CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Miss Augusta Williams and . 'r Mrs. J. H. Tanner PR3732.S4'T853''"™'""-"'"'^ ^MMlSSmS '=""=^' observations < 3 1924 013 202 464 A Cornell University y Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 3202464 THE SEASONS JAMES THOMSON. CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS OF VARIJOUS AUTHORS ON HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER; NOTES, EXPLANATORY AND .CRITICAL, JAMES ROBERT BOYD, EDiTOB, OF THE PARADISE LOST, AND OF YOUNG's NIGHT THOUGHTS, WITH NOTES, ETC. " The Seasons," — a Poem, which, founded as it is upon tlie unfading beauties of Nature, "will live as long as the language in which it is written shall be read. De. Aikin, REVISED EDITIOIf. NEW YORK: A. S. BARNES & CO., 51 JOHN-STREET. CINCINNATI:— n. W. DEEBT & CO. 1853. ^l(^z(p Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S52 By a. S. BAH^-ES & CO. In tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Sonthera District of New York. Stbrbotyped by RICHARD C. VALENTINE. New York. PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. In tliis age, when the press is covering our land with a frivolous and pernicious literature, there is great dan- ger that the rising generation will too much neglect, if not entirely lose sight of, those noble and solid produc- tions of the British Muse which were familiar to their predecessors — the poems of Milton and Young, of Cow- per and Thomson. These are worthy, not of a hasty perusal only, but of frequent and profound study — espe- cially by the young — for the varied information which they contain ; for the learning, and taste, and high order of genius which they display, and for the eminent service they are adapted to afford, in the proper culture of the mind and of the heart. The study of such authors, if so far pursued as to secure a fair appreciation of their style, and sentiments, and scientific information, cannot fail to raise the mind above the danger of contaminating and degrading itself with the greatly inferior and the worth- less productions so common at the present day. But such an acquaintance with these authors cannot, except in rare instances, be looked for, without the aid of suit- able commentaries, that shall clear up obscure j^assages, call attention to what is beautiful or faulty in style or sentiment, and, in short, give to the immature and un- cultivated mind the aid and the incitement which it 4 PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. needs, to enter into the spirit and feel the force of these productions. In our academies and colleges the poets of Greece and Eome are critically studied ; many years of toil are bestowed upon them ; but it is painful to con- sider how little attention, on the other hand, is devoted to the English poets, though some of them are not less deserving than the former of study and admiration. It was the earnest desire and hope of leading teachers to give to the best English poets the same high place in a course of education, and the same attention which is given to the Roman and Grecian, that induced me to prepare a critical commentary on the Paradise Lost, and on Young's ISTight Thoughts, and now upon Thomson's Seasons ; and I cannot doubt, that at no distant day a tJiorough and-Jiritical study of such works as these will he deemed essential, and will he demanded in all semi- naries above the grade of the frimary schools. It is true that even in these the poems alluded to are used exten- sively ; but, in almost all instances, it is for no higher purpose than grammatical parsing. This, indeed, has its benefits, but there are much higher purposes to be attained in the proper study of these authors, which, it is hoped, may be secured by the diligent study of them in connection with the commentaries now before the pubhc. ISTot only in the school-room — ^ia the family circle also — the productions of these distinguished English poets, exjplaiiied and illustrated, are much needed. Every famvhly lihra/ry and every district^school library should contain a commentary v/pon Milton, and Young, and Thomson, adapted to the wants of the mass of readers. In my editions of these authors, I have endeavored, by the copiousness and elementary character of many of the notes, to make the study of them an introduction and PLAU AST) DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. 5 preparation for the general readmg of poetry to adva/n- tage — an object of no small importance in the view of any one who duly regards and seeks to promote the re- finement of taste,. the proper culture of the imagination, and intellectual strength. Bishop Wewton first rendered to the cause of literature and to the general reader, a most important service, by selecting from the papers of Addison, ia the Spectator, the criticisms which -they contained upon the Paradise Lost, and by distributing them in the form of notes to the various parts of the poem to which they related, that they might conveniently be read in connection with the pas- sage thus illustrated or explained. In the illustration of Thomson, I have adopted the same course, by selecting from the pages of reviews and other works, such valuable criticisms as I have discovered upon "The Seasons," and by distributing them through the poem for the con- venience of the reader : so that the notes wUl be found to embrace a tolerably extensive Cyclopedia of erudite and tasteful criticism, in reference to this poem, from the pens of some of the most distinguished critics of the pres- ent century — ^no small advantage surely to all who have not access to these original sources, or if they had, have not the time or industry to look them up, as they might be found useful for the better appreciation of the succes- sive portions of the work. For the convenience of the reader, when taking up the poem for desultory or occasional perusal, the princvpal ' topics home ieen designated in a conspicxcous ma/nner, so that a selection may be made without difficulty or delay. That " The Seasons" eminently deserves the labor of criticism and of full illustration, will appear, on consid- ering the vast amount of interesting iaformation of all O PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. kinds that is embodied in it ; more especially in regard to natural objects, phenomena, and events. While it is not devoid of sentiment, genial cmd refined, its Tnore strihi/ng characteristic is the large exte7it and compass of knowledge which it displays. I have looked upon it as pre-eminently valuable, from the fulness and iea/uty of its teachings in all the jorominent departments of Natural History, and have thought, that, by a some- vs'hat ample explanation of those subjects in the notes, a taste may be formed, or matured, in this interesting branch of study, and a foundation laid for prosecuting it vrith happy success. The desire is strongly felt, more- over, to encourage and aid the formation of the Tidbit, so seldom formed, and yet so valuable, of connecting with the study of Nature the study of its great Author : nor can it be doubted that if the youthful mind were trained to take delight in the beauties, sublimities, and ever- varying changes of the physical world, and to connect with its observation of these an habitual recognition of the infinitely wise and beneficent Creator, there would be furnished an unfailing source of profitable entertain- ment and delight that would strongly tend to raise the mind above the danger of vicious associations and the jpwsuit of vicious practices. In the language of one of Thomson's eloquent coun- trymen, it may be added, that " our moral being owes deep obligation to all who assist us to study JSTature aright ; for, believe us, it is high and rare knowledge to know and to have the true and full use of our eyes. Millions go to the grave in old age without ever having learned it : they were just beginning, perhaps, to ac- quire it, when they sighed to think that ' they who look out of the windows were darkened,' and that, while they PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. 