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But when sultry suns are high
Underneath the oak I lie,

As it shades the water's edge,
And I mark my line, away
In the wheeling eddy, play,
Tangling with the river sedge.

When the eye of evening looks
On green woods and winding brooks,
And the wind sighs o'er the lea,
Woods and streams, I leave you then,
While the shadow in the glen

Lengthens by the greenwood tree.

DRAYTON'S "BOUQUET." HERE, damask roses, white and red,

Out of my lap first take I, Which still shall run along the thread; My chiefest flower this make I.

Among these roses in a row

Next place I pinks in plenty ; These double pansies then, for show, And will not this be dainty?

The pretty pansy then I'll tie

Like stones some chain enchasing; And next to them, their near ally, The purple violet, placing.

The curious, choice clove July-flower,
Whose kind, hight the carnation,
For sweetness of most sovereign power,
Shall help my wreath to fashion;

Whose sundry colors of one kind,
First from one root derivéd,
Them in their several suits I'll bind :
My garland so contrived.

A course of cowslips then I'll stick,
And here and there (so sparely)
The pleasant primrose down I'll prick,
Like pearls that will show rarely;
Then with these marigolds I'll make
My garland somewhat swelling;
These honeysuckles then I'll take,
Whose sweets shall help their smelling.

The lily and the fleur-de-lis,

For color much contending,

For that I them do only prize,
They are but poor in scenting;

The daffodil most dainty is,
To match with these in meetness;
The columbine, compared to this,
All much alike for sweetness.

These in their natures only are
Fit to emboss the border;
Therefore I'll take especial care
To place them in their order:

Sweet-williams, campions, sops-in-wine,
One by another neatly:

Thus have I made this wreath of mine, And finished it featly.

BRYANT'S "SUMMER WIND."

Ir is a sultry day; the sun has drunk The dew that lay upon the morning grass, There is no rustling in the lofty elm That canopies my dwelling, and its shade Scarce cools me. All is silent save the faint And interrupted murmur of the bee, Settling on the sick flowers, and then again Instantly on the wing. The plants around Feel the too potent fervors; the tall maize Rolls up its long green leaves; the clover droops Its tender foliage, and declines its blooms. But far in the fierce sunshine tower the hills, With all their growth of woods, silent and stern, As if the scorching heat and dazzling light Were but an element they loved. Bright clouds, Motionless pillars of the brazen heaven, — Their bases on the mountains- their white tops

--

Shining in the far ether-fire the air
With a reflected radiance, and make turn
The gazer's eye away. For me, I lie
Languidly in the shade, where the thick turf,
Yet virgin from the kisses of the sun,
Retains some freshness, and I woo the wind
That still delays its coming. Why so slow,
Gentle and voluble spirit of the air?

O come and breathe upon the fainting earth
Coolness and life. Is it that in his caves
He hears me? See, on yonder woody ridge,
The pine is bending his proud top, and now,
Among the nearer groves, chestnut and oak
Are tossing their green boughs about. He comes!
Lo, where the grassy meadow runs in waves!
The deep, distressful silence of the scene
Breaks up with mingling of unnumbered sounds
And universal motion. He is come,
Shaking a shower of blossoms from the shrubs
And bearing on their fragrance; and he brings
Music of birds, and rustling of young boughs,
And sound of swaying branches, and the voice
Of distant waterfalls. All the green herbs
Are stirring in his breath; a thousand flowers,
By the road-side and the borders of the brook,
Nod gayly to each other; glossy leaves
Are twinkling in the sun, as if the dew
Were on them yet, and silver waters break
Into small waves and sparkle as he comes.

Virgil's "Georgics."

TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN BY DRYDEN.

GEORGIC I.

ARGUMENT.

The poet, in the beginning of this book, propounds the general design of each Georgic; and, after a solemn invocation of all the gods who are any way related to his subject, he addresses himself in particular to Augustus, whom he compliments with divinity; and after strikes into his business. He shows the different kinds of tillage proper to different soils, traces out the original of agriculture, gives a catalogue of the husbandman's tools, specifies the employments peculiar to each season, describes the changes of the weather, with the signs in heaven and earth that forebode them. Instances many of the prodigies that happened near the time of Julius Cæsar's death. And shuts up all with a supplication to the gods for the safety of Augustus, and the preservation of Rome.

THE SUBJECT STATED; FARMING, SOILS, GRAIN, SHEEP, CATTLE, VINES, BEES.

