character of the Farmer's Boy, whofe occupations are described throughout the year, gives a wholenefs and originality to the plan. This plan is proposed in the opening lines.

• SPRING.

'O come, bleft fpirit! whatsoe'er thou art,
Thou rushing warmth that hovers round my heart,
Sweet inmate, hail! thou fource of sterling joy,
That poverty itself cannot deftroy,

Be thou my Muse; and faithful still to me,
Retrace the paths of wild obfcurity.

No deeds of arms my humble lines rehearse,
No Alpine wonders thunder through my verfe,
The roaring cataract, the snow-topt hill,
Infpiring awe, till breath itself ftands still:
Nature's fublimer fcenes ne'er charm'd mine eyes,
Nor Science led me through the boundless skies;
From meaner objects far my raptures flow:
O point these raptures! bid my bofom glow!
And lead my foul to ecftacies of praise

For all the bleffings of my infant days!

Bear me through regions where gay Fancy dwells;
But mould to Truth's fair form what Memory tells.
Live, trifling incidents, and grace my fong,
That to the humbleft menial belong;
To him whofe drudgery unheeded goes,
His joys unreckon'd as his cares or woes:
Though joys and cares in every path are fown,
And youthful minds have feelings of their own;
Quick fpringing forrows, tranfient as the dew;
Delights from trifles, trifles ever new.

'Twas thus with Giles: meek, fatherless, and poor;
Labour his portion, but he felt no more;
No ftripes, no tyranny his fteps purfu'd;
His life was conftant, cheerful, fervitude:
Strange to the world, he wore a bashful look,
The fields his study, Nature was his book;
And, as revolving feafons chang'd the fcene
From heat to cold, tempeftuous to ferene,
Though every change ftill varied his employ,

Yet each new duty brought its share of joy.' P. 3.

As Suffolk, the author's county, is the fcene of the poem, defcriptions of the fublimer scenes of nature are not to be expected: but in every country the poet can find objects of beauty; and our extracts will abundantly prove that Robert Bloomfield poffeffes the eye and the feeling of a poet.

After a defcription of the bufinefs of feed time, the dairy is introduced; and the author celebrates the cheese of his own county.

Unrivall'd stands thy country cheese, O Giles!
Whofe very name alone engenders fimiles;
Whofe fame abroad by every tongue is ípoke,
The well-known butt of many a flinty joke,
That pafs like current coin the nation through;
And, ah! experience proves the fatire true.
Provision's grave, thou ever craving mart,
Dependant, huge metropolis! where Art
Her poring thousands ftows in breathless rooms,
'Midft pois'nous fiokes and fteams, and rattling looms;
Where Grandeur revels in unbounded ftores;
Reftraint, a flighted ftranger at their doors!
Thou, like a whirlpool, drain'ft the countries round,
Till London market, London price, refound
Through every town, round every patling load,
And dairy produce throngs the eaftern road:
Delicious veal, and butter, every hour,
From Effex lowlands, and the banks of Stour;
And further far, where numerous herds repofe,
From Orwell's brink, from Weveny, or Oufe.
Hence Suffolk dairy-wives run mad for cream,
And leave their milk with nothing but its name;
Its name derifion and reproach pursue,
And strangers tell of "three times fkim'd fky-blue."
To cheese converted, what can be its boast?
What, but the common virtues of a post!
If drought o'ertake it faster than the knife,
Moft fair it bids for ftubborn length of life,
And, like the oaken fhelf whereon 'tis laid,
Mocks the weak efforts of the bending blade;
Or in the hog trough refts in perfect fpite,
Too big to fwallow, and too hard to bite.
Inglorious victory! Ye Chefhire meads,
Or Severn's flow'ry dales, where plenty treads,
Was your rich milk to fuffer wrongs like thefe,
Farewell your pride! farewell renowned cheese!
The skimmer dread, whofe ravages alone
Thus turn the mead's fweet nectar into ftone.'

P. 16.

In fummer, the farmer's boy is employed to drive the sparrows from the green corn. In this paffage many lines occur of uncommon beauty.

6

• Shot
up from broad rank blades that droop below,
The nodding wheat-ear forms a graceful bow,
With milky kernels ftarting full, weigh'd down,
Ere yet the fun hath ting'd its head with brown;
Whilft thousands in a flock, for ever gay,
Loud chirping fparrows welcome on the day,

And from the mazes of the leafy thorn
Drop one by one upon the bending corn;
Giles with a pole affails their close retreats,
And round the grafs-grown dewy border beats,
On either fide completely overfpread,

