A UT UM N.

CROWN'D with the sickle, and the whea

ten sheaf,

While AUTUMN, nodding o'er the yellow

plain,

Comes jovial on; the Doric reed once more,

Whate'er the wintry

Well pleas'd, I tune.

frost

Nitrous prepar'd; the

various blossom'd

spring

5

Put in white promise forth; and summer-suns Concocted strong, rush boundless now to

view.

Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme.

ONSLOW! the Muse, ambitious of thy

name,

To grace, inspire, and dignify her song,

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Would from the Public Voice thy gentle ear A while engage. Thy noble cares she knows, The patriot-virtues that distend thy thought, Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow; While listening senates hang upon thy tongue,

15

Devolving thro' the maze of eloquence
A roll of periods, sweeter than her song.
But she too pants for public virtue, she,
Tho' weak of power, yet strong in ardent
will,

Whene'er her country rushes on her heart, 20
Assumes a bolder note, and fondly tries
To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame.

WHEN the bright Virgin gives the beau teous days,

And Libra weighs in equal scales the year; From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence shook

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Of parting Summer, a serener blue,
With golden light enlivened, wide invests
The happy world. Attemper'd suns arise,
Sweet-beam'd, and shedding oft thro' lucid

clouds

A pleasing calm; while broad, and brown,

* Extensive harvests hang the heavy head. Rich, silent, deep, they stand; for not a gale

1

Rolls its light billows ov'r the bending plain: A calm of plenty! till the ruffled air

Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to

blow.

35 ? Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky; The clouds fly different; and the sudden sun By fits effulgent gilds th' illumin'd field, And black by fits the shadows sweep along. A gaily-checker'd heart-expanding view, Far as the circling eye can shoot around, Unbounded tossing in a flood of corn.

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THESE are thy blessings, INDUSTRY! rough power!

Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and

pain;

Yet the kind source of every gentle art,
And all the soft civility of life:

45

Raiser of human kind! by Nature cast,
Naked, and helpless, out amid the woods
And wilds, to rude inclement elements;
With various seeds of art deep in the mind 50
Implanted, and profusely pour'd around
Materials infinite; but idle all.

Still unexerted, in th' unconscious breast,
Slept the lethargic powers; corruption still,
Voracious, swallowed what the liberal hand 55
Of bounty scatter'd o'er the savage year:
And still the sad barbarian, roving, mix'd

With beasts of prey; or for his acorn-meal Fought the fierce tusky boar; a shivering

wretch !

Aghast, and comfortless, when the bleak north,

60

With Winter charg'd, let the mix'd tempest, fly, Hail, rain, and snow, and bitter-breathing frost:

Then to the shelter of the hut he fled;
And the wild season, sordid, pin'd away.
For home he had not; home is the resort 65
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty,
where,

Supporting and supported, polish'd friends,
And dear relations mingle into bliss.
But this the rugged savage never felt,

Even desolate in crowds; and thus his

75

Roll'd heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd along:
A waste of time! till INDUSTRY approach'd,
And rous'd him from his miserable sloth:
His faculties unfolded; pointed out,
Where lavish Nature the directing hand.
Of Art demanded; shew'd him how to raise
His feeble force by the mechanic powers,
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth,
On what to turn the piercing rage of fire,
On what the torrent, and the gather'd blast; 80.
Gave the tall ancient forest to his axe;

Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the

stone,

Till by degrees the finish'd fabric rose;
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur,
And wrapt them in the woolly vestment
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warm,

90

Or bright in glossy silk, and flowing lawn;
With wholesome viands fill'd his table, pour'd
The generous glass around, inspir'd to wake
The life-refining soul of decent wit:
Nor stopp'd at barren bare necessity;
But still advancing bolder, let him on,
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace;
And, breathing high ambition thro' his soul,
Set science, wisdom, glory, in his view,
And bade him be the Lord of all below. 95

THEN gathering Men their natural powers
combin'd,

And form'd a Publick; to the general good
Submitting, aiming, and conducting all.
For this the Patriot-Council met, the full,
The free, and fairly represented Whole; 100
For this they plann'd the holy guardian laws,
Distinguish'd orders, animated arts,

And, with joint force Oppression chaining, set
Imperial Justice at the helm; yet still

To them accountable: nor slavish dream'd 105 That toiling millions must resign their weal,