7 had been instructed how to look, sad shadows had fallen on the whole face of nature, and that the time for those intuitions was gone forever. Eut the science of seeing has now found favor in our eyes ; and ' blessings are with them, and eternal praise,' who can discover, dis- cern, and describe the least as the greatest of nature's works ; who can see as distinctly the finger of God in the lustre of the little humming-bird murmuring round a rose-bush, as in that of ' the star of Jove, so beautiful and large,' shining sole in heaven." As Natural History, when properly taught, is a history of the works of the Creator, and thus of the glorious at- tributes concerned in their production ; as these works embrace a boundless variety and magnificence, the prop- er study and observation of them must tend to ennoble and exalt the mind, and to improve one's character, and to lead us into the angelic pleasure of communion with the Great Author of all good — of all that is beautiful, grand, harmonious, and admirable in creation ; for they " Whom Nature's ■works can oHarm, -with. God himself Hold converse, gro'w familiar day by day With his conceptions, act upon his plan, And form to his the reUsh of their souls." In the study of nature, the aid of modem science must be diligently employed, to obtain any thing like a full view of her wonderful adaptations, and tendencies, and arrangements — a full view of the astonishing dis- plays of the wisdom, and power, and goodness of the Creator ; and hence, for the uneducated reader, various sdentijio explcmaUons of natural objects, phenomena, and operations have ieen fv/rnished in the notes to this edition. But it would be difficult to find a more perti- 8 PLAN AJTD DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. nent and agreeable illustration of the great advantage that may le derived, in youth, from the study of Thom- son's Seasons, than Caroline Bowles (afterwards Mre. Southey) has furnished, in the charming autobiography of her childhood, entitled "The Birth-Day." " And was it chance, or thy prevailing taste, Beloved instructress ! that selected first (Part of my daily task) a portion short, Cull'd from thy ' Seasons,' Thomson ? — Happy choice, Howe'er directed, happy choice for me ; For, as I read, ne^v thoughts, new images Thrill'd through my heart, -with undefined delight. Awakening so the incipient elements Of tastes and sympathies, that with my life Have grown and strengthened : often on its course, Tes — on its darkest moments, shedding soft That rich, warm glow they only can impart ; A sensibility to Nature's charms That seems its living spirit to infuse (A breathing soul) in things inanimate ; To hold communion with the stirring air. The breath of flowers, the ever-shifting clouds, The rustling leaves, the music of the stream ; To people solitude with airy shapes. And the dark hour, when night and silence reigns. With immaterial forms of other worlds ; But, best and noblest privilege ! to feel Pervading Nature's all-harmonious whole, Tho great Creator's presence in his works." In his beautiful volume, entitled " The "Wanderings of a Pilgrim," Dr. George B. Cheever offers some ob- servations of his own, and quotes some from the pages of John Foster, that seem highly appropriate to be in- troduced, in fuller illustration of the subject now in hand. He remarks : — " "We do not con men's features PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. 9 alone when we meet them : we learn their habits, thoughts, feelings ; we speak to their souls. And Na- ture hath a soul as well as features. But a man's own soul must be awakened within him, and not his pleas- ure-loving faculties and propensities merely, if he would enter into communion with the soul that is in nature. Otherwise, it is as with a vacant stare that he sees mountains, forests, bright skies, and sounding cataracts pass before him ; otherwise, it is like a sleep-walker that he himself wanders among them. What is not in him- self he finds not in nature; and as all study is but a discipline to call forth our immortal faculties, no good wiU it do the man to range through nature as a study, if his inward being be asleep, if his mind be world-rusted and insensible. ' It were a vain endeavor Though I should gaze forever On that green light that lingers in the west ; I may not hope from outward forms to win The passion and the life, whose fountains are within.' And hence the extreme and melancholy beauty of that passage in John Foster's writings, where he speaks of the power of external nature as an agent in our educa- tion, and laments the inward deficiency in many minds, which prevents our ' foster-mother' from being able to instil into them her sweetest, most exquisite tones and lessons. ' Jt might be supposed,' he says, ' that the scenes of nature, an amazing assemblage of phenomena, if their effect were not lost through familiarity, would have a powerful influence on all opening minds, and transfer into the internal economy of ideas and senti- ment something of a chai-acter and a color correspondent 1* 10 PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. to the beauty, vicissitude, and grandeur which continu- allj press on the senses. On minds of genius they often have this effect ; and Beattie's Minstrel may be as just as it is a fascinating description of the feelings of such a mind. But on the greatest number this influence oper- ates feebly ; you will not see the process in children, nor the result in mature persons. The charms of nature are objects only of sight and hearing, not of sensibility and imagination. And even the sight and hearing do not receive impressions sufficiently distinct and forcible for clear recollection ; it is not, therefore, strange that these impressions seldom go so much deeper than the senses as to awaken pensiveness or enthusiasm, and fill the mind with an interior permanent scenery of beautifiil images at its own command. This defect of fancy and sensibility is unfortunate amid a creation infinitely rich with grand and beautiful objects, which, imparting some- thing more than images to a mind adapted and habitua- ted to converse with nature, inspire an exquisite senti- ment, that seems like the emanation of a spirit residing ia them. It is unfortunate, I have thought within these few minutes, while looking out on one of the most enchant- ing nights of the most interesting season of the year, and hearing the voices of a company of persons, to whom I can perceive that this soft and solemn shade over the earth, the calm sky, the beautiful stripes of cloud, the stars, and the waning moon just risen, are all blank and indifferent.' " Besides the Natural History, most beautifully and poetically treated in this Poem throughout, and its adap- tation, from this source, to produce ennobling thoughts of the Creator, and to lead us to the sublime habit of religious communion with him through the medium of PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. 11 his varied worts, there are many other aspects of this noble production that commend it to our careful study, and which will be exhibited in the account that is given in the following pages of the general structure of the Poem, from the skilful pen of Dr. Aikin. To an Essay of this distinguished scholar and critic, on Thomson's Seasons, I have also been indebted for most of the valu- able "Remarks" that are placed before each of the " Seasons." It deserves special notice that the Poem, abounds in hrief iui admiraile sketches of a large numher of the most distinguished men of ancient and Tnodern times— philosophers, statesmen, poets, warriors, and kings : these sketches are rendered more complete and instruc- tive by the supplementary matter furnished in the Notes of the present edition. The '■^Critical Obse/rvations^'' illustrative of the genius wild character of the poet, and which have been carefully gathered from the writings of men of a highly cultivated taste, constitute another feature of this edition which will commend it to the intelligent reader, and prepare him for a more eager and advantageous perusal of this great and noble Poem. Some disappointment, possibly, may be felt, on ob- serving that no professed memoir of the amiable poet is here provided ; but in place of it, I have judged it best, as his life is somewhat barren of incident, to scat- ter about in the notes such particulars relating to his character and history as were deemed suiSciently inter- esting ; and have thus accomplished the double purpose of exhibiting the poet, and of illustrating at the same time several passages in his Poem. Indeed (as Dr. Mur- dock remarks), " as for his more distinguishing qualities 12 PLAIJ AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. of mind and heart, they are better represented in his ■writings than they can be by the pen of any biogra- pher. There, his love of mankind, of his country and friends, his devotion to the Supreme Being, founded on the most elevated and just conceptions of his operations and providence, shine out in every page. He took no part in the poetical squabbles which happened in his time, and was i-espected and left undisturbed by both sides. He would even refuse to take offence when he justly might, by interrupting any personal story that was brought to him, with some jest, or some humorous apology for the offender. Nor was he ever seen ruffled or discomposed, but when he read or heard of some fla- grant instance of injustice, oppression, or cruelty: then, indeed, the strongest marks of horror and indignation were visible in his countenance. These amiable vir- tues, this divine temper of mind, did not fail of their reward. His friends loved him with an enthusiastic ar- dor, and lamented his untimely fate : the best and greatest men of his time honored him with their friend- ship and protection." Among these, the Hon. George Lyttleton expressed his high regard for Thomson in the Prologue which he wrote for the poet's posthumous tragedy of " Coriolanus," in l'I4:9, soon after the author's decease ; and which was most feelingly delivered by Mr. Quin, another personal friend of Thomson's. The following lines form a part of the Prologue : " I come not here your candor to implore For scenes, ■whose author is, alas ! no more ; He -wants no advocate his cause to plead ; You will yourselves he patrons of the dead. No pai'ty his benevolence confined, No sect ; — -alike it flowed to all manMnd. PLAIJ AJSB DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. 