The clouds, befide their paintings, hung all o'er Heaven's convex, act the part of fhifting scenes, And kindly interpofe to cool the flames Shot from the fcorching fun's meridian rays; Nor lefs their use, whom providence has chofe The fruitful water-fpouts, which through the air, Wafted by various winds, their moisture pour O'er earth's extended regions, drop their dews, To fructify each plant and springing flower. To thee the fields present their golden stores, The fruitful granaries each autumn fill'd, To feast thy table; the vast ocean thine, That refervoir, which drinks a thousand ftreams, Nor yet o'erflowing.--Every creature spends Its ftrength for thee, ready at thy command Thy orders to dispatch---fome pleas'd, refign Their cloathing, to replenish and to grace. Thy fumptuous wardrobes, ready at thy call Το
pour their lives away in ftreams of gore To gratify thy tafte; the earth, the air, Each element a plenteous ftorehouse, fill'd With rich abundance---treafures hoarded all For thy delight and ufe: each feafon pours
On thee its choice productions, nature seems Thy bounteous caterer, and, to endear Her various favours, all are useful found At once, and lovely; nothing the bestows Inelegant or mean---each scene is clad In beauty's fairest robe, proportion guides Her hand whene'er it draws, exhibits round A fund of pleasures grateful to the eye, Which chear at once, while they our wants fupply. Encompass'd round with mercies, can the heart Of man rebel against that pitying power Who loads him with his richeft gifts each day? Oh! gratefully those crouded gifts furvey Drop'd in thy lap by his endearing fmile; See how he courts thy ravish'd heart to own His gracious bounties, feeming to disdain All limits---ftraiten'd by no scanty bounds. What lively picture here do I behold Of industry! whofe kind and friendly care This spot into a beauteous Eden turns.
Here we enjoy whate'er can entertain
The eye, or treat the fmell with rich perfumes! Had it been left unnurtur'd, this gay scene,
A garden now delightful, had appear'd A defert wafte---the thistle had deform'd
Its beauties, cover'd with the tangling briar; Soon had these fcented beds become the nests Of noxious ferpents, and the lonesome home And haunt of creatures that infect the air
And atmosphere with poisons which they breathe. But fee the fpade and pruning-knife employ'd By industry's kind hand, have clear'd the glebe From fuffocating weeds, and in their room Planted whate'er is grateful to the eye; The rueful wafte, by cultivation chang'd
fcenes, with Eden's felf that vies.
See with what care the curious flow'rift tends His springing nursery; each morn and eve He vifits their abodes, with richest mould Feeding their tender roots; he now supplies Each plant with moisture, now employs his care To guard 'em from the infects rav'nous jaw, Or fcreens 'em from the winter's blasting cold. With joy each opening bud he oft beholds, Attentively obferves them as they blow
From fair to fairer ftill; nor ever cease
His pleafing rural labours till they shine
More beauteous, and in full perfection bloom. Children of folly, fhall this range of flowers, When nurs'd and nurtur'd by art's curious hand, Spring up and flourish, bloffom in the morn, E'er night their beauties loft, at least decay'd; Shall these be tended with more zealous pains, Or warmer application, than a foul Divine, immortal---ne'er to cease or die? On every fide furrounded, I admire
Clusters of infant flowers, within their cells The buds embosom'd which their beauties hide, Their fweets lock'd up within their guardian folds; E'er long the fun's enlivening beams fhall chear
open their rich foliage, to the day
Expand their graceful leaves; how gay a bloom. Then blushes on their cheeks, what incense flows, What rich perfumes, their balmy bofoms breathe? At proper distances difpos'd we view
A range of ftately* ftalks; fee how they rife, And ftand like lofty towers along the walls
Of towns well fortified; their tops will foon
Afunder part, the ftem that lifts them high. With penfile spiky pods quite gayly hung; From these the wand'ring ftranger foon will view Burfting, a beauteous figure, fpreading wide Its round and yellow plume in colours drefs'd, How priz'd and grateful to the curious éye? One faculty peculiar to these tribes;
The fondeft paffion for those kindly beams The fun diffuses, to unfold their bloom. Soon as the evening her dark mantle throws
Round nature's varied beauties, fee they pine,
And droop their languid heads, their shining leaves Close folded up within their nightly cells,
Juft like the mournful lover banish'd far
From her fair eye whose charms his bofom warm'd. Soon as the fun now mounts his eaftern throne, Opening the radiant eye-lids of the morn, See they up-raise their radiant tops to hail His kind approach, their golden leaves unveil To meet and welcome the return of day; Nor lofe the fight of his refulgent rays Before its orb is hid beneath a fhade.
The morning opening, you behold the flower
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