RURAL ELEGANCE. An ODE to the late Duchefs of SOMERSET.

Written 1750.

WHILE orient skies refstore the day,

And dew-drops catch the lucid ray ;

Amid the fprightly scenes of morn,
Will aught the mufe inspire?

Oh! peace to yonder clamorous horn

That drowns the facred lyre!

Ye rural thanes that o'er the mossy down
Some panting, timorous hare pursue ;

Does nature mean your joys alone to crown?
Say, does the fmoothe her lawns for you?

For you does echo bid the rocks reply,

And urg'd by rude constraint refound the jovial cry?

See

4

See from the neighbouring hill, forlorn
The wretched fwain your fport furvey;
He finds his faithful fences torn,

He finds his labour'd crops a prey;
He fees his flock-no more in circles feed;
Haply beneath your ravage bleed,

And with no random curfes loads the deed,

Nor yet, ye fwains, conclude

That nature smiles for you

alone;

Your bounded fouls, and your conceptions crude,

The proud, the felfish boaft difown:

Yours be the produce of the foil;

O may it still reward your toil!
Nor ever the defencelefs train

Of clinging infants, ask fupport in vain!

But tho' the various harvest gild your plains,
Does the mere landfcape feaft your eye?
Or the warm hope of diftant gains
Far other caufe of glee fupply?
Is not the red-ftreak's future juice
The fource of your delight profound,
Where Ariconium pours her gems profufe,
Purpling a whole horizon round?

Athirst ye praise the limpid ftream, 'tis true;
But tho', the pebbled fhores among,
It mimic no unpleafing fong,

The limpid fountain murmurs not for you.

Unpleas'd

Unpleas'd ye fee the thickets bloom,
Unpleas'd the fpring her flowery robe resume';
Unmov'd the mountain's airy pile,

The dappled mead without a smile.
O let a rural confcious mufe,

For well she knows, your froward fenfe accufe
Forth to the folemn oak you bring the fquare,
And fpan the maffy trunk, before you cry, 'tis fair.

Nor yet ye learn'd, nor yet ye courtly train,
If haply from your haunts ye ftray
To waste with us a fummer's day,
Exclude the taste of every fwain,
Nor our untutor'd fenfe difdain:
'Tis nature only gives exclufive right
To relish her fupreme delight;

She, where fhe pleafes kind or coy,
Who furnishes the scene, and forms us to enjoy.

Then hither bring the fair ingenuous mind,"
By her aufpicious aid refin'd;

Lo! not an hedge-row hawthorn blows,
Or humble hare-bell paints the plain,
Or valley winds, or fountain flows,

Or purple heath is ting'd in vain:
For fuch the rivers dash the foaming tides,
The mountain fwells, the dale fubfides;

Ev'n thriftless furze detains their wandering fight,

And the rough barren rock grows pregnant with delight.

VOL. I.

With what fufpicious fearful care

The fordid wretch fecures his claim,

If haply fome luxurious heir

Should alienate the fields that wear his name!
What fcruples left some future birth

Shoald litigate a fpan of earth!

Bonds, contracts, feoffments, names unmeet for profe,

The towering mufe endures not to difclofe;

Alas! her unrevers'd decree,

More comprehenfive and more free,

Her lavish charter, tafte, appropriates all we fee.

Let gondolas their painted flags unfold,
And be the folemn day enroll'd,
When, to confirm his lofty plea,
In nuptial fort, with bridal gold,
The

grave Venetian weds the fea: Each laughing mufe derides the vow;

Ev'n ADRIA fcorns the mock embrace,

To fome lone hermit on the mountain's brow,
Allotted, from his natal hour,

With all her myrtle fhores in dow'r.

His breaft to admiration prone

Enjoys the smile upon her face,

Enjoys triumphant every grace,
And finds her more his own.

Fatigu'd with form's oppreffive laws,
When SOMERSET avoids the great;

When