Come, gentle SPRING, ÆTHEREAL MILDNESS, come,

And from t'e Bofom of yon dropping Cloud,
While Music wakes around, veil'd in a Show'r

Of jhadowing Roses, on our Plains descend
He inscribes the Poem; and soon after begins the mag-
nificent Description thus-

At last from Aries rolls the bounteous Sun,
And the bright Bull receives him.

Then no more
Th’ expansive Atmosphere is cramp'd with Cold,
But full of life, and vivifying Soul,
Lifts the light Clouds sublime, and spreads them thin,
Fleecy and white o'er all-surrounding Heaven.
Forth fly the tepid Airs; and unconfin’d,
Unbinding Earth the moving Softness strays.
Joyous th' impatient Husbandman perceives

Relenting Nature.
And having sung the Praises of the Plough, he con-
liders the delightful Effects of this Season on vegetative
Nature.

Nor thro' the lenient Air alone, this Change
Delicious breathes, the penetrative Sun,
His Force deep-darting to the dark Retreat
Of Vegetation, sets the steaming Pow'r
At large to wander o'er the verdant Earth,
In various Hues, but chii fly thee, gay Green!
Thou smiling Nature's universal Robe!
United Light and Shade! where the Sight dwells
With growing Strength, and ever-new Delight !
From the moist Meadow to the brown-brow'd Hill
Led by the Breeze, the vivid Verdure runs,

And swells, and deepens to the cheris d Eye.
Having beautifully described the Vegetation and won-
drous Growth of all Kinds of Plants; he next descants
on the Influence of the Spring on animated Bodies, and
first on the feathered Kind.

Lend me your Song, ye Nightingales? O pour
The mazy running Soul of Melody
Into my varied Verse! while I deduce,
From the first Note the hollow Cuckoo fings,
The symphony of Spring, and touch a Theme
Unknown to Fame, the Passion of the Groves,

Jun

Just as the Spirit of Love is sent abroad,
Warm thro' the vital Air, and on their Hearts
Harmonious feizes, 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
The soft Infusion prevalent and wide,
Than, all alive, at once their Joy o'er

flows
In Mufick unconfin’d. Up /prings the Lark,
Shrill-voic'd, and loud, the Messenger of Morn;
Ere yet the Shadows fly, he mounted sings
Amid the dawning Clouds, and from their Haunts
Calls up the tuneful Nations. Every Copse
Deep-tangled, Tree irregular, and Busi
Bending with dewy Moisture, o'er the Heads
Of the coy Choristers that lodge within,

Are prodigal of Harmony. It would be tedious to pursue him thro' all his fine Reflections on the vernal Seafon, and its agreeable and beneficent Effects on all the World.I fear I have tired your Patience already; but, my dear Euphrosyne, I know you'll forgive a Digression of this Kind, were it much longer, in Complaisance to the Muses.

Euphrol. I hear you with equal Patience and Pleasure. This happy Season can't be too much extolled,

-But, see, the Earth is moved far on; the Spring begins to give Way to Summer, which I suppose will here succeed, as it does in Nature.

Cleon. In the very fame Manner. As the Middle of the Spring Season is about the 20th of March, when the Sun (S) appears in the Beginning of Aries (r); so about the Beginning of May, the Spring ends, and the Summer Season commences, which we will next contemplate on the Orrery.

Euphrosyne. THE Earth being near advanced to Capricorn (us),

shews the Serenity of Spring is past, and the near Approach of Summer. But since the Earth is still at the fame Distance from the Body of the Sun, I can't rightly conceive how it comes to pass, that the Sun-beams are so much hotter than at other Times.

Cleon. To explain that, is one great Design of the Orrery.--In order to which, you must consider, and understand, that the principal Characteristics of Summer are two, viz. (1.) The Days are then longest ; and (2.) The Heat is most intense. How the Days are now longest, I shall explain to you at large, after we have done with the Seasons. -I shall now only shew you why the Heat is greater with us than at any other Time of the Year.

Euphrof. Why do you say, with us, so emphatically, Cleonicus?

Cleon. Because with respect to the Earth in general, the Sun's Heat is nearly always the same ; but greater or lesser only in regard of some particular Place at some certain Seafons of the Year, as with us when the Sun appears in Cancer (9); for at that very Time it is coldest in some other part of the Earth.

Euphrof. But what I want to know is, how it comes to pass, that it is sometimes very hot, and sometimes very cold at different Times of the Year in the same Place?

Cleon. The Reason of that will easily be understood, if you remember what I observed to you about the Axis of the Earth (NS) not being perpendicular to the Plane of the Ecliptic (or) but inclined thereto; and also, that the Earth so moves as always to have its Axis parallel to itself, or pointing to the same Part of the Heavens.

Euphros. I remember that very well, and—now I look on the Earth, I readily see what follows, viz. the

North