ELEGY. WRITTEN AT THE APPROACH OF SPRING. John Scott Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T116245 1122 K093079.001 Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. I. [The second edition]. London printed for G. Pearch 1770 pp. 253-256. 4v. ; 8⁰.

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ELEGY . WRITTEN AT THE APPROACH OF SPRING . BY JOHN SCOTT , ESQ . STERN Winter hence with all his train removes ; And chearful skies and limpid streams are seen ; Thick-sprouting foliage decorates the groves ; Reviving herbage robes the fields in green . Yet lovelier scenes shall crown th' advancing year ; When blooming Spring's full bounty is display'd ; The smile of beauty every vale shall wear ; The voice of song enliven every shade . O Fancy , paint not coming days too fair ! Oft for the prospects sprightly May should yield , Rain-pouring clouds have darken'd all the air , Or snows untimely whiten'd o'er the field : But should kind Spring her wonted bounty shower , The smile of beauty and the voice of song ; If gloomy thought the human mind o'erpower , Ev'n vernal hours glide unenjoy'd along . I shun the scenes where maddening Passion raves ; Where Pride and Folly high dominion hold , And unrelenting Avarice drives her slaves O'er prostrate Virtue in pursuit of gold : The grassy lane , the wood-surrounded field , The rude stone-fence with fragrant wall-flowers gay , The clay-built cot , to me more pleasure yield Than all the pomp imperial domes display ; And yet ev'n here amid these secret shades , These simple scenes of unreprov'd delight , Affliction's iron hand my breast invades , And Death's dread dart is ever in my sight . While genial suns to genial showers succeed ; ( The air all mildness , and the earth all bloom ) While herds and flocks range sportive o'er the mead ; Crop the sweet herb , and snuff the rich perfume ; O why alone to hapless man deny'd To taste the bliss inferior beings boast ! O why this fate that fear and pain divide His few short hours on earth's delightful coast ! Ah cease — no more of Providence complain ! 'Tis sense of guilt that wakes the mind to woe , Gives force to fear , adds energy to pain , And palls each joy by heaven indulg'd below : Why else the smiling infant train so blest , Ere dear-bought knowledge ends the peace within , Or wild desire inflames the youthful breast , Or ill propension ripens into sin ? As to the bleating tenants of the field , As to the sportive warblers on the trees , To them their joys sincere the seasons yield , And all their days and all their prospects please ; Such joys were mine when from the peopled streets , Where on Thamesis' banks I liv'd immur'd , The new blown fields that breath'd a thousand sweets , To Surry's wood-crown'd hills my steps allur'd : O happy hours , beyond recovery fled ! What share I now " that can your loss repay , " While o'er my mind these glooms of thought are spread , And veil the light of life's meridian ray ? Is there no power this darkness to remove ? The long-lost joys of Eden to restore , Or raise our views to happier seats above , Where Fear , and Pain , and Death shall be no more ? Yes , those there are who know a Saviour's love The long-lost joys of Eden can restore , And raise their views to happier seats above , Where Fear , and Pain , and Death shall be no more : These grateful share the gift of Nature's hand ; And in the varied scenes that round them shine ; ( The Fair , the Rich , the Awful , and the Grand ) Admire th' amazing workmanship divine . Blows not a flow'ret in th' enamel'd vale , Shines not a pebble where the rivulet strays ; Sports not an insect on the spicy gale ; But claims their wonder and excites their praise . For them ev'n vernal nature looks more gay , For them more lively hues the fields adorn ; To them more fair the fairest smile of day , To them more sweet the sweetest breath of morn . They feel the bliss that hope and faith supply ; They pass serene th' appointed hours that bring The day that wafts them to the realms on high ; The day that centers in eternal spring .