NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 46·57.
April 14.
Spring.
Genial weather at the commencement of the year, dresses the meadows with the common and beautiful flowers that delight childhood.
The Cowslip.
Cowslip, of all beloved, of all admired!
Thee let me sing, the homely shepherd’s pride;
Fit emblem of the maid I love, a form
Gladdening the sight of man; a sweet perfume,
Sending its balmy fragrance to the soul
Daughter of Spring and messenger of May,
Which shall I first declare, which most extol,
Thy sovereign beauties, or thy sovereign use?
With thee the rural dame a draught prepares,
A nectarous draught, more luscious to my taste
Than all thy boasted wine, besotted Bacchus!
Maidens with thee their auburn tresses braid;
Or, with the daisy and the primrose pale,
Thy flowers entwining, weave a chaplet fair,
To grace that pole round which the village train
Lead on their dance to greet the jocund May;
Jocund I’ll call it, for it lends a smile
To thee, who never smil’st but once a year.
I name thee not, thou poor unpitied wretch!
Of all despised, save him whose liberal heart
Taught him to feel your wrongs, and plead your cause,
Departed Hanway! Peace be to his soul!
Great is that man, who quits the path of fame,
Who, wealth forsaking, stoops his towering mind
From learning’s heights, and stretches out his arm
To raise from dust the meanest of his kind.
Now that the muse to thee her debt has paid,
Friend of the poor and guardian of the wronged,
Back let her pleased return, to view those sports,
Whose rude simplicity has charms for me
Beyond the ball or midnight masquerade.
Oft on that merry morn I’ve joined their throng,
A glad spectator; oft their uncouth dance
Eyed most attentive; when, with tawdry show,
Illsorted ribbons decked each maiden’s cap,
And cowslip garlands every rustic hat.