And eik the heuinly portis christallyne
Upwarpis brade, the warlde till illumyne;
The twynkling stremouris of the orient
Sched pourpour sprayngis with gold and asure
Persand the sabil barmkin nocturnall,
Bet down the skyes cloudy mantil wall;
Eous the stede, with ruby hammys rede,
Abufe the seyis liftis furth his hede,
The crystal gates of Heaven expanded wide
Pour'd streams of splendour in an ample tide:
The beaming orient beauteous to behold,
Shed purple rays, and azure mix'd with gold,
Dispersing with all-penetrating light
The solid gloom of cloud-envelop'd night.
The Sun's gay coursers, in their harness red,
Above the billowy ocean's boundless bed
Of culloure sore, and sume dele broune as bery, Rais'd high their heads, impetuous in career,
For to alichtin and glad our emispery,
The flambe out brastin at the neiss thirlis,
So fast Phaeton with the quihip him quhirlis,
To roll Apollo his faderis goldin chare,
That schroudith all the heuynnys and the are;
Quhil schortlie with the blesand torche of day,
Abulzeit in his lemand freche array,
Furth of his palice riall ischit Phebus,
With goldin croun and visage glorius,
Crisp haris, bricht as chrissolite or thopas,
For quhais hew mycht nane behald his face
The fyrie sparkis brasting from his ene,
To purge the are, and gilt the tendir grene,
Defoundand from his sege etheriall
Glade influent aspectis celicall,
Before his regal hie magnificence
Mysty vapoure vpspringand sweet as sence,
In smoky soppis of donk dewis wak,
With hailsum stous ouerheiland the slak,
The auriate phanis of his trone souerane
With glitterand glance ouerspred the octiane,
The large fludis lemand all of licht,
Bot with ene blenk of his supernale sicht;
For to behald it was ane glore to se,
The stabyllyt wyndys, and the calmyt se,
The soft sessoun, the firmament serene,
The loune illuminate are, and firth amene,
The siluer scalit fyschis on the grete, [hete,
Ouer thowrt clere stremes sprinkilland for the
With fynnys schinand broun as synopare,
And chesal talis, stourand here and thare;
The new cullour alichting all the landis
Forgane the stanryis schene, and berial strandis:
Quhil the reflex of the diurnal bemes
The bene bonkis kest full of variant glemes:
And lusty Flora did hir blomes sprede
Under the fete of Phebus sulzeart stede:
The swardit soyll enbrode with selkouth hewis,
Wod and forest obumbrate with the bewis,
Quhais blysful branchis porturate on the ground
With schaddois schene shew rochis rubicund,
Towris, turettis, kirnalis, and pynnakillis hie
Of kirkis, castellis, and ilk faire ciete,
Stude payntit, euery fane, phioll and stage
Apoun the plane ground, by their awin umbrage:
Of Eolus north blastis hauand na drede,
The sulze spred hir brade bosum on brede,
Zephyrus confortabill inspiratioun
For tyll ressaue law in hir barne adoun:
The cornis croppis, and the bere new brerde
Wyth gladesum garmont reuesting the erd;
So thyk the plantis sprang in euery pete,
The feildis ferlyis of their fructuous flete:
Byssy dame Ceres, and proude Priapus
Reiosing of the planis plentuous,
This confusion of Phoebus and Phaeton is an errour which several old English writers have fallen into.
To give the light, and glad our hemisphere.
So fast they scour'd, that from their nostrils came
A cloud of smoke, and streams of living flame.
Fir'd by the whirling whip their round to run,
And roll the golden chariot of the Sun.
While shortly with the blazing torch of day,
Forth from his royal ball in fresh array,
Sprung Phoebus, by his flaming mantle known;
His glorious visage, and his golden crown;
His glossy locks were as the topaz bright,
His radiance beam'd intolerable light;
His eye-balls sparkled with celestial sheen,
To purge the air, and gild the tender green,
Diffusing from the brightness of his brow,
Etherial mildness on the world below.
