The kings, and awful fathers of mankind: And some, with whom compar'd your insect-tribes Are but the beings of a summer's day,
Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm Of mighty war; then, with unwearied hand, Disdaining little delicacies, seiz'd
The plough, and greatly independent liv'd.
Ye gen'rous 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 ev'ry land, the naked nations clothe, And be th' 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 pow'r At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth,
In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay green! 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 wither'd hill, Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, And swells, and deepens, to the cherish'd eye. The hawthorn whitens; and the juicy groves Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd, In full luxuriance to the sighing gales;
Where the deer rustle through the twining brake, And the birds sing conceal'd. At once array'd In all the colours of the flushing year, By nature's swift and secret-working hand, The garden glows, and fills the libʼral air With lavish fragrance; while the promis'd fruit Lies yet a little embryo, unperceiv'd,
Within its crimson folds. Now from the town
Buried in smoke, and sleep, and noisome damps, Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields,
Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling
From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze Of sweet-briar hedges I pursue my walk;
Or taste the smell of dairy; or ascend Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains,
And see the country, far diffus'd around,
One boundless blush, one white-empurpled show'r Of mingled blossoms; where the raptur'd eye Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies.
If, brush'd 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 blast The full-blown Spring thro' all her foliage shrinks, Joyless and dead, a wide-dejected waste. For oft, engender'd by the hazy north, Myriads on myriads, insect armies warp
Keen in the poison'd breeze; and wasteful eat, Through buds and bark, into the blacken'd core, Their eager way. A feeble race! yet oft
The sacred sons of vengeance; on whose course Corrosive famine waits, and kills the year. To check this plague, the skilful farmer chaff,
And blazing straw, before his orchard burns; Till, all involv'd in smoke, the latent foe From ev'ry cranny suffocated falls:
Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe:
Or, when th' envenom'd leaf begins to curl, With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest; Nor, while they pick them up with busy bill, The little trooping birds unwisely scares.
Be patient, swains; these cruel-seeming winds Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep repress'd Those deep'ning clouds on clouds, surcharg'd with rain,
That o'er the vast atlantic hither borne,
In endless train, would quench the summer-blaze, And, cheerless, drown the crude unripen'd year.
The north-east spends his rage; he now shut up Within his iron cave, th' effusive south Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heav'n Breathes the big clouds with vernal show'rs distent. At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise, Scarce staining ether; but by swift degrees, In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails
Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep Sits on th' horizon round a settled gloom: Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed, Oppressing life; but lovely, gentle, kind, And full of ev'ry hope and ev'ry 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 aspin tall. Th' uncurling floods, diffus'd In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse Forgetful of their course. "Tis silence all, And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks Drop the dry sprig, and, mute-imploring, eye The falling verdure. Hush'd in short suspense, The plumy people streak their wings with oil, To throw the lucid moisture trickling off; And wait th' approaching sign, to strike at once Into the gen'ral choir. E'en mountains, vales, And forests, seem impatient to demand The promis'd sweetness. Man superior walks Amid the glad creation, musing praise, And looking lively gratitude. At last
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