13 He loved his friends — forgive the gushing tear — Alaa ! I feel I am no actor here. He loved his friends with such a warmth of heart, So clear of interest, so devoid of art. Such generous friendship, such unshaken zeal, No words can speak it, but our tears can teU. Oh candid truth, oh faith without a stain — Oh manners gently firm, and nobly plain — Oh sympathizing love of others' bUss, Where will you find another breast like his ? Such was the Man — the Poet well you know. Oft has he touched your hearts with tender woe : Oft in this crowded house, with just applause. You heard him teach fair Yirtu^ s purest laws; For his chaste Muse employ'd her heaven-taught lyre None but the noblest passions to inspire — Not one immoral, 07i.e corrupted thought — One line, which dying he could wish to blot." At the request of Lord Buchan, Robert Burns, the Bweet poet of Scotland, prepared the following stanzas in memory of Thomson. The author seems to have felt that they are not equal to the subject he would honor, as he accomjpanied them with the following statements : " Your Lordship hints at an Ode for the occasion ; but who would write after Collins ? I read over his verses to the memory of Thomson, and despaired. I attempted three or four stanzas in the way of Address to the Shade of the JBa/rd, on crowning his bust. I trouble your Lordship with the inclosed copy of them, which I am afraid will be but too convincing a proof how unequal I am to the task you would obligingly assign me." While virgin Spring, by Eden's flood, Unfolds her tender mantle green. Or pranks the sod in frolic mood. Or tunes the iEolian strains between ; 14 PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITTON. While Bummer with a matron grace- Retreats to Dryburgh'a cooling shade, Yet oft delighted stops to trace The progress of the spiky blade ; While Autumn, benefactor kind, By Tweed erects her aged head, And sees, Tvith self-approving mind, Each creature on her bounty fed ; While maniac Winter rages o'er The hills whence classic Yarrow flows. Rousing the turbid torrent's roar. Or sweeping wild a waste of snows ; So long, sweet poet of the Year, Shall bloom that wreath thou well hast won. While Scotia with exulting tear Proclaims that Thomson was her son. The beautiful Ode of Collins, to which Burns so mod- estly alludes above, acquires additional interest from what Dr. Murdock states of its author — that he had' lived some time at Richmond, but forsook it when Mr. Thomson died. This event occurred, at Kew Lane, near Richmond, on the 27th day of August, 1748. The poet's remains were interred in Richmond Church, under a plain stone, without an inscription ; but in 1792 Lord Buchan placed a small brass tablet in that church, bear- ing a suitable inscription, and beneath it this beautiful extract from the " Winter :" "Father of Light and Life ! Thou Good Supreme 1 O teach me what is good ! — teach me Thyself 1 Save me from folly, vanity, and vice. From every low pursuit ! and feed my soul With knowledgje, conscious peace, and virtue pure ; Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss I" PLAN AUD DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. 15 Having already stated the design and nature of my editorial labors, I commend the work to a discerning but candid public, in the hope that it may lend to multi- tudes essential and needful aid ; enabling them to derive from the reading of the Poem far greater advantage and satisfaction than it could afford them without the anno- tations which now accompany it — believing, as I do, what one of his biographers has so well expressed, that, Thomson's labors, secure from the revolutions of taste or time, are destined to descend with undiminished ad- miration to the latest posterity; and that it may with confidence be predicted, that future generations, like the last and the present, will have their reverence for the God of ISTature excited, and their earhest attachment to Nature herself strengthened, by the poet who has sung her in all her seasons. J. E. B. Gknbta, N. Y. 16 PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. ODE ON THE DEATH OF THOMSON. BT COLLINS. Th£ Scene on tlie Bamh of tlis Thames near BicJmumd. Ik yonder grave a Druid* lies, "Where slowly winds the stealing wave ; The Year's best sweets shall duteous rise To deck its Poet's sylvan grave. In yon deep bed of whispering reeds His airy harpf shall now be laid, That he whose heart in sorrow bleeds, May love through life the soothing shade. Then maids and youths shall linger here. And while its sounds at distance swell. Shall sadly seem in pity's ear To hear the woodland pilgrim's knelL Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore Where Thames in summer wreaths is drest, And oft suspend the dashing oar, To bid his gentle spirit rest 1 And oft, as care and health retire To breezy lawn or forest deep, The friend shall view yon whitening spire,^ And mid the varied landscape weep. * Druid, This name properly belongs only to the priests of ancient Britain, many of whom were poets. They frequented forests — those of oak especially — where thoy offered sacriiice, and gave instruction to the people. The name is here applied to Thomson, as a native poet — a frequenter of riiral scenery, and a worshipper there of the God of Nature. Cowper, in his Table-Talk, has a few lines illustrative of the term now explained; " Hence British poets too the priesthood shired. And every hallowed Druid was a bard." t The jEolian harp. t That of Richmond Chiu-ch, where Thomson was buried. PLAN AND DESIGN OF THIS EDITION. 17 But thou who own'st that earthy bed, Ah ! what will every dirge avail ; Or tears, which love and pity shed. That mourn beneath the gliding sail ! Tet lives there one, whose heedless eye Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering near i With him, sweet bard, may Fancy die. And joy desert the blooming Year. But thou, lorn stream, whose suUen tide No sedge-crown'd sisters now attend, Now waft me from the green hill's side, Wbose cold turf hides the buried friend I And see, the fairy valleys fade. Dun night has veiled the solemn view : Tet once again, dear parted shade. Meek Ifature's child, again adieu ! The genial meads, assign'd to bless Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom ; Their hinds and shepherd-girls shall dress With simple hands thy rural tomb. Long, long, thy stone and pointed clay Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes : Oh 1 vales and wild-woods, shaU. he say. In yonder grave your Druid lies 1 CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF THOMSON, CHIEFLY AS DISPLAYED IN "THE SEASONS." The following observations are drawn from an anony- mous Memoir of the poet : In the whole range of British poetry, Thomson's " Seasons" are perhaps the earhest read, and most generally admired : hence it is not necessary to say much on the peculiar character of a genius so well known and so often discussed. He was the Poet of Nature, and his chief merit consisted in describing her, and the pleasure afforded by a contemplation of her infinite and glo- rious varieties. Studying her deeply, his mind acquired that placidity of thought and feehng which an abstraction from pub- lic life is sure to generate. She was to him, ^is he has himself said, a source of happiness of which Fortune could not deprive him : " I care not, Fortune, what you me deny; You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace ; You cannot shut the windows of the sky, Through which Aurora shows her brightening face ; Yon cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream at eve : Let health my nerves and finer fibres leave, Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave." His pictures of scenery and of rural life are the productions of a master, and render him the Claude of poets. The " Sea- sons" are the first book from which we are taught to worship the 20 CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. goddess to whose service the Bard of Ednam devoted himself ; and who is there that has reflected on the magnificence of an extended landscape, viewed the sun as he emerges from the hori- zon, or witnessed the setting of that glorious orb when he leaves the world to reflection and repose, and does not feel his descrip- tions rush upon the mind, and heighten his enjoyment? It has been said that the style of that work is pompous, and that it contains many faults. The remark is partially true. His style is in some places monotonous from its unvaried elevation ; but to him Nature was a subject of the profoundest reverence, and he, doubtless, considered that she ought to be spoken of with solemnity ; though it is evident, from one of his verses, which is often cited, that he was aware that simpUcity is the most becoming garb of majesty and beauty. Another objection to the " Seasons" is, that they contain fre- quent digressions, and, notwithstanding that it is made by an authority, from which it may be presumptuous to dissent, the justice of the observation cannot, perhaps, be established. Every one who has read them will admit that the history of Celadon and Amelia, and of Lavinia, for example, have afforded as much pleasure as any other parts ; and a poem, descriptive of scenery, storms, and sunshine, requires the introduction of human beings to give it life and animation. A painter is not censured for add- ing figures to a landscape, and he is only required to render them graceful, and to make them harmonize with his subject. The characters in the " Seasons" are all in keeping : a gleaner is as necessary to a harvest-field, as a lover to a romance ; and it seems hypercritical to say that there should be nothino- of in- terest in the lives of the inhabitants of the villages or hamlets which are alluded to. Another test of the soundness of this criticism is, to inquire, whether that work does not owe its chief popularity, to those very digressions. Few persons will read a