The ARGUMENT.

DINGTON.

The subject propos'd. Invocation. Address to Mr. Do

An introductory reflection on the motion of the heavenly bodies; whence the fucceffion 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-rifing. Hymn to the fun. Forenoon. Summer insects described. Hay-making. Sheep-hearing Noon-day. A woodland retreat. Groupe of herds and flocks. A folemn 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. Tranfition to the prospect of a rich well-cultivated country; which introduces a panegyric on GREAT BRITAIN. Sun-fet. Evening Night. Summer meteors. comet. The whole concluding with the praise of plilofopby.

SU M M E R.

ROM brightening fields of ether fair disclos'd,

F

In pride of youth, and felt thro’ Nature's depth:
He comes attended by the sultry hours,
And ever-fanning breezes, on his way;

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While, from his ardent look, the turning SPRING
Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies,
All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves.

HENCE, let me haste into the mid-wood shade, Where scarce a sun-beam wanders thro’the gloom; 10 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 fing the glories of the circling year.

COME, Inspiration! from thy hermit-leat, 15 Dy mortal seldom found: may Fancy dare, From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptur'd glance

Shot

D 2

Shot on surrounding Heaven, to steal one look
Creative of the Poet, every power
Exalting to an ecstasy of foul.

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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 fense,
Iy decency chastisid; goodness and wit,
In feldom-meeting harmony combin'd;
Unblemith'd honour, and an active zeal,
For BRITAIN's glory, Liberty, and Man:
O DODINGTON! attend my rural song,
Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line,
And teach me to deserve thy just applause.

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With what an awful world-revolving power,
Were first th' unwieldy planets launch'd along
Th’illimitable void! Thus to remain,
Amid the flux of many thousand years,

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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,
And of the seasons ever stealing round,

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Minutely faithful: Such TH’ALL-PERFECT Hand;
'I hat pois’d, impels, and rules the steady whole.

WHEN