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 1892a 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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SPRING 
 
 JAMES THOMSON 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 5 1 
 
 goston 
 
 ESTES AND LAURIAT 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
 \'0 
 
Copyright, 1892, 
 By ESTES AND LAURIAT. 
 
 Typography by J S. dishing & Co., Boston. 
 Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 
 
* X. 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 COME, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, 
 come : 
 And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud. 
 While music wakes around, veiled in a shower 
 Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend. 
 
 O Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts 
 With unaffected grace, or walk the plain 
 7 
 
«T1h' .$• en oons. 
 
 With innocence and meditation joined 
 In sot'i assemblage, listen to m\ song, 
 Which thy own season paints; when nature 
 
 all 
 Is blooming and benevolent like thee. 
 
 And see where surly Winterpasses off, 
 Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts: 
 His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill, 
 The shattered forest, and the ravaged vale; 
 \Yh : " \tr gales succeed, at whose kind 
 
 .ouch, 
 living snows in livid torrents lost, 
 i he mountains lift their green heads to the 
 
 sky. 
 As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed, 
 And Winter ofl at eve resumes the bree e, 
 Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving 
 
 sleets 
 Deform the day delightless: so that scarce 
 The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulfed, 
 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 listening 
 
 waste. S 
 
Spring. 
 
 At la .1 from Aries rolls the bount< 
 And the bright bull dm. 'I hen no 
 
 more 
 'I he i cramped with 
 
 coldj 
 But, full of life and vivifying soul, 
 Lifts the lighl clouds tublime, and spreads 
 
 them thin, 
 Fleei y,and ■■■ Int.-. o'er all-surrounding he; 
 I- orth fly the tepid airs : ami fin< 
 
 Unbinding earth, the moving soft s. 
 
 Joyou . Hi<; impatienl husbandman p 
 R( [enting nature, and his lusl 
 
 from theii stalls, to where the well- 
 used plough 
 Lie in the furrow, loosened from the fro 
 There, unrefusing, to the harne 
 'I hey lend their shoulder, and begin their 
 
 toil, 
 Cheered by the simple song and soaring lark. 
 Meanwhile in< umbenl o'er the shining share 
 'I he ma »tei leans, o-ino-. e - the ob >ti u< ting 
 
 clay, 
 Wind-, the whole work, and sidelong la; 
 
 glebe. 9 
 
Clir Seasons. 
 
 White, through the neighbouring fields the 
 
 sower stalks. 
 With measured stop; and. liberal, throws the 
 
 grain 
 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, de- 
 scend ! 
 And temper all. thou world-reviving sun, 
 Into the perfect year ! Nor ye who live 
 In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride. 
 Think these last themes unworthy o\ your 
 
 ear : 
 Such themes as these the rural Maro sung 
 To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height 
 Of elegance and taste, by Greece refined. 
 In ancient times the sacred plough employed 
 The kings and awful fathers of mankind : 
 And some, with whom compared your insect- 
 tribes 10 
 
Spring. 
 
 Are but the beings of a summer's day, 
 
 Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm 
 
 Of mighty war; then, with victorious hand, 
 
 Disdaining little delicacies, seized 
 
 The plough, and, greatly independent, scorned 
 
 All the vile stores corruption can bestow. 
 
 Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough ; 
 And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing 
 
 vales, 
 Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun, 
 Luxuriant and unbounded ! As the sea, 
 Far through his azure turbulent domain, 
 Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores 
 Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports ; 
 So with superior boon may your rich soil. 
 Exuberant, Nature's better blessings pour 
 O'er every land, the naked nations clothe, 
 And be the exhaustless granary of a world ! 
 
 Nor only through the lenient air this change, 
 Delicious, breathes ; the penetrative sun, 
 His force deep-darting to the dark retreat 
 Of vegetation, sets the steaming power 
 At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth, 
 In various hues ; but chiefly thee, gay green, 
 L3 
 
Erje Reasons. 
 
 Thou smiling nature's universal robe ! 
 United light and shade ! where the sight 
 
 dwells 
 With growing strength and ever-new delight. 
 From the moist meadow to the withered 
 
 hill, 
 Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, 
 And swells and deepens to the cherished eye. 
 The hawthorn whitens ; and the juicy groves 
 Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 
 Till the whole leafy forest stands displayed, 
 In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales ; 
 Where the deer rustle through the twining 
 
 brake, 
 And the birds sing concealed. At once, 
 
 arrayed 
 In all the colours of the flushing year, 
 By nature's swift and secret working hand, 
 The garden glows, and fills the liberal air 
 With lavish fragrance; while the promised 
 
 fruit 
 Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived, 
 Within its crimson folds . Now from the town 
 Buried in smoke and sleep and noisome damps, 
 14 
 
Spring. 
 
 Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields, 
 Where freshness breathes, 
 
 And dash the trembling drops 
 From the bent bush, as through the verdant 
 maze 
 
tf"lu* Seasons, 
 
 01 sweetbrier hedges 1 pursue my walk; 
 Or taste the smell of dairy; or ascend 
 Some eminence, Augusta, in tin plains, 
 Ami sco the country, far diffused around, 
 One boundless blush, one white-empurpled 
 
 shower 
 ( )f mingled blossoms ; where the raptured e) e 
 Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath 
 The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies. 
 It, brushed from Russian wilds, a cutting 
 
 gale 
 Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings 
 The clammy mildew ; or, dry-blowing, breathe 
 Untimely frost ; before whose baleful blasl 
 The full-blown Spring through all her foliage 
 
 shrinks. 
 
 Joyless ami dead, a wide-dejected waste. 
 For oft, engendered by the hazj North, 
 Myriads on myriads, insect-armies waft 
 Keen in the poisoned breeze ; ami wasteful oat. 
 Through buds ami bark, into the blackened 
 
 core, 
 Their eager way. A feeble race, yet oft 
 The sacred sons of vengeance; on whose 
 
 course to 
 
■Spring. 
 
 Corrosive famine waits, and kills the year. 
 
 '•<!; this plague, the skilful fanner chaff 
 
 And blazing straw before his ore. hard burns; 
 
 Till, all involved in smoke, the latent foe 
 
 From every i raony suffocated falls ; 
 
 ilic blooms il)<-' pungent dust 
 
 Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe; 
 
 Or, when the envenomed leaf begins to curl, 
 
 With sprinkled water drowns them in their 
 nest ; 
 
 Nor, while they pick them up with busy hill, 
 
 The little trooping birds unwisely scares. 
 Be patient, swains; these cruel-seeming 
 winds 
 
 Blow not in vain, far hence they keep, re- 
 pressed, 
 
 Those deepening clouds on clouds, surcharged 
 with rain, 
 
 That, o'er the vast Atlantic hither home. 
 
 In endless train, would quench the summer- 
 hla/e. 
 
 And, cheerless, drown the crude unripened 
 
 year. 
 The Northeast spends his rage : and now, 
 shut up 17 
 
3Tfjr Srasons. 
 
