33°

SUMMER:

Rom brightening fields of ether fair dif clos'd,

FROM

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 blufhful face; and earth, and fkies,
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 East
Till far o'er ether fpreads the widening glow;
And, from before the luftre of her face,
White break the clouds away. With quick-
en'd steps

Brown

Brown night retires.

арасе,

Young day pours in

And opens all the lawny profpect wide.

The dripping rock the mountain's misty 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 forest-glade
The wild deer trip, and, often turning, gaze
At early paffenger. Mufick awakes,

The native voice of undiffembled joy;
And thick around the woodland hymns arife.
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 coldnefs to the fhade retires; There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed, By gelid founts and carelefs rills to mufe: While tyrant heat, difpreading thro' the sky,

With rapid fway, his burning influence darts On man, and beaft, and herb, and tepid stream.

Who can unpitying fee the flowry race, Shed by the morn, their new-flufh'd bloom refign,

Before the parching beam? So fade the fair,
When fevers revel thro' their azure veins.
But one, the lofty follower of the fun,
Sad when he fets, fhuts up her yellow leaves,
Drooping all night; and, when he warm re-
turns,

Points her enamour'd bofom to his ray.

Home, from his morning talk, the fwain

retreats;

His flock before him stepping to the fold: While the full-udder'd mother lows around The chearful cottage, then expecting food, The food of innocence, and health! The daw,

The rook and magpie, to the grey-grown

oaks

(That the calm village in their verdant arms, Sheltering, embrace) direct their lazy flight; Where on the mingling boughs they fit embower'd,

All the hot noon, till cooler hours arife. Faint, underneath, the houfhold fowls con

vene;

And, in a corner of the buzzing shade,

The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies,

Out-fretch'd, and fleepy. In his flumbers one Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults O'er hill and dale; till waken'd by the wafp,

They

They starting fnap. Nor fhall the mufe dif

dain

To let the little noify fummer-race

Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her fong,
Not mean tho' fimple: to the fun allay'd,
From him they draw their animating fire.

Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young Come wing'd abroad; by the light air upborn, Lighter, and full of foul. From every chink, And fecret corner, where they slept away

The wintry storms; or rising from their tombs,
To higher life; by myriads, forth at once,
Swarming they pour; of all the vary'd hues
Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.
Ten thousand forms! Ten thoufand different
tribes!:

People the blaze. To funny waters fome
By fatal inftinct fly; where on the pool
They, sportive, wheel; or, failing down the
ftream,

Are fnatch'd immediate by the quick-eyed

trout,

Or darting falmon.

glade

Thro' the green-wood

Some love to stray; there lodg'd, amus'd and fed,

In the fresh leaf.. Luxurious, others make
The meads their choice, and vifit every flower,
And every latent herb: for the sweet task,
To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,
In what foft beds, their young yet undisclos'd,
Employs their tender care. Some to the house,
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight;
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese:
Oft, inadvertent, from the milkly ftream

They

They meet their fate; or, weltering in the bowl, With powerlefs wings around them wrapt, expire.

But chief to heedlefs flies the window proves A conftant death; where, gloomily retir'd, The villain fpider lives, cunning, and fierce, Mixture abhorr'd! Amid a mangled heap Of carcaffes, in eager watch he fits, O'erlooking all his waving fnares around. Near the dire cell the dreadlefs wanderer oft Paffes, as oft the ruffian fhows his front, The prey at last enfnar'd, he dreadful darts, With rapid glide, along the leaning line And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs, Strikes backward grimly pleas'd: the flutter ing wing,

e;

And fhriller found declare extreme diftrefs,
And ask the helping hofpitable hand.

Refounds the living furface of the ground: Nor undelightful is the ceafelefs hum,

To him who mufes thro' the woods at noon;
Or drowsy fhepherd, as he lies reclin'd,
With half-fhut eyes, beneath the floating
fhade

Of willows grey, close-crowding o'er the brook.

Now fwarms the village o'er the jovial mead: The ruftic youth, brown with meridian toil, Healthful, and ftrong; full as the fummerrofe

Blown by prevailing funs, the ruddy maid,
Half-naked, fwelling on the fight, and all
Her kindled graces burning o'er her check.
Even ftooping age is here; and infant-hands
Trail the long rake, or, with the fragrant load
Q'ercharg'd,