THE SEASONS. SPRIN G. 1728. "Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos, "Nunc frondent fylvæ, nunc formofiffimus annus." THE ARGUMENT. VIRG. The fubject propofed. Infcribed to the Countess of Hertford. The Seafon is defcribed as it affects the various parts of Nature, ascending from the lower to the higher; with digreffions arifing 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 paffion of love, opposed to that of a pure and happy kind. COME, gentle Spring, ethereal Mildness, come, And from the bofom of yon dropping cloud, O Hertford, fitted or to fhine in courts 5 * Is blooming and benevolent, like thee. And fee where furly Winter paffes off, Lifts the light clouds fublime, and spreads them thin, Forth fly the tepid airs; and unconfin'd, Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays. Joyous, th' impatient husbandman perceives Relenting Nature, and his lufty fteers 10 20 25 35 Drives from their stalls, to where the well-us'd plough, Lies in the furrow, loofen'd from the froft. There, unrefufing, to the harness'd yoke They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil, Chear'd |