Here branches bend, there corn o'ertops his head.
Green covert, hail! for through the varying year
No hours fo fweet, no fcene to him fo dear.
Here Wifdom's placid eye delighted fees
His frequent intervals of lonely eafe,
And with one ray his infant foul infpires,
Juft kindling there her never-dying fires,
Whence folitude derives peculiar charms,
And heaven-directed thought his bofom warms.
Juft where the parting bough's light fhadows play,
Scarce in the flade, nor in the fcorching day,
Stretch'd on the turf he lies, a peopled bed,
Where fwarming infects creep around his head.
The fmall duft-colour'd beetle climbs with pain
O'er the smooth plantain-leaf, a fpacious plain!
Thence higher ftill, by countlefs fteps convey'd,
He gains the fummit of a fhiv'ring blade,
And flirts his filmy wings, and looks around,
Exulting in his diftance from the ground.
The tender fpeckled moth here dancing feen,
The vaulting grafshopper of gloffy green,
And all prolific Summer's fporting train,
Their little lives by various pow'rs sustain.
But what can unaffifted vifion do?
What, but recoil where moft it would purfue;
His patient gaze but finifh with a figh,
When mufic waking fpeaks the fky-lark nigh.
Juft ftarting from the corn fhe cheerly fings,
And trufts with confcious pride her downy wings;
Still louder breathes, and in the face of day
Mounts up, and calls on Giles to mark her way.
Close to his eyes his hat he instant bends,
And forms a friendly telefcope, that lends
Juft aid enough to dull the glaring light,
And place the wand'ring bird before his fight;
Yet oft beneath a cloud the sweeps along,
Loft for awhile, yet pours her varied song:
He views the spot, and as the cloud moves by,
Again the ftretches up the clear blue sky;
Her form, her motion, undistinguish'd quite,
Save when the wheels direct from shade to light :
The flutt'ring fongstress a mere speck became,
Like fancy's floating bubbles in a dream;

He fees her yet, but yielding to repose,
Unwittingly his jaded eyelids clofe.

Delicious fleep! From fleep who could forbear,
With no more guilt than Giles, and no more care?
Peace o'er his flumbers waves her guardian wing,
Nor confcience once disturbs him with a sting;
He wakes refresh'd from every trivial pain,

And takes his pole and brushes round again.' P. 30.

This poem abounds with beautiful lines of accurate and minute description. Several fuch have occurred in the paffages already extracted. Objects that would have escaped common writers are here noticed, and fo brought before the eye that every reader recognifes the truth of the picture; and even trite circumftances appear original in the difcriminating language of this poet.

Thus, in defcribing the plowman at his work, he says,

Strong on the wing his bufy followers play,

Where writhing earth-worms meet th' unwelcome day.' P. 7.

Stopt in her fong perchance the starting thrush
Shook a white shower from the black-thorn bush,
Where dew-drops thick as early blossoms hung,
And trembled as the minstrel fweetly fung.'

P. II.

A fimilar image is very happily expreffed in the following couplet.

if a gale with strength unusual blow,

Scattering the wild-brier rofes into fnow.'

We may also praise the defcription of the country girl in the account of harveft-the maftiff-and the admirable line which begins the paffage

Hark! where the fweeping fcythe now rips along:

Each sturdy mower emulous and strong;
Whose writhing form meridian heat defies,
Bends o'er his work, and every finew tries;
Proftrates the waving treasure at his feet,
But fpares the rifing clover, fhort and sweet.
Come, Health! come, Jollity! light-footed, come;
Here hold your revels, and make this your home.
Each heart awaits and hails you as its own;

Each moisten'd brow, that fcorns to wear a frown:
Th' unpeopled dwelling mourns its tenants stray'd;
E'en the domeftic laughing dairy-maid

Hies to the field, the general toil to share.
Meanwhile the farmer quits his elbow-chair,

His cool brick-floor, his pitcher, and his ease,
And braves the fultry beams, and gladly fees
His gates thrown open, and his team abroad,
The ready group attendant on his word,
To turn the fwarth, the quiv'ring load to rear,
Or ply the bufy rake, the land to clear.
Summer's light garb itself now cumb'rous grown,
Each his thin doublet in the fhade throws down;
Where oft the mastiff fculks with half-fhut eye,
And roufes at the ftranger paffing by;

Whilft unreftrain'd the focial converfe flows,
And every breast Love's pow'rful impulfe knows,
And rival wits with more than rustic grace
Confefs the prefence of a pretty face;

For, lo encircled there, the lovely maid,
In youth's own bloom and native smiles array'd;
Her hat awry, divested of her gown,

Her creaking stays of leather, ftout and brown;
Invidious barrier! why art thou fo high,
When the flight cov'ring of her neck flips by,
There half revealing to the eager fight
Her full, ripe bofom, exquifitely white?
In many a local tale of harmless mirth,
And many a jeft of momentary birth,
She bears a part, and as fhe ftops to speak,

Strokes back the ringlets from her glowing cheek.' P. 35.

It is faying much for the lines which we are about to quote, that the reader must be pleased, even while he may remember the incomparable poetry of Cowper. The poet has been defcribing the church.

• Round thefe lone walls affembling neighbours meet,
And tread departed friends beneath their feet:
And new-brier'd graves, that prompt the fecret figh,
Shew each the spot where he himself muft lie.
Midft timely greetings village news goes round,
Of crops late fhorn, or crops that deck the ground;
Experienc'd ploughmen in the circle join;
While fturdy boys, in feats of strength to fhine,
With pride elate their young affociates brave
To jump from hollow-founding grave to grave;
Then clofe confulting, each his talent lends
To plan fresh sports when tedious fervice ends.
Hither at times, with cheerfulness of foul,
Sweet village maids from neighbouring hamlets ftroll,
That like the light-heel'd does o'er lawns that rove,
Look byly curious; rip'ning into love;