The latent rill, fcarce oozing thro' the grafs, Of growth luxuriant; or the humid bank, In fair profufion, decks. Long let us walk, Where the breeze blows from yon extended field
Of bloffom'd beams. Arabia cannot boaft A fuller gale of joy than, liberal, thence Breathes thro' the fenfe, and takes the ravish'd foul.
Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot, Full of fresh verdure, and unnumber'd flowers, The negligence of nature, wide, and wild; Where, undifguis'd by mimic art, the spreads Unbounded beauty to the roving eye. Here their delicious task the fervent bees, In fwarming millions, tend. Around, athwart, Thro' the foft air, the bufy nations fly, Cling to the bud, and, with inferted tube, Suck its pure effence, its ethereal foul, And oft, with bolder wing, they foaring dare The purple heath, or where the wild-thyme
grows,
And yellow load them with the luscious fpoil. At length the finish'd garden to the view Its vistas opens, and its alleys green. Snatch'd thro' the verdant maze, the hurried eye
Diftracted wanders; now the bowery walk Of covert clofe, where fcarce a fpeck of day Falls on the lengthen'd gloom, protracted fweeps ;
Now meets the bending fky, the river now Dimpling along, the breezy-ruffled lake, The foreft darkening round, the glittering
fpire,
Th' etherial mountain, and the diftant main.
But
But why fo far excurfive? when at hand, Along these blushing borders, bright with
dew,
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 fcents the garden round, From the foft wing of vernal breezes fhed, Anemonies; auriculas, enrich'd
With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves; And full renunculas, 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, the exulting florift marks, With fecret pride the wonders of his hand. No gradual bloom is wanting; from the bud, Firft-born of Spring, to Summer's mufky tribes: Nor hyacinths, of pureft virgin white, Low-bent, and blufhing inward; nor jonquils, Of potent fragrance; nor narciffus fair, As o'er the fabled fountain hanging fill; Nor broad carnations; nor gay-fpotted pinks; Nor, fhower'd from every bush, the. damafk- rofe.
Infinite numbers, delicacies, fmells, With hues on hues expreffion cannot paint, The breath of nature, and her endless bloom..
Ee 3
Hail
Hait, SOURCE OF BEINGS! UNIVERSAL SOUL Of heaven and earth! ESSENTIAL PRESENCE, hail!
TO THEE I bend the KNEE; to THEE my thoughts,
Continual, climb; who, with a mafter-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, fpreads All this innumerous-colour'd scene of things.
SUMMER.
FROM brightening fields of ether fair dif
Child of the fun, refulgent SUMMER Comes, In pride of youth, and felt thro' nature's depth :
He comes attended by the fultry hours, And ever-fanning breezes, on his way; While, from his ardent look, the turning SPRING
Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies, All-fmiling, to his hot dominion leaves.
Hence, let me hafte into the mid-wood
fhade,
Where scarce a fun-beam wanders thro' the gloom;
And on the dark-green grafs, befide 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..
When now. no more th' alternate twins are fir'd,
And Cancer reddens with the folar blaze, Short is the doubtful empire of the night; And foon, obfervant of approaching day, The meek-ey'd morn appears, mother of dews, At first faint-gleaming in the dappled Eaft: Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow; And, from before the luftre of her face, White break the clouds away. With quick. en'd step
Brown
Brown night retires.
Young day pours in
apace, And opens all the lawny profpect wide. The dripping rock the mountain's mifty top Swell on the fight, and brighten with the dawn.
Blue, thro' the dusk, the fmoaking currents fhine;
And from the bladed field the fearful hare Limps, aukward: while along the foreft-glade The wild deer trip, and, often turning, gaze At early passenger. Mufick awakes, The native voice of undiffembled joy; And thick around the woodland hymns arise. Rous'd by the cock, the foon-clad fhepherd leaves
His moffy cottage, where with peace he dwells; And from the crowded fold, in order, drives His flock, to tafte the verdue of the morn.
Now, flaming up. the heavens, the potent fun
Melts into limpid air the high-rais'd clouds, And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills.
In party-colour'd bands; till wide unveil'd The face of nature fhines, from where earth feems,
Far-ftretch'd around, to meet the bending
sphere.
Half in a blush of clustering rofes loft, Dew-dropping coldness to the fhade retires; There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed, By gelid founts and carelefs rills to muse: While tyrant heat, difpreading thro' the fky,
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