® 
 
 345 
 
 35 ® 
 
 And 
 
She pours ten thoufand delicacies , herbs, 
 
 And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain, 
 
 Or beams that gave them birth: f hall he , fair form ! 
 Who wears fweet fmiles , and looks erect on heaven, 
 E’er ftoop to mingle with the prowling herd. 
 
 And dip his tongue in gore? The beaft of prey, 
 Blood-ftain’d , 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 lufcious ftreams, and lent us your own coat 
 Againft the winter’s cold? And the plain ox, 
 
 That harmlefs, honeft, guilelefs animal, 
 
 In what has he offended? he whole toil, 
 
 Patient and ever -ready, clothes the land 
 With all the pomp of harvefl? fhall he bleed, 
 
 And ftruggling groan beneath the cruel hands 
 Even of the clown he feeds? and that, perhaps. 
 
 To fwell the riot of th’ autumnal feall 
 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 Samian fage. 
 
 High Heaven forbids the bold prefumptuous ftrain, 
 Whofe wifeft will has fix’d us in a ftate 
 That mull not yet to pure perfection rife. 
 
 Now when the firft foul torrent of the brooks, 
 
 S well’d with the vernal rains, is ebb’d away; 
 
 And, whitening, down their moffy tinftur’d flream 
 Defcends the billowy foam: now is the time 
 While yet the dark brown water aids the guile, 
 
 To tempt the trout. The well - diffembled fly, 
 
 The rod fine - tapering with elaftic fpring, 
 
 Snatch’d, from the hoary fteed the floating line. 
 
15 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 And all thy ilender watry ftores prepare. 
 
 But let not on thy hook the tortur’d worm, 385 
 
 Convuliive, twift in agonizing folds; 
 
 Which, by rapacious hunger fwal low'd deep, 
 
 Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding bread: 
 
 Of the weak helplefs uncomplaining wretch, 
 
 Harfli pain and horror to the tender hand. 390 
 
 When with his lively ray the potent fun 
 Has pierc’d the ftreams, and rouz’d the finny race* 
 Then, iffuing chearful, to thy fport repair; 
 
 Chief fhould the weftern breezes curling play. 
 
 And light o’er ether bear the fhadowy clouds. 
 
 High to their fount, this day, amid the hills, 
 
 And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks: 
 The next, purfue their rocky - channel’ 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'd the trembling ftream, or where it boils 
 Around the ftone, or from the hollow’d bank 
 Reverted plays in undulating flow, 
 
 There throw, nice- judging, the delufive fly; 
 
 And as you lead it round in artful curve, 
 
 With eye attentive mark the fp ringing 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 graffy bank, 
 
 Arid to the fhelving fhore flow - dragging fome, 
 
 With various hand proportion'd to their force. 
 
 If yet too young , and eaiily deceiv’d, 
 
 A worthlefs prey fcarce bends your pliant rod. 
 
 Him, piteous of his youth and the fhort fpace 
 
 395 
 
 400 
 
 405 
 
 416 
 
 VS 
 
 He 
 
i6 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 He has enjoy'd the vital light of Heaven, 
 
 Soft difengage, and back into the ftream 
 The fpeckled captive throw. But fhould you lure 
 From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 420 
 
 Of pendant trees, the monarch of the brook. 
 
 Behoves you then to ply your fineft art* 
 
 Long time he, following cautious, fcans the fly; 
 
 And oft attempts to feize it, but as oft 
 
 The dimpled water fpeaks his jealous fear. 425 
 
 At Jaft, while haply o'er the fhaded fun 
 
 Paffes a cloud, he defperate takes the death, 
 
 With fudden plunge. At once he darts along, 
 
 Deep ftruck, and runs out all the lengthen'd line. 
 
 Then feeks the fartheft ooze, the fheltering weed, 435 
 
 The cavern’d bank, his old fecure abode; 
 
 And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 
 
 Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand. 
 
 That feels him ftill, yet to his furious courfe 
 
 Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 435 
 
 Acrofs the ftream, exhauft his idle rage: 
 
 Till floating broad upon his breathlefs fide. 
 
 And to his fate abandon'd, to the fhore 
 You gaily drag your unrefifting prize. 
 
 Thus pafs the temperate hours: but when the fun 446 
 Shakes from his noon -day throne the featuring clouds, 
 
 Even f hooting liftlefs languor thro' the deeps; 
 
 Then feek the bank where flowering elders croud, 
 
 Where fcatter’d wide the lily of the vale 
 
 Its balmy efience breathes, where cowflips hang 445 
 
 The dewy head, where purple violets lurk, 
 
 With all the lowly children of the fhade: 
 
 Or lie reclin’d beneath yon fpreading afh, 
 
 Hung o'er the fteep; whence, borne on liquid wing, 
 
SPRING. 
 
 17 
 
 The founding culver fhoots; or where the hawk* 450 
 High, in the beetling cliff, his airy builds* 
 
 There let the claffic page thy fancy lead 
 Thro* rural fcenes; fuch as the Mantuan Twain 
 Paints in the matchlefs harmony of fong. 
 
 Or catch thyfelf the landfkip, gliding fwift 455 
 
 Athwart imagination's vivid eye : 
 
 Or by the vocal woods and waters lull’d, 
 
 And loft in lonely mufing , in the dream, 
 
 Confus’d, of carelefs folitude, Where mix 
 
 Ten thoufand wandering images of tilings, 460 
 
 Soothe every guft of paffton into peace; 
 
 All but the fwellings of the foften’d heart, 
 
 That waken, not difturb, the tranquil mind* 
 
 Behold yon breathing profpeft bids the Mufe 
 Throw all her beauty forth. But who can paint 465 
 Like Nature? Can imagination boaft, 
 
 Amid it's gay creation, hues like her’s? 
 
 Or can it mix them with that matchlefs fkill, 
 
 And lofe them in each other, as appears 
 
 In every bud that blows? If fancy then 470 
 
 Unequal fails beneath the pleating tafk, 
 
 Ah what fhali 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, 475 
 
 That inexhauftive flow continual round? 
 
 Yet, tho* fuccefslefs, will the toil delight* 
 
 Come then, ye virgins, and ye youths, whofe hearts 
 Have felt the raptures of refining love: 
 
 And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my fong! 430 
 Form’d by the Graces, lovelinefs itfelf! 
 
 Come with thofe downcaft eyes, fedate and fweet, 
 
 B 
 
 Thofe 
 
SPRING. 
 
 18 
 
 Thofe looks 'demure, that deeply pierce the foul. 
 
 Where , with the light of thoughtful reafon mix’d, 
 
 Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart: 435 
 
 Oh come! and while the rofy- footed May 
 
 Steals blufhing on, together let ns 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 fvveets. 490 
 
 See, where the winding vale its lavifh llores, 
 Irriguous, fpreads. See, how the lilly drinks 
 The latent rill, fcarce oozing thro’ the grafs. 
 
 Of growth luxuriant; or the humid bank, 
 
 In fair profufion , decks. Long let us walk, 495 
 
 Where the breeze blows from yon extended field 
 Of bloffom’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, 500 
 
 Full of frefh verdure, and unnumber’d flowers, 
 
 The negligence of Nature , wide, and wild: 
 
 Where, undifguis’d by mimic Art , fhe fpreads 
 Unbounded beauty to the roving eye. 
 
 Here their delicious tafk the fervent bees, ' 505 
 
 In fwarming millions, tend. Around, athwart, 
 
 Thro’ the foft air, the bufy nations fly, 
 
 Cling to the bud, and, with inferted tube. 
 
 Suck its pure effence, it’s etherial foul: 
 
 And oft, with bolder wing, they foaring dare gio 
 
 The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows, 
 
 And yellow load them with the lufcious fpoil. 
 
 At length the finifh’d garden to the view 
 It’s villas opens, and its alleys green. 
 
 Snatch’d thro’ the verdant maze, the hurried eye 515 
 
 Diflra&et 
 
SPRING. 
 
 19 
 
 Diftrafted wanders; now the bowery walk 
 Of covert clofe, where fcarce a fpeck of day 
 Falls on the lengthen’d gloom, protra&ed lwceps: 
 Now meets the bending fky , the river now 
 Dimpling along, the breezy-ruffled lake, 
 
 The foreft darkening round , the glittering fpire, 
 Tiff etherial mountain, and the diftant main. 
 
 But why fo far excurfive? when at hand, 
 
 Along the blufhing borders, bright with dew, 
 
 And in yon mingled wildernefs of flowers, 
 Fair-handed Spring unbofoms every grace; 
 
 Throws out the fnow-drop, and the crocus firft; 
 The daify, primrofe, violet darkly blue, 
 
 And polyanthus of unnumber’d dyes; 
 
 The yellow wall-flower, ftain’d with Iron brown; 
 And lavifh ftock that fcents the garden round. 
 From the foft wing of vernal breezes fhed, 
 Anemonies ; auriculas , enrich’d 
 With fhining meal o’er all their velvet leaves; 
 
 And full ranunculas, of glowing red. 
 
 Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty plays 
 Her idle freaks: from family diffus’d 
 To family, as flies the father-duff, 
 
 The varied colours run; and while they break 
 On the charm’d eye, tiff exulting florift marks. 
 With fecret pride, the wonders of his hand. 
 
 No gradual bloom is wanting ; from the bud, 
 Firft-born of fpring , to Summer’s mufky tribes ? 
 Nor hyacinths, of pureft virgin white, 
 
 Low-bent, and blufhing inward; nor jonquils 
 Of potent fragrance; nor Narciffus fair, 
 
 As o’er the fabled fountain hanging ftill ; 
 
 Nor broad carnations ; nor gay-fpotted pinks ; 
 
 Nor, fhower’d from every bufh, the damafk-rofe, 
 
 B 3 
 
 52 ° 
 
 $25 
 
 530 
 
 535 
 
 54 ® 
 
 545 
 
 Infinite 
 
20 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 Infinite numbers, delicacies, fmells, 550 
 
 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, 555 
 Continual climb; who, with a Matter-hand, 
 
 Haft the great whole into perfe&ion touch’d. 
 
 By Thee the various vegetative tribes, 
 
 Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves, 
 
 Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew: 560 
 
 By Thee difpos’d into congenial foils, 
 
 Stands each attraftive plant, and fucks, and fwells 
 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 attends, with equal wing attend 
 My panting Mutt! and hark how loud the woods 
 Invite you forth in all your gayeft trim. 
 
 Lend me your fong, ye nightingales! oh pour 
 The mazy -running foul of melody 
 Into my varied verfe! while I deduce 
 From the firft note the hollow cuckoo lings, 
 
 The fymphony of Spring, and touch a theme 
 Unknown to fame, the paffions of the groves . 
 
 When firft the foul of love is fent abroad, 
 
 Warm thro’ the vital air, and on the heart 
 Harmonious feizes, the gay troops begin, 
 
 565 
 
 570 
 
 575 
 
 58o 
 
 In 
 
SPRING. 
 
 21 
 
 In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing; 
 
 And try again the long-forgotten ftrain, 
 
 At firft faint-warbled. But no fooner grows 
 
 The foft infufion prevalent, and wide, 585 
 
 Than, all alive, at once their joy o’erflows 
 
 In mufic unconfin’d. Up-fprings the lark, 
 
 Shrill-voic’d, and loud, the meffenger of morn; 
 
 Ere yet the fhadows fly, he mounted fings 
 
 Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 590 
 
 Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copfe 
 
 Deep-tangled , and tree irregular , and bufh 
 
 Bending with dewy moifture , o’er the heads 
 
 Of the coy quiritters that lodge within, 
 
 Are prodigal of harmony. The thrufh 595 
 
 And wood-lark, o’er the kind contending throng 
 
 Superior heard, run thro’ the fweeteft length 
 
 Of notes ; when liftening Philomela deigns 
 
 To let them joy, and purpofes, in thought 
 
 Elate , to make her night excel their day. 600 
 
 The black-bird whittles from the thorny brake; 
 
 The mellow bullfinch anfwers from the grove: 
 
 Nor are the linnets , o’er the flowering furze 
 Pour’d out profufely, filent. Join’d to thefe 
 Innumerous fongtters, in the frefhening fhade 605 
 
 Of new-fprung leaves, their modulations mix 
 Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw, 
 
 And each harfh pipe difcordant heard alone, 
 
 Aid the full concert: while the ftock-dove breathes 
 A melancholy murmur thro’ the whole. 610 
 
 3 Tis love creates their melody, and all 
 This watte of mufic is the voice of love ; 
 
 That even to birds, and beafts, the tender Arts 
 Of pleafing teaches. Hence the gloffy kind 
 
 B 3 
 
 Try 
 
22 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 Try every winning way inventive love 6x5 
 
 Can diftate, and in courtfhip to their mates 
 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, confcious, half-averted glance 620 
 
 Of their regardlefs charmer. Should fhe feem 
 Softening the lead: approvance to beftow, 
 
 Their colours burnifh, and by hope infpir’d, 
 
 They brifk advance; then, on a fudden ftruck. 
 
 Retire diforder’d; then again approach; 625 
 
 In fond rotation fpread the fpotted wing, 
 
 And fhiver every feather with defire. 
 
 Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep woods 
 They hafte away, all as their fancy leads, 
 
 Pleafure, or food, or fecret fafety prompts; 630 
 
 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 
 Neftling repair, and to the thicket fome; 
 
 Some to the rude protection of the thorn 635 
 
 Commit their feeble offspring: the cleft tree 
 Offers its kind concealment to a few, 
 
 Their food its infefts, and its mofs their nefts. 
 
 Others apart far in the graffy dale, 
 
 Or roughening wafte , their humble texture weave. 640 
 But mo ft in woodland folitudes delight,’ 
 
 In unfrequented glooms, or fhaggy banks. 
 
 Steep, and divided by a babbling brook, 
 
 Whofe murmurs foothe them all the live-long day, 
 
 When by kind duty fix’d. Among the roots 645 
 
 Of hazel , pendant o’er the plaintive ftream. 
 
 They frame the firft foundation of their domes ; 
 
 Dry 
 
SPRING. 
 
 23 
 
 Dry Tprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid, 
 
 And bound with clay together. Now'tis nought 
 
 But reftlefs hurry thro 1 the bufy air, 650 
 
 Beat by unnumber’d wings. The fwallow fweeps 
 
 The llimy pool, to build his hanging houfe 
 
 Intent. And often, from the carelefs back 
 
 Of herds and flocks, a thoufand tugging bills 
 
 Pluck hair, and wool; and oft, when unobferv’d, 65s 
 
 Steal from the barn a ftraw : till foft and warm. 
 
 Clean, and compleat, their habitation grows* 
 
 As thus the patient dam affiduous fits. 
 
 Not to be tempted from her tender tafk, 
 
 Or by fharp hunger , or by fmooth delight, 660 
 
 Tho’ the whole loofen’d Spring around her blows. 
 
 Her fympathizing lover takes his ftand 
 High on th’ opponent bank, and ceafelefs fings. 
 
 The tedious time away; or elfe fupplies 
 
 Her place a moment , while f he fudden flits 665 
 
 To pick the fcanty meal. Th* appointed time 
 
 With pious toil fulfill’d, the callow young, 
 
 Warm’d and expanded into perfeft life, 
 
 Their brittle bondage break, and come to light, 
 
 A helplefs family, demanding food 670 
 
 With conftant clamour. O what paffions then. 
 
 What melting fentiments of kindly care, 
 
 On the new parents feize! away they fly 
 Affe&ionate, and undefiring bear 
 
 The molt delicious morfel to their young; 675 
 
 Which equally diftributed , 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 fome lone cott amid the diftant woods, 
 
 B 4 
 
 6go 
 
 Suftain’d 
 
SPRING. 
 
 2 4 
 
 Suftain’d alone by providential Heaven, 
 
 Oft , as they weeping eye their infant train, 
 
 Check their own appetites and give them all. 
 
 Non toil alone they fcorn: exalting love, 
 
 By the great Father of the Spring infpir’d, 685 
 Gives inftant courage to the fearful race, 
 
 And to the fimpte % art. With Healthy wing, 
 
 Should fome rude foot their woody haunts moleft, 
 
 Amid a neighbouring bufh they filent drftp, 
 
 And whirring thence, as if alarm’d, deceive 690 
 
 Th’unfeeling fchool-boy. Hence, around the head 
 Of wandering fwain, the white-wing’d plover wheels 
 Her founding flight, and then direftly on 
 In long excurfion fkims the level lawn, 
 
 To tempt him from her neft, The wild-duck, hence 695 
 O’er the rough mofs, and o’er the tracklefs wafte 
 The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud! to lead 
 The hot purfuing fpaniel far aftray. 
 
 Be not the Mufe afham’d, here to bemoan 
 Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant man 700 
 
 Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage 
 From liberty confin’d, and boundlefs air. 
 
 Dull are the pretty Haves, their plumage dull. 
 
 Ragged, and all its brightening luftre loft; 
 
 Nor is that fprightly wildnefs in their notes 705 
 
 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, 710 
 
 But let not chief the nightingale lament 
 Her ruin’d care, too delicately fram’d 
 
 To 
 
S P R I N Cl. 
 
 2 $ 
 
 To brook the harfh confinement of the cage. 
 
 Oft when , returning with her loaded bill, 
 
 Th* aftonifhM mother finds a vacant neft, 
 
 By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns 
 Robb’d, to the ground the vain provifion falls; 
 
 Her pinions ruffle, and low-drooping fcarce 
 Can bear the mourner to the poplar fhade ; 
 
 Where, all abandon’d to defpair, fhe fmgs 
 Her forrows thro’ the night; and on the bough 
 Sole -fitting, ftill at every dying fall 
 Takes up again her lamentable ftrain 
 Of winding woe; till wide around, the woods 
 Sigh to her fong, and with her wail refound. 
 
 But now the feather’d youth their former bounds, 
 Ardent, difdain; and, weighing oft their wings. 
 Demand the free poffeffion of the fky ; 
 
 This one glad office more, and then diffolves 
 Parental love at once, now needlefs grown. 
 Unlavifh JVifdom 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 
 
 7 T 5 
 
 720 
 
 725 
 
 73o 
 
 735 
 
 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 ftill, 
 
 In loofe libration ftretch’d, to truft the void 740 
 
 , Trembling refufe: till down before them fly 
 The parent-guides, and chide, exhort, command, 
 
 Or pufh them off. The furging air receives 
 
 Its plumy burden; aud their felf- taught wings 
 
 Winnow the waving element. On ground 245 
 
 B g Alight- 
 
26 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 Alighted, bolder Up again they lead, 
 
 Farther and farther on , the lenghtning flight ; 
 Till vanifh’d every fear, and every power 
 Rouz’d into life and aftion, light in air 
 Tli’ 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: ** Kildas fhore, whofe lonely race 
 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; which, in peace, 760 
 
 UnftainM he holds, while many a league to fea 
 He wings his courfe, and preys in diilant ifles. 
 
 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, 
 
 And ceafelefs caws amufive; there, well-pleas’d, 
 I might the various polity furvey 
 Of the mix’d houfhold - 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 ftately-failing fwan 
 Gives out his fnowy plumage to the gale ; 
 
 And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet 
 
 p 
 
 C 
 
 7<55 ; 
 
 II 
 
 j fi 
 B 
 
 i T ' 
 
 770 
 
 , It 
 
 r 
 
 I k 
 
 I If 
 
 775 
 
 I I 
 
 Bears 
 
 * The fartheft of the weltern Iflands of Scotland. 
 
SPRING. 
 
 Bears forward fierce , and guards his ofier-iJle, 
 Broteftive of his young. The turkey nigh, 
 Loud-threatning , reddens; while the peacock fpreads 
 His every-colour’d glory to the fun, 
 
 And fwims in floating majelty along. 
 
 O’er the whole homely fcene , the cooing dove 
 Flies thick in amorous chace, and wanton rolls 
 The glancing eye, and turns the changeful neck* 
 
 While thus the gentle tenants of the fhade 
 Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world 
 Of brutes, below, rufh furious into flame, 
 
 And fierce defire. Thro’ all his lufty veins 
 The bull, deep-fcorch’d , the raging paffion feelSr 
 Of pafture fick, and negligent of food, 
 
 Scarce feen , he wades among the yellow broom, 
 While o’er his ample fides the rambling fprays 
 Luxuriant fhoot; or thro’ the mazy wood 
 Dejefted wanders, nor th’ inticing bud 
 Crops , the’ it preffes on his carelefs fenfe. ’ 
 
 And oft, in jealous madning 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 flafh 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, 
 Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling fleed. 
 With this hot impulfe feiz’d in every nerve, 
 
 Nor hears the rein, nor heeds the founding thong; 
 Blows are not felt; but tolling high his head, 
 
 And by the well known joy to diftant plains 
 Attra&ed ftrong, all wild he burfls away; 
 
 27 
 
 780 
 
 785 
 
 790 
 
 795 
 
 800 
 
 805 
 
 810 
 
 O'er 
 
SPRING. 
 
 2$ 
 
 O’er rocks, and woods, and craggy mountains flies; 
 
 And, neighing, on the aerial fummit takes 
 Th* exciting gale; then, fteep-defcending, cleaves 
 The headlong torrents foaming down the hills, 
 
 Even where the madnefs of the ftraiten’d ftream 815 
 
 Turns in black eddies round : fuch is the force 
 With which his frantic heart and finews fvvelh 
 
 Nor undelighted, by the boundlefs fpring, 
 
 Are the broad monfters of the foaming deep : 
 
 From the deep ooze, and gelid cavern rous’d, $20 
 
 They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy. 
 
 Dire were the ftrain, and diffonant, to fing 
 The cruel raptures of the favage kind : 
 
 How by this flame their native wrath fublim’d. 
 
 They roam, amid the fury of their heart, 8^5 
 
 The far -refounding wafte in fiercer bands, 
 
 And growl their horrid loves. But this the theme 
 I fing, enraptur’d, to the British Fair, 
 
 Forbids, and leads me to the mountain-brow, 
 
 Where fits the fhepherd on the graffy turf, 830 
 
 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 frolicks play. And now the fprightly race 835 
 
 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 difunited Britain, ever bled, 840 
 
 Loft in eternal broil : ere yet fhe grew 
 To this deep-laid indiffoluble ftate, 
 
 Where Wealth and Commerce lift their golden heads; 
 
 And, I 
 
SPRING. 
 
 29 
 
 And , o’er our labours , Liberty and Law , 
 
 Impartial, watch, the wonder of a world! 845 
 
 What is this mighty Breath , ye fages, fay, 
 That, in a powerful language, felt not heard, 
 Inftrufts the fowls of heaven; and thro’ their bread: 
 Thefe arts of love diffufes? What, but God? 
 Infpiring God! who boundlefs Spirit all, 
 
 And unremitting energy, pervades, 
 
 Adj ufts, fuftains , and agitates the whole. 
 
 He ceafelefs works alone ; and yet alone 
 
 Seems not to work; with fuch perfection fram’d 
 
 Is this complex flupendous 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 undefigning hearts 
 Profufely thus in tendernefs and joy. 
 
 Still let my fong a nobler note affume, 
 
 And fing th’ infufive force of Spring on Man; 
 
 When heaven and earth, as if contending, vye 
 To raife his being, and ferene his foul. 
 
 , 3an he forbear to join the general fmile 
 2 3f Nature ? Can fierce paffions vex his bread:, 
 
 While every *gale is peace , and every grove 
 s melody? Hence! From the bounteous walks 
 3f flowing Spring , ye fordid fons of earth, 
 dard, and unfeeling of another’s woe; 
 
 ^ 3r only lavifh to yourfelves; away! 
 
 3ut come, ye generous minds, in whofe wide thought 
 3f all his works, Creative Bounty burns 
 
 850 
 
 855 
 
 860 
 
 865 
 
 87° 
 
 875 
 
 With 
 
With warmeft beam; and on your open front, 
 
 And liberal eye, fits, from his dark retreat 
 Inviting model! want. Nor, till invok’d 
 Can reftlefs goodnefs wait; your aftive fearch 
 Leaves no cold wintry corner unexplor’d; 
 
 Like filent- working Heaven, furprifing oft 
 The lonely heart with unexpedted good. 
 
 For you the roving fpirit of the wind 
 
 Blows Spring abroad; for you the teeming clouds 
 
 Defcend in gladfome plenty o’er the wor d ; 
 
 And the fun fheds his kindeft rays for you, 
 
 Ye flower of human race! — In thefe green days. 
 Reviving ficknefs lifts her languid head; 
 
 Life flows afrefh; and young-ey’d Health exalts 
 The whole creation round. 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 ftill. 
 
 By fwift degrees the love of nature works. 
 
 And warms the bofom; till at laft fublkn’d 
 To rapture, and enthufiaftic heat, 
 
 We feel the prefent Deity, and tafte 
 The joy of God to fee a happy world! 
 
 These are the facred feelings of thy heart, 
 
 Thy heart inform’d by reafon’s purer ray, 
 
 O Lyttelton, the friend! thy paffions thus 
 And meditations vary, as at large, 
 
 Courting the Mufe , thro’ Hagley-Park thou ftrayeft, 
 Thy Britifh Tempe ! There along the dale, 
 
 With Woods o’er-hung, and fhag’d with moffy rocks, 
 Whence on each hand the gufhing waters play, 
 
 And down the rough cafcade white-dafhing fall, 
 
SPRING. 
 
 31 
 
 910 
 
 Or gleam in lengthen’d villa thro’ the trees, 
 
 You filent Heal; or fit beneath the fhade 
 Of folemn oaks, that tuft the fwelling mounts 
 Thrown graceful round by Nature’s carelefs hand, 
 
 And penfive lillen to the various voice 
 Of rural peace: the herds, the flocks, the birds, 915 
 The hollo w-whifpering breeze , the plaint of rills, 
 
 That, purling down amid the twilled roots 
 Which creep around, their dewy murmurs fhake 
 On the footh’d ear. From thefe abftrafted oft, 
 
 You wander through the philofophic world ; 920 
 
 Where in bright train continual wonders rife, 
 
 Or to the curious or the pious eye. 
 iAnd oft, condu&ed 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: while, with fure tafte refin’d. 
 
 You draw th’ infpiring breath of ancient long; 
 
 Till nobly rifes, emulous, thy own. 
 
 Perhaps thy lov’d Lucinda fhares 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, 
 
 Toft by ungenerous pafftons., finks away* 
 
 The tender heart is animated peace ; 
 
 And as it pours its copious treafures forth. 
 
 In varied converfe , foftening every theme, 
 
 You, frequent-paufing , turn, and from her eyes, 
 
 Where meekened fenfe , and amiable grace, 
 
 And lively fweetnefs dwell, enraptur’d, drink 
 
 (| 
 
 92$ 
 
 930 
 
 935 
 
 94 ° 
 
 That 
 
SPRING. 
 
 32 
 
 That namelefs fpirit of etherial joy, 
 
 Unutterable happinefs ! which love, 945 
 
 Alone bellows , and on a favour d few . 
 
 Meantime you gain the height, from whofe fair brow 
 The burfting pro fp eft Ipreads immenfe around; 
 
 And fnatch’d o’er hill and dale, and wood and lawn,' 
 
 And verdant field, and darkening hV\th between, 950 
 And villages embofom’d loft in trees, 
 
 And fpiry towns by furging columns mark’d 
 Of houfehold fmoak, your eye excurfive roams: 
 Wide-ftretching from the Hall , in whofe kind haunt 
 The Hofpitable Genius lingers ftill, 955 
 
 To where the broken landfkip , by degrees, 
 
 Afcending, roughens into ridgy hills; 
 
 O’er which the cambrian mountains, like far clouds 
 That fkirt the blue horizon, dufky rife* 
 
 Flush’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 fhining moifture fvvells into her eyes, 
 
 In brighter flow ; her wifhing 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 ecftatic power, and fick 
 With fighing languifhment. Ah then, ye fair! 
 
 Be greatly cautious of your Hiding hearts: 
 
 Dare not th’ infeftious figh ; the pleading look, 
 Down-call, 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, 
 
 960 
 
 J 
 
 I ^ 
 
 970 1 
 
 ■ ! 
 b 
 
 . I [oil 
 
 975 ' ' 
 Where 
 
 
SPRING. 
 
 93 
 
 Where woodbinds flaunt, and rofes fhed a couch, 
 While evening draws her crimfon curtains round, 
 Trull your foft minutes with Betraying Man. 
 
 And let th 1 afpiring youth beware of love. 
 
 Of the fmooth glance beware; for *tis too late, 
 When on his heart the torrent- foftnefs pours. 
 
 Then Wifdom prollrate lies , and fading fame 
 Diffolves in air away ; while the fond foul. 
 
 Wrapt in gay vilions of unreal blifs, 
 
 Still paints th* illufive form ; the kindling grace ; 
 Tlf inticing fmile; the modeft-feeming eye, 
 Beneath whofe beauteous beams , belying heaven* 
 ;Lurk fearchlefs cunning, cruelty, and death: 
 And Hill , falfe-warbling in his cheated ear, 
 
 Her fyren voice, enchanting, draws him on, 
 
 To guileful fhores, 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 Repentance rears 
 
 Her fnaky creft: a quick -returning pang 
 
 Shoots thro’ the confcious heart; where honour {till, 
 
 And great defign, againft the oppreflive load 
 
 Of luxury, by fits, impatient heave. 
 
 j 
 
 '5 
 
 But abfent, what fantaflic woes, arrous’d, 
 
 Rage in each thought, by reftlefs muling fed, 
 
 Chill the warm cheek, and blaft the bloom of life? 
 Neglefted fortune flies ; and Aiding fwift, 
 
 Prone into ruin, fall his fcorn’d affairs. 
 
 >Tis nought but gloom around: the darken’d fun 
 Lofes his light: the rofy-bofom’d Spring 
 To weeping fancy pines; and yon bright arch* 
 Contracted, bends into a dufky vault* 
 
 C 
 
 98 $ 
 
 985 
 
 990 
 
 995 
 
 XOQO 
 
 1005 
 
 re 
 
 All 
 
SPRING. 
 
 34 
 
 All Nature fades extin ft; and fhe alone 
 Heard, felt, and feen, poffeffes every thought. 
 Fills every fenfe, and pants in every vein. 
 
 Books are but formal dulnefs, tedious friends ; 
 
 And fad amid the focial band he fits, 
 
 Lonely, and unattentive. From his tongue 
 Th* unfinifh’d period falls: while borne away 
 On fwelling thought, his wafted fpirit flies 
 To the vain bofom of his diftant fair; 
 
 And leaves the femblance of a lover, fix’d 
 In melancholy fite, with head declin’d, 
 
 And love-dejefted eves. Sudden he ftarts, 
 
 Shook from his tender trance, and reftlefs runs 
 To glimmering f hades, and fympathetic glooms; 
 Where the dun umbrage o’er the falling ftream, 
 Romantic, 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, 
 Thtis in foft anguifh he confumes the day, 
 
 Nor quits his deep retirement, till the moon 
 Peeps thro’ the chambers of the fleecy eaft, 
 Enlightened by degrees, and in her train 
 Leads on the gentle hours; then forth he walks. 
 Beneath the trembling languifh of her beam, 
 With foften’d 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 fhadows drear; 
 And, fighing to the lonely taper, pours 
 His idly-tortur’d heart into, the page, 
 
 Meant for the moving meffenger of love; 
 
 Where rapture burns on rapture, every line 
 With riling frenzy fir’d. But if on bed 
 
 XOIO 
 
 1015 
 
 1020 
 
 1025 
 
 I03<5 
 
 I0 35 0 
 
 104c 
 
 Delir 
 
SPRING. 
 