 Within his iron caves, the effusive South 
 Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven 
 Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers 
 
 distent. 
 At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise, 
 Scarce staining ether; but by fast degrees, 
 In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails 
 Along the loaded sky. and, mingling deep, 
 Sits on the horizon round a settled gloom : 
 Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed, 
 Oppressing life; but lovely, gentle, kind, 
 And full of every hope and every joy, 
 The wish of Nature. Gradual sinks the breeze 
 Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath 
 Is heard to quiver through the closing woods, 
 Or rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves 
 Of aspen tall. The uncurling floods, diffused 
 In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse 
 Forgetful of their course. T is silence all. 
 And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks 
 Drop the dry sprig, and, mute-imploring, eye 
 The falling verdure. Hushed in short sus- 
 pense, 
 The plumy people streak their wings with oil. 
 18 
 
Spring. 
 
 To 111 row the lucid moisture trickling off; 
 And wait the approaching sign to strike, at 
 
 once, 
 Into tiie general choir. Even mountains. 
 
 vales, 19 
 
CTjjr Seasons. 
 
 And forests seem, impatient, to demand 
 The promised sweetness . Man superior walks 
 Amid the glad creation, musing praise, 
 And looking lively gratitude. At last, 
 The clouds consign their treasures to the fields. 
 And. softly shaking on the dimpled pool 
 Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow, 
 In large effusion, o'er the freshened world. 
 The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard. 
 By such as wander through the forest-walks. 
 Beneath the umbrageous multitude of leaves. 
 But who can hold the shade, while heaven de- 
 scends 
 In universal bounty, shedding herbs 
 And fruits and flowers on Nature's ample lap? 
 Swift fancy hied anticipates their growth ; 
 And. while the milky nutriment distils. 
 Beholds the kindling country colour round. 
 
 Thus all day long the full-distended clouds 
 Indulge their genial stores, and well-showered 
 
 earth 
 Is deep enriched with vegetable life ; 
 Till, in the western sky. the downward sun 
 Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flush 
 20 
 
Spring. 
 
 Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam. 
 The rapid radiance instantaneous strikes 
 The illumined mountain, through the forest- 
 streams, 
 Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist, 
 Far smoking o'er the interminable plain, 
 In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 
 Moist, bright, and green, the landskip laughs 
 
 around. 
 Full swell the woods ; their every music wakes, 
 Mixed in wild concert, with the warbling 
 
 brooks 
 Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills. 
 The hollow lows responsive from the vales. 
 Whence, blending all, the sweetened zephyr 
 
 springs. 
 Meantime, refracted from yon eastern cloud, 
 Bestriding earth, the grand ethereal bow 
 Shoots up immense ; and every hue unfolds, 
 In fair proportion, running from the red 
 To where the violet fades into the sky. 
 Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds 
 Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism ; 
 And to the sage-instructed eye unfold 
 23 
 
flHir Seasons. 
 
 The various twine of light, by thee disclosed 
 From the white mingling maze. Not so the 
 
 swain ; 
 He, wondering, views the bright enchantment 
 
 bend. 
 Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs 
 To catch the falling glory ; but, amazed. 
 Beholds the amusive arch before him fly, 
 Then vanish quite away. Still night succeeds, 
 A softened shade, and saturated earth 
 Awaits the morning beam, to give to light, 
 Raised through ten thousand different plastic 
 
 tubes. 
 The balmy treasures of the former day. 
 
 Then spring the living herbs, profusely wild 
 O'er all the deep-green earth, beyond the 
 
 power 
 Of botanist to number up their tribes: 
 Whether he steals along the lonely dale. 
 In silent search ; or through the forest, rank 
 With what the dull incurious weeds account. 
 Bursts his blind way : or climbs the mountain 
 
 rock. 
 Fired by the nodding verdure of its brow. 
 ^4 
 
Spring. 
 
 With such a liberal hand has Nature flung 
 Their seeds abroad, blown them about in 
 
 winds, 
 [nnumerous mixed them with the nursing 
 
 mould, 
 The moistening current, and prolific rain. 
 But who their virtues can declare? Who 
 
 pierce, 
 With vision pure, into these secret stores 
 
 
(2 In- Seasons, 
 
 Of health, and life, and J03 ? the food of man, 
 While yet he lived in innocence, and told 
 A length of golden years, unfleshed in blood, 
 A stranger to the savage arts of life, 
 Death, rapine, carnage, surfeit, ami disease, 
 The lord, ami not the tyrant, of the world. 
 The first fresh dawn then waked the glad- 
 dened race 
 Of un corrupted man. nor blushed to see 
 The sluggard sleep beneath its sacred beam. 
 For their light slumbers gentl} fumed awa\ ; 
 Ami up they rose as vigorous as the sun. 
 Or to the culture of the willing glebe, 
 Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock. 
 Meantime the song went round : ami dance 
 
 ami sport. 
 Wisdom ami friendly talk, successive stole 
 Their hours away. While in the rosy vale 
 1 ove breathed his infant sighs, from anguish 
 free. 
 
 Ami full replete with bliss: save the sweet 
 
 pain. 
 That, inly thrilling, hut exalts it more. 
 Nor vet injurious act. nor surly deed, 
 
 JO 
 
Spring. 
 
 Was known among these happj 
 
 Hea 
 For rea ;on and benevolent e were b 
 I [armoniou -. Nature too looked smiling on. 
 ( [ear shone 1 1"- skie >, ( ooled with eternal 
 
 gale . 
 And balmy spirit all. The youthful sun 
 Shot, his best rays, and -.till the gracious 
 
 cloud . 
 Dropped fatness <lov. n ; as o'ei the swelling 
 
 mead 
 The herds and flocks, commixing, played se- 
 
 i no-. 
 This when, emergenl from the gloomy wood, 
 The glaring lion saw, his horrid hearl 
 \V;i i tneekened, and he joined his sullen joy. 
 For music held the whole in perfed pea< 
 Soft sighed the flute; the tender voice was 
 
 heard, 
 Warbling the varied heart; the woodlands 
 
 round 
 Applied their choir; and winds and waters 
 
 flowed 
 In consonance. Such were those prime of 
 27 
 
iZTiic Season*, 
 
 But now those white unblemished man- 
 ners, whence 
 The fabling poets took their golden age, 
 Are found no more amid these iron times. — 
 These dregs o( life! Now the distempered 
 
 mind 
 Has lost that concord of harmonious powers 
 Which forms the soul of happiness ; and all 
 Is off the poise within : the passions all 
 Have burst their bounds: and reason half ex- 
 tinct. 
 Or impotent, or else approving, sees 
 The foul disorder. Senseless and deformed, 
 Convulsive anger storms at large ; or. pale 
 And silent, settles into tell revenge. 
 Base envy withers at another's joy. 
 And hates that excellence it cannot reach. 
 Desponding tear. o\ feeble fancies full. 
 Weak ami unmanly, loosens every power. 
 Even love itself is bitterness of soul, 
 A pensive anguish pining at the heart : 
 Or, sunk to sordid interest, feels no more 
 That noble wish, that never cloved desire, 
 Which, selfish joy disdaining, seeks alone 
 28 
 
spring. 
 
