Ambition wou'd be froze, and Faction numb,
Speeches congeal'd, and orators be dumb.
Say, what new worlds and systems you survey!
In circling round your planetary way;
What Beings Saturn's orb inhabit, tell,
Where cold in everlasting triumph reigns;
Or what their frames, who unconfum'd can dwell
In Mercury's red-hot and molten plains;
Say! for most ardently I wish to know,
What bodies can endure eternal fire, or snow!
And thou, fweet Moon! canft tell a fofter tale;'
To thee the maid, thy likeness, fair and pale,
In penfive contemplation oft applies,
When parted from her lov'd and loving swain,
And looks on you with tear-besprinkled eyes,
And fighs and looks, and looks and fighs again; Say, for thou know'ft what conftant hearts endure; And by thy frequent changes teach the cure.
Thy gentle beams the lonely hermit fees,
Gleam thro' the waving branches of the trees,
Which, high-embow'ring, shade his gloomy cell,
Where undisturb'd perpetual filence reigns,
Unless the owl is heard, or diftant bell,
Or the wind whistling o'er the furzy plains.
How bleft to dwell in this fequefter'd spot:
Forgetting parliaments; by them forgot!
Now lovely Spring her velvet mantle spreads,
And paints with green and gold the flow'ry meads;
Fruit-trees in vaft white perriwigs are seen,
Refembling much fome antiquated beau,
Which north-eaft winds, that blow fo long and keen,
Powder full oft with gentle flakes of fnow;
Soft nightingales their tuneful vigils hold,
And fweetly fing and shake-and shake with cold.
Summer fucceeds; in ev'nings soft and warm,
Thrice-happy lovers faunter arm in arm ;
The gay and fair now quit the dufty town,
O'er turnpike-roads inceffant chaifes sweep,
And whirling, bear their lovely ladings down,
To brace their nerves beneath the briny deep;
There with fuccefs each fwain his nymph affails,
As birds, they fay, are caught-can we but falt their
Then Autumn, more ferene, if not fo bright,
Regales at once our palate, and our fight;
With joy the ruddy orchards we behold,
And of its purple clusters rob the vine;
The spacious fields are cover'd o'er with gold,
Which the glad farmer counts as ready coin:
But disappointment oft his hopes attends-
In tythes and mildews the rich profpect ends.
Laft, Winter comes; decrepit, old, and dull;
Yet has his comforts too-his barns are full;
The focial converse, circulating glass,
And chearful fire, are his : to him belong
Th' enlivening dance that warms the chilly lafs,
The serious game at whift, and merry song;
Nor wants he beauties-see the fun-beams glow
O'er lakes of crystal ice, and plains of filver fnow!
Thus roll. the seasons o'er Britannia's land,
But none her freeborn-weather can command;
Seafons unlike to those in fervile climes,
Which o'er Hifpania's or Italia's plains
Difpenfe, at regular and ftated times,
Succeffive heat and cold, and drought and rains; Her's fcorning, like her fons, to be controul'd, Breathe heat in winter oft, and oft in summer cold.
Hail, Liberty, fair Goddess of this isle!
Deign on my verses, and on me, to smile;
Like them unfetter'd by the bonds of fense,
Permit us to enjoy life's tranfient dream,
To live, and write, without the least pretence
To method, order, meaning, plan, or scheme: And fhield us fafe beneath thy guardian wings,
From Law, Religion, Ministers, and Kings,
COUNTESS OF SALISBURY's ASSEMBLY,
ROM SALISBURY's Garter dropp'd, th' hiftorian knows,
Th' illuftrious Order fo intitled rose !
Another SALISBURY now our bofoms warms,
With equal elegance and equal charms.
Let then her form, her trophies, and her name,
With juftice be confign'd to equal fame;
Let Kings with no lefs pride her Garter wear,
Then every noble Knight may have a pair.
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