 Delirious flung, deep from his pillow flios. 
 
 All night he toffes, nor the balmy power 
 In any pofture finds; till the grey mom 
 Lifts her pale luftre on the paler wretch. 
 Exanimate by love: and then perhaps 
 Exhaufted Nature links a while to reft, 
 
 Still interrupted by diftrafted 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 crouds diftrefs’d ; or if retir’d 
 To fecret-winding flower-enwoven bowers. 
 
 Far from the dull impertinence of Man, 
 
 Juft as he, credulous, his endlefs cares 
 Begins to lofe in blind oblivious love, 
 
 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 f brinks aghaft. 
 Back, from the bending precipice; or wades 
 The turbid ftream below, and ftrives to reach 
 The farther fhore ; where fuccourlefs, and fad, 
 
 She with extended arms his aid implores. 
 
 But ftrives in vain; borne by th’ outrageous flood 
 To diftance down, he rides the ridgy wave, 
 
 Or whelm’d beneath the boiling eddy links. 
 
 These are the charming agonies of love, 
 
 Whofe mifery delights. But thro’ the heart 
 Should jealoufy its venom once diffufe, 
 
 ’Tis then delightful mifery no more, 
 
 But agony unmix’d, inceffant gall, 
 
 Corroding every thought, and blafting all 
 Love's paradife. Ye fairy profpefts, then, 
 
 Ye beds of rofes, and ye bowers of joy, 
 
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SPRING. 
 
 36 
 
 Farewell Ye gleamings of departing peace. 
 
 Shine out your laft! the yellow-tinging plague 1080 
 Internal vifion taints, and in a night 
 Of livid gloom imagination wraps. 
 
 Ah then; inftead of-love enliven’d cheeks, 
 
 Of funny features, and of ardent eyes 
 
 With flowing rapture bright, dark looks fucceed, 1085 
 
 Suffus’d, and glaring with untender fire ; 
 
 A cloudy afpeft, and a burning cheek, 
 
 Where the whole poifon’d foul, malignant, fits, 
 
 And frightens love away. Ten thoufand fears 
 Invented wild, ten thoufand frantic views X090 
 
 Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms 
 For which he melts in fondnefs, eat him up 
 With fervent anguifh, and confuming rage. 
 
 In vain reproaches lend their idle aid, 
 
 Deceitful pride, and refolution frail, 1095 
 
 Giving falfe peace a moment. Fancy pours, 
 
 Afrefh, her beauties on his buly thought, 
 
 Her firft endearments, twining round the foul, 
 
 With all the witchcraft of enfnaring love. 
 
 Strait the fierce ftorm involves his mind anew, 1100 
 
 Flames thro’ the nerves, and boils along the veins: 
 
 While anxious doubt diff rafts the tortur’d heart; 
 
 For even the fad affurance of his fears 
 
 Were peace to what he feels. Thus the warm youth, 
 
 Whom love deludes into his thorny wilds, II05 
 
 Thro’ flowery-tempting paths, or leads a life 
 
 Of fever’d rapture, or of cruel care; 
 
 His brighteft flames extinguifh’d all, and all 
 
 His brightell: moments running down to wafte* 
 
 + 
 
 But happy they! the happieft of their kind! IIIO 
 Whom gentler liars unite, and in one fate 
 Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 
 
 ) 
 
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 it: 
 
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 'Tis 
 
SPRING. 
 
 37 
 
 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 friendfhip full-exerts her fofteft power, 
 Perfeft efteem enliven’d by delire 
 Ineffable, and fympathy of foul; 
 
 Thought meeting 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 days: 
 
 Let barbarous nations, whofe inhuman love 
 Is wild deftre, fierce as the funs they feel; 
 
 Let eaftern tyrants from the light of Heaven 
 Seclude their bofom-ilaves, meanly poffefs’d 
 Of a meer, 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, 
 
 Its pomp, its pleafure, and its nonfenfe all! 
 
 Who in each other clafp whatever fair 
 High fancy forms, and lavifh hearts can wifh ; 
 Something than beauty dearer, fhould they look 
 Or on the mind, or mind-illumin’d face; 
 
 Truth, goodnefs, honour, harmony, and love 
 The richeft bounty of indulgent Heaven. 
 Mean-time a fouling offspring rifes round, 
 
 And mingles both their graces. By degrees. 
 
 The human bloffom blows; and every day, 
 
 Soft as it rolls along, fhews fome new charm, 
 
 The father’s luftre, and the mother’s bloom. 
 
 The infant reafon grows apace, and calls 
 
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 For 
 
38 SPRING. 
 
 For the kind hand of an affiduous care. 
 
 Delightful tafk! to rear the tender thought. 
 
 To teach the young idea how to fhoot, 
 
 To pour the frefh inftruftion o’er the mind, 
 
 To breathe th’ enlivening fpirit, and to fix 
 The generous purpofe in the glowing bread:. 
 
 Oh fpeak the joy! ye, whom the fudden tear 
 Surprizes often, while you look around, 
 
 And nothing itrikes your eye but fights of blifs. 
 All various Nature prefling on the heart: 
 
 An elegant fufficiency, content, 
 
 Retirement, rural quiet, friendfhip, books, 
 
 Eafe and alternate labour, ufeful life, 
 
 Progreflive virtue, and approving Heaven. 
 Thefe are the matchlefs joys of virtuous love; 
 And thus their moments fly. The feafons 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 fwelk 
 With many a proof of recollected love, 
 Together down they fink in focial fleep; 
 Together freed, their gentle fpirits fly 
 To fcenes where love and blifs immortal reign. 
 
 ■ 
 
 1150 
 
 11 55 
 
 u6o 
 
 1165 
 
 1170 
 
 SUMMER 
 
( 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 c 4 
 
The Argument. 
 
 The fubjeCl propofed. Invocation. Addrefs to Mr. 
 Dodington. An introductory reflection on the 
 motion of the heavenly bodies ; whence the fucceflion 
 of the Seafons. As the face of Nature in this 
 Seafon is almojl uniform , the progrefs of the poem 
 is a defcription of a fummer’s Day. The dawn. 
 Sun-rifing. Hymn to the Sun. Forenoon. Summer 
 InfeCts defcribed. Hay-making. Sheep-f hearing. 
 
 Noon-day. A woodland retreat. Group e of herds 
 and flocks. A folemn grove. How it affeCts a 
 contemplative mind. A cataraCi , and rude fcene. 
 View of Summer in the torrid zone. Storm of 
 thunder and lightning. A tale. The form over, 
 a ferene afternoon. Bathing. Hour of walking. 
 Tranfition to the prof pelt of a rich well-cultivated 
 country ; which introduces a panegyric on Great 
 Britain. Sun-fet. Evening. Night. Summer 
 meteors. A Comet. The whole concluding with the 
 praife of philofophy. 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 PROM brightening fields of ether fair difclos’d, 
 
 Child of the Sun, 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; g 
 
 While, from his ardent look, the turning Spring 
 A verts her blufhful face; and earth, and fkies. 
 
 All-fouling, to his hot dominion leaves. 
 
 Hence, let me hafte into the mid-wood fhade, 
 
 Where fcarce a fun-beam wanders thro’ the gloom; io 
 And on the dark-green grafs, belide 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, ij 
 
 By mortal feldom found: may Fancy dare. 
 
 From thy fix’d ferious eye, and raptur’d glance 
 Shot on furrounding Heaven, to Iteal one look 
 Creative of the Poet, every power 
 
 Exalting to an Ecftafy of foul. 20 
 
 And thou, my youthful Mufe’s early ^ friend, 
 
 In whom the human graces all unite : 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 4 2 
 
 Pure' light of mind, and tendernefs of heart; 
 Genius, and Wifdom; the gay focial fenfe. 
 
 By decency chaftis’d; goodnefs and wit, 
 
 In feldom-meeting harmony combin’d; 
 
 Unblemifh’d honour, and an aftive zeal. 
 
 For Britain's glory, Liberty, and Man: 
 
 O Dodin^ton! attend my rural fong, 
 
 Stoop to- my theme, inlpirit every line. 
 
 And teach me to defer ve thy juft Applaufe* 
 
 With what an awful world-revolving power 
 Were fitft th’ 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 ftealing round, 
 
 Minutely faithful: Such Th* all-Perfect Hand! 
 That pois’d, impels, and rules the fteady Whole. 
 
 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: 
 
 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 glow; 
 
 And, from before the luftre of her face, 
 
 White break the clouds away. With quicken’d ftep. 
 Brown Night retires: Young Day pours in apace. 
 And opens all the lawny profpeft wide. 
 
 The dripping rock, the mountain’s mifty top 
 Swell on the fight, and brighten with the dawm 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 43 
 
 Blue, thro’ the dufk, the fmoking currents fhine; 
 
 And from the bladed field the fearful hare 
 
 Limps, aukward : while along the foreft-glade 
 
 The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze 
 
 At early paflfenger. Mufic awakes 6 ® 
 
 The native voice of undiffembled joy; 
 
 And thick around the woodland hymns arife. 
 
 Rous’d by the cock, the foon-clad fhepherd leaves 
 His mofly cottage, where with Peace he dwells; 
 
 And from the crouded fold, in order, drives 65 
 
 His Hock, to tafte the verdure of the morn. 
 
 Falsely luxurious, will not Man awake; 
 
 And, fpringing from the bed of iloth, enjoy 
 The cool, the fragrant, and the filent hour. 
 
 To meditation due and facred fong? 70 
 
 For is there aught in fleep can charm the wife? 
 
 To lie in dead oblivion, lofing half 
 The fleeting moments of too fhort a life; 
 
 Total extinction of th* enlightened foul! 
 
 Or elfe to feverifh vanity alive, 75 
 
 Wildered, and toffing thro’ diftemper’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 wildly-devious morning-walk? §q 
 
 But yonder comes tire powerful King of Day, 
 
 Rejoicing in the eaft. The leffening cloud, 
 
 The kindling azure, and the mountain’s brow 
 
 Illum’d with fluid gold, his near approach 
 
 Betoken glad. Lo I now, apparent all, gij 
 
 Aflant the dew-bright earth, and coloured air. 
 
 He looks in boundlefs majefty abroad; 
 
 And fheds the fhining day, thad burnifh’d plays 
 
 On 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 44 
 
 On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering ftreams, 
 High-gleaming from afar. Prime chearer, Light! 90 
 
 Of all material beings firft, and beft! 
 
 Efflux divine! Nature’s refplendent robe! 
 
 .Without whofe vefting beauty all were wrapt 
 In uneffential gloom; and thou, O Sun! 
 
 Soul of furrounding worlds! in whom beft feen 
 Shines out thy Maker! may I ling of thee? 
 
 ’Tis by thy fecret, ftrong, attraftive force, 
 
 As with a chain indiffoluble bound, 
 
 Thy Syftem rolls entire: from the far bourne 
 Of utmoft Saturn , wheeling wide his round loo 
 
 Of thirty years; to Mercury , whofe difk 
 Can fcarce be caught by philofophic eye, 
 
 Eoft in the near effulgence of thy blaze. 
 
 Informer of the planetary train! 
 
 Without whofe quickening glance their cumbrous orbs 105 
 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 fpirit; 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 
 That waits thy throne , as thro’ thy vaft domain. 
 Annual, along the bright ecliptic road, 
 
 In world-rejoicing ftate, it moves fublime. 
 Mean-time th* expefting 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. 
 
 
 120 
 
 High- 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 High-feen, the Seafons lead, in fprightly dance 
 1 Harmonious knit, the rofy-finger’d Hours, 
 
 The Zephyrs floating loofe, the timely Rains , 
 
 Of Bloom ethereal the light-footed Dews, 
 
 And foften’d info joy the furly Storms. 
 
 Thefe , in fucceffive turn , with lavifh hand. 
 
 Shower every beauty, every fragrance fhower, 
 
 1 Herbs, flowers, and fruits; till, kindling at thy touch, 
 From land to land is flufh’d the vernal year. 
 
 4S 
 
 125 
 
 Nor to the furface of enliven’d earth, 133 
 
 Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods, 
 
 Her liberal trebles , is thy force confin’d : 
 
 But, to the bowel’d cavern darting deep. 
 
 The mineral kinds confefs thy mighty power. 
 
 Effulgent, hence the veiny marble fhines; j^5' 
 
 Hence Labour draws his tools ; hence burnifh’d War 
 Gleams on the day; the nobler works of Peace 
 Hence blefs mankind, and generous Commerce binds 
 The round of nations in a golden chain. 
 
 Th’ unfruitful rock , itfelf impregn’d by thee. 
 In dark retirement forms the lucid ftone. 
 
 The lively Diamond drinks thy pureft rays, 
 Colle&ed 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 tinft, 
 
 The purple-ftreaming Amethyft is thine. 
 
 With thy own finile the yellow Topaz burns. 
 Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, 
 
 14c! 
 
 I4S 
 
 IS® 
 
 When 
 
155 
 
 46 SUMMER. 
 
 When firft fhe gives it to the fouthern gale, 
 
 Than the green Emerald fhows. But, all combin’d, 
 Tliick thro’ the whitening Opal play thy beams; 
 
 Or, flying feveral from its furface, form / 
 
 A trembling variance of revolving hues, J 
 As the fite varies in the gazer’s hand. 
 
 The very dead creation, from thy touch, 
 
 .A flumes a mimic life. By thee refin’d, 
 
 In brighter mazes the relucent ftream 
 Flays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt, 
 Proje&ing horror on the blackened flood, 
 
 Softens at thy return. The deflirt joys 
 Wildly , thro’ all his melancholy bounds. 
 
 Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep, 
 
 Seen from fome pointed promontory’s top, 
 
 Far to the blue horizon’s utmoft verge, 
 
 Rettlefs, reflects a floating gleam. But this. 
 
 And all the much-tranfported Mufe can fing. 
 
 Are to thy beauty, dignity, and ufe, 
 
 Unequal far, great delegated fource 
 
 Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below! 
 
 How fhall I then attempt to fing of Him, 
 
 Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light 
 Invefted deep, dwells awfully retir’d 
 From mortal eye, or angel’s purer ken; 
 
 Whofe Angle frnile has 5 from the flrft of time, 
 Fill’d, overflowing, all thofe lamps of Heaveu, 
 
 That beam for ever thro’ the boundlefs fky: 
 
 But, fhould he hide his face, th’ aftonifh’d fun, 
 And all th’ extinguifh’d ftars, would loofening ftart 
 Wide from their fpheres, and Chaos come again. 
 
 And yet was every faultering tongue of Man, 
 Almighty Maker! filent in thy praife; 
 
 160 
 
 165 
 
 *70 
 
 17s 
 
 180 
 
 185 ’ 
 
 Thy 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 Thy works themfelves would raife a general voice, 
 Even in the depth of folitary 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-inftru&ing page, 
 
 Or, haply catching infpiration thence, 
 
 Some eafy pafiage, raptur’d, to tranilate, 
 
 My foie delight; as thro’ the falling glooms 
 Penfive I ftray, or with the riling dawn 
 On Fancy’s eagle-wing excurlive foar. 
 
 c 
 
 Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent fun 
 Melts into limpid air the high-rais’d clouds, 
 
 And morning fogs that hover’d round the hills 
 In party-colour’ d bands ; till wide unveil’d 
 The face of nature fhines, from where earth feerns 
 Far-ftretch’d around, to meet the bending fphere. 
 
 Half in a blufh of cluttering rofes loft, 
 Dew-dropping Coolnefs to the fhade retires; 
 
 "There on the verdant tnrf, or flowery bed 
 By gelid founts and carelefs rills to mufe: 
 
 While tyrant Heat, difpreading thro’ the fky, 
 
 With rapid fway, his burning influence darts 
 On Man, and beaft, and herb, and tepid ftream. 
 
 Who can unpitying fee the flowery race, 
 
 Shed by the morn, their new-flufh’d bloom refign 
 Before the parching beam? fo fade the fair, 
 
 When fevers revel thro* their azure veins. 
 
 But one, the lofty follower of the fun, 
 
 Sad when he fets, fhuts up her yellow leaves, 
 
S U M M E R. 
 
 225 
 
 48 
 
 Drooping all niglit; and, whem he warm returns, 
 
 Points her enamour’d bofom to his ray. 
 
 Home, from his morning tafk, the fwain retreats; 220 
 His flock before him ftepping to the fold: 
 
 While the full-udder’d mother lows around 
 The chearful cottage , then expelling 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 direft their lazy flight; 
 
 Where on the mingling boughs they fit embower’d, 
 
 All the hot noon, till cooler hours arife. 
 
 Faint, underneath, the houfliold fowls convene ; 
 
 And, in a corner of the buzzing fhade, 
 
 The houfe-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies, 
 Out-ftretch’d, and ileepy. In his flumbers one 
 Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults 
 O’er hill and dale; till \yakened by the walp. 
 
 They ftarting fnap. Nor fhall the Mufe difdain 
 To let the little ;noify fummer-race 
 Live in her lay, and flutter through her fongs 
 Not mean tho’ limple: to the fun ally’d, 
 
 From him they draw their animating fire. 
 
 23O 
 
 235 
 
 1 43 
 
 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 ftorms; or riling from their tombs, 
 
 To higher life; by myriads, forth at once, 
 Swarming they pour; of all the vary’d hues 
 Their beauty-beaming parent can difclofe. 
 
 Ten thoufand forms! ten thoufand different tribes! 
 People the blaze. To funny waters fome 
 By fatal inftinft fly ; where on the pool 
 
 245 
 
 250 
 
 They, 
 
S U M M E R. 
 
 49 
 
 They, fportive, wheel; or, hilling down the ftream, 
 Are fnatch’d immediate by the quick-eyed 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, 
 
 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; 
 
 Sip round the pail, or taflre the curdling cheefe: 
 Oft, inadvertent, from the milky ftrearn 
 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 abhorr’d! Amid a mangled heap 
 Of carcafles, in eager watch he fits, 
 
 O’erlooking ail his waving fnares around. 
 
 Near the d.ire cell the dreadlefs wanderer oft 
 Paffes, as oft the ruffian fhows his front; 
 
 The prey at laft enfnar’d , he dreadful darts, 
 
 With rapid glide, along the leaning line; 
 
 And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs, 
 
 Strikes backward grimly pleas’d: the fluttering wing, 
 And fhriller found declare extreme difrrefs, 
 
 And afk the helping hofpitable hand. 
 
 Resounds the living furface of the ground: 
 
 Nor undelightful is the cealelefs hum, 
 
 To him who mufes thro’ the woods at noon; 
 
 Or drowfy fhepherd, as he lies reclin’d, 
 
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 With 
 
With half-fhut eyes, beneath the floating fhade 
 Of willows grey, clofe-crouding o’er the brook. 
 
 Gradual, from thefe what numerous kinds defcend, 
 Evading even the microfcopic eye! 
 
 Full Nature fwarms with life; one wondrous mafs 
 Of animals, or atoms organiz’d, 
 
 Waiting the vital Breath , when Parent-Heaven 
 Shall bid his fpirit blow. The hoary fen, 
 
 In putrid fteams, emits the living cloud 
 Of peftilence. Thro* fubterranean cells, 
 
 Where fearching fun-beams fcarce can find a way 
 Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf 
 Wants not its foft inhabitants. Secure, 
 
 Within its winding citadel, the ftone 
 Holds multitudes. But chief the foreft-boughs, 
 
 That dance unnumber’d to the playful breeze, 
 
 The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 
 Of mellow fruit, the namelefs nations feed 
 Of evanefcent infe&s. Where the pool 
 Stands mantled o’er with green, invifible, 
 
 Amid the floating verdure millions ftray. 
 
 Each liquid too, whether it pierces, fooths. 
 
 Inflames, refrefhes, or exalts the tafte, 
 
 With various forms abounds. Nor is the firearm 
 Of pureft cryltal, 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, efcape 
 The grofler eye of Man: for, if the worlds 
 In worlds inclos’d fhould on his fenfes burft, 
 
 From cates ambroflal, and the neftar’d bowl, 
 
 He would abhorrent turn; and in dead night, 
 
 When filence Jleeps o’er all, be flun’d with noife. 
 
 Let no prefuming impious railer tax 
 Creative Wisdom, as if aught was form’d 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 t 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! 
 
 1 A critic-fly, whofe feeble ray fcarce fpreads 
 An inch around, with blind prefumption bold, 
 Should dare to tax the ftrufture of the whole. 
 
 And lives the Man, whofe univerfal eye 
 Has fwept at once th’ unbounded fcheme of things: 
 1 Mark’d their dependance fo, and firm accord, 
 
 As with unfaultering accent to conclude 
 That This evaileth nought? has any feen 
 The mighty chain of beings, leflening down 
 From Infinite Perfection to the brink 
 Of dreary Nothing , defolate abyfs! 
 
 From which aftonifh’d thought, recoiling, turns? 
 Till then alone let zealous praife afcend, 
 
 And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power, 
 
 , Whofe wifdom fhines as lovely on our minds, 
 
 As on our fmiling eyes his fervant-fun. 
 
 Thick in yon ftream of light, a thoufand ways. 
 Upward, and downward, thwarting, and convolv’d. 
 The quivering nations fport; till, tempeft-wing’d, 
 Fierce Winter fweeps them from the face of day. 
 
 Even fo luxurious Men, unheeding, pafs 
 An idle fummer-life in fortune’s fhine, 
 
 A feafon’s glitter! thus they flutter on 
 From toy to toy, from vanity to vice; 
 
 Till, blown away by death, oblivon comes 
 Behind, and ftrikes them from the book of life. 
 
 5i 
 
 320 
 
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 333 
 
 335 
 
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 345 
 
 353 
 
 Now fwarms the village o’er the jovial mead: 
 The ruftic youth 5 brown with meridian toil, 
 
 D 2 
 
 Health- 
 
5 U M M E R. 
 
 52 
 
 Healthful, and ftrong ; full as the fummer-rofe 
 Blown by prevailing funs, the ruddy maid. 
 Half-naked, fwelling on the fight, and all 
 Her kindled graces burning o’er her cheek. 
 
 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 flics the tedded grain; 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 ruffet 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 rufhing thence, in one diflufive band, 
 
 They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog 
 Compell’d, t 0 where the mazy-running brook 
 Forms a deep pool: 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 fwain. 
 On fome impatient feizing, hurls them in: 
 Embolden’d then, nor hefitating more, 
 
 Fait, faft, they plunge amid the flafhing wave, 
 And panting labour to the fartheft fhore. 
 
 Repeated this , till deep the well-wafh’d fleece 
 Has drunk the flood, and from his lively haunt 
 The trout is banifh’d by the fordid ftream; 
 
 Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow 
 
 355 
 
 360 
 
 365 
 
 37 ° 
 
 375 
 
 380 
 
 385 
 
 Slow- 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 S3 
 
 Slow-move the harmlefs race: where, as they fpread 
 3 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, 
 Inceflant bleatings run around the hills. 
 
 At laft, of fnowy white, the gather’d flocks 
 Are in the wattled pen innumerous prefs’d, 
 
 | Head above head; and, rang’d in lufty rows. 
 
 i 
 
 The fhepherds fit, and whet the founding f hears* 
 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 paftbrai queen, and rays 
 Her fmiles, fweet-b earning , 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 tafk goes on apace: 
 
 Some mingling ftir the melted tar, and fome, 
 Deep on the new -Thorn vagrant’s heaving fide, 
 To ftamp his mailer’s cypher ready Hand; 
 
 Others th’ unwilling wether drag along, 
 
 And, glorying in his might, the fturdy boy 
 Holds by the twilled 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! 
 
 Fear not, ye gentle tribes, ’tis not the knife 
 Of horrid daughter that is o’er you wav’d; 
 
 No, ’tis the tender fwain’s well-guided fhears. 
 Who having now, to pay his annual care. 
 Borrow’d your fleece, to you a cumbrous load, 
 Will fend you bounding to your hills again* 
 
 d 3 
 
 390 
 
 395 
 
 40a 
 
 403 
 
 410 
 
 
 420 
 
 A 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 54 
 
 A Ample fcene! yet hence Britannia fees 
 Her folid grandeur rife: hence fhe commands 
 Th’ exalted ltores of every brighter clime, 425 
 
 The treafures of the fun 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, 
 Impendig hangs o’er Gallia s humbled coaft; 430 
 
 Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the world. 
 
 ’Tis raging Noon; and, vertical, the Sun 
 Darts on the head direft his forceful rays. 
 
 O’er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye 
 
 Can fweep, a dazling deluge reigns; and all 435 
 
 From pole to pole is undiftinguifh’d blaze. 
 
 In vain the light, dejefted 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 440 
 
 And Jlippery lawn an arid hue difclofe, 
 
 Blaft Fancy’s blooms, and wither even the Soul. 
 
 Echo no more returns the chearful found 
 
 Of fharpening fey the: the mower finking heaps 
 
 O’er him the humid hay , with flowers perfum’d ; 445 
 
 And fcarce a chirping grafs-hopper is heard 
 
 Thro’ the dumb mead. Diftrefsful Nature pants. 
 
 The very ftreams look languid from afar; 
 
 Or, thro’ th’ unfhelter’d glade, impatient, feem 
 
 To hurl into the covert of the grove. 45c 
 
 All-Conquering heat, oh intermit thy wrath! 
 
 And on my throbbing temples potent thus 
 Beam not fo fierce ! mediant ilill you flow. 
 
 And ftill another fervent flood fucceeds, 
 
 Pour’d on the head profufe. In vain I figh, 45; 
 
 An< 
 
55 
 
 460 
 
 4^S 
 
 Welcome, ye fhades! ye bowery thickets, hail! 
 
 Ye lofty pines! ye venerable oaks! 
 
 Ye afhes wild, refounding o’er the freep ! 
 
 Delicious is your fhelter to the foul, 
 
 As to the hunted hart the fallying fpring, 
 
 Or ftream full -flowing, that his fwelling Tides 
 Laves, as he floats along the herbagM brink. 
 
 Cool, thro’ the nerves, your pleating comfort glides; 
 
 The heart beats glad; the frefh-expanded eye 
 j And ear refume their watch; the ftnews knit; 
 
 And life fhoots fwift thro’ all the lightened limbs. 
 
 Around th’ adjoining brook, that purls along 480 
 The vocal grove, now fretting o’er a rock, 
 
 Now fcarcely moving thro’ a reedy pool, 
 
 Now ftarting to a fudden ftream, and now 
 Gently diffus’d into a limpid plain; 
 
 A various groupe the herds and flocks compofe, 485 
 
 Rural confullon! On the graffy bank 
 Some ruminating lie; while others Hand 
 Half in the flood, and often bending lip 
 
 D 4 
 
 47° 
 
 47S 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 I And reftlefs turn, and look around for Night; 
 Night is far off; and hotter hours approach. 
 Thrice happy he! that on the funlefs fide 
 Of a romantic mountain, foreft-crown’d, 
 
 Beneath the whole collefted 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, 
 Unfatisfled, and fick, toffes in noon. 
 
 Emblem inftru&ive of the virtuous Man, 
 
 Who keeps his temper’d mind fercne, and pure, 
 And every paffion aptly harmoniz’d, 
 
 Amid a jarring world with vice inflam’d. 
 
 The 
 
The circling furface. In the middle droops 
 The ftrong labourious ox, of honeft front, 
 
 Which imcompos’d he f hakes; and from his fides 
 The troublous infefts lafhes with his tail, 
 
 Returning ftill. Amid his fubjefts fafe, 
 
 Slumbers the monarch-fwain ; his carelefs arm 
 Thrown round his head, on downy mofs fuflain’d; 
 Here laid his fcrip, with whoiefome viands fill’d; 
 There, iillening every noife, his watchful dog. 
 
 Light fly his flumbers, if perchance a flight 
 Of angry gad-flies faften on the herd ; 
 
 That fear tling fcatters from the fhallow brook, 
 
 In fearch of lav if h firearm Tofling the foam, 
 
 They fcorn the keeper’s voice, and fcour the plain, 
 Thro’ all the bright feverity of noon; 
 
 While, from their labouring breafts, a hollow moan 
 Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills. 
 
 Opt 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 ftedfaft eye, 
 
 And heart eflrang’d to fear: his nervous cheft, 
 Luxuriant, and erect, the feat of ftrength! 
 
 Bears down th 9 oppofmg ft ream : quenchlefs his thirfl ; 
 He takes the river at redoubled draughts; 
 
 And with wide noftrlls, fnorting, f kirns the wave. 
 
 Still let me pierce into the midnight depth 
 Of ponder grove, of wildeft largell growth: 
 
 That, forming high in air a woodland quire, 
 
 Nods o’er the mount beneath. At every ftep. 
 Solemn, and flow, the fhadows blacker fall, 
 
 And all is awful liflening gloom around. 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 57 
 
 These are the haunts of Meditation, thefe 
 The fcenes where ancients bards th’infpiring breath, 
 Extatic, felt; and, from this world retir’d, 
 Conversed with angels, and immortal forms, 
 
 On gracious errands bent: to fave the fall 
 Of virtue, ftruggling on the brink of vice; 
 jn waking whifpers, and repeated dreams, 
 
 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 footlie the pangs 
 Of dying worth, and from the patriot’s breaft, 
 (Backward to mingle in deceit ed war, 
 
 But foremoil when engag’d) to turn the death; 
 
 And numberlefs fuch offices of love, 
 
 Daily, and nightly, zealous to perform. 
 
 5*5 
 
 530 
 
 535 
 
 540 
 
 545 
 
 Shook fudden from the bofom of the fky, 
 
 A thoufand fhapes or glide athwart the dufk^ 
 
 Or ftalk majeftic on. Deep-rous’d , I feel 
 A facred terror, and fevere delight, 
 
 Creep through my mortal frame; and thus, methinks, 
 
 A voice, than human more, th* abftra&ed ear 
 Of fancy llrikes. “ Be not of us afraid, 
 
 “Poor kindred Man! thy fellow-creatures, we 
 “ From the fame Parent-Power our beings drew, 
 
 “The fame our Lord, and laws, and great purfuit* 
 
 “Once fome of us, like thee, thro’ ftormy life, 
 
 “ Toil’d, tempefc-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 long,' 
 
 “Amid thefe dim receffes, undifturb’d 
 “ By noify folly and difcordanfc vice, 
 
 “ Of Nature fing with us, and Nature’s God* ggg 
 
 D 5 “ Here 
 
 550 
 
58 SUMMER . 
 
 “ Here frequent , at the vifionary hour, 
 
 “ When muling midnight reigns or filent noon, 
 
 “ Angelic harps are in full concert heard, 
 
 “ And voices chaunting from the wood-crown’d hill, 
 “The deepening dale, or inmoft fylvan glade: 
 
 “ A privilege bellow’d by us, alone, 
 
 “On contemplation, or the hallow’d ear 
 “ Of Poet, fwelling to feraphic ftrain. ” 
 
 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, mull thou feel 
 A mother’s love, a mother’s tender woe: 
 
 Who feeks thee ftill, in many a former fcene; 
 Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely-beaming eyes. 
 