 To bless i he dearer obje< i of its flame. 
 Hope sickens with extravagance; and grief, 
 Of life impatient, into madness swells ; 
 Or in dead silence wastes the weeping hours. 
 These, and a thousand mixl emotions more, 
 From ever-changing views of good and ill, 
 Formed infinitely various, vex the mind 
 With endless storm. Whence, deeply rank- 
 ling, grows 
 The partial thought, a listless unconcern, 
 Cold, and averting from our neighbour's good ; 
 Then dark disgusl and hatred, winding wiles, 
 Coward deceit, and ruffian violence. 
 At last, extinct each social feeling, fell 
 And joyless inhumanity pervades 
 And petrifies the heart. Nature disturbed 
 Is deemed, vindictive, to have changed her 
 
 When the deep-cleft disparting orb, that 
 
 arched 
 The central waters round, impetuous rushed, 
 With universal hurst, into the gulf, 
 3 1 
 
GTfic Seasons. 
 
 Ami o'er the high-piled hills of fractured 
 
 earth 
 Wide dashed the waves, in undulation vast ; 
 Till, from the centre to the streaming clouds, 
 A shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe. 
 
 The seasons since have, with severer sway. 
 Oppressed a broken world: the Winter keen 
 Shook forth his waste of snows; and Summer 
 
 shot 
 His pestilential heats. Great Spring, before, 
 Greened all the year; and fruits and blos- 
 soms blushed, 
 In social sweetness, on the selfsame bough. 
 Pure was the temperate air; an even calm 
 Perpetual reigned, save what the zephyrs 
 
 bland 
 Breathed o'er the blue expanse: for then nor 
 
 storms 
 Were taught to blow, nor hurricanes to rage ; 
 Sound slept the waters ; no sulphureous 
 
 glooms 
 Swelled in the sky, and sent the lightning 
 
 forth ; 
 W r hile sickly damps, and cold autumnal logs, 
 32 
 
spring. 
 
 Hung not, relaxing, on the springs of life. 
 But now, of turbid elements the sport, 
 From clear to cloudy tost, from hot to cold, 
 And dry to moist, with inward-eating change, 
 Our drooping days are dwindled down to 
 
 naught, 
 Their period finished ere 7 t is well begun. 
 And yet the wholesome herb neglected 
 dies ; 
 Though with the pure exhilarating soul 
 Of nutriment and health, and vital powers, 
 Beyond the search of art, 't is copious blest. 
 For, with hot ravine fired, ensanguined man 
 Is now become the lion of the plain, 
 And worse. 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 
 
 steer, 
 At whose strong chest the deadly tiger hangs, 
 E'er ploughed for him. They too are tem- 
 pered high. 
 
 33 
 
(die Reasons. 
 
 Nor lodges pity in their shaggy breast. 
 
 Bu1 man, whom Nature formed of milder 
 
 clay. 
 With every kind emotion in his heart, 
 And taught alone to wee]) — while from her 
 
 lap 
 She pours ten thousand delicacies, herbs, 
 And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain 
 Or beams that gave them birth — shall he, 
 
 fair form, 
 Who wears sweet smiles, and looks erect on 
 
 heaven. 
 E'er stoop to mingle with the prowling herd. 
 And dip his tongue in gore? The beast of 
 
 prey, 
 Blood-stained, deserves to bleed: but you, 
 
 ye flocks. 
 What have ye done; ye peaceful people, 
 
 what, 
 To merit death? You, who have given us 
 
 milk 
 In luscious streams, and lent us your own 
 
 eoat 
 Against the Winter's cold ? And the plain ox, 
 34 
 
V 
 
 
 1 
 
 w^ 
 
 
 
 
Spring. 
 
 That harmless, honest, guileless animal, 
 In what has he offended? He, whose toil, 
 Patient and ever ready, clothes the land 
 With all the pomp of harvest, — shall he 
 
 bleed, 
 And struggling groan beneath the cruel hands 
 Even of the clowns he feeds ? And that, per- 
 haps, 
 To swell the riot of the autumnal feast, 
 Won by his labour? This the feeling heart 
 Would tenderly suggest : but 't is enough, 
 In this late age. adventurous, to have touched 
 Light on the numbers of the Samian sage. 
 High Heaven forbids the bold presumptuous 
 
 strain, 
 Whose wisest Will has fixed us in a state 
 That must not yet to pure perfection rise. 
 Besides, who knows, how, raised to higher 
 
 life, 
 From stage to stage, the vital scale ascends ? 
 Now when the first foul torrent of the 
 brooks, 
 Swelled with the vernal rains, is ebbed away ; 
 And, whitening, down their mossy-tinctured 
 stream yj 
 
<Thc Seajams, 
 
 Descends the billowy foam; now is the time. 
 While yet the dark-brown water aids the guile, 
 To tempt the trout. The well-dissembled fly, 
 The rod fine-tapering with elastic spring, 
 Snatched from the hoary steed the floating 
 
 line. 
 And all thy slender watery stores, prepare. 
 But let not on thy hook the tortured worm. 
 Convulsive, twist in agonising folds: 
 Which, by rapacious hunger swallowed deep. 
 Gives as you tear it from the bleeding breast 
 Of the weak, helpless, uncomplaining wretch. 
 Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand. 
 When, with his lively ray. the potent sun 
 Has pierced the streams, and roused the finny 
 
 race. 
 Then, issuing cheerful, to thy sport repair; 
 Chief should the western breezes curling play. 
 Ami light o'er ether hear the shadowy clouds. 
 High to their fount, this day. amid the hills, 
 And woodlands warbling round, trace up the 
 
 brooks : 
 The next, pursue their rocky-channelled maze, 
 Down to the river, in whose ample wave 
 38 
 
living. 
 
 Their little Naiads love to sport at large. 
 lust in the dubious point, where with the pool 
 Is mixed the trembling stream, or where it 
 boils 
 
 Around the stone, or from the hollowd bank, 
 39 
 
Wfyz Reasons, 
 
 Reverted plays in undulating flow, 
 There throw, nice-judging, the delusive fly ; 
 And, as you lead it round in artful curve, 
 With eye attentive mark the springing game. 
 Straight as above the surface of the flood 
 They wanton rise, or urged by hunger leap, 
 Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hook : 
 Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank. 
 And to the shelving shore slow dragging some, 
 With various hand proportioned to their force. 
 If yet too young, and easily deceived, 
 A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod. 
 Him, piteous of his youth, and the short space 
 He has enjoyed the vital light of Heaven, 
 Soft disengage, and back into the stream 
 The speckled infant throw. But should you 
 
 lure 
 From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 
 Of pendent trees, the monarch of the brook, 
 Behoves you then to ply your finest art. 
 Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly ; 
 And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft 
 The dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 
 At last, while haply o'er the shaded sun 
 40 
 
Sprfwj. 
 
 Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death, 
 With sullen plunge. At once he darts along. 
 Deep-struck, and runs out all the lengthened 
 
 line ; 
 Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering 
 
 weed, 
 The caverned bank, his old secure abode ; 
 And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 
 Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand, 
 That feels him still, yet to his furious course 
 Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 
 Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage ; 
 Till floating broad upon his breathless side, 
 And to his fate abandoned, to the shore 
 You gayly drag your unresisting prize. 
 
