Page:The Seasons - Thomson (1791).djvu/226

 Fond o'er the river croud, in various sport And revelry dissolv'd; where mixing glad, Happiest of all the train! the raptur'd boy Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine Branch'd out in many a long canal extends, From every province swarming, void of care, Batavia rushes forth; and as they sweep, On sounding skates, a thousand different ways, In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, The then gay land is madden'd all to joy. Nor less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow, Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds, Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel The long-resounding course. Meantime, to raise The manly strife, with highly-blooming charms, Flush'd by the season, Scandinavia's dames, Or Russia's buxom daughters glow around.

, quick, and sportful, is the wholesome day; But soon elaps'd. The horizontal sun, Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost noon; And, ineffectual, strikes the gelid cliff: His azure gloss the mountain still maintains, Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale Relents a while to the reflected ray; Or from the forest falls the cluster'd snow. Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam Gay-twinkle as they scatter. Thick around Thunders the sport of those, who with the gun, And dog impatient bounding at the shot, Worse than the season, desolate the fields; And, adding to the ruins of the year, Distress the footed or the feathered game.

what is this? our infant Winter sinks, Diverted of his grandeur, should our eye Astonish'd