 Thy pleating 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 bell of parents! wipe thy tears} 
 
 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 enlighten’d mind and gentle worth. 
 
 Believe the Mufe: the wintry blaft of death 
 Kills not the buds of virtue; no, they fpread , 
 Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter funs , 
 
 Thro' endlefs ages , into higher powers. 
 
 5^5 
 
 57 ° 
 
 575 
 
 Thus up the mount, in airy vifion rapt, 
 I ftray, regardlefs whither; till the found 
 
 585 
 
 Of 
 
 * A young Lady, well known to the Author, who 
 of eighteen, in the Year 1738. 
 
 died at the age 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 59 
 
 OF a near fall of water every fenfe 
 
 Wakes from the charm of thought: fwift-fhrinking back, 
 
 I check my fteps, and view the broken fcene. 
 
 Smooth to the fhelving brink a copious flood 590 
 Rolls fair, and placid; where collefred all, 
 
 In one impetuous torrent, down the fleep 
 It thundering f hoots, and fhakes the country round. 
 
 At firft, an azure fheet, it rufhes broad; 
 
 Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 595 
 
 And from the loud-refounding rocks below 
 Dafh’d in a cloud of foam, it fends aloft 
 A hoary mill, and forms a ceafelefs fhower. 
 
 Nor can the tortur’d wave here find repofe: 
 
 But, raging Hill amid the fhaggy rocks, 600 
 
 Now flafhes o’er the fcatter’d fragments, now 
 Ailant the hollow’d channel rapid darts; 
 
 And falling fill from gradual Hope to Hope, 
 
 With wild infracted courfe, and leilen’d roar, 
 
 It gains a fafer bed, and fteals, at laft, 6og 
 
 Along the mazes of the quiet vale. 
 
 , Invited from the cliff, to whofe dark brow 
 He clings, the fteep-afcending eagle foars, 
 
 With upward pinions thro’ the flood of day; 
 
 And, giving full his bofom to the blaze, 6lO 
 
 Gains on the fun; while ail the tuneful race, 
 
 Smit by affiiftive noon, diforder’d droop, 
 
 Deep in the thicket; or, from bower to bower 
 Refponlive, force an interrupted ltrain. 
 
 The ftock~dove only thro’ the foreft cooes, 615 
 
 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 
 
6o 
 
 SUMMER . 
 
 Acrofs his fancy comes; and then refounds 620 
 
 A louder fong of forrow thro’ the grove. 
 
 Beside the dewy border let me fit 
 All in the frefhnefs of the humid air; 
 
 There in that hollowed rock, grotefque and wild, 
 
 An ample chair mofs-lin’d, and over head 625 
 
 By flowering umbrage f haded; where thee bee 
 Strays diligent, and with th’ exftrafted balm 
 Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh. 
 
 Now, while I tafte the fweetnefs of the fhade. 
 
 While Nature lies around deep -lull’d in Noon, 630 
 
 Now come, bold Fancy , fpread a daring flight* 
 
 And view the wonders of the torrid Zone: 
 
 Climes unrelenting! with whofe rage compar’d* 
 
 Yon blaze is feeble, and yon fkies are cool. 
 
 See, how at once the bright-effulgent fun* $36 
 
 Rifing direft, fwift chafes from the fky 
 The fhort-liv'd twilight; and with ardent blaze 
 Looks gayly fierce thro’ all the dazzling air: 
 
 He mounts his throne; but kind before him fends, 
 
 Iffuing from out the portals of the morn, 646 
 
 The general Breeze , * to mitigate his fire, 
 
 And breathe refrefhment on a fainting world. ' 
 
 Great are the fcenes, with dreadful beauty crown’d 
 And barbarous wealth, that fee, each circling year. 
 Returning funs and ** double feafons pafs: 645 
 
 Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines. 
 
 That 
 
 * Which blows conftantly between the tropics from the eaft, or the 
 collateral points, the north-eaft and fouth-eaft: caufed by the prefiure of 
 the rarefied air on that before it, according to the diurnal motion of 
 the fun from eaft to weft. 
 
 ** In all climates between the tropics, the fun, as he paffes and repafles 
 in his annual motion, is twice a-year vertical which produces thisefFeft. 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 61 
 
 That on the high equator 'ridgy rife, 
 
 Whence many a bur ft in g ftream auriferous plays : 
 Majeftic woods, of every vigorous green, 
 
 Stage above ftage, high-waving o'er the hills; 
 
 Or to the far horizon wide diffus’d, 
 
 A boundlefs deep immenftty of fhade. 
 
 Here lofty trees, to ancient fong unknown, 
 
 The noble fons of potent heat and floods 
 Prone-rufhing from the clouds, rear high to Heaven 
 Their thorny fteams, and broad around them throw 
 Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime, 
 
 Unnumber’d fruits, of keen delicious tafte 
 And vital fpirit, drink amid the cliffs, 
 
 And burning lands that bank the fhrubby 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 thro’ the green, 
 Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclin’d 
 Beneath the fpreading tamarind that fhakes, 
 
 Fann’d by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit. 
 
 Deep in the night the maffy locuft fheds, 
 
 Quench my hot limbs; or lead me thro 5 the maze, 
 Embowering endlefs, of the Indian fig; 
 
 Or thrown at gayer eafe, on fome 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 fhade. 
 
 O ftretch’d amid tliefe orchards of the fun, 
 
 Give me to drain the cocoa’s milky bowl, 
 
 And from the palm to draw its frefhening wine! 
 More bounteous far than all the frantic juice 
 Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its Render twigs 
 
 650 
 
 655 
 
 660 
 
 665 
 
 670 
 
 <573 
 
 6go 
 
 Low- 
 
62 
 
 5 U m M E R . 
 
 Low-bending, be the full pomegranate fcorn'd; 
 
 Nor, creeping thro’ the woods, the gelid race 
 Of berries. Oft in humble ftation dwells 
 Unboaftful worth, above faftidious pomp. 
 
 Witnefs, thou beft Anana, thou the pride 685 
 
 Of vegetable life, beyond whate’er 
 The poets imag’d in the golden age: 
 
 Quick, let me ftrip thee of thy tufty coat, 
 
 Spread thy ambrolial ftores, and feaft \vith £jove! 
 
 From thefe the profpeft varies. Plains immenfe 690 
 Lie ftretch’d below, interminable meads, 
 
 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, 695 
 
 Plays o’er the fields, and fhowers 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 funs, 
 
 Or ftreaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 700 
 
 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 ftall, 
 
 Prodigious rivers roll their fatning feas: 705 
 
 On whofe luxuriant herbage, half-conceal’d, 
 
 Like a fall’n cedar, far diffus’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, 710 
 The darted fteel in idle fhivers flies: 
 
 He fearlefs walks the plain, or feeks the hills; 
 
 Where, 
 
 * The Hippopotamus, or River-Horfe. See Job Chapt. 40. 
 
SUMMER. 63 
 
 Where, as he crops his vary’d fore, the herds, 
 in widening circle round, forget their food, 
 
 And at the harmlefs ftranger wondering gaze. 715 
 
 Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that call 
 Their ample fhade o'er Niger's yellow ftream, 
 
 And where the Ganges rolls his facred wave; 
 
 Or mid the central depth of blackning woods, 
 
 High-rais’d in folemn theater around, 720 
 
 Leans the huge elephant: wifeft of brutes! 
 
 O truly wife! with gentle might endow’d, 
 
 Tho* powerful, not deftru&ive! Here lie fees 
 Revolving ages fweep the changeful earth. 
 
 And empires rife and fall; regardlefs he 725 
 
 Of what the never-refting race of Men 
 
 Projeft: thrice happy! could he Tcape 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, 730 
 
 And bid him rage amid the mortal fray, 
 
 Aftonifh’d at the madnefs of mankind. 
 
 Wide o’er the winging umbrage of the floods, 
 
 Like vivid blolfoms glowing from afar, 
 
 Thick-fwarm the brighter birds. For Nature’s hand, 735 
 That with a fportive vanity has deck’d 
 The plumy nations, there her gayeit hues 
 Profufely pours. *But, if fhe bids them fhine. 
 
 Array’d in all the beauteous beams of day, 
 
 Yet frugal ftiil, fhe humbles them in fong. 740 
 
 Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent 
 Proud Montezuma's realm, whofe legions caft 
 A boundlefs radiance waving on the fun, 
 
 While 
 
 * In all the Regions of the torrid Zone, the Birds, tho' more beautiful 
 in their plumage , are obierved to be lefs melodious than ours* 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 64 
 
 While Philomel is ours; while in our fhades. 
 
 Thro* the foft filence of the liflening night, 745 
 
 The fober-fuited fongftrefs trills her lay. 
 
 But come, my Mufe, the defart-barrier burft, 
 
 'A wild expanfe of lifelefs find and fky: 
 
 And, fwifter than the toiling caravan, 
 
 Shoot o*er the vale of Sennar; ardent climb 745 
 
 The Nubian mountains, and the fecrets bounds 
 Of jealous Abyffinia boldly pierce. 
 
 Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mafk 
 Of focial commerce corn’ll to rob their wealth; 
 
 No holy Fury thou, blafpheming Heaven, 7£jd 
 
 With confecrated fteel to ftab their peace, 
 
 And thro’ the land, yet red from civil wounds. 
 
 To fpread the purple tyranny of Rome . 
 
 Thou, like the harmlefs bee, may’ll freely range, 
 
 From mead to mead bright with exalted flowers. 755 
 From jafmine grove to grove, may’ll wander gay, 
 
 Thro’ palmy fhades and aromatic woods. 
 
 That grace the plains, invelt the peopled hills. 
 
 And up the more than Alpine mountains wave. 
 
 There on the breezy fummit, fpreading fair, 760 
 
 For many a league; or on ftupendous rocks, 
 
 That, from the fun -redoubling valley lift, 
 
 Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops; 
 
 Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rife; 
 
 And gardens fmile around, and cultur’d fields; 765 
 
 And fountains gufh; and carelefs herds and flocks 
 Securely ftray; a world within itfelf, 
 
 Difdain'ng all affault: there let me draw 
 Etherial foul, there drink reviving gales, 
 
 Profufely breathing from the fpicy groves, 770 
 
 And vales of fragrance; there at diftance hear 
 The roaring floods, and cataracts, that fweep 
 
 From 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 6* 
 
 From difembowel’d earth the virgin gold; 
 
 And o’er the vary’d land f kip, reftlefs, rove, 
 
 Fervent with life of every fairer kind: 
 
 A land of wonders! which the fun ftill eyes 
 With ray direft, as of the lovely realm 
 Inamour’d, and delighting there to dwell. 
 
 How chang’d the fcene! In blazing height of noon, 
 The fun, opprefs’d, is plung’d in thickeft gloom. 
 
 Still Horror reigns, a dreary twilight round, 
 
 Of ftruggling night and day malignant mix’d. 
 
 For ,to the hot equator croud ing faft, 
 
 Where, highly rarefy’d, the yielding air 
 Admits their itream, inceflant vapours roll, 
 
 Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap’d; 
 
 Or whirl’d tempeftuous by the gufty wind. 
 
 Or filent borne along, heavy, and How, 
 
 With the big ftores of Reaming 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 rage; 
 Till, in the furious elemental war 
 Diflolv’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 king of floods ! o’erflows the fweiling Nile . 
 From his two fprings, in Gojam's funny realm, 
 Pure-welling out, he thro’ the lucid lake 
 Of fair Dambea rolls his infant-ftream. 
 
 There, by the Naiads nurs’d, he fports away 
 His playful youth, amid the fragrant idles 
 
 E 
 
 775 
 
 7So 
 
 785 
 
 79a 
 
 795 
 
 803 
 
 805 
 
 That 
 
66 
 
 5 U M M E R. 
 
 That with unfading verdure fmile around. 
 Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks; 
 
 And gathering many a flood, and copious fed 
 With all the mellow’d treafures of the f ky. 
 Winds in progrefiive majefty along: 
 
 Thro’ fplendid kingdoms now devolves his maze, 
 Now wanders wild o’er folitary trafts 
 Of life-deferted fand; till, glad to quit 
 The joyiefs defart, down the Nubian rocks 
 From thundering fteep to fteep, he pours his urn. 
 And Egypt joys beneath the fpreading wave. 
 
 of 
 
 Tk 
 
 T<® 
 
 8io 
 
 Our 
 
 Id i 
 
 8i5 
 
 His brother Niger too, and all the floods 
 In which the full-form’ d maids of Afric lave 
 Their jetty limbs; and all that from the tract 
 Of woody mountains ftretch’d thro’ gorgeous Ind 
 Fall on CormandeVs coaft, or Malabar; 
 
 From * Menam's orient ltream, that nightly fhines 
 With infeft-lamps, to where Aurora fheds 
 On Indus' finding banks the rofy fhovver: 
 
 All, at this bounteous feafon, ope their urns, 
 
 And pour untoiling harveft o’er the land. 
 
 820 
 
 825 
 
 Nor lefs thy world, Columbus, drinks, refrefh’d, 
 The lavifh moifture of the melting year. 
 
 Wide o'er his ifles, the branching Oronoque 
 Rolls a brown deluge; and the native drives 
 To dwell aloft on life-fufficing trees, 
 
 At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms. 
 Swell’d by a thoufhnd ftreams, impetuous hurl’d 
 From all the roaring Andes , huge defcends 
 The mighty ** Orellana . Scarce the Mufe 
 Dares ftretch her wing o’er this enormous mafs 
 
 Adi 
 
 830 
 
 835 
 
 Of 
 
 * The river that' runs thro* Siam ; on whole banks a vaft multitude of 
 thofe Infers called Fire-flies make a beautiful appearance in the night. 
 
 « * The river of the Amazons. 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 67 
 
 Of ruffling water; fcarce fhe dares attempt 
 The fea-like Plata; to whofe dread expan fe, 
 Continuous depth, and wondrous length of courfe, 
 pur floods are rills. With unabated force, 
 
 [n filent dignity they fweep along, 
 
 And traverfe realms unknown, and blooming wilds. 
 And fruitful defarts, worlds of folitude, 
 
 Where the fun fmiles and feafons teem in vain, 
 Unfeen, and unenjov’d. Forfaking thefe, 
 
 O’er peopled plains they fair-diffufive flow, 
 
 And many a nation feed, and circle fafe, 
 
 [n their foft bofom, many a happy ide; 
 
 The feat of blamelefs Pan, yet undifturb’d 
 By chriffian crimes and Europe's cruel fons. 
 
 Thus pouring on they proudly feek the deep, 
 Whofe vanquifh’d tide, recoiling from the fhock, 
 yields to this liquid weight of half the globe; 
 And Ocean trembles for his green domain. 
 
 840 
 
 845 
 
 85 ° 
 
 But what avails this wondrous wafte of wealth? 855 
 This gay profusion of luxurious blifs? 
 
 This pomp of Nature? What their balmy meads, 
 
 Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain? 
 
 By vagrant birds difpers’d, and wafting winds, 
 
 What their unplanted fruits? What the cool draughts, g6o 
 Th* ambrofial food, rich gums, and fpicy health. 
 
 Their forefts yield ? Their toiling infefts \vhat # 
 
 Their filky pride, and vegetable robes? 
 
 Ah! what avail their fatal treafure, hid 
 Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 865 
 
 Golconda's gems, and fad Potofis mines; 
 
 Where dwelt the gentleft; children of the fun? 
 
 What all that Africs golden rivers roll, 
 rier odorous woods, and fhining ivory ftores? 
 
 .11-fated race! the foftening arts of peace. 
 
 E a 
 
 
 870 
 
 ^Whate’er 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 68 
 
 Whate’er the humanizing Mufes teach; 
 
 The godlike wifdom of the temper’d bread; 
 
 Progreflive truth, the patient force of thought; 
 
 Inveftigation calm, wliofe filent powers 
 
 Command the world; the Light that leads to Heaven; 875 ' 
 
 Kind equal rule, the government of laws, J 
 
 And all-protefting Freedom, which alone 
 
 Suftains the name and dignity of Man: ! 
 
 Thefe are not theirs. The parent-fun himfelf 
 
 Seems o’er this world of Haves to tyrannize; 880 1 
 
 And, with oppreflive ray, the rofeat bloom i 
 
 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, 885 1 ^ 
 The foft regards, the tendernefs of life, 
 
 The heart-fhed tear, th’ ineffable delight 
 Of fweet humanity: thefe court the beam 
 Of milder climes; in felfifh fierce defire, 
 
 And the wild fury of voluptuous fenfe, 890 C 
 
 There loft. The very brute-creation there 
 This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire. 
 
 Lo! the green ferpent, from his dark abode. 
 
 Which even Imagination fears to tread, 
 
 At noon forth-ifluing , gathers up his train 895 
 
 In orbs immenfe, then, darting out anew, 
 
 Seeks the refrefhing fount; by which diffus’d, 
 
 He throws his folds: and while, with threatning tongue, 
 
 And deathful jaws ereft, the monfter curls 
 
 His flaming creft, all other thirft, appall’d, 900 
 
 Or fhivering flies, or check’d at diftance Hands, 
 
 Nor dares approach. But Hill more direful he, 
 
 The fmall clofe-lurking minifter of fate, 
 
 Whofe high-conco&ed venom thro’ the veins 
 
 k 
 
 it 
 
 Or 
 
 ft 
 
 Ti 
 
 h 
 
 1 
 
 c. 
 
 A 
 
A rap’d lightning darts, arrefting fvvift 
 The vital current. Form’d to humble Man, 
 
 This child of vengeful Nature! there, fublim’d 
 To fearlefs luft of blood, the favage race 
 Roam , licens'd by the fhading hour of guilt, 
 And foul mifdeed, when the pure day has fhufc 
 His lacred eye. The tyger darting fierce, 
 Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom’d : 
 The lively-fhining leopard, fpeckled o’er 
 With many a fpot, the beauty of the wafte; 
 And, fcorning all the taming arts of Man, 
 
 The keen hyena, felleft of the fell. 
 
 Thefe, rufhing from th’ inhofpitable woods 
 Of Mauritania , or the tufted ifles, 
 
 That verdant rife amid the Lybian wild, 
 Innumerous glare around their fhaggy king, 
 Majeltic, ftalking o’er the printed fand; 
 
 And, with imperious and repeated roars, 
 
 Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks 
 Croud near the guardian fwain; the nobler herds, 
 Where round their lordly bull, in rural eafe, 
 They ruminating lie, with horror hear 
 The coming rage. Th’ awaken’d village ftarts; 
 And to her fluttering breaft the mother ftrains 
 Her thoughtlefs infant. From the Pyrate's den, 
 Or ftern Morocco's tyrant fang efcap’d, 
 
 The wretch half-wifhes for his bonds again : 
 While, uproar all, the wildernefs refounds, 
 
 From Atlas eaftward to the frighted Nile. 
 
 Unhappy he! who from the firfl: of joys, 
 Society, cut olf, 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; 
 
70 S U M M E R. 
 
 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 thro’ the tedious night. 
 
 Yet here, even here, into thefe black abodes 
 Of monfters, unappall’d, from ftooping Rome , 
 And guilty Ccefar , Liberty retir’d, 
 
 Her Cato following thro’ Numidian wilds: 
 Difdainful of Campania s gentle plains, 
 
 And all the green delights Aufonia pours; 
 
 When for them fhe mtift bend the fervile knee, 
 And fawning take the fplendid robber’s boon. 
 
 Nor flop the terrors of thefe regions here. 
 Commiffion’d demons oft, angels of wrath, 
 
 Leet loofe the raging elements. Breath’d hot, 
 From all the boundlefs furnace of the fky, 
 
 And the wide glittering wafte of burning fand, 
 A fuffocating wind the pilgrim fmites 
 With inftant death. Patient of thirft and toil. 
 Son of the defart! even the camel feels, 
 
 Shot thro’ his wither’d heart, the fiery blaft. 
 
 Or from the black-red ether, burfting broad, 
 Sallies the fudden whirlwind. Strait the fands, 
 Commov’d around, in gathering eddies play: 
 Nearer and nearer flill they darkening come; 
 Till, with the general all-involving ftorm 
 Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arife; 
 And by their noonday fount dejefted thrown, 
 Or funk at night in fad difafirous fleep, 
 
 Beneath defcending hills, the caravan 
 Is buried deep. In Cairo's crouded ftreets, 
 
7 i 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 Th’impatient merchant, wondering, waits in vain. 
 
 And Mecca feddens at the long delay. 
 
 But chief at fea, whofe every flexile wave 975 
 
 Obeys the blaft, th* aerial tumult fwells. 
 
 In the dread ocean, undulating wide, 
 
 Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe, 
 
 Tiie circling * Typhon, whirl'd from point to point, 
 Exhaufting all the rage of all the fky, 98 ° 
 
 And dire Ecnephia reign. Amid the heavens, 
 
 Falfely ferene, deep in a cloudy ** fpeck 
 Comprefs’d, the mighty tempeft brooding dwells. 
 
 Of no regard, fave to the fkilful eye, 
 
 Fiery and foul, the fmall prognoftic hangs 985 
 
 Aloft, or on the promontory’s brow 
 Mullers its force. A feint deceitful calm, * 
 
 A fluttering gale, the demon fends before, 
 
 To tempt the fpreading fail. Then down at once, 
 
 ! Precipitant, defcends a mingled mafs 990 
 
 Of roaring winds, and flame, and ru filing floods. 
 
 I In wild amazement fix’d the failor Hands. 
 
 Art is too flow: By rapid fate crpprefs’d, 
 
 His broad-wing’d veflel drinks the whelming tide, 
 
 Hid in the bofom of the black abyfs. 995 
 
 With fuch mad feas the daring*** Gama fought. 
 
 For many a day, and many a dreadful night, 
 
 Inceffant, lab ring round the ft or my cape; 
 
 By bold ambition lei, and bolder thirft 
 
 Of gold. For then from ancient gloom emerg’d 1000 
 
 The riling world of trade: the Genius , then, 
 
 E 4 Of 
 
 * Typhon and Ecnephia , names of particular ftorms or hurricanes 
 known only between the tropics. 
 
 ** Called by Tailors the Ox-Eye* being in appearance at firft no bigger. 
 
 *** Vasco de Gama, the firft who failed round Africa , by the Cape 
 $f Good-IIoopc, to the Ea ft Indies* 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 7Z 
 
 Of navigation, that, in hopelefs Jloth, [ 
 
 Had JlumberM on the vail: atlantic deep, 
 
 For idle ages, ftarting, heard at laft 
 
 The* Lusitanian Prince; who, HEAv’N-infpir’d, 1005 i 
 To love of ufeful glory rous’d mankind, 
 
 And in unbounded commerce mix’d the world. 
 
 , Jo 
 
 Increasing ftill the terrors of thefe ftorms, 
 
 His jaws horrific arm’d with threefold fate, 
 
 Here dwells the direful fhark. Lur’d by the fcent 1010 & 
 Of fteaming crouds, of rank difeafe, and death, 
 
 Behold! he rufhing cuts the briny flood, 
 
 Swift as the gale can bear the fhip along; 
 
 And, from the partners of that cruel trade, 
 
 Which fpoils unhappy Guinea of her fons, 1015 SI 
 
 Demands his fhare of prey, demands themfelves. 
 
 The ftormy fates defcend: one death involves 
 
 Tyrants and haves; when ftrait, their mangled limbs 
 
 Crafhing at once, he dyes the purple feas 
 
 With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 1020 
 
 When o’er this world, by equinoftial rains 
 Flooded immenfe, looks out the joylefs fun, 
 
 And draws the copious ftream: from fwampy fens, 
 
 Where putrefaction into life ferments, 
 
 And breathes deftruCtive myriads; or from woods, 1025 
 Impenetrable fhades, receffes 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 poi&er of peftilent difeafe. 1030 
 
 A thoufand hideous fiends her courfe attend, 
 
 Sick 
 
 * Don Henry, third foil to Jehu the firft, King of Portugal. His 
 itrong genius to the difcove.ry of new countries was the fource of ail 
 the modern improvements in navigation. 
 
SUMMER . 
 
 73 
 
 Sick Nature blafting, and to heartlefs woe* 
 
 And feeble defolation, rafting down 
 
 The towering hopes and all the pride of Man. 
 
 Such as, of late, at Carthagena quench’d 
 The British 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, 
 
 The lip pale-quivering, and the beamlefs eye 
 No more with ardour bright: you heard the groans 
 Of agonizing fhips, from fhore to fhore; 
 
 Heard, nigthly plung’d amid the fullen waves, 
 
 | The frequent corfe; while on each other fix’d; 
 
 In fad prefage, the blank affiliants feem’d, 
 
 Silent, to afk, whom Fate would next demand. 
 
 What need I mention thofe inclement fkies, 
 Where, frequent o’er the fickening city, Plague, 
 
 The fierceft child of Nemesis divine, 
 
 Defcends? * From Ethiopia's poifoned woods, 
 
 From ftifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields 
 With loeuft-armies putrefying heap’d, 
 
 This great deftroyer fprung. Her awful rage 
 The brutes efcape: Man is her deftin’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 ftain’d 
 With many a mixture by the fun, fuffus’d, 
 
 Of angry afpect. Princely wifdom, then, 
 
 Dejefts his watchful eye; and from the hand 
 
 Of feeble juftice, ineffectual, drop 
 
 The fword and balance: mute the voice of joy, 
 
 E 5 
 
 * Thefe are the caufes fuppofed to be the firft origin of the 
 in Dr. Mead's elegant Book on that fubje&. 
 
 1035 
 
 IO4O 
 
 I04S 
 
 1050 
 
 1055 
 
 I060 
 
 And 
 
 Plague, 
 
 J 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 74 
 
 And hufh’d the clamour of the bufy world. 
 
 Empty the ftreets, with uncouth verdure clad; 
 
 Into the worft of defarts fudden turn’d 
 
 The chearful haunt of Men: unlefs efcap’d 
 
 From the doom’d houfe, where matchlefs 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 unwife. The fullen door* 
 
 Yet uninfefted, 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; 
 
 And, ftruck by turns, in folitary pangs 
 They fall, unbleft, untended, and unmournhL 
 Thus o’er the proftrate city black Defpair 
 Extends her raven wing; while, to compleat 
 The fcene of defolation, ftretch’d around, 
 
 The grim guards Hand , denying all retreat, 
 
 And give the flying wretch a better death. 
 
 1063 
 
 
 107a 
 
 1075 
 
 logo 
 
 1085 
 
 Much yet remains unfung: the rage intenfe 
 Of brazen-vaulted fkies, of iron fields, 
 
 Where drought and famine ftarve the blafted yeart 
 Fir’d by the torch of noon to tenfold rage, 
 
 Th’ infuriate hill that fhoots the pillar’d flame; 
 And, rous’d within the fubterranean world, 
 
 Th’ expanding earthquake, that refiftlefs fhakes 
 Afpiring cities from their folid bafe, 
 
 And buries mountains in the flaming gnlph. 
 
 But’tis enough; return, my vagrant Mufe: 
 
 A nearer fcene of horror calls thee home. 
 
 1090 
 
 1095 
 
 Behold, 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 75 
 
 Bkhold, flow- fettling o’er the lurid grove 
 Jnufual darknefs broods; and growing gains 
 The full poflefllon of the fky, furcharg’d 
 With wrathful vapour, from the fecret beds, 
 Where fleep the mineral generations, drawn. 
 Thence Niter, Sulnhur, and the fiery fpume 
 Of fat Bitumen, fteaming on the day. 
 
 With various-tinfrur’d trains of latent flame. 
 Pollute the fky, and in yon baleful cloud, 
 
 A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate, 
 
 Ferment; till, by the touch etherial rous’d. 
 
 The dafh of clouds, or irritating war 
 Of fighting winds, white all is calm below. 
 
 They furious fpring. A boding ftlence 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 fhakes the foreft-leaf without a breath. 
 Prone, to the lowed: vale, tlT aerial tribes 
 Defeend: the tempeft-loving raven fcarce 
 Dares wing the dubious dufk. In rueful gaze 
 The cattle Hand, and on the fcowling heavens 
 Call a deploring eye; by Man forfook. 
 
 Who to the crouded cottage hies him faft. 
 
 Or feeks the flielter of the downward cave. 
 
 ’Tis liftening fear, and dumb amazement all: 
 When to the Hurtled eye the Hidden glance 
 Appears far fouth , eruptive thro’ the cloud; 
 
 And following flower, in explofion vail, 
 
 The thunder raifes his tremendous voice. 
 
 At firft, heard foiemn o’er the verge of heaven. 
 The tempeft growl’s; but as it nearer comes. 
 
 And rolls its awful burden on the wind, 
 
 The lightnings flafh a larger curve, and more 
 
 I IOO 
 
 1105 
 
 IIIO 
 
 ins 
 
 1120 
 
 1125 
 
 113° 
 
 The 
 
76 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 The noife aftounds: till over head a fheet 
 Of livid flame difclofes wide, then fhuts 
 And opens wider, fhuts and opens ftill 
 Expanfive, wrapping ether in a blaze. 2135 
 
 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, 1140 
 Pour a whole flood; and yet, its flame unquench’d, 
 
 TIi* unconquerable lightning ftruggles through, 
 
 Kagged and fierce, or in red whirling balls, 
 
 .And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 
 
 Black from the ftroke, above, the fmouldring pine 1145 
 
 Stands a fhattered trunk; and, ftretch’d below, 
 
 A lifelefs groupe the blafted cattle lie: 
 
 Here the foft flock, with that fame harmlefs look 
 They wore alive, and ruminating ftill 
 In fancy’s eye; and there the frowning bull, *150 
 
 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 flafh, and from their deep recefs, 
 
 Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates fhake. 1155 
 
 Amid Carnavons mountains rages loud 
 The repercuflive roar: with mighty crufh, 
 
 Into the flafhing deep, from the rude rocks 
 Of j Penmanmaur heap’d hideous to the fky, 
 
 Tumble the fmitten cliffs; and Snowden's peak, 1160 
 
 Diffolving, inftant yields his wintry load. 
 
 Far-feen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze, 
 
 And Thule bellows thro’ her utmoft ifles. 
 
 Guilt hears appall’d with deeply troubled thought. 
 
 And yet not always on the guilty head 1165 
 
 Defcends 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 77 
 
 Defcends the fated flafh. Young Celadon 
 And his Amelia were a matchlefs pair; 
 
 With equ&l virtue form’d, and equal grace, 
 
 IS The fame, diftinguifh’d by their fex alone: 
 
 Hers the mild luftre of the blooming morn. 
 
 And his the radiance of the rifen day. 
 