Before the king of day thin vapours rose,
Like clouds of incense, and as sweet as those,
(The dewy tribute which the meads exhale)
Curling they rose, and hover'd o'er the vale.
The golden splendour of his glorious beams
Glanc'd on the floods, and glitter'd in the streams,
And all the ocean shone serenely bright,
With the first glimpse of his supernal sight.
How calm! how still! how pleasing to behold
The sea's broad bosom where no billows roll'd!
The season soft, the firmament serene,
Th' illumin'd landscape, and the watry scene!
Where sportive fish display'd their silver pride,
Quick glancing on the surface of the tide,
By russet fins impell'd from shore to shore,
Their tail the rudder, and their fin the oar.
New lustre gilded all the rising lands,
The stony hillocks, and the beryl strands;
While the reflection of the glowing beans
Play'd on the banks in variegated gleams.
Where-e'er Apollo's radiant coursers went,
Sprung flowers unnumber'd of delicious scent;
Earth's flourish'd carpet various hues display'd,
And wood and forest wore a fuller shade. [green,
Whose beauteous branches, chequer'd on the
Imbrown'd the rigid rocks that rose between:
Tow'rs, battlements, and castles huge and high,
Turrets, and spires that mingle with the sky,
And every dome, and pinnacle, and fane,
By their own shade stood figur'd on the plain.
The glebe, now fearless of the north's keen air,
To buxom Zephyr spread her bosom bare,
With genial warmth her fertile lap to cheer,
And fill her with the plenty of the year.
Fresh springing corn enlivened all the scene,
And cloth'd the country with a robe of green:
And plants so numerous opened to the view,
The fields rejoicing wonder'd how they grew.
With joy the goddess of the golden grain,
And proud Priapus ey'd the pregnant plain;
Plennyst so plesand, and maist propirly,
By nature nurissit wounder tendirly,
Plennast so plesand, and maist propirly
By nature nurissit wounder tendirly,
On the fertyl skyrt lappis of the ground
Strekand on brede under the cyrkil round:
The varyant vesture of the venust vale
Schrowdis the scherand fur, and enery fale
Querfrett with fulzeis and fyguris ful dyners,
The pray by sprent with spryng and sproutis dy-In many a rill, fertility bestow'd;
Where fruitful Nature wak'd her genial power,
And rear'd, and foster'd every herb and flower:
The fair creation swell'd upon the eye;
Earth was their bed, their canopy the sky.
A varied verdure rob'd the vales around,
And spread luxuriant o'er the furrow'd ground :
And flowery weeds, that grew profuse between
The barley-lands, diversified the scene.
The silver springs, that thro' the meadows flow'd
For callour humours on the dewy nycht,
Rendryng sum place the gyrs pylis thare licht,
Als fer as catal the lang somerys day
Had in thare pasture ete and gnyp away:
And blyssfull blossomys in the blomyt zard
Submittis thare hedys in the zoung sonnys saf-
gard:
Iue leius rank ouerspred the barmkyn wall,
The blomit hauthorne cled his pykis all,
Furth of fresche burgeouns the wyne grapis zing
Endlang the trazileys dyd on twistis hing,
The loukit buttouns on the gemyt treis
Ouerspredand leuis of naturis tapestryis.
Soft gresy verdoure eftir balmy schouris.
On curland stalkis smyland to thare flowris:
Behaldand thame sa mony divers hew
Sum piers, sum pale, sum burnet, and sum blew,
Sum gres, sum gowlis, sum purpure, sum san-
guane,
Blanchis or broun, fauch zallow mony ane,
Sum heuinly colourit in celestial gre,
Sum watty hew it as the haw wally se,
And sum departe in freklis rede and qubyte,
Sum bricht as gold with aureate leuis lyte.
The dasy did on brede bir crowned sinale,
And euery flour unlappit in the dale,
In battil gers burgeouns, the banwart wyld,
The clauir, catcluke, and the cammomylde;
The flourdelyce furth sprede his heuynly hew,
Floure damas, and columbe blak and blew,
Sere downis smal on dentilioun sprang,
The zoung grene blomit strabery leus amang,
Gimp jereflouris thare on leuis unschet,
Fresche prymrois, and the pourpour violet,
The rois knoppis, tetand furth thare hede,
Gan chyp, and kyth thare vernale lippis rede.
