To train the foliage o'er the fnowy lawn ;
To guide the pencil, turn the tuneful page;
To lend new flavour to the fruitful year,
And heighten Nature's dainties; in their race
To rear their graces into fecond life;
To give fociety its highest taste;

Well-ordered Home Man's best delight to make;
And by fubmiffive wifdom, modeft skill,
With every gentle care-eluding art,

510

515

To raise the virtues, animate the bliss,

And fweeten all the toils of human life:

This be the female dignity, and praise.

520

525

YE fwains now haften to the hazel-bank; Where, down yon dale, the wildly-winding brook Falls hoarfe from steep to fteep. In close array, Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub, Ye virgins come. For you their latest fong The woodlands raife; the clustering nuts for you The lover finds amid the fecret shade; And, where they burnish on the topmost bough, With active vigour crushes down the tree ; Or fhakes them ripe from the refigning husk, A gloffy fhower, and of an ardent brown, As are the ringlets of MELINDA's hair: MELINDA form'd with every grace compleat, Yet thefe neglecting, above beauty wife, And far tranfcending fuch a vulgar praise.

530

535

HENCE

540,

545

HENCE from the bufy joy-refounding fields, In chearful error, let us tread the maze Of Autumn, unconfin'd; and tafte, reviv'd, The breath of orchard big with bending fruit. Obedient to the breeze and beating ray, From the deep loaded bough a mellow shower Inceffant melts away. The juicy pear Lies, in a foft profufion, scatter'd round. A various sweetness fwells the gentle race; By Nature's all-refining hand prepar'd ; Of temper'd fun, and water, earth, and air, In ever-changing compofition mixt. Such, falling frequent thro' the chiller night, The fragrant ftores, the wide-projected heaps Of apples, which the lufty-handed year, Innumerous, o'er the blufhing orchard shakes. A various fpirit, fresh, delicious, keen, Dwells in their gelid pores; and, active, points The piercing cyder for the thirsty tongue : Thy native theme, and boon Inspirer too, PHILLIPS, Pomona's bard, the second thou Who nobly durft, in rhyme-unfetter'd verfe, With BRITISH freedom fing the BRITISH fong: How, from Silurian vats, high-sparkling wines 560 Foam in transparent floods; fome strong, to cheer The wintry revels of the labouring hind; And tafteful fome, to cool the fummer-hours.

550

555

IN

In this glad feason, while his sweetest beams
The fun fheds equal o'er the meeken'd day;
Oh lofe me in the green delightful walks
Of, DODINGTON, thy feat, ferene and plain;
Where fimple Nature reigns; and every view,
Diffufive, fpreads the pure Dorfetian downs,

565

569

574

In boundless profpect; yonder fhagg'd with wood,
Here rich with harvest, and there white with flocks!
Mean time the grandeur of thy lofty dome,
Far-fplendid, feizes on the ravish'd eye.
New beauties rife with each revolving day;
New columns fwell; and still the fresh Spring finds
New plants to quicken, and new groves to green.
Full of thy genius all! the Mufes' seat;
Where in the fecret bower, and winding walk,
For virtuous YOUNG and thee they twine the bay.
Here wandering oft, fir'd with the reftlefs thirft 580
Of thy applaufe, I folitary court

Th' infpiring breeze: and meditate the book
Of Nature ever open; aiming thence,

Warm from the heart, to learn the moral fong.

585

Here, as I fteal along the funny wall,
Where Autumn bafks, with fruit empurpled deep,
My pleafing theme continual prompts my thought:
Prefents the downy peach; the fhining plum;

The

The ruddy, fragrant nectarine; and dark,
Beneath his ample leaf, the luscious fig.
The vine too here her curling tendrils shoots;
Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the fouth;
And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky.

590

595

TURN we a moment Fancy's rapid flight To vigorous foils, and climes of fair extent; Where, by the potent fun elated high, The vineyard fwells refulgent on the day; Spreads o'er the vale; or up the mountain climbs, Profufe; and drinks amid the funny rocks, 599 From cliff to cliff encreas'd, the heightened blaze. Low bend the weighty boughs. The clusters clear, Half thro' the foliage feen, or ardent flame, Or fhine transparent; while perfection breathes White o'er the turgent film the living dew. As thus they brighten with exalted juice, Touch'd into flavour by the mingling ray; . The rural youth and virgins o'er the field,

605

Each fond for each to cull th' autumnal prime,

609

Exulting rove, and speak the vintage nigh.
Then comes the crushing swain; the country floats,
And foams unbounded with the mashy flood;

That by degrees fermented, and refin’d,

Round

Round the rais'd nations pours the cup

of joy:

The claret smooth, red as the lip we press

In fparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl; 615 The mellow-tafted burgundy; and quick,

As is the wit it gives, the gay champaign.

Now, by the cool declining year condens'd,
Defcend the copious exhalations, check'd
As up the middle fky unfeen they stole,
And roll the doubling fogs around the hill.
No more the mountain, horrid, vast, sublime,
Who pours a fweep of rivers from his fides,
And high between contending kingdoms rears
The rocky long divifion, fills the view
With great variety; but in a night

620

625

Of gathering vapour, from the baffled fenfe
Sinks dark and dreary. Thence expanding far,
The huge dufk, gradual, fwallows up the plain :
Vanish the woods; the dim-seen river seems
Sullen, and flow, to rowl the misty wave.

Even in the height of noon oppreft, the fun
Sheds weak, and blunt, his wide-refracted ray;
Whence glaring oft, with many a broaden'd orb,
He frights the nations. Indistinct on earth,
Seen thro' the turbid air, beyond the life

630

635

Objects