 They lov’d. But fuch their guilelefs paffion was, 
 
 3 As in the dawn of time inform’d the heart 
 Of innocence, and undiffembling truth. 
 
 ’Twas friendfhip heightened by the mutual wifh, 
 
 Tli’ 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’ awaken’d power 
 Of giving joy. Alone, amid fhades, 
 
 Still in harmonious intercourfe 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 ftream, 
 
 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 difordered cheek. 
 
 In vain alfuring love, and confidence 
 In Heaven, reprefs’d her fear; it grew, and fhook 
 Her frame near diffolution. He perceiv’d 
 Th’ unequal conflict, and as angels look 
 On dying faints, his eyes compaction fhed. 
 
 1170 
 
 1175 
 
 II80 
 
 H85 
 
 II90 
 
 1195 
 
 With 
 
1 
 
 With love illumin’d high. “Fear not, he faid, 
 “Sweet innocence thou! ftranger to offence, 
 
 “ And inward ftorm ! He , who yon fkies involves 
 “In frowns of darknefs, ever fmiles 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 
 “ Which thunders terror thro’ the guilty heart, 
 “With tongues of feraphs whifpers peace to thine. 
 “’Tis fafety to be near thee fare, and thus 
 “To clafp perfection!,, From his void embrace, 
 IVIyfterious Heaven! that moment, to the ground 
 A blacken’d corfe, was ftruck 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 weil-diffembled mourner ftooping ftands, 
 
 For ever filent, and for ever fad. 
 
 I20C 
 
 1205 
 
 
 1210 
 
 ft 
 
 t2 IS 
 
 As from the face of heaven the fhattered clouds 
 Tumultuous rove, th’ interminable fky 
 Sublimer fwells, and o’er the world expands 1220 
 
 A purer azure. Nature , from the ftorm, 
 
 Shines out afrefh; and thro* the lighten’d air 
 A higher lufter and a clearer calm, 
 
 Diffufive, tremble; while, as if in lign 
 
 Of danger paft, a glittering robe of joy, 't2$$ 
 
 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. 1230 
 
 And fhali the hymn be marr’d by thanklefs Man, 
 
 Molt- 
 
£ U M M E R. 
 
 79 
 
 /I oft -favour’d ; who with voice articulate 
 Ihould lead the chorus of this lower world? 
 
 1 >hall he, fo foon forgetful of the hand 
 "hat hufh’d the thunder, and ferenes the fky, 1235 
 
 ixtinguifh’d feel that fpark the temped; wak’d, 
 
 That fenfe of powers exceeding far his own, 
 
 Cre yet his feeble heart has loft its fears? 
 
 , Chear’d by the milder beam, the fprightly youth 
 Speeds to the well-known pool, whofe cryftal depth 1240 ■ 
 i Tandy bottom fhews. A while he Hands 
 jazing th’ inverted landfkip, half-afraid 
 To meditate the blue profound below; 
 
 I Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. 
 
 dis ebon trebles , and his rofy cheek 1245 
 
 jnftant emerge; and thro’ the obedient wave, 
 
 At each fhort breathing by his lip repell’d, 
 i\fith arms and legs according well , he makes, 
 
 \s humour leads , an eafy-winding path ; 
 
 While, from his polifh’d fides, a dewy light 
 Effuses on the pleas’d fpedtators round. 
 
 This is the pureft exercife of health, 
 
 The kind refrefher of the fummer- heats; 
 
 ^Jor, when cold Winter keens the brightening llood T 
 Would I weak -f hivering linger on the brink, 1255 
 
 Thus' life redoubles, and is oft preferv’d, 
 
 By the bold fwimmer, in the fwift illapfe 
 Of accident dilaftrous. Hence the limbs 
 Knit into force; and the fame Roman arm, 
 
 That rofe victorious o’er the conquer’d earth, 1260 
 
 Firft learn’d, while tender, to fubdue the wave. 
 
 Even , from the body’s purity , the mind 
 Receives a fecret fympathetic aid. 
 
 Close in the covert of an hazel copfe* 
 
 Where winded into pleafmg folitudes 1265 
 
 Runs 
 
5 U M M E R. 
 
 So 
 
 Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon fat, 
 
 Penfive, and pierc’d with love’s delightful pangs. 
 
 There to the ftream that down the diltant rocks 
 Hoarfe-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play’d 
 Among the bending willows, falfely he 1370 
 
 Of IMusidora’s cruelty complain’d. 
 
 She felt his flame; but deep within her breafl. 
 
 In bafhful coynefs, or in maiden pride, 
 
 The foft return conceal’d ; fave when it ftole 
 In iide-long glances from her downcaft eye, 1275 
 
 Or from her fwelling foul in ftifled fighs. 
 
 Touch’d by the fcene, no ftranger to his vows, 
 
 He fram’d a melting lay, to try her heart; 
 
 And , if an infant paflion flruggled there, 
 
 To call that paflion forth. Thrice happy Twain! 12SO 
 A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 
 Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine. 
 
 For lo! condufted by the laughing Loves 
 This- cool retreat his Musidora fought: 
 
 Warm in her cheek the fultry feafon glow’d *285 
 
 And, rob’d in loofe array, fhe came to bathe 
 Her fervent limbs in the refrefhing ftream. 
 
 What fhall he do ? In fweet confufion loft, 
 
 And dubious flutterings, he a while remain’d: 
 
 A pure ingenuous elegance of foul, 1 290 
 
 A delicate refinement, known to few, 
 
 Perplex’d his breaft, and urg’d him to retire: 
 
 But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, fay, 
 
 Say, ye fevereft, what would you have done 2 
 Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever bleft I295 
 
 Arcadian ftream, with timid eye around 
 The banks furveying, ftrip’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 alide 1300 
 
 The 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 8t 
 
 The rival -goddeffes the veil divine 
 Call unconfin’d, and gave him all their charms. 
 Than, Damon, thou; as from the fnowy leg. 
 And Jlender foot, th’ inverted filk fhe drew; 
 
 ' As the foft touch difiolv’d the virgin zone; 
 
 And, thro’ the parting robe, th’ alternate breafir. 
 With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawlefs gaze 
 In full luxuriance rofe. But, defperate youth, 
 
 How durft thou rifque the foul-diftracting view; 
 
 1 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 fhe flood, fhrnnk from herfelf. 
 With fancy blufhing, at the doubtful breeze 
 
 1 Alarm’d, and flatting like the fearful fawn? 
 
 Then to the flood fhe rufh’d; the parted flood 
 Its lovely gueft with clofing waves receiv’d; 
 
 And every beauty foftening, every grace 
 Flufhing anew, a mellow lufter fhed; 
 
 As fhines the lily thro’ the cryflal mild; 
 
 Or as the rofe, amid the morning-dew 
 Frefh from Aurora's hand, more fweetly glows. 
 While thus fhe wanton’d , now beneath the wave 
 But ill-conceal’d; and now with flreaming locks. 
 That half-embrac’d her in a humid veil, 
 
 Rifing again, the latent Damon drew 
 Such madning 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 refpeftful modefly, he deem’d 
 
 The theft profane, if aught profane to love 
 
 Can e’er be deem’d; and, flruggling from the fhade, 
 
 With headlong hurry fled: but firfl thefe lines, 
 
 Trac’d by his ready pencil, on the bank 
 
 With trembling hand he threw. “ Bathe on, my fair, 
 
 F 
 
 1305 
 
 1310 
 
 * 3*5 
 
 1320 
 
 J3*5 
 
 * 33 ° 
 
 *335 
 
 “ Yet 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 82 
 
 “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/ 9 With wild furprize, 
 
 As if to marble ftruck, devoid of fenfe, 
 
 A ftupid moment motionlefs fhe flood: 
 
 So ftands the * ftatue that enchants the world, 
 
 So bending tries to veil the matchlefs boaft, 
 
 The mingled beauties of exulting Greece . 
 
 Recovering, fwift fhe flew to find thofe robes 
 Which blifsful Eden knew not; and, array’d 
 In carelefs hafte, th’ alarming paper fnatch’d. 
 
 But, when her Damon’s well-known hand fhe faw, 
 Her terrors vanifh’d, and a fofter train 
 Of mixt emotions, hard to be defcrib’d, 
 
 Her fudden bofom feiz’d: fhame void of guilt, 
 
 The charming blufh of innocence, efteem 
 And admiration of her lover’s flame, 
 
 By modefty exalted: even a fenfe 
 Of felf-approving beauty ftole acrofs 
 Her bufy thought. At length, a tender calm 
 Hufh’d by degrees the tumult of her foul; 
 
 And on the fpreading beech, that o’er the ftream 
 Incumbent hung, fhe with the filvan pen 
 Of rural lowers this confeffion carv’d, 
 
 Which foon her Damon kifs’d with weeping joy: 
 
 “ Dear Youth! ,fole judge of what thefe verfes mean, 
 “By fortune too much favour’d, but by love, 
 
 “Alas! not favour’d lefs, be ftili as now 
 “ Difcreet: the time may come you need not fly. 9 [ 
 
 mo 
 
 *345 
 
 1350 
 
 *355 
 
 136a 
 
 1365 
 
 The fun has loft his rage: his downward orb 
 Shoots nothing now but animating warmth, 
 
 And 
 
 * The Venus of Mtditi. 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 And vital luftre; that, with various ray. 
 
 Lights up the clouds, thofe beauteous robes of heaven, 
 Inceffant roll’d into romantic fhapes, 
 
 The dream of waking fancy! Broad below, 
 
 Cover’d with ripening fruits, and fwelling fait 
 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 diftant hills, and there converfe 
 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 glimpfe, 
 
 Difplays its charms; whofe minds are richly fraught 
 With philofophic ftores, fuperior light; 
 
 And in whofe breaft, enthufiaftic, burns 
 Virtue, the fons of intereft deem romance; 
 
 Now call’d abroad enjoy the falling day: 
 
 Now to the verdant Portico of woods. 
 
 To Nature’s vaft Lyceum, forth they walk; 
 
 By that kind School where no proud mafter reigns. 
 
 The full free converfe of the friendly heart, 
 Improving and improv’d. Now from the world, 
 Sacred to fweet retirement, lovers fteal, 
 
 And pour their fouls in tranfport, which the Sire 
 Of love approving hears, and calls it good. 
 
 Which way, Amanda, fhall we bend our courfe? 
 The choice perplexes. Wherefore fhould we chufe? 
 All is the fame with thee. Say, fhall we wind 
 Along the ftreams? or walk the fmiling mead? 
 
 Or court the foreft-glades ? or wander wild 
 Among the waving harvefts? or afcend. 
 
 While radiant fummer opens all its pride, 
 
 e * 
 
 83 
 
 1370 
 
 137s 
 
 *3$<s 
 
 138$ 
 
 *39® 
 
 1393 
 
 1400 
 
 Thy 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 84 
 
 Tliy hill, delightful* Shene? here let us fweep 
 The boundlefs landfkip: now the raptur’d eye. 
 Exulting fwift, to huge Augusta fend, 
 fjow to the * * Si/ler- Hills that fkirt her plain, 
 
 To lofty Harrow now , and now to where 
 Majeftic IVindfor lifts his princely brow. 
 
 In lovely contraft to this glorious view, 
 
 Calmly magnificent, then will we turn 
 To where the filver Thames firft rural grows. 
 There let the feafted eye unwearied ftray : 
 Luxurious, there, rove thro’ the pendant woods 
 That nodding hang o’er Harrington’s retreat; 
 And, ftooping thence to Ham’s embowering walks, 
 Beneath whofe fhades, in fpotlefs peace retir’d, 
 With Her the pleafing partner of his heart, 
 
 The worthy Queen sb’ry yet laments his Gay, 
 And polifh’ff Cornbury wooes the willing Mufe, 
 Slow let us trace the matchlefs Vale of Thames; 
 Fair-winding up to where the Mufes haunt 
 In Twit’nam’s bowers, and for their Pope implore 
 The healing God; *** to royal Hampton's pile, 
 
 To Clermont's terrafs’d height , and EJ tier's groves, 
 Where in the fweeteft folitude, embrac’d 
 By the foft windings of the filent Mole, 
 
 From courts and fenates Pelham finds repofe. 
 Inchanting vale! beyond whate’er the Mufe 
 Has of Acltaia or Hefperia lung! 
 
 O vale of blifs! O foftly-fwelling hills! 
 
 On which the power of Cultivation lies, 
 
 And joys to fee the wonders of his toil. 
 
 I 4°5 
 
 1410 
 
 1415 
 
 1420 
 
 1425 
 
 1430 
 
 Heavens! what a goodly profpett fpreads around. 
 Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and fpires. 
 
 And 
 
 * The old name of Richmond, fignifying in Saxon Shining, or Splendor, 
 + * Highgate and Hamftead . 
 
 *** In his laft Jicknefs. „ 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 And glittering towns , and gilded ftreams , till all 
 The ftretching landfkip into fmoke decays! 
 
 ; Happy Britannia! where the Queen of Arts , 
 Infpiring vigor, Liberty abroad 
 Walks, unconfin’d, even to thy fartheft cotts, 
 
 And fcatters plenty with unfparing hand. 
 
 Rich is thy foil, and merciful thy clime; 
 
 Thy ltreams unfailing in the fummer’s drought; 
 
 1 Unmatch’d thy guardian-oaks ; thy valleys float 
 With golden waves: and on thy mountains fllocks 
 Bleat numberlefs ; while roving round their fides, 
 Bellow the blackening herds in lufty droves. 
 
 Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rife unquell’d 
 Againft the mower’s fcythe. On every hand, 
 
 Thy villas fhine. Thy country teems with wealth; 
 And property affures 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 ftreet, 
 
 Mingling are heard: even drudgery him felf, 
 
 As at the car he fweats, or dufty hews 
 The palace-ftone, looks gay. Thy crouded ports, 
 Where rifing mafts an endlefs profpeft yield. 
 
 With labour burn, and echo to the fhouts 
 Of hurried failor, as he hearty waves 
 His laft adieu, and loofening every fheet, 
 
 Refigns the fpreading veflel to the wind. 
 
 Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth; 
 By hardfhip iinew’d , and by danger fir'd, 
 
 Scattering the nations where, they go ; and firft 
 
 F 3 
 
 85 
 
 1435 
 
 1440 
 
 1445 
 
 1450 
 
 1455 
 
 1460 
 
 Or 
 
SUMMER . 
 
 86 
 
 Or on the lifted plain, or wintry feas. 
 
 JWild are thy glories too, as o’er the plans 
 Of thriving peace thy thoughtful fires prefidefe 
 In genius , and fubftantial learning , high ; 
 
 For every virtue, every worth, renown’d ; 
 
 Sincere, plain-hearted, ho fpi table, kind; 
 
 Yet like the muftering thunder when provok'd. 
 
 The dread of tyrants, and the foie refource 
 Of thofe that under grim opprefiion groan. 
 
 Thy Sons of glory many! Alfred thine, 
 
 In whom the fplendor of heroic war, 
 
 And more heroic peace, when govern'd well. 
 Combine; whofe hallow'd 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 firft who deep imprefs’d 
 On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms. 
 
 That awes her genius ftill. In Statesmen thou, 
 
 And Patriots fertile. Thine a fteady More, 
 
 Who, with a generous tho* miftaken zeal, 
 Withftood a brutal tyrant’s ufeful rage. 
 
 Like Cato firm, like Aristides juft. 
 
 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 miftrefs 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 Reign? 
 In Raleigh mark their every glory mix’d, 
 Raleigh, the fcourge of Spain / whofe breaftwithall 
 The fage, the patriot, and the hero burn'd. 
 
 Nor funk his vigour, when a coward-reign j 
 The warrior fettered , and at lafl; refign’d, 
 
 1465 
 
 T« 
 
 1470 
 
 1475 
 
 1480 
 
 1485 
 
 Tc 
 
SUMMER. 87 
 
 [jg To glut the vengeance of a vanquifh’d foe. 
 
 Then, aftive Hill and unreftrain’d, his mind IS 00 
 
 Explor’d the vaft extent of ages paft, 
 
 And with his prifon-hours enrich’d the world; 
 
 ! Yet found no times, in all the long refearch, 
 
 ^0 So glorious, or fo bafe, as thofe he prov’d, 
 
 In which he conquer’d, and in which he bled. I 5°5 
 
 Nor can the Mufe the gallant Sibley pafs, 
 
 The plume of war! with early laurels crown’d, 
 
 ! The lover’s myrtle, and the poet’s bay. 
 
 A Hamden too is thine, illultrious land, 
 
 Wife, ltrenuous, firm, of unfubmitting foul, IS 1 ^ 
 
 h Who item’d the torrent of a downward age 
 To flavery prone, and bade thee rife again, 
 
 | In all thy native pomp of freedom bold. 
 
 Bright, at his call, thy age of Men effulg’d, 
 
 Of Men on whom late time a kindling eye X 5 X 5 
 
 Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read. 
 
 Bring every fweetefl: flower, and let me itrew 
 The grave where Russel lies; whofe temper’d blood 
 With calmeft chearfulnefs for thee refign’d, 
 
 Stain’d the fad annals of a giddy reign; X520 
 
 Aiming at lawlefs power, tho’ meanly funk 
 In loofe inglorious luxury. With him 
 His friend, the * British Cassius, fearlefs bled; 
 
 Of high determin’d fpirit, roughly brave, 
 
 By antient learning to th* enlightened love 1525 
 
 Of antient freedom warm’d. Fail* thy renown 
 In awful 1 Sages and in noble Bards ; 
 
 Soon as the light of dawning Science fpread 
 Her orient ray, and wak’d the Miifes’ fong. 
 
 Thine is a Bacon, haplefs in his choice, * 53 ° 
 
 Unfit to Hand the civil ftorm of Hate, 
 
 And thro’ the fmooth barbarity of courts, 
 
 F 4 With 
 
 * Algernon Sidney 
 
88 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 With firm but pliant virtue, forward ftill 
 To urge his courfe. Him for the ftudious fhade 
 Kind Nature form’d, deep, comprehenfive, clear, ?535 
 
 Exaft, and elegant; in one rich foul, 
 
 Pi- ato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join’d. 
 
 The .great deliverer he! who from the gloom 
 Of cloifter’d monks, and jargon-teaching fchools, 
 
 Led forth the true philofophy, there long 154 ° 
 
 Held in the magic chain of word and forms, 
 
 And definitions void: he led her forth, 
 
 Daughter of Heaven! that, flow-afcending ftill, 
 Inveftigating lure the chain of things, 
 
 With radiant finger points to Heaven again. *545 
 
 The generous* Ashley thine, the friend of Man; 
 
 Who fcann’d his Nature with a brother’s eye, 
 
 His weaknefs prompt to fhade, to raife his aim. 
 
 To touch the finer movements of the mind, 
 
 And with the moral beauty charm the heart. *550 
 
 Why need I name thy Boyle, whofe pious fearch 
 Amid the dark recefles 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 1555 
 
 To mortals lent, to trace his boundlefs works 
 From laws fublimely fimple, fpeak thy fame 
 In all philofophy. For lofty fenfe, 
 
 Creative fancy, and infpe£tion keen 
 
 Thro’ the deep windings of the human heart 1560 
 
 Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature’s boaft? 
 
 Is hot each great, each amiable Mufe 
 Of claffic ages in thy Milton met? 
 
 A genius univerfal as his theme, 
 
 Aftonifhing as chaos, as the bloom 1565 
 
 Of blowing Eden fair, as heaven fublime. 
 
 Nor 
 
 * Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftef fairy . 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 Nor fhall my verfe that elder bard forget, 
 
 The gentle Spencer, Fancy’s pleafmg fon; 
 Who, like a copious river, pour’d his fong 
 O’er all the mazes of enchanted ground : 
 
 Nor thee, his antient malter, laughing fage, 
 Chaucer, whofe native manners-painting verfe, 
 Well-moraliz’d, fhines thro’ the Gothic cloud 
 Of time and language o’er thy genius thrown. 
 
 May my fong foften, as thy Daughters I, 
 Britannia, hail! for beauty is their own. 
 The feeling heart, fimplicity of life, 
 
 And elegance, and tafte: the faultlefs form, 
 Shap’d by the hand of harmony; the cheek, 
 
 ! Where the live crimfon, thro’ the native white 
 Soft-fhooting, o’er the face diffufes bloom, 
 
 And every namelefs grace; the parted lip, 
 
 Like the red rofe-bud moift with morning-dew’. 
 Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet, 
 
 Or funny ringlets, or of circling brown, 
 
 The neck ilight-fhaded, and the fwelling breaft; 
 The look refiftlefs, piercing to the foul, 
 
 And by the foul inform’d, when dreft in love 
 Sheets high-fmiling in the confcious eye. 
 
 Island of blifs! amid the fubject feas, 
 
 That thunder round thy rocky coafts , fet up, 
 At once the wonder, terror, and delight, 
 
 Of diftant nations ; whofe remote# fhores 
 Can foon be fhaken by thy naval arm ; 
 
 Not to be fhook thyfelf, but all affaults 
 Baffling, as thy hoar cliffs the loud fea-wave. 
 
 FS 
 
 89 
 
 157 ° 
 
 1575 
 
 1580 
 
 J585 
 
 1590 
 
 1595 
 
 O Thou! 
 
90 SUMMER . 
 
 O Thou! by Whofe almighty Nod the fcate 
 Of empire rifes, or alternate falls. 
 
 Send forth the faving Virtues round the land. 
 In bright patrol: white Peace, and focial Love ; 
 The tender-looking Charity, intent 
 On gentle deeds, and fhedding tears thro* frniles; 
 Undaunted Truth and Dignity of mind; 
 
 Courage compos’d, and keen; found Temperance, 
 Healthful in heart and look; clear Chajlity, 
 
 With blufhes reddening as fhe moves along, 
 Difordered at the deep regard fhe draws; 
 
 Rough Indujlry; Activity untir’d, 
 
 With copious life inform’d, and all awake: 
 While, in the radiant front, fuperior fhines 
 That firft paternal virtue, Public Zeal; 
 
 Who throws o’er all an equal wide furvey. 
 
 And, ever muling on the common weal, 
 
 Still labours glorious with fome great defign. 
 
 Low walks the fun, and broadens by degrees. 
 Juft o’er the verge of day. The fhifting clouds 
 Affembled gay, a richly- gorgeous train, 
 
 In all their pomp attend his fetting throne. 
 
 Air, earth, and ocean fmile immenfe. And now, 
 As if his weary chariot fought the bowers 
 Of Amphitrite, and her tending Nymphs, 
 
 (So Grecian fable fung) he dips is Orb; 
 
 Now half-immers’d ; and now a golden curve 
 Gives one bright glance, then total difappears. 
 
 For ever running, an enchanted round, 
 
 Pafles the day, deceitful, vain, and void; 
 
 As fleets the vifion o’er the formful brain. 
 
 This moment hurrying wild th’ impaffion’d foul. 
 
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9i 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 The next in nothing loft. ’Tis fo to him. 
 
 The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank: 
 
 A Tight of horror to the cruel wretch, 
 
 Who all day long in fordid pleafure roll’d, 
 
 Himfelf an ufelefs load, has fquander’d vile, 
 
 Upon his fcoundrel train, what might have chear’d 
 A drooping family of modeft worth. 
 
 But to the generous ft ill-improving mind, 
 
 That gives the hopelefs heart to fing for joy, 
 Diffufing kind beneficence around, 
 
 Boaftlefs, as now defcends the fielent dew 5 
 To him the long review of order’d life 
 Is inward rapture* only to be felt* 
 
 Confess’d from yonder ilow-extinguifh’d clouds* 
 All ether foftening, fober Evening takes 
 Her wonted ftation in the middle air ; 
 
 A thoufand fhadows at her beck. Firft this 
 She fends on earth; then that of deeper dye 
 Steals foft behind ; and then a deeper ftill, 
 
 In circle following circle, gathers round, 
 
 To clofe the face of things. A frefher gale 
 Begins to wave the wood, and ftir the ftream, 
 Sweeping with fhadowy guft the fields of corn; 
 While the quail clamours for his running mate. 
 Wide o’er the thiftly lawn, as fwells the breeze, 
 
 A whitening fhower of vegetable down 
 Amufive 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 feather’d feeds fhe wings. 
 
 His folded flock fecure, the fhepherd home 
 Hies, merry-hearted; and by turns relieves 
 
 I630 
 
 1635 
 
 16 40 
 
 *645 
 
 1650 
 
 1655 
 
 1660 
 
 The 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 92 
 
 The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail; 
 
 The beauty whom perhaps his witlefs heart, 
 Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguifh means. 
 Sincerely loves, by that beft language fhewn 
 Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. 
 
 Onward they pafs, o’er many a panting height. 
 And valley funk, and unfrequented ; /where 
 At fall of eve the fairy people throng, 
 
 In various game , and revelry to pafs 
 The fummer-night, as village-ftories tell. 
 
 But far about they wander from the grave 
 Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg’d 
 Againft his own fad breaft to lift the hand 
 Of impious violence. The lonely tower 
 Is alfo fhun’d; whofe mournful chambers hold, 
 So night-ftruck Fancy dreams, the yelling ghoft. 
 
 " | As 
 
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 Among the crooked lanes, 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 i6go 
 
 Of maffy Stygian woof, but loofe array’d 
 In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, 
 
 Glanc’d from th’ imperfeft furfaces of things. 
 
 Flings half an image on the ftraining eye; 
 
 While wavering woods, and villages, and ftreams, 168S 
 And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long retain’d 
 Th’ afcending gleam, are all one fwimming fcene. 
 
 Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven 
 Thence weary vifion turns ; where, leading foft 
 The filent hours of love, with pureft ray 1690 
 
 Sweet Venus fhines ; and from her genial rife, 
 
 When day-light fickens till it fprings afrefh, 
 
 Unrival’d reigns, the faireft damp of night, 
 
 As 
 
^705 
 
 SUMMER. 95 
 
 As thus th’ effulgence tremulous I drink, 
 
 vVith cherifh’d gaze, the lambent lightnings fhoot 1995 
 
 Acrofs the fky; or horizontal dart, 
 
 n wondrous fhapes: by fearful murmuring crouds 
 
 Portentous deem’d. Amid the radiant orbs. 
 
 That more than deck, that animate the fky, 
 
 The life-infufing funs of other worlds; Ifoo 
 
 Lo! from the dread immenfity ; of fpace 
 Returning, with accelerated courfe. 
 
 The rufhing comet to the fun defcends ; 
 
 And as he finks below the fhading earth, 
 
 With awful train projefted o’er the heavens. 
 
 The guilty nations tremble. But, above 
 rhofe fuperftiticus horrors that enflave 
 The fond fequacious herd, to myftic faith 
 And blind amazement prone, th* englighten’d few* 
 
 Whofe godlike minds philofophy exalts. 
 
 The glorious ftranger hail. They feel a joy 
 Divinely great; they in their powers exult, 
 
 That wondrous force of thought, which mounting 
 This dufky fpot, and meafures all the fky; 
 
 While, from his far excurfion thro* the wilds 
 Of barren ether, faithful to his time, 
 
 They fee the blazing wonder rife anew. 
 
 In feeming terror clad, but kindly bent 
 To work the will of all-fuftaining Love: 
 
 From his huge vapoury train perhaps to fhake 1720 
 
 Reviving moifture on the numerous orbs, 
 
 Thro* which his long ellipfis winds ; perhaps 
 
 1710 
 
 fpurns 
 
 1715 
 
 To 
 
94 SUMMER. 
 
 To lend new fuel to declining funs, 
 
 To light up worlds, and feed th’ ethernal fire. 
 
 With thee, ferene Philosophy! with thee, 
 
 And thy bright garland, let me crown my fong 1 
 Effufive fource of evidence, and truth! 
 
 A lufter fhedding o’er th’ ennobled mind, 
 
 Stronger than fummer-noon ; v -and pure as that, 
 Whofe mild vibrations footh the parted foul. 
 
 New to the dawning of celeftial day. 
 
 Hence thro’ her nourifh’d powers, enlarg’d by thee, 
 She fprings aloft, with elevated pride, 
 
 Above the tangling mafs of low defires, 
 
 That bind the fluttering croud ; and angel-wing’d. 
 The heights of fcience and of virtue gains. 
 
 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 Firjl up-tracing, from the dreary void. 
 
 The chain of caufes and effects to Him,' 
 
 The world-producing Essence, who alone 
 Poffeffes being; while the Lajl receives 
 The whole magnificence of heaven and earth, 
 
 And every beauty, delicate or bold. 
 
 Obvious or more remote, with livelier fenfe, 
 Diffufive painted on the rapid mind. 
 
 Tutor’d by thee, hence Poetry exalte 
 Her voice to ages; and informs the page 
 
SUMMER. 
 
 Vith mufic, image, fentiment, and thought, 
 lever to die ! the treafure of mankind ! 
 
 "heir higheft honour, and their trueit joy! 
 
 ¥ ! 
 
 ) 
 
 Without thee what were unenlightened Man? 
 i lavage roaming thro’ the woods and wilds 
 n quell of prey; and with th’ unfafhion’d fur 
 ! lough clad; devoid of every finer art, 
 
 And elegance of life. Nor happinefs 
 llomeltic, mix’d of tendernefs and care, 
 
 Jor moral excellence, nor focial blifs, 
 tfor guardian law were his; nor various fkill 
 To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool 
 Mechanic; nor the heaven-condufted prow 
 3f navigation bold, that fearlefs braves 
 The burning line or dares the wintry pole, 
 
 Mother fevere of infinite delights 
 Nothing, fave rapine, indolence, and guile, 
 
 And woes on woes, a ftill-revolving train! 
 
 Whofe horrid circle had made human life 
 Than non-exiftence worfe: but, taught by thee 
 Ours are the plans of policy, and peace; 
 
 To live like brothers, and conjunctive all 
 Embellifh life. While thus laborious; crouds 
 Ply the though oar, Philosophy direfts 
 The ruling helm; or like the liberal breath 
 Of potent heaven, invifible, the fail 
 Swells out, and bears th’ inferior world along. 
 
 95 
 
 i75o 
 
 1755 
 
 1760 
 
 *765 
 
 1770 
 
 *775 
 
 Nor 
 
96 SUMMER. 
 
 Nor to this evanefcent fpeck of earth 
 Poorly confin’d, the radiant trafts on high 
 Are her exalted range; intent to gaze 
 Creation thro’; and, from that full complex 
 Of never-ending wonders , to conceive 
 Of the sole Being right, who /poke the word. 
 And Nature mov’d compleat. With inward View, 
 Thence on th’ ideal kingdom fwift fhe turns 
 Her eye; and inftant, at her powerful glance, 
 
 Th’ obedient phantoms vanifh or appear; 
 Compound, divide, and into order fhift 
 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 firft begins 
 The world of fpirits, action all, and life 
 Unfetter’d, and unmix’d. But here the cloud. 
 
 So wills Eternal Providence, fits deep. 
 Enough for us to know that this dark ftate. 
 
 In wayward paflions loft, and vain purfuits. 
 
 This infancy of being, cannot prove 
 The final iffiie of the works of God. 
 
 By boundlefs Love and perfect Wisdom form’d. 
 And ever riling with the riling mind. 
 