WHAT makes a plenteous harvest, when to turn The fruitful soil, and when to sow the corn; The care of sheep, of oxen, and of kine; And how to raise on elms the teeming vine; The birth and genius of the frugal bee, I sing, Mæcenas, and I sing to thee.

INVOCATION TO VARIOUS DEITIES; BACCHUS, CERES, PAN, MINERVA, ETC.

Ye deities! who fields and plains protect,
Who rule the seasons, and the year direct;
Bacchus and fostering Ceres, powers divine,
Who gave us corn for mast, for water wine :
Ye fauns, propitious to the rural swains,
Ye nymphs that haunt the mountains and the plains,
Join in my work, and to my numbers bring
Your needful succor, for your gifts I sing.
And thou, whose trident struck the teeming earth,
And made a passage for the courser's birth:
And thou, for whom the Caan shore sustains
Thy milky herds, that graze the flowery plains:
And thou, the shepherd's tutelary god,
Leave, for a while, O Pan! thy loved abode ;
And, if Arcadian fleeces be thy care,
From fields and mountains to my song repair.
Inventor, Pallas, of the fattening oil,

Thou founder of the plough and ploughman's toil;
And thou, whose hands the shroud-like cypress rear;
Come, all ye gods and goddesses, that wear
The rural honors, and increase the
You, who supply the ground with seeds of grain ;
And you, who swell those seeds with kindly rain:

year.

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Whether in after-times to be declared
The patron of the world, and Rome's peculiar guard,
Or o'er the fruits and seasons to preside,
And the round circuit of the year to guide;
Powerful of blessings which thou strew'st around,
And with thy goddess mother's myrtle crowned.
Or wilt thou, Cæsar, choose the watery reign,
To smooth the surges, and correct the main ?
Then mariners, in storms, to thee shall pray,
Even utmost Thule shall thy power obey;
And Neptune shall resign the fasces of the sea.
The watery virgins for thy bed shall strive,
And Tethys all her waves in dowry give.
Or wilt thou bless our summers with thy rays,
And, seated near the balance, poise the days:
Where in the void of heaven a space is free,
Betwixt the scorpion and the maid, for thee.
The scorpion, ready to receive thy laws,
Yields half his region, and contracts his claws.
Whatever part of heaven thou shalt obtain,
For let not hell presume of such a reign;
Nor let so dire a thirst of empire move
Thy mind, to leave thy kindred gods above.
Though Greece admires Elysium's blest retreat,
Though Proserpine affects her silent seat,
And, importuned by Ceres to remove,
Prefers the fields below to those above.
But thou, propitious Cæsar! guide my course,
And to my bold.endeavors add thy force.
Pity the poet's and the ploughman's cares,
Interest thy greatness in our mean affairs,
And use thyself betimes to hear and grant our prayers.

PLOUGHING. THE PROPER TIME FOR PLOUGHING.

While yet the spring is young, while earth unbinds
Her frozen bosom to the western winds;
While mountain-snows dissolve against the sun,
And streams, yet new, from precipices run;
Even in this early dawning of the year,
Produce the plough, and yoke the sturdy steer,
And goad him till he groans beneath his toil,
Till the bright share is buried in the soil.
That crop rewards the greedy peasant's pains,
Which twice the sun and twice the cold sustains,
And bursts the crowded barns with more than
promised gains.

PARTICULAR SOILS SUITED TO PECULIAR PRODUCTS; TMOLUS,
INDIA, EDOM, PONTUS, SPAIN, EPIRUS.
But ere we stir the yet unbroken ground,
The various course of seasons must be found;
The weather, and the setting of the winds,
The culture suiting to the several kinds

Of seeds and plants, and what will thrive and rise,
And what the genius of the soil denies.

This ground with Bacchus, that with Ceres suits;
That other loads the trees with happy fruits;
A fourth with grass, unbidden, decks the ground:
Thus Tmolus is with yellow saffron crowned;
India black ebon and white ivory bears;
And soft Idume weeps her od❜rous tears.
Thus Pontus sends her beaver stones from far;
And naked Spaniards temper steel for war.
Epirus for the Elean chariot breeds

(In hopes of palms) a race of running steeds.
This is the original contract; these the laws
Imposed by nature, and by nature's cause,
On sundry places, when Deucalion hurled
His mother's entrails on the desert world :
Whence men, a hard, laborious kind, were born.

WHEN, HOW, AND WHAT TO PLOUGH.

