impreffion of heat that man owes this contented fituation of mind, this agreeable calm. Heat then giving to the nerves and muscles a moderate degree of remiffion, the fame as pleafure gives, the foul cannot help meditating on the happiness of her state; and the more when, under the fhade of trees, and on the green turf near waters that temper the heat without hindering it's being felt, the heart finds contentment, the fenfes are tranquil, and the fruition is delicious, like unto that which waits the relish of pure and innocent pleasures. Yes, it is thou, fweet Woodland! that art endowed with the powers of communicating this delight; or if a penfive mood draws me to ramble into the cool and thick foreft, the majeftic abode of fhade and filence, the temple of our prophetic Druids, the retreat of our infpired bards; there, at firft, how it charms me to escape that fiery zone, which I fometimes am afraid will deface the verdure of the plains! Anon, thou infpireft me with pleafing terror, with refpe&t and awe reverential. I know not what impresses on my thoughts an idea of grandeur! That darkfome vault, that filent defert, that univerfal calm, exprefs fome grave and folemn character; and every thing feems about me full of the Supreme Being. Then do I recollect what I am, and then in his fight do I begin to examine myfelf; and against the errors of a corrupt World I feel my reafon to fhine brighter, and my virtue to be confirmed. If I think of the freshness of a more fmiling afylum, I fhall refort to those orchards and gardens peopled with trees and fhrubs of fertility. Along that vale expofed to the breath of zephyrs, a calm and limpid ftream of water defcends from the hills, and bends ferpen tinely to drench their roots. The light breeze that skims upon the water, and that purfues among the trees the courfe of the rivulet, forthwith ftrikes me when I enter the fhade. In this fpot is coolness in perfection, and the more grateful, as mingled with the odours exhaling from the leaves of the trees. There bunches of cherries invite me to pluck and eat ; there goofberries and currants of various hues do the fame: the bloom of the fruits pleases the eye, their freshness the palate, their juices quench thirst, and the blood's ferment finds itself allayed by qualities attenuating and refrigerant. In this delicious retreat I may also seek the pleasures of the bath. It is a facred place, impervious to the curious eye, to the lascivious glance; for here even Diana and her nymphs, fearless of the intrusion of a bold Acteon, may with modefty court the embraces of the limpid ftream. What fupple vigour has infinuated itself into my limbs, from my active immerfions to the depth of these pure fountains! I find all my fibres restored to their due tone of elafticity. Revived and recreated, I ftep forth to fee what is tranfacted in the village. The time for the diverfions of the evening begins. Sufan, Moll, and Kate, with other laffes, affemble on the green. James, George, and Tom, fncak forward to them. Shortly appear various groups of various paftime. I accoft Farmer Styles, who, leaning over his pales, delights, as well as I, to obferve a fcene of rural mirth. "How many are the agreeable moments," say I to him, "of your state of life! All our arts, all our vain amusements of the city, in what are they worth those labours that are accompanied by joy, and the fimplicity of country sports?" "No," replied he, "I have been a cit; I have been acquainted X x 2 acquainted with all your boasted pleafures, and I found in them real difguft and fatigue; I often compared to them the pleafures of the village: in fhort, I will fay no more; here I live contented, and do blefs and praise my destiny, How gracious has Providence been to me! My hay-harvest I have got-in in good condition; and tomorrow myself will put the first fickle to my corn!" A PICTURESQUE DESCRIPTION of AUGUST. [With a beautiful emblematical FIGURE, expreffive of that Month, elegantly engraved by EASTGATE.] THE HE end of fummer and the beginning of autumn, by which the month of Auguft is commonly characterized, is the time of the year when nature in our climes affords most enjoyment to the fenfations of tafte, by the number and variety of fruits and pulfe. It is the season, when man gathers together and treasures up a great many of the good things that have been found neceffary for his prefervation, confifting of grain of all forts, and other produce of the earth. Then it is that he is truly put in poffeffion, and then only it is that poffeffion is a true enjoyment. The body ftill retains the vigour it received from spring and fummer. This is the time when labour exhaufts leaft our ftrength; the muscles are not relaxed by heat, and agreeable repofe always becomes fweeter when preceded by fatigue. Auguft, beyond other months, affords excellent sport to gentlemen anglers, as many forts of fish in our rivers then bite freely, and are catched in abundance. This must be the greatest