 Thus pass the temperate hours : but when 
 the sun 
 Shakes from his noonday throne the scatter- 
 ing clouds, 
 Even shooting listless languor through the 
 
 deeps. 
 Then seek the bank where flowering elders 
 
 crowd. 
 Where scattered wild the lily of the vale 
 41 
 
(Pje Seasons. 
 
 Its balmy essence breathes, where cowslips 
 
 hang 
 The dewy head, where purple violets lurk, 
 With all the lowly children of the shade : 
 Or lie reclined beneath yon spreading ash, 
 Hung o'er the steep ; whence, borne on liquid 
 
 wing, 
 The sounding culver shoots ; or where the 
 
 hawk. 
 High in the beetling cliff, his eyry builds. 
 There let the classic page thy fancy lead 
 Through rural scenes ; such as the Mantuan 
 
 swain 
 Paints in the matchless harmony of song ; 
 Or catch thyself the landskip, gliding swift 
 Athwart imagination's vivid eye ; 
 Or, by the vocal woods and waters lulled, 
 And lost in lonely musing, in a dream, 
 Confused, of careless solitude, where mix 
 Ten thousand wandering images of things, 
 Soothe every gust of passion into peace — 
 All but the swellings of the softened heart, 
 That waken, not disturb, the tranquil mind. 
 Behold, yon breathing prospect bids the 
 
 Muse 42 
 
Throw all her beauty forth. But who can 
 
 paint 
 Like Nature ? Can imagination boast, 
 Amid its gay creation, hues like hers? 
 Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, 
 And lose them in each other, as appears 
 In every bud that blows? If fancy then. 
 Unequal, fails beneath the pleasing task, 
 Ah, what shall language do? Ah. where find 
 
 words 
 Tinged with so many colours ; and whose 
 
 power, 
 To life approaching, may perfume my lays 
 With that fine oil, those aromatic gales, 
 That inexhaustive flow continual round? 
 
 Yet, though successless, will the toil delight. 
 Come then, ye virgins, and ye youths, whose 
 
 hearts 
 Have felt the raptures of refining love ; 
 And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song! 
 Formed by the Graces, loveliness itself ! 
 Come with those downcast eyes, sedate and 
 
 sweet, 
 Those looks demure, that deeply pierce the 
 
 soul — 45 
 
2Tfjc Seasons. 
 
 Where, with the light of thoughtful reason 
 
 mixed, 
 Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart : 
 O come! and while the rosy-footed May 
 Steals blushing on, together let us tread 
 The morning dews, and gather in their prime 
 Fresh-blooming flowers, to grace thy braided 
 
 hair, 
 And thy loved bosom that improves their 
 
 sweets. 
 See where the winding vale its lavish stores, 
 Irriguous, spreads. See, how the lily drinks 
 The latent rill, scarce oozing through the 
 
 grass, 
 Of growth luxuriant ; or the humid bank, 
 In fair profusion, decks. Long let us walk. 
 Where the breeze blows from yon extended 
 
 field 
 Of blossomed beans. Arabia cannot boast 
 A fuller gale of joy than, liberal, thence 
 Breathes through the sense, and takes the 
 
 ravished soul. 
 Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot ; 
 Full of fresh verdure, and unnumbered flowers, 
 ' 46 
 
The negligence of Nature, wide, and wild ; 
 Where, undisguised by mimic art, she spreads 
 Unbounded beauty to the roving eye. 
 Here their delicious task the fervent bees, 
 In swarming millions, tend. Around, athwart, 
 Through the soft air, the busy nations fly, 
 
2Hk Reasons. 
 
 Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube, 
 Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul. 
 And oft, with bolder wing, they, soaring, dare 
 The purple heath, or where the wild thyme 
 
 grows, 
 And yellow load them with the luscious spoil. 
 
 At length the finished garden to the view 
 Its vistas opens, and its alleys green. 
 Snatched through the verdant maze, the hur- 
 ried eye 
 Distracted wanders ; now the bowery walk 
 Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day 
 Falls on the lengthened gloom, protracted 
 
 sweeps ; 
 Now meets the bending sky, the river now 
 Dimpling along, the breezy ruffled lake. 
 The forest darkening round, the glittering 
 
 spire, 
 The ethereal mountain, and the distant main. 
 But why so far excursive? when at hand, 
 Along these blushing borders, bright with 
 
 dew, 
 And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers, 
 Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace : 
 
spring. 
 
 Throws out the snowdrop and the crocus first ; 
 The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue, 
 And polyanthus of unnumbered dyes ; 
 The yellow wall-flower, stained with iron 
 
 brown ; 
 And lavish stock that scents the garden round. 
 From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed, 
 Anemones ; auriculas, enriched 
 With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves ; 
 And full renunculas, of glowing red. 
 Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty plays 
 Her idle freaks : from family diffused 
 To family, as flies the father-dust, 
 The varied colours run ; and, while they break 
 On the charmed eye, the exulting florist marks, 
 With secret pride, the wonders of his hand. 
 No gradual bloom is wanting ; from the bud, 
 First-born of Spring, to Summer's musky 
 
 tribes : 
 Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white, 
 Low-bent, and blushing inward ; nor jonquils, 
 Of potent fragrance ; nor narcissus fair, 
 As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still ; 
 Nor broad carnations ; nor gay-spotted pinks ; 
 5i 
 
Wqt Reasons. 
 
 Nor, showered from every bush, the damask- 
 rose. 
 Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells. 
 With hues on hues expression cannot paint, 
 The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom. 
 
 Hail, Source of Beings! Universal Soul 
 Of heaven and earth ! Essential Presence, 
 
 hail ! 
 To Thee I bend the knee ; to Thee my 
 
 thoughts, 
 Continual, climb ; who, with a master-hand, 
 Hast the great whole into perfection touched. 
 By Thee the various vegetative tribes, 
 Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves, 
 Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew. 
 By Thee disposed into congenial soils, 
 Stands each attractive plant, and sucks, and 
 
 swells 
 The juicy tide, — a twining mass of tubes . 
 At Thy command the vernal sun awakes 
 The torpid sap, detruded to the root 
 By wintry winds, that now in fluent dance, 
 And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads 
 All this innumerous-coloured scene of things. 
 52 
 
Spring, 
 
 As rising from the vegetable world 
 My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend, 
 My panting Muse : and hark, how loud the 
 
 woods 
 Invite you forth in all your gayest trim. 
 Lend me your song, ye nightingales! O, pour 
 The mazy-running soul of melody 
 Into my varied verse! while I deduce, 
 From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings, 
 The symphony of Spring, and touch a theme 
 Unknown to fame, — the passion of the groves. 
 
 When first the soul of love is sent abroad, 
 Warm through the vital air, and on the heart 
 Harmonious seizes, the gay troops begin. 
 In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing ; 
 And try again the long-forgotten strain. 
 At first faint-warbled. But no sooner grows 
 The soft infusion prevalent and wide, 
 Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows 
 In music unconfined. Upsprings the lark, 
 Shrill-voiced and loud, the messenger of morn : 
 Ere yet the shadows fly, he mounted sings 
 Amid the dawning clouds, and from their 
 haunts 
 
 53 
 
5Djjc Reasons. 
 
 Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copse 
 Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush 
 Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads 
 Of the coy choristers that lodge within. 
 Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush 
 And wood-lark, o'er the kind-contending 
 
 throng 
 Superior heard, run through the sweetest 
 
 length 
 Of notes ; when listening Philomena deigns 
 To let them joy, and purposes, in thought 
 Elate, to make her night excel their day. 
 The blackbird whistles from the thorny 
 
 brake ; 
 The mellow bulfinch answers from the grove : 
 Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze 
 Poured out profusely, silent. Joined to these, 
 tnnumerous songsters, in the freshening shade 
 Of new-sprung leaves, their modulations mix 
 Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the claw. 
 And each harsh pipe, discordant heard alone, 
 Aid the full concert : while the stock-dove 
 
 breathes 
 A melancholy murmur through the whole. 
 54 
 
spring. 
 
 1 T is love creates their melody, and all 
 This waste of music is the voice of love ; 
 That even to birds, and beasts, the tender 
 
 arts 
 Of pleasing teaches. Hence the glossy kind 
 Try every winning way inventive love 
 Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates 
 Pour forth their little souls. First, wide 
 
 around, 
 With distant awe. in airy rings they rove, 
 Endeavouring by a thousand tricks to catch 
 The cunning, conscious, half-averted glance 
 Of their regardless charmer. Should she 
 
 seem. 
 Softening, the least approvance to bestow. 
 Their colours burnish, and. by hope inspired. 
 They brisk advance ; then, on a sudden 
 
 struck, 
 Retire disordered ; then again approach ; 
 In fond rotation spread the spotted wing, 
 And shiver every feather with desire. 
 
 Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep 
 
 woods 
 They haste away, all as their fancy leads. 
 57 
 
dHje Seasons. 
 
 Pleasure, or food, or secret safety prompts. 
 That Nature's great command may be obeyed, 
 For all the sweet sensations they perceive 
 Indulged in vain. Some to the holly-hedge 
 Nestling repair, and to the thicket some ; 
 Some to the rude protection of the thorn 
 Commit their feeble offspring. The cleft 
 
 tree 
 Offers its kind concealment to a few, 
 Their food its insects, and its moss their 
 
 nests. 
 Others, apart, far in the grassy dale, 
 Or roughening waste, their humble texture 
 
 weave. 
 But most in woodland solitudes delight, 
 In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks, 
 Steep, and divided by a babbling brook, 
 Whose murmurs soothe them all the livelong 
 
 day, 
 When by kind duty fixed. Among the roots 
 Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive stream. 
 They frame the first foundation of their 
 
 domes ; 
 Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid, 
 58 
 
spring. 
 
 And bound with clay together. Now 't is 
 
 naught 
 But restless hurry through the bus}- air. 
 Beat by unnumbered wings. The swallow 
 
 sweeps 
 
 59 
 
OTfje Seasons. 
 
 The slimy pool, to build his hanging house 
 Intent. And often, from the careless back 
 Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills 
 Pluck hair and wool ; and oft, when unob- 
 served, 
 Steal from the barn a straw ; till soft and 
 
 warm, 
 Clean and complete, their habitation grows. 
 
 As thus the patient dam assiduous sits, 
 Not to be tempted from her tender task 
 Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight, 
 Though the whole loosened Spring around 
 
 her blows, 
 Her sympathising lover takes his stand 
 High on the opponent bank, and ceaseless 
 
 sings 
 The tedious time away ; or else supplies 
 Her place a moment, while she sudden flits 
 To pick the scanty meal. The appointed 
 
 time 
 With pious toil fulfilled, the callow young, 
 Warmed and expanded into perfect life, 
 Their brittle bondage break, and come to 
 light ; 
 
 60 
 
A helpless family, demanding food 
 
 With constant clamour. O, what passions 
 
 then, 
 What melting sentiments of kindly care, 
 On the new parents seize! Away they fly, 
 Affectionate, and, undesiring, bear 
 The most delicious morsel to their young, 
 Which equally distributed, again 
 The search begins. Even so a gentle pair, 
 By fortune sunk, but formed of generous 
 
 mould, 
 And charmed with cares beyond the vulgar 
 
 breast, 
 In some lone cot amid the distant woods, 
 Sustained alone by providential Heaven, 
 Oft, as they, weeping, eye their infant train, 
 Check their own appetites, and give them all. 
 
 Nor toil alone they scorn : exalting love, 
 By the great Father of the Spring inspired, 
 Gives instant courage to the fearful race, 
 And to the simple, art. With stealthy wing, 
 Should some rude foot their woody haunts 
 
 molest, 
 Amid a neighbouring bush they silent drop, 
 61 
 
Cfje Reasons, 
 
 And whirring thence, as if alarmed, deceive 
 The unfeeling school-boy. Hence, around the 
 
 head 
 Of wandering swain, the white-winged plover 
 
 wheels 
 Her sounding flight, and then directly on 
 In long excursion skims the level lawn, 
 To tempt him from her nest. The wild-duck, 
 
 hence, 
 O'er the rough moss, and o'er the trackless 
 
 waste 
 The heath-hen flutters (pious fraud !) to lead 
 The hot pursuing spaniel far astray. 
 
 Be not the Muse ashamed, here to bemoan 
 Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant man 
 Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage 
 From liberty confined, and boundless air. 
 Dull are the pretty slaves, their plumage dull, 
 Ragged, and all its brightening lustre lost ; 
 Nor is that sprightly wildness in their notes, 
 Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the 
 
 beech. 
 O then, ye friends of love and love-taught 
 
 song, 
 
 62 
 
Spring. 
 
 Spare the soft tribes, this barbarous art for- 
 bear, 
 If on your bosom innocence can win, 
 Music engage, or piety persuade. 
 
 But let not chief the nightingale lament 
 Her ruined care, too delicately framed 
 To brook the harsh confinement of the cage. 
 Oft when, returning with her loaded bill, 
 The astonished mother finds a vacant nest, 
 By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns 
 Robbed, to the ground the vain provision 
 
 falls ; 
 Her pinions ruffle, and, low-drooping, scarce 
 Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade ; 
 Where, all abandoned to despair, she sings 
 Her sorrows through the night ; and, on the 
 
 bough 
 Sole-sitting, still at every dying fall 
 Takes up again her lamentable strain 
 Of winding woe ; till, wide around, the woods 
 Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound. 
 But now the feathered youth their former 
 bounds. 
 Ardent, disdain ; and, weighing oft their 
 wings, 65 
 
QTfjr Reasons. 
 
 Demand the free possession of the sky. 
 This one glad office more, and then dissolves 
 Parental love at once, now needless grown : 
 Unlavish wisdom never works in vain. 
 'T is on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, 
 When naught but balm is breathing through 
 
 the woods, 
 With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribes 
 Visit the spacious heavens, and look abroad 
 On Nature's common, far as they can see, 
 Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the 
 
 boughs 
 Dancing about, still at the giddy verge 
 Their resolution fails ; their pinions still, 
 In loose libration stretched, to trust the void 
 Trembling refuse ; till down before them fly 
 The parent guides, and chide, exhort, com- 
 mand, 
 Or push them oif. The surging air receives 
 The plumy burden ; and their self-taught 
 
 wings 
 Winnow the waving element. On ground 
 Alighted, bolder up again they lead, 
 Farther and farther on, the lengthening flight ; 
 66 
 
spring. 
 
