1783 VEESES ON THE RAINBOW 95 



Not so the sage, inspir'd with pious awe ; 

 He hails the federal arch ;* and looking up, 

 Adores the God, whose fingers form'd this bow 

 Magnificent, compassing heaven about. 

 With a resplendent verge, * Thou mad'st the cloud, 

 Maker Omnipotent, and thou the bow ; 

 And by that covenant graciously hast vow'd 

 Never to drown the world again : henceforth, 

 Till time shall be no more, in beauteous train. 

 Season shall follow season, day to night. 

 Succeed ' — inspir'd, so sang the Hebrew bard, t 

 * Genesis ix. 12-17. f Moses. ^^^^^ MiLTON. 



The end of Jany. and this month have been very wet ; so 

 that I fear the springs will get very high, and that the 

 season for our spring-crops will be bad, especially if harsh 

 weather succeeds at once. 



How will your Cellars come off? When do the young 



men + go to College ? Your affectte. uncle, 



Gil. White. 

 Rain, 



Jany. 27th, 1-05 ; 30th, -62 ; Feby. 5th, -80 : 7th, 75. 



Mr. Dennison is chosen to Holiburn [School] in the room 



of Mr. Willis : poor Mrs. Robinson, who has 10 children, 



made what interest she could for her husband, who at 



present is a Navy-chaplain in the W. Indies : she got two 



votes, her opponent three. There are but five feofees, one 



of them a broken blacksmith. 



Undated, but of this time, is the following to the 

 same niece, who had on Feb. 10th, 1783, thanked 

 her uncle for his verses on the Rainbow and ''as 

 we are no poets," sent him an extract from Thomson's 

 'Seasons' (Spring, 11. 203-217), in which occur — 



" Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds 

 Form, fronting on the sun the showery prism." 



X Miss White's brothers, who were at Oriel College, Oxford, where six of 

 Gilbert White's nephews were now in residence. 



