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.

Your bounded fouls, and your conceptions crude,

The proud, the selfish boast difown:

Yours be the produce of the foil:

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

Of clinging infants, ask support in vain ?

But tho' the various harvest gild your plains,
Does the mere landscape feast your eye?
Or the warm hope of diftant gains
Far other caufe of glee supply?
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?

Athirft 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❜4

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

The dappled mead without a smile.

O let a rural conscious mufe,

For well she knows, your froward sense accuse: Forth to the folemn oak you bring the square, 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 swain,
Nor our untutor'd sense disdain:
'Tis nature only gives exclufive right
To relish her fupreme delight;

She, where the pleases kind or coy,
Who furnishes the fcene, 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 dafh 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.

H

With

With what fufpicious fearful care

The fordid wretch secures his claim,

If haply fome luxurious heir

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

Should litigate a span of earth!

Bonds, contracts, feoffments, names unmeet for profe,
The towering muse endures not to disclose;
Alas! her unrevers'd decree,

More comprehenfive and more free,

Her lavish charter, tafte, appropriates all we see.

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 breast to admiration prone
Enjoys the fmile 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

When cloy'd with merited applause,
She feeks the rural calm retreat;
Does the not praise each moffy cell,
And feel the truth my numbers tell?
When deafen'd by the loud acclaim,
Which genius grac'd with rank obtains,
Could she not more delighted hear
Yon throstle chaunt the rifing year?
Could the not spurn the wreaths of fame,
To crop the primrose of the plains?
Does the not sweets in each fair valley find,
Loft to the fons of pow'r, unknown to half mankind?

Ah can fhe covet there to fee
The fplendid flaves, the reptile race,

That oil the tongue, and bow the knee,
That flight her merit, but adore her place?
Far happier, if aright I deem,

When from gay throngs, and gilded spires,
To where the lonely halcyons play,

Her philofophic step retires:

While ftudious of the moral theme,

She, to fome smooth fequefter'd ftream

Liken's the fwain's inglorious day;
Pleas'd from the flowery margin to furvey,
How cool, ferene, and clear the current glides away.,

O blind to truth, to virtue blind,
Whe flight the sweetly-penfive mind!
On whose fair birth the graces mild,
And every mufe prophetic fmil'd
H 2

Not

Not that the poet's boasted fire

Should fame's wide-echoing trumpet fwell; Or, on the mufic of his lyre

Each future age with rapture dwell; The vaunted fweets of praise remove, Yet fhall fuch bofoms claim a part

In all that glads the human heart;

Yet these the fpirits, form'd to judge and prove All nature's charms immenfe, and heaven's unbounded

And oh; the transport, most ally'd to song,
In fome fair villa's peaceful bound,
To catch foft hints from nature's tongue,
And bid ARCADIA bloom around:
Whether we fringe the floping hill,

Or fmoothe below the verdant mead;
Whether we break the falling rill,

Or thro' meandering mazes lead; Or in the horrid bramble's room

Bid careless groups

of roses bloom;

Or let fome shelter'd lake ferene

[love.

Reflect flow'rs, woods and fpires, and brighten all the scene.

O fweet difpofal of the rural hour;

O beauties never known to cloy!

While worth and genius haunt the favour'd bow'r,

And every gentle breaft partakes the joy!

While charity at eve furveys the fwain,.
Enabled by thefe tôils to chear

A train of helpless infants dear,

Speed whiftling home across the plain;

See