 Till, vanished every fear, and every power 
 Roused into life and action, light in air 
 The acquitted parents see their soaring race, 
 And, once rejoicing, never know them more. 
 
 High from the summit of a craggy cliff, 
 Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns 
 On utmost Kilda's shore, whose lonely race 
 Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds, 
 The royal eagle draws his vigorous young. 
 Strong-pounced, and ardent with paternal fire. 
 Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own. 
 He drives them from his fort, the towering 
 
 seat, 
 For ages, of his empire ; which, in peace, 
 Unstained he holds, while many a league to sea 
 He wings his course, and preys in distant 
 isles. 
 Should I my steps turn to the rural seat, 
 Whose lofty elms and venerable oaks 
 Invite the rook, who, high amid the boughs, 
 In early Spring, his airy city builds, 
 And ceaseless caws amusive ; there, well- 
 pleased, 
 I might the various politv survey 
 6?' 
 
Wi)t Seasons. 
 
 Of the mixed household kind. The careful 
 
 hen 
 Calls all her chirping family around. 
 Fed and defended by the fearless cock, 
 Whose breast with ardour flames as on he 
 
 walks, 
 Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond, 
 The finely checkered duck, before her train, 
 Rows garrulous. The stately-sailing swan 
 Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale ; 
 And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet 
 Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier-isle. 
 Protective of his young. The turkey nigh, 
 Loud-threatening, reddens ; while the peacock 
 
 spreads 
 His every-coloured glory to the sun, 
 And swims in radiant majesty along. 
 O'er the whole homely scene, the cooing dove 
 Flies thick in amourous chase, and wanton 
 
 rolls 
 The glancing eye, and turns the changeful 
 
 neck. 
 While thus the gentle tenants of the shade 
 Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world 
 68 
 
Spring. 
 
 Of brutes, below, rush furious into flame 
 And fierce desire. Through all his lusty veins 
 The bull, deep-scorched, the raging passion 
 
 feels. 
 Of pasture sick, and negligent of food. 
 Scarce seen, he wades among the yellow 
 
 broom, 
 While o'er his ample sides the rambling sprays 
 Luxuriant shoot ; or through the mazy wood 
 Dejected wanders, nor the inticing bud 
 Crops, though it presses on his careless sense. 
 And oft, in jealous maddening fancy wrapt. 
 He seeks the fight, and, idly-butting, feigns 
 His rival gored in every knotty trunk. 
 Him should he meet, the bellowing war 
 
 begins : 
 Their eyes flash fury; to the hollowed earth. 
 Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody 
 
 deeds, 
 And groaning deep the impetuous battle mix ; 
 While the fair heifer, balmy-breathing, near. 
 Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling 
 
 steed, 
 With this hot impulse seized in every nerve, 
 69 
 
8Hjc Seasons. 
 
 Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the sounding- 
 thong ; 
 Blows are not felt ; but, tossing high his head, 
 And by the well-known joy to distant plains 
 Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away ; 
 O'er rocks and woods and craggy mountains 
 
 flies ; 
 And, neighing, on the aerial summit takes 
 The exciting gale ; then, steep-descending, 
 
 cleaves 
 The headlong torrents foaming down the hills. 
 Even where the madness of the straitened 
 
 stream 
 Turns in black eddies round : such is the 
 
 force 
 With which his frantic heart and sinews swell. 
 
 Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring 
 Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep : 
 From the deep ooze and gelid cavern roused, 
 They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy. 
 Dire were the strain, and dissonant, to sing 
 The cruel raptures of the savage kind : 
 How by this flame their native wrath sublimed, 
 They roam, amid the fury of their heart, 
 70 
 
Spring* 
 
 The far-resounding waste, in fiercer bands, 
 And growl their horrid loves. But this the 
 
 theme 
 I sing, enraptured, to the British fair, 
 
 
 <■ 
 
 Forbids, and leads me to the mountain-brow. 
 
 Where sits the shepherd on the grassy turf, 
 
 7i 
 
3Hk Seasons. 
 
 Inhaling, healthful, the descending sun. 
 Around him feeds his many-bleating flock, 
 Of various cadence ; and his sportive lambs, 
 This way and that, convolved in friskful glee, 
 Their frolics play. And now the sprightly 
 
 race 
 Invites them forth ; when swift, the signal 
 
 given, 
 They start away, and sweep the massy mound 
 That runs around the hill ; the rampart once 
 Of iron war, in ancient barbarous times, 
 When disunited Britain ever bled, 
 Lost in eternal broil : ere yet she grew 
 To this deep-laid indissoluble state, 
 Where wealth and commerce lift the golden 
 
 head, 
 And, o'er our labours, liberty and law, 
 Impartial, watch, — the wonder of a world ! 
 
 What is this mighty breath, ye curious, say, 
 That, in a powerful language, felt not heard. 
 Instructs the fowls of heaven ; and through 
 
 their breast 
 These arts of love diffuses ? What, but God ? 
 Inspiring God ! who, boundless spirit all, 
 72 
 
<&pttrt0. 
 
 And unremitting energy, pervades. 
 Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole. 
 He, ceaseless, works alone ; and yet alone 
 Seems not to work, with such perfection 
 
 framed 
 Is this complex, stupendous scheme of things, 
 But, though concealed, to every purer eye 
 The informing Author in his works appears : 
 Chief, lovely Spring, in thee, and thy soft 
 
 scenes, 
 The smiling God is seen ; while water, earth, 
 And air attest his bounty ; which exalts 
 The brute-creation to this finer thought, 
 And annual melts their undesigning hearts 
 Profusely thus in tenderness and joy. 
 
 Still let my song a nobler note assume, 
 And sing the infusive force of Spring on man ; 
 When heaven and earth, as if contending, vie 
 To raise his being, and serene his soul. 
 Can he forbear to join the general smile 
 Of Nature ? Can fierce passions vex his breast, 
 While every gale is peace, and every grove 
 Is melody ? Hence from the bounteous walks 
 Of flowing Spring, ye sordid sons of earth, 
 73 
 
&f)c Seasons. 
 
 Hard, and unfeeling of another's woe, 
 Or only lavish to yourselves, — away ! 
 But come, ye generous minds, in whose wide 
 
 thought. 
 Of all his works, creative bounty burns, 
 With warmest beam ; and on your open front, 
 And liberal eye, sits, from his dark retreat 
 Inviting modest want. Nor, till invoked. 
 Can restless goodness wait ; your active search 
 Leaves no cold wintry corner unexplored ; 
 Like silent-working Heaven, surprising oft 
 The lonely heart with unexpected good. 
 For you the roving spirit of the wind 
 Blows Spring abroad; for you the teeming 
 
 clouds 
 Descend in gladsome plentv o'er the world ; 
 And the sun sheds his kindest rays for you, 
 Ye Mower of human race ! In these green 
 
 days. 
 Reviving Sickness lifts her languid head ; 
 Life flows afresh ; and young-eyed Health 
 
 exalts 
 The whole creation round. Contentment 
 
 walks 
 
 74 
 
spring. 
 
