Behold! the welkin burfts into a blaze! Faft by the car of light the nimble hours,

In fongs of triumph, hail his genial rays, And, as they wend to Thetis cooling bowers,

They bound along the fky, and ftrew the heavens with flowers.

And now the human bofom melts to love;

The raptur'd bard awakes his skilful lyre;
By running ftreams, or in the laurel grove,

He tunes to amorous notes his founding wire:
All, all is harmony, and all defire.
The happy numbers charm the blooming maid;

Her blushing cheeks pronounce her heart on fire,
She now confents, then fhuns th' embow'ring fhade,
With faint reluctance yields; defirous, yet afraid.

Now ruftick Cuddy, with untutor❜d throat,

(Tho' much admir'd, I ween, of nymph and swain)
By various fongs would various ends promote.
Seeks he to prove that woman's vows are vain,
He Bateman's fortune tells, a baleful ftrain ;

And if to honour Britain he be led,

He fings a 'prentice bold, in londs profane, Who, all unarm'd, did ftrike two lions dead,

Tore forth their favage hearts, and did a princess wed.

But, hark! the bag-pipe fummons to the green,
The jocund bag-pipe that awaketh fport:
The blithefome laffes, as the morning fheen,
Around the flower-crown'd May-pole quick refort;
The gods of pleasure here have fix'd their court.
Quick on the wing the flying moment feize,
Nor build up ample schemes, for life is fhort,
Short as the whisper of the passing breeze;
Yet, ah! in vain I preach-mine heart is ill at eafe.

SUMMER.

BE

SUMMER.

ENEATH yon fnubby oak's extended fhade,
Safe let me hide me from the eye of day;

Nor fhall the dog-ftar this retreat invade,

As thro' the heavens he fpeeds his burning way:
The fultry lion rages for his prey.

Ah, Phoebus! quench thy wild destroying fire!

Each flower, each fhrub doth fink beneath thy ray;
Save the fresh laurel, that fhall ne'er expire:
The leaves that crown a bard may brave celestial ire.

Or fhall I hie to mine own hermitage,

Round which the wanton vine her arms doth wind,
There may I lonely turn the facred page,
Improve my reafon, and amend my mind;
Here, 'gainst Life's ills, a remedy I find.
An hundred flowers emboss the verdant ground;
A little brook doth my sweet cottage bind;
It's waters yield a melancholy found,

And foothe to study deep, or lull to fleep profound.

The playful infect hopping in the grafs,

Doth tire the hearer with his sonnet shrill;

The pool-fprung gnat on founding wing doth pass,
And on the ramping fteed doth fuck his fill:
Ah, me! can little creatures work fuch ill!

The patient cow doth, to eschew the heat,

Her body fteep within the neighb'ring rill;
And while the lambs in fainter voices bleat,
Their mothers hang their head, in doleful plight I weet!

Rechlefs

Rechless of seasons, fee the lufty swains

Along the meadow spread the tawny hay:
The maidens too, undaunted feek the plains,
Ne fear to show their faces to the ray;
But all the honest badge of toil display.
See how they mould the haycock's rifing head;
While wanton Colin, full of amorous play,
Down throweth Sufan, who doth fhriek for dread.
Fear not thou canst be hurt upon so soft a bed.

At length the fun doth haften to repofe,

And all the vault of heaven is ftreak'd with light; In flamy gold the ruddy welkin glows,

And for the noon-day heat our pains doth quite, For all is calm, ferene, and paffing bright: Favonius gentle skims along the grove,

And sheds fweet odours from his pennons light;

The little bat in giddy orbs doth rove,

And loud the fcreech-owl fhrieks, to rouze her blue-ey'd love.

Menalcas came to taste the evening gale,

His cheeks impurpled with the rofe of youth:
He won each damfel with his piteous tale;

They thought they liften'd to the words of truth,
Yet their belief did work them muchel ruth.

His oaths were light as goffimer, or air,

His tongue was poisonous as an afpick's tooth.

Ah! ceafe to promise joy, and give despair :

"Tis brave to fmite the foe; 'tis bafe to wrong the fair.

The gentle Thyrfis, mild as op'ning morn,

Came to the lawn, and Marian there was found;

Marian, whom many hufwife arts adorn :

Right well she knew the apple to furround
With dulcet cruft; and Thomalin renown'd

For

For prow atchievements in the wrestling ring;

He held at nought the vantage of the ground, But prone to earth the hardieft wight would fling; Such was Alcides erft, if poets footh do fing.

From tree-crown'd hill, from flow'r-enamel'd vale,
The mild inhabitants in crowds appear
To tread a measure; while Night's regent pale
Doth thro' the fky her filver chariot steer,

Whofe lucid wheels were deck'd with dew-drops clear
The which, like pearls, defcended on the plain.
Now every youth doth clafp his mistress dear,
And every nymph rewards her constant swain.
Thrice happy he who loves and is belov'd again.

AUTUMN.

EE jolly Autumn, clad in hunter's green,

SEE

In wholesome lufty-hed doth mount the sphere;

A leafy girlond binds her temples sheen,
Inftudded richly with the spiky ear;

Her right-hand bears a vine-incircled spear,
Such as the crew did weild whom Bacchus lad,
When to the Ganges he his courfe did steer;
And in her left a bugle-horn fhe had,

On which she eft did blow, and made the heart right glad.

In flow proceffion moves the tottering wain,

The fun-burnt hinds their finish'd toil enfue; Now in the barn they house the glittering grain, And there the cries of harvest home!' renew. The honeft farmer does his friends falew;

And them with jugs of ale his wife doth treat,

Which for that purpofe fhe at home did brew:

They

They laugh, they fport, and homely jests repeat,
Then fmack their laffes lips, their lips as honey fweet:

On ev'ry hill the purple blushing vine

Beneath her leaves her racy fruit doth hide :
Albe she pour not floods of foaming wine,
Yet are we not potations bland denied ;

See where the pear tree doth in earth abide!.. :
Bruise her rich fruitage, and the grape disdain;
The apple too will grant a generous tide,
To fing whofe honours Thenot rais'd his strain,
Whose foul-inchanting lays still charm the list'ning plain.

Thro' greyish mifts behold Aurora dawns,

And to his fport the wary fowler hies;
Crouching to earth his guileful pointer fawns;
Now the thick ftubble, now the clover tries,
To find where, with his race, the partridge lies.
Ah, lucklefs fire! ah, lucklefs race! I ween,

Whom force compels or fubtle arts furprize;
More uncles wait to cause thee dolorous teen,
Doom'd to escape the deep, and perifh on the green.

The full-mouth'd hounds purfue the timorous hare,
And the hills echo to the joyful cry;

Ah! borrow the light pennons of the air,

If you're arraught, you die; poor wretch, you die!
Nought will avail the pity-pleading eye,

For our good fquire doth much against you rail,
And faith you often magick arts do try;

At times you wave Grimalkin's footy tail,
Ör on a beesom vild you thro' the welkin fail.

* Dædalus, envying Perdix his nephew's skill in mechanicks, threw him

into the fea. He escaped death by being changed into a partridge.