SPRING.

VOL. I.

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FORD.

The ARGUMENT.

The Subject propofed. Infcribed to the Countess of HART, The Seafon is defcribed as it affects the va rious parts of Nature, afcending from the lower to the higher; with digreffions arising from the subject. Its influence on inanimate Matter, on Vegetables, on brute Animals, and laft on Man; concluding with a diffuafive from the wild and irregular passion of Love, opposed to that of a pure and happy kind.

SPRING.

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OME, gentle SPRING, ethereal Mildness, come,
And from the bofom of yon dropping cloud,
While mufic wakes around, veil'd in a fhower

Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend.

O HARTFORD, fitted or to fhine in courts 5 With unaffected grace, or walk the plain With innocence and meditation join'd In foft affemblage, liften to my fong, Which thy own Seafon paints; when Nature all Is blooming and benevolent, like thee.

AND fee where furly WINTER paffes off, Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts: His blafts obey, and quit the howling hill, The shattered foreft, and the ravag'd vale;

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While fofter gales fucceed, at whose kind touch, 15 Diffolving fnows in fivid torrents loft,

The mountains lift their green heads to the sky,

As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd,
And WINTER oft at eve refumes the breeze,
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving fleets
Deform the day delightless: fo that scarce
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht

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To fhake the founding marsh; or from the shore
The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath,

And fing their wild notes to the liftening wafte. 25

AT last from Aries rolls the bounteous fun, And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more Th' expansive atmosphere is cramp'd with cold; But, full of life and vivifying soul,

Lifts the light clouds fublime, and fpreads them thin, 30 Fleecy and white, o'er all-furrounding heaven.

FORTH fly the tepid airs; and unconfin'd, Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays. Joyous, th' impatient hufbandman perceives Relenting Nature, and his lufty steers

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Drives from their stalls, to where the well-us'd plough
Lies in the furrow, loosened from the frost.
There, unrefufing, to the harness'd yoke
They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil,
Chear'd by the fimple fong and foaring lark.
Meanwhile incumbent o'er the shining share
The mafter leans, removes th' obftructing clay,
Winds the whole work, and fidelong lays the glebe.

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WHITE thro' the neighbouring fields the sower stalks, With measur'd ftep; and liberal throws the grain 45 Into the faithful bofom of the ground: The harrow follows harfh, and shuts the scene.

BE gracious, HEAVEN! for now laborious Man Has done his part. Ye foftering breezes, blow!

Ye

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Ye foftening dews, ye tender fhowers, defcend! 50
And temper all, thou world-reviving fun,
Into the perfect year! Nor ye who live
In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride,
Think these lost themes unworthy of your ear:
Such themes as these the rural MARO fung
To wide-imperial ROME, in the full height
Of elegance and tafte, by GREECE refin'd.
In antient times, the facred plough employ'd
The kings, and awful fathers of mankind :
And fome, with whom compar'd your infect-tribes 60
Are but the beings of a fummer's day,

Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm
Of mighty war; then, with unwearied hand,
Difdaining little delicacies, feiz'd
The plough, and greatly independent liv'd.

YE generous BRITONS, venerate the plough;
And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing vales,
Let Autumn spread his treasures to the fun,
Luxuriant and unbounded: as the sea,
Far thro' his azure turbulent domain,

Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores
Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports;
So with fuperior boon may your rich foil,
Exuberant, Nature's better bleffings pour
O'er every land, the naked nations clothe,
And be th' exhaustless granary of a world!
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