The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom.
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an assiduous care.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpose in the glowing breast.
Oh speak the joy! ye, whom the sudden tear
Surprises often, while you look around,

And nothing strikes your eye but sights of bliss,
All various Nature pressing on the heart :
An elegant sufficiency, content,

Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease, and alternate labour, useful life,
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven.
These are the matchless joys of virtuous love;
And thus their moments fly. The Seasons thus,
As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll,
Still find them happy; and consenting Spring
Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads:
Till evening comes at last, serene and mild;
When after the long vernal day of life,

Enamour'd more, as more remembrance swells

With many a proof of recollected love,
Together down they sink in social sleep;

Together freed, their gentle spirits fly

To scenes where love and bliss immortal reign.

SUMMER.

THE ARGUMEN T.

The subject proposed. Invocation. Address to Mr. Dodington. An introductory reflection on the motion of the heavenly bodies; whence the succession 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. Hyma to the sun. Forenoon. Summer-insects described. Hay-making. Sheep - shearing. Noonday. A woodland retreat. Group 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. Sun - set. Evening. Night. Summer - meteors. A comet. The whole concluding with the praise of philosophy.

FROM
ROM brightening fields of ether fair disclos'd,
Child of the Sun, refulgent Summer comes,

In pride of youth, and felt thro' Nature's depth:
He comes attended by the sultry hours,

And ever-fanning breezes, on his way;

While, from his ardent look, the turning Spring Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies, All smiling, to his hot dominion leaves.

Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood shade,
Where scarce a sun-beam wanders thro' the gloom;
And on the dark - green grass, beside the brink
Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak
Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large,
And sing the glories of the circling year.

Come, Inspiration! from thy hermit - seat,
By mortal seldom found: may Fancy dare,
From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptur'd glance
Shot on surrounding Heaven, to steal one look
Creative of the Poet, every power
Exalting to an extasy of soul.