pleasure annexed to angling; otherwife the recreation, through tediousness, the anxiety of expectation, and fruitless toil, becomes infipid and disgusting. But what more particularly during this month fixes the attention is the corn-harveft. To contem plate it's charms, I afcend fome hill, and indeed the grafshopper, blooming with youth, and bounding about with pleasure, has already given me a fignal of it's near approach, or that it is begun. What delightful scenes of the bounties of Providence, to creatures perhaps undeferving, ftrike upon my admiring eyes! The vast plain underneath resembles a waving fea of gold; the hufbandman has not been fruftrated in his hopes; his toil has been repaid with ufury; for here from his fowing, fcanty, yet fufficient, he reaps more than a hundred fold. Happy England, daughter and darling of fecundity, to enjoy fo fingular a bieffing! The fultry heat of the Dog's Star does not deter the reapers to brandifh with active power cach fort of weapon, that cuts down and secures for them the principal part of their fubfiftence. Lo! fweat oozes through every pore, their limbs palpitate through fatigue, frequency of thirst annoys them; yet do they work on with alacrity, for it is the fmiling afpect of plenty that prompts to labour, and makes it confolatory. When the noon-tide fun fufpends their work, I see them with joyous countenances repair to the fhade; and here I cannot doubt of the charms of a repaft, which labour and hunger have contributed to the feasoning of. The carpet of the grafs does not appear fpread fpread with that fplendid or learned luxury that helps to vitiate, to pall, and at length to deaden the relifh of the appetite; it is homely fare, strong, and befitting bodies inured to labour; and when digeftion is facilitated, and thirft allayed by a draught of found beer, then what gaiety begins to be diffufed over every face in this contented affembly! Songs, catches, and points of ruftical wit break forth, yet not farcaftic, not malignant; it is pure nature that speaks in her wonted ftrain of fimplicity; the pleafantries are the more grateful, the freer they are from affectation; the laugh is loud, and comes from the heart; and Nell, that frolic girl, who loves to create fport, and add to the laugh, tickles John about the nose and lips with a bearded ear of corn, while he lies ftretched asleep by her fide. Forthwith he wakes, gapes, and ftares in wild furprize, inquiring the cause of the univerfal titter and laugh. None but Nell herself ventures to tell what it is, and he revenges himself on her with a kifs. O fortunate mortals! your toil, while harvest lafts, is a fucceffion of feftivity. Yet, alas! it is fome times interrupted, and fometimes the farmer's bright hopes are in part defeated by the ruin of the fky and war of elements. Behold how from two oppofite points of the horizon clouds climb into the inflamed air. They are seen to thicken and extend, and a rumbling noife is heard as of diftant thunder. The fea bellows, the air is in concuffion, and along the valley the leaves of trees are in agitation. The mountains lengthen out thefe lugubrious murmurs, and nature faddens on liftening to the flow and obtufe found. To this grumbling fucceeds a calm replete with horror, and the earth, difmayed, waits in filence the coming of fome fatal blow. The vaft amphitheatre of rocks and mountains fuddenly disappears under a greyish veil, and the cloud, running to full expanfion, overfhadows their fides, weighing down beneath it the labouring heat of the atmosphere. Then do darts of flame force furrows through the cloud; the thunder roars, redoubled in it's claps; and with it rufh into torrents rain and hail, ravaging and destroying remedilefs the work of a year in the fhort space of a day. Such is the fatality that at times attends on the harveft in fome countries; yet the damage is mostly but partial; providential care compenfates the distress of one region by the ample provifion made in another; and in this, O England! thou art held out the favourite of Heaven; for the tumult of thy sky is fcarce ever so inclement as to leave thee deftitute and forlorn. Thunder with thee, inftead of overwhelming thy ftanding crops, ferves chiefly to refresh the air, and bathe the corn-furrows. The shattered remains of the thunder-cloud, wandering over thy fields, depart to evaporate in smoke on the fummit of thy mountains. Next, a tranquil and pure sky crowns the fields with beauteous azure. The radiant rainbow, amidst the diverfity of it's colouring, exhales all the sweets of the blufhing morning. The wind feels light, and freshening, repels and blows off the malignity of thunder-vapours, and all become fenfible of the pleafing perfume from vegetative odour. Under this encouragement the ardour for work receives a new stimulus, the harvest is accelerated, and it is late in the evening, When weary reapers quit the fultry field, And, crown'd with corn, their thanks to Ceres yield. POPE. A fhort |