Along these blushing borders, bright with dew,

525

And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers, Fair-handed spring unbosoms every grace: Throws out the snow-drop, and the crocus first;

. The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue, And polyanthus of unnumber'd dyes; 530 The yellow wall-flower, stain'd with iron brown;

And lavish stock that scents the garden round: From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed, Anemonies; auriculas, enrich'd

With shining meal o'er all their velvet lea

And full ranunculas, of glowing red.
Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty
plays

Her idle freaks; from family diffus'd
To family, as flies the father dust,
The varied colours run; and, while they

break

540 On the charm'd eye, th' 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,

545

potent fragrance; nor Narcissus fair, As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still, Nor broad carnations; nor gay-spotted pinks; Nor, shower'd from every bush, the damask

rose.

Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells, 550 With hues on hues expression cannot paint,. The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom.

Hail, SOURCE OF BEING! UNIVERSAL SOUL

Of Heaven and earth! ESSENTIAL PRESENCE, hail!

TO THEE I bend the knee; to THEн my

thoughts,

Continual, climb; who, with a master

hand,

556

Hast the great whole into perfection touch'd. ·
By THEE the various vegetative tribes,
Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves,
Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew: 560
By THEE dispos'd 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, 12

565

that now in fluent

dance,

And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads All this innumerous-colour'd scene of things.

As rising from the vegetable world

My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend, 57°
My panting muse; and hark, how loud the
woods

Invite you forth in all your gayest trim.
Lend me your song, ye nightingales! oh 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.

575

WHEN first the soul of love is sent abroad,
Warm thro' the vital air, and on the heart 580
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, 585
Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows
In music unconfin'd. Up-springs the lark,
Shrill voic'd, and loud, the messenger of morn;
Ere yet the shadows fly, he mounted sings
Amid the dawning clouds, and from their

1

Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copse
Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush
Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads
Of the coy quiristers that lodge within,
Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush 595
And wood-lark, o'er the kind contending
throng

Superior heard, run thro' the sweetest length
Of notes; when listening Philomela deigns.
To let them joy, and purposes, in thought
Elate, to make her night excel their day. 600
The black-bird whistles from the thorny brake;
The mellow bullfinch answers from the grove :
Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze
Pour'd out profusely, silent. Join'd to these

Innumerous

songsters, in the freshening

shade

605 Of new sprung leaves, their modulations

mix

Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw, And each harsh pipe discordant heard alone, Aid the full concert: while the stock-dovo breathes

A melancholy murmur thro' the whole. 610

'Tis love creates their melody, and all This waste of music is the voice of love; That even to birds, and beasts, the tender

aris

Of pleasing teaches. Hence the glossy kind Try every winning way inventive love 615 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 620 Of their regardless charmer. Should she seem Softening the least approvance to bestow, Their colours burnish, and, by hope inspir'd, They brisk advance; then, on a sudden

struck,

Retire disorder'd; then again approach; 625
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,
Pleasure, or food, or secret safety prompts; 630
That NATURE'S great command may be
obey'd:

Nor all the sweet sensations they perceive
Indulg'd in vain. Some to the holly-hedge
Nestling repair, and to thet hicket some;
Some to the rude protection of the thorn 635
Commit their feeble offspring: The cleft tree
Offers its kind concealment to a few,

Their food its insects, and its moss their nests.