Crysp skarlet leuis sum scheddand baith attanis,
Kest fragrant smelamyd fra goldin granis,
Heuinlie lyllyis, with lokkerand toppis quhyte,
Opynnit and schew thare istis redemyte,
And where the humid night's restoring dew
Dropt on the ground the bladed herbage grew,
As fast as cattle the long summer's day
Had cropt the grassy sustenance away.
A bloom diffusive o'er the gardens run,
Confiding in the safeguard of the Sun :
Wreath'd ivy mautled round the lofty tower;
And hawthorn-hedges whiten'd into flower.
The fresh-form'd grapes in little clusters hung;
Close to their props the curling tendrils clung.
The buds, that swell'd in gems on every tree,
Burst into foliage, nature's tapestry.
Lo! by soft zephyrs wak'd, and gentle showers,
On bending stalks smile voluntary flowers,
Trick'd off in vast variety of hue,
Some red, pale, purple, yellow, brown or blue;
Some brightly ting'd in Heaven's etherial stain,
And some cerulean like the watry main,
Some crimson-colour'd fairly fleckt with white,
Some gold that gaily glitter'd in the light.
The daisy did its coronet unveil,
And every flower unfolded in the dale;
Rank sprung salubrious herbs, and every weed,
And clover bloom'd luxuriant in the mead:
The flow'r-de-luce abroad its beauty spread,
And columbine advanc'd his purple head:
From dandelion flew the seeded down,
And strawb'ry beds bore wild weeds, not their
Carnations glow'd in gaily-mingled hue;
Pale was the primrose, and the violet blue.
Its velvet lips the bashful rose begun
To show, and catch the kisses of the Sun;
Some fuller blown their crimson honours shed;
Sweet smelt the golden chives that grac'd their
head.
Queen of the field, in milkwhite mantle drest,
The lovely lilly wav'd her curling crest.
once, mentions the scent of flowers till he comes to the rose, and never at all the scent of any par ticular flower, except the rose, not even of the It is evident our author intends to describe lilly; for I take it, the words, from thare sylkyn two distinct things, viz. cornfields, and mea- croppis, are meant to describe the flowers in gedows or pasture-lands, the former in the three neral; and the balmy vapour to be the same first lines, the varyant vesture, &c.- is with the fresche liquor, and the dulce humouris plainly arable, and the fulzeis and fyguris full Quhareof the beis wrocht thare hony swete, an dyuers, are the various leaves and flowers of the exhalation distinct from that which causes the weeds growing among the corn, and making a scent; and redolent odour, is general; for he piece of embroidery. And here the description certainly means to close his description of the ve of cornfields ends, and that of pasture-lands be-getable world, (and he does it nobly) by one uni gins at, the pray bysprent, &c. pray, not as the versal cloud of fragrance from all nature. glossary to G. Douglas says, corruptedly for spray, but formed from the Lat. pratum and spryngand sproutis, rising springs, from the Ital. spruzzare, spruzzolare aspergere.
3 Probably Gawin Douglas wrote thare awin. Vide ver. 72. thare awin umbrage.
It is observable, that Gawin Douglas never
The balmy vapour from thare sylkyn croppis
Distilland halesum sugurat hony droppis,
And sylver schakeris gan fra leuis hing,
With chrystal sprayngis on the verdure zing:
The plane pouderit with semelie seitis sound,
Bedyit ful of dewy peirlys round;
So that ilk burgeon, syon, herbe, or floure,
Wox all embalmit of the fresche liquour,
And baithit hait did in dulce humouris flete,
Qubareof the beis wrocht thare hony swete,
Be mychty Phebus operatiouns,
In sappy subtell exhalatiouns,
Forgane the cummyn of this prynce potent,
Redolent odour up from the rutis sprent,
Halesum of smel as ony fyne potioun,
Must, myr, aloyes, or confectioun.
