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    Would , tuneful , or expressive , Thee attest , The Cause , the Glory , and the End of All !" Thomson , introducing " the reptile young" when they " come wing'd abroad / ' describes them in the later editions ( line 247 ) as

    « of all the vary'd hues Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose . " For these lines the judgment of the poet had discarded the following minute enumeration which appeared in 1727 and 1 / 30 : < c green , speckled , yellow ,

    grey , Black , azure , brown , more than th' as sisted eye Of poring Virtuoso can discern . " The lines 287— 3 ) 7 , on microsco

    pic discoveries , are not in the editions of 1727 or 1730 . They were transferred into the later editions of Summer , from the early edition of Spring , where they thus followed line 136 of that poem :

    " These are not idle philosophic dreams , Full Nature swarms with life . Th' unfaithful fen In putrid steams , * ' &c . Instead of the lines 324—328 , the following appeared in 1727 and 1730 :

    < c So on the concave of a sounding Dome , Oil swelling Columns heav'd , the Pride of Art ! Wanders a critic Fly ; his feeble Ray Kxtends an Inch around ; yet , blindly bold , lie dares dislike the Structure of the

    Whole . " In 1 727 and 1 730 , for line 337 were the following : " Recoiling giddy Thought : or with . sharp ( Jlanee , Such as remotely-wafting Spirits use , Survey ed the Glories of the little World ?"

    The 80 lines which follow line , ' 351 , on Haymaking- and Sheepshearing " , did not appear in 1 7 ^ 7 The lines on Haymaking- arc , in the edition 1730 . For lines 437—4 11 were originally ,

    and in I 730 , the following : " Down to the dusty Karth the Sight , o ' er-power'd , Stoops for Relief ; but thence ascending StcaiiitS .

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    And keen Reflection pain . Burnt to the Heart Are the refreshless Fields ; their arid Hue Adds a new Fever to the sickeuiug Soul And , o ' er their slippery Surface , wary ,

    treads The Foot of thirsty Pilgrim , often dipt In a cross Rill , presenting to his wish A living Draught , He feels before He drinks ! No more the Woods return the sandy Sound Of sharpening Sithe . "

    After line 457 , in 1727 and 1730 , were the following : " Who shall endure !—The too resplen . dent Scene Already darkens on the dizzy Eye ; And double Objects dance : unreal Sounds Sing round the Ears : a Weight of sultry Dew

    Hangs , deathful , on the Limbs : shiver the Nerves : The supple Sinews sink ; and 011 the Heart , Misgiving , Horror lays his heavy hand . " These were afterwards omitted , < c perhaps , " as a critic on the Seasons

    conjectures , because "they represented the distress felt under the sultry heat of summer in colours ridiculously aggravated . " Instead of lines 556—560 , were these in 1 72 / \ and , with a slight variation , in 1730 : " And , frequent , at the middle Waste of Night , Or , all Day long , in Desarts still , are heard

    . * * V . V * » V 4 % Now h ' re , now there , now wheeling in mid-sky , Around , or underneath , aerial sounds , Sent from angelic Harps , and Voice *

    join'd . " The address to Miss Stanley , lines 5 G 4—584 , Was not added till after 1 738 . On the same subject , Thomson has an epitaph , which appears among his miscellaneous poetry .

    In the place of lines 590—60 G , the following- appear in 1727 , and , excep t the two first lines , in 1730 : " Like one who Hows in Joy , when , all at once , Misfortune hurls Him down the Hill at Life , ., Smooth , to the giddy Brink a lucid Stream , . Rolls , unsuspecting , till , surpris , ^ thrown ,

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    414 Book- Worm . No . XXVIII .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1822, page 414, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2514/page/22/