THE ARGUMENT, The subject proposed.-Inscribed to the Countess of Hertford. -The Season is described as it affects the various parts of Nature, ascending from the lower to the higher; with digressions arising from the subject.-Its influence on inanimate matter, on vegetables, on brute animals, and, last, on Man concluding with a dissuasive from the wild and irregular passion of love, opposed to that of a pure and happy kind. SPRING. BOOK I. The Subject proposed. -Inscribed to the Countess of Hertford. COME, gentle SPRING! ethereal Mildness! come; O HERTFORD! fitted or to shine in courts With unaffected grace, or walk the plain Which thy own Season paints; when Nature all And see where surly WINTER passes off, Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts; C 5 10 |