 A 
 
 ' ? . | 
 
 1780 
 
 *785 
 
 17 90 
 
 E ' - 1(1 
 
 J 
 
 *795 
 
 s8oo 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 G 
 
The Argument. 
 
 The fubjeft propofed. Addrejfed to Mr. Onslow. 
 A prof p eft; of the fields readijfor harvefi. Reflexions 
 in prelife of indufiry raifed by that view. Reaping. 
 A tale relative to it. A harvefi form. Shooting 
 and hunting , their barbarity. A ludicrous account 
 of foxhunting. A view of an orchard. Wall-fruit. 
 A' vineyard. A defcription of fogs, frequent in the . 
 latter part of Autumn : whence a digrejfion, enquiring ! 
 into the rife of fountains and rivers. Birds of feafon (■ 
 confidered, that now fhift their habitation. The 
 prcdigous number of them that cover the northern ■ 
 and wefiern ifles of Scotland. Hence a view of . 
 the country. A profpeft of the dif coloured, 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 harvefi being gather d in, the country ; 
 diffolved in joy. The whole concludes with a pan- 
 egyric on a philofophical country life. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 /^ROWN’D with the fickle, and the wheaten fheaf. 
 While Autumn, nodding o’er the yellow plain, 
 Comes jovial on , — the Doric reed once more, 
 
 Weil pleas’d, I tune. Whate’er the Wintry froft 
 Nitrous prepar’d; the various-bloffom’d fpring g 
 
 Put in white promife forth; and fummer-funs 
 Concofted ftrong, rufh boundiefs now to view. 
 
 Full, perfeft all, and fwell my glorious theme. 
 
 Onslow! the Mufe, ambitious of thy name, 
 
 To grace, infpire, and dignify her fong, fo 
 
 Would from the Public Voice thy gentle ear 
 A while engage. Thy noble cares fhe knows, 
 
 The patriot virtues that diftend thy thought, 
 
 Spread on thy front, and in thy bofom glow; 
 
 While liftening fenates hang upon thy tongue, 15 
 
 -Devolving thro’ the maze of eloquence 
 A roll of periods, fweeter than her fong. 
 
 But fhe too pants for public virtue, fhe, 
 
 Tho’ weak of power, yet ftrong in ardent will? 
 
 Whene’er her country rufhes on her heart, 20 
 
 Affumes a bolder note , and fondly tries 
 To mix the patriot’s with the poet’s flame. 
 
 G 2 
 
 When 
 
ICO 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days, 
 
 And Libra weighs in equal {tales the year; 
 
 From heaven’s high cope fierce effulgence fhook 2 $ 
 
 Of parting Summer, a ferener blue, 
 
 With golden light enliven’d , wide invefts 
 The happy world. Attemper’d funs arife, 
 
 Sweet-beam’d , and fhedding oft thro’ lucid clouds 
 A pleafing calm; while broad, and brown, below 30 
 Extenfive harvefts 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. 35 
 
 Rent is the fleecy mantle of the fky; ; 
 
 The clouds fly different; and the fudden fun 
 
 By fits effulgent gilds th’ illumin’d field, 
 
 And black by fits the fhadows fweep along. 
 
 A gailv-checker’d heart-expanding view, 40 
 
 Far as the circling eye can fhoot around, 
 
 Unbounded toffing in a flood of corn. 
 
 These are thy bleffings, Industry! rough power l 
 Whom labour ffill attends , and fweat , and pain; 
 
 Yet the kind fource of every gentle art, 45 
 
 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 go i 
 
 Implanted , and profufely pour’d around 
 Materials infinite; but idle all. 
 
 Still unexerted, in th* unconfcious breaft, 
 
 Slept the lethargic powers; corruption ftill. 
 
 Voracious, fwallowed what the liberal hand 33 ! 
 
 Of bounty fcatter’d o’er the favage year : 
 
AUTUMN ; 
 
 IOf 
 
 And Hill the fad barbarian, roving, mix’d 
 . With beaHs of prey; or for his acorn-meal 
 Fought the fierce tufky boar; a fhivering wretch! 
 AghaH, 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 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, 
 
 And dear relations mingle into blifs. 
 
 But this the rugged favage never felt, 
 
 Even defolate in crouds; and thus his days 
 Roll’d heavy, dark, and unenjoy’d along; 
 
 A wafte of time! till Industry approach’d 
 And rous’d him from his miferable flotli: 
 
 : His faculties unfolded; pointed out, 
 
 Where lavifh Nature the directing hand 
 Of art demanded; fhew’d him how to raife 
 His feeble force by the mechanic powers, 
 
 To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth, 
 
 On what to turn the piercing rage of fire, 
 
 On what the torrent, and the gather’d blaft; 
 
 Gave the tall ancient forefl to his ax; 
 
 Taught him to chip the wood , and hew the Hone, 
 Till by degrees the finiflfd fabric rofe; 
 
 Tore from his limbs the blood^polluted fur, 
 
 And wrapt them in the woolly veftment warm, 
 
 Or bright in gloffy filk, and flowing lawn; 
 
 With wholefome viands fill’d his table, pour’d 
 The generous glafs around, infpir’d to wake 
 The life-refining foul of decent wit: 
 
 Nor Hopp’d at barren bare neceflity; 
 
 But Hill advancing bolder, led him on 
 
 G 3 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 so 
 
 85 
 
 90 
 
 To 
 
102 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 To pomp, to pleafure, elegance, and grace;’ 
 
 And, breathing high ambition thro’ his foul, 
 
 Set fcience, wifdom, glory, in his view, 
 
 And bad 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 condufting all. 
 
 For this the Patriot- Council met, the full, 
 
 The free, and fairly reprefented Whole ; 
 
 For this they plann’d the holy guardian-laws,' 
 Diftinguifh’d orders, animated arts, 
 
 And with joint force Oppreffion chaining, fet 
 Imperial gfujlice at the helm; yet ftill 
 To them accountable: nor flavifh 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 
 In order fet, protefted, and infpir’d, 
 
 Into perfeftion wrought. Uniting all, 
 
 Society grew numerous, high, polite, 
 
 And happy. Nurfe of art! the city rear’d 
 In beauteous pride her tower-encircled head ; 
 
 And, ftretching ftreet on ftreet , by thoufands drew, 
 From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew 
 To bows ftrong-ftraining, her afpiring fons. 
 
 Then Commerce brought into the public walk 
 The bufy merchant; the big ware-houfe built; 
 
 Rais’d the ftrong crane ; choak’d up the loaded ftreet 
 With foreign plenty; and thy ftream, O Thames, 
 Large, gentle, deep, majeftic, king of floods! 
 
 Chofe for his grand refort. On either hand, 
 
 Like a long wintry foreft, groves of malls 
 
 I f 
 
 95 
 
 p 
 
 r 
 
 lire 
 
 To 
 
 h 
 
 100 
 
 l°5 
 
 no 
 
 *15 
 
 120 
 
 Shot 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 103 
 
 125 
 
 Shot up their fpires; the bellying ffteet between 
 Poflefs’d the breezy void; the footy hulk 
 Steer’d iluggifh on; the Iplendid barge along 
 Row’d, regular, to harmony; around, 
 
 The boat, Bght-fkimming, ftretch’d its oary wings ; 
 
 While deep the various voice of fervent toil 130 
 
 From bank to bank increas’d; whence ribb’d with oak, 
 
 To bear the British Thunder, black, and bold. 
 
 The roaring veffel rufh’d into the main. 
 
 Then too the pillar’d dome, magnific, heav’d 
 Its ample roof; and luxury within 135 
 
 Pour’d out her glittering ftores: the canvas fmooth, 
 
 With glowing life protuberant, to the view 
 Embodied rofe; the ftatue feem’d to breathe, 
 
 And foften into fiefh , beneath the touch 
 
 Of forming art, imagination-fiufh’d* 14 0 
 
 All is the gift of Industry; whatever 
 Exalts, embellifhes, and renders life 
 Delightful. Penfive Winter chear’d by him- 
 Sits at the focial fire, and happy hears 
 Th * excluded tempeft idly rave along;. 145 
 
 His harden’d fingers deck the gaudy Spring; 
 
 Without him Summer were an arid wafte; 
 
 Nor to th’ Autumnal months could thus transmit 
 Thofe full, mature, immeafurabie ftores, 
 
 That, waving round, recall my wandering fong* 150 
 
 Soon as the morning trembles o’er the fky* 
 
 And, unperceiv’d, unfolds the fpreading day. 
 
 Before the ripened field the reapers ftand. 
 
 In fair array; each by the lafs he loves. 
 
 To bear the rougher part, and mitigate 155 
 
 By namelefs gentle offices her toil. 
 
 At once they ftoop and fwell the lufty fheaves; 
 
 G4 
 
 While 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 104 
 
 While thro’ their chearful band the rural talk > 
 
 The rural fcandal, and the rural jeft 
 Fly harmlefs, to deceive the tedious time, j6o 
 
 And fteal unfelt the fultry hours away. 
 
 Behind the mafter walks, builds up the fhocks; 
 
 And, confcious, glancing oft on every fide 
 His fated eye, feels his heart heave with joy. 
 
 The gleaners fpread around, and here and there, 165 
 
 Spike after fpike, their fcanty harveft pick. 
 
 Be not too narrow, hufbandmen! but fling 
 From the full fheaf, with charitable Health, 
 
 The liberal handful. Think, oh grateful think! 
 
 How good the God of Harvest is to you; J70 
 
 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 J75 
 
 What now, with hard reluctance, 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, 180 
 
 She, with her widow’d mother, feeble, old, 
 
 And poor, liv’d in a cottage, far retir’d 
 Among the windings of a woody vale; 
 
 By folitude and deep furrounding fhades, 
 
 But more by bafhful tnodefty, conceal’d, X$5 
 
 Together thus they fhunn’d the cruel fcom 
 Which virtue, funk to poverty, would meet 
 From giddy paflion and low-minded, pride; 
 
 Almoft on Nature’s common bounty fed; 
 
 Like the gay birds that fling them to repofe, J90 
 
 Content, and carejefs of to-morrow’s fare. 
 
 Her form was frefher than the morning-rofe, 
 
 When 
 
AUTUMN, 
 
 When the dew wets its leaves ; unftain’d, and pure 
 As is the lily, or the mountain fnow. 
 
 The modeft yirtnes mingled in her eyes. 
 
 Still on the ground dejefred, darting all 
 Their humid beams into the blooming flowers: 
 
 Or when the mournful tale her mother told. 
 
 Of what her faithlefs fortune promis’d once, 
 Thrill’d in her thought, they, like the dewy liar 
 Of evening, fhone in tears, A native grace 
 Sat fair proportion’d on her polifh’d limbs, 
 
 Veil’d in a Ample robe, their belt attire. 
 
 Beyond the pomp of drefs; for lovelinefs 
 Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 
 
 But is when unadorn’d adorn’d the moll, 
 Thoughtlefs of beauty, fhe was beauty’s felf, 
 Reclufe amid the clofe-embowering woods. 
 
 As in the hollow breall of Appenine , 
 
 Beneath the fhelter of encircling hills, 
 
 A myrtle, rifes, far from human eye, 
 
 And breathes its balmy fragrance o’er the wild; 
 
 So flourifh’d blooming, and unfeen by all, 
 
 The fweet Lavinia; till, at length, compell’d 
 By llrong Neceflity’s fupreme command, 
 
 With fmiling patience in her looks, fhe went 
 To glean Palemqn’s field. The pride of fwains 
 Palemqn 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, chanc’d befide his reaper-train 
 To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye; 
 Unconfcious of her power, and turning quick 
 
 65 
 
 IOJ 
 
 195 
 
 209 
 205 
 
 210 
 
 220 
 
 225 
 
 With 
 
106 AU T V M N. 
 
 With unaffe&ed blufhes from his gaze: 
 
 He faw her charming, but he faw not half 
 
 The charms her down-caft modefty conceal'd. 230 
 
 That very moment love and chafte defire 
 
 Sprung in his bofom, to himfelf unknown; 
 
 For ftill the world prevail'd, and its dread laugh* 
 
 Which fcarce the firm philofopher can fcorn, 
 
 Should his heart own a gleaner in the field! 235 
 
 And thus in fecret to his foul he figh’d. 
 
 h 
 
 “What pity! that fo delicate a form, 
 
 “ By beauty kindled, where enlivening fenfe, 
 
 “ And more than vulgar goodnefs feem to .dwell* 
 
 “Should be devoted to the rude embrace 240 
 
 “Of fome indecent clown! fhe looks, methinks, 
 
 “Of old Acasto’s line; and to my mind 
 “ Recalls that patron of my happy life, 
 
 “From whom my liberal fortune took its rife; 
 
 “ Now to the duft gone down; his houfes, lands* 245 
 “And once fair-fpreading family diffolv’d. 
 
 “’Tis faid that in fome lone obfcure retreat, 
 
 “Urg’d by remembrance fad, and decent pride, 
 
 “Far from thofe fcenes which knew their better days, 
 
 “ His aged widow and his daughter live, 250 
 
 “Whom yet my fruitlefs fearch could never find. 
 
 “Romantic wifh* would this the daughter were!,* 
 
 When, ftrift enquiring, from herfelf he found 
 She was the fame, the daughter of his friend* 
 
 Of bountiful Acasto; who can fpeak 255 
 
 The mingled paflions that furpriz’d his heart, 
 
 And thro’ his nerves in fhivering tranfport ran ? 
 
 Then blaz’d his fmother’d flame, avow’d, and bold; 
 
 And as he view’d her, ardent, o’er and o’er, 
 
 Love, gratitude, and pity wept at once. 260 
 
 Confused 
 
AUTUMN. 107 
 
 Confus'd, and frightened at his Hidden tears, 
 
 Her rifing beauties flu fil’d a higher bloom, 
 jo As thus Palemon, paffionate, and juft. 
 
 Pour’d out the pious rapture of his foul. 
 
 S 
 
 
 “ And art thou then Acasto’s dear remains? — 
 “She, whom my reftlefs gratitude has fought, 
 
 “So long in vain? oh heavens! the very fame, 
 
 “The foften’d image of my noble friend, 
 
 “Alive, his every feature, every look, 
 
 “More elegantly touch’d. Sweeter than fpring! 
 “Thou foie furviving bloffom from the root, 
 
 “That nourifh’d up my fortune! Say, ah where, 
 
 “ In what fequefter’d defart, haft thou drawn 
 “The kindeft afpeft of delighted Heaven? 
 
 “Into fuch beauty fpread, and blown fo fair; 
 
 “Th o’ poverty’s cold wind, and crufhing 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, 
 “Dilfufe their warmeft, largeft influence; 
 
 “And of my garden be the pride, and joy! 
 
 “It ill befits thee, oh it ill befits 
 “ Ac asto’s daughter, his, whofe open ftores, 
 
 “Tho’ vaft, were little to his ampler heart, 
 
 “The father of a country, thus to pick 
 “The very refute of thofe harveft-fields, 
 
 “Which from his bounteous friendfhip I enjoy. 
 
 “Then throw that fhameful pittance from thy hand, 
 “But ill apply’d to fuch a rugged tafk; 
 
 “The fields, the mailer, all, my fair, are thine; 
 
 “If to the various bleiiings which thy houfe 
 “Has on me lavifh’d, thou wilt add that blifs. 
 
 “That deareit blifs, the power of blefling thee! „ 
 
 265 
 
 270 
 
 275 
 
 » 
 
 280 
 
 28 5 
 
 290 
 
 Here 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 Here ceas’d the youth: yet ftill his Ipeaking eye 
 Exprefs’d the facred triumph of his foul, 
 
 With confcious virtue, gratitude, and love, 
 
 Above the vulgar, joy divinely rais’d. 
 
 Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm 
 
 Of goodnefs irrefiftible, and all 
 
 In fvveet diforder loft, fhe blufh’d confent. 
 
 The news immediate to her mother brought. 
 
 While, pierc’d with anxious thought, fhe pin’d 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 than the happy pair; 
 
 Who flourifh’d long in tender blifs, and rear’d 
 A numerous offspring, lovely like themfelves, 
 
 And good; the grace of all the country round. 
 
 pc 
 t fir 
 
 »95 
 
 
 300 
 
 3°5 
 
 310 
 
 Defeating oft the labours of the year* 
 
 The fultry fouth collects a potent blaft. 
 
 At lirft, the groves are fcarcely feen to ftir 
 
 Their trembling tops; and a ftill murmur runs 
 
 Along the foft-inclining fields of corn; 315 
 
 But as th* aerial tempeft fuller fwells. 
 
 And in one mighty ftream, invifible, 
 
 Immenfe, the whole excited atmofphere. 
 
 Impetuous rufhes o’er the founding world; 
 
 Strain’d to the root, the ftooping foreft pours 320 
 
 A ruftling fhower of yet untimely leaves. 
 
 High-beat, the circling mountains eddy in. 
 
 From the bare wild, the dhfipated ftorm, 
 
 And fend it in a torrent down the vale. 
 
 Expos’d, and naked, to its utmoft rage, 325, 
 
 Thro’ all the fea of harveft rolling round, 
 
 The billowy plain floats wide; nor can evade, 
 
 Tho’ 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 109 
 
 Tho* pliant to the blatt, its feizing force} 
 
 Or whirl’d in air, or into vacant chaff 
 
 Shook wafte. And fometimes too a burft of rain, 
 
 Swept from the black horizon, broad, defcends 
 
 In one continuous flood. Still over head 
 
 The mingling tempeft weaves its gloom, and ftill 
 
 The deluge deepens; till the fields around 
 
 Lie funk, and flatted, in the fordid wave. 
 
 Sudden, the ditches fwell; the meadows fwim. 
 
 Red, from the hills, innumerable ftreams 
 Tumultuous roar; and high above its banks 
 The river lift; before whofe rufhing tide, 
 
 Herds, flocks, and harvefts, cottages, and fwains. 
 
 Roll mingled down; all that the winds had fpar’d, 
 In one wild moment ruin’d, the big hopes, 
 
 And well-earn’d treafures of the painful year. 
 
 Fled to fome eminene, the hufbandman, 
 
 Helplefs beholds the miferable wreck 
 Driving along; his drowning ox at once 
 Defcending, with his labours fcatter’d round, 
 
 He fees; and inftant o’er his fhivering thought 
 Comes winter unprovided, and a train 
 Of clamant children dear. Ye matters, then. 
 
 Be mindful of the rough laborious hand, 
 
 That finks you foft in elegance and eafe; 
 
 Be mindful of thofe limbs, in ruffet clad, 
 
 Whofe toil to yours is warmth, and graceful pride; 
 And oh be mindful of that fparing board, 
 
 Which covers yours with luxury profufe, 
 
 Makes your glafs fparkie, and your fenfe rejoice! 
 Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains, 
 
 And all-involving winds have fwept away. 
 
 330 
 
 335 
 
 340 
 
 345 
 
 350 
 
 355 
 
 Here the rude clamour of the fportfman’s joy, 360 
 The gun faft-thundering, and the winded horn, 
 
 Would 
 
no 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 Would tempt the Mufe to ting the rural Garnet. 
 How, in his mid-career, the fpaniel ftruck, 
 
 Stiff, by the tainted gale, with open nofe, 
 Outftretch’d, and finely fenfible, draws full. 
 
 Fearful, and cautious, on the latent prey; 
 
 As in the fun the circling covey bafk 
 Their varied plumes, and watchful every way 
 Thro’ the rough ftubble turn the fecret eye. 
 
 Caught in the mefhy fnare, in vain they beat 
 Their idle wings, intangled more and more: 
 
 Nor on the furges of the boundlefs air, 
 
 Tho’ borne triumphant, are they fafe; the gun, 
 Glanc’d juft, and fudden, 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. 
 
 365 
 
 370 
 
 
 375 
 
 These are not fubje&s for the peaceful Mufe, 
 
 Nor will fhe ftain with fuch her fpotlefs fong; ggtf 
 
 Then moft delighted, when fhe focial 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 ggg 
 
 Awakes, impatient, with the gleaming morn; 
 
 When beafts of prey retire, that all night long, 
 
 Urg’d by neceffity, had rang’d the dark, 
 
 As if their confcious ravage fhun’d the light, 
 
 Afham’d. Not fo the fteady tyrant man, 390 
 
 Who with the thoughtlefs infolence of power 
 Inflam’d, beyond the moft infuriate wrath 
 Of the worft monfter that e’er roam’d the wafte. 
 
 For fport alone purfues the cruel chace. 
 
 Amid the beamings of the gentle days. 395 
 
 Ubraid, 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 in 
 
 Jbraid, 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, 
 
 [s 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 ruf hy fen ; the ragged furze, 
 
 Stretch’d o’er the ftony heath : the ftubble chapt ; 
 The thiftly lawn; the thick entangled broom; 
 
 Of the fame friendly hue, the wither’d fern: 
 
 The fallow ground laid open to the fun, 
 Concoftive; and the nodding fandy bank, 
 
 Hung o’er the mazes of the mountain-brook. 
 
 Vain is her bell precaution ; tho’ fhe fits 
 Conceal’d, with folded ears; unileeping eyes, 
 
 By Nature rais’d to take th’ horizon in ; 
 
 And head couch’d clofe betwixt her hairy feet, 
 
 In aft to fpring away. The fcented dew 
 Betrays her early labyrinth; and deep. 
 
 In fcatter’d fullen openings, far behind, 
 
 With every breeze fhe hears the coming florin. 
 But nearer, and more frequent, as it loads 
 The fighing gale, fhe fprings amaz’d, and all 
 The favage foul of game is up at once: 
 
 The pack full-opening, various; the fhrill horn, 
 Refounded from the hills; the neighing fteed. 
 Wild for the chace; and the loud hunter’s fhout ; 
 O’er a weak , harmlefs , flying creature , all 
 Mix’d in mad tumult, and difcordant joy. 
 
 400 
 
 4?5 
 
 410 
 
 4i5 
 
 43o 
 
 4 2 5 
 
 The flag too, Angled from fhe herd, where long 
 He rang’d the branching monarch of the fhades. 
 Before the tempeft drives. At firft, in fpeed 
 He, fprightly, puts his faith; and, rous’d by fear 
 
 Gives 
 
112 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 Gives all liis fwift aerial foul to flight* 
 
 Againft the breeze he darts, that way the more 
 To leave the leffening murderous cry behind. 
 Deception fhort! tho’ fleeter than the winds 
 Blown o’er the keen-air’d mountain by the north, 
 He bur Its the thickets, glances thro* the glades, 
 And plunges deep into the wildeft wood ; 
 
 If flow, yet fure, adhefive to the track 
 Hot-tleaming, up behind him come again 
 Th’ inhuman rout, and from the fhady depth 
 Expel him, circling thro* his every fhift. 
 
 He fweeps the foreft oft; and fobbing fees 
 The glades, mild-opening to the golden day; 
 Where, in kind conteli , with his butting friends 
 He wont to ftruggle, or his loves enjoy. 
 
 Oft in the full-defcending 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 fhall he do? his once fo vivid nerves, 
 
 So full of buoyant fpirit , now no more 
 Infpire the courfe; but fainting breathlefs toil. 
 Sick, feizes on his heart: he hands at bay; 
 
 And puts his laft weak refuge in defpair. 
 
 The big round tears run down his dappled face; 
 He groans in anguifli ; while the growling pack, 
 Blood-happy, hang at his fair jutting cheft, 
 
 And mark his beauteous chequer’d fides with gore* 
 
 Of this enough. But if the fylvan youth 
 Whofe fervent blood boils into violence, 
 
 Muft have the chace; behold, defpifing flight, 
 The rous’d-up lion, refolute, and flow. 
 
 Advancing full on the protended fpear, 
 
 And coward-band , that circling wheel aloof* 
 
 ; 
 
 43S 
 
 !' 
 
 Li 
 
 44© E 
 
 L 
 
 T 
 
 45 ® 
 
 Slunk 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 j Slunk from the cavern , and tlie 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 deftruftion, to the monfter’s heart 
 Let the dart lighten from the nervous arm* 
 
 113 
 
 465 
 
 These Britain knows not; give, ye Britons, then 470 
 Your Iportive fury, pitylefs, to pour 
 Loofe on the nightly robber of the fold: 
 
 Him, from his craggy winding haunts unearth’d, 
 
 Let all the thunder of of the chace purfue. 
 
 Throw the broad ditch behind you; o’er the hedge 475 
 High-bound, refiftlefs; nor the deep morafs 
 Refufe, but thro’ the fhaking wildernefs 
 Pick your nice way; into the perilous flood 
 Bear fearlefs, of the raging inftinft full; 
 
 And as you ride the torrent, to the banks 4g 0 
 
 Your triumph found fonorous, running round, 
 
 From rock to rock, in circling echos toft; 
 
 Then fcale the mountains to their woody tops; 
 
 Rufh down the dangerous fteep ; and o’er the lawn, 
 
 In fancy fwallowing up the fpace between, 435 
 
 Pour all your fpeed into the rapid game* 
 
 For happy he! who tops the wheeling chace; 
 
 Has every maze evolv’d, and every guile 
 Difclos’d; who knows the merits of the pack, 
 
 Who faw the villain feiz’d , and dying hard, 490 
 
 Without complaint^ tho’ by an hundred mouths 
 Relentlefs torn : o glorious he, beyond 
 His daring peers! when the retreating horn 
 Calls them to ghoftly halls of grey renown, 
 
 With woodland honours grac’d; the fox’s fur, 495 
 
 Depending decent from the roof; and fpread 
 Round the drear walls, with antick figures fierce, 
 
 H The 
 
U4 AUTUMN. 
 
 The flag’s large front: he then is loudeft heard, 
 When the night flaggers with feverer toils, 
 
 With feats Theffalian Centaurs never knew, 
 
 And their repeated wonders fhake the dome. 
 
 But firft the fuel’d chimney blazes wide; 
 
 The tankards foam; and the ftrong table groans 
 Beneath the fmoaking 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 defac’d, 
 
 While hence they borrow vigour: or amain 
 Into the pafty plung’d, at intervals, 
 
 If ftomach keen can intervals allow, 
 
 Relating all the glories of the chace. 
 
 Then fated Hunger bids his brother Thirjl 
 Produce the mighty bowl; the mighty bowl, 
 
 S well’d high with fiery juice, fleams liberal round 
 A potent gale, delicious as the breath 
 Of Maia* to the love-fick fhepherdefs, 
 
 On violets diffus’d, while foft fhe hears 
 Her panting fhepherd ftealing to her arms. 
 
 Nor wanting is the brown October , drawn 
 Mature and perfeft, from his dark retreat 
 * Of thirty years; and now his honeft front 
 Flames in the light refulgent, not afraid 
 Even with the vineyard’s beft produce to vie. 
 
 To cheat the thirfty moments, whift a while 
 Walks his dull round, beneath a cloud of fmoak, 
 Wreath’d fragrant from the pipe; 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 idlenefies laid 
 Afide, frequent and full, the dry divan 
 
 500 
 
 505 
 
 51 ® 
 
 S T 5 
 
 520 
 
 52S 
 
 53° 
 
 Clofe 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 flofe in firm circle; and fet, ardent, in 
 'or ferions drinking. Nor evafion fly, 
 for fober fhift, is to the puking wretch 
 indulg'd apart; but earned:, brimming bowls 
 _,ave every foul, the table floating round, 
 
 4nd pavement, faithleis to the fuddled foot. 
 
 Thus as they fwim in mutual fwill, the talk, 
 Vociferous at once from twenty tongues, 
 leels fail from theme to theme; from horfes, hounds, 
 To church or miitrefl, politicks or ghcft, 
 
 [n endlefs mazes, intricate, perplex’d. 
 
 Mean-time, with fudden interruption, loud, 
 rh’ impatient catch burfls from the joyous heart: 
 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; 
 While from their ilumbers fhook, the kennel’d hounds 
 Mix in the mufic of the day again. 
 
 As when the tempeft, that has vex’d the deep 
 The dark night long with fainter murmurs falls: 
 
 So gradual finks their mirth. Their feeble tongues, 
 Unable to take up the cumbrous word, 
 
 Lie quite diffolv’d. Before their maudlin eyes, 
 
 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, 
 
 Lie a wet broken fcene; and wide, below,' 
 
 Is heap’d the focial daughter: where aftride 
 The lubber Power in filthy triumph fits, 
 
 Slumbrous, inclining ftiil from fide to fide, 
 
 And fteeps them drench’d in potent fleep till morn. 
 Perhaps fome do&or, of tremendous paunch,, 
 
 Awful and deep, a black abyfs of drink, 
 
 ii 5 
 
 535 
 
 5 4 ® 
 
 545 
 
 55 ° 
 
 555 
 
 560 
 
 565 
 
 Out- 
 
Out-lives them all; 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 hurrie’d wild, let not fuch horrid joy 
 E’er ftain the bofom of the British Fair. 
 
 Far be the fpirit of the chace from them l 
 Uncomely courage, unbefeeming fkill ; 
 
 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 foftnefs of their fex is loft. 
 
 In them ftis graceful to diflblve at woe; 
 
 With every motion, every word, to wave 
 Quick o’er the kindling cheek the ready blufh; 
 And from the fmalleft violence to fhrink, 
 Unequal, then the lovelieft in their fears; 
 
 And by this filent adulation, foft, 
 
 To their proteftion more engaging Man. 
 
 O may their eyes no miferable fight, 
 
 Save weeping lovers, fee! a nobler game, 
 
 Thro’ Love’s enchanting wiles purfu’d, yet fled, 
 
 In chace ambiguous. May their tender limbs 
 Float in the loofe fimplicity of drefs! 
 
 And, fafhion’d all to harmony, alone 
 Know they to feize the captivated foul, 
 
 In rapture warbled from love-breathing lips; 
 
 To teach the lute to languifh; with fmooth ftep, 
 Difclofmg motion in its every charm, 
 
 To fvvim along, and fwell the mazy dance; 
 
 To train the foliage o’er the fnowy lawn; 
 
 To guide the pencil, turn the tuneful page; 
 
 To lend new flavour to the fruitful year, 
 
 And heighten Nature’s dainties; in their race 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 117 
 
 'o rear their graces into fecond life; 
 
 ?o give Society its higheft tafte ; 
 
 Vell-order’d Home Man’s belt delight to make; 
 
 by fubmiffive wifdom, modeft fkill, 
 
 Vith every gentle care-eluding art, 705 
 
 To mife the virtues, animate the blifs, 
 ind fweeten all the toils of human life: 
 
 This be the female dignity, and praife. 
 
 Ye fwains now haften tp the hazel-bank; 
 inhere, down yon dale , the wildly-winding brook 610 
 falls hoarfe from fteep to fteep. In clofe array, 
 
 7 it for the thickets, and the tangling fhrub, 
 
 Ye virgins, come. For you their lateft fong 
 The woodlands raife; the cluftring nuts for j’ou 
 The lover finds amid the fecret fhade; 615 
 
 And, where they burnifh on the topmoft bough, 
 
 With aftive vigour crufhes down the tree; 
 
 3r fhakes them ripe from the religning hufk, 
 
 A glofly fhower, and of an ardent brown, 
 
 As are the ringlets of Melinda’s hair: 62 0 
 
 Melinda! form’d with every grace complete, 
 
 Yet thefe neglefting, above beauty wife, 
 
 And far tranfcending fuch a vulgar. praife. 
 
