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Influence of the Season on Vegetables.

In every bud that blows? If fancy then
Unequal fails beneath the pleasing task,
Ah what shall language do? ah where find words
Ting'd with so many colours; and whose
To life approaching, may perfume my lays
With that fine oil, those aromatic gales,

That inexhaustive flow continual round?

power,

Yet, though successless, will the toil delight.
Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whose hearts
Have felt the raptures of refining love;

And thou, AMANDA, come, pride of my song!
Form'd by the Graces, loveliness itself!

Come with those downcast eyes, sedate and sweet,

Those looks demure, that deeply pierce the soul,

Where, with the light of thoughtful reason mix'd,

Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart :

Oh come! and while the rosy-footed May
Steals blushing on, together let us tread
The morning-dews, and gather in their prime
Fresh-blooming flowers, to grace thy braided hair,
And thy lov'd bosom that improves their sweets.
See, where the winding vale its lavish stores,
Irriguous, spreads. See, how the lily drinks

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Influence of the Season on Vegetables.

The latent rill, scarce oozing through the grass,
Of growth luxuriant; or the humid bank,

In fair profusion decks. Long let us walk,

Where the breeze blows from yon extended field

Of blossom'd beans. Arabia cannot boast

A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence

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Breathes through the sense, and takes the ravish'd soul.

Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot,

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Full of fresh verdure, and unnumber'd flowers,

The negligence of Nature, wide, and wild;

Where, undisguis'd by mimic Art, she spreads
Unbounded beauty to the roving eye..

Here their delicious task the fervent bees,

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In swarming millions, tend: around, athwart,

Through the soft air, the busy nations fly;

Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube,
Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul;

And oft, with bolder wing, they soaring dare

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The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows,

And yellow load them with the luscious spoil.

At length the finish'd garden to the view

Its vistas opens, and its alleys green.

Snatch'd through the verdant maze, the hurried eye 515

Influence of the Season on Vegetables.

Distracted wanders; now the bowery walk
Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day
Falls on the lengthened gloom, protracted sweeps :
Now meets the bending sky; the river now
Dimpling along, the breezy ruffled lake,

The forest darkening round, the glittering spire,
Th' ethereal mountain, and the distant main.

But why so far excursive? when at hand,
Along these blushing borders, bright with dew,
And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers,
Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace;

Throws out the snow-drop and the crocus first ;

The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue,

And polyanthus of unnumber'd dies;

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The yellow wall-flower, stain'd with iron brown; 530
And lavish stock that scents the garden round :
From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed,

Anemonies; auriculas, enrich'd

With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves;

And full ranunculas, of glowing red.

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Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty plays
Her idle freaks; from family diffus'd

To family, as flies the father-dust,

Influence of the Season on Vegetables.

The varied colours run; and while they break
On the charm'd eye, th' exulting florist marks,
With secret pride, the wonders of his hand.

No gradual bloom is wanting; from the bud,
First-born of Spring, to Summer's musky tribes:
Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white,

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Low-bent, and blushing inward; nor jonquils, 545 Of potent fragrance; nor Narcissus fair,

As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still;

Nor broad carnations, nor gay-spotted pinks;

Nor, shower'd from every bush, the damask rose.
Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells,

With hues on hues expression cannot paint,
The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom.
Hail, SOURCE OF BEING! UNIVERSAL SOUL

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Of heaven and earth! ESSENTIAL Presence, hail!
TO THEE I bend the knee; to THEE my thoughts, 555
Continual, climb; who, with a master-hand,
Hast the great whole into perfection touch'd.
By THEE the various vegetative tribes,
Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves,
Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew:
By THEE dispos'd into congenial soils,

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D

Influence of the Season on Animals.

Stands each attractive plant, and sucks, and swells
The juicy tide; a twining mass of tubes.

At THY Command the vernal sun awakes
The torpid sap, detruded to the root
By wintry winds; that now in fluent dance,
And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads
All this innumerous-colour'd scene of things.
As rising from the vegetable world

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My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend,

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My panting Muse! and hark, how loud the woods

Invite you forth in all your gayest trim.

Lend me your song, ye nightingales! oh pour

The mazy-running soul of melody

Into my varied verse; while I deduce,

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From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings,

The symphony of Spring; and touch a theme
Unknown to fame, the passion of the groves.

When first the soul of love is sent abroad,
Warm through the vital air, and on the heart
Harmonious seizes; the gay troops begin,

In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing;
And try again the long-forgotten strain,

At first faint-warbled. But no sooner grows

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