The lark into the trammel net ;'
Thou bast thy cock-rod and thy glade,
To take the precious pheasant made ;
The lime-twigs, snares, and pitfalls, then,
To catch the pilfering birds, not men.
0, happy life ! if thus their good
The husbandmen but understood !
Who all the day themselves do please,
And younglings, with such sports as these ;
And, lying down, have naught to affright
Sweet sleep, that makes more short the night.

And smell'st the breath of great-eyed kine,
Sweet as the blossoms of the vine.
Here thou behold’st thy large, sleek neat,
Unto the dewlaps up in meat ;
And as thou look'st, the wanton steer,
The heifer, cow, and ox, draw near,
To make a pleasing pastime there.
These seen, thou goest to view the flocks
Of sheep, safe from the wolf and fox;
And find'st their bellies there as full
Of short, sweet grass, as backs with wool;
And leav'st them, as they feed and fill,
A shepherd piping on the bill.
For sports, for pageantry, and plays,
Thou hast thy eves and holidays,
On which the young men and maids meet
To exercise their dancing feet ;
Tripping the comely country round,
With daffodils and daisies crowned.
Thy wakes, thy quintels, here thou bast,
Thy Maypoles, too, with garlands graced ;
Thy morrris-dance, thy Whitsun-ale,
Thy shearing-feast, which never fail ;
Thy harvest home, thy wassail-bowl,
That's tossed up after fox-i’-th’-hole ;
Thy mummeries, thy twelfth-night kings
And queens, thy Christmas revellings ;
Thy nut-brown mirth, thy russet wit,
And no man pays too dear for it.
To these thou hast thy time to go,
And trace the hare in treacherous snow;
Thy witty wiles to draw, and get

BRYANT'S “SONNET FOR NOVEMBER.”

Yet one smile more, departing distant sun !

One mellow smile through the soft vapory air, Ere o'er the frozen earth the loud winds run,

Or snows are sifted o'er the meadows bare. One smile on the brown hills and naked trees, And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are

cast, And the blue Gentian-flower, that in the breeze

Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last. Yet a few sunny days, in which the bee

Shall murmur by the hedge that skirts the way, The cricket chirp upon the russet lea,

And man delight to linger in thy ray. Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bear The piercing winter frost, and winds, and darkened

(air.

BOOK I.

THE SUBJECT ; THE SOIL, CULTURE AND USE OF THE APPLE.

What soil the apple loves, what care is due
To orchats, timeliest when to press the fruits,
Thy gift, Pomona, in Miltonian verse
Adventurous I presume to sing ; of verse
Nor skilled, nor studious : but my native soil
Invites me, and the theme as yet unsung.

| To what adapted, what it shuns averse :

Without this necessary care, in vain
He hopes an apple-vintage, and invokes
Pomona's aid in vain. The miry fields,
Rejoicing in rich mould, most ample fruit
Of beauteous form produce ; pleasing to sight,
But to the tongue inelegant and flat.
So Nature has decreed ; 80, oft we see
Men passing fair, in outward lineaments
Elaborate ; less, inwardly, exact.
Nor from the sable ground expect success,
Nor from cretaceous, stubborn and jejune :
The must, of pallid hue, declares the soil
Devoid of spirit ; wretched he, that quaffs
Such wheyish liquors ; oft with colic pangs,
With pungent colic pangs distressed, he 'll roar,
And toss, and turn, and curse the unwholesome

draught.

INVOCATION TO THE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF HEREFORD.

Ye Ariconian knights, and fairest dames, To whom propitious Heaven these blessings grants, Attend my lays ; nor hence disdain to learn, How Nature's gifts may be improved by art.

SOIL PROPER FOR ORCHARDS ; WHERE RYE GROWS WELL ;

SUCH SOILS AS KENTCHURCH, SUTTON-ACRES, ETC. ETHELBERT AND OFFA.

