5. Instinct and Cunning of Birds to fave
Into the Centre of a neighbouring Bush
They drop, and whirring thence alarm'd, deceive
The rambling School-Boy.
THE Rivals met, the bellowing War begins;
Their Eyes flash Fury; to the hollawed Earth,
Whence the Sand flies, they mutter bloody Deeds,
And groaning vast th' impetuous Battle mix :
While the fair Heifer, redolent, in view
Stands kindling up their Rage. Spring, ver. 746.
7. Prodigious Storm of Rain.
A BURST of Rain, Swept from the black Horizon, broad defcends In one continuous Flood. Still over head The glomerating Tempest grows, and still The Deluge deepens; till the Fields around Lie funk, and flatted, in the fordid Wave. Sudden the Ditches swell; the Meadows fwim. Red, from the Hills, innumerable Streams Tumultuous roar; and high above it's Banks The River lift; before whose weighty Rush, Herds, Flocks, and Harvests, Cottages, and Swains; Autumn, ver. 332.
NOR on the Surges of the boundless Air,
Thơ borne triumphant, are they safe; the Gun,
Glanc'd just, and fudden, from the Fowler's Eye,
O'ertakes their founding Pinions; and again,
Immediate, brings them from the towering Wing,
Dead to the Ground.
9. Whisk, Back-Gammon, and Drinking, after Hunting.
PERHAPS awhile, amufive, thoughtful Whisk
Walks gently round, beneath a Cloud of Smoak,
Wreath'd, fragrant, from the Pipe; or the quick Dice,
In Thunder leaping from the Box, awake
The founding Gammon. Till fet, ardent, in
For ferious Drinking. Then promiscuous Talk,
Vociferate at once by twenty Tongues,
Reels fast from Theme to Theme; from Horses, Hounds,
To Church, or Mistress, Politicks, or Ghost,
In endless Mazes, intricate, perplext. &c.
While, from their Slumbers shook, the kennel'd Hounds
Mix in the Music of the Day again.
Presents the downy Peach; the purple Plumb,
With a fine blueish Mist of Animals
Clouded; the ruddy Nectarine; and dark,
Beneath his ample Leaf, the luscious Fig.
The Vine too here her curling Tendrels shoots;
Hangs out her Clusters, swelling to the South;
And scarcely wishes for a warmer Sky.
11. Description of Holland.
WHERE the Rhine lofes ber majestic Force
In Belgian Plains, won from the raging Deep
By Diligence amazing, and the ftrong
Unconquerable Hand of Liberty. Autumn, ver. 793.
12. At the Approach of Winter.
_ THEN is the Time,
For those whom Wisdom, and whom Nature charm,
To fteal themselves from the degenerate Crowd,
And foar above this little Scene of Things.
13. Taking up Bee-Hives.
AH! See where robb'd, and murder'd, in that Pit,
Lies the still heaving Hive; at Evening fnatehd,
Beneath the Cloud of guilt-concealing Night,
And whelm'd o'er Sulphur : while undreaming Ill,
The happy People, in their waxen Cells,
Sat tending Public Cares! - Autumn, ver. 1072.
14. True Philofophers neither Stoics nor Cynics.
THE Touch of Love, and Kindred too he feels,
The modest Eye, whose Beams on his alone
Exstatic shine, the little, strong Embrace
Of prattling Children, twin'd about his Neck,
And emulous to please him, calling forth
The fond Parental Soul. Nor Purpose gay,
Amusement, Dance, or Song, be sternly scorns;
For Happiness, and true Philofophy
Still are, and have been of the smiling Kind.
THRO' the husßd Air the whitening Shower defcends,
At first thin-wavering; till at last the Flakes
Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the Day,
With a continual Flow. Sudden the Fields
Put on their Winter-Robe, of purest White.
WHERE ruddy Fire and beaming Tapers join,
To chase the cheerless Gloom. There let me fit,
And hold high Converse with the mighty dead;
Sages of ancient Time, as Gods rever'd,
As Gods beneficent, who blest Mankind
With Arts, and Arms, and humaniz'd a World.
THE Skater fweeps, swift as the Winds, along,
In circling Poise; or else disorder'd falls,
His Feet eluded, sprawling to the Sky,
While the Laugh rages round. - Winter, ver. 632.
DREAD d'er the Scene the Ghost of Hamlet stalks;
Othello rages; poor Monimia mourns ;
And Belvidera pours her Soul in Love.
Assenting Terror shakes; the filent Tear
Steals d'er the Cheek: Or else the Comic Muse
Holds to the World the Picture of itself,
And raises fly the fair impartial Laugh.
19. Winter-Philosophical-Associates.
THUS in fome deep Retirement would I pass
The Winter-Glooms, with Friends of various Turn,
Or blithe, or folemn, as the Theme inspir'd :
With them would search, if this unbounded Frame
Of Nature rofe from unproductive Night,
Or Sprung Eternal from the Eternal Cause,
It's Springs, it's Laws, it's Progress, and it's End. &c.
Thence would we plunge into the Moral World;
Which, tho more seemingly perplex'd, moves on
In highest Order; fitted, and impell'd,
By Wisdom's finest Hand, and issuing all
In universal Good. Historic Truth
Should next conduct us thro the Deeps of Time :
Point us how Empire grew, revolv'd, and fell,
In scatter'd States. Or, Snatched away by Hope,
We'd thro the Spaces of Futurity,
With earnest Eye anticipate those Scenes
Of Happiness, and Wonder; where the Mind,
In endless Growth and infinite Ascent,
Rises from State to State, and World to World.
20. Trust in the Supreme Being.
SHOULD Fate command me to the farthest Verge
Of this capacious Earth; -'Tis Nought to me;
Since God is ever present, ever felt,
In the woid Waste, as in the City full
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