XVI.

Why brand thefe pleasures with the name Of foft, unfocial toils, of indolence and shame? Search but the garden, or the wood,

Let yon admir'd carnation own,

Not all was meant for raiment, or for food,

Not all for needful use alone;

There while the feeds of future bloffoms dwell, "Tis colour'd for the fight, perfum'd to please the smell. XVII.

Why knows the nightingale to fing?

Why flows the pine's nectareous juice?
Why shines with paint the linnet's wing ♪
For fuftenance alone? for use?

For preservation? Every sphere
Shall bid fair Pleafure's rightful claim appear.
And fure there seem, of human kind,
Some born to fhun the folemn ftrife ;

Some for amusive tasks defign'd,

To foothe the certain ills of life;

Grace its lone vales with many a budding rofe,
New founts of bliss disclose,

Call forth refreshing fhades, and decorate repofe.

XVI

From plains and woodlands; from the view

Of rural Nature's blooming face,

Smit with the glare of rank and place,

To courts the fons of Fancy flew ;

There

There long had Art ordain'd a rival feat ;
There had the lavish'd all her care

To form a scene more dazzling fair,
And call'd them from their

green retreat

To share her proud controul;

Had giv'n the robe with grace to flow,
Had taught exotic gems to glow;

And emulous of Nature's pow'r,
Mimick'd the plume, the leaf, the flow'r;
Chang'd the complexion's native hue,
Moulded each ruftic limb anew,

And warp'd the very foul!
XIX.

Awhile her magic strikes the novel eye,
Awhile the faery forms delight;
And now aloof we seem to fly
On purple pinions through a purer sky,
Where all is wonderous, all is bright:
Now landed on fome fpangled shore
Awhile each dazzled maniac roves

By faphire lakes, through em'rald groves.
Paternal acres please no more;

Adieu the fimple, the fincere delight—
Th' habitual scene of hill and dale,
The rural herds, the vernal gale,
The tangled vetch's purple bloom,
The fragrance of the bean's perfume,
Be theirs alone who cultivate the foil,

And drink the cup of thirst, and eat the bread of toil.

XX. But

XX.

But foon the pageant fades away!

"Tis Nature only bears perpetual fway.

We pierce the counterfeit delight,

Fatigu'd with splendour's irkfome beams,
Fancy again demands the fight

Of native groves, and wonted ftreams,
Pants for the scenes that charm'd her youthful eyes,
Where Truth maintains her court, and banishes disguise.
XXI.

Then hither oft ye fenators retire,

With Nature here high converse hold;
For who like STAMFORD her delights admire,
Like STAMFORD fhall with fcorn behold
Th' unequal bribes of pageantry and gold;
Beneath the British oak's majestic fhade,
Shall fee fair Truth, immortal maid,
Friendship in artless guife array'd,

Honour, and moral Beauty fhine

With more attractive charms, with radiance more divine.

XXII.

Yes, here alone did highest Heav'n ordain

The lafting magazine of charms,

Whatever wins, whatever warms,

Whatever fancy feeks to fhare,

The great, the various, and the fair,
For ever fhould remain !

XXIII. Her

XXIII.

Her impulse nothing may restrain-
Or whence the joy 'mid columns, tow'rs,
'Midst all the city's artful trim,

To rear fome breathless vapid flow'rs,
Or fhrubs fuliginously grim:
From rooms of filken foliage vain,
To trace the dun far diftant grove,
Where fmit with undiffembled pain,
The wood-lark mourns her abfent love,
Borne to the dufty town from native air,

To mimic rural life, and foothe fome vapour'd fair.
XXIV.

But how muft faithlefs Art prevail,
Should all who taste our joy fincere,
To virtue, truth or fcience dear,
Forego a court's alluring pale,

For dimpled brook and leafy grove,

For that rich luxury of thought they love!
Ah no, from these the public sphere requires
Example for its giddy bands;

From these impartial Heav'n demands
To spread the flame itself inspires;

To fift Opinion's mingled mafs,

Imprefs a nation's tafte, and bid the fterling pafs.

XXV.

Happy, thrice happy they,

Whofe graceful deeds have exemplary shone

Round the gay precincts of a throne,

With

With mild effective beams!
Who bands of fair ideas bring,
By folemn grott, or fhady fpring,
To join their pleafing dreams!
Theirs is the rural blifs without alloy,

They only that deferve, enjoy.

What though nor fabled Dryad haunt their grove, i

Nor Naiad near their fountains rove,
Yet all embody'd to the mental fight,
A train of fmiling Virtues bright

Shall there the wife retreat allow,

Shall twine triumphant palms to deck the wanderer's brow.
XXVI.

And though by faithless friends alarm'd,
Art have with Nature wag'd prefumptuous war;
By SEYMOUR'S Winning influence charm'd,
In whom their gifts united shine,

No longer fhall their counfels jar.

"Tis hers to mediate the peace :

Near Percy-lodge, with awe-ftruck mien,
The rebel feeks her lawful Queen,

And havoc and contention cease.

I fee the rival pow'rs combine,

And aid each other's fair defign;

Nature exalt the mound where Art shall build;

Art shape the gay alcove, while Nature paints the field.

XXVII. Begin,