volume, however beautiful the descriptions which it contains unless they are relieved by incidents of human life ; and if it were possible to strip the " Seasons" of every passage not strict- CEITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 21 ly relevant, they would lose their chief attractions, and soon be thrown aside. One charm of poetry is, that it often presents a vivid picture of the idiosyncrasy of an author's mind, and this is most con- spicuous in the episodes to the immediate subject of his labors. The chain of thought which led him astray may not tinfrequently be discovered, and it is on such occasions, chiefly, that those splendid emanations which become aphorisms to future ages are produced. Genius seems then to cast aside all the fetters which art imposes, and individual feeling, usurping for the moment entire dominion, the lady who has cheered his hopes, or the co- quette who has abandoned him, his friend or his enemy, as either may occur to his imagination, is sure to be commemorated in words glowing with the fervor of inspiration. Whilst he pur- sues the thread of his tale, we are reminded of the poet alone, and though we may admire his skill, it is only when he breaks upon us in some spontaneous burst of passion that we sympa- thize with the man, and are excited to kindred enthusiasm. The opiinions of Dr. Samuel Johnson are next sub- mitted : As a writer, Thomson is entitled to one praise of the highest kind : his mode of thinking, and of expressing his thoughts, is original. His blank verse is no more the blank verse of Milton, nor of any other poet, than the rhymes of Prior are the rhymes of Cowley. His numbers, his pauses, his diction are of his own growth, without transcription, without imitation. He thinks in a peculiar train, and he always thinks as a man of genius. He looks round on nature and on life with the eye which natui'e bestows only on a poet — the eye that distinguishes, in every thing presented to its view, whatever there is on which im- agination can delight to be detained, and with a mind that at once comprehends the vast, and attends to the minute. The reader of the " Seasons" wonders that he never saw before what 22 CEITIOAIi OBSEKVATIOKS. Thomson shows him, and that he never yet has felt what Thom- son impresses. His is one of the works in which blank verse seems properly used. Thomson's wide expansion of general views, and his enu- meration of circumstantial varieties, would have been obstructed and embarrassed by the frequent intersection of the sense, which is the necessary eifect of rhyme. His descriptions of extended scenes and general effects bring before us the whole magnificence of nature, whether pleasing or dreadful. The gayety of Spring, the splendor of Summer, the tranquillity of Autumn, and the horror of Winter, take, in their turns, possession of the mind. The poet leads us through the appearances of things as they are successively varied by the vi- cissitudes of the year, and imparts to us so much of his own enthusiasm, that our thoughts expand with his imagery and kindle with his sentiments. Nor is the naturalist without his part in the entertainment ; for he is assisted to re-collect and to combine, to range his discoveries, and to amplify the sphere of his contemplation. The great defect of the " Seasons" is want of method ; but for this I know not that there was any remedy. Of many ap- pearances subsisting all at once, no rule can be given why one should be mentioned before another ; yet the memory wants the help of order, and curiosity is not excited by suspense or expec- tation. His diction is in the highest degree florid and luxuriant, such as may be said to be to his images and thoughts, "both their lustre and their shade ;" such as invest them with splendor, through which, perhaps, they are not always easily discerned. It is too exuberant, and sometimes may be charged with filling the ear more than the mind. The highest praise which he has received ought not to be suppressed. It is said by Lord Lyttleton, in the Prologue to his posthumous play, that his works contained " No line which, dying, he ooiild wiah to blot." CEITIOAL OBSEEVATIONS. 23 Allan Cimninghani, a neighbor of Kobert Bums, a vigorous prose writer, a composer of Scottish verses, and an editor of several poetical works, has furnisbed in bis excellent biography of Thomson, the following estimate of his characteristics as a poet, and of the " Seasons" as one of his best productions : Thomson is an original poet of the first order ; and what is not always true of originality, one of the most popular in our literature. In loftiness of thought, and poetic glow of lan- guage, few have reached him : ' the march of his Muse is in mid- air ; she rarely alights, but moves on, continuous and sustained ; and in this constant elevation he resembles Spenser more than any other poet ; in sweetness of fancy, in gentleness of soul, and in the natural love of the beautiful and good, the same resem- blance may be found. Though a scholar, and familiar with all the resources of an- cient lore, he rarely allowed learning to get the better of nature : he preferred, he said, finding his poetry in the great volume which Heaven had opened in earth, and air, and sky, to seeking it, with the eyes of others, in the pages of a book ; and con- fessed that he found it more laborious to imitate the beauties of his brethren in song, than to see them in nature, and draw them for himself. His heart was full of the true spirit of poetry, and his speech was song ; his verse is now and then colored, as one flower is by the neighborhood of another, with the hue of classic thought ; but he saw all by the charmed light of his own im- agination, and purified his ' taste rather by contemplating the sublime sculptures of Greece and the scriptural pictures of Italy7 than by the numbers of Homer, or the graces of Virgil. The origin of his " Seasons" has been sought for, but not found, in the vast body of ancient and modern verse. Other poets have loved the shade of the groves ; the odor of the flowers, the song of the birds, the melody of streams, the fra- 24 OEITIOAL 0BSEEVATI0N8. grance of fruit-trees and green fields, the warmth of the sun, the splendor of the moon and stars ; but no poet, save the inspired one who wrote the eighth Psalm, attempted, like Thomson, to raise the beauties, of nature out of the low regions of sensual delight, and make them objects of moral grandeur and spiritual contempla- tion. Thomson perceived order, unity, and high meaning in the loveliest as well as the loftiest things : he loved to observe the connection of the animate with the inanimate; the speechless with the eloquent; and all with God. He saw testimony of heavenly intelligence in the swelling sea, the dropping cloud, and the rolling thunder ; in earthquake and eclipse ; as well as in the presence of Spring on th§ fields, of Summer on the flow- ers, of Autumn in her golden harvest, and of Winter in her frosty breath and her purifying tempests. As the seasons are in nature, so he sung them, and in their proper order. The poet seems not to have erred (in regard to method), as the critic (Dr. Johnson) imagines : he has truly ob- served the great order of the seasons, and followed the footsteps of Nature, without ascribing to one period of the year what be- longs to another ; while he has regarded storms and tempests, earthquakes and plagues, as common to all seasons, and em- ployed them accordingly. His language has been called, by high authorities, swelling and redundant ; but Thomson, with other great poets, held that a certain pomp and measured march of words was necessary to elevate verse which sung of the hum- ble toils of the shepherd, the husbandman, and the mechanic ; and though Campbell prefers the idiomatic simplicity of Cowper, and Coleridge his chastity of diction, to the unvaried pomp of Thomson, yet both confess their preference of the latter, as a lofty and born poet. I believe this conclusion will be that of all who can feel the power, the glow, and the upward flame-like spirit of his poetry. OEITIOAL OBSERVATIONS. 