 The sunny glade, and feels an inward bliss 
 Spring o'er his mind, beyond the power of 
 
 kings 
 To purchase. Pure Serenity apace 
 Induces thought, and contemplation still. 
 By swift degrees the love of Nature works. 
 And warms the bosom ; till at last sublimed 
 To rapture, and enthusiastic heat, 
 We feel the present Deity, and taste 
 The joy of God to see a happy world ! 
 
 These are the sacred feelings of thy heart, 
 Thy heart informed by reason's purer ray, 
 O Lyttelton, the friend ! thy passions thus 
 And meditations vary, as at large, 
 Courting the Muse, through Hagley Park you 
 
 stray ; 
 Thy British Tempe ! there along the dale, 
 With woods o'erhung, and shagged with 
 
 mossy rocks, 
 Whence on each hand the gushing waters 
 
 play, 
 And clown the rough cascade white-dashing 
 
 fall. 
 Or gleam in lengthened vista through the 
 
 trees, 77 
 
2Tfjr Reasons. 
 
 You silent steal ; or sit beneath the shade 
 Of solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts 
 Thrown graceful round by Nature's careless 
 
 hand, 
 And pensive listen to the various voice 
 Of rural peace : the herds, the flocks, the 
 
 birds. 
 The hollow-whispering breeze, the plaint of 
 
 rills. 
 That, purling down amid the twisted roots 
 Which creep around, their dewy murmurs 
 
 shake 
 On the soothed ear. From these abstracted 
 
 oft. 
 You wander through the philosophic world ; 
 Where in bright train continual wonders rise. 
 Or to the curious or the pious eye. 
 And oft, conducted by historic truth. 
 You tread the long extent of backward time . 
 Planning, with warm benevolence of mind. 
 And honest zeal unwarped by party rage. 
 Britannia's weal ; how from the venal gulf 
 To raise her virtue, and her arts revive. 
 Or, turning thence thy view, these graver 
 
 thoughts 78 
 
spring. 
 
 The Muses charm : while, with sure taste re- 
 fined, 
 You draw the inspiring breath of ancient song, 
 Till nobly rises, emulous, thy own. 
 Perhaps thy loved Lucinda shares thy walk. 
 With soul to thine attuned. Then Nature 
 
 all 
 Wears to the lover's eye a look of love ; 
 And all the tumult of a guilty world, 
 Tost by ungenerous passions, sinks away. 
 The tender heart is animated peace ; 
 And as it pours its copious treasures forth, 
 In varied converse, softening every theme, 
 You, frequent-pausing, turn, and from her 
 
 eyes, 
 Where meekened sense, and amiable grace. 
 And lively sweetness dwell, enraptured drink 
 That nameless spirit of ethereal joy, 
 Inimitable happiness ! which love 
 Alone bestows, and on a favoured few. 
 Meantime you gain the height, from whose 
 
 fair brow 
 The bursting prospect spreads immense 
 around ; 
 
 79 
 
&je Reasons. 
 
 And snatched o'er hill and dale, and wood 
 
 and lawn, 
 And verdant field, and darkening heath be- 
 tween. 
 And villages embosomed soft in trees, 
 And spiry towns by surging columns marked 
 Of household smoke, your eye excursive 
 
 roams ; 
 Wide-stretching from the hall in whose kind 
 
 haunt 
 The hospitable genius lingers still, 
 To where the broken landscape, by degrees 
 Ascending, roughens into rigid hills; 
 Cer which the Cambrian mountains, like far 
 
 clouds 
 That skirt the blue horizon, dusky, rise. 
 
 Mushed by the spirit of the genial year, 
 Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom 
 Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round ; 
 Her lips blush deeper sweets ; she breathes of 
 
 youth ; 
 The shining moisture swells into her eyes 
 In brighter flow; her wishing bosom heaves, 
 With palpitations wild ; kind tumults seize 
 80 
 
spring. 
 
 Her veins, and all her yielding soul is love. 
 From the keen gaze her lover turns away, 
 Full of the dear eestatie power, and sick 
 With sighing languish ment. Ah then, 
 
 fair! 
 Be greatly cautious of your sliding hearts ; 
 Dare not the infectious sigh ; the pleadin 
 
 look, 
 
 ye 
 
 Downcast and low, in meek submission 
 
 dressed, 
 But full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue 
 Prompt to deceive, with adulation smooth, 
 Gain on your purposed will. Nor in the 
 
 bower, 
 
 81 
 
3Tjjc Seasons. 
 
 Where woodbines flaunt, and roses shed a 
 
 couch, 
 While Evening draws her crimson curtains 
 
 round, 
 Trust your soft minutes with betraying man. 
 And let the aspiring youth beware of love. 
 Of the smooth glance beware ; for 't is too 
 
 late, 
 When on his heart the torrent-softness pours. 
 Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame 
 Dissolves in air away ; while the fond soul. 
 Wrapped in gay visions of unreal bliss, 
 Still paints the illusive form, the kindling 
 
 grace, 
 The inticing smile, the modest-seeming eye. 
 Beneath whose beauteous beams, belying 
 
 Heaven, 
 Lurk searchless cunning, cruelty, and death : 
 And still, false-warbling in his cheated ear. 
 Her siren voice, enchanting, draws him on. 
 To guileful shores, and meads of fatal joy. 
 
 Even present, in the very lap of Love 
 Inglorious laid, — while music flows around, 
 Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton 
 
 hours, — 82 
 
spring. 
 
 Amid the roses, fierce Repentance rears 
 Her snaky crest : a quick-returning pang 
 Shoots through the conscious heart ; where 
 
 honour still, 
 And great design, against the oppressive load 
 Of luxury, by fits, impatient heave. 
 
 But absent, what fantastic woes, aroused, 
 Rage in each thought, by restless musing fed, 
 Chill the warm cheek, and blast the bloom of 
 
 life ! 
 Neglected fortune flies ; and, sliding swift, 
 Prone into ruin fall his scorned affairs. 
 'T is naught but gloom around. The dark- 
 ened sun 
 Loses his light. The rosy-bosomed Spring 
 To weeping fancy pines ; and yon bright 
 
 arch, 
 Contracted, bends into a dusky vault. 
 All Nature fades extinct ; and she alone, 
 Heard, felt, and seen, possesses every thought, 
 Fills every sense, and pants in every vein. 
 Books are but formal dulness, tedious friends ; 
 And sad amid the social band he sits, 
 Lonely and unattentive. From the tongue 
 83 
 
2Tf)c Reasons. 
 