 Hence from the bufy joy-refounding' fields, 
 
 In chearful error, let us tread the maze 625 
 
 Of Autumn, unconfiffd; and tafte, reviv’d, 
 
 The breath of orchard big with bending fruit. 
 
 Obedient to the breeze and beating ray, 
 
 From the deep loaded bough a mellow fhower 
 Inceffant melts away. The juicy pear 630 
 
 Lies, in a foft profufion, fcatter’d round. 
 
 A various fweetnefs fvvells the gentle race; 
 
 In fpecies different, but in kind the fame, 
 
 H 3 
 
 By 
 
By Nature’s all-refining hand prepar’d ; 
 
 Of temper’d fun , and water, earth , and air. 
 
 In ever-changing compofition mixt. 
 
 Such, falling frequent thro’ the chiller night. 
 
 The fragrant ft ores* the wide-projefted heaps 
 Of Apples, which the lufty-handed year, 
 
 Innumerous, o’er the blufhing orchard fhakes. 
 
 A various fpirit, frefh, delicious, keen, ' 
 
 Dwells in their gelid pores ; and, aftive, points 
 The piercing cyder for the thirfty tongue: 
 
 Thy native theme , and boon infpirer too, 
 
 Phillips, Pomona's bard, the fecond thou 
 Who nobly durft, in rhyme-unfetter’d verfe. 
 
 With British freedom ftng the British fong; 
 How, from Silurian vats, high-fparkling wines 
 Foam in tranfparent floods; fome ltrong, to cheer 
 The wintry revels of the labouring hind; 
 
 And tafteful fome , to cool the fummer-hours* 
 
 In this glad feafon, while his fweeteft beams 
 The fun fheds equal o'er the meekened day; 
 
 Oh lofe me in the green delightful walks 
 Of, Dodington! thy feat, ferene and plain; 
 
 Where fimple Nature reigns; and every view, 
 Dilfufive, fpreads the pure Dorfetian downs, 
 
 In boundlefs profpect ; yonder fhagg’d with wood. 
 Here rich with harveft, and there white with flocks! 
 Mean time the grandeur of thy lofty dome, 
 Far-fplendid, feizes on the ravifh’d eye. 
 
 New beauties rife with each revolving day; 
 
 New columns fwell; and ftiil the frefh Spring finds 
 New plants to quicken, and new groves to green. 
 Full of thy genius all! the Mufes* feat; 
 
 Where in the fecret bower, and winding walk, 
 
 For virtuous Young and thee they twine the bay. 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 119 
 
 Here wandering oft, fir’d with the reftlefs thirft 
 Of thy applaufe, I folitary court 
 
 Th’ infpiring breeze; and meditate the book 670 
 
 Of Nature, ever open; aiming thence, 
 
 Warm from the heart, to learn the moral fong. 
 
 Here, as I fteal along the funny wall. 
 
 Where Autumn bafks, with fruit empurpled deep 
 My pleafing theme continual prompts my thought; 675 
 Prefents the downy peach; the fhining plum. 
 
 The ruddy fragrant ne&arine; and dark, 
 
 Beneath his ample leaf, the lufcious fig. 
 
 The vine too here her curling tendrils fhoots; 
 
 Hangs out her clutters, glowing to the fouth; 680 
 
 And fcarcely wifhes. for a warmer fky* 
 
 Turn we a moment Fancy’s rapid flight 
 
 I To vigorous foils, and climes of fair extent; 
 
 Where, by the potent fun elated high. 
 
 The vineyard fwells refulgent on the day; 685 
 
 Spreads o ? er the vale; or up the mountain climbs, 
 
 Profuie; and drinks amid the funny rocks, 
 
 From cliff to cliff increas’d, the heighten’d blaze. 
 
 Low bend the weighty boughs. The clutters clear, 
 
 Half thro* the foliage feen, or ardent flame, 690 
 
 Or fhine tranfparent; 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, 695 
 
 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 mafhy flood ; 
 
 That by degrees fermented, and refin’d, 
 
 Round the rais’d nations pours the cup of joy: 
 
 H 4 
 
 The 
 
120 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 The claret fmooth , red as the lip we prefs, 
 
 In fparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl; 
 
 The me! low- tailed 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 
 As up the middle fky unfeen they Hole, 
 
 And roll the doubling fogs around the hill. 
 
 No more the mountain, horrid, vaft, fublime, 
 Who pours a fweep of rivers from his lides. 
 
 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 dufk, gradual, fwallows up the plain: 
 Vanifh the woods. The dim-feen river feems 
 Sullen, and flow, to roll the mifty wave. 
 
 Even in the height of noon oppreft, the fun 
 Sheds weak, and blunt, his wide-refratted ray; 
 Whence glaring oft, with ;many a broadened orb. 
 He frights the nations. Indiftinft on earth, 
 
 Seen thro’ the turbid air, beyond the life, 
 
 Objects appear; and, wilder’d, o’er the wafte 
 The fhepherd ftalks gigantic. Till at laft 
 Wreath’d dun around, in deeper circles ftill 
 Succeflive doling, 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) 
 Light, uncollected , thro’ chaos urg’d 
 Its infant way; nor Order yet had drawn 
 His lovely train from out the dubious gloom. 
 
 These roving mills, that conftant now begin 
 To fmoak along the hilly country, thefe. 
 
 705 
 
 710 
 
 7*5 
 
 720 
 
 725 
 
 73 ° 
 
 735 
 
 With 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 Ill 
 
 With weighty rains, and melted Alpine fnows, 
 
 The mountain-cifterns fill, thofe ample flores 
 Of water, fcoop’d among the hollow rocks: 
 
 Whence gufh the ftreams, the ceafelefs fountains play, 740 
 And their unfailing wealth the rivers draw. 
 
 Some lages fay, that, where the numerous wave 
 For ever lafhes 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 ftill, 
 
 Tho’ oft amidft tlf 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 vain 745 
 Amuflve dream! why fhould the waters love 
 To take fo far a journey to the hills, 
 
 When the fvveet valleys offer to their toil 
 Inviting quiet, and a nearer bed? 
 
 Or if, by blind ambition led aftray, 750 
 
 They muft afpire; why fhould they fudden flop 
 Among the broken mountain’s rufhy dells, 
 
 And, ere they gain its higheft peak, defert 
 Th* attra&ive fand that charm’d their courfe fo long? 
 Befides, the hard agglomerating falts, 755 
 
 The fpoil 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, 760 
 
 And brought Deucalion's watry times again. 
 
 H. 5 
 
 745 
 
 740 
 
 Say 
 
122 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 *65 
 
 7?o 
 
 775 
 
 Say then, where lurk the vaft eternal fprings. 
 
 That, like creating Nature, lie conceal'd 
 From mortal eye, yet with their lavifh ftores 
 Refrefh 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! and wide difplay 
 Their hidden ftrufrure to tli’ aftonifh'd view! 
 
 Strip from the branching Alps their piny load* 
 
 The huge incumbrance of horrific woods 
 From A ft an Taurus , from Imaus ftretch’d 
 Athwart the roving Tartar s fullen bounds ! 
 
 Give opening Hemus to my fearching eye, 
 
 And high Olympus pouring many a ftream! 
 
 O from the founding fummits of the north* 
 
 The Dofrine Hills , thro* Scandinavia roll'd 
 To fartheft Lapland and the frozen main* 
 
 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 * Jlony girdle of the world; 
 
 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, 
 
 And of the bending ** Mountains of the Moon l 
 
 O’ertopping 
 
 Th 
 
 r 
 
 78o 
 
 785 
 
 790 
 
 * The Mofcavite? calf the Riphean Mountains Wcliki Camenypoys , that 
 is, the great flony Girdle ; becaufe they fuppofe them to encompafs the 
 whole earth. 
 
 * * A ran^e of mountains in Africa 3 that furround ahnoft all Monomotapa . 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 Overtopping all thefe giant-fons of earth, 
 
 Let the dire Andes, from the radiant Line 
 Stretch'd to the fiormy 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, laboring to get free! 
 
 I fee the leaning ftrata, artful rang’d; 
 
 The gaping fiffures to receive the rains, 
 
 The melting fnows, and ever-dripping fogs. 
 
 S trow’d bibulous above I fee the fluids, 
 
 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 ftealing moilture they tranfmifc. 
 Retard its motion, and forbid its wafte. 
 
 Beneath th’ inceffant weeping of thefe drains* 
 
 I fee the rocky fiphons ftretch’d immenfe, 
 
 The mighty refervoirs, of harden’d chalk. 
 
 Or ft iff compared clay, capacious form'd. 
 O’erflowing thence, the congregated ftores. 
 
 The cryftal treafures of the liquid world, 
 
 Thro’ the ftirr’d fends a bubbling paffage bnrft; 
 And weliing out, the middle fteep. 
 
 Or from the bottoms of the bofom’d hills. 
 
 In pure effufion flow. United, thus, 
 
 TiV exhaling fun, the vapour-burden’d air, 
 
 The gelid mountains, that to rain condens’d 
 Thefe vapours in continual current draw. 
 
 And fend them, o’er the fair-divided earth. 
 
 In bounteous rivers to the deep again, 
 
 A focial commerce hold, and firm fupport 
 The full-ad jufted harmony of things. 
 
 123 
 
 795 
 
 800 
 
 805 
 
 810 
 
 815 
 
 820 
 
 When 
 
124 AUTUMN. 
 
 When Autumn fcatters his departing gleams, 
 Warn’d of approaching Winter, gather’d, play 
 The fwallow-people ; and tofs’d wide around, 
 
 O’er the calm fky, in convolution fwift, 
 
 The feather’d eddy floats: rejoicing once, 
 
 Ere to their wintry flumbers they retire; 
 
 In clufters clung, beneath the mouldring bank, 
 And where, unpierc’d by froft, the cavern fweats. 
 Or rather into warmer climes convey’d, 
 
 With other kindred birds of feafon, there 
 They twitter chearful, till the vernal months 
 Invite them welcome back: for, thronging, now 
 Innumerous wings are in commotion all. 
 
 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 adjufted, clean’d their vigorous wings; 
 And many a circle, many a fhort ellay, 
 
 Wheel’d round and round, in congregation full. 
 The figur’d flight afcends; and, riding high 
 Th’ aerial billows, mixes with the clouds. 
 
 Or where the Northern ocean, in vaft whirls. 
 Boils round the naked melancholy ifles 
 Of fartheft Thule , and th* Atlantic furge 
 Pours in among the ftormy Hebrides ; 
 
 Who can recount what tranfmigrations there 
 Are annual made? what nations come and go? 
 And how the living clouds on clouds arife? 
 
 825 
 
 830 
 
 835 
 
 840 
 
 845 
 
 85o 
 
 855 
 
 Infinite 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 12 5 
 
 Infinite wings! till all the plume-dark air, 
 
 And rude refounding fhore are one wild cry. 
 
 Here the plain harmlefs native his fmall flock, g6o 
 And herd diminutive of many hues, 
 
 Tends on the little ifland’s verdant fwell, 
 
 The fhepherd’s fea-girt reign; or, to the rocks 
 Dire-clinging, gathers his ovarious food; 
 
 Or fweeps the fifhy fhore; or treafures 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 diffufive 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 watry wealth 
 Full; winding deep, and green, her fertile vales; 
 
 With many a cool tranilucent brimming flood 
 Wafh’d lovely, from the Tweed (pure parent- fir earn , 
 
 Whofe paftoral banks firlt wak'd my Doric reed, 
 
 With, filvan £fed, thy tributary brook) 
 
 To where the north-inflated tempeft foams 
 O’er Orca's or Betubium’s higheft peak: 
 
 Nurfe of a people, in misfortune’s fchool 
 Train’d up to hardy deeds; foon vifited 
 By Learning , when before the Gothic rage 
 She took her weftern flight. A manly race. 
 
 Of unfubmitting fpirit, wife, and brave; 
 
 Who ftill thro’ bleeding ages ftruggled hard, 
 
 (As well unhappy Wallace can atteft. 
 
 Great patriot-hero! ill-requited chief!) 
 
 To 
 
 880 
 
 885 
 
 890 
 
 865 
 
 870 
 
 875 
 
126 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 To hold a generous undiminifh’d ftate; 
 
 Too much in vain! hence of unequals bounds 
 
 Impatient, and by tempting glory borne 
 
 O’e every land, for every land their life 
 
 Has flow’d profufe, their piercing genius plan'd, 895 
 
 And fwelfd 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, 900 
 
 Of bleffing thoufands, thoufonds yet unborn, 
 
 Thro' late posterity? fome, large of foul. 
 
 To chear dejefted induftry? to give 
 A double harveft to the pining fwain? 
 
 And teach the labouring hand the fweets of toil? 905 
 How, by the fineft art, the native robe 
 To weave; how, white as hyperborean fnow. 
 
 To form the lucid lawn; with venturous oar. 
 
 How to dafh wide the billow; nor look on. 
 
 Shamefully pafflve, while Batavian fleets gia 
 
 Defraud us of the glittering finny fwarms. 
 
 That heave our friths, and croud upon our fhores; 
 
 How all-enlivening trade to roufe, and wing 
 The profperous fail, from, every growing port, 
 
 Uninjur’d, round the fea-incircled globe; 915 
 
 And thus, in foul united as in name, 
 
 Bid Britain reign the miftrefs of the deep. 
 
 Yes, there are fuch. And full on thee, Argile, 
 
 Her hope, her flay, her darling, and her boaft, 
 
 From her firft patriots and her heroes fprung, 920 
 
 Thy fond imploring country turns her eye: 
 
 In thee, with all a mother’s triumph, fees 
 Her every virtue, every grace combin’d, 
 
 Her 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 ler genius, wifdom, her engaging turn, 
 
 >er pride of honour, and her courage try’d, 
 
 "aim, and inteprid, in the very throat 
 )f fulphurous war, on Tenhr's dreadful field. 
 
 :tfor lefs the palm of peace inwreathes thy brow: 
 
 r or, powerful as thy fword, from thy rich tongue 
 
 . 
 
 *erfuafion flows, and wins the high debate; 
 vVhile 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, 
 \s truth fhicere, as weeping friendfhip kind, 
 
 Thee, truly generous, and in filence great. 
 
 Thy country feels thro* her reviving arts, 
 
 Plann’d by thy wifdom, by thy foul inform'd 5 
 And feldom has fhe felt a friend like thee. 
 
 127 
 
 925 
 
 930 
 
 935 
 
 But fee the fading many-colour’d woods, 
 
 Shade deepening over fhade, the country round 940 
 [mbrown; a crouded umbrage, dufk, and dun, 
 
 Of every hue, from wan declining green 
 To footy dark. Thefe now the lonefome Mufe, 
 Low-whifpering, lead into their leaf-ftrown walks, 
 
 And give the feafon in its latefi: view. 
 
 Mean-time, 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* 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 fteal themfelves from the degenerate croud, 
 
 And foar above this little fcene of things; pgg 
 
 To tread low-thoughted vice beneath their feet; 
 
 To 
 
128 AUTUMN. 
 
 To foothe the throbbing pafiions into peace; 
 
 And woe lone Quiet in her filent walks. 
 
 Thus folitary, and in penfive guife, 
 
 Oft let me wander o’er the ruffet mead ; 
 
 And thro* the faddened grove, where fcarce is heard 
 One dying ftrain, to chear 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 artlefs ftrains fo late 
 Swell’d all the mulic of the fwarming fhades, 
 
 Robb’d of their tuneful fouls, now fhivering 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 
 Deftroy; and harmlefs, unfufpe&ing harm, 
 
 Lay the weak tribes, a miferable prey, 
 
 In mingled murder, fluttering on the ground! 
 
 The pale defending year, yet pleafing ftiil, 
 
 A gentler mood infpires; for now the leaf 
 Inceffant ruftlefs from the mournful grove; 
 
 Oft ftartling fuch as, ftudiou^, walk below, 
 
 And flowly circles thro’ the waving air. 
 
 But fhould a quicker breeze amid the boughs 
 Sob, o’er the fky the leafy deluge ftreams; 
 
 Till choak’d, and matted with the dreary fhower, 
 The foreft-walks, at every rifmg gale, 
 
 Roll wide the wither’d wafte, and whittle bleak. 
 
 Fled is the blafted verdure of the fields; 
 
 And, fhrunk into their beds, the flowery race 
 Their funny robes refign, Even what remain’d 
 
 960 
 
 9^s 
 
 9 70 
 
 975 
 
 980 
 
 985 
 
 Oj 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 129 
 
 990 
 
 Of bolder fruits falls from the naked tree; 
 
 And woods, fields, gardens, orchards, all around 
 The defolated prol'pett thrills the foul. 
 
 1 He comes! he comes! in every breeze the Power 
 Of Philosophic Melancholy comes! 
 
 His near approach the fudden-ftarting tear, 995 
 
 The glowing cheek, the mild dejefted air, 
 
 The foftened feature, and the beating heart, 
 
 ' Pierc’d deep with many a virtuous pang, declare. 
 
 O’er all the foul his facred influence breathes! 
 
 Inflames imagination; thro’ the breaft IOOO 
 
 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. 
 
 Croud fail into the Mind’s creative eye. TOOj 
 
 As fall the correfpondent paffions rife. 
 
 As varied, and as high: devotion rais’d 
 To rapture, and divine aftonifhment; 
 
 The love of Nature unconfin’d, and, chief. 
 
 Of human race; the large ambitious wifh, 1010 
 
 To make them bleft; the figh for fuffering worth, 
 
 Loft in obfcurity; the noble fcorn, 
 
 Of tyrant pride, the fearlefs great refolve; 
 
 The wonder which the dying patriot draws, 
 
 Infpiring glory thro’ remoteft time; 1015 
 
 Th’ awakened throb for virtue, and for fame; 
 
 The fympathies of love, and friendfhip dear; 
 
 With all the facial Offspring of the heart . 
 
 Oh bear me then to vaft embowering f hades, 
 
 To twilight groves, and vifionary vales; 1020 
 
 To weeping grottoes, and prophetic glooms; 
 
 Where angel-forms athwart the folemn dufk, 
 
 I 
 
 Tremendous 
 
A U T U M N. 
 
 130 
 
 Tremendous fweep, or Teem to fweep along; 
 
 And voices more than human, thro’ the void 
 Deep-founding, feize th* enthufiaftic ear! 1025 
 
 Or is this gloom too much? Then lead, ye powers, 
 
 That o’er the garden and the rural feat 
 Prelide, which fhining thro’ the chearful landt 
 In countlefs numbers bleft Britannia fees; 
 
 O lead me to the wide-extended walks, 
 
 The fair majeftic paradife of Stowe! * 
 
 Not Perficm Cyrus , on Ionia's fhore, 
 
 E’er faw fuch filvan fcenes; fucli various art 
 By genius fir’d, fuch ardent genius tam’d 
 By cool judicious art; 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 lheltered Hopes, 
 
 Or in that * * Temple where, in future times, 
 
 Thou well fhalt merit a diftinguifh’d name; 
 
 And, with thy converfe bleft, catch the laft fmiles 
 Of Autumn beaming o’er the yellow woods. 
 
 While there with thee th’ inchanted round I walk. 
 
 The regulated wild, gay Fancy then 
 Will tread in thought the groves of Attic land; 1045 
 
 Will from thy ftandard tafte refine her own, 
 
 Correft her pencil to the purelt truth 
 Of Nature, or, the unimpaffion’d f hades 
 Forfaking, raile it to the human mind. 
 
 Or if hereafter fhe, with jujler hand, 1050 
 
 Shall draw the tragic fcene, inftruft her thou, 
 
 To mark the varied movements of the heart, 
 
 What every decent character requires, 
 
 And J 
 
 * The feat of the Lord Vifcount Cobham, I 
 
 ** The Temple of virtue in St owe garden?* 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 131 
 
 nd every paffiori fpeaks : 0 thro’ her firain 
 
 •eathe thy pathetic eloquence! that moulds' 1055 
 
 h’ attentive fenate, charms , perfuades, exalts, 
 
 f honeit zeal th’ indignant lightning throws, 
 
 nd fhakes corruption on her venal throne. 
 
 r hile thus we talk, and thro’ Elyftan Vales 
 
 elighted rove, perhaps a figh efcapes: 1060 
 
 r hat pity, Cobh am, thou thy verdant files 
 
 f ordered trees fhouldit here inglorious range, 
 
 iiead of fquadrons] flaming o’er the field, 
 
 nd long-embattled hofts! when the proud foe 
 
 he faithlefs vain difturber of mankind, 1065 
 
 lfulting Gaul , has rous’d the world to war; 
 
 Hien keen, once more, within their bounds to prefs 
 hofe polifh’d robbers, thofe ambitious Haves, 
 he British Youth would hail thy wife command, 
 hy temper’d ardor and thy veteran fkill. 1070 
 
 The weftern fun withdraws the fhortened day; 
 k nd humid evening, gliding o’er the fky, 
 
 1 her chill progrefs, to the ground condens’d 
 ‘he vapours throws. Where creeping waters ooze, 
 inhere marfhes ftagnate, and where rivers wind, 
 lufter the rolling fogs, and fwim along 
 he dufky-mantled lawn. Mean-while the moon 
 ull-orb’d, and breaking thro* the fcatter’d clouds, 
 hews her broad vifage in the crimfonM eafh 
 1 tim’d to the fun dire ft, her {potted difk, 
 
 Inhere mountains rife, umbrageous dales defcelid, 
 ind caverns deep, as optic tube defcries, ■ < , 
 
 i ftnaller, earth, gives us his blaze again* 
 r oid of its flame, and fheds a fofter day, 
 o\v thro’ the palling cloud fhe feerns to flroop, I085 
 low up the pure cerulean rides fublime* 
 
 l 2, 
 
 *07 $ 
 
 1 W ' 
 
 Utlj v> 
 
 IQ 80 
 
 1. , 
 
 Wide 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 132 
 
 Wide the pale deluge floats, and flreaming mild 
 O’er the fkykl mountain to the fhadowy vale, 
 
 While rocks and floods refleft the quivering gleam, 
 
 The whole air whitens with a boundlefs tide i<| 
 
 Of filver radiance, trembling round the world. 
 
 •. ■m 
 
 But when half-blotted from the fky her light. 
 Fainting, permits the Harry fires to burn, 
 
 With keener lufler thro’ the depth of heaven; 
 
 Or near extinft her deadened orb appears, IC5 
 
 And fcarce appears, of fickly beamlefs white; 
 
 Oft in this feafon, fllent from the north' 
 
 A blaze of meteors fhoots: enfweeping firft 
 
 The lower fkies, they all at once converge 
 
 High to the crown of heaven, and all at once 139 
 
 Relapfing quick as quickly reafcend, 
 
 And mix, and thwart, extinguifh, and renew. 
 
 All ether courting in a maze of light. 
 
 From look to look, contagious thro’ the croud, 
 
 The panic runs, and into wondrous fhapes 1315 
 
 Th’ appearance throws: armies in meet array, 
 
 Throng'd with aerial fpears, and Heeds of fire; 
 
 Till the long lines of full-extended war 
 
 In bleedirig fight commixt, the fanguine flood 
 
 Rolls a broad (laughter o’er the plains of heaven. IB 
 
 As thus they fcan the vilionary fcene, 
 
 On all fides fwells the fuperltitious din. 
 
 Incontinent; and bufy frenzy talks 
 Of blood and battle; cities over-turn’d, 
 
 And late at night in fwallowing earthquake funk, 15 
 Or hideous wrapt in fierce afcending flame; 
 
 Of fallow famine, inundation, fiorm; 
 
 Of peHilence, and every great diflrefs; 
 
 Empe, 
 
133 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 npires fubvers’d ,*when ruling fate has ftruck 
 V unalterable hour: even Nature’s felf 
 deem’d to totter on the brink of time, 
 bt fo the Man of philofophic eye, 
 id infpeft fage; the waving brightnefs he 
 irious furveys, inquifitive to know 
 le caufes, and materials, yet unfix’d, 
 
 : this appearance beautiful, and new. 
 
 Now black, and deep, the night begins to fall, 
 fhade immenfe. Sunk in the quenching gloom, 
 ignificent and vaft, are heaven and earth, 
 der confounded lies; all beauty void; 
 ftinftion loft: and gay variety 
 le univerfal blot: fuch the fair power 
 - light, to kindle and create the whole. 
 
 •ear is the ftate of the benighted wretch, 
 ho then, bewilder'd, wanders thro’ the dark, 
 ill of pale fancies, and chimeras huge; 
 ir viftted by one directive ray, 
 om cottage ftreaming, or from airy hall, 
 rhaps impatient as he ftumbles on, 
 ruck from the root of ilimy rufhes, blue, 
 le wild-fire fcatters round, or gather’d trails 
 length of flame deceitful o’er the mofs; 
 hither decoy’d by the fantaftic blaze, 
 
 )W loft and now renew’d, he finks abforpt, 
 der and horfe, amid the miry gulph: 
 hile ftill, from day to day, his pining wife, 
 id plaintive children his return await, 
 wild conjefture loft. At other times, 
 nt by the better Genius of the night, 
 noxious, gleaming on the horfe’s mane, 
 le meteor fits; and fhews the narrow path, 
 
 I 3 
 
 1120 
 
 1125 
 
 1130 
 
 1135 
 
 1140 
 
 1145 
 
 1150 
 
 That 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 1 34 
 
 That winding leads thro’ pits of death , or elfe 
 Inftrufts him how to take the dangerous ford. 
 
 i 
 
 The lengthen’d night elaps’d, the morning fhines 
 Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright, II 
 
 Unfolding fair the laft autumnal day. 
 
 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# II 
 
 . . j 1 
 
 Ah fee where robb’d, and murder’d, in that pit, ^ 
 
 Lies the frill heaving hive ! at evening fnatch’d. 
 
 Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night, 
 
 And fix’d o’er fulphur: while, not dreaming ill. 
 
 The happy people, in their waxen cells, II 
 
 Sat tending public cares, and planning fchemes 
 Of temperance, for Winter poor; rejoic’d 
 To mark, full-flowing round, their copious ftores. 
 
 Sudden the dark oppreflive fteam afcends; 
 
 And, us’d to milder feents, the tender race, n 
 
 By thoufands, tumble from their honey’d domes, 
 Convolv’d, and agonizing in the duft. 
 
 And was it then for this } 7 ou roam’d the Spring, 
 
 Intent from flower to flower? for this you toil’d 
 Ceafelefs the burning Summer- heats away? 115 
 
 For this in Autumn fearch’d the blooming wafte, 
 
 Kc'nlofu 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, 113 
 
 Muft you deftroy ? of their ambrofial food 
 Can you not borrow; and, in juft return, 
 
 Afford them f belter from the wintry winds; 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 135 
 
 Or, as the fharp } T ear pinches, with their own 
 Again regale them on fome fmiling day? 
 
 See where the itony bottom of their town 
 Looks defolate , and wild ; with here and there 
 A helplefs number, who the ruin’d ftate 
 Survive, lamenting weak, cafe out to death. 
 Thus a proud city, populous and rich, 
 
 II90 
 
 1185 
 
 Full of the works of peace, and high in joy. 
 
 At theater or feaft, or funk in deep, 
 
 (As late, Palermo , was thy Fate) is feiz’d 
 By fome dread earthquake, and convullive hurl'd, 
 
 Sheer from the black foundation, ftench-involv’d, H95 
 Into a gulph of blue fulplmreous flame. 
 
 Hence every harfher fight! for now the day, 
 
 O’er heaven and earth diffus’d, grows warm, and high, 
 Infinite fplendor ! wide invefting all. 
 
 How ftill the breeze! fave what the filmy threads 1200 
 Of dew evaporate brufhes from the plain. 
 
 How clear the cloudlefs fky! how deeply tingM 
 
 With a peculiar blue! tlf ethereal arch 
 
 How fwell’d immenfe! amid whofe azure throned 
 
 The radiant fun how gay! how calm below *205 
 
 The gilded earth! the harveft-treafures all 
 
 Now gather’d in , beyond the rage of ftorrns, 
 
 Sure to the fwain; the circling fence fhut up; 
 
 And inftant Winter’s utmoft rage defy’d. 
 
 While, loofe to feitive joy, the country round X2IG 
 
 Laughs with the loud fincerity of mirth, 
 
 Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-ftrung youth 
 By the quick fenfe of mufic taught alone, 
 
 Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance. 
 
 Her every charm abroad, the village- toafl;, J2 15 
 
 Young, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich. 
 
 Darts 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 136 
 
 Darts not-unmeaning looks; and, where her eye 
 Points an approving fmile, with double force. 
 
 The cudgel rattles, and the wreftler twines. 
 
 Age too fhines out; and, garrulous, recounts 1220 
 
 The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice; nor think 
 That, with to-morrow’s fun, their annual toil 
 Begins again the never-ceafmg round. 
 
 Oh knew he but his happinefs, of Men 
 The happieft he-! who far from public rage, 1225 
 
 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, 
 
 Each morning, vomits out the fneaking crowd 
 Of flatterers falfe, and in their turn abus’d? 1230 
 
 Vile intercourfe! What tho’ the glittering robe, 
 
 Of every hue refle&ed 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, 1235 
 
 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 toffes out the night, 1240 
 
 Or melts the thoughtlefs hours in idle ftate? 
 
 What tho’ he knows not thofe fantaftic joys, 
 
 •That ftill amufe the wanton, ftill deceive; 
 
 A face of pleafure, but a heart of pain; 
 
 Their hollow moments undelighted all? 1245 
 
 Sure peace is his; a folid life, eftrang’d 
 To difappointment , and fallacious hope: 
 
 Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich, 
 
 In herbs and fruits: whatever greens the Spring, 
 
 When 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 When heaven defcends in f flowers ; or bends the bough, 
 When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams; 
 Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies 
 Conceal’d, and fattens with the richelt fap: 
 
 Thefe are not wanting; nor the milky drove. 
 Luxuriant, fpread o’er all the lowing vale; 
 
 Nor bleating mountains; nor the chide of ftreams, 
 And hum of bees, inviting ileep fincere 
 Into the guiltlefs breaft, beneath the fhade. 
 
 Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay: 
 
 Nor ought befides of profpeft, 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 joylefs months, the gloomy wave. 
 Let fuch as deem it glory to deftroy, 
 
 Rufh into blood, the fack of cities feek; 
 
 Unpierc’d, exulting in the widow’s wail, 
 
 The virgin’s fhriek, and infant’s trembling cry. 
 
 Let fome, far-diftant from their native foil, 
 
 Urg’d or by want or harden’d avarice, 
 
 Find other lands beneath another fun. 
 
