Page:The Seasons - Thomson (1791).djvu/197

When heaven descends in showers; or bends the bough, 1250
When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams;
Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies
Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap:
These are not wanting; nor the milky drove,
Luxuriant, spread o'er all the lowing vale; 1255
Nor bleating mountains; nor the chide of streams,
And hum of bees, inviting sleep sincere
Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade,
Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay:
Nor ought besides of prospect, grove, or song, 1260
Dim grottos, gleaming lakes, and fountain clear.
Here too dwells simple truth; plain innocence;
Unsullied beauty; found unbroken youth,
Patient of labour, with a little pleas'd;
Health ever-blooming; unambitious toil; 1265
Calm contemplation, and poetic ease.

Let others brave the flood, in quest of gain,
And beat, for joyless months, the gloomy wave.
Let such as deem it glory to destroy,
Rush into blood, the sack of cities seek; 1270
Unpierc'd, exulting in the widow's wail,
The virgin's shriek, and infant's trembling cry.
Let some, far-distant from their native foil,
Urg'd or by want or harden'd avarice,
Find other lands beneath another sun. 1275
Let this thro' cities work his eager way,
By legal outrage, and establish'd guile,
The social sense extinct; and that ferment
Mad into tumult the seditious herd,
Or melt them down to slavery. Let these 1280
Insnare the wretched in the toils of law,
Fomenting discord, and perplexing right,

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