25 From Chambers' Cyclopedia of English Literature the succeeding account of Thomson is selected : The publication of the " Seasons" was an important era in the history of English poetry. So true and beautiful are the descriptions in the poem, and so entirely do they harmonize "with those fresh feelings and glowing impulses which all would wish to cherish, that a love of Nature seems to be synonymous with a love of Thomson. It is difficult to conceive a person of edu- cation, imbued with an admiration of rural or woodland scenery, not entertaming a strong affection and regard for that dehghtful poet, who has painted their charms with so much fidelity and enthusiasm. The same features of blandness and benevolence, of simplicity of design, and beauty of form and color, which we recognize as distinguishing traits of the natural landscape, arc seen in the pages of Thomson, conveyed by his artless mind as faithfully as the lights and shades on the face of creation. No criticism or change of style has, therefore, affected his popular- ity. We may smile at sometimes meeting with a heavy monot- onous period, a false ornament, or tumid expression, the result of an indolent mind working itself up to a great effort, and we may wish the subjects of his description were sometimes more select and dignified ; but this drawback does not affect our per- manent regard or general feeling : our first love remains unal- tered, and Thomson is still the poet with whom some of our best and purest associations are indissolubly joined. In the " Sea- sons" we have a poetical subject poetically treated — filled to overflowing with the richest materials of poetry, and the ema- nations of benevolence. In the " Castle of Indolence" we have the concentration or essence of those materials applied to a sub- ject less poetical, but still affording room for luxuriant fancy, the most exquisite art, and still greater melody of numbers. The power of Thomson, however, lay not in his art, but in the exuberance of his genius, which sometimes required to be disciplined and controlled. The poetic glow is spread over all. 2 26 OEinCAX. OBSEEVATIONS. He never slackens in his enthusiasm, nor tires of pointing out the phenomena of nature, which, indolent as he was, he had surveyed under every aspect till he had become familiar with all. Among the mountains, vales,, and forests, he seems to realize his own words — . Man superior walks Amid the glad creation, musing praise. And looking lively gratitude. But he looks also, as Johnson has finely observed, " with the eye which nature bestows only on a poet — the eye that distin- guishes, in every thing presented to its view, whatever there is on which imagination can dehght to be detained, and with a mind that at once comprehends the vast, and attends to the minute." He looks also with a heart that feels for all man- kind. His sympathies are universal. His touching allusions to the condition of the poor and suffering, to the helpless state of bird and beast in winter ; the description of the peasant per- ishing in the snow, the Siberian esdle, or the Arab pilgrims — all are marked with that humanity and true feeling which shows that the poet's virtues "formed the magic of his song." The ardor and fulness of Thomson's descriptions distinguish them from those of Cowper, who was naturally less enthusias- tic, and who was restricted by his religious tenets, and by his critical and classically formed taste. The diction of the " Sea- sons" is at times pure and musical ; it is too elevated and am- bitious, however, for ordinaiy themes ; and where the poet de- scends to minute description, or to humorous or satirical scenes (as in the account of the chase and fox-hunter's dinner in "Autumn"), the effect is grotesque and absurd. Mr. Campbell has happily said that, " as long as Thomson dwells in the pure contemplation of nature, and appeals to the universal poetry of the human breast, his redundant style comes to us as something venial and adventitious — it is the flowing vesture of the Druid ; and perhaps", to the general experience, is rather imposing ; but CErnOAL OBSERVATIONS. 27 when he returns to the familiar narratives or courtesies of life, the same diction ceases to seem the mantle of inspiration, and only strikes us by its unwieldy diflference from the common cos- tume of expression." Cowper avoided this want of keeping between his style and his subjects, adapting one to the other with inimitable ease, grace, and variety ; yet only rising in one or two instances to the higher flights of Thomson. To no critic upon Thomson's genius, and upon the " Seasons," have I been more largely indebted than to Prof. Wilson (lately the distinguished occupant of the chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edin burgh), as wUl be discovered on reading the notes to this edition. Besides the admirable criticisms from his pen Virhich are there introduced, the following paragi-aphs will be read with interest and gratification : Thomson's genius does not — ^very, very often — though often — delight us by exquisite minute touches in the description of na- ture — ^like that of Cowper. It loves to paint on a great scale — and to dash objects off sweepingly by bold strokes — such, in- deed, as have almost always marked the genius of the mighty masters of the lyre, and the rainbow ! Cowper sets nature be- fore your eyes — Thomson before your imagination. Which do you prefer? Both. Be assured these poets had pored night and day upon nature, in all her aspects, and that she had re- vealed herself equally to both. But they, in their religion, de- lighted in different modes of worship — and both were worthy of the mighty mother. In one mood of mind we love Cowper best; in another, Thomson. Sometimes the "Seasons" are al- most a "Task" — andisometimes the Task is out of season. There is a delightful distinctness in all the pictures of the Bard 28 CErncAL obseevations. of Olney ; glories gloom or glimmer in most oF tliose of the Bard of Ednam. Cowper paints trees ; Thomson, woods. Thomson paints, in a few wondrous lines, rivers from source to sea, like the mighty Burrampooter ; Cowper, in many no very wondrous lines, brightens up one bend of a stream, or awa- kens our fancy to the murmur of some single waterfall. To what era, pray, did Thomson belong ; and to what era, Cowper? To none. Thomson had no precursor — and, till Cowper, no follower. He effulged all at once, sun-like — ^like Scotland's storm-loving, mist-enamored sun, which, till you have seen on a day of thunder, you cannot be said ever to have seen the sun. Cowper followed Thomson merely in time. We should have had the " Task," even had we never had the " Seasons." These two were " heralds of a mighty train issuing ;" add them, then, to the worthies of our own age, — and they belong to it, — and all the rest of the poetry of the modern world — to which add that of the ancient — if mul- tiplied by ten in quantity — and by twenty in quality — would not so %'ariously, so vigorouslj^, so magnificently, so beautifully, and so truly image the form and pressure, the life and spirit of the mother of us all— Nature. Are, then, the " Seasons" and the "Task" great poems? Yes. — Why? We presume you need not be told that that poem must be great, which was the first to paint the rolling mystery of the Year, and to show that all its seasons were but "the varied God." The idea was original and subhme ; and the fulfilment thereof so complete, that some six thousand years having elapsed between the crea- tion of the world and of that poem, some sixty thousand, we prophesy, will elapse between the appearance of that poem and the publication of another equally great, on a subject ex- ternal to the mind, equally magnificent. Some of the remarks of "William Hazlitt, in his Lee- CRITICAL OBSEEVATIONS. 29 fcures on the English Poets, will now be added — as con- tributing to the completeness of a full and exact por- traiture of- the idiosyncrasies of Thomson's mind, and style as a descriptive poet. Thomson is the best of our descriptive poets ; for he gives most of the poetry of natural description. Others have been quite equal to him, or have surpassed him, as Cowper, for in- stance, in the picturesque part of his art, in marking the pe- culiar features and curious details of objects ; no one has yet come up to him in giving the sum-total of their effects, their varying influences on the mind. He does not go into the mi- nutiae of a landscape, but describes the vivid impression which the whole makes upon his own imagination ; and thus transfers the same unbroken, unimpaired impression to the imagination of his readers. The colors with which he paints seem yet breathing, like those of the living statue in the Winter's Tale. Nature, in his descriptions, is seen growing around us, fresh and lusty as in itself. We feel the effect of the atmosphere, its humidity or clearness, its heat or cold, the glow of Summer, the gloom of Winter, the tender promise of the Spring, the full over-shadowing foliage, the declining pomp and deepening tints of Autumn. He transports us to the scorching heat ol vertical suns, or plunges us into the chilling horrors and desola- tion of the frozen zone. We hear the snow drifting against the broken casement without, and see the fire blazing on the hearth within. The first scattered drops of a vernal shower patter on the leaves above our heads, or the coming storm re- sounds through the leafless groves. In a word, he describes not to the eye alone, but to the other senses, and to the whole man. He puts his heart into his subject, writes as he feels, and humanizes whatever he touches. He makes all his de- scriptions teem with life and vivifying soul. His faults were those of his style — of the author and the man ; but the original 30 CEIITOAI, OBSEEVATIONS. genius of the poet, the pith and marrow of his imagination, the fine natural mould in which his feelings were bedded, were too much for him to counteract by neglect, or affectation, or false ornaments. It is for this reason that he is, perhaps, the most popular of all our poets, treating of a subject that all can understand, and in a way that is interesting to all alike, to the ignorant or the refined, because he gives back the impression which the things themselves make upon us in nature. " That," said a man of genius, seeing a httle shabby, soiled copy of Thomson's Seasons lying on the window-seat of an obscure country ale-house — " That is true fame !" THE PLAN AND CHARACTER OF THE "SEASONS." Foe the discriminating and highly illustrative obser- vations that follow upon this topic, I am indebted to the pen of Dr. Aikin, the accomplished editor of the British Poets ; having extracted them from an Essay which he prepared expressly for an elegant edition of the Poem. It will be seen, also, that most of the Remarks introduc- tory to the several "Seasons" have been drawn from the same Essay. Whoever