Ane paradise it semyt to draw nere
Their galzeard gardingis, and eik grene herbere:
Mayst amyabil waxis the emerant medis.
Swannis souchis throw out the respand redis,
Ouer all the lochis and the fludis gray,
Sersand by kynd ane place quhare they suld lay
Phebus rede foule his curale creist can stere,
Oft strekand furth his hekkil crawand clere
Amyd the wortis, and the rutis gent,
Pickland hys mete in alayis quhare he went,
His wyffis Toppa and Partolet hyin by,
As bird al tyme that hantis bygamy ;
The payntit powne paysand with plumys gym,
Kest up his tale and proud plesand quhile rym,
Ischrowdit in his fedderane bricht and schene,
Schapand the preut of Argois hundreth ene;
Amang the bronys of the olyue twistis,
Sere smale floulis, wirkand crafty nestis,
Endlang the hedgeis thik, and on rank akis
Ilk bird reiosand with thare mirthful makis:
In corneris and clere fenesteris of glas
Full besely Arachne weuand was,
To knyt hyr nettisand hyr wobbis sle,
Tharewith to cauch the litil mige or fle:
Under the bewis bene in lufely valis,
Within fermance and parkis clois of palis,
The bustuous bukkis rakis furth on raw,
Heirdis of hertis throw the thyck wod schaw,
The zoung fownys follow and the dun days,
Kiddis skippand throw ronnys eftir rais,
In lesuris and on leyis litill lammes
Full tait and trig socht bletand to thare dammes.
On salt stremes wolk Dorida and Thetis,
By rynnand strandis, nymphs and naiades,
Sic as we clepe wenschis and damyssellis,
Iu gersy grauis wanderand by spring wellis,
Of blomed branchis and flouris quhyte and rede
Plettand their lusty chaplettis for thare hede:
Sum sang ring sangis, dancis, ledis, and roundis,
With vocis schil, quhil all the dale resoundis;
And thochtful luffaris rownyis to and fro,
To leis thare pane, and plene thare joly wo,
5 That Milton had his eye upon this passage, is plain from his describing the swan, the cock, and peacock, in the order and with several of the
From every flower ambrosial sweets distill'd,
Ambrosial sweets the ambient ether fill'd.
Dew-drops like diamonds hung on every tree,
And sprinkled silvery lustre o'er the lea,
And all the verdurous herbage of the ground
Was deck'd with pearls which cast a splendour
round.
The flowers, the buds, and every plant that grew,
Sipt the fresh fragrance of the morning dew:
In every plant the liquid nectar flow'd,
In every bud, and every flower that blow'd;
Here rov'd the busy bees without control,
Robb'd the sweet bloom, and suck'd its balmy soul.
To greet the god, from Earth's fair bosom flow'd
All nature's incense in a fragrant cloud,
More grateful far than those gross fumes impart
Which torturing fires extract by chemic art.
Like Paradise appear'd each blissful scene
Of purple gardens, and enclosures green,
Of bloomy hedges, and of waving woods,
Of flowery meads, and rushy-fringed floods:
Where silver swans, with snowy pride elate,
Their tall necks mantling, sail'd along in state,
By instinct taught their ozier nests to make
On the dank margin of the lucid lake.
Brisk chanticleer wav'd high his coral crest,
And crowing clapt his pinions to his breast;
With orient heel he lightly spurn'd the ground,
And chuck'd for joy at every corn he found;
And as he strutted on in gallant pride,
Two wives obsequious waited at his side;
For cocks, that couple with their nearest kin,
Hold bygamy a pardonable sin.
The peacock proudly pac'd upon the plain,
And like a circle bent his gaudy train,
Where vivid colours brightly-beaming strove;
He seem'd beneath a canopy to move:
His starry plumes reflected various dyes,
Resembling Argus with his hundred eyes.
Where leafy branches form'd a secret shade
The painted birds their cunning fabrics made,
Or on the oak, or implicated thorn,
And wanton'd in the beauty of the morn.