 Let this thro’ cities work his eager way, 
 
 By legal outrage, and eftablifh’d guile, 
 
 The focial fenfe extinft; and that ferment 
 Mad into tumult the feditious herd, 
 
 Or melt them down to ilavery. Let thefe 
 Infnare the wretched in the toils of law, 
 Fomenting difcord, and perplexing right, 
 
 15 
 
 13? 
 
 1250 
 
 125s 
 
 1260 
 
 126s 
 
 1270 
 
 127S 
 
 12S0 
 
 An 
 
138 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 An iron race! and thofe of fairer front. 
 
 But equal inhumanity, in courts, 
 
 Delufive pomp, and dark cabals, delight; 
 
 Wreathe the deep bow, diffufe the lying fmile, 
 
 And tread the weary labyrinth of ftate. 
 
 While he, from all the ftormy paflions 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 crufh of ftates, 
 
 Move not the Man, who, from the world efcapM, 
 In ftill 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; 
 
 J^eels all her fweet emotions at his heart; 
 
 Takes what fhe liberal gives, nor thinks of more. 
 He, when young Spring protrudes the burfting gems, 
 Marks the firft bud , and fucks the healthful gale 
 Into his frefhen’d foul; her genial hours 
 He full enjoys; and not a beauty blows, 
 
 And not an opening bloflbm breathes in vain. 
 
 In Summer he, beneath the living fhade, 
 
 Such as o’er frigid Tempe wont to wave, 
 
 Or Hemus cool, reads what the Mufe, of thefe 
 Perhaps, has in immortal numbers fung; 
 
 Or what fhe diftates writes ; and , oft an eye 
 Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year. 
 
 When Autumn’s yellow luftre gilds the world, 
 
 And tempts the fickled fwain into the field, 
 
 Seiz’d by the general joy, his heart diftends 
 With gentle throws; and, thro’ the tepid gleams 
 Deep-mufing, then he bejl exerts his fong. 
 
 Even Winter wild to him is full of blifs. 
 
 X28$ 
 
 1290 
 
 
 1300 
 
 1305 
 
 131° 
 
 1315 
 
 The 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 139 
 
 The' mighty tempeft , and the hoary wafte, 
 
 Abrupt, and deep, ftretch'd o’er the buried earthy 
 Awake to folemn thought. At night the fkies, 
 
 Difclos’d, and kindled, by refining froft, 1330 
 
 Pour every luftre on th’ exalted eye. 
 
 A friend, a book the ftealing 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, 1325 
 
 Elates his being, and unfolds his powers; 
 
 Or in his breafi heroic Virtue burns. 
 
 The touch of kindred too and love he feels; 
 
 The modeft eye, who fe beams on his alone ' 
 
 Extatic fhine; the little ftrong embrace 1330 
 
 Of pratling 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 fternly fccrns; 
 
 For happinefs and true philofophy 1335 
 
 Are of the focial 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, uncorrupt. 
 
 When angels dwelt, and God himfelf, with Man! 1340 
 
 Oh Nature! all-fufficient ! over all! 
 
 Inrich me with the knowledge of thy works! 
 
 Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there. 
 
 World beyond world, in infinite extent, 
 
 Profufelj featter’d o'er the blue immenfe. 
 
 Shew me; their motions, periods, and their laws, 
 
 Give me to fcan; thro" the difdofmg deep 
 Light my blind way: the mineral Jlrata there; 
 
 Thruft, blooming, thence the vegetable world; 
 
 1345 
 
 O’er 
 
AUTUMN. 
 
 140 
 
 O’er that the riling lyftem , more complex, 1350 
 
 Of animals; and higher ftill, the mind, 
 
 The varied fcene of quick-compounded thought, 
 
 And where the mixing paflions endlefs fhift; 
 
 Thefe ever open to my ravifh’d eye: 
 
 A fearch, the flight of time can ne'er exhauft! 1355 
 But if to that unequal; if the blood, 
 
 In fluggifh ftreams about my heart, forbid 
 That beft ambition; under doling fhades, 
 
 Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook, 
 
 And whifper to my dreams. From Thee begin, 1360 
 Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my foiig; 
 
 And let me never never ftray from Thee! 
 
 WINTER, 
 
N T E R. 
 
 ■ V- . : : N 
 
The Argument. 
 
 The fubjeXpropofed. Addrefs to the earl of Wilming- 
 ton. Firjl approach of Winter. According to the 
 natural courfe of the feafon , various forms defcribed. 
 
 Rain. Wind. Snow. The driving of the fnows : 
 
 , 
 
 a Man per if king amdng them; whence reflections on 
 the wants and miferies of human life. The wolves 
 defending from the Alps and Apennines. A winter- 
 evening defcribed: as fpent by philofophers ; bij the 
 country people; in the city. Frojl . A view of 
 
 Winter within the polar Circle. A thaw. The 
 whole concluding with moral reflexions on a future 
 ftate. 
 
WINTER. 
 
 OEE, Winter comes, to rule the varied year, 
 
 ^ Sullen, and fad, with all his riling train; 
 
 Vapours , and Clouds , and Storms . Be thefe my theme* 
 Thefe! that exalt the foul to folemn thought, 
 
 And heavenly mufing. Welcome, kindred glooms l $ 
 Cogenial horrors, hail! with frequent foot, 
 
 Pleas’d have I, in my chearful morn of life. 
 
 When nurs’d by carelefs folitude I liv’d. 
 
 And fung of Nature with uncealing joy. 
 
 Pleas’d have I wander’d thro’ your rough domain j 
 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-fky. Thus pafs’d the time, 
 
 Till thro’ the lucid chambers of the fouth 15 
 
 Look’d out the joyous Spring, look’d out, and fmird. 
 
 To thee, the patron of her firlt eflay, 
 
 The Mufe, O Wilmington! renews her fong. 
 
 Since has fhe rounded the revolving year: 
 
 Skinfd the gay Spring; on eagle-pinions borne, 20 
 
 Attempted thro’ the fummer-blaze to rife; 
 
 Then fwept o’er Autumn with the fhadowy gal e; 
 
 And 
 
1 44 IV I N T E R. 
 
 And now among the 'wintry clouds again, 
 
 Roll’d in the doubling florin, The tries to foar; 
 
 To fwell her note with all the rufhing winds; 
 
 To fuit her founding cadence to the floods; 
 
 As is her theme, her numbers wildly great: 
 Thrice happy! could 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 jmfbaken uncorrupted foul 
 Amid a Aiding age, and burning ftrong, 
 
 Not vainly blazing for thy country's weal* 
 
 A fteady Ipirit regularly free; 
 
 Thefe , each exalting each , the ftatefman light 
 Into the patriot; thefe, the public hope 
 And eye to thee converting, bid the Mufe 
 Record what envy dares not flattery call. 
 
 Now when the cheerlefs empire of the fky 
 To Capricorn the Centaur-Archer yields, 
 
 And fierce Aquarius , ftains th’ inverted year; 
 
 Hung o’er the fartheft verge of heaven, the fun 
 Scarce fpreads o’er ether the dejefted day. 
 
 Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual fhoot 
 His ftruggling rays, in horizontal lines, 
 
 Thro’ the thick air; as cloath’d in cloudy ftorm, 
 Weak, wan, and broad, he fkirts the fouthern fky; 
 And, foon defcending, to the long dark night, 
 Wide-fhading all, the proftrate world refigns. 
 
 Nor is the night unwifh’d; while vital heat, 
 
 Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forfake. 
 Mean-time, in fable cinfture, fhadows vaft, 
 Deep-ting’d and damp, and congregated clouds, 
 
 And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven 
 
 *5 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 So 
 
 55 
 
 Involve 
 
WINTER. 
 
 Involve the face of things. Thus Winter falls, 
 
 A heavy gloom oppreflive o’er the world. 
 
 Thro’ Nature fhedding influence malign, 
 
 And roufes up the feeds of dark difeafe. 
 
 The foul of Man dies in him, loathing life, 
 
 And black \v T ith more than melancholy views. 
 
 The cattle droop; and o’er the furrow’d land, 
 
 Frefh from the plough, the dun difcolour’d flocks, 
 Untended fpreading, crop the wholefome root. 
 Along the woods, along the moorifh fens, 
 
 Sighs the fad Genius of the coming florin ; 
 
 And up among the loofe disjointed cliffs, 
 
 And fraftur’d mountains wild , the brawling brook 
 And cave, prefageful, fend a hollow moan 
 Refounding long in liftening Fancy’s ear. 
 
 us 
 
 6 o 
 
 <55 
 
 70 
 
 Then comes the father of the tempeft forth, 
 
 Wrapt in black glooms. Firft joylefs rains obfcure 
 Drive thro’ the mingling fkies with vapour foul; 
 
 Dafh on the mountain’s brow, and fhake the woods, 75 
 
 That grumbling wave below. The unfightly plain 
 
 Lies a brown deluge; as the low-bent clouds 
 
 Pour flood on flood, yet unexhaufted ftill 
 
 Combine, and deepening into night f hut up 
 
 The day’s fair face. The wanderers of heaven, go 
 
 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 the untafled fields return, 
 
 And afk, with meaning lowe, their wonted flails, 85 
 Or ruminate in the contiguous fhade. 
 
 Thither the houfhold 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 go 
 
 K Recounts 
 
WINTER. 
 
 146 
 
 Recounts his fimple frolic: much he talks, 
 
 And much he laughs, nor recks the ftorm 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 moffy wild, 
 Tumbling thro’ rocks abrupt, and founding far; 
 
 Then o’er the fanded valley floating fpreads, 
 
 Calm, fluggifh, filent; till again, conftrain’d, 
 
 Between two meeting hills, it burfts a way, 
 
 Where rocks and woods o’erhang the turbid ftfeam; 
 There gathering triple force, rapid, and deep, 
 
 It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders thro’. 
 
 Nature! great parent! whofe unceafing hand 
 Rolls round the feafons of the changeful year. 
 
 Flow mighty, how majeftic , are thy works ! 
 
 With what a pleafing dread they fwell the foul! 
 
 That fees aftonifh’d ! and aftonifh’d fings ! 
 
 Ye too, ye winds! that now begin to blow, 
 
 With boifterous fweep, I raife my voice to you. 
 Where are your ftores , ye powerful beings ! fay, 
 Where your aerial magazines referv’d, 
 
 To fwell the brooding terrors of the ftorm? 
 
 In what far-diftant region of the fky, 
 
 Hufh’d in dead filence, ileep you when ’tis calm? 
 
 95 
 
 100 
 
 *05 
 
 no 
 
 1 15 
 
 When from the pallid fky the fun defcends. 
 With many a fpot, that o’er his glaring orb 
 Uncertain wanders , ftain’d ; red fiery ftreaks 
 Begin to flufh around. The reeling clouds 
 Stagger with dizzy poife, as doubting yet 
 Which mafter to obey: while riling How, 
 
 # 
 
 12Q 
 
 Blank, 
 
WINTER. 147 
 
 Blank, in the leaden-colour’d eaft, the moon 
 
 Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. 125 
 
 Seen thro’ the turbid fluctuating air, 
 
 The liars obtufe emit a fhivering ray; 
 
 Or frequent feem to fhcot athwart the gloom, 
 
 And long behind them trail the whitening blaze. 
 
 Snatch’d in fhort eddies, plays the wither’d leaf; 130 
 And on the flood the dancing feather floats. 
 
 With broaden’d noftrils to the fky up-turn’d, 
 
 The confcious heifer fnuffs the ftormy gale. 
 
 Even as the matron, at her nightly tafk, 
 
 With penflve labour draws the flaxen thread, X35 
 
 The walled taper and the crackling flame 
 Foretell the blalt. But chief the plumy race. 
 
 The tenants of the fky, its changes fpeak. 
 
 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 clofing fhelter of the grove; 
 
 Affiduoos, in his bower, the wailing owl 
 
 Plies his lad fong. The cormorant on high 
 
 Wheels from the deep, and fcreams along the land. £45 
 
 Loud fhrieks the fearing hern; and with wild wing 
 
 The circling fea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds. 
 
 Ocean, unequal prefe’d, with broken tide 
 
 And blind commotion heaves; while from the fhore. 
 
 Eat into caverns by the reftlefs wave, £50 
 
 And foreft-ruftling mountain , comes a voice. 
 
 That folemn-founding bids the world prepare. 
 
 Then iffues forth the florin with fudden burft. 
 
 And hurls the whole precipitated air, 
 
 Down, in a torrent On the paffive main 155 
 
 Defcends tlfl etherial force, and with lirong guft 
 Turns from its bottom the difcolour’d deep. 
 
 Thro’ the black night that fits Immenfe around. 
 
 Laflfld 
 
WINTER. 
 
 148 
 
 Lafh’d into foam , the fierce confli&ing brine 
 Seems o’ef a thoufand raging waves to burn; 160 
 
 Meantime the mountain-billows, to the clouds 
 In dreadful tumult fwell’d, furge above furge, 
 
 Burft into chaos with tremendous roar, 
 
 And anchor’d navies from their ftations drive, 
 
 Wild as the winds acrofs the howling wafte 1 6*J 
 
 Of mighty waters: now th’ inflated wave 
 Straining they fcale, and now impetuous fhoofc 
 Into the fecret chambers of the deep, 
 
 The wintry Baltick thundering o’er their head. 
 
 Emerging thence again, before the breath 170 
 
 Of full-exerted heaven they wing their courfe. 
 
 And dart on diftant coafts; if fome fharp rock, 
 
 Or fhoal infidious break not their career, 
 
 And in loofe fragments fling them floating round* 
 
 Nor lefs at land the loofened tempeft reigns* 175 
 
 The mountain thunders; and its fturdy fons 
 Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they fhade* 
 
 Lone on the midnight fteep, and all aghaft, 
 
 The dark way-faring ftranger breathlefs toils, 
 
 And, often falling, climbs againft the blaft. jgo 
 
 Low waves the rooted foreft, vex’d, and fheds 
 What of its tarnifh’d honours yet remain; 
 
 Dafh’d down , and fcattered , by the tearing wind’s 
 Affiduous fury, its gigantic limbs. 
 
 Thus ftruggling thro* the difflpated grove, igg 
 
 The whirling tempeft raves along the plain; 
 
 And on the cottage thatch’d, or lordly roof, 
 Keen-faftening , fhakes them to the folid bafe. 
 
 Sleep frighted flies; and round the rocking dome, 
 
 For entrance eager, howls the favage blaft. 190 
 
 Then too, they fay, thro’ all the burthen’d air, 
 
 Long groans are heard, fhrili founds, and diftant fighs, 
 
 That* 
 
WINTER. 
 
 149 
 
 That utter’d by the Demon fof the night, 
 
 Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death. 
 
 Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commix’d 
 With ftars fwift-gliding fweep along the fky. 
 
 All Nature reels. Till Nature’s Ktng, who oft 
 Amid tempeftuous darknefs dwells alone, 
 
 And on the wings of the careering wind 
 Walks dreadfully ferene, commands a calm; 
 
 Then ftraight air, fea and earth, are hufh’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 fleep, 
 
 Let me affociate with the ferious Night, 
 
 And Contemplation her fedate compeer; 
 
 Let me fhake off th* intrufive cares of day, 
 
 And lay the meddling fenfes all afide. 
 
 Where now, ye lying vanities of life! 
 
 Ye ever-tempting ever-cheating train! 
 
 Where are you now? and what is your amount? 
 Vexation, difapp ointment , and remorfe. 
 
 Sad, fickening thought! and yet deluded Man, 
 
 A fcene of crude disjointed vifions paft, 
 
 And broken ilumbers, rifes ftill refold. 
 
 With new-flufli’d hopes, to run the giddy round. 
 
 Father of light and life! thou Good supreme! 
 O teach me what is good! teach me Thyself! 
 
 Save me from folly, vanity, and vice , 
 
 From every low purfuit! and feed my foul 
 JVith knowledge , confcious peace , and virtue pure, 
 Sacred , fubjlantial, never-fading blifs! 
 
 The keener tempefts rife: and fuming dun 
 From all the livid eaft, or piercing north, 
 
 k 3 
 
 I 
 
 195 
 
 200 
 
 205 
 
 210 
 
 215 
 
 220 
 
 Thick 
 
WINTER. 
 
 150 
 
 Thick clouds afcend; in whofe capacious womb 225 j A- 
 
 A vapoury deluge lies, to fnow congeal’d. 
 
 Heavy they roll their fleecy world along; 
 
 And the fky faddens with the gathered ftorm. 
 
 Thro’ the hufh’d air the whitening fhower defcends. 
 
 At firft thin-wavering ; ’till at laft the flakes 230 
 
 Fall broad, and wide, and faft, dimming the day. 
 
 With a continual flow. The cherifh’d fields 
 Pat on their winter-robe, of pureeft white. 
 
 >Tis brightnefs all ; fave where the new fnow 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 labourer-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, croud around 
 The winnowing ftore, and claim the little boon 
 Which Providence afiigns them. One alone. 
 
 The red-breaft, facred to the boufhold gods, 
 
 Wifely regardful of th’ embroiling fky, 
 
 In joyiefs fields, and thorny thickets, leaves 
 His f hivering 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 afkance, 
 
 And pecks, and ftarts, and wonders where he is: 
 
 Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 255 
 
 Attraft his Header feet. The foodlefs wilds 
 Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare, 
 
 Tho’ timorous of heart, and hard befet 
 By death in various forms, dark fnares, and dogs, 
 
 *35 
 
 S 
 
 241 
 
 245 
 
 250 
 
 And 
 
WINTER . 151 
 
 And more nnpitying Men, the garden feeks, 260 
 
 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 wither’d herb thro* heaps of fnow* 
 
 Now, fhepherds, to your helplefs charge be kind, 265 
 Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens 
 With food at will; lodge them below the ftorm, 
 
 And watch them ftrift: for from the bellowing eaft, 
 
 In this dire feafon, oft the whirlwind’s wing 
 
 Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains 270 
 
 In one wide waft, and o’er the haplefs flocks* 
 
 Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills, 
 
 The billowy tempeft whelms; ’till, upward urg’d* 
 
 The valley to a filming mountain fwells, 
 
 Tipt with a wreath , high-curling in the fky. 275 
 
 As thus the fhows arife; and foul, and fierce,. 
 
 All Winter drives along the darkened air; 
 
 In his own loofe-revolving fields-, the fwain 
 DifafterM Hands; fees other hills afcend, 
 
 Of unknown joy lefs brow; and other fcenes* 2go 
 
 Of horrid prolpeft* fhag the tracklefs plain: 
 
 Nor finds the river, nor the foreft:, hid 
 
 Beneath the formlefs wild; but wanders on 
 
 From hill to dale, Hill more and more aftrayr 
 
 Impatient flouncing thro* the drifted heaps, 285 
 
 Stung with the thoughts of home; the thoughts of home 
 
 Rufh on his nerves, and call their vigour forth 
 
 In many a vaiiv attempt. How finks his foul ! 
 
 What black defpair, what horror fills his heart! 
 
 When for the dufky fpot, which fancy feign’d 290 
 
 Hts tufted cottage rifmg thro’ the fnow, 
 
 He meets the roughnefs of the middle wade, 
 
 Far from the track* and bleffc abode of Man; 
 
 k 4 
 
 While 
 
winter: 
 
 152 
 
 While round him night refiftlefs clofes fa ft, 
 
 And every tempeft, howling o’er his head, 295 
 
 Renders the favage wildernefs more wild. 
 
 Then throng the bufy fhapes into his mind. 
 
 Of cover’d pits, unfathomably deep, 
 
 A dire defcent! beyond the power of froft, 
 
 Of faithlefs bogs ; of precipices huge, 300 
 
 Smooth’d up with fnow; and, what is land, unknown, 
 What water, of the ftill unfrozen fpring, 
 
 In the loofe marfh or folitary lake, 
 
 Where the frefh fountain from the bottom boils. 
 
 Thefe check his fearful fteps; and down he finks 305 
 Beneath the fhelter of the fhapelefs drift, 
 
 Thinking o’er all the bitternefs of death, 
 
 Mix’d with the tender anguifh Nature fhoots 
 Thro’ the wrung bofom of the dying Man, 
 
 His wife, his children, and his friends unfeen# 310 
 
 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! 315 
 
 Nor wife, nor children, more fhall he behold, 
 
 Nor friends, nor facred home. On every nerve 
 The deadly winter feizes; fhuts up fenfe; 
 
 And, o’er his inmoft vitals creeping cold. 
 
 Lays him along the fnoWs, a ftiffen’d corfe, 320 
 
 Stretch’d out, and bleaching in the northern blaflv 
 
 Ah little think the gay licentious proud, 
 
 Whom pleafure, power, and affluence furround; 
 
 They, who their thoughtlefs hours in giddy mirth. 
 
 And wanton, often cruel, riot wafte; 325 
 
 Ah little think they, while they dance along, 
 
 How many feel, this very moment, death 
 
 And 
 
WINTER. 
 
 And all the fad variety of pain! 
 
 How many link in the devouring flood, 
 
 Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 
 i By fhameful variance betwixt Man and Man! 
 
 How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms; 
 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 pierc’d by wintry winds, 
 
 How many fhrink into the fordid hut 
 Of cheerless poverty! How many fhake 
 With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, 
 Unbounded paflion, madnefs, 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 friend Chip, peace, and contemplation join’d. 
 How many, rack’d with honeft paffions, droop 
 In deep retir’d diftrefs! how many Hand 
 Around the death-bed of their deareft friends, 
 
 And point the parting anguifh! Thought fond Man 
 Of thefe, and all the thoufand namelefs ills, 
 
 That one incefiant ftruggle render life, 
 
 One fcene of toil, of fullering, and of fate, 
 
 Vice in his high career would Hand appall’d, 
 
 And heedlefs rambling impulfe learn to think; 
 
 The confcious heart of charity would warm. 
 
 And her wide wifh Benevolence dilate; 
 
 The focial tear would rife; the focial figh; 
 
 And into clear perfe&ion, gradual biifs, 
 
 Refining Hill, the focial paffions work. 
 
 330 
 
 335 
 
 340 
 
 345 
 
 350 
 
 355 
 
 And here can I forget the generous * band, 
 Who, touch’d with human woe, redreffive fearch’d 
 
 K5 
 
 * The jail-committee, in the year 1729* 
 
 360 
 
 Into 
 
TV I N TER. 
 
 154 
 
 Into the horrors of the gloomy jail? 
 
 Unpity’d, and unheard, where mifery moans; 
 
 Where ficknefs pines; where thirft and hunger burn* 
 And poor misfortune feels the lafh of vice* 
 
 While in the land of liberty, the land; 
 
 Whofe every Itreet and public meeting glow* 
 
 With open freedom, little tyrants rag’d: 
 
 Snatch’d the lean morfel from the ftarving mouth ; 
 Tore from cold wintry limbs the tatter’d weed: 
 Even robb’d them of the laft of comforts, fleep; 
 The free-born Briton to the dungeon chain’d* 
 
 Or, as the luft of cruelty prevail’d, 
 
 At pleafure mark’d him with inglorious ftripes; 
 
 And crufh’d out lives, by fecret barbarous ways. 
 That for their country would have toil’d, or bled* 
 
 O great defign! if executed well. 
 
 With patient care, and wifdom-temper’d zeal: 
 
 Ye fons of mercy! yet re fume 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 untouch’d remains; 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. 
 
 A‘ 
 
 ■A' 
 
 365 
 
 l 
 
 A 
 
 375 
 
 
 385 
 
 By wintry famine rous’d, from all the tra£t 
 Of horrid mountains which the fhining Alps, 390 
 
 And wavy Appenines, and Pyrenees , 
 
 Branch out ftupendous into diftant lands; 
 
 Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave! 
 
 Burning for blood! bony, and ghaunt, and grim! 
 
 Aflembling 
 
WINTER. 
 
 Affembling wolves In raging troops defcend; 
 
 And, pouring o'er the country, bear along, 
 
 Keen as the north-wind fweeps the gloffy fnow* 
 
 All is their prize. They faften on the /teed, 
 
 Prefs him to earth , and pierce his mighty heart. 
 
 Nor can the bull his awful front defend. 
 
 Or fhake the murdering ravages away. 
 
 Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly, 
 
 And tear the fcreaming infant from her breafh 
 The godlike face of Man avails him nought. 
 
 Even beauty, force divine ! at whofe bright glance 405 
 The generous lion ftands in foftened gaze. 
 
 Here bleeds, a haplefs undtftinguifh’d prey. 
 
 But if, appriz'd of the fevere attack, 
 
 The country be fhut up, lur’d by the fcentr. 
 
 On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate!) 410 
 
 The difappointed prowlers fall, and dig 
 
 The fhrouded body from the grave;, 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 dwells 4lg 
 
 Oft, rufhing hidden from the loaded cliffs. 
 
 Mountains of flow their gathering terrors roll. 
 
 From fteep to Iteep, loud-thundering, down they come, 
 
 A wintry wafte in dire commotion all;, 
 
 And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and fwains, 420 
 And fometimes whole brigades of marching troops. 
 
 Or hamlets fleeping in the dead of night. 
 
 Are deep beneath the fmothering ruin whelm’d* 
 
 Now, all amid the rigours of the year. 
 
 In the wild depth of Winter, while without 425 
 
 The ceafelefs winds blow ice, be my retreat. 
 
 Between the groaning foreft and the fhore, 
 
 Beat by a boundlefs multitude of waves, 
 
 I5S 
 
 395 
 
 400 
 
 A 
 
WINTER , 
 
 156 
 
 A rural, fhelter’d, folitary, fcene; 
 
 Where ruddy fire and beaming topers 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, who blefl: mankind 
 With arts, and arms, and humaniz’d a world. 
 Rous’d at th’ infpiring thought, I throw afide 
 The long-liv’d volume; and, deep-mufing, hail 
 The facred f hades, that ilowly-rifing pafs 
 Before my wondering eyes. Firft Socrates,. 
 Who, firmly good in a corrupted ftate, 
 
 Againft the rage of tyrants jingle flood, 
 
 Invincible! calm reafon’s holy law, 
 
 That voice of God within th* attentive mind. 
 Obeying , fearlefs , or in life , or death : 
 
 Great moral teacher! wifejl of Mankind! 
 
 Solon the next, who built his common-weal 
 On equity’s wide bafe; by tender laws 
 A lively people curbing, yet undamp’d 
 Preferving ftill that quick peculiar fire, 
 
 Whence in the laurel’d field of finer arts, 
 
 And of bold freedom, they nnequafd fhone, 
 
 The pride of fmiling Grece, and human-kind. 
 
 In! 
 
 fk 
 
 430 j* 
 
 Rea 
 
 Cu 
 
 Slit 
 
 ft 
 
 435 
 
 440 
 
 A 
 
 445 
 
 45o 
 
 Lycurgus then, who bow’d beneath the force 
 Of ftri&eft difeipline, feverely wife. 
 
 All human pafiions. Following him, I fee, 455 
 
 As at Thermopylae he glorious fell, 
 
 The * firm Devoted Chief, who prov’d by deeds 
 The hard eft lefion which the other taught. 
 
 Then Aristides lifts his honeft front; 
 
 Spotlefs of heart, to whom th’ unflattering voice 460 
 Of freedom gave the nobleft name of ffujl ; 
 
 In 
 
 * Leonidas. See Leonidas, a Poem (by R. Glover) a Vols. 8 Lond. 
 1770. 
 
WINTER. 
 
 1 57 
 
 In pure majeftic poverty rever’d; 
 
 Who, even his glory to his country’s weal 
 Submitting, fwell’d a haughty * Rival's fame. 
 
 Rear’d by his care, of fofter ray, appears 
 Cimon fweet-fouTd; whofe genius, rifing 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 Ample, in the pomp of wealth. 
 
 Then the laft worthies of declining Greece, 
 Late-call’d to glory, in unequal times, 
 
 Penlive, appear. The fair Corinthian boaft, 
 Timoleon, happy temper! mild, and firm. 
 
 Who wept the Brother while the Tyrant bled. 
 And, equal to the beft, the ** Theban Pair, 
 Whofe 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 ftill inexorably firm; 
 
 But when, beneath his low illuftrious roof, 
 
 Sweet peace and happy wifdom fmooth’d his brow, 
 Not friendfhip fofter was, nor love more kind. 
 
 And he, the lajl of old Lycurgus* fons, 
 
 The generous vi&im to that vain attempt, 
 
 To fave a jlate , 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 lateft hope, 
 
 The gallant Philopemen; who to arms 
 
 465 
 
 470 
 
 475 
 
 480 
 
 485 
 
 490 
 
 Turn’d 
 
 * Themistocles. 
 
 ** Pelopidas, and Epamirondas* 
 
WINTER. 
 
 158 
 
 Turn’d the luxurious pomp he could -not cure; 495 
 
 Or toiling in his farm, a Ample Twain; 
 
 Or, bold and fkilful, thundering in the field. 
 
 Of rougher front, a mighty people come! 
 
 A race of heroes! in thofe virtuous times 
 
 Which knew no ftain, fave that with partial flame 509 
 
 Their dear eft 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 
 
 O11 which o’er earth the vajl republic fpread. g°5 
 
 Then the great confuls venerable rife. 
 
 The * Public Father who the Private quell'd, 
 
 As on the dread tribunal fternly fad. 
 
 He, whom his thanklefs country could not lofe, 
 Camillus, only vengeful to her foes* 510 
 
 Fabricius, fcorner of all-conquering gold; 
 
 And Cincinnatus, awful from the plough. 
 
 Thy ** willing Victim, Carthage , burfting loofe 
 From all that pleading Nature could oppofe, 
 
 From a whole city’s tears, by rigid faith gig 
 
 Imperious call’d, and honour’s dire command. 
 
 Scipio, the gentle chief , humanely brave, 
 
 Who foon the race of fpotlefs glory ran. 
 
 And, warm in youth, to the Poetic fhade 
 With Friendfhip and Philofophy retir’d. §2or 
 
 Tully, whofe powerful eloquence a while 
 Reftrain’d the rapid fate of rufhing Rome. 
 
 Unconquer’d Cato, virtuous in extreme . 
 
 And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart, 
 
 Whofe fteady arm, by awful virtue urg’d, 525 
 
 Lifted the Roman fled againfl: thy Friend. 
 
 Thoufands* 
 
 * Marcus Junius Brutus* 
 
 ** Reg ulus. 
 
WINTER. 
 
 U9 
 
 Tholifands, befides, the tribute of a verfe 
 Demand; but who can count the liars of heaven? 
 
 Who fing their influence on this lower world? 
 
 Behold, who yonder comes! in fober Hate, 530 
 
 Fair, mild, and ftrong, as is a vernal fun: 
 
 ’Tis Phoebus’ felf, or elfe the Mantuan Swain! 
 
 Great Homer too appears, of daring wing. 
 
 Parent of fong ! and equal by his fide, 
 
 The British Muse; join’d hand in hand they walk, 535 
 Darkling, full up the middle fteep to fame. 
 
 Nor abfent are thofe fhades, whofe fkilful hand 
 Pathetic drew th’ ImpaflioiPd heart, and charm’d 
 Tranfported Athens with the moral Scene: 
 
 Nor thofe who, tuneful, wak’d tip enchanting Lyre. 540 
 
 First of your kind! foclety divine! 
 
