ODES. ON THE SPRING. [The title originally given by Mr. Gray to this Ode was “ Noontide.”] Lo! where the rosy-bosom'd Hours, Fair Venus' train, appear, And wake the purple year! The untaught harmony of Spring: Their gather'd fragrance fling. Where'er the oak's thick branches stretch A broader browner shade, O'er-canopies the glade (a) *, (At ease reclin'd in rustic state) How vain the ardour of the Crowd, How low, how little are the Proud, How indigent the Great! [1]* (a) O'er-canopies the glade. a bank Shakesp. Mids. Night's Dream. * The Notes referred to by Italic letters between parentheses (a) (b) &c. are Mr. Gray's. Those referred to by Figures between brackets [1] [2] &c. are chiefly drawn from the Criticisms and Commentaries of Dr. Johnson, Mr. Mason, Mr. Scott, of Amwell, and various anonymous writers. Among them are occasionally interspersed a few remarks by the Editor ; but these are not thought of importance enough to be distinguished, [1] Variation :- How low, how indigent the Proud; How little are the Great. Thus it stood in Dodsley's Miscellany, wherein it was first published. The author corrected it on account of the point of little and great. It certainly had too much the appearance of a Concetto, though it expressed his meaning better than the present reading. Still is the toiling hand of Care; The panting herds repose: The busy murmur glows! And float amid the liquid noon: (b) Quick-glancing to the sun (c). To Contemplation's sober eye (d) Such is the race of Man: Shall end where they began. (b) And float amid the liquid noon. Virgil Georg. lib. 4. -sporting with quick glance, Shew to the sun their wav'd coats dropt with gold. Milton's Paradise Lost, book 7. M. Green, in the Grotto. |