Her wary stand the watchful spider took
In the glass window, or some gloomy nook,
There wove her web, in filmy texture sly,
To captivate the little gnat, or fly,
Beneath the trees that screen the lovely vale,
Within the limits of the fencing pale,
March nimble-footed deer in rank array'd,
Or seek the shelter of the green-wood shade:
Young kids,light skipping, and the timorous fawns
Brush thro' the copse, and bound along the lawns:
While in fresh pastures or on fallows gray
Lambs nibble in the wantonness of play.
Emerging from their coral-paven cave
Thetis and Doris walk upon the wave,
But stream presiding nymphs, and naiads trim,
By the clear current, or the fountain's brim,
Such as we name our gentle maids that rove
By water swelling in the grassy grove,
Culling green boughs, and bells, and flowerets fair,
And weaving garlands for their golden hair;
Some sweetly sing, some lead the festive round;
The distant dales re-echoe to the sound:
attributes, that our author has given them Vid. b. 7. v. 438, &c.
Eftir thare gise, now singand, now in sorrow,
With hertis pensiue, the lang someris morrow:
Sum ballettis list endite of his lady,
Sum leuis in hope, and sum alluterly
Disparit is, and sa quyte out of grace,
Hys purgarory he fyndis in euery place.
*** new curage kitillis all gentil bertis,
Seand throw kynd ilk thing spryngis and reuertis:
Dame naturis menstralis on that uthyr parte,
Thare blissful bay intonyng euery arte,
To bete thare amouris of thare nychtis bale,
The merle, the mauys, and the nychtingale,
With mirry notis myrthfully furth brist,
Enforsing thaym quha micht do clink it best:
The kowschot eroudis and pykkis on the ryse,
The stirling changis diuers steuynnys nyse,
The sparrow chirmis in the wallis clyft,
Goldspink and lintquhite fordynnand the lyft,
The gukkow galis, and so qubitteris the quale,
Quhil ryveris reirdit, schawis, and euery dale,
And tendir twistis trymblit on the treis,
For birdis sang, and bemyng of the beis,
In werblis dulce of heuinlie armony is,
The larkis loude releischand in the skyis,
Louis thare lege with tonys curious;
Bayth to dame Natur, and the fresche Venus,
Rendring hie laudis in thare obseruance,
Quhais suggourit throttis made glade hartis dance
And al smal foulis singis on the spray;
Welcum the lord of licht, and lampe of day,
Welcum fosterare of tendir herbis grene,
Welcum quhikkynnar of flurist flouris schene,
Welcum support of euery rute and vane,
Welcum confort of al kind frute and grane,
Welcum the birdis beild apoun the brere,
Welcum maister and reulare of the zere,
Welcum welefare of husbandis at the plewis,
Welcum reparare of woddis, treis, and bewis,
Welcum depaynter of the blomyt medis,
Welcum the lyffe of eury thing that spredis,
Welcum storare of all kynd bestial,
Welcum be thy bricht bemes gladand al.
And thoughtful lovers to the winds complain,
To mitigate the madness of their pain;
Now warbling madrigals so light and gay,
Now pale and pensive the long summer's day;
Some write in high heroics to the fair,
Some live in hope, and some thro' sad despair
In every place a purgatory find;
Such is the moody genius of their mind.
All gentle hearts confess the quickening spring,
For May invigorates every living thing.
Hark! how the merry minstrels of the grove
Devote the day to melody and love;
The ouzle shrill, that haunts the thorny dale,
The mellow thrush, the love-lorn nightingale;
Their little breasts with emulation swell,
And sweetly strive in singing to excell.
In the thick forest feeds the cooing dove;
The starling whistles various notes of love:
The sparrow chirps, the clefted walls among;
To the sweet wildness of the linnet's song,
To the harsh cuckoo, and the twittering quail
Resounds the wood, the river, and the vale;
And tender twigs, all trembling on the trees,
Dance to the murmuring music of the bees.
Upspring the airy larks, shrill voic'd and loud,
And breathe their mattins from a morning cloud
To greet glad Nature, and the god of day,
And Howery Venus, blooming queen of May;
The songs of praise their tuneful breasts employ,
Charm every ear, and wrap the soul in joy.
Thus sung the sweet musicians on the spray;
"Welcome, thou lord of light, and lamp of day;
Welcome to tender herbs, and myrtle bowers,
Welcome to plants, and odour-breathing flowers;
Welcome to every root upon the plain,
Welcome to gardens, and the golden grain:
Welcome to birds that build upon the breere,
Welcome, great lord and ruler of the year:
Welcome, thou source of universal good,
Of buds to boughs, and beauty to the wood:
Welcome, bright Phoebus, whose prolific power
In every meadow spreads out every flower;
Where-e'er thy beams in mild effulgence play,
Kind Nature smiles, and all the world is gay."
HIS ELOQUENT DISCRIPTION OF WYNTER, WYTH HYS CRETE STORMES AND TEMPESTIS.
A DESCRIPTION OF WINTER,
FROM GAWIN DOUGLAS, BISHOP OF DUNKELD.
As bricht Phebus schene souerane heuinnis E
The opposit held of his chymes hie,
Clere schyuand bemes, and goldin suneris hew
In lattoun cullour altering all of new,
Kything no signe of heit be his vissage,
So nere approchit he his wynter stage
Reddy he was to enter the thrid morne
In cludy sykes under Capricorne :
All thoucht he be the lampe and hert of heuin,
Forfeblit wox his lemand gilty leuin,
To the Memory of my late ingenious and learned
Friend, and Schoolmaster, the Rev. John
Lister, A. M. The following Poem is, with a
just Sense of Gratitude, inscribed.
Now had fair Phoebus, Heav'n's illustrious eyes
Enter'd the wintery regions of the sky;
Like burnish'd gold no longer beam'd his sphere,
So faded was the colour of the year:
Just at the period of his annual course,
All faint and feeble grew his vital force,
Prepar'd to enter, the succeeding morn,
The dark domain of clouded Capricorn:
For tho' he sheds sweet influence from on high,
Lamp of the world, and glory of the sky,
Throw the declynying of his large round spere.
The frosty regioun ryngis of the zere,
The tyme and sessoun bitter, canld and pale,
The schort dayis, that clerkis clepe Brumale:
Quhen brym blastis of the northyn art
Ouerquhelmyt had Neptunus in his cart,
And all to schaik the leuys of the treis,
The rageand stormes ourwelterand wally seis,
Ryueris ran rele on spate with wat ir broun,
And burnis harlis all thare bankis doun,
And landbirst rumbland rudely with sic bere,
Sa loud neuir rummyst wyld lyoun nor bere ;
Fludis monstouris, sic as mereswynis and quhalis
For the tempest law in the deep deualis:
Mars occident retrogade in his spere,
Prouocand stryffe, regnit as lord that zere.
Rany Orioun with his stormy face
Bywauit oft the schipman by hys race:
Frawart Saturne, chil of complexioun,
Throw quhais aspect darth and infectioun
Bene causit oft and mortall pestilence,
When progressiue the greis of his ascence:
And lusty Hebe Junois dochter gay,
Stude spulzete of hir office and array:
The sole ysowpit in to wattir wak,
The firmament ouercast with cludis blak:
The ground fadit, and fauch wox al the feildis,
Mountane toppis slekit with snaw ouer heildis:
On raggit rolkis of hard hask quhyn stane,
With frosyn frontis cald clynty clewis schane:
Bewty was loist, and barrand schew the landis,
With frostis hare ouerfret the feildis standis.
Sere birtir bubbis and the schoutis snell
Semyt on the swarde in similitude of hell,
Reducing to our mynde in euery stede
Gousty schaddois of eild and grisly dede:
Thik drumly skuggis dirkinnit so the heuin,
Dym skyis oft furth warpit fereful leuin,
Flaggis of fyre, and mony felloun flaw,
Scharp soppis of sleit, and of the synppand snaw:
The dolly dikis war al donk and wate,
The law valis flodderit all wyth spate,
The plane stretis and eury hie way
Full of fluschis, dubbis, myre and clay,
Laggerit leyis wallowit fernis schew,
Broun muris kythit thare wyssinyt mossy hew,
Bank, bray and boddum blanschit wox and bare;
For gourl weddir growit beistis hare,
The wynd maid waif the rede wede on the dyk.
