And mingles both their graces. By degrees, every day, For the kind hand of an assiduous care. Το And nothing strikes your eye but sights of bliss, Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and alternate labour, useful life, E 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. 1 THE ARGUMENT. The subject proposed. Invocation. Address to Mr. Dodington, An introductory reflection on the motion of the heavenly bodies; whence the succession of the Seasons. As the face of Nature in this season is almost uniform, the progress of the poem is a Description of a Summer's Day. The dawn. Sunrising. Hymn to the Sun. Forenoon. Summer insects described. Hay-making. Sheep-shearing. Noon-day. A woodland retreat. Group of herds and flocks. A solemn grove: how it affects a contemplative mind. A cataract, and rude View of Summer in the torrid zone. Storm of thunder and lightning. A tale. The storm over; a serene afternoon. Bathing. Hour of walking. Transition to the prospect of a rich well-cultivated country; which introduces a panegyric on Great Britain. Sun-set. Evening. Night. Summer meteors. A comet. The whole concluding with the praise of philosophy. scene. SUMMER. FROM brightening fields of ether fair disclosed, In pride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth. And ever-fanning Breezes, on his way; While from his ardent look, the turning Spring Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood shade, |