SUMMER.

THE subject proposed. Invocation. Address to Mr. Dodington. An introductory reflection on the motion of the heavenly bodies; whence the succession of the seasons. As the face of nature in this season is almost uniform, the progress of the poem is a description of a summer's day. The dawn. Sunrising. Hymn to the sun. Forenoon. Summer insects described. Haymaking. Sheepshearing. Noonday. A woodland retreat. Group of herds and flocks. A solemn grove: how it affects a contemplative mind. A cataract, and rude scene. View of Summer in the torrid zone. Storm of thunder and lightning. A tale. The storm over. A serene afternoon. Bathin. Hour of walking. Transition to the prospect of a rich, wellcultivated country; which introduces a panegyric on Great Britain. Sunset. Evening. Night. Summer meteors. A Comet. The whole concluding with the praise of philosophy.

ROM brightening fields of ether fair

disclosed,

comes,

In pride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth:

He comes attended by the sultry hours,
And ever fanning breezes, on his way;
While, from his ardent look, the turning Spring
Averts her blushful face; and earth and skies,
All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves.

Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood
shade,

Where scarce a sunbeam wanders through the gloom;

And on the dark-green grass, beside the brink
Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak
Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large,
And sing the glories of the circling year.

Come, Inspiration! from thy hermit-seat, By mortal seldom found: may Fancy dare, From thy fixed serious eye, and raptured glance

Shot on surrounding heaven, to steal one look Creative of the poet, every power

Exalting to an ecstasy of soul.

And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend, In whom the human graces all unite,

Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart;