Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day
Falls on the lengthen'd gloom, protracted sweeps :
Now meets the bending fky; the river now
Dimpling along, the breezy-ruffled lake,
The foreft darkening round, the glittering spire,
Th' ethereal mountain, and the diftant main.
But why so far excurfive? when at hand,
Along these blushing borders, bright with dew, 525
And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers,
Fair-handed Spring unbofoms every grace;
Throws out the fnow-drop, and the crocus firft;
The daify, primrose, violet darkly blue,
And polyanthus of unnumber'd dyes;
The yellow wall-flower, ftain'd with iron brown;
And lavish stock that scents the garden round:
From the foft wing of vernal breezes shed,
Anemonies; auriculas, enrich'd
With fhining meal o'er all their velvet leaves
And full ranunculas, of glowing red.
Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty plays
Her idle freaks; from family diffus'd
To family, as flies the father-dust,
The varied colours run; and while they break
On the charm'd eye, th' exulting florist marks,
With fecret pride, the wonders of his hand.
No gradual bloom is wanting; from the bud,
First-born of Spring, to Summer's musky tribes:
Nor hyacinths, of pureft virgin white,
Low-bent, and blushing inward; nor jonquils, 545 Of potent fragrance; nor Narciffus fair,
As o'er the fabled fountain hanging ftill;
Nor broad carnations, nor gay-fpotted pinks;
Nor, fhower'd from every bush, the damask-rose,
Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells,
With hues on hues expreffion cannot paint,
The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom.
HAIL, SOURCE OF BEING! UNIVERSAL SOUL Of Heaven and earth! ESSENTIAL PRESENCE, hail!
TO THEE I bend the knee; to THEE my thoughts,
Continual, climb; who with a master-hand,
Haft the great whole into perfection touch'd,
By THEE the various vegetative tribes,
Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves,
Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew:
By THEE difpos'd into congenial foils,
Stands each attractive plant, and fucks, and fwells
The juicy tide; a twining mass of tubes.
At THY Command the vernal fun awakes
The torpid fap, detruded to the root
By wintry winds; that now in fluent dance,
And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads
All this innumerous-colour'd scene of things.
As rifing from the vegetable world
My theme afcends, with equal wing ascend,
My panting Mufe! and hark, how loud the woods
Invites you forth in all your gayeft trim.
Lend me your fong, ye nightingales! oh pour
The mazy-running foul of melody
Into my varied verfe! while I deduce,
From the first note the hollow cuckoo fings,
The fymphony of Spring, and touch a theme
Unknown to fame, the paffion of the groves.
WHEN firft the foul of love is fent abroad,
Warm thro' the vital air, and on the heart
Harmonious feizes, the gay troops begin,
In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing;
And try again the long-forgotten strain,
At first faint-warbled. But no fooner grows
The foft infufion prevalent, and wide,
Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows
In mufic unconfin'd. Up-fprings the lark,
Shrill-voic❜d, and loud, the meffenger of morn:
Ere yet the fhadows fly, he mounted fings
Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 590
Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copfe
Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush
Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads
Of the coy quirifters that lodge within,
Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush
And wood-lark, o'er the kind contending throng
Superior heard, run thro' the sweetest length
Of notes; when liftening Philomela deigns
To let them joy, and purposes, in thought
Elate, to make her night excel their day.
The black-bird whistles from the thorny brake;
The mellow bullfinch anfwers from the
Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze
Pour'd out profufely, filent. Join'd to thefe
Innumerous fongsters, in the freshening shade
Of new-fprung leaves, their modulations mix
Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw,
And each harsh pipe, difcordant heard alone,
Aid the full concert: while the stock-dove breathes
A melancholy murmur thro' the whole.
'Tis love creates their melody, and all
This waste of mufic is the voice of love;
That even to birds, and beasts, the tender arts
Of pleasing teaches. Hence the gloffy kind
Try every winning way inventive love
Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates
Pour forth their little fouls. Firft, wide around,
With diftant awe, in airy rings they rove,
Endeavouring by a thousand tricks to catch
The cunning, confcious, half-averted glance
Of the regardless charmer. Should she seem
Softening the least approvance to bestow,
Their colours burnish, and by hope inspir'd,
They brifk advance; then on a sudden struck,
Retire diforder'd; then again approach;
In fond rotation spread the spotted wing,
And shiver every feather with defire.
CONNUBIAL leagues agreed, to the deep woods They hafte away, all as their fancy leads, Pleasure, or food, or fecret fafety prompts;
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