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The fun's meridian disk, and at the back
Enjoy close shelter, wall, or reeds, or hedge
Impervious to the wind. First he bids spread
Dry fern or litter'd hay, that may imbibe
Th' ascending damps; then leisurely impose,
And lightly, shaking it with agile hand
From the full fork, the faturated straw.
What longest binds the closest, forms fecure
The shapely fide, that as it rises takes,
By just degrees, an overhanging breadth,
Shelt'ring the base with its projected eaves.
Th' uplifted frame, compact at ev'ry joint,
And overlaid with clear translucent glass,
He fettles next upon the floping mount,
Whofe fharp declivity fhoots off fecure
From the dafh'd pane the deluge as it falls.
He shuts it close, and the first labour ends.
Thrice muft the voluble and restless earth
Spin round upon her axle, ere the warmth,
Slow gathering in the midft, through the fquare
mafs

Diffus'd, attain the furface: when, behold!

A peftilent and moft corrofive steam,
Like a grofs fog Bœotian, rising fast,
And faft condens'd upon the dewry sash,
Afks egrefs; which obtain'd, the overcharg'd
And drench'd confervatory breathes abroad,

In

In volumes wheeling flow, the vapour dank,
And purified, rejoices to have loft

Its foul inhabitant. But to affuage

Th' impatient fervour which it firft conceives
Within its reeking bosom, threat'ning death
To his young hopes, requires difcreet delay.
Experience, flow preceptrefs, teaching oft
The way to glory by miscarriage foul,
Muft prompt him, and admonish how to catch
Th' aufpicious moment, when the temper'd
heat,

Friendly to vital motion, may afford
Soft fomentation, and invite the feed.
The feed, selected wifely, plump, and smooth,
And gloffy, he commits to pots of fize
Diminutive, well fill'd with well-prepar'd
And fruitful foil, that has been treafur'd long,
And drank no moisture from the dripping clouds :
Thefe, on the warm and genial earth that hides
The fmoking manure, and o'erfpreads it all,
He places lightly, and as time fubdues
The rage of fermentation, plunges deep
In the foft medium, till they ftand immers❜d.
Then rife the tender germs, upftarting quick,
And fpreading wide their spongy lobes, at first
Pale, wan, and livid, but affuming foon,
If fann'd by balmy and nutritious air,

Strain'd

Strain'd through the friendly mats, a vivid green. Two leaves produc'd, two rough indented leaves, Cautious, he pinches from the second stalk

A pimple, that portends a future fprout,
And interdicts its growth. Thence ftraight fuc-
ceed

The branches, sturdy to his utmost wish,
Prolific all, and harbingers of more.

The crowded roots demand enlargement now,
And tranfplantation in an ampler space.
Indulg'd in what they wish, they foon fupply
Large foliage, overshadowing golden flowers,
Blown on the fummit of th' apparent fruit.
These have their fexes, and when fummer fhines
The bee transports the fertilizing meal
From flow'r to flow'r, and ev'n the breathing air
Wafts the rich prize to its appointed use.
Not fo when winter fcowls. Affiftant art
Then acts in nature's office, brings to pafs
The glad efpoufals, and infures the crop.

Grudge not, ye rich, (fince luxury must have His dainties, and the world's more num'rous half Lives by contriving delicates for you)

Grudge not the cost. Ye little know the cares,

The vigilance, the labour, and the fkill,
That day and night are exercis'd, and hang
Upon the ticklish balance of suspense,
That he may garnish your profuse regales

With

With fummer fruits brought forth by wintry funs. Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart

The procefs. Heat and cold, and wind and fteam,

Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and fwarming flies,

Minute as duft and numberlefs, oft work
Dire disappointment that admits no cure,
And which no care can obviate. It were long,
Too long, to tell th' expedients and the shifts
Which he that fights a season so severe
Devifes, while he guards his tender trust,
And oft, at laft, in vain. The learn'd and wife
Sarcaftic would exclaim, and judge the fong
Cold as its theme, and, like its theme, the fruit
Of too much labour, worthless when produc'd.

Who loves a garden, loves a green-house too.
Unconscious of a lefs propitious clime,
There blooms exotic beauty, warm and fnug,
While the winds whistle and the fnows defcend.

The spiry myrtle with unwith'ring leaf
Shines there and flourishes. The golden boast
Of Portugal and western India there,
The ruddier orange and the paler lime,
Peep through their polish'd foliage at the storm,
And feem to fmile at what they need not fear.
Th' amomum there with intermingling flow'rs
And cherries hangs her twigs. Geranium boasts

Her

Her crimson honours, and the spangled beau,
Ficoides, glitters bright the winter long.
All plants, of ev'ry leaf, that can endure
The winter's frown, if screen'd from his fhrewd
bite,

Live there and profper. Those Aufonia claims,
Levantine regions thefe; th' Azores fend
Their jeffamine, her jeffamine remote
Caffraia; foreigners from many lands,
They form one focial fhade, as if conven'd
By magic fummons of th' Orphean lyre.
Yet juft arrangement, rarely brought to pafs
But by a master's hand, difpofing well
The gay diverfities of leaf and flow'r,
Muft lend its aid t' illustrate all their charms,
And dress the regular yet various scene.
Plant behind plant afpiring, in the van
The dwarfish, in the rear retir'd, but still
Sublime above the reft, the ftatelier stand.
So once were rang'd the fons of ancient Rome,
A nobler fhow! while Rofcius trod the ftage;
And fo, while Garrick, as renown'd as he,
The fons of Albion; fearing each to lofe
Some note of Nature's mufic from his lips,
And covetous of Shakespeare's beauty, feen
In ev'ry flash of his far-beaming eye.
Nor tafte alone and well-contriv'd display
Suffice to give the marshall'd ranks the grace

Of

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