Untimely Froft; before whose baleful Blast,
The full-blown Spring thro' all her Foliage fhrinks,
Into a smutty, wide-dejected Wafte.
For oft engender'd by the hazy North,
Myriads on Myriads, Infect-Armies waft
Keen in the poifon'd breeze; and wasteful eat
Thro' Buds, and Bark, even to the Heart of Oak
Their eager Way. A feeble Race! fcarce feen,
Save to the prying Eye; yet Famine waits
On their corrofive Course, and ftarves the Year.
Sometimes o'er Cities as they fteer their Flight,
Where rifing Vapour melts their Wings away,
Gaz'd by th'astonish'd Crowd, the horrid Shower
Defcends. And hence the skilful Farmer Chaff
And blazing Straw before his Orchard burns,
Till all involv'd in Smoak the latent Foe
From every Cranny fuffocated fails;
Or Onions steaming hot beneath his Trees
Expofes, fatal to the frofty Tribe:
Nor, from their friendly Task, the bufy Bill
Of little trooping Birds instinctive scares.
THESE are not idle Philofophic Dreams;
Full Nature fwarms with Life. Th' unfaithful Fèn
In putrid Steams emits the living Cloud
Of Peftilence. Thro' fubterranean Cells,
Where searching Sun-Beams never found a Way,
Earth animated heaves. The flowery Leaf
Wants not it's foft Inhabitants. The Stone,
Hard as it is, in every winding Pore
Holds Multitudes. But chief the Foreft-Boughs,
Which dance unnumber'd to th' infpiring Breeze,
The downy Orchard, and the melting Pulp
Of mellow Fruit the nameless Nations feed
Of evanefcent Infects. Where the Pool
Stands mantled o'er with Green, invisible,
Amid the floating Verdure Millions ftray.
Each Liquid too, whether of acid Tafte,
Milky, or ftrong, with various Forms abounds.
Nor is the lucid Stream, nor the pure Air,
Tho' one transparent Vacancy they seem,
Devoid of theirs. Even animals fubfift
On Animals, in infinite Descent ;
And all fo fine adjusted, that the Lofs
Of the leaft Species would difturb the whole.
Stranger than this th' infpective Glass confirms,
And to the Curious gives th' amazing Scenes
Of less'ning Life; by Wisdom kindly hid
From Eye, and Ear of Man: for if at once
The Worlds in Worlds enclos'd were push'd to Light,
Seen by his sharpen'd Eye, and by his Ear
Intensely bended Heard, from the choice Cate,
The fresheft Viands, and the brighteft. Wines,
He'd turn abhorrent, and in Dead of Night,
When Silence fleeps o'er all, be stunn'd with Noife.
THE North-Eaft fpends his Rage, and now fhut
Within his Iron Caves, th' effufive South
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 rife,
Scarce ftaining Æther; but by faft Degrees,
In Heaps on Heaps, the doubling Vapour fails
Along the loaded Sky, and mingling thick
Sits on th' Horizon round a fettled Gloom.
Not fuch as wintry Storms 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 thro' the clofing Woods,
Or rustling turn the many-twinkling Leaves
Of Afpin tall. Th' uncurling Floods, diffus'd
In glaffy Breadth, feem thro' delufive Lapse
Forgetful of their Course. 'Tis Silence all,
And pleafing Expectation. Herds and Flocks
Drop the dry Sprig, and mute-imploring eye
The falling Verdure. Hufh'd in fhort Suspense
The plumy People streak their Wings with Oil,
And wait th' approaching Sign to strike at once
Into the general Choir. Ev'n Mountains, Vales,
And Forests seem expanfive to demand
The promis'à Sweetness. Man fuperior walks
Amid the glad Creation, mufing Praife,
And looking lively Gratitude. At last
The Clouds confign their Treasures to the Fields,
And, foftly shaking on the dimply Pool
Prelufive Drops, let all their Moisture flow
In large Effufion o'er the freshen'd World.
'Tis fcarce to patter heard, the itealing Shower, By fuch as wander thro' the Foreft-Walks,
Beneath th' umbrageous Multitude of Leaves.
But who would hold the Shade, while Heaven defcends
In univerfal Bounty, fhedding Herbs,
And Fruits, and Flowers, on Nature's ample Lap?
Imagination fir'd prevents their Growth,
And while the verdant Nutriment distills,
Beholds the kindling Country colour round.
THUS all Day long the full-diftended Clouds Indulge their genial Showers, and well-fhower'd Earth Is deep enrich'd with vegetable Life;
Till, in the Western Sky, the downward Sun
Looks out illuftrious from amid the Flush
Of broken Clouds, gay-fhifting to his Beam.
The rapid Radiance inftantaneous ftrikes
Th' illumin'd Mountain, thro' the Foreft ftreams,
Shakes on the Floods, and in a yellow Mist,
Far-fmoaking o'er th' interminable Plain,
In twinkling Myriads lights the dewy Gems.
Moist, bright, and green, the Landskip laughs around. Full fwell the Woods; their every Mufick wakes,
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