Or where the beetle winds His fmall but fullen horn, As oft he rifes 'midst the twilight path, To breathe some softened ftrain, Whofe numbers ftealing through thy dark'ning vale, Thy genial love return! For when thy folding ftar arifing fhews His paly circlet, as his warning lamp Who flept in flow'rs the day, And many a Nymph who wreathes her brows with fedge, And sheds the fresh'ning dew, and lovelier ftill, The penfive Pleasures sweet Then lead, calm Vot'refs, where fome fheety lake Reflect its laft cool gleam. But when chill bluft'ring winds, or driving rain, Views wilds, and fwelling floods, And hamlets brown, and dim-discover'd fpires, The gradual dusky veil. While fpring fhall pour his fhow'rs, as oft he won While Summer loves to sport Beneath thy ling'ring light: While fallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves; And rudely rends thy robes; So long, fure-found beneath the Sylvan fhed, WEET daughter of a rough and stormy fire, Hoar Winter's blooming child; delightful Spring! And fwelling buds are crown'd; From the green islands of eternal youth, O thou, whofe powerful voice More fweet than softeft touch of Doric reed, Breathe thy own tender calm, Thee, beft belov'd! the virgin train await, Thy Thy blooming wilds among, And vales and dewy lawns, With untir'd feet; and cull thy earlieft fweets. That prompts their whifper'd figh. Unlock thy copious ftores; thofe tender showers The milky ear's green stem, And feed the flowering ofier's early shoots; Salute the blowing flowers, Now let me fit beneath the whitening thorn And mark thy fpreading tints fteal o'er the dale; Thy fair unfolding.charms. O Nymph approach! while yet the temperate fun And with chafte kiffes wooes The earth's fair bofom; while the streaming veil Protects thy modeft blooms From his feverer blaze. Sweet Sweet is thy reign, but short; the red dog-star Reluctant fhall I bid thee then farewel; For O, not all that Autumn's lap contains, Can aught for thee atone, Fair Spring! whofe fimpleft promise more delights With foftest influence breathes. MRS. BARBAULD. CHA P. XXVII. DOMESTIC LOVE AND HAPPINESS. HAPPY they! the happiest of their kind! Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 'Tis not the coarfer tie of human laws, Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind, That binds their peace, but harmony itself, Attuning all their paffions into love; Where friendship full exerts her fofteft power, Perfect esteem, enliven'd by defire Ineffable, and fympathy of foul; Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will, Can anfwer love, and render blifs fecure. Let Let him, ungenerous, who alone, intenț While those whom love cements in holy faith, Surprizes |