COME, gentle SPRING, ethereal Mildness, come,
And from the bofom of yon dropping cloud,
While mufic wakes around, veil'd in a shower
With unaffected grace, or walk the plain
With innocence and meditation join'd
In foft affemblage, liften to my fong,
Which thy own Seafon paints; when Nature all
Is blooming and benevolent, like thee.
AND fee where furly WINTER paffes off,
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blafts:
His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill,
The shatter'd foreft, and the ravag'd vale;
While fofter gales fucceed, at whofe kind touch,
Diffolving fnows in livid torrents loft,
The mountains lift their green heads to the sky.
As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd,
And WINTER oft at eve refumes the breeze,
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets
Deform the day delightlefs: fo that scarce
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht
To shake the founding marsh; or from the shore
The plovers when to fcatter o'er the heath,
And fing their wild notes to the liftening waste.
AT laft from Aries rolls the bounteous fun,
And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more
Th' expanfive atmosphere is cramp'd with cold;
But, full of life and vivifying foul,
Lifts the light clouds fublime, and fpreads them thin, 30 Fleecy and white, o'er all-furrounding heaven.
- FORTH fly the tepid airs; and unconfin'd,
Unbinding earth, the moving foftnefs ftrays.
Joyous, th' impatient husbandman perceives
Relenting Nature, and his lufty fteers
Drives from their ftalls, to where the well-us'd plough Lies in the furrow, loofened from the froft,
There, unrefufing to the harness'd yoke
They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil,
Chear'd by the fimple fong and foaring lark.
Meanwhile incumbent o'er the shining share
The mafter leans, removes th' obftructing clay,
Winds the whole work, and fidelong lays the glebe.
WHITE thro'the neighbouring fields the fower ftalks, With measur'd ftep; and liberal throws the grain Into the faithful bofom of the ground:
The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the fcene.
BE gracious, HEAVEN! for now laborious Man
Has done his part. Ye foftering breezes, blow!
Ye foftening dews, ye tender showers, defcend!
And temper all, thou world-reviving fun,
Into the perfect year! Nor ye who live
In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride,
Think these loft themes unworthy of your ear:
Such themes as these the rural MARO fung
To wide-imperial ROME, in the full height
Of elegance and tafte, by GREECE refin'd.
In antient times, the facred plough employ'd
The kings, and awful fathers of mankind:
And fome, with whom compar'd your infect-tribes 60
Are but the beings of a summer's day,
Have held the fcale of empire, rul'd the ftorm
Of mighty war; then, with victorious hand,
Difdaining little delicacies, feiz'd
The plough, and greatly independent fcorn'd
All the vile ftores corruption can bestow.
Ye generous BRITONS, venerate the plough;
And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing vales,
Let Autumn fpread his treasures to the fun,
Luxuriant and unbounded: as the fea,
Far thro' his azure turbulent domain,
Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores
Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports;
So with fuperior boon may your rich foil,
Exuberant, Nature's better bleffings pour
O'er every land, the naked nations cloathe
And be th' exhaustless granary of a world!
Delicious, breathes; the penetrative fun,
A 4
NOR only thro' the lenient air this change,
His force deep-darting to the dark retreat
Of vegetation, fets the fteaming Power
At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth,
In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay Green!
Thou fmiling Nature's univerfal robe!
United light and shade! where the fight dwells
With growing strength, and ever-new delight.
FROM the moift meadow to the withered hill,
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs,
And fwells, 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 fighing gales;
Where the deer ruftle thro' the twining brake,
And the birds fing conceal'd. At once,
In all the colours of the flushing year,
By Nature's fwift and fecret-working hand,
The garden glows, and fills the liberal air
With lavish fragrance; while the promis'd fruit
Lies yet a little embryo, unperceiv'd
Within its crimfon folds. Now from the town
Buried in smoke, and sleep, and noifom damps,
Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields,
Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling drops
From the bent bush, as thro' the verdant maze
Of sweet-briar hedges I purfue my walk;
Or taste the smell of dairy; or afcend
Some eminence, AUGUSTA, in thy plains,
And fee the country, far diffus'd around,
One boundless blush, one white-empurpled shower 110 Of mingled bloffoms; where the raptur'd eye
Hufries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath
The fair profufion, yellow Autumn fpies:
IF, brush'd from Ruffian wilds, a cutting gale
Rife not, and scatter from his humid wings
The clammy mildew; or, dry-blowing, breathe
Untimely froft; before whofe baleful blaft
The full-blown fpring thro'all her foliage shrinks,
Joylefs and dead, a wide dejected waste.
For oft, engender'd by the hazy north,
Myriads on myriads, infect - armies waft
Keen in the poison'd breeze; and wasteful eat,
Thro' buds and bark, into the blackened core,
Their eager way. A feeble race! yet oft
The facred fons of vengeance; on whofe courfe
Corrofive famine waits, and kills the year.
To check this plague the skilful farmer chaff,
And blazing ftraw, before his orchard burns;
Till, all involv'd in fmoke, the latent foe
From every cranny fuffocated falls:
Or fcatters o'er the blooms the pungent duft
Of pepper, fatal to the frofty tribe:
Or, when th' envenom'd leaf begins to curl,
Whit fprinkled water drowns them in their neft;
Nor, while they pick them up with bufy bill,
The little trooping birds unwifely fcares.
Be patient, fwains; these cruel-feeming winds Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep, reprefs'd, Those deepening clouds on clouds, furcharg'd with rain, That o'er the vaft Atlantic hither borne,
In endless train, would quench the summer-blaze, chearlefs, drown the crude unripened year.
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