50 THE BEAUTIES OF APRIL AXD MAY. 



The pious Hervey, in his admonitions to those who indulge 

 in sloth, has thrown out the following subUme ideas : What 

 sweets are those which so agreeably salute my nostrils ? 

 They are the breath of the flowers, the incense of the gar- 

 dens. How liberally does the Jasmine dispense her odorife- 

 rous riches ! How deliciously has the Woodbine embalmed 

 this morning walk ! The air is all perfume. And is not 

 this another most engaging argument to forsake the bed of 

 sloth ? AVho would be involved in senseless slumbers, while 

 so many breathing sweets invite him to a feast of fragrancy, 

 especially considering that the advancing day will exhale the 

 volatile dainties ] A fugitive treat they are, prepared only 

 for the wakeful and industrious. Whereas, when the slug- 

 gard lifts his heavy eyes, the flowers will droop, their fine 

 sweets be dissipated, and instead of this refreshing humidity, 

 the air will become a kind of liquid fire. 



With this very motive, heightened by a representation of 

 the most charaiing pieces of morning sceneiy, the parent of 

 mankind awakes his lovely consort. There is such a deli- 

 cacy in the choice, and so much life in the description of 

 these rural images, that I cannot excuse myself without 

 repeating the whole passage. Whisper it, some friendly 

 genius, in the ear of every one, who is now sunk in sleep, 

 and lost to all these refined gratifications ! 



"Awake! the morning shines, and the fresh field 

 Calls you : ye lose the prime, to mark how spring 

 The tended plants, how blows the Citron grove ; 

 What drops the Myrrh, and what the balmy Reed j 

 How Nature paints her colours ; how the bee 

 Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweets." 



How delightful is this fragrance ! It is distributed in the 

 nicest proportion ; neither so strong as to oppress the organs, 

 nor so faint as to elude them. We are soon cloyed at a 

 sumptuous banquet ; but this pleasure never loses its poig- 

 nancy, never palls the appetite. Here luxury itself is inno- 

 cence; or rather, in this case, indulgence is incapable of ex- 



