SPRING.

AN ODE.

TERN Winter now, by Spring reprefs'd,

STER

Forbears the long continued ftrife;

And nature, on her naked breast,

Delights to catch the gales of life.

Now o'er the rural kingdom roves
Soft pleasure with her laughing train,
Love warbles in the vocal groves,
And vegetation plants the plain.

Unhappy! whom to beds of pain,
Arthritic tyranny configns;

*

Whom smiling nature courts in vain,
Tho' rapture fings and beauty fhines.

Yet tho' my limbs disease invades,
Her wings imagination tries,

And bears me to the peaceful fhades
-'s humble turrets rise.

Where

Here ftop, my foul, thy rapid flight,
Nor from the pleafing groves depart,
Where first great nature charm'd my fight,

my

Where wisdom first inform'd

heart.

The author being ill of the gout.

Here

Here let me thro' the vales purfue,

A guide a father and a friend, Once more great nature's works renew, Once more on wifdom's voice attend.

From falfe careffes, caufelefs ftrife,

Wild hope, vain fear, alike remov'd; Here let me learn the ufe of life,

When beft enjoyed

when moft improv❜d,

Teach me, thou venerable bower,
Cool meditation's quiet feat,
The generous fcorn of venal power,
The filent grandeur of retreat.

When pride by guilt to greatness climbs,
Or raging factions rush to war,

Here let me learn to fhun the crimes
I can't prevent, and will not share.

But left I fall by fubtler foes,

Bright wisdom teach me Curio's art,
The fwelling paffions to compofe,
And quell the rebels of the heart.

THE

THE MIDSUMMER's WISH.

AN ODE.

Phoebus! down the western sky,

Far hence diffufe thy burning ray,

Thy light to diftant worlds fupply,
And wake them to the cares of day.

Come gentle Eve, the friend of care, eage
Come Cynthia, lovely queen of night!
Refresh me with a cooling breeze,

And cheer me with a lambent light.

Lay me, where o'er the verdant ground
Her living carpet nature fpreads;
Where the green bower with rofes crown'd,
In fhowers its fragrant foliage sheds.

Improve the peaceful hour with wine,
Let mufic die along the grove;
Around the bowl let myrtles twine,
And every ftrain be tun'd to love.

Come, Stella, queen of all my heart!
Come, born to fill its vaft defires!
Thy looks perpetual joys impart,
Thy voice perpetual love infpires.

Whilft all my wifh and thine complete,
By turns we languish and we burn,
Let fighing gales our fighs repeat,
Our murmurs- murmuring brooks return.

Let me when nature calls to reft,

And blushing skies the morn foretell, Sink on the down of Stella's breast, And bid the waking world farewell.

AUTUM
U M N.

A

AN OD E.

LAS! with fwift and filent pace,
Impatient time rolls on the year;
The feasons. change, and nature's face
Now fweetly fmiles, now frowns fevere.

'Twas Spring, 'twas Summer, all was gay,
Now Autumn bends a cloudy brow;
The flowers of Spring are fwept away,
And Summer fruits defert the bough.

The verdant leaves that play'd on high,
And wanton'd on the western breeze,
Now trod in duft neglected lie,

As Boreas ftrips the bending trees.

The

The fields that wav'd with golden grain,
As ruffet heaths are wild and bare;
Not moift with dew, but drench'd in rain,
Nor health, nor pleasure wanders there.

No more while thro' the midnight shade,
Beneath the moon's pale orb I ftray,
Soft pleafing woes my heart invade,
As Progne pours the melting lay.

From this capricious clime fhe foars,
O! would fome god but wings fupply!
To where each morn the Spring reftores,
Companion of her flight I'd fly.

Vain wish! me fate compels to bear
The downward feasons iron reign,
Compels to breathe polluted air,
And shiver on a blasted plain.

What blifs to life can Autumn yield,

If glooms, and showers, and ftorms prevail; And Ceres flies the naked field,

And flowers, and fruits, and Phœbus fail?

Oh! what remains, what lingers yet,

To cheer me in the dark'ning hour? The grape remains! the friend of wit, In love, and mirth, of mighty power.

Hafte