Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 1165 1170 1175 To scenes where love and bliss immortal reign. SUMMER.' "WIE Feld und Au Wie laut im hellen Sonnenstrahl "How glisten the field Of the sun."-GOETHE. ARGUMENT. The subject proposed.-Invocation.-Address to Mr. Dodington.-An introductory reflection on the motion of the heavenly bodies; whence the suc cession of the seasons.-As the face of Nature in this season is almost uniform, the progress of the poem is a description of a summer's day.The dawn.-Sun rising.-Hymn to the Sun.-Forenoon.-Summer insects described. Hay-making.-Sheep-shearing.-Noon-day.-A woodland retreat.-Groupe of herds and flocks.-A solemn grove: how it affects a contemplative mind.-A cataract, and rude scene.-View of Summer in the torrid zone.-Storm of thunder and lightning.-A tale.-The storm over, a serene afternoon.-Bathing.-Hour of walking.-Transition to the prospect of a rich well-cultivated country; which introduces a panegyric on Great Britain.-Sunset.-Evening.-Night.-Summer meteors. -A comet. The whole concluding with the praise of philosophy. FROM brightening fields of ether fair disclos'd, In pride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth : While, from his ardent look, the turning Spring 5 Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood shade, Where scarce a sunbeam wanders through the gloom; 10 And on the dark green grass, beside the brink (1) The text of this poem is much less doubtful than that of Spring, the author having bestowed much more care in the revision. Of haunted stream, that by the roots of cak Come, Inspiration, from thy hermit-seat, And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend, With what an awful world-revolving power Were first the' unwieldy planets launch'd along That oft has swept the toiling race of Men, And all their labour'd monuments away, To the kind-temper'd change of night and day, 40 Minutely faithful: such the All-perfect Hand! That pois'd, impels, and rules the steady whole. When now no more the' alternate Twins are fir'd, And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze, 45 The meek-ey'd Morn appears, mother of dews, At first faint-gleaming in the dappled East : Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow; White break the clouds away. With quickened step, Ꭰ 50 |