DEDICATION TO MR. MOSTYN. And thou, O Mostyn, whose benevolence, And candor, oft experienced, me vouchsafed To knit in friendship, growing still with years, Accept this pledge of gratitude and love. May it a lasting monument remain Of dear respect ; that, when this body frail Is mouldered into dust, and I become As I had never been, late times may know I once was blest in such a matchless friend. THE PROPER ASPECT FOR AN ORCHARD ; OPEN TO THE WEST,

WITH HILLS ON THE NORTH. Whoe'er expects his laboring trees should bend With fruitage, and a kindly harvest yield, Be this his first concern; to find a tract Impervious to the winds, begirt with hills, That intercept the Hyperborean blasts Tempestuous, and cold Eurus' nipping force, Noxious to feeble buds : but to the west Let him free entrance grant, let zephyrs bland Administer their tepid genial airs ; Naught fear he from the west, whose gentle warmth Discloses well the earth's all-teeming womb, Invigorating tender seeds ; whose breath Nurtures the orange, and the citron groves, Hesperian fruits, and wafts their odors sweet Wide through the air, and distant shores perfumes. Nor only do the hills exclude the winds : [showers But, when the blackening clouds in sprinkling Distil, from the high summits down the rain Runs trickling ; with the fertile moisture cheered, The orchards smile ; joyous the farmers see Their thriving plants, and bless the heavenly dew.

But, farmer, look, where full-eared sheaves of rye Grow wavy on the tilth, that soil select For apples ; thence thy industry shall gain Ten-fold reward ; thy garners, thence with store Surcharged, shall burst; thy press with purest juice Shall flow, which, in revolving years, may try Thy feeble feet, and bind thy faltering tongue. Such is the Kentchurch, such Dantzeyan ground, Such thine, 0 learned Brome, and Capel such, Willisian Burlton, much-loved Geers his Marsh, And Sutton-acres, drenched with regal blood Of Ethelbert, when to the unballowed feast Of Mercian Offa he invited came, To treat of spousals : long connubial joys He promised to himself, allured by fair Elfrida's beauty ; but deluded died In height of hopes -0! hardest fate, to fall By show of friendship, and pretended love !

ALLUSION TO THE SLIDING OF MARCLEY HILL.

I nor advise, nor reprehend the choice Of Marcley Hill ; the apple nowhere finds A kinder mould : yet 't is unsafe to trust Deceitful ground : who knows but that, once more, This mount may journey, and, his present site Forsaking, to thy neighbors' bounds transfer The goodly plants, affording matter strange For law debates? If, therefore, thou incline To deck this rise with fruits of various tastes, Fail not by frequent vows to implore success ; Thus piteous Heaven may fix the wandering glebe.

SOILS IMPROPER FOR AN ORCHARD. - NOT MIRY, OR BLACK,

OR CHALKY.
Next, let the planter, with discretion meet,
The force and genius of each soil explore ;

Perceive his influence dire ; sweltering they run
To grots, and caves, and the cool umbrage seek
Of woven arborets, and oft the rills
Still streaming fresh revisit, to allay
Thirst, inextinguishable : but if the Spring
Preceding should be destitute of rain,
Or blast septentrional with brushing wings
Sweep up the smoky mists, and vapors damp,
Then woe to mortals ! Titan then exerts
His heat intense, and on our vitals preys ;
Then maladies of various kinds, and names
Unknown, malignant fovers, and that foe
To blooming beauty, which imprints the face
Of fairest nymph, and checks our growing love,
Reign far and near; grim death, in different shapes,
Depopulates the nations ; thousands fall
His victims ; youths, and virgins, in their flower,
Reluctant die, and sighing leave their loves
Unfinished, by infectious Heaven destroyed.

TRIBUTE TO MISS WINCHCOYB.

CLAYEY AND GRAVELLY SOILS MAY BE MADE TO GROW PEARS.

But if (for Nature doth not share alike Her gifts) an happy soil should be withheld ; If a penurious clay should be thy lot, Or rough unwieldy earth, nor to the plough, Nor to the cattle kind, with sandy stones And gravel o'er-abounding, think it not Beneath thy toil ; the sturdy pear-tree here Will rise luxuriant, and with toughest root Pierce the obstructing grit, and restive marl. EVERY SOIL GOOD FOR SOMETHING, NATURALLY OR BY CUL

TIVATION; MOORS; SHEEP ; GEESE; PLINLIMMON ; GOATS ; SAMPHIRE-GATHERERS.

