That one incessant struggle render life
One scene of toil, of suffering, and of fate,
Vice in his high career would stand appalld,
And heedless rambling impulse learn to think;
The conscious heart of charity would warm,
And her wide wish benevolence dilute;
The social tear would rise, the social sigh,
And into clear perfection, gradual bliss,
Refining still, the social passions work.

THOMSON.

CHAP. XXVIII.

Spring

2. Un-curl-ing, part. untwisting, the act of putting out of curl.

Glas'-sy, a. resembling glass in smoothness, lustre or brightness. 4. Drop, v. to let fall; (to fall in drops.)

Ver"-dure, s. green colour, greenness of grass. 5. Sus-pe'nse, s. delay, stop; doubt.

Lu'-cid, a. clear ; bright, shining, glittering. 7. Gra"-ti-tude, s. a virtue consisting in a due sense and outward

acknowledgment of a benefit received, together with a readiness

to return the same.
8. Con-si'gn, v. to submit, to resign. To transfer one's property

to another.
Pre-lu'-sive, a. previous to, introductory.

Ef-fu'-si-on, s. the act of shedding or pouring out.
9. Um-bra'-ge-ous, a. shady; yielding shade.
10. Fir'-ed, pret. passions inflamed. (Set on fire, kindled.)

An-ti”-ci.pates, v. (third person singular,) prevents, checks. To

be beforehand with another in taking, so as to disappoint him

that comes after, Nu'-tri-ment, s. that which feeds or nourishes. Dis-til', v. to drop or fall by drops. To extract the virtues of

ingredients by means of a still.

1. - GRADUAL sinks the breeze

Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath

Is heard to quiver through the closing woods,
Or rustling turn the many twinkling leaves
Of aspin * tall. 2. Th’uncurling floods, diffus'd
In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse
Forgetful of their course. 3. 'Tis silence all,
And pleasing expectation. 4. Herds and flocks
Drop the dry sprig, † and, mute-imploring, s eye
The falling verdure. 5. Hush'd in short suspense,
The plumy people streak their wings with oil,||
To throw the lucid moisture trickling off;
And wait th'approaching sign to strike, at once,
Into the gen’ral choir. 6. Even mountains,vales,
And forests, seem impatient to demand
The promis'd sweetness. 7. Man superior walks
Amid the glad creation, musing praise,
And looking lively gratitude. 8. At last,
The clouds consign their treasures to the fields;
And, softly shaking on the dimpled pool
Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow,

In large effusion, o'er the freshen'd world. 9. The stealing show'r is scarce to patter heard,

By such as wander through the forest-walks,

Beneath the umbrageous multitude of leaves. * A tree whose leaves are remarkable for shaking.

† Uncuring floods, signify waters perfectly calm. When the sea has a gentle flow of waves, it is said to be curling sea.

As soon as the cattle have bitten off the dry-sprigs of grass, they perceive that the virtue is gone, and therefore drop them as being nothing-worth.

ş. Mute-imploring is a compound word, made up of the adjective mute, (silent, dumb ;) and the participle of the verb to imploreto ask, to beg ;) here understood incapable of speech.

10. But who can hold the shade, while heav'n descends

In universal bounty, shedding herbs,
And fruits, and How'rs, on Nature's ample lap?
Swift fancy fir'd anticipates their growth;
And, while the milky nutriment distils,
Beholds the kindling country colour round.

THOMSON.

CHAP. XXIX.

Summer

1. Gleam'-ing, part. shining.

Dap'-pled, pret. marked with various colours.
Æ'-ther, s. an element more fine than air, the matter of the

highest regions, which commences from the limits of our
atmosphere, whose height is supposed to be about forty-eight

miles from the earth, and possesses the whole heavenly space. 5. Lux-u'-ri-ous, a. addicted to pleasure, high living. 6. Ob-li"-vi-on, s. forgetfulness.

1. Short is the doubtful empire of the night;

And soon, observant of approaching day,
The meek-ey'd morn appears, mother of dews,
At first faint gleaming in the dappled east :
Till far o'er cether spreads the wid’ning glow;
And, from before the lustre of her face,
White break the clouds away. 2. With quicken'd

Brown night retires; young day* pours in apace,

And opens all the lawny prospect wide.
3. The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top

Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn.
Blue, thro’the dusk, the smoaking currents shine,
And from the bladed + field the fearful hare
Limps, awkward; while along the forest-glade
The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze
At early passenger. 4. Music awakes
The native voice of undissembled joy;
And thick around the woodland hymns arise.
Rous'd by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd leaves
His mossy cottage, where with peace he dwells,
And from the crowded fold, in order, drives

His flock to taste the verdure of the morn. 5. Falsely lucurious, will not man awake;

And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy
The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour,

To meditation due and sacred song?*
6. For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise ?

To lie in dead oblivion, losing half
The fleeting moments of too short a life ;
Total extinctions of th’ enlighten’d soul;

* As the morning may be stiled the youth of the ensuing day, noon its maturity, and evening its old age or decline; the epithet young, here made use of, is poetically descriptive.

+ Overspread with grass or corn.
# Falsely luxurious, will not man awake ;

And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy
The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour,

To meditation due and sacred song?
That early rising is conducive to health, and the morning the best
time for men of genius to set apart for meditation, undisturbed by
intruding cares, or the noise and bustle of the busy multitude, are
commonly received observations, and confirmed by experience.

§ Death or suppression,

Or else to feverish vanity alive,
Wilder'd,* and tossing thro' distemper'd dreams?
Who would in such a gloomy state remain
Longer than nature craves : when ev'ry muse
And ev'ry blooming pleasure wait without
To bless the wildly devioust morning walk ?

THOMSON,

CHAP. XXX.

Autumn.

1. Mi"-ti-gate, v. to soften, lessen, or make less, applied to toilor pain;

to abate or lessen, applied to rigour or severity. 2. Ru'-ral, a. belonging to, existing in, or resembling the country.

Te’-di-ous, a. occasioning weariness and trouble by continuance or

length. 4. Glean'-ers, s. pl. those who gather after the reapers. Spike, s. an ear of corn. (A long nail, or piece of iron, or wood,

sharpened at the top, and resembling an ear of corn.) 6. Dole, s. share or portion; the act of dividing into shares or portions.

(Grief, sorrow, misery.) 7. Pon-der, v. to reflect, to consider; to think or muse.

Re-luc'-tance, s. unwillingness, repugnance.

1. Soon as the morning trembles o’er the sky,

And, unperceiv’d, unfolds the spreading day,
Before the ripen'd field the reapers stand
In fair array ;I each by the lass he loves,
To bear the rougher part, and mitigate

By nameless gentle offices her toil. 2. At once they stoop and swell the lusty sheaves;