Then borrow part of winter for thy corn; And early with thy team the glebe in furrows turn. That while the turf lies open and unbound, Succeeding suns may bake the mellow ground. But if the soil be barren, only scar The surface, and but lightly print the share, When cold Arcturus rises with the sun : Lest wicked weeds the corn should over-run In watery soils; or lest the barren sand Should suck the moisture from the thirsty land.

FALLOWS. ROTATION. ASHES.

Both these unhappy soils the swain forbears,
And keeps a sabbath of alternate years:
That the spent earth may gather heart again;
And, bettered by cessation, bear the grain.

At least, where vetches, pulse, and tares, have stood,
And stalks of lupines grew (a stubborn wood):
The ensuing season, in return, may bear
The bearded product of the golden year.
For flax and oats will burn the tender field,
And sleepy poppies harmful harvests yield.
But sweet vicissitudes of rest and toil
Make easy labor, and renew the soil.
Yet sprinkle sordid ashes all around,
And load with fattening dung thy fallow ground.
Thus change of seeds for meagre soils is best;
And earth manured, not idle, though at rest.

ADVANTAGES OF BURNINGS.

Long practice has a sure improvement found, With kindled fires to burn the barren ground; When the light stubble, to the flames resigned, Is driven along, and crackles in the wind. Whether from hence the hollow womb of earth Is warmed with secret strength for better birth; Or when the latent vice is cured by fire, Redundant humors through the pores expire; Or that the warmth distends the chinks, and makes New breathings, whence new nourishment she takes; Or that the heat the gaping ground constrains, New knits the surface, and new strings the veins,

Lest soaking showers should pierce her secret seat,
Or freezing Boreas chill her genial heat;
Or scorching suns too violently beat.

SOILS SHOULD BE WELL PULVERIZED.

Nor is the profit small the peasant makes, [rakes, Who smoothes with harrows, or who pounds with The crumbling clod: nor Ceres from on high Regards his labors with a grudging eye; Nor his, who ploughs across the furrowed grounds, And on the back of earth inflicts new wounds; For he with frequent exercise commands The unwilling soil, and tames the stubborn lands.

DROUGHT AND MOISTURE.-IRRIGATION. MYSIA, GARGAF S.
Ye swains, invoke the powers who rule the sky,
For a moist summer, and a winter dry:
For winter drought rewards the peasant's pain,
And broods indulgent on the buried grain.
Hence Mysia boasts her harvests, and the tops
Of Gargarus admire their happy crops.
When first the soil receives the fruitful seed,
Make no delay, but cover it with speed:
So fenced from cold; the pliant furrows break,
Before the surly clod resists the rake.
And call the floods from high, to rush amain
With pregnant streams, to swell the teeming grain.
Then when the fiery suns too fiercely play,
And shrivelled herbs on withering stems decay,
The wary ploughman, on the mountain's brow,
Undams his watery stores, huge torrents flow;
And, rattling down the rocks, large moisture yield,
Tempering the thirsty fever of the field.

FEEDING DOWN THE WHEAT.

DRAINING.- GEESE, CRANES, WEEDS, SUCCORY.

And lest the stem, too feeble for the freight, Should scarce sustain the head's unwieldy weight, Sends in his feeding flocks betimes to invade The rising bulk of the luxuriant blade; Ere yet the aspiring offspring of the grain O'ertops the ridges of the furrowed plain : And drains the standing waters, when they yield Too large a beverage to the drunken field. But most in autumn, and the showery spring, When dubious months uncertain weather bring; When fountains open, and impetuous rain Swells hasty brooks, and pours upon the plain ; When earth with slime and mud is covered o'er, Or hollow places spew their wat❜ry store. Nor yet the ploughman, nor the laboring steer, Sustain alone the hazards of the year; But glutton geese, and the Strymonian crane, With foreign troops, invade the tender grain : And towering weeds malignant shadows yield; And spreading succory chokes the rising field.

UTILITY OF TOIL AND CARE. PROPERTY. — COMFORTS INCREASED.

The sire of gods and men, with hard decrees, Forbids our plenty to be bought with ease:

And wills that mortal men, inured to toil,
Should exercise, with pains, the grudging soil.
Himself invented first the shining share,
And whetted human industry by care:
Himself did handicrafts and arts ordain ;
Nor suffered sloth to rust his active reign.
Ere this, no peasant vexed the peaceful ground;
Which only turfs and greens for altars found:
No fences parted fields, nor marks nor bounds
Distinguished acres of litigious grounds:
But all was common, and the fruitful earth
Was free to give her unexacted birth.

EVILS AND DIFFICULTIES EXIST TO STIMULATE HUMAN ENER-
GIES, AND ORIGINATE THE USEFUL ARTS.

