The Subject proposed. Inscribed to the Countess of HARTFORD. The Season is described as it affects the various Parts of Nature, ascending from the Lower to the Higher; and mixed with Digressions arising from the Subject. Its Influence on inanimate Matter, on Vegetables, on brute Animals, and last on Man; concluding with a Dissuasive from the wild and irregular Passion of Love, opposed to That of a pure and happy Kind.

NOME, gentle SPRING, Ethereal Mildness, come,

COME,

And from the Bosom of yon dropping Cloud,

While Music wakes around, veil'd in a Shower
Of shadowing Roses, on our Plains descend.

OHARTFORD, fitted, or to shine in Courts.
With unaffected Grace, or walk the Plain
With Innocence and Meditation join'd
In soft Assemblage, listen to my Song,
Which thy own Season paints; when Nature all
Is blooming, and benevolent, like thee.

AND see where surly WINTER passes off, Far to the North, and calls his ruffian Blasts: His Blasts obey, and quit the howling Hill, The shatter'd Forest, and the ravag'd Vale;

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While softer Gales succeed, at whose kind Touch,
Dissolving Snows in livid Torrents lost,

The Mountains lift their green Heads to the Sky.

As yet the trembling Year is unconfirm❜d,
And WINTER oft at Eve resumes the Breeze,
Chills the pale Morn, and bids his driving Sleets
Deform the Day delightless: so that scarce
The Bittern knows his Time, with Bill ingulpht,
To shake the sounding Marsh; or from the Shore
The Plovers when to scatter o'er the Heath,
And sing their wild Notes to the listening Waste.

AT last from Aries rolls the bounteous Sun,
And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more
Th' expansive Atmosphere is cramp'd with Cold;
But, full of Life and vivifying Soul,

Lifts the light Clouds sublime, and spreads them thin,
Fleecy, and white, o'er all-surrounding Heaven.

FORTH fly the tepid Airs; and unconfin'd,
Unbinding Earth, the moving Softness strays.
Joyous, th' impatient Husbandman perceives
Relenting Nature, and his lusty Steers

Drives from their Stalls, to where the well-us'd Plow
Lies in the Furrow, loosen'd from the Frost.

There, unrefusing to the harness'd Yoke,

They lend their Shoulder, and begin their Toil,
Chear'd by the simple Song and soaring Lark.
Meanwhile, incumbent o'er the shining Share,
The Master leans, removes th' obstructing Clay,
Winds the whole Work, and sidelong lays the Glebe.

WHITE, thro the neighbouring Fields the Sower stalks,
With measur'd Step; and, liberal, throws the Grain
Into the faithful Bosom 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 softening Dews, ye tender Showers, descend!
And temper all, thou world-reviving Sun,
Into the perfect Year! Nor, ye, who live
In Luxury and Ease, in Pomp and Pride,
Think these lost Themes unworthy of your Ear:
Such Themes as these the rural M AR O sung
To wide-imperial Rome, in the full Height
Of Elegance and Taste, by Greece refin❜d.
In antient Times, the sacred Plow employ'd
The Kings, and awful Fathers of Mankind:

And Some, with whom compar'd, your Insect-Tribes
Are but the Beings of a Summer's Day,

Have held the Scale of Empire, rul'd the Storm
Of mighty War; then, with victorious Hand,
Disdaining little Delicacies, seiz'd

The Plow, and greatly independant scorn'd
All the vile Stores Corruption can bestow.

YE generous BRITONS, venerate the Plow!
And o'er your Hills, and long withdrawing Vales,
Let Autumn spread his Treasures to the Sun,
Luxuriant, and unbounded! As the Sea,
Far thro his azure turbulent Domain,

Your Empire owns, and from a thousand Shores
Wafts all the Pomp of Life into your Ports;

So with superior Boon may your rich Soil, Exuberant, Nature's better Blessings pour O'er every Land, the naked Nations cloath, And be th' exhaustless Granary of a World!

NOR only thro the lenient Air this Change, Delicious, breathes; the penetrative Sun, His Force deep-darting to the dark Retreat Of Vegetation, sets the steaming Power At large, to wander o'er the vernant Earth, In various Hues; but chiefly thee, gay Green! Thou smiling Nature's universal Robe! United Light and Shade! where the Sight dwells 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 swells, 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 sighing Gales; Where the Deer rustle thro the twining Brake, And the Birds sing conceal'd. At once, array'd In all the Colours of the flushing Year, By Nature's swift and secret-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 crimson Folds. Now from the Town Buried in Smoke, and Sleep, and noisom Damps, Oft let me wander o'er the dewy Fields,