The fence withdrawn, he gives them every beam, And spreads his hopes before the blaze of day.

To raife the prickly and green-coated gourd,
So grateful to the palate, and when rare
So coveted, elfe bafe and difefteemed-
Food for the vulgar merely-is an art
That toiling ages have but just matured,
And at this moment unaffayed in fong.

Yet gnats have had, and frogs and mice, long fince,
Their eulogy; those fang the Mantuan bard,
And these the Grecian, in ennobling strains;
And in thy numbers, Phillips, shines for aye
The folitary fhilling. Pardon then,
Ye fage difpenfers of poetic fame,

The ambition of one meaner far, whofe powers,
Prefuming an attempt not less fublime,
Pant for the praise of dreffing to the tafte
Of critic appetite, no fordid fare,

A cucumber, while coftly yet and scarce.

The ftable yields a ftercoraceous heap,
Impregnated with quick fermenting falts,
And potent to refift the freezing blaft:
For, ere the beech and elm have caft their leaf
Deciduous, when now November dark

Checks vegetation in the torpid plant

Expofed to his cold breath, the task begins.
Warily therefore and with prudent heed
He feeks a favoured spot; that where he builds
The agglomerated pile his frame may front
The fun's meridian disk, and at the back
Enjoy close shelter, wall, or reeds, or hedge
Impervious to the wind. Firft he bids spread
Dry fern or littered hay, that may imbibe
The afcending damps ; then leifurely impofe,
And lightly, fhaking it with agile hand
From the full fork, the faturated ftraw.
What longeft binds the clofeft forms fecure
The shapely fide, that as it rises takes,
By juft degrees, an overhanging breadth,
Sheltering the base with its projected eaves;
The uplifted frame, compact at every joint,
And overlaid with clear translucent glafs,
He fettles next upon the floping mount,
Whose sharp declivity fhoots off fecure
From the dashed pane the deluge as it falls.
He shuts it clofe, and the firft labour ends.
Thrice muft the voluble and reftless earth
Spin round upon her axle, ere the warmth,
Slow gathering in the midft, through the square mafs
Diffused, attain the furface: when, behold!

A peftilent and most corrofive ftream,
Like a grofs fog Boeotian, rifing faft,
And faft condenfed upon the dewy fash,
Afks egrefs; which obtained, the overcharged
And drenched confervatory breathes abroad,
In volumes wheeling flow, the vapour dank;
And purified rejoices to have loft

Its foul inhabitant. But to affuage

The impatient fervour, which it firft conceives
Within its reeking bofom, threatening death
To his young hopes, requires difcreet delay.
Experience, flow preceptrefs, teaching oft
The way to glory by miscarriage foul,
Muft prompt him, and admonish how to catch

The aufpicious moment, when the tempered heat,
Friendly to vital motion, may afford

Soft fomentation, and invite the feed.
The feed, felected wifely, plump, and smooth,
And gloffy, he commits to pots of fize
Diminutive, well filled with well-prepared
And fruitful foil, that has been treasured long,
And drank no moisture from the dripping clouds:
Thefe on the warm and genial earth, that hides
The fmoking manure and o'erfpreads it all,
He places lightly, and, as time fubdues
The rage of fermentation, plunges deep

In the foft medium, till they stand immersed.

Then rife the tender germs, upstarting quick,
And fpreading wide their spongy lobes; at firft
Pale, wan, and livid; but affuming foon,

If fanned by balmy and nutritious air,

Strained through the friendly mats, a vivid green.
Two leaves produced, two rough indented leaves,
Cautious he pinches from the second stalk
A pimple, that portends a future fprout,

And interdicts its growth. Thence ftraight fucceed
The branches, fturdy to his utmost wish;
Prolific all, and harbingers of more.

The crowded roots demand enlargement now,
And tranfplantation in an ampler space.
Indulged in what they wish, they foon supply
Large foliage, overshadowing golden flowers,
Blown on the fummit of the apparent fruit.
These have their fexes! and, when fummer fhines,
The bee transports the fertilizing meal

From flower to flower, and e'en the breathing air
Wafts the rich prize to its appointed use.
Not fo when winter fcowls. Affiftant art
Then acts in nature's office, brings to pafs
The glad efpoufals, and enfures the crop.

Grudge not ye rich, (fince luxury muft have His dainties, and the world's more numerous hair

Lives by contriving delicates for you)

Grudge not the coft. Ye little know the cares,
The vigilance, the labour, and the skill,
That day and night are exercised, and hang
Upon the ticklish balance of fufpenfe,

That ye may garnish your profuse regales
With fummer fruits brought forth by wintry funs.
Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart

The process. Heat and cold, and wind, and steam, Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and fwarming flies' Minute as duft, and numberless, oft work

Dire disappointment, that admits no cure,

And which no care can obviate. It were long,
Too long, to tell the expedients and the shifts,
Which he that fights a feafon fo fevere
Devises, while he guards his tender truft;
And oft at laft in vain. The learned and wife
Sarcaftic would exclaim, and judge the fong
Cold as its theme, and like its theme the fruit
Of too much labour, worthlefs when produced.

Who loves a garden loves a green-house too.
Unconscious of a lefs propitious clime,
There blooms exotic beauty, warm and fnug,
While the winds whiftle and the fnows defcend.

The fpiry myrtle with unwithering leaf