SPRING

[Dedicated, 1728, to the Rt. Hon. the Countess of Hertford, in a letter in which the poet writes- As this poem grew up under your encouragement, it has therefore a natural claim to your patronage.' First published early in 1728 (1,082 11.); last edition in author's lifetime published 1746 (1,176 II.).]

THE ARGUMENT

The subject proposed. Inscribed to the Countess of Hartford. The Season is described as it affects the various parts of nature, ascending from the lower to the higher; and mixed with digressions arising from the subject. Its influence on inanimate matter, on vegetables, on brute animals, and last on Man; concluding with a dissuasive from the wild and irregular passion of Love, opposed to that of a pure and happy kind.*

COME, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come;
And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud,
While music wakes around, veiled in a shower
Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend.

O Hartford, fitted or to shine in courts
With unaffected grace, or walk the plain

6

*The above is the Argument prefixed to the last edition (1746) published in the author's lifetime. It is the same as the Argument of 1730, except that in the earlier edition the Countess of Hartford is designated 'Lady Hertford'; This Season' appears for 'The Season'; and instead of 'pure and happy' in the concluding note we have purer and more reasonable' in the original form of the Argument.

6

5 Hertford 1728, 1729, 1730, 1738; Hartford 1744, 1746. The second edition (1729) is an exact reprint of the first (1728).

With innocence and meditation joined
In soft assemblage, listen to my song,
Which thy own season paints-when nature all
Is blooming and benevolent, like thee.

And see where surly Winter passes off Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts : His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill, The shattered forest, and the ravaged vale; While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost,

The mountains lift their green heads to the sky. As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed,

ΙΟ

And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze,
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets 20
Deform the day delightless; so that scarce
The bittern knows his time with bill engulfed
To shake the sounding marsh; or from the shore
The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath,
And sing their wild notes to the listening waste.
At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun,
And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more
The expansive atmosphere is cramped with cold;
But, full of life and vivifying soul,

Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them

thin,

Fleecy, and white o'er all-surrounding heaven.

Forth fly the tepid airs; and unconfined, Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays. Joyous the impatient husbandman perceives Relenting Nature, and his lusty steers

30

Drives from their stalls to where the well-used plough Lies in the furrow loosened from the frost.

There, unrefusing, to the harnessed yoke

9 Which] That 1730-38.

ི

40

They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil,
Cheered by the simple song and soaring lark.
Meanwhile incumbent o'er the shining share
The master leans, removes the obstructing clay,
Winds the whole work, and sidelong lays the glebe.
White through the neighbouring fields the sower
stalks

With measured step, and liberal throws the grain
Into the faithful bosom of the ground:

The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene.

Be gracious, Heaven, for now laborious man
Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, blow ;
Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, descend; 50
And temper all, thou world-reviving sun,
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 sung
To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height
Of elegance and taste, by Greece refined.
In ancient times the sacred plough employed
The kings and awful fathers of mankind;
And some, with whom compared your insect-tribes 60
Are but the beings of a summer's day,

Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm
Of mighty war; then, with victorious hand,

49 part] due 1728-38.

1728, and so till 1730.

51 world-reviving] influential 55 'Twas such as these 1728-38. 56 wide-imperial Rome] the full Roman Court 1728-38; in all its height 1728-38. 57 by Greece refined added in 1744.

58-62 The sacred plow Employed the kings and fathers of mankind In ancient times. And some, with whom compared You're but the beings of a summer's day, Have held the scale of justice, shook the lance 1728-38.

63 victorious] descending 1728, 1730, 1738.

Disdaining little delicacies, seized

The plough, and greatly independent scorned
All the vile stores corruption can bestow.

Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough;
And o'er your hills and long withdrawing vales
Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun,
Luxuriant and unbounded. As the sea
Far through his azure turbulent domain
Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores
Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports;
So with superior boon may your rich soil,
Exuberant, Nature's better blessings pour
O'er every land, the naked nations clothe,
And be the exhaustless granary of a world!

Nor only through the lenient air this change
Delicious breathes: the penetrative sun,
His force deep-darting to the dark retreat
Of vegetation, sets the steaming power
At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth
In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay green!
Thou smiling Nature's universal robe!
United light and shade! where the sight dwells
With growing strength and ever-new delight.
From the moist meadow to the withered hill,
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs,
And swells and deepens to the cherished eye.
The hawthorn whitens; and the juicy groves
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees,

70

80

90

65, 66 scorned

64 Disdaining] Unused to 1728, 1730, 1738. All the vile stores corruption can bestow] lived 1728, 1730, 1738. 67 venerate] cultivate 1728-38. 71 domain] extent 1728-38.

78 Nor thro' the lenient air alone, this change 1728-38.

81

steaming] streaming (a misprint) 1730-38. 82 verdant 173038. 87 withered] brown-browed 1728-38.

Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd
In full luxuriance to the sighing gales-

Where the deer rustle through the twining brake,
And the birds sing concealed. At once arrayed
In all the colours of the flushing year

By Nature's swift and secret-working hand,
The garden glows, and fills the liberal air
With lavish fragrance; while the promised fruit
Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived,

Within its crimson folds. Now from the town,
Buried in smoke and sleep and noisome damps,
Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields

Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling drops

From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze
Of sweet-briar hedges I pursue my walk;

Or taste the smell of dairy; or ascend
Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains,
And see the country, far-diffused around,

One boundless blush, one white-empurpled shower 110
Of mingled blossoms; where the raptured eye
Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath
The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies.

If, brushed from Russian wilds, a cutting gale
Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings
The clammy mildew; or, dry-blowing, breathe
Untimely frost-before whose baleful blast

The full-blown Spring through all her foliage shrinks,
Joyless and dead, a wide-dejected waste.
For oft, engendered by the hazy north,
Myriads on myriads, insect armies waft

120

104 trembling] lucid 1728-38. 105 verdant] fuming 1728107 diary (a misprint) 1730-38. IIO snow-empurpled 1728, till 1730. 112 Hurries] Travels 1728-38.

38.

115 humid]

foggy 1728-38.

116 clammy] bitter 1728-38.

119 Joyless

and dead, a] Into a smutty 1728-38.