Jove added venom to the viper's brood, And swelled, with raging storms, the peaceful flood: Commissioned hungry wolves to infest the fold, And shook from oaken leaves the liquid gold. Removed from human reach the cheerful fire, And from the rivers bade the wine retire: That studious need might useful arts explore; From furrowed fields to reap the fruitful store: And force the veins of clashing flints to expire The lurking seeds of their celestial fire.

NAVIGATION AND OTHER ARTS.

Then first on seas the hollowed alder swam ; Then sailors quartered heaven, and found a name For every fixed and every wandering star : The Pleiads, Hyads, and the Northern Car. Then toils for beasts, and lime for birds, were found, And deep-mouthed dogs did forest walks surround: And casting-nets were spread in shallow brooks, Drags in the deep, and baits were hung on hooks. Then saws were toothed, and sounding axes made (For wedges first did yielding wood invade), And various arts in order did succeed :What cannot endless labor, urged by need?

LABOR, CARE, AND PIETY, EVER NECESSARY. — WEEDS ; DARNEL, BIRDS.

First Ceres taught, the ground with grain to sow, And armed with iron shares the crooked plough; When now Dodonian oaks no more supplied Their mast, and trees their forest fruit denied. Soon was his labor doubled to the swain, And blasting mildews blackened all his grain. Tough thistles choked the fields, and killed the corn, And an unthrifty crop of weeds was born. Then burs and brambles, an unbidden crew Of graceless guests, the unhappy fields subdue: And oats unblest and darnel domineers, And shoots its head above the shining ears. So that unless the land with daily care Is exercised, and with an iron war Of rakes and harrows the proud foes expelled, And birds with clamors frighted from the field; Unless the boughs are lopped that shade the plain, And heaven invoked with vows for fruitful rain, On other crops you may with envy look, And shake for food the long-abandoned oak.

FARM IMPLEMENTS; PLOUGHS, WAGONS, SLED, TUMBRIL, HURDLES, FLAIL, VAN.

Nor must we pass untold what arms they wield, Who labor tillage and the furrowed field: Without whose aid the ground her corn denies, And nothing can be sown, and nothing rise. The crooked plough, the share, the towering height Of wagons, and the cart's unwieldy weight; The sled, the tumbril, hurdles, and the flail, The fan of Bacchus, with the flying sail. These all must be prepared, if ploughmen hope The promised blessing of a bounteous crop.

HOW TO MAKE A PLOUGH.

Young elms with early force in copses bow,
Fit for the figure of the crooked plough.
Of eight feet long a fastened beam prepare,
On either side the head produce an ear,
And sink a socket for the shining share.
Of beech the plough-tail, and the bending yoke ;
Or softer linden hardened in the smoke.

I could be long in precepts, but I fear
So mean a subject might offend your ear.

HOW TO MAKE A THRESHING-FLOOR IN SOUTHERN EUROPE; FIELD-MOUSE, MOLE, WEASEL, ANT.

Delve of convenient depth your threshing-floor : With tempered clay then fill and face it o'er : And let the weighty roller run the round, To smooth the surface of the unequal ground; Lest, cracked with summer heats, the flooring flies, Or sinks, and through the crannies weeds arise. For sundry foes the rural realms surround: The field-mouse builds her garner under ground, For gathered grain the blind, laborious mole In winding mazes works her hidden hole. In hollow caverns vermin make abode, The hissing serpent, and the swelling toad: The corn-devouring weasel here abides, And the wise ant her wintry store provides.

SIGNS OF A PLENTIFUL SEASON.

Mark well the flowering almonds in the wood; If odorous blooms the bearing branches load, The glebe will answer to the sylvan reign, Great heats will follow, and large crops of grain But if a wood of leaves o'ershade the tree, Such and so barren will thy harvest be: In vain the hind shall vex the threshing-floor, For empty chaff and straw will be thy store.

CHOICE AND PREPARATION OF SEED. DOWNWARD TENDENCY OF THINGS.

Some steep their seed, and some in cauldrons boil With vigorous nitre, and with lees of oil, O'er gentle fires; the exuberant juice to drain, And swell the flattering husks with fruitful grain. Yet is not the success for years assured, Though chosen is the seed, and fully cured; Unless the peasant, with his annual pain, Renews his choice, and culls the largest grain.

Thus all below, whether by nature's curse,
Or fate's decree, degenerate still to worse.
So the boat's brawny crew the current stem,
And, slow advancing, struggle with the stream:
But if they slack their hands, or cease to strive,
Then down the flood with headlong haste they drive.

