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SUMMER.

Bibliothek

Hochschule

der Philog.-theol

Passau

The ARGUMENT.

The subject propos'd. Invocation. Address to Mr. Dod. DINGTON. An Introductory reflection on the motion of the heavenly bodies; whence the succession of the seasons. As the face of Nature in this season is almost uniform, the progress of the poem is a description of a summer's day. The dawn. Sun-rising. Hymn to the sun. Forenoon. Summer insects described. Hay-making. Sheep-shearing. Noon day. A woodland retreat. Groupe of herds and flocks. A solemn grove. How it affects a contemplative mind. A cataract, and rude scene. View of summer in the torrid zone. Storm of thunder and lightning. A tale. The storm over a serene afternoon. Bathing. Hour of walking. Transition to the prospect of a rich well-cultivated country; which introduces a panegyric on GREAT BRITAIN. Sun-set. Evening. Night. Summer meteors. A comet. The whole concluding with the praise of phi losophy.

SUMMER.

FROM brightening fields of aether fair

disclos'd,

Child of the sun, refulgent SUMMER comes, In pride of youth, and felt thro' Nature's depth:

He comes attended by the sultry hours,
And ever-fanning breezes, on his way;
While, from his ardent look, the turning

SPRING

5

Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies,

All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves.

HENCE, let me haste into the mid-wood

shade, 1

Where scarce a sun-beam wanders thro' the

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And on the dark-green grass, beside the brink Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large, And sing the glories of the circling year.

COME, Inspiration! from thy hermit

seat,

15

By mortal seldom found: may Fancy dare, From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptur'd glance Shot on surrounding Heaven, to steal one

look

Creative of the Poet, every power
Exalting to an ecstasy of soul.

20

AND thou, my youthful muse's early
friend,

In whom the human graces all unite:
Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart;
Genius, and wisdom, the gay social sense,
By decency chastis'd; goodness and wit,
25
In seldom-meeting harmony combin'd;
Unblemish'd honour, and an active zeal,
For BRITAIN's glory, Liberty, and Man:
O DODDINGTON! attend my rural song,
Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line,
And teach me to deserve thy just applause.

30

WITH what an awful world-revolving power,

Were first th' unwieldy planets launch'd along

35

Th' illimitable void! Thus to remain,
Amid the flux of many thonsand years,
That oft has swept the toiling race of men,
And all their labour'd monuments away,
Firm,

unremitting, matchless, in their

course;

To the kind-temper'd change of night and

day,

40

And of the seasons ever stealing round, Minutely faithful: Such TH' ALL-PERFECT HAND;

That pois'd, impels, and rules the steady whole.

WHEN now no more th' alternate Twins

are fir'd,

And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze,
Short is the doubtful empire of the night;
And soon, observant of approaching day, 45
The meek-ey'd Morn appears, Mother of dews,
At first faint gleaming in the dappled east:
Till far o'er aether spreads the widening glow;
And, from before the lustre of her face,
White break the clouds away. With quicken'd

step,

49

Brown Night retires: Young Day pours in

apace,

And opens all the lawny prospect wide.
The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top

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