True Pleasures of Marriage.

But happy they! the happiest of their kind! 1110 Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate,

Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 'Tis not the coarser tie of human laws,

Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind,

That binds their peace, but harmony itself,

1115

Attuning all their passions into love;

Where friendship full-exerts her softest power,
Perfect esteem enlivened by desire

Ineffable, and sympathy of soul;

Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will, With boundless confidence: for nought but love

Can answer love, and render bliss secure.

Let him, ungenerous, who, alone intent
To bless himself, from sordid parents buys
The loathing virgin, in eternal care,
Well-inerited, consume his nights and days;
Let barbarous nations, whose inhuman love
Is wild desire, fierce as the suns they feel;
Let Eastern tyrants, from the light of Heaven
Seclude their bosom-slaves, meanly possess'd
Of a mere lifeless, violated form ;

While those whom love cements in holy faith,

1

1125

1130

Delights from a rising Offspring.

And equal transport, free as Nature live,
Disdaining fear. What is the world to them?
Its pomps, its pleasure, and its nonsense all?
Who in each other clasp whatever fair
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish;
Something than beauty dearer, should they look
Or on the mind, or mind-illumin'd face;
Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love,
The richest bounty of indulgent HEAVEN.
Meantime a smiling offspring rises round,
And mingles both their graces. By degrees,
The human blossom blows; and every day,
Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm,
The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom.
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an assiduous care.
Delighful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpose in the glowing breast.
Oh speak the joy! ye, whom the sudden tear
Surprises often, while you look around,

1135

1140

1145

1150

1155

Delights from a rising Offspring.

And nothing strikes your eye but sights of bliss,

All various Nature pressing on the heart;
An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labour, useful life,
Progressive virtue, and approving HEAVEN.
These are the matchless joys of virtuous love;
And thus their moments fly. The Seasons thus,
As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll,
Still find them happy; and consenting SPRING
Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads :
Till evening comes at last, serene and mild;
When after the long vernal day of life,

1160

1165

SUMMER.

THE ARGUMENT.

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.Sun-rising.-Hymn to the Sun.-Forenoon.-Summer insects described. Hay-making.-Sheep-shearing.-Noon-day. --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.-Bathing.-Hour of walking.—Transition to the prospect of a rich well-cultivated country; which introduces a panegyric on Great Britain.-Sun-set.Evening.-Night.-Summer meteors. -A comet.-The

whole concluding with the praise of philosophy.