shall give these contributions from his able pen a careiiil perusal, will be compensated for .the labor by a comprehensive and accurate view, and a deep impression, also, of what Thomson designed and successfully accomplished in this immortal Poem. That Thomson's "Seasons" is the original whence our modern descriptive poets have derived that more elegant and correct style of painting natural objects which distinguishes thera from their immediate predecessors, will, I think, appear evident to one who examines their several casts and manners. That none of them, however, have yet equalled their master ; and that his perform- ance is an exquisite piece, replete with beauties of the most en- gaging and delightful kind, will be sensibly felt by all of con- genial taste ; and perhaps no poem was ever composed which 32 PLAN AND CHAEACTEE OF THE addressed itself to the feelings of a greater nurober of readers. It is, therefore, on every account, an object well worthy the at- tention of criticism ; and an inquiry into the peculiar nature of its plan, and the manner of its execution, may be an agree- able introduction to a reperusal of it in the elegant edition now offered to the public. This was the first capital work in which natural description was professedly the principal object. To paint the face of na- ture as changing through the chan^g seasons; to mark the approaches, and trace the progress of these vicissitudes, in a series of landscapes all formed upon images of grandeur or beauty ; and to give animation and variety to the whole, by interspersing manners and incidents suitable to the scenery, appears to be the general design of this poem. Although each of the "Seasons" appears to have been in- tended as a complete piece, and contains within itself the nat- ural order of beginning, jniddle, and termination, yet, as they were at length collected and modelled by their author, they have all a mutual relation to each other, and concur in forming a more comprehensive whole. The annual space in which the earth performs its revolution roimd the sun is so strongly 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 seasons are so many progressive stages in this circuit, which, like the acts in a well-constructed drama, gradually disclose, ripen, and bring to an end, the various business transacted on the great theatre of Nature. The striking analogy which this period, vrith its sev- eral divisions, bears to the coui-se of human existence, has been remarked and pursued by writers of all ages and countries. Spring has been represented as the youth of the year — the sea- son of pleasing hope, lively energy, and rapid increase. Summer has been resembled to perfect manhood — the season of steady warmth, confirmed strength, and unremitting vigor. Autumn; which, while it bestows the rich products of full maturity, is PLAN AND OHAEACTEE 01" THE "SEASONS." 33 yet ever hastening to detline, has been aptly compared to that period when the man, mellowed by age, yields the most valua- ble fruits of experience and wisdom, but daily exhibits increasing symptoms of decay. The cold, cheerless, and sluggish Winter has almost without a metaphor been termed the decrepit and hoary old age of the year. Thus the history of the Year, pur- sued through its changing seasons, is that of an individual, whose existence is marked by a progressive course from its origin to its termination. It is thus represented by our poet. This idea preserves a unity and connection through his whole work ; and the accurate observer will remark a beautiful chain of circumstances in his description, by which the birth, vigor, declme, and extinction of the vital principle of the year, are pictured in the most lively manner. This order and gradation of the whole runs, as has been al- ready hinted, through each division of the poem. Every season has its incipient, confirmed, and receding state, of which its his- torian ought to give distinct views, arranged according to the succession in which they appear. Each, too, like the prismatic colors, is indistinguishably blended in its origin and termination with that which precedes and which follows it ; and it may be expected from the pencil of an artist to hit off these mingled shades so as to produce a pleasing and picturesque effect. Our poet has not been inattentive to these circumstances in the con- duct of his plan. His Spring begins with a view of the season as yet unconfirmed, and partaking of the roughness of Winter ; and it is not till after several steps in gradual progression, that it breaks forth in all its ornaments, as the favorite of Love and Pleasure. His Autumn, after a rich prospect of its bounties and splendors, gently fades into " the sere, the yellow leaf," and with the lengthened night, the clouded sun, and the rising storm, sinks into the arms of Winter. It is remarkable, that in order to produce something of a similar effect in his Summer, a season which, on account of its uniformity of character, does not admit of any strongly marked gradations, he has comprised the whole 2* 34 of his description within the limits of a single day, pursuing the coiirse of the sun from its rising to its setting. A summer's day is, in reality, a just model of the entire season. Its begin- ning is moist and temperate ; its middle, sultry and parching ; its close, soft and refreshing. By thus exhibiting all the vicis- situdes of Summer under one point of view, they are rendered much more striking than could have been done in a series of feebly contrasted and scarcely distinguishable periods. Every grand and beautiful appearance in nature that distin- guishes one portion of the annual circuit from another, is a proper source of materials for the Poet of the Seasons. Of these, some are obvious to the common observer, and require only justness and elegance of taste for the selection ; others discover them- selves only to the mind opened and enlarged by science and phi- losophy. The most vivid imagination cannot paint to itseK scenes of grandeur equal to those which cool science and de- monstration offer to the enlightened mind. Objects so vast and magnificent as planets rolling with even pace through their orbits, comets rushing along their devious track, light springing from its unexhausted source, mighty rivers formed in their subterra- nean beds, do not require, or even admit, a heightening from the fancy. The most faithful pencil here produces the noblest pic- tures ; and Thomson, by strictly adheiing to the character of the Poet of Nature, has treated all these topics with a true sublim- ity, which a wiiter of less knowledge and accuracy could never have attained. The strict propriety with which subjects from Astronomy and the other parts of Natural Philosophy are in- troduced into a poem describing the changes of the seasons, need not be insisted on, since it is obvious that the primary cause of all these changes is to be sought in principles derived from these sciences. They are the groundwork of the whole ; and establish that connected series of cause and effect, upon which all those appearances in nature depend, from whence the descriptive poet draws his materials. The correspondence between certain changes in the animal and PLAN AND CHARACTER OF THE "SEASONS." 35 vegetable tribes^ and those revolutions of the heavenly bodies which produce the vicissitudes of the seasons, is the foundation of an alliance between Astronomy and ¥atural History, that equally demands attention, as a matter of curious speculation and of practical utility. The astronomical calendar, filled up by the Naturalist, is a combination of science at the same time preg- nant with important instruction to the husbandman, and fertile in grand and pleasing objects to the poet and philosopher. Thomson seems constantly to have kept in view a combination of this kind ; and to have formed from it such an idea of the economy of Nature, as enabled him to preserve a regularity of method and uniformity of design through all the variety of his descriptions. We shall attempt to draw out a kind of historical narrative of his progress through the seasons, as far as this order is observed. [This portion of the Essay has been distrib- uted to the several Seasons, under the head of Introductory Eemarks.] But the rural landscape is not solely made up of land and water, and trees, and birds, and beasts ; Man is a distinguished fire in it ; his multiplied occupations and concerns introduce them- selves into every part of it ; he intermixes even in the wildest and rudest scenes, and throws a hfe and interest upen every sur- rounding object. Manners and character, therefore, constitute a part even of a descriptive poem ; and in a plan so extensive as the history of the Year, they must enter under various forms, and upon numeroias occasions. The most obvious and appropriate use of human figures in pictures (rf the Seasons, is the introduction of them to assist in marking out the succession of annual changes by their various labors and amusements. In common with other animals, man is directed in the diversified employment of earning a toilsome sub- sistence by an attention to the vicissitudes of the seasons, and all his diversions in the simpler state of rustic society are also regulated by the same circumstance. Thus a series of moving figures enlivens the landscape, and contributes to stamp on each 36 PLAN AND CHAKACTEK OF THE scene its peculiar character. The shepherd, the husbandman, the hunter, appear in their turns ; and may be considered as