Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

In the foft medium, till they ftand immers'd.
Then rife the tender germs, upftarting quick,
And spreading wide their spongy lobes, at first
Pale, wan, and livid, but affuming foon,

If fann'd by balmy and nutritious air,

Strain'd through the friendly mats, a vivid green.
Two leaves produc'd, two rough indented leaves,
Cautious, he pinches from the second stalk

A pimple, that portends a future fprout,

And interdicts its growth. Thence ftraight fucceed The branches, sturdy to his utmost wish,

Prolific all, and harbingers of more.

The crowded roots demand enlargement now,

And tranfplantation in an ampler space.
Indulg'd in what they wish, they foon supply
Large foliage, overshadowing golden flowers,

Blown on the fummit of th' apparent fruit.
These have their fexes, and when fummer fhines
The bee tranfports the fertilizing meal

From flow'r to flow'r, and ev'n the breathing air

7

Wafts

Wafts the rich prize to its appointed use.
Not fo when winter fcowls. Affiftant art
Then acts in nature's office, brings to pafs
The glad efpoufals, and infures the crop.

Grudge not, ye rich, (fince luxury must have His dainties, and the world's more num'rous half Lives by contriving delicates for you)

Grudge not the coft. Ye little know the cares,

The vigilance, the labor, and the skill,
That day and night are exercis'd, and hang

Upon the ticklish balance of suspense,

That ye may garnish your profuse regales
With fummer fruits brought forth by wintry funs.
Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart

The process. Heat and cold, and wind and steam,
Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and fwarming flies,

Minute as duft and numberless, oft work

Dire disappointment that admits no cure,

And which no care can obviate. It were long,

[blocks in formation]

Too long, to tell th' expedients and the shifts

Which he that fights a season so severe

Devises, while he guards his tender trust,

And oft, at last, in vain. The learn'd and wife
Sarcaftic would exclaim, and judge the fong
Cold as its theme, and, like its theme, the fruit
Of too much labor, worthlefs when produc'd,

Who loves a garden, loves a green-house too,
Unconscious of a lefs propitious clime,
There blooms exotic beauty, warm and fnug,
While the winds whistle and the fnows defcend.
The fpiry myrtle with unwith'ring leaf

Shines there and flourishes. The golden boaft
Of Portugal and western India there,
The ruddier orange and the paler lime,

Peep through their polifh'd foliage at the storm,
And feem to fimile at what they need not fear.
Th' amomum there with intermingling flow'rs
And cherries hangs her twigs, Geranium boafts

Her

[ocr errors]

Her crimson honors, and the fpangled beau,

Ficoides, glitters bright the winter long.

All plants, of ev'ry leaf, that can endure

The winter's frown, if fcreen'd from his fhrewd bite,

Live there and profper. Thofe Aufonia claims,

Levantine regions these, th' Azores send

Their jeffamine, her jeffamine remote
Caffraia; foreigners from many lands,

They form one focial fhade, as if conven'd
By magic fummons of th' Orphean lyre.
Yet juft arrangement, rarely brought to pass
But by a master's hand, difpofing well
The gay diversities of leaf and flow'r,
Muft lend its aid t' illuftrate all their charms,
And drefs the regular yet various scene,
Plant behind plant aspiring, in the van
The dwarfish, in the rear retir'd, but still
Sublime above the reft, the ftatelier ftand.
So once were rang'd the fons of ancient Rome,
A noble show! while Rofcius trod the stage;
And fo, while Garrick, as renown'd as he,

The

The fons of Albion ; fearing each to lose
Some note of Nature's mufic from his lips,
And covetous of Shakespeare's beauty, seen
In ev'ry flash of his far-beaming eye. nika
Nor taste alone and well-contriv'd display
Suffice to give the marshall'd ranks the grace
Of their complete effect. Much yet remains
Unfung, and many cares are yet behind,

And more laborious; cares on which depend
Their vigor, injur'd foon, not foon reftor'd.
The foil must be renew'd, which, often wafh'd,
Lofes its treasure of falubrious falts,

And disappoints the roots; the flender roots
Close interwoven, where they meet the vafe
Must smooth be fhorn away; the faplefs branch
Muft fly before the knife; the wither'd leaf
Muft be detach'd, and where it ftrews the floor
Swept with a woman's neatnefs, breeding elfe
Contagion, and diffeminating death.
Difcharge but thefe kind offices, (and who

Would

« НазадПродовжити »