'The mafter leans, removes th' obstructing clay, Winds the whole work, and fidelong lays the glebe.
WHITE thro' the neighbouring fields the fower ftalks, With meafur'd ftep; and liberal throws the grain 45 Into the faithful bofom of the ground.
The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene.
BE gracious, HEAVEN! for now laborious man
Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes blow!
Ye foftering dews, ye tender fhowers, defcend!
And temper all, thou world reviving fun,
Into the perfect year! Nor ye who live
In luxury and eafe, in pomp and pride,
Think these loft themes unworthy of your ear:
Such themes as thefe 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 fummer's day,
Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the ftorm
Of mighty war; then, with victorious hand,
Difdaining little delicacies, feiz'd
The plough, and greatly independant fcorn'd
All the vile ftores corruption can bestow.
E 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 fhorės
Wafts all the pomp of life into
So with fuperior boon may your rich soil,
Exuberant, Nature's better blefings pour
O'er every land, the naked nations cloathe,
And be th' exhaustlefs granary of a world!
NOR only thro' the lenient air this change,
Delicious, breathes; the penetrative fun,
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 fhade! where the fight dwells
With growing strength, and ever-new delight.
FROM the moist meadow to the withered hill,
Led by the breze, 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 rustle thro the twining brake,
And the birds fing conceal'd. At once, array'd
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 fmoke, and fleep, and noisom damps,
Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields,
Where freshnefs breathes, and dafh the trembling drops From the bent bush, as thro' the verdant maze 105 Of fweet-briar hedges I purfue my walk;'
Or tafte 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 fhower 110
Of mingled bloffoms; where the raptur'd eye
Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath
The fair profufion, yellow Autumn spies.
IF, brufh'd from Ruffian wilds, a cutting gale Rife not, and fcatter from his humid wings The clammy mildew; or, dry-blowing, breathe Untimely froft; before whofe bafeful blaft The full-blown fpring thro' all her foliage fhrinks, Joylefs
Joylefs and dead, a wide-dejected waste.
For oft, engender'd by the hazy north,
Myriads on myriads, infect-armies waft
Keen in the poifon'd breeze; and wasteful eat,
Thro' buds and bark, into the blackened core,
Their eager way. A feeble race! yet
The facred fons of vengeance! on whofe courfe 125
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 smoke, 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,
With 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; thefe cruel-feeming winds Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep, reprefs'd Thofe deepening clouds on clouds, furcharg'd with rain, That o'er the vaft Atlantic hither borne,
In endless train, would quench the fummer-blaze,
And, cheariefs, drown the crude unripened year.
THE north-eaft spends his rage; Within his iron cave, th' effufive fouth
Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven 145
Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers diftent.
At first a dufky wreath they seem to rife,
Scarce ftaining ether; but by fast degrees,
In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour fails
Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep
Sits on th' horizon round a fettled gloom.
Not fuch as wintry storms on mortals shed,
Oppreffing life; but lovely, gentle, kind,
And full of every hope and every joy,
The wish of Nature. Gradual, finks the breeze, 155
Into a perfect calm; that not a breath
Is heard to quiver thro' the clofing woods,
Or ruffling turn the many-twinkling leaves
Of afpin tall. Th' uncurling floods, diffus'd
In glaffy breadth, feem thro' delufive lapfe
Forgetful of their courfe. 'Tis filence all,
And pleafing expectation. Herds and flocks
Drop the dry fprig, and mute-imploring eye
The falling verdure. Hufh'd in short fufpence,
The plumy people streak their wings with oil,
To throw the lucid moisture trickling off;
And wait th' approaching fign to ftrike, at once,
Into the general choir. Even mountains, vales,.
And forests seem, impatient, to demand
The promis'd sweetness. Man fuperior walks 170
Amid the glad creation, mufing praise,
And looking lively gratitude. At last,
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