 Still vifit thus my nights, for you referv’d, 
 
 And mount my foaring foul to thoughts like yours. 
 
 Silence , thou lonely power! the door be thine; 
 
 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 focial fpirit warm the heart: 
 
 For tho* not fweeter his own Homer fings, 
 
 Yet is his life the more endearing fong. 
 
 Where art thou, Hammond? Thou the darling pride, 555 
 The friend and lover of the tuneful throng! 
 
 Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime 
 Of vernal genius, where difclofing fall 
 Each a&ive worth, each manly virtue lay ? 
 
 545 
 
 5SG 
 
 Why 
 
i6o 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 Why wer t thou ravifh’d from our hope fo foon? 560 
 What now avails that noble thirft of fame, 
 
 Which Hung thy fervent breaft ? 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? 565 
 
 What now, alas! that life-diffufing charm 
 
 Of fprightly wit? that rapture for the Mufe 
 
 That heart of friendfhip , and that foul of joy, 
 
 Which bade with foftefi: light thy virtues frnile? 
 
 Ah! only fhew’d, to check our fond purfuits, 570 
 
 And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain! 
 
 Thus in fome deep retirement would I pals, 
 
 The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant foul. 
 
 Or blithe, or folemn, as the theme infpir’d: 
 
 With them would fearch, if Nature^ boundlefs frame 575} 
 Was call’d, late-riling from the void of night, 
 
 Or fprung eternal from th* eternal Mind; 
 
 Its fprings, its laws, its progrefs, and its end. 
 
 Hence larger profpets of the beauteous whole 
 
 Would, gradual, open on our opening minds; 580 
 
 And each diffulive harmony unite, 
 
 In full perfection, to th* allonifh’d eye. 
 
 Then would we try to fcan the moral JVorld , 
 
 Which, tho* to us it feems embroil’d; moves on 
 In higher order; fitted, and impell’d, 585 
 
 By Wisdom’s fineft 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, 
 
 In fcatter’d Hates; what makes the nations frnile, 590 
 
 Improves their foil, and gives them double funs; 
 
 And why they pine beneath the brighteft fkies, 
 
 In Nature’s richeft lap. As thus we talk’d, 
 
 Our 
 
WINTER. 
 
 161 
 
 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 filings of the kindling foul; 
 
 Then, even luperior to ambition, we 
 Would learn the private virtues; how to glide 
 Thro’ fhades and plains, along the fmootheft llream 
 Of rural life: or fnatch’d away by hope. 
 
 Thro’ the dim fpaces of futurity, 
 
 With earneft 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, fhifting for relief, would play the fhapes 
 Of frolic Fancy ; and inceffant form 
 Thofe rapid pictures, that afi'embled train 
 Of fleet ideas, never join’d before, 
 
 Whence lively Wit excites to gay furprize; 
 
 Or folly-painting Humour, grave himfelf, 
 
 Calls laughter forth, deep-fhaking every nerve. 
 
 Mean-time the village rouzes up the fire; 
 While well attefted, and as well believ’d, 
 
 Heard folemn , goes the goblin-ftory round ; 
 
 Till fuperttitious horror creeps o’er all. 
 
 Or , frequent in the founding hall , they wake 
 The rural gambol. Ruftic mirth goes round: 
 
 The Ample joke that takes the fhepherd’s heart, 
 Eaflly pleas’d; the long loud laugh, flncere; 
 
 The kifs, fnatch’d hafty from the fidelong maid, 
 
 On purpofe guardlefs, or pretending fleep: 
 
 The leap, the flap, the haul; and, fhook to notes 
 
 h 
 
 S9S 
 
 600 
 
 605 
 
 6 10 
 
 615 
 
 630 
 
 625 
 
 • Of 
 
162 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 Of native mufic, the refpondent dance. 
 
 Thus jocund fleets with them the winter-night. 
 
 The city fwarms intenfe. The public haunt, 630 
 
 Full of each theme, and warm with mL\t difcourfe. 
 
 Hums indiftinft. The fons of riot flow 
 Down the loofe ftream of falfe inchanted joy f 
 To fwift deftruftion. On the rankled foul, 
 
 The gaming fury falls; and in one gulph 635 
 
 Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace, 
 
 Friends, families, and fortune, headlong fink. 
 
 Up-fprings the dance along the lighted dome, 
 
 Mix’d, and evolv’d, a thoufand fprightly ways. 
 
 The glittering court effufes every pomp; 640 
 
 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 infeft in his fummer-fhine, 
 
 The fop, light-fluttering, fpreads his mealy wings. 645 
 
 Dread o’er the fcene, the ghoft of Hamlet ftalks: 
 Othello rages; poor Monimia mourns; 
 
 And Belvidera pours her foul in love. 
 
 Deep-thrilling terror f hakes; the comely tear 
 
 Steals o’er the cheek: or elfe the Comic Muse 650 
 
 Holds to the world a pifture of itfelf, 
 
 And raifes fly the fair impartial laugh. 
 
 Sometimes file lifts her ftrain, and paints the fcenes 
 Of beauteous life; whate’er can deck mankind, 
 
 Or charm the heart, in generous * Bevil fhew’d. 655 
 
 O Thou, whofe wifdom, folid yet refin’d, 
 
 Whofe patriot- virtues, and confummate fkill 
 To touch the finer fprings that move the world. 
 
 Join’d 
 
 * A chara&er in the Conscious Lovers, written by Sir Richard 
 Steili. 
 
U r INTER. 
 
 16$ 
 
 Join’d to whate’er tlie Graces can bellow. 
 
 And all Apollo's animating fire, 660 
 
 Give thee, with pleating dignity, to fhine 
 At once the guardian, ornament, and joy, 
 
 Of polifh’d life; permit the rural Mufe , 
 
 O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her fong! 
 
 Ere to the fhades again fhe humbly flies, 665 
 
 Indulge her fond ambition , in thy train, 
 
 (For every Mufe has in thy train a place) 
 
 To mark thy various full-accomplififd mind: 
 
 To mark that fpirit, which, with Britifk /corn, 
 
 Rejefts th’ allurements of corrupted power; 67$ 
 
 That elegant politenefs, which excels 
 
 Even in the judgement of prefumptuous France » 
 
 The boafted manners of her fhining court ; 
 
 That wit, the vivid energy of fenfe 
 
 The truth of Nature, which, with Attic point, 675 
 
 And kind well-temper’d fatire, fmoothly keen, 
 
 Steals through the foul, and without pain corre&s* 
 
 Or, rifing thence with yet a brighter flame, 
 
 O let me hail thee on fome glorious day, 
 
 When to the liftening fenate, ardent, croud 680 
 
 Britannia’s fons to hear her pleaded caufe. 
 
 Then dreft by thee, more amiably fair, 
 
 Truth the foft robe of mild perfuafion wears: 
 
 Thou to aflenting reafon giv’ft again 
 
 Her own enlighten’d thoughts; call’d from the heart, 685 
 Th* obedient paffions on thy voice attend; 
 
 And even reluctant party feels a while 
 Thv gracious power: as thro’ the vary’d maze 
 Of eloquence, now fmooth, now quick, now ftrong, 
 Profound and clear, you roll the copious Hood. 690 
 
 To thy lov’d haunt return, my happy Mufe: 
 
 For now, behold, the joyous winter-days, 
 
 L 3 
 
 Frofty, 
 
WINTER. 
 
 164 
 
 Frofty, fucceed; and thro’ the blue ferene, 
 
 For light too fine, th’ etherial niter flies; 
 
 Killing infectious damps, and the fpent air 695 
 
 Storing afrefh with elemental life. 
 
 Clcfe crouds the fhining atmofphere; and binds 
 Our ltrenghten’d bodies in its cold embrace, 
 
 Conftringent; feeds, and animates our blood; 
 
 Refines our fpirits, thro’ the new-ftrung nerves, 700 
 
 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 705 
 
 In ruin feen. The froft-concofted glebe 
 
 Draws in abundant vegetable foul. 
 
 And gathers vigour for the coming year. 
 
 A ftronger glow fits on the lively cheek 
 
 Of ruddy fire: and luculent along 710 
 
 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 ftores 
 Deriv’d, thou fecret all-invading power, 715 
 
 Whom even th’ illufive fluid cannot fly? 
 
 Is not thy potent energy, unfeen, 
 
 Myriads of little falts, or hook’d, or fhap’d 
 
 Like double wedges, and diffus’d immenfe 
 
 Thro’ water, earth, and ether? Hence at eve, 720 
 
 Steam’d eager from the red horizon round, 
 
 With fierce rage of Winter deep fulfus’d, 
 
 And icy gale, oft fhifting, o’er the pool 
 
 Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career 
 
 Arrefts the bickering ftream. The loofen’d ice, 725 
 
 Let down the flood, and half difl'olv’d by day, 
 
 Ruftles 
 
WINTER . 
 
 165 
 
 Ruftles no more; but to the fedgy bank 
 Fall grows, or gathers round the pointed ftone, 
 
 A cryftal pavement, by the breath of heaven 
 Cemented firm; till, feiz’d from fhore to fhore, 730 
 
 The whole imprifon’d river growls below. 
 
 Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflefts 
 A double noife; while, at his evening watch, 
 
 The village dog deters the nightly thief; 
 
 The heifer lows; the dillant water-fall 735 
 
 Swells in the breeze; and, with the hairy tread 
 Of traveller, the hollow-founding plain 
 Shakes from afar. The full ethereal round. 
 
 Infinite worlds difclofmg to the view, 
 
 Shines out intenfely keen; and, all one cope 74 ^ 
 
 Of ftarry glitter, glows from pole to pole* 
 
 From pole to pole the rigid influence falls. 
 
 Thro* the ftill night, inceffant, heavy, ftrong,. 
 
 And feizes Nature fall. It freezes on; 
 
 Till morn, late-riling o’er the drooping world, 745 
 
 Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears 
 The various labour of the filent night: 
 
 Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cafcade, 
 
 Whofe idle torrents only feem to roar, 
 
 The pendant icicle; the froft-work fair, 750 
 
 Where tranlient hues, and fancy’d figures rife;. 
 Wide-fpouted o’er the hill, the frozen brook,, 
 
 A livid traft, cold-gleaming on the morn; 
 
 The forelt bent beneath the plumy wave; 
 
 And by the troll refin’d the whiter fnow, 755 
 
 Inerufted hard, and founding to the tread 
 Of early fhephe-rd, as he penfive feeks 
 His pining flock, or from the mountain-top. 
 
 Pleas’d with the Aippery fiurface, fwift defcends* 
 
 On blithfome frolicks bent, the youthful fwains, 760 
 While every work of Man is laid at reft, 
 
 1^3 
 
 Fond 
 
WINTER. 
 
 1 66 
 
 Fond o’er the river croud, in various fport 
 And revelry diffolv’d; where mixing glad, 
 
 Happieft of all the train! the raptur’d boy 
 
 Lafhes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 765 
 
 Branch’d out in many a long canal extends, 
 
 From every province fwarming, void of care, 
 
 Batavia rufhes forth ; and as they fweep, 
 
 On founding fkates, a thoafand different ways, 
 
 In circling poife, fwift as the winds, along, 770 
 
 The then gay land is madden’d all to joy. 
 
 Nor lefs the northern courts, wide o’er the fnow’. 
 
 Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid ileds, 
 
 Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel 
 
 The long-refounding courfe. Meantime, to raife 775 
 
 The manly ftrife, with highly-blooming charms, 
 
 Flufh’d by the feafon, Scandinavians dames, 
 
 Or Rufjia's buxom daughters glow around. 
 
 Pure, quick, and fportful, is the wholefome day; 
 
 But foon elaps’d. The horizontal fun, 780 
 
 Broad o’er the fouth, hangs at his utmoft noon; 
 
 And, ineffectual, ftrikes the gelid cliff : 
 
 His azure glofs the mountain ftill maintains, 
 
 Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale 
 
 Relents a while to the reflected ray; 785 
 
 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 fhot, 793 
 
 Worfe 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 finks. 
 
 Diverted of his grandeur, fhould our eye 795 
 
 Aftonifh'd 
 
WINTER. 
 
 167 
 
 Aftonifh’d fhoot into the Frigid Zone\ 
 
 Where, for relendefs 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, 8o° 
 
 Wide-roams the Ruffian exile. Nought around 
 Strikes his fad eye, but defarts loft in fnow; 
 
 And heavy-loaded groves; and folid floods, 
 
 That ftretch, athwart the folitary vaft, 
 
 Their icy horrors to the frozen main; 80S 
 
 And cheerlefs towns far-diftant, never blefs’d, 
 
 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 cherifh’d there, beneath the fhining wafte, 810 
 
 The furry nations harbour: tipt with jet, 
 
 Fair ermines, fpotlefs as the fnows they prefs; 
 
 Sables, of glofly black; and dark-embrown’d, 
 
 Or beauteous freakt with many a mingled hue, 
 
 Thoufands befides, the coftly pride of courts. 8*5 
 
 There, warm together prefs’d, the trooping deer 
 Sleep on the new-fallen fnows; and, fcarce his .head 
 Rais’d o’er the heapy wreath, the branching elk 
 Lies flumbering fullen in the white abyfs. 
 
 The ruthlefs hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 820 
 
 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 th’ enfanguin’d fnows, 825 
 And with loud fhouts rejoicing bears them home. 
 
 There thro’ the piny foreft half-abforpt, 
 
 L 4 Rough 
 
 * The old name for Chin * . 
 
WINTER. 
 
 1 68 
 
 Rough tenant of thefe f hades, the fhapelefsj'bear/ 
 
 With dangling ice all horrid, ftalks forlorn; 
 
 Slow-pac’d, and fourer as the ftorms increafe, 830 
 
 He makes his bed beneath th* inclement drift, 
 
 And, with Hern 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, 835 
 
 A boifterous race, by frolty * Cciurus pierc’d, 
 
 Who little pleafure know and fear no pain. 
 
 Prolific fwarm. They once relum'd the flame 
 Of loft mankind in polifl/d ilavery funk, 
 
 Drove martial '** horde on horde, with dreadful fweep 840 
 Refiftlefs rufhing o’er th* enfeebled fouth, 
 
 And gave the vanquifh’d world another form. 
 
 Not fuch the fons of Lapland* wifely they 
 Delpife th’ infenfate barbarous trade of war; 
 
 They afk no more than fimple Nature gives, 845 
 
 They love their mountains and enjoy their ftorms. 
 
 No falfe defires, no pride-created wants, 
 
 Difturb the peaceful current of their days; 
 
 And thro’ the reftlefs ever-tortur’d maze 
 
 Of pleafure, or ambition, bid it rage. 850 
 
 Their rain-deer form their riches. Thefe their tents. 
 
 Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth 
 
 Supply, their wholefome fare, and cheerful cups. 
 
 Obfequious at their call, the docile tribe 
 
 Yield to the ilcd their necks, and whirl them fwift 855 
 
 O’er hill and dale, heap’d into one expanfe 
 
 Of marbled fnow., as far as eye can fweep 
 
 With a blue cruft of ice unbounded glaz’d. 
 
 By dancing meteors then, that ceafelefs fhake 
 
 A 
 
 * The north-weft wind. 
 
 ** The wandering fcythian-clans . 
 
WINTER. 
 
 169 
 
 A waving blaze refra&ed o’er the heavens, 860 
 
 And vivid moons, and liars that keener play 
 With doubled killer from the radiant] wafte, 
 
 Even in the depth of Polar Night, they find 
 A wondrous day: enough to light the chace. 
 
 Or guide their daring Heps to Finland- fairs. ‘ 863 
 
 Wish’d fpring returns; and from the hazy fouth. 
 
 While dim Aurora flowly moves before, 
 
 The welkome fun, juft verging up at firft. 
 
 By fmall degrees extends the fwelling curve! 
 
 Till feen at laft for gay rejoicing months, 870 
 
 Still round and round, his fpiral courfe he winds* 
 
 And has he nearly dips his flaming orb. 
 
 Wheels up again, and reafcends the fky. 
 
 In that glad feafon , from the lakes and floods. 
 
 Where pure * Niemi's fairy mountains rife, 8?S 
 
 And fring’d with rofes ** Tenglio rolls his ftream. 
 
 They dra\v the copious fry. With thefe, at eve* 
 
 They cheerful-loaded to their tents repair; 
 
 Where, all day long in ufeful cares employ’d. 
 
 Their kind unblemifh’d wives the fire prepare. 880 
 
 Thrice happy race! by poverty fecur’d 
 From legal plunder and rapacious power: 
 
 In whom fell intereft never yet has fow& 
 
 L 5 The 
 
 * M. de Manpertui. s, in his hook on the Figure of the Earthy after 
 having defcribed the beautiful lake and mountain of Niemi in Lapland, 
 fa ys — “ From this height we had opportunity federal times to fee thofe 
 “ vapours rife from the lake which the people of the country call Hal- 
 “tios, and which they deem to be the guardian fpirits of the inouii- 
 44 tains. We had been frighted with flories of bears that haunted this 
 
 “place, but fa\v none. It feem’d rather a place of refort for Fairies 
 
 “and Genii than bears,,, 
 
 ** The fame author obferves — “I was furprized to fee upon the 
 “banks of this river, (the Tenglio ) rofes of as lively a red as any that 
 “are in our gardens. „ 
 
WINTER. 
 
 170 
 
 The feeds of vice; whofe fpotlefs fwains ne’er knew 885 
 Injurious deed, nor, blafted by the breath 
 Of faithlefs love, their blooming daughters woe* 
 
 Stilt, prefling on, beyond TornecCs lake* 
 
 And Hecla flaming thro’ a wafte of fnow. 
 
 And far theft Greenland , to the pole itfelf, 890 
 
 Where failing gradual life at length goes out. 
 
 The Mufe expands her folitary flight; 
 
 And, hovering o’er the wild ftupendous fcene, 
 
 Beholds new feas beneath * another fky. 
 
 Thron’d in his palace of cerulean ice, 895 
 
 Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court; 
 
 And thro’ his airy hall the loud mifrule 
 Of driving tempeft is for ever heard! 
 
 Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath ; 
 
 Here arms his winds with all-fubduing froft; $00 
 
 Moulds his fierce hail, and treafures up his fnows. 
 
 With which he now opprefles half the globe. 
 
 Thence winding eaftward to the Tartar's coaft. 
 
 She fweeps the howling margin of the main; 
 
 Where undiiTolving , from the firft of time, 905 
 
 Snows fwell on fnows amazing to the fky; 
 
 And icy mountains, high on mountains pil'd, 
 
 Seem to the fhivering failor from afar, 
 
 Shapelefs and white, an atmofphere of clouds. 
 
 Proje&ed huge, and horrid, o’er the furge, 9x0 
 
 Alps frown on alps; or rufhing hideous down, 
 
 As if old chaos was again return’d, 
 
 Wide-rend the deep, and fhake the folid pole. 
 
 Ocean itfelf no longer can reftft 
 
 The binding fury; but, in all its rage 915 
 
 Of tempeft taken by the boundlefs froft, 
 
 Is 
 
 * The other hemifphere. 
 
WINTER. 
 
 171 
 
 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 920 
 
 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 head, 925 
 Falls horrible. Such was the * Briton’s Fate, 
 
 As with firfl prow, (what have not Britons dar’d!) 
 
 He for the paflage fought, attempted fince 
 So much in vain, and feeming to be fhut 
 By jealous Nature with eternal bars. 
 
 In thefe fell regions, in Arzinci caught. 
 
 And to the ftony deep his idle fhip 
 Immediate feal’d, he with his haplefs crew* 
 
 Each full exerted at his feveral tafk, 
 
 Froze into ftatues; to the cordage glued 
 The failor, and the pilot to the helm. 
 
 Hard by thefe fhores, where fcarce his freezing llream 
 Rolls the wild Oby , live the laft of Men; 
 
 And, half-enliven’d by the diftant fun, 
 
 That rears and ripens Man, as well as plants, 940 
 
 Here human Nature wears its rudeft form. 
 
 Deep from the piercing feafon funk in caves, 
 
 Here by dull fires, and with unjoy ous cheer, 
 
 They wafte the tedious gloom. Immers’d in furs, 
 
 Doze the grofs race. Nor fprightly jeft, nor fong, 945 
 Nor tendernefs they know; nor aught of life, 
 
 Beyond the kindred bears that ftalk without. 
 
 Till 
 
 * Sir Hugh Willoughby, fent by Queen Elizabeth to difcover the 
 north-eaft paflage. 
 
 93 ° 
 
 935 
 
WINTER. 
 
 172 
 
 Till morn at length , her rofes drooping all. 
 
 Sheds a long twilight brightening o’er their fields. 
 
 And calls the quiver’d favage to the chace. 950 
 
 What cannot aftive government perform, 
 New-moulding Man? Wide-ftretching from thefe fhores, 
 
 A people favage from remoteft time, 
 
 A huge negle&ed empire One vast Mind., 
 
 By Heaven infpir’d, from gothic darknefs call'd. 955 
 
 Immortal Peter! firft of monarchs! he 
 
 His itubborn country tam’d, her rocks, her fens. 
 
 Her floods, her feas, her ili-fubmitting fons; 
 
 And while the fierce Barbarian he fubdu’d. 
 
 To more exalted foul he raifed the Man . 960 
 
 Ye f hades of antient heroes, ye who toil’d 
 
 Thro’ long fucceffive ages to build up 
 
 A laboring plan of ftate, behold at once 
 
 The wonder done! behold the matchlefs prince! 
 
 Who left his native throne, where reign’d till then 965 
 A mighty fhadow of unreal power; 
 
 Who greatly fpurn’d the ilothful pomp of courts; 
 
 And roaming every land, in every port, 
 
 His fcepter laid afide, with glorious hand 
 
 Unweary'd plying the mechanic tool, 970 
 
 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 th’ illumin’d wafte; 
 
 O’er joylefs defarts fmiles the rural reign; 975 
 
 Far-diftant flood to flood is focial join'd; 
 
 Th’ aftonifh’d Euxine hears the Baltic roar; 
 
 Proud navies ride on feas that never foam’d 
 With daring keel before; and armies ftretch 
 Each way their dazzling files, reprefung here 
 
 980 
 
 The 
 
WINTER. 
 
 173 
 
 The frantic Alexander of the north, 
 
 And awing there ftern Othman’s fhrinking fons. 
 
 Sloth flies the land, and Ignorance , and Vice, 
 
 Of old difhonour proud: it glows around, 
 
 Taught by the Royal Hand that rous’d the whole, 935 
 One fcene of arts, of arms, of rifing trade: 
 
 For what his wifdom plann’d, and power enforc’d, 
 
 More potent Hill, his great example fhew’d. 
 
 Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point, 
 Blow hollow-bluftering from the fouth. Subdu’d, 990 
 The froft refolves into a trickling thaw. 
 
 Spotted the mountains fhine; loofe 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 cataraffcs, 995 
 A thoufand fnow-fed torrents fhoot at once; 
 
 And, where they rufh, the wide-refounding plain 
 Is left one flimy wafte. Thofe fullen feas. 
 
 That wafh th’ ungenial pole, will reft no more 
 Beneath the f hackles of the mighty north; IDOO 
 
 But, rouling all their waves, refiftlefs heave. 
 
 And hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs 
 Athwart the rifted deep: at once it burfts, 
 
 And piles a thoufand mountains to the clouds. 
 
 Ill fares the bark with trembling wretches charg’d, 1005 
 That, toft amid the floating fragments, moors 
 Beneath the fhelter of an icy ifle, 
 
 While night o’erwhelms the fea, and horror looks 
 More horrible. Can human force endure 
 Th* affembled mifchiefs that befiege them round? 2010 
 Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting wearinefs, 
 
 The- roar of winds and waves, the crufh of ice, 
 
 Now ceafing , now-renew’d with louder rage. 
 
 And 
 
iois 
 
 1020 
 
 ’Ti s done ! r- dread Winter fpreads his lateft glooms, 1025 
 And reigns tremendous o’er the conquer’d year* 
 
 How dead the vegetable kingdom lies! 
 
 How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends 
 His defolate domain. Behold, fond Man! 
 
 Behold thy pifrur’d life; pafs fome few years, 1030 
 
 Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer’s ardent ftrength, 
 
 Thy fober Autumn fading into age, 
 
 And pale concluding Winter comes at laft, 
 
 And fhuts the fcene. Ah! whither now are fled, 
 
 Thofe dreams of greatnefs? thofe unfolid hopes 1035 
 
 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 fhar’d thy life? 
 
 All now are vanifh’d! Virtue foie furvives, 1040 
 
 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! awakening Nature hears 
 The new-creating word , and ftarts to life, 1045 
 
 In every heightened form, from pain and death 
 
 1 74 winter. 
 
 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 fhore, 
 
 Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl 
 Of famifh’d monfters, there 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. 
 
 For 
 
WINTER. 
 
 *7S 
 
 For ever free. The great eternal fclieme, 
 
 Involving all, and in a perfect whole 
 Uniting, as the profpeft wider fpreads. 
 
 To reafon’s eye refin’d clears up apace. 
 
 Ye vainly wife! ye blind prdJunptuous ! now, 
 Confounded in the dull, adore that Power, 
 
 And Wisdom oft arraign’d: fee now the caufe, 
 Why unafluming worth in fecret liv’d, 
 
 And dy’d, neglefted: why the good Man’s fhare 
 In life was gall and bitternefs of foul: 
 
 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, 
 
 Imbitter’d all our blifs. Ye good diftreft! 
 
 Ye noble few! who here unbending ftand 
 Beneath life’s prelfure, 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! 
 
 1050 
 
 *°55 
 
 1060 
 
 1065 
 
 1070 
 
A 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 T^HESE, 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-flufh 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 : IQ 
 
 And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder fpeaks; 
 
 And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, 
 
 By brooks and groves, in hollow-whifpering gales. 
 
 Thy bounty fhines in Autumn unconfin r d. 
 
 And fpreads a common feaft for ail that lives. 15 
 
 In Winter awful Thou! with clouds and ftorms 
 Around Thee thrown, tempeft o’er tempeft roll’d, 
 Majeftic darknefs! on the whirlwind’s wing, 
 
 Riding fublirne, Thou bidft the world adore, 
 
 And humbleft Nature with Thy northern blaft. 20 
 
 Mysterious round! what fkill, what force divine, 
 Deep-felt, in thefe appear! a fimple train, 
 
 Yet fo delightful mix’d, with fuch kind art, 
 
 Such 
 
A HYMN. 
 
 1 77 
 
 Such beauty and beneficence combin’d; 
 
 Shade, unperceiv’d, fo foftening into fhade; 25 
 
 And all fo forming an harmonious whole; 
 
 That, as they ftill fucceed, they ravifh ftill. 
 
 But wandering oft, with brute unconfcious gaze, 
 
 Man marks not Thee, marks not the mighty hand, 
 
 That, ever-bufy, wheels the filent fpheres ; 30 
 
 Works in the fecret deep; fhoots, fteaming, thence 
 The fair profufion that o’erfpreads the Spring: 
 
 Flings from the fun direft the flaming day; 
 
 Feeds every creature; hurls the tempeft forth; 
 
 And, as on earth this grateful change revolves, 35 
 
 With tranfport touches all the fprings of life* 
 
 Nature, attend! join every living foul. 
 
 Beneath the fpacious temple of the fky. 
 
 In adoration join; and, ardent, raife 
 
 One general fong ! To Him , ye vocal gales, 40 
 
 Breathe foft, whofe Spirit in your frefhnefs breathes: 
 
 Oh talk of Him in folitary glooms! 
 
 Where, o’er the rock, the fcarcely- waving pine 
 Fills the brown fhade with a religious awe. 
 
 And ye, whofe bolder note is heard afar, 
 
 Who fhake 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 alonp\ 
 
 o 
 
 Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound; 
 
 Ye fofter floods, that lead the humid maze 
 Along the vale; and thou, majeftie main, 
 
 A fecret world of wonders in thy Pelf, 
 
 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 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 55 
 
 M 
 
 Whofe 
 
178 A H T M N* 
 
 Whofe breath perfumes you, and whofe pencil paints* 
 
 Ye forefts bend, ye haryefts wave, to Him; 
 
 Breathe your ft ill fong into the reaper’s heart, 60 
 
 As home he goes beneath the joyous moon. 
 
 Ye that keep watch in heaven, as earth aJleep 
 Unconfcious lies, effufe your mildeft beams. 
 
 Ye comtellations, while your angels ftrike. 
 
 Amid the fpangled fky, the filver lyre. 65 
 
 Great fource of day ! belt 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 hufh’d the proftrate world; 7$ 
 While cloud to cloud returns the folemn hymn. 
 
 Bleat out afrefh, ye hills; ye moily rocks, 
 
 Retain the found: the broad refponfive lowe. 
 
 Ye valleys, raife; for the Great Shepherd reigns; 
 
 And his imfujfering kingdom yet will come. 75 
 
 Ye woodlands alb, awake: a boundlefs fong 
 Burft from the groves; and when the reftlefs day. 
 Expiring, lays the warbling world afteep, 
 
 Sweeteft of birds ! fweet Philomela , charm 
 
 The lift ening f hades, and teach the night his praife. 80 
 
 Ye chief, for whom the whole creation fmiles; 
 
 At once the head, the heart, and tongue of all. 
 
 Crown the great hymn! in fwarming cities vaft, 
 
 Affembled men, to the deep organ join 
 
 The long-refounding voice, oft-breaking clear, 85 
 
 At folemn paufes, thro’ the fwelling bafe; 
 
 And, as each mingling flame increafes each. 
 
 In one united ardor rife to heaven. 
 
 Or if you rather chufe the rural fhade. 
 
 And find a fane in every facred grove; 90 
 
 There let the fhepherd’s flute, the virgin's lay, 
 
 The prompting feraph, and the poet's lyre, 
 
 Still 
 
A H T M N. 
 
 179 
 
 Still fing the God of Seasons, as they roll. 
 
 For me, when I forget the darling theme, 
 
 Whether the blolfom blows, the fummer-ray, 
 Kuffets 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 ! 
 
 SrtouLD fate command me to the fartheft 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 iiles; *tis nought to me; 
 Since God is everprefent, ever felt. 
 
 In the void wafte as in the city full; 
 
 And where He vital fpreads there muft be joy. 
 When even at laft the folemn hour fhall come. 
 And wing my myftic flight to future worlds, 
 
 I chearful will obey ! there , with new powers. 
 Will rifing wonders fing; I cannot go 
 Where Universal LdVE not fmiles around, 
 Suftaining all yon orbs and ail their fons. 
 
 From feeming Evil ftill educing Good , 
 
 And Better thence again , and Better ftill, 
 
 In infinite progreffton. But I lofe 
 
 Myfelf in Him, in Light ineffable! 
 
 Come then, exprefllve filence, mufe his praife* 
 
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 no 
 
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 THE END. 
 
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BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
 I I llll 1 1 II II 
 
 3 9031 
 
 0 
 
 379893 9 
 
 PR THOMSON. 
 
 3732 
 
 MB 
 
 Bapst Library 
 
 Boston College 
 Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02167