Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/223

125 SUMMER, AND SUMMER FLOWERS.

is Spenser's quaint description of Summer in the procession of the seasons and months before quoted from; and it is a good portrait of the sultry part of the season in warmer climes than ours. Compared with the volumes of verse dedicated to Spring, Summer has found few laureates; the rather that its attributes have been joined to those of its blithe forerunner, than from any lack of love for its own boundless wealth and beauty.

Thomson, whose division of praise among the four seasons allowed him to pay them distinct attention, in few, but beautiful, words, thus paints the approach of Summer: