PREFACE. XXV 



of the spring and autumn, have frequently em- 

 ployed the poet's pen : 



" Moist, bright, and green, the landscape laughs around. 

 Full swell the woods ; their every music wakes, 

 Mix'd in wild concert, with the warbling brooks 

 Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills, 

 And hollow lows responsive from the vales ; 

 Whence, blending all, the sweeten'd zephyr sings. 

 * * * * 



Then spring the living herbs, profusely wild, 

 O'er all the deep green earth, beyond the power 

 Of botanist to number up their tribes : 

 Whether he steals along the lonely dale 

 In silent search, or through the forest, rank 

 With what the dull incurious weeds account, 

 Bursts his blind way ; or climbs the mountain-rock, 

 Fired by the nodding verdure of its brow : 

 With such a liberal hand has nature flung 

 Their seeds abroad, blown them about in winds 

 Innumerous, mix'd them with the nursing mould, 

 The moistening current, and prolific rain." 



THOMSON. 



Gawin Douglas has a lively description of the 

 spring, which has been modernized by Mr. 

 Fawkes. It is addressed to May, upon whom the 

 beauties of spring are frequently lavished by the 

 English poet. The poets of France and Italy 

 more frequently bestow them upon April, who 