 The unfinished period falls : while borne 
 
 away. 
 On swelling thought, his wafted spirit flies 
 To the vain bosom of his distant fair; 
 And leaves the semblance of a lover, fixed 
 In melancholy site, with head declined, 
 And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts, 
 Shook from his tender trance, and, restless, 
 
 runs 
 To glimmering shades and sympathetic 
 
 glooms, 
 Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling 
 
 stream. 
 Romantic, hangs ; there through the pensive 
 
 dusk 
 Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation lost, 
 Indulging all to love : or on the bank 
 Thrown, amid drooping lilies, swells the 
 
 breeze 
 With sighs unceasing, and the brook with 
 
 tears . 
 Thus in soft anguish he consumes the day, 
 Nor quits his deep retirement, till the moon 
 Peeps through the chambers of the fleecy 
 
 east, 84 
 
Spring. 
 
 Enlightened by degrees, and in her train 
 Leads on the gentle hours ; then forth he 
 
 walks, 
 Beneath the trembling languish of her beam. 
 With softened soul, and wooes the bird of 
 
 eve 
 To mingle woes with his ; or, while the world 
 And all the sons of care lie hushed in sleep, 
 Associates with the midnight shadows drear ; 
 And, sighing to the lonely taper, pours 
 His idly-tortured heart into the page 
 Meant for the moving messenger of love ; 
 Where rapture burns on rapture, every line 
 With rising frenzy fired. But if on bed 
 Delirious flung, sleep from his pillow flies. 
 All night he tosses, nor the balmy power 
 In any posture finds ; till the gray morn 
 Lifts her pale lustre on the paler wretch, 
 Examinate by love : and then perhaps 
 Exhausted nature sinks awhile to rest, 
 Still interrupted by distracted dreams, 
 That o 1 er the sick imagination rise. 
 And in black colours paint the mimic scene. 
 Oft with the enchantress of his soul he talks; 
 87 
 
flTfjc Reasons. 
 
 Sometimes in crowds distressed ; or, if retired 
 To secret-winding flower-enwoven bowers 
 Far from the dull impertinence of man, 
 Just as he, credulous, his endless cares 
 Begins to lose in blind oblivious love, 
 Snatched from her yielded hand, he knows 
 
 not how, 
 Through forests huge, and long untravelled 
 
 heaths 
 With desolation brown, he wanders waste, 
 In night and tempest wrapt; or shrinks 
 
 aghast, 
 Back from the bending precipice ; or wades 
 The turbid stream below, and strives to reach 
 The farther shore, where, succourless and sad, 
 She with extended arms his aid implores ; 
 But strives in vain ; borne by the outrageous 
 
 flood 
 To distance down, he rides the ridgy wave. 
 Or, whelmed beneath the boiling eddy, sinks. 
 These are the charming agonies of love. 
 Whose misery delights. But through the 
 
 heart 
 Should jealousy its venom once diffuse. 
 
nNr 4 >. 
 
spring. 
 
 'T is then delightful misery no more, 
 But agony unmixed, incessant gall, 
 Corroding every thought, and blasting all 
 Love's Paradise. Ye fairy prospects, then, 
 Ye beds of roses, and ye bowers of joy. 
 Farewell ! ye gleamings of departed peace, 
 Shine out your last ! the yellow-tingeing 
 
 plague 
 Internal vision taints, and in a night 
 Of livid gloom imagination wraps. 
 Ah then, instead of love-enlivened cheeks, 
 Of sunny features, and of ardent eves 
 With flowing rapture bright, dark looks suc- 
 ceed, 
 Suffused, and glaring with untender fire, — 
 A clouded aspect, and a burning cheek, 
 Where the whole poisoned soul, malignant, 
 
 sits. 
 And frightens love away. Ten thousand 
 
 fears 
 Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views 
 Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms 
 For which he melts in fondness, eat him up 
 With fervent anguish and consuming rage. 
 9i 
 
Cf)£ Seasons. 
 
 In vain reproaches lend their idle aid, 
 Deceitful pride, and resolution frail, 
 Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours, 
 Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought, 
 Her first endearments twining round the soul 
 With'all the witchcraft of ensnaring love. 
 Straight the fierce storm involves his mind 
 
 anew, 
 Flames through the nerves, and boils along 
 
 the veins ; 
 While anxious doubt distracts the tortured 
 
 heart : 
 For even the sad assurance of his fears 
 Were peace to what he feels. Thus the warm 
 
 youth, 
 Whom love deludes into his thorny wilds, 
 Through flowery-tempting paths, or leads a 
 
 life 
 Of fevered rapture, or of cruel care ; 
 His brightest aims extinguished all, and all 
 His lively moments running clown to waste. 
 
 But happy they, the happiest of their kind ! 
 Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
 Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings 
 
 blend. 92 
 
spring. 
 
 'T is not the coarser tie of human laws, 
 Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind, 
 That binds their peace, but harmony itself, 
 Attuning all their passions into love ; 
 Where friendship full-exerts her softest power, 
 Perfect esteem enlivened by desire 
 Ineffable, and sympathy of soul ; 
 Thought meeting thought, and will prevent- 
 ing will, 
 With boundless confidence : for naught but 
 
 love 
 Can answer love, and render bliss secure. 
 Let him, ungenerous, who, alone intent 
 To bless himself, from sordid parents buys 
 The loathing virgin, in eternal care, 
 Well-merited, consume his nights and days ; 
 Let barbarous nations, whose inhuman love 
 Is wild desire, fierce as the suns they feel ; 
 Let Eastern tyrants from the light of heaven 
 Seclude their bosom-slaves, meanly possessed 
 Of a mere lifeless, violated form : 
 While those whom love cements in holy faith? 
 And equal transport, free as Nature live, 
 Disdaining fear. What is the world to them, 
 93 
 
GTfjc J5rascms. 
 
 Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all ! 
 Who in each other clasp whatever fair 
 High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish ; 
 Something than beauty dearer, should they 
 
 look 
 Or on the mind, or mind-illumined face, — 
 Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love. 
 The richest bounty of indulgent Heaven. 
 Meantime a smiling offspring rises round, 
 And mingles both their graces. By degrees, 
 The human blossom blows ; and every day, 
 Soft as it rolls along, shows some new 
 
 charm, — 
 The father's lustre and the mother's bloom. 
 Then infant reason grows apace, and calls 
 For the kind hand of an assiduous care. 
 Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought. 
 To teach the young idea how to shoot, 
 To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, 
 To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix 
 The generous purpose in the glowing breast. 
 O, speak the joy, ye, whom the sudden tear 
 Surprises often, while you look around. 
 And nothing strikes your eye but sights of 
 
 bliss ; 94 
 
•Spring. 
 
 All various Nature pressing on the heart, — 
 An elegant sufficiency, content, 
 Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 
 Ease and alternate labour, useful life, 
 Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven ! 
 These are the matchless joys of virtuous love ; 
 And thus their moments fly. The seasons 
 
 thus, 
 As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll, 
 Still find them happy ; and consenting Spring 
 Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads : 
 Till evening comes at last, serene and mild ; 
 When after the long vernal day of life, 
 Enamoured more, as more remembrance swells 
 With many a proof of recollected love, 
 Together down they sink, in social sleep ; 
 Together freed, their gentle spirits fly 
 To scenes where love and bliss immortal 
 
 reign. 
 
 95 
 
 THE END. 
 
W 19 
 
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