CHAP. 10. 1. ANTIQUITIES, & c . 289 



flowers, &c. all which are emblems of the power 

 of reproduction called forth in spring. Milton 

 has a beautiful Song still sung every May 

 Morning at Oxford, in which he uses the word 

 dance for the rising of the Sun ; and this leads 

 me to suspect, that the coming out at Easter to 

 see the Sun dance, only meant to see him rise.* 



* Now the bright Morning Star, day's harbinger, 

 Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her 

 The flowrie May, who, from her green lap throws 

 The yellow Cowslip and the pale Primrose, &c. 

 Dance is used like saltus and chorus, in various significations, 

 thus in the 



SONG TO SUMMER. 

 Hail ! rural Goddess of Delight, 

 I woo thy smiles from morn till night ; 

 Now no more rude Eurus blows 

 O'er mountains of congealed snows ; 

 But thy faire handmaid, lovely Maie, 

 Treads the fresh lawns, and leads the waie. 

 Now, at Flora's earlie call, 

 The meadows greene and vallies all 

 Pour forth their variegated flowers, 

 To regale the sportive hours ; 

 Hence then let me flie the crowde 

 Of busy men, and seke the woode, 

 With some Dryad of the grove, 

 By shades of Elm and Oak to rove, 

 Till some sequestered spot we find, 

 There, on Violet bank reclined, 



U 



