SPRING. The subject proposed. Inscribed to the Countess of Hertford. The Season is described as it affects the various parts of Nature, ascending from the lower to the higher; with digressions arising from the subject. Its influence on inanimate Matter, on Vegetables, on brute Animals, and last on Man; concluding with a dissuasive from the wild and irregular passion of Love, opposed to that of a pure and happy kind. COME, gentle SPRING, ethereal Mildness, come, Which thy own Season paints; when Nature all And see where surly WINTER passes off, 10 While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, 15 Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost, The mountains lift their green heads to the sky As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd, 20 And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze, At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun, And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more But, full of life and vivifying soul, Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thin, Fleecy, and white o'er all surrounding heaven. Forth fly the tepid airs; and unconfined, Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays. Joyous, the' impatient husbandman perceives Relenting Nature, and his lusty steers 31 35 Drives from their stalls, to where the well used plough Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the frost. There unrefusing, to the harness'd yoke, They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil, 40 While thro' the neighbouring fields the sower stalks, With measured step; and liberal throws the grain 45 Into the faithful bosom of the ground: The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene. Be gracious, Heaven! for now laborious man In ancient times, the sacred plough employ'd 50 50 55 And some, with whom compared your insect tribes 60 Are but the beings of a summer's day, Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm Of mighty war; then, with unwearied hand |