Bedowin in bonkis depe was cuery sike:
Quer craggis and the frontis of rochis sere
Hang grete yse schokkillis lang as ony spere:
The grund stude barrane widderit, dosk, and gray,
Herbis, flouris, and gerssis wallowit away:
Woddis, forestis with naket bewis blout
Stude stripit of thare wede in euery hout:
Sa bustouslie Boreas his bugill blew,
The dere full derne doun in the dalis drew:
Small birdis flokand throw thik ronnys thrang,
In chirmynge, and with cheping changit thare
sang,
Sekand hidlis and hirnys thame to hyde
Fra fereful thuddis of the tempestuus tyde:
The wattir lynnys rowtis, and enery lynd
Quhislit and brayit of the souchand wynd:
Pure labouraris and byssy husband men
Went weet and wery draglit in the fen:
In weeping Winter, when his orb declines,
Languid he looks, and wan and watry shines.
Now reign'd the power of keen congealing frost,
When all the beauty of the year is lost;
The Brumal season, bitter, cold, and pale, [vail.
When short dull days, and sounding storms pre-
The wild north wind, tremendous from afar,
O'erwhelm'd imperial Neptune in his carr,
Their scatter'd honours from the forests tore,
And dash'd the mad waves headlong on the shore.
Fierce, foaming rivers, swell'd with torrents brown,
Hurl'd all their banks precipitately down;
Loud roar'd the thunder of the raging floods,
Loud as gaunt lions bellowing shake the woods.
Th' unwieldy monsters which the deeps contain,
Sought safety at the bottom of the main.
Strife-stirring Mars, regressive in his sphere,
Sustain'd the cold dominions of the year;
And black Orion dimm'd the face of day,
Leading the luckless mariner astray.
Saturn, whose boding aspect, chill and wan,
Frowns in dread vengeance on the race of man,
Denouncing dearth, and desolating pest,
Held high his course progressive in the cast;
And blooming Hebe, Juno's daughter gay,
Was ravish'd of her beautiful array.
Incessant rains had drench'd the floated ground,
And clouds o'ercast the firmament around:
White shone the hills involv'd in silver snow,
But brown and barren were the vales below:
On firm foundations of eternal stone
High rugged rocks in frosty splendour shone;
The hoary fields no vivid verdure wore,
Frost warpt the world, and beauty was no more.
Wide-wasting winds that chill'd the dreary day,
And seemned to threaten Nature with decay,
Reminded man, at every baleful breath,
Of wintry age, and all-subduing death.
Horrific gloom deform'd the turbid air,
And livid lightning shot a dismal glare:
Above pale meteors gleam'd, and all below
Was one bleak scene of drizzling sleet and snow.
The hollow ditches, swell'd with sudden rains,
Pour'd a black deluge on the lowland plains,
And every road receiv'd the sordid flood,
Swam with the swell, or stiffen'd into mud.
Fern on the fallows wither'd as it grew,
And brown heaths bore a mossy-colour'd hue;
Bare were the bottoms, and the high hills hoar;
The drooping cattle moan'd upon the moor;
The red weed waver'd on the breezy dike;
Rills in deep channels murmuring roll'd oblique.
From horrid rocks, that lour'd upon the coast,
Hung icy spears, the beauteous work of frost.
Dun was the soil and steril, and decay'd
Was every flower, and every tender blade;
And every wood and wilderness around
Diffus'd their wither'd honours on the ground.
So stoutly Boreas his loud bugle blew,
Down to the dales the trembling deer withdrew:
To thorny thickets flock'd the feather'd throng,
And pensive plied their melancholy song,
Or to the shelter of the forest driven,
Escap'd the windy turbulence of Heaven.
Down the rough rock dash'd torrents with harsh
sound
Rush'd, and impetuous shook the country round,
The trees, that o'er the mountain's top reclin'd:
Way d their high heads, and murmur'd to the
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