SPRING.

SPRING.

THE ARGUMENT.

The fubject propofed. Infcribed to the Countess of Hartford. The Seafon is defcribed as it affects the vari ous parts of Nature, afcending from the lower to the bigber; with digreffions arifing from the fubject. Its influence on inanimate Matter, on Vegetables, on brute Animals, and laft on Man; concluding with a diffua* five from the zuild and irregular passion of Love, oppofed to that of a pure and happy kind.

C

OME, gentle Spring, ethereal Mildness, come,
And from the bofom of yon dropping cloud,
While mufic wakes around, veil'd in a fhower
Of shadowing rofes, on our plains defcend.

O Hartford, fitted or to fhine in courts
With unaffected grace, or walk the plain
With innocence and meditation join'd
In foft aflemblage, liften to my fong,

Which thy own feafon paints; when Nature all
Is blooming and benevolent, like thee.

And fee where furly Winter paffes off,
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blafts:
His blafts obey, and quit the howling hill,
The shatter'd foreft, and the ravag'd vale;
While fofter gales fucceed, at whofe kind touch,
Diffolving fnows in livid torrents loft,

10

The mountains lift their green heads to the sky.
As vet the trembling year is unconfirm'd,
And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze,
Chil's the pale morn, and bids his driving fleets 20
Deform the day delightless: fo that fearee
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht
To shake the founding marth, or from the thore
The plovers when to featter o'er the heath,

A 3

And

And fing their wild notes to the listening wafte. 25

At last from Aries rolls the bounteous fun, And the bright Ball receives him.

Then no more
Th' expanfive atmosphere is cramp'd with cold;
But, full of life and vivifying foul,

Lifts the light clouds fublime, and spreads them thin,
Fleecy and white, o'er all-surrounding Heaven. 31
Forth fy the tepid airs: and unconfin'd,
Unbinding earth, the moving foftnefs ftrays.
Joyous, th' impatient husbandman perceives
Relenting Nature, and his lufty fteers

35

40

Drives from their talls, to where the well-us'd
Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the froft. (plough
There, unrefufing to the harnefs'd yoke,
They lend their thoulder, and begin their toil,
Chear'd by the fimple fong and foaring lark.
Meanwhile incumbent o'er the fhining share
The mafter leans, removes th' obftructing clay,
Winds the whole work, and fidelong lays the globe.
White thro' the neighbouring fields the fower ftalks
With measur'd ftep; and liberal throws the grain
Into the faithful bofom of the ground:
The harrow follows harfh, and thuts the fcene.

46

Be gracious, Heav'n! for now laborious man Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes blow! Ye foflering dews, ye tender thowers, defcend! 50 And temper all, thou world-reviving fun, Into the perfect year! Nor ye who live In Luxury and ease, in pomp and pride, Think thefe loft themes unworthy of your ear: Such themes as these the rural Maro fung To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height Of elegance and tafte. by Greece refin'd. In ancient times, the facred plough employ'd The kings, and awful fathers of mankind:

55

And fome, with whom compar'd your infect tribes 60
Are but the beings of a fummer's day,

Have held the fcale 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 stores corruption can bestow.

65

Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough I'
And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing vales,
Let Autumn Tpread his treafures to the fun,
Luxuriant and unbounded! as the fea,
Far thro' his azure turbulent domain,
Your empire owns and from a thousand thores
Wafts all the pomp of life into your po bi
So with fuperior boon may your fich foil,
Exuberant, Nature's better bleffings pour
O'er every land, the naked nation's cloathe
And be th' exhauftlefs granary of a world!
Nor only thro' the lenient air this change,
Delicious, breathes; the penetrative fun,
His force de p-darting to the dark retreat
Of vegetation, fets the fleaning power
At large, to wander o'er the verdant earth,
In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay Green!
Thou fmiling Nature's univerfal robe!

70

75

80'

United light and fhade! where the fight dwells 85
With growing strength, and ever-new delight.
From the moist meadow to the wither'd hill,
Led by the breeze, 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 foreft ftands difplay'd,
In full luxuriance, to the fighing gales;
Where the deer ruftle thro' the twining brake,
And the birds fing conceald. At once, array'd 95
In all the colours of the flushing year,

By Nature's swift and secref-working hand,
The garden glows, and the liberal air

With lavith fragrance;le the promis'd fruit

Lies yet a little emb

unperceiv'd,

Within its crimfor JS. Now from the town
Bur ed in find fleep, and noisome damps,
Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields,

100

(drops

Where freshnefs breathes, and dah the trembling"

105

From the bent bufh, as thro' the verdant maze
Of fweet-briar hedges I purfue my walk;
Or tafte the smell of dairy; or afcend
Some eminence, Augufta, in thy plains,

And

And fee the country, far diffus'd around.
One boundless bluth, one white empurpled fhower
Of mingled bloffoms; where the raptur'd eye 111
Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath

The fair profufion, yellow Autumn spies.

115

120

If, bruth'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 baleful blaft The full-blown fpring thro' all her foliage fhrinks, 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 oft The facred fons of vengeance! on whofe courfe 125 Corrofive famine waits, and kills the year. To check this plague the fkilful farmer, chaff, And blazing ftraw, before his orchard burns; Till, all involv'd in fmoke, the latent foe From every cranny fuffocated falls:

130

Or fcatters o'er the blooms the pungent duft
Of pepper, fatal to the frofty tribe:

Or, when th' invenom'd leaf begins to curl,
With fprinkled water drowns them in their neft;
Nor, while they pick them up with bufy bill,
135
The little trooping birds unwifely feares.

Be patient, fwains; thefe cruel-feeming winds Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep, reprefs'd Thofe deep'ning clouds on clouds, furcharg'd with That o'er the vaft. Atlantic hither borne, [rain, In end'efs train, would quench the fummer-blaze, 141 And, chearless, drown the crude unripen'd year.

The north-east fpends his rage; he now, thut up Within his iron cave, th' effufive fouth 144 Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven Breathes the big clouds with vernal fhowers diftent. At first a dufky wreath they feem to rife, Scarce ftaining ether; but by fait degrees, In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour fails Along the loaded fky, and mingl ng deep

150