Chear'd by the fimple fong and foaring lark.
Meanwhile incumbent o'er the fhining fhare
The mafter leans, removes th' obftructing clay,
Winds the whole work, and fidelong lays the glebe.
White through the neighbouring field the fower stalks,
With measur'd step; and liberal throws the grain
Into the faithful bofom of the ground:
The harrow follows harfh, and fhuts the scene.
Be gracious, Heaven! for now laborious man
Has done his part. Ye foftering breezes, blow!
Ye foftening dews, ye tender showers, defcend!
And temper all, thou world-reviving fun,
Into the perfect year! Nor ye who live
In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride,
Think these loft themes unworthy of your ear:
Such themes as thefe the rural Maro fung
To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height
Of elegance and tafte, by Greece refin'd.
In ancient times, the facred plough employ'd
The kings, and awful fathers of mankind :
And fome, with whom compar'd your infect-tribes 60 Are but the beings of a fummer's day,
Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm
Of mighty war; then, with unwearied hand,
Difdaining little delicacies, feiz'd
The plough, and greatly independent liv'd.
Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough;
And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing vales,
Let Autumn fpread his treasures to the fun,
Luxuriant and unbounded: as the fea,
B 3
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 fuperior boon may your rich foil,
Exuberant, Nature's better bleffings pour
O'er every land, the naked nations clothe,
And be th' exhaustless granary of a world!
Nor only through the lenient air this change,
Delicious, breathes; the penetrative fun
His force deep-darting to the dark retreat
Of vegetation, fets the fteaming Power
At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth,
In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay Green!
Thou fmiling Nature's univerfal robe !
United light and shade! where the fight dwells
With growing strength, and ever-new delight.
From the moist meadow to the wither'd hill,
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs,
And fwells, and deepens, to the cherish'd eye.
The hawthorn whitens; and the juicy groves
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees,
Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd,
In full luxuriance to the fighing gales;
Where the deer ruftle through the twining brake,
And the birds fing conceal'd. At once array'd
In all the colours of the flushing year,
By Nature's swift and fecret-working hand,
The garden glows, and fills the liberal air
With lavish fragrance; while the promis'd fruit a little embryo, unperceiv'd,
Within its crimfon folds. Now from the town'
Buried in smoke, and fleep, and noisome damps,
Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields,
Where freshnefs breathes, and dafh the trembling drops
From the bent bush, as through the verdant mazé ·
Of fweet-briar hedges I purfue my walk;
Or taste the smell of dairy; or ascend
Some eminence, Augufta, in thy plains,
And see the country, far diffus'd around,
One boundless blufh, one white-empurpled shower
Of mingled bloffoms; where the raptur❜d eye
Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath
The fair profufion, yellow Autumn spies.
If, brush'd from Ruffian wilds, a cutting gale
Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings
The clammy mildew; or, dry-blowing, breathe
Untimely froft; before whofe baleful blast
The full-blown Spring through all her foliage fhrinks,
Joylefs and dead, a wide-dejected waste.
For oft, engender'd by the hazy north,
Myriads on myriads, infect armies waft
Keen in the poifon'd breeze; and wafteful eat,
Through buds and bark, into the blacken'd core,
Their eager way. A feeble race! yet oft
The facred fons of vengeance; on whofe course
Corrofive famine waits, and kills the year.
To check this plague the skilful farmer chaff,
And blazing ftraw, before his orchard burns;
Till, all involv'd in smoke, the latent foe
From every cranny fuffocated falls:
Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust
Of pepper, fatal to the frofty tribe :
Or, when th' enyenom'd leaf begins to curl,
With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest;
Nor, while they pick them up with busy bill,
The little trooping birds unwifely scares.
Be patient, fwains; thefe cruel-feeming winds Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep reprefs'd Those deepening clouds on clouds, furcharg'd with rain, That, o'er the vast Atlantic hither borne,
In endless train, would quench the fummer-blaze, 140 And, chearlefs, drown the crude unripened year.
The north-east spends his rage; he now fhut up
Within his iron cave, th' effufive fouth
Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven
Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers diftent.
At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise,
Scarce ftaining æther; but by fwift degrees,
In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour fails
Along the loaded fky, and mingling deep
Sits on th' horizon round a fettled gloom :
Not fuch as wintery-ftorms on mortals fhed,
Oppreffing life; but lovely, gentle, kind,
And full of every hope and every joy,
The wish of Nature. Gradual finks the breeze
Into a perfect calm; that not a breath
Is heard to quiver through the closing woods,
Or rustling turn the many twinkling leaves
Of afpin tall. Th' uncurling floods, diffus'd
In glaffy breadth, seem through delufive lapfe
Forgetful of their course. 'Tis filence all,
And pleafing expectation. Herds and flocks
Drop the dry fprig, and mute-imploring eye
The falling verdure. Hufh'd in short suspense,
The plumy people streak their wings with oil,
To throw the lucid moisture trickling off;
And wait th' approaching sign to strike, at once,
Into the general choir. Ev'n mountains, vales,
And forefts feem, impatient, to demand
The promis'd fweetness. Man fuperior walks
Amid the glad creation, mufing praise,
And looking lively gratitude. At last,
The clouds confign their treasures to the fields;
And, foftly fhaking on the dimpled pool
Prelufive drops, let all their moisture flow,
In large effufion, o'er the freshen'd world.
The ftealing fhower is scarce to patter heard,
By fuch as wander through the forest walks,
Beneath th' umbrageous multitude of leaves.
But who can hold the fhade, while Heaven defcends
In univerfal bounty, fhedding herbs,
And fruits, and flowers, on Nature's ample lap?
Swift fancy fir'd anticipates their growth;
And, while the milky nutriment diftils,
Beholds the kindling country colour round.
Thus all day long the full-diftended clouds
Indulge their genial ftores, and well-fhower'd earth
Is deep-enrich'd with vegetable life;
Till, in the western sky, the downward fun
Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flush
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