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The CONTEST of the SEASONS;
Or WINTER Triumphant.
By J. H. Efq.

SPRING once a difpute,

PRING, Summer, and Autumn, had

Which feafon among them was most in repute.

Spring bragg'd of her nightingales finging all night,

And her lambkins that fkipp'd about, foort as 'twas light.

Old Summer grew warm, and faid, 'twas enough,

That too often be had heard fuch commonplace ftuff:

That to Him the bright fun all in fplendor arifing,

Was an object by far more fublime and furprizing.

All your pleasures, quoth Autumn, are nothing to mine;

My fruits are ambrofia, and nectar my

wine.

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Then, good Summer, your fun never fhines but he fcorches ; 'Tis not fo with my chandeliers, flambeaux, and torches:

Nay, they're better than funthine, as fome fages fay,

For they light us by night as well as by day.

For you, Autumn, your time on high flavours you waite,

As if you alone monopoliz'd taste.
Alas! in a ribband of mine, or a feather,
There's more tafte, than in all your fine
fruits put rogether.

Add to this, I've ridottos, plays, operas, drums,

And affemblies quite private, where all the word comes;

I've fine Ladies that bring me the bon ton from France,

And Gentlemen grown, that are learning

to dance.

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you dwell,

What though in humble fhades
And lurk in thicket, brake, or dell,

Wafting your sweets away?
Yet fhalt thou live embalm'd in fong,
And there fhalt reign, diftinguifh'd long,
The blooming Queen of May.

Then quit the wild, left fome rude thorn
Invade thy beauty's tender morn,
All-lovely as thou art!
So fhall thy Poet lift his voice,
And to confirm his annual choice

Still lodge thee next his heart.

Extract from the Ancient ENGLISH WAKE: A POEM.

THE Wake is of great antiquity in this Country. It was held on the Day of the Dedication, that is, on the Day of the Saint to whom the Village Church was dedicated. Booths were erected in the Church-yard and on the adjacent Plain, and after Divine Service the reft of the Time was devoted to the Occupations of the Fair, to Merriment and Fettivity.

Η ARK! how the merry, merry bells HARE

refound

To fummon to the Wake the hamlets

round: The villagers in all their best array Go forth to celebrate the feftive day.

THEE, Flora's first and favourite While fome intent on wealth, with sober

child,

By Zephyr nurit on Green-bank wild,

And chear'd by vernal showers!Thy fragrant beauties let me fing, Cerulean harbinger of fpring,

Chalte Vilet, Queen of flowers!

Thy velvet birth, in golden groves,
The rofy hours and laughing loves

With genial kifles fed:
And o'er thee Peace, as on a day]
In early innocence you lay,

Fler tylvan mantle ipread. When you in azure state appear, Thy picfence (peaks the purple year, And promis d Summer nigh.

view,

The graver purport of the fair pursue ; Some of a free and roving mind partake The lighter callings of the bufy Wake; Thefe urge the prefcient feer, deep-vers'd in fate,

Some paffage of their story to relate:

There the fond maid, folicitous to know Some future inftance of her joy or woe, Attends, half-unbelieving, half fincere, To the vague dictates of the artful feer. Some by the travell'd pilgrim take their ftand,

To hear the wonders of a foreign ftrand; While others, fmitten with the love of fong, Around the minttiel's harp attentive throng.

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were feen:

Thefe female figures to th' admiring

crowd

The names of Faith, of Hope, of Love avow'd:

Three rivals; they appear before the

throne

To plead and make their various merit known.

Faith, while a fable band o'erfpread her
eyes,

In accents to this purport claim'd the prize:
Foe to the prying fearch of fhallow wit,
Thy facred Lore, unqueftion'd, I admit:
Before the dazzling fplendor of the Law
I close my view, and bend with trem-
bling awe.'

Hope, with an air to confidence ally'd,
Advanc'd-Her fymbol leaning at her fide:
The fea of life do wrecking winds de.
form?

Borne on a plank, I finile amidst the ftorm:

'Still thro' the dark'ning fhow'rs that in

tervene,

• With piercing view I mark the promis'd fcene,

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Bore in her beak the flow'r inwoven prize,
Religion reach'd it from the hov'ring dove,
And twin'd the wreath around the brow
of Love.

Mean-while the jocund villagers con

vene,

Where the wreath'd May-pole crowns the fettive green,

The comely maids the gifted ribhand wear, Gay-ftreaming from the flow'r-encircled hair.

See with the am'rous youths they now ad

vance,

Demand the mufic, and provoke the dance; Link'd hand in hand they form the mirthful round,

Obedient to the fhrill pipe's nimble found. Thus on the flowing itream of time the day

With profp'rous fails glides rapidly away, Till, as the faint beams glimmer from the welt,

The curfew tolls the hamlet train to rest.

Dr. Warton obferves in his Hiftory of English Poetry, that the fubject of this fort of fpectacle was (till the reign of Henry the Seventh) confined to moral allegory, or to religion blended with buffoonery.

EXPLANATION of the annexed PLATE reprefenting the Drefs of the Grecian Women in the Ifland N10, one of the Cyclades.

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