Thus naught is useless made ; nor is there land, But what, or of itself, or else compelled, Affords advantage. On the barren heath The shepherd tends his flock, that daily crop Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf, Sufficient ; after them the cackling goose, Close grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want. What should I more ? Ev'n on the cliffy height Of Penmenmaur, and that cloud-piercing hill, Plinlimmon, from afar the traveller kens, Astonished, how the goats their shrubby browze Gnaw pendent; nor untrembling canst thou see How from a scraggy rock, whose prominence Half overshades the ocean, hardy men, Fearless of rending winds, and dashing waves, Cut samphire, to excite the squeamish gust Of pampered luxury. Then, let thy ground Not lie unlabored ; if the richest stem Refuse to thrive, yet who would doubt to plant Somewhat, that may to human use redound, And penury, the worst of ills, remove ?

MUCKING APPLE-TREES IS BUT OF TEMPORARY BENEFIT.

There are, who, fondly studious of increase,
Rich foreign mould on their ill-natured land
Induce laborious, and with fattening muck
Besmear the roots ; in vain ! the nursling grove
Seems fair a while, cherished with foster earth :
But, when the alien compost is exhaust,
Its native poverty again prevails.

Such heats prevailed, when fair Eliza, last
Of Winchcomb's name (next thee in blood, and

worth,
O fairest St.John !) left this toilsome world
In beauty's prime, and saddened all the year :
Nor could her virtues, nor repeated vows
Of thousand lovers, the relentless hand
Of death arrest ; she with the vulgar fell,
Only distinguished by this humble verse.

TUE LEGEND OF ARICONIUM, A CITY IN HEREFORDSHIRE ; DE

SCRIPTION OF IT. EFFECTS OF DROCGHT.

But if it please the sun's intemperate force
To know, attend ; whilst I of ancient fame
The annals trace, and image to thy mind
How our forefathers (luckless men !), ingulft
By the wide yawning earth, to Stygian shades
Went quick, in one sad sepulchre enclosed.

In elder days, ere yet the Roman bands,
Victorious, this our other world subdued,
A spacious city stood, with firmest walls
Sure mounded, and with numerous turrets crowned,
Aërial spires, and citadels, the seat
Of kings, and heroes resolute in war,
Famed Ariconium ; uncontrolled, and free,
Till all-subduing Latian arms prevailed.
Then also, though to foreign yoke submiss,
She undemolished stood, and even till now
Perhaps had stood, of ancient British art
A pleasing monument, not less admired
Than what from Attic or Etruscan hands
Arose ; had not the heavenly powers averse
Decreed her final doom.

CIRCULAR TRENCHING AND WATERING IMPORTANT TO APPLE

TREES IN A DRY TIME.

Tho' this art fails, despond not ; little pains, In a due hour employed, great profit yield. The industrious, when the sun in Leo rides, And darts his sultriest beams, portending drought, Forgets not at the foot of every plant To sink a circling trench, and daily pour A just supply of alimental streams, Exhausted sap recruiting ; else, false hopes He cherishes, nor will his fruit expect The autumnal season, but in Summer's pride, When other orchards smile, abortive fail.

THE EFFECTS OF THE SUN ON SOIL. -- DROUGHT AND HEATS

DESCRIBED. FEVERS. -SMALL-POX. - PESTILENCE.

Thus the great light of heaven, that in his course Surveys and quickens all things, often proves Noxious to planted fields, and often men

CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF ARICONICM; DROCGHT; GASES; THE THAMES ; THE TEMPEST.

For now the fields Labored with thirst, Aquarius had not shed His wonted showers, and Sirius parched with heat Solstitial the green herb : hence 'gan relax The ground's contexture, hence Tartarean dregs,

The sloe-stem bearing sylvan plums austere. [loss
Who knows but both may thrive? Howe'er, what
To try the powers of both, and search how far
Two different natures may concur to mix
In close embraces, and strange offspring bear ?
Thou 'lt find that plants will frequent changes try,
Undamaged, and their marriageable arms
Conjoin with others. So silurian plants
Admit the peach's odoriferous globe,
And pears of sundry forms ; at different times
Adopted plums will alien branches grace ;
And men have gathered from the hawthorn's branch
Large medlars, imitating regal crowns.

Of Nature wouldst thou know? how first she frames
All things in miniature ? thy specular orb
Apply to well-dissected kernels ; lo !
Strange forms arise, in each a little plant
Unfolds its boughs : observe the slender threads
Of first-beginning trees, their roots, their leaves,
In narrow seeds described ; thou 'lt wondering say
An inmate orchard every apple boasts.
Thus all things by experience are displayed,
And most improved.

IMPROVEMENTS EVER TO BE ASSIDUOUSLY SOUGHT AND

PRACTISED; THE AUTHOR'S TOILS AND ANXIETIES.

MONTHLY FRUITS. — VIRGIL ; HIS DISCURSIVE FANCY ; BRAKE

JUICE, SLOES, HIPS, SERVICE-BERRY JUICE. Nor is it hard to beautify each month With files of parti-colored fruits, that please The tongue and view, at once.

So Maro's muse, Thrice sacred muse ! commodious precepts gives Instructive to the swains, not wholly bent On what is gainful : sometimes she diverts From solid counsels, shows the force of love In savage beasts ; how virgin face divine (waves, Attracts the hapless youth through storms, and Alone, in deep of night : then she describes The Scythian winter, nor disdains to sing How under ground the rude Riphæan race Mimic brisk Cider with brakes' product wild ; Sloes pounded, hips, and servis' barshest juice.

Then sedulously think To meliorate thy stock; no way or rule Be unassayed ; prevent the morning star Assiduous, nor with the western sun Surcease to work ; lo ! thoughtful of thy gain, Not of my own, I all the live-long day Consume in meditation deep, recluse From human converse, nor, at shut of eve, Enjoy repose ; but oft at midnight lamp Ply my brain-racking studies, if by chance Thee I may counsel right ; and oft this care Disturbs me slumbering. Wilt thou, then, repine To labor for thyself ? and rather choose To lie supinely, hoping Heaven will bless Thy slighted fruits, and give thee bread unearned ?

THE GIFTS OF EXPERIENCE IN FARMING.THE PRAISE OP

TOBACCO.

'T will profit, when the stork, sworn foe of snakes, Returns, to show compassion to thy plants, Fatigued with breeding. Let the archéd knife Well sharpened now assail the spreading shades Of vegetables, and their thirsty limbs Dissever : for the genial moisture, due To apples, otherwise misspends itself In barren twigs, and, for the expected crop, Naught but vain shoots and empty leaves abound.

MUCH OF THE FORMING FRUIT IS TO BE PINCRED OFF.

Let sage experience teach thee all the arts Of grafting, and in-eying ; when to lop The flowing branches ; what trees answer best From root or kernel : she will best the hours Of harvest and seed-time declare ; by her The different qualities of things were found, And secret motions ; how with heavy bulk Volatile hermes, fluid and unmoist, Mounts on the wings of air ; to her we owe The Indian weed, unknown to ancient times, Nature's choice gift, whose acrimonious fume Extracts superfluous juices, and refines The blood distempered from its noxious salts ; Friend to the spirits, which with vapors bland It gently mitigates, companion fit Of pleasantry and wine ; nor to the bards Unfriendly, when they to the vocal shell Warble melodious their well-labored songs.

When swelling buds their odorous foliage shed, And gently harden into fruit, the wise Spare not the little offsprings, if they grow Redundant ; but the thronging clusters thin By kind avulsion : else, the starveling brood, Void of sufficient sustenance, will yield A slender autumn ; which the niggard soul Too late shall weep, and curse his thrifty hand, That would not timely ease the ponderous boughs.

THE WONDERS OF THE MICROSCOPE. - TIE FORMS OF PLANTS

FOLDED IN SEEDS AND BUDS.

She found the polished glass, whose small convex Enlarges to ten millions of degrees The mite, invisible else, of nature's hand Least animal : and shows what laws of life The cheese-inbabitants observe, and how Fabric their mansions in the hardened milk, Wonderful artists!

But the hidden ways

SCARECROWS; A DEAD KITE THE BEST. It much conduces, all the cares to know Of gardening ; how to scare nocturnal thieves, And how the little race of birds, that hop From spray to spray, scooping the costliest fru it, Insatiate, undisturbed. Priapus' form Avails but little ; rather guard each row With the false terrors of a breathless kite. This done, the timorous flock with swiftest win!