natural concomitants of that portion of the yearly round which prompts their several occupations. But it is not only the bodily pursuits of man which are affect- ed by these changes ; the sensations and affections of his mind are almost equally under their influence ; and the result of the whole, as forming the enamored votary of Nature to a peculiar cast of character and manners, is not less conspicuous. Thus the Poet of the Seasons is at liberty, without deviating from his plan, to descant on the vaiieties of moral constitution, and the power which external causes are found to possess over the tem- per of the soul. He may draw pictures of the pastoral life in all its genuine simplicity ; and, assuming the tone of a moral instructor, may contrast the peace and felicity of innocent retire- ment with the turbulent agitations of ambition and avarice. The various incidents, too, upon which the simple tale of rural events is founded, are very much modelled- by the difference of seasons. The catastrophes of Winter differ from those of Sum- mer ; the sports of Spring, from those of Autumn. Thus, little historic pieces and adventures, whether pathetic or amusing, will suggest themselves to the poet ; which, when properly adapted to the;, scenery and circumstances, may very happily coincide with the main design of the composition. The b^e enumeration of these several occasions of introducing draughts of human life and manners, will be sufficient to call to mind the admirable use which Thomson, throughout his whole poem, has made of them. He, in fact, never appears more truly inspired with his subject than when giving birth to those senti- ments of tenderness and beneficence, which seem to have occu- pied his whole heart. A universal benevolence extending to every part of the animal creation, manifests itself in almost every scene he draws ; and the rural character, as delineated in his feelings, contains all the softness, puiity, and simplicity that are feigned of the golden age. PLAN AND CHAEACTEE OF THE "SEASONS." 37 But there is a strain of sentiment of a higher and more di- gressive nature, with which Thomson has occupied a considerable portion of his poem. T he fu ndamental principles of Moral Phi:i_ losoghy;, Jieas concerning the origin and progr^ of government and civilization, historical sketches, and reviews of the characters most famous in ancient and modem history, are interspersed through various parts of the Seasoiis.- The manly, liberal, and enlightened spirit which this writer breathes in all his works, must ever endear him to the friends of truth and virtue ; and, in particular, his genuine patriotism and zeal in the cause of liberty will render his writings always estimable to the British [and American] reader. There is another source of sentiment to the Poet of the Sea- sons, which, while it is superior to the last in real elevation, is also strictly connected with the nature of his work. The gen- uine philosopher, while he surveys the grand and beautiful ob- jects everywhere surrounding him, will be prompted to lift his eye to the great Cause of all these wonders, — the Planner and Architect of all this mighty fabric, every minute part of which so much awakens his curiosity and admiration. The laws by which this Being acts, the ends which He seems to have pur- sued, must excite his humble researches ; and in proportion as he discovers infinite power in the means, directed by infinite goodness in the intention, his soul must be wrapped in astonish- ment, and expanded with gratitude. The economy of Nature will, to such an observer, be the perfect scheme of an all- wise and beneficent mind ; and every part of the wide creation will appear to proclaim the praise of its great Author. Thus a new connection will manifest itself between the several parts of the ' universe, and a new order and design will be traced through the progress of its various revolutions. Thus is planned and constructed a Poem, which, founded as it is upon the unfading beauties of Nature, will live as long as the language in which it is written shall be read. [p[^0[K]©. SPRING. INTEODUCTOET EEMAEKS. Spring is characterized as the season of the renovation of nature ; in which animals and vegetables, excited by the kindly influence of returning warmth, shake off the torpid inaction of Winter, and prepare for the continuance and increase of their several species. The vegetable tribes, as more independent and self-provided, lead the way in this progress. The poet, accord- ingly, begins with representing the revivisoent plants emerging, as soon as genial showers have softened the ground, in numbers " beyond the power of botanists to reckon up their tribes." The opening blossoms and flowers soon call forth from their winter retreats those industrious insects which derive sustenance from their nectarious juices. As the beams of the sun become more potent, the lai-ger vegetables, shrubs, and trees unfold their leaves ; and, as soon as a friendly concealment is by their means provided for the various nations of the feathered race, they joy- fully begin the course of laborious, but pleasing occupations, which are to engage them during the whole season. The de- lightful series of pictures, so truly expressive of that genial spirit that pervades the spring, which Thomson has formed on the variety of circumstances attending the Passion of the Groves, cannot escape the notice and admiration of the most negligent eye. Afiected by the same soft influence, and equally indebted to the renewed vegetable tribes for food and shelter, the several Mnds of quadrupeds are represented as concurring in the celebra- tion of this charming season with conjugal and parental rights. 43 SPEINQ INTEODUCTOEY EEMAEK8. Even Man himself, though from his social condition less under the dominion of physical necessities, is properly described as partaking of the general ardor. Such is the order and connec- tion of this whole book, that it might well pass for a commen- tary upon a most beautiful passage in the philosophical poet, Lucretius (Lib. I. 251-262), who certainly wanted nothing but a better system and more circumscnbed subject, to have ap- peared as one of the greatest masters of description in either ancient or modern poetry. 0|irxwg, THE ARGUMENT. The subject proposed. — ^Inscribed to the Countess of Hertford. — ^The Season is de- scribed as it affects the various parts of Nature, ascending ftrom the lower to tho liigher; -with digressions arising ft-om the subject. — Its influence on inanimate Matter, on Yegetables, on brute Animals, and last on Man ; concluding with a dissuasivo from the wild and irregular passion of Love, opposed to that of a pure and happy kind. Come, gentle Spring, ethereal Mildness, come ; And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud. While music wakes around, veil'd in a shower Ki > Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend. 1. Come, i&c : Spring is here poetically addressed as a person, and invited to come forth from a rain-cloud, amidst the music of birds awaking from the long silence of winter, and " veiled in a shower of shadowing roses," because these are among the most beautiful products of the season. She is described also as ethereal Mildness, to indicate her peculiarly gentle character in contrast with the stern rigor of tho season that precedes her. The exuberance of Fancy displayed in this first paragraph greatly offends the critical taste of Hazlitt, who, with his usual extravagance, remarks, that Thomson " fills up the intervals of true inspiration with the most vapid and worthless materials, pieces out a beautiful half-line with a bombastic allusion, or overloads an exquisitely natural sentiment or image with a cloud of painted, pompous, cumbrous phrases, Uke the shower of roses in which he represents the Spring, his own lovely, fresh, and innocent Spring, as descending to the earth." " Who" (he adds), "from such a flimsy, roundabout, unmeaning commencement as this, would expect the delightful, unexaggerated, home-felt descriptions of a SPRING. Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts With unaffected grace, or walk the plain 5 With innocence and meditation join'd In soft assemblage, listen to my song, natural scenery, which are scattered in such unconscious profusion through this and the following cantos ! For instance, the very next passage is crowded with a set of striking^ images." It will he a sufficient offset to the ahove effusion of Hazlitt concern- ing this introduction to " Spring," to place beside it the observations of Prof "Wilson, the distinguished poet and critic of Scotland. " That pic- tui'e is indistinctly and obscurely beautiful to the imagination, and there is not a syllable about sex — though ' ethereal Mildness^ which is an im- personation, and hardly an impersonation, must be, it is felt, a virgin goddess, whom all the divinities that dwell between heaven and earth must love. Kever, to our taste, had poem a more beautiful beginning. It is not simple ; nor ought it to be : it is rich, and even gorgeous — ^for the bard came to his subject full of inspiration ; and as it was the in- spiration, here, not of profound thought, but of passionate emotion, it was right that music at the very first moment should overflow the page, and that it should be literally strewed with roses. An imperfect impersonation is often proof positive of the highest state of poetical enthusiasm. The forms of nature undergo a half-humanizing process under the intensity of our love, yet still retain the character of the in- sensate creation, thus affecting us with a sweet, strange, almost bewil- dering, blended emotion that scarcely belongs to either separately, but to both together chngs as to a phenomenon that only the eye of genius sees, because only the soul of genius can give it a presence — though afterwards all eyes dimly recognize it, on its being shown to them, as something more vivid than their own faint experience, yet either kindred to it, or virtually one and the same." One of the most remarkable characteristics of this poem is the great frequency and beauty of the instances of Personification, or Prosopopoeia, whicli it contains — a figm-e of speech in which the external form, the sentiments, the language, or acts, of an animated, sentient being are at- tributed to an inanimate, u-rational one. For a second example, we have to look no farther than to the eleventh line, where commences an admirable personification of Winter. A much more full and perfect instance, however, is furnished at the opening of " Summer" to which the reader is referred. The several parts of this poem ai-e not arranged in the order of their original publication, which was the foUowmg : — Winter, Summer, Spring, Autumn. These made their appearance, respectively, in tlie years 1126, IVZT 1'728, and IISO. sPEma. 