SOWING TIME INDICATED BY THE STARS.-ARCTURUS; POPPY, BEANS, CLOVER, MILLET; ALDEBARAN.

[sea.

Nor must the ploughman less observe the skies, When the Kids, Dragon, and Arcturus rise, Than sailors homeward bent, who cut their way Through Helle's stormy straits, and oyster-breeding But when Astræa's Balance, hung on high, Betwixt the nights and days divides the sky, Then yoke your oxen, sow your winter grain ; Till cold December comes with driving rain. Linseed and fruitful poppy bury warm, In a dry season, and prevent the storm. Sow beans and clover in a rotten soil, And millet, rising from your annual toil : When with his golden horns, in full career, The Bull beats down the barriers of the year; And Argos and the Dog forsake the northern sphere.

UNDER WHAT SIGNS TO SOW WHEAT. ARIADNE'S CROWN; VETCHES, LENTILS; BOÖTES.

But if
your care to wheat alone extend,
Let Maia with her sisters first descend,

And the bright Gnosian diadem downward bend;
Before you trust in earth your future hope:
Or else expect a listless, lazy crop.

Some swains have sown before, but most have found
A husky harvest from the grudging ground.
Vile vetches would you sow, or lentils lean,
The growth of Egypt, or the kidney bean?
Begin when the slow Wagoner descends;
Nor cease your sowing till mid-winter ends.

THE FIVE ZONES, OR CLIMATES; THE TWO HABITABLE
ZONES.

For this, through twelve bright signs Apollo guides The year, and earth in several climes divides. Five girdles bind the skies, the torrid zone Glows with the passing and repassing sun. Far on the right and left, the extremes of heaven To frosts and snows and bitter blasts are given. Betwixt the midst and these, the gods assigned Two habitable seats for human-kind : And cross their limits cut a sloping way, Which the twelve signs in beauteous order sway. Two poles turn round the globe; one seen to rise O'er Scythian hills, and one in Libyan skies. The first sublime in heaven, the last is whirled Below the regions of the nether world.

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There, as they say, perpetual night is found,
In silence brooding on the unhappy ground:
Or when Aurora leaves our northern sphere,
She lights the downward heaven, and rises there.
And when on us she breathes the living light,
Red Vesper kindles there the tapers of the night.

WHEN TO REAP, SOW, SAIL; WORK FOR RAINY WEATHER.
From hence uncertain seasons we may know;
And when to reap the grain, and when to sow :
Or when to fell the furzes ; when 't is meet
To spread the flying canvas for the fleet.
Observe what stars arise, or disappear;
And the four quarters of the rolling year.
But when cold weather, and continued rain,
The laboring husband in his house restrain ;
Let him forecast his work with timely care,
Which else is huddled, when the skies are fair:
Then let him mark the sheep, or whet the shining
Or hollow trees for boats, or number o'er
His sacks, or measure his increasing store;
Or sharpen stakes, or head the forks, or twine
The sallow twigs to tie the straggling vine;
Or wicker baskets weave, or air the corn,
Or grinded grain betwixt two marbles turn.
No laws, divine or human, can restrain
From necessary works the laboring swain.

WORK FOR HOLIDAYS.

[share,

Even holidays and feasts permission yield, To float the meadows, or to fence the field, To fire the brambles, snare the birds, and steep In wholesome water-falls the woolly sheep. And oft the drudging ass is driven, with toil, To neighboring towns with apples and with oil : Returning late and laden home with gain Of bartered pitch, and hand-mills for the grain.

LUCKY AND UNLUCKY DAYS.

The lucky days, in each revolving moon, For labor choose: the fifth be sure to shun: That gave the Furies and pale Pluto birth, And armed against the skies the sons of earth. With mountains piled on mountains, thrice they To scale the steepy battlements of Jove: [strove And thrice his lightning and red thunder played, And their demolished works in ruin laid. The seventh is, next the tenth, the best to join Young oxen to the yoke, and plant the vine. Then weavers stretch your stays upon the weft : The ninth is good for travel, bad for theft.

EVENING LABORS OF THE FARMER AND HIS WIFE. — THE COCK.

Some works in dead of night are better done; Or when the morning dew prevents the sun. Parched meads and stubble mow, by Phoebe's light; Which both require the coolness of the night; For moisture then abounds, and pearly rains Descend in silence to refresh the plains. The wife and husband equally conspire, To work by night, and rake the winter fire.

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