O'er dewy dales, a fairer species boast,
Of fhorter limb, and frontlet more ornate;
Such the Silurian. If thy farm extends

Near Cotswold downs, or the delicious groves Of Symmonds, honour'd through the fandy foil Of elmy Rofs', or Devon's myrtle vales, That drink clear rivers near the glaffy fea ; Regard this fort, and hence thy fire of lambs Select his tawny fleece in ringlets curls; Long fwings his slender tail; his front is fenc'd With horns Ammonian, circulating twice Around each open ear, like thofe fair scrolls That grace the columns of th' Iönic dome. Yet should thy fertile glebe be marly clay, Like Melton pastures, or Tripontian fields, " Where ever-gliding Avon's limpid wave Thwarts the long course of dusty Watling-ftreet; That larger fort, of head defenceless, feek, Whose fleece is deep and clammy, close and plain: The ram fhort-limb'd, whofe form compact defcribes Rofs, a town in Herefordshire.

Tripontian fields, the country between Rugby in Warwickshire and Lutterworth in Leicestershire.

One

One level line along his spacious back';

Of full and ruddy eye, large ears, stretch'd head,
Noftrils dilated, breast and shoulders broad,
And spacious haunches, and a lofty dock.

Thus to their kindred foil and air induc'd,
Thy thriving herd will blefs thy fkilful cafe,
That copies nature; who, in ev'ry change,
In each variety, with wifdom' works,
And pow'rs diverfify'd of air and foil, ›
Her rich materials. Hence Sabæa's rocks,
Chaldæa's marl, Ægyptus' water'd loam,
And dry Cyrene's fand,' in climes alike,
With diff'rent stores fupply the marts of trade.
Hence Zembla's icy 'tracts no bleaters hear;
Small are the Ruffian herds, and harsh their fleece:
Of light efteem Germanic, far remote

From foft fea-breezes, open winters mild,
And fummers bath'd in dew on Syrian sheep
The coftly burden only loads their tails:
No locks Cormandel's, none Malacca's tribe
Adorn; but fleek of flix, and brown like deer,
Fearful and fhepherdlefs, they bound along

The

The fands, No fleeces wave in torrid climes,
Which verdure boaft of trees and fhrubs alone,
Shrubs aromatic, caufee wild,, or thea,
Nutmeg, or cinnamon, or fiery clove,
Unapt to feed the fleece. The food of wool
Is grafs or herbage foft, that ever blooms
In temp'rate air, in the delicious downs
Of Albion, on the banks of all her streams.

Of graffes are unnumber'd kinds, and all (Save where foul waters linger on the turf) Salubrious Early mark, when tepid gleams Oft mingle with the pearls of summer show'rs, And fwell too hastily the tender plains: Then fnatch-away thy fheep; beware the rot; And with deterfive bay-falt rub their mouths; Or urge them on a barren bank to feed, In hunger's kind distress, on tedded hay; Or to the marish guide their easy steps, If near thy tufted crofts the broad sea spreads, Sagacious care foreacts: when strong disease Breaks in, and ftains the purple ftreams of health, Hard is the ftrife of art: the coughing peft

4

From

From their green pafture fweeps whole flocks away.

That dire diftemper fometimes may the swain,
Though late, discern; when, on the lifted lid,
Or visual orb, the turgid veins are pale;
The swelling liver then her putrid ftore

Begins to drink ev'n yet thy fkill exert,
Nor fuffer weak despair to fold thy arms:
Again deterfive falt apply, or fhed

The hoary medicine o'er their arid food.

In cold stiff foils the bleaters oft complain
Of gouty ails, by fhepherds term'd the halt
Those let the neighb'ring fold or ready crook
Detain; and pour into their cloven feet
Corrofive drugs, deep-fearching arsenic,
Dry allum, verdegrife, or vitriol keen.
But if the doubtful mischief scarce appears,
"Twill ferve to shift them to a dryer turf,
And falt again: th' utility of falt

Teach thy flow fwains: redundant humours cold

Are the diseases of the bleating kind.

Th' infectious fcab, arifing from extremes

Of want or furfeit, is by water cur'd

Of

Of lime, or fodden ftave-acre, or oil
Difperfive of Norwegian tar, renown'd
By virtuous BERKELEY, whofe benevolence
Explor❜d its pow'rs, and eafy medicine thence
Sought for the poor: ye poor, with grateful voice,
Invoke eternal bleffings on his head.

Sheep alfo pleurifies and dropfies know,
Driv❜n oft from nature's path by artful man,
Who blindly turns afide, with haughty hand,
Whom facred inftinct would fecurely lead.
But thou, more humble fwain, thy rural gates
Frequent unbar, and let thy flocks abroad,
From lea to croft, from mead to arid field;
Noting the fickle feafons of the fky.
Rain-fated paftures, let them fhun and seek
Changes of herbage and falubrious flow'rs.
By their all-perfect Mafter inly taught,
They beft their food and phyfick can discern ;
For HE, Supreme Exiftence, ever near,

Informs them. O'er the vivid

O'er the vivid green obferve

With what a regular confent they crop,

At ev'ry fourth collection to the mouth,
E

Unfav'ry