45 Which thy own Season paints ; when Nature all Is blooming and benevolent, like thee. ' 10 And see where surly Winter passes off. Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts : His blasts obey, and quit the howling hUl, The shatter'd forest, and the ravaged vale ; While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, 15 Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost, The mountains lift their green heads to the sky. /^ As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd. And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze. Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets 20 Deform the day delightless : so that scarce The progress of man's life (says Cunningham) has often been com- pared to that of the Year ; and Thomson, it is likely, regarded this sub- ject in that light, when, at the happy suggestion of Mallet, he resolved to unite the four " Seasons" into one continuous poem ; making " hoary Wintei'" the conclusion, and infant Spring the commencement. On Spring he therefore calls ; she descends, amid moisture from above, and music from below ; and as she comes. Winter withdraws his snow from the hiU, and his winds from the leafless woods, and leaves with reluc- tanco the scene to his successor — (27-43). 5. Hertford : The Countess of Hertford, to whom this " Season" was originally dedicated by the poet. She was the wife of Algernon, then Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset. To her generous intercession Savage the poet, condemned for murder, owed his pardon. She was not only a patroness of poets, but herself the writer of several poems in Dr. Watts' Miscellanies, there attributed to Eusebia. Her letters to Dr. Isaac Watts, published in the Elegant Epistles, vol. v., give us a favorable opinion of her piety, amiableness, and intellectual culture. Thomson's Dedication intimates that his " Spring" was written under the encouragement, and in the hope of her needed patronage. He had the honor of passing one summer as a guest at her country- seat, it bSng usually her practice to invite some poet to pass that sea- son with her, to aid her in her poetical studies. She was an intimate friend of the devout Mrs. Elizabeth Eowe. The compliments which Thomson pays to her, both in the original dedication and in the text, appear not to have been undeserved. His previous publication of Winter was the means of securing to him her favorable regard, besides that of several other distinguished characters. 46 SPEING. The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulf 'd. To shake the sounding marsh ; or from the shore The plovers, when to scatter o'er the heath. And sing their wild notes to the list'ning waste, 25 INFLUENCE OP SPRING ON INANIMATE MATTER. At last from Aries /oils the bounteous Sun, And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more Th' expansive atmosphere is cramp'd with cold ; But, full of life and vivifying soul,J Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thin, 30 Fleecy, and white o'er all surrounding heaven. Forth fly the tepid airs ; and unconfined. Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays. 22. The bittern belongs to the class of birds called GralltB, or Waders, having very long legs, which fit them to wade in water. The genus Ardeidce embraces Cranes, Storks, and Herons. These latter differ from cranes in being carnivorous ; also in having larger bills and longer legs. They have also more beautiful plumage and elegant crests. Tliey build their nests in company, usually in trees near river-banks, but generally feed and live apart. They live chiefly upon fish, which they secure by piercing them with their long and sharp bills. To the heron tribe be- long the bittern and the egret, both of which are natives of Britain. 24. The plover tribe belongs also to the Waders, but it is less aquatic than most of the other species. They occupy, for the most part, sandy and unsheltered shores or upland moora They congregate in flocks, and run at a rapid rate. They live on worms, which they bring towards the siurface of the ground by patting on it with their feet. The plover is not confined to Britain, but ia widely distributed. 26. Aries : That portion of the Zodiac which the Sun appears to enter on the 21st of March. The next Sign which receives him, a month af- terwards, is Taurus, or the bright Bull, so called from tlie brilliancy of the stars in and near it. 80. Sublime, for sublimely. It is a practice with poets frequently to use the adjective adverbially, to modify the idea expressed by the verb or phrase to which it may stand related. It is a very convenient and beautiful peculiarity of our language that it admits of such a substi- tution. SPRING. 47 Joyous, th' impatient \^sbandmaiy perceives Kelenting Nature, and his lusty steers 35 Drives from their stalls, to where the well-used plough Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the frost. There unrefusing, to the harness'd yoke They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil, Cheer'd by the simple song and soaring lark. 40 Meanwhile incumbent o'er the shining share The master leans, removes th' obstructing clay. Winds the whole work, and sidelong lays the glebe. While thro' the neighboring fields the sower jstalks, With measured step ; and liberal throws the grain 45 Into the faithful bosom of the ground. The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene. Be gracious. Heaven ! for now laborious man Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, blow ; Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, descend ! 50 And temper all, thou world-reviving Sun, v' Into the perfect year ! Nor ye, who live In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride. Think these lost themes, unworthy of your ear : Such themes as these the rural Maro sung 65 43. Winds the whole work : The English method of ploughing consists in first running a furrow through the centre of a field, and then taking oif successive furrows on either side by passing with the plough round and round that first furrow. 46-62. " The farmer now commits his seed-corn to the furrow ; the harrow follows, and shuts the scene ; and the poet calls on lenient airs and gentle warmth to bring their aid to the labors of man." 55. Maro : Publius Virgiliua Maro, the great Latin poet, author of the ^neid and the Georgics, was born B. C. 70, in the village of Andes, near Mantua, in Italy. His " Georgics" is an exquisite and most elabo- rate poem, treating upon Agriculture, and one that greatly interested the Emperor Augustus. In allusion to this, his most finished produc- tion, and to his Eclogues, or Pastoral Poems, our author very properly styles him the rural poet. From the time of Eomiitus (says Dunlap) to that of Cmsar, agriculture 48 SPEING. To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height Of elegance and taste, by Greece refined. In ancient times, the sacred plough employ'd The kings, and awful fathers of mankind. And some, with whom compared your insect tribes 60 Are but the beings of a summer's day. Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm Of mighty war ; then, with unwearied hand. Disdaining little delicacies, seized The plough, and greatly independent lived. 65 Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough ! had been the chief care of the BomaDS. Its operations were conducted by the greatest statesmen, and its precepts inculcated by the profound est scholars. The long continuance, however, and cruel ravages of the civil wars, had now occasioned an almost general desolation. In these circumstances, Maecenas resolved, if possible, to revive the decayed spirit of agriculture, to recall the lost habits of peaceful industry, and to make rural improvement, as it had been in former times, the prevailing amuse- ment among the great; and he wisely judged that no method was so likely to contribute to these important objects as a recommendation of agriculture by all the insinuating charms of poetry. At his suggestion, accordingly, Yirgil commenced his Oeorgics — a poem as remarkable for majesty and magnificence of diction as the Eclogues are for sweetness and harmony of versification. 60. And some,