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And fairly laid the Zodiac in the duft.

He therefore who would fee his flow'rs difpos'd Sightly and in just order, `ere he gives

The beds the trusted treasure of their feeds,
Forecafts the future whole; that when the scene
Shall break into its preconceiv'd display,

Each for itself, and all as with one voice
Confpiring, may atteft his bright design.
Nor even then, difmiffing as perform'd
His pleasant work, may he suppose it done.
Few felf fupported flow'rs endure the wind
Uninjur'd, but expect th' upholding aid
Of the fmooth-fhaven prop, and neatly tied,
Are wedded thus like beauty to old age,
For int'reft fake, the living to the dead.

Some cloath the foil that feeds them, far diffus'd
And lowly creeping, modest and yet fair,
Like virtue, thriving most where little seen.
Some, more afpiring, catch the neighbour shrub
With clafping tendrils, and invest his branch,
Elfe unadorn'd, with many a gay feftoon
And fragrant chaplet, recompenfing well

The ftrength they borrow with the grace they lend
All hate the rank fociety of weeds,

Noisome, and ever greedy to exhaust

Th

Th' impov'rish'd earth; an overbearingrace,
That like the multitude, made faction-mad,
Disturb good order, and degrade true worth.
Oh bleft feclufion from a jarring world,
Which he, thus occupied, enjoys! Retreat
Cannot indeed to guilty man restore
Loft innocence, or cancel follies paft,
But it has peace, and much fecures the mind
From all affaults of evil, proving still

A faithful barrier, not o'erleap'd with ease
By vicious custom, raging uncontroul'd
Abroad, and defolating public life.

When fierce temptation, feconded within
By traitor appetite, and arm'd with darts
'Temper'd in hell, invades the throbbing breast,
To combat may be glorious, and fuccefs
Perhaps may crown us, but to fly is fafe.
Had I the choice of fublunary good,

What could I wish, that I poffefs not here ?

Health, leifure, means t' improve it, friendship,

peace,

No loose or wanton, though a wand'ring mufe,
And conftant occupation without care.

Thus bleft, I draw a picture of that blifs;
Hopeless indeed that diffipated minds,

And

And profligate abusers of a world

Created fair fo much in vain for them,

Should feek the guiltlefs joys that I defcribe,
Allur'd by my report but fure no lefs,

That, felf-condemn'd, they must neglect the prize,
And what they will not taste, must yet approve.
What we admire we praife; and when we praife,
Advance it into notice, that its worth
Acknowledg'd, others may admire it too.
I therefore recommend, though at the risk
Of popular difguft, yet boldly still,

The caufe of piety and facred truth,

And virtue, and those scenes which God ordain'd Should best secure them and promote them most ;

1

Scenes that I love, and with regret perceive
Forfaken, or through folly not enjoy'd.
Pure is the nymph, though lib'ral of her fmiles,
And chate, though unconfin'd, whom I extol.
Not as the prince in Shuhan, when he call'd,
Vain-glorious of her charms, his Vashti forth
the full pavilion. His defign

To grace

Was but to boast his own peculiar good, Which all might view with envy, none partake. My charmer is not mine alone; my fweets,

And she that sweetens all my bitters too,

Nature,

Nature, enchanting Nature, in whose form
And lineaments divine I trace a hand
That errs not, and find raptures still renew'd,
Is free to all men, univerfal prize.

Strange that fo fair a creature should yet want
Admirers, and be destin'd to divide

With meaner objects, ev'n the few she finds!
Stripp'd of her ornaments, her leaves and flow'rs,
She lofes all her influence. Cities then

Attract us, and neglected Nature pines,
Abandon'd, as unworthy of our love.
But are not wholesome airs, though unperfum'd
By rofes; and clear funs, though scarcely felt,
And
groves, if unharmonious, yet fecure

From clamour, and whofe very filence charms,.
To be preferr❜d to fmoke, to the eclipse

That Metropolitan volcanos make,

Whose Stygian throats breathe darkness all day. long,

And to the ftir of commerce, driving flow,
And thund'ring loud, with his ten thousand wheels?
They would be, were not madnefs in the head,
And folly in the heart; were England now
What England was, plain, hofpitable, kind,
And undebauch'd. But we have bid farewel

Το

To all the virtues of those better days,

And all their honeft pleasures. Manfions once
Knew their own mafters, and laborious hinds,
Who had furviv'd the father, ferv'd the fon
Now the legitimate and rightful Lord
Is but a tranfient guest, newly arriv❜d,
And foon to be fupplanted. He that faw
His patrimonial timber caft its leaf,

Sells the laft fcantling, and transfers the price
To some shrewd fharper, ere it buds again.
Estates are landscapes, gaz'd upon awhile,
Then advertis'd, and auctioneer'd away.
The country starves, and they that feed th' o'er-
charg'd

And furfeited lewd town with her fair dues,
By a juft judgment strip and starve themselves.
The wings that waft our riches out of fight
Grow on the gamefter's elbows, and th' alert
And nimble motion of those reftlefs joints,
That never tire, foon fans them all away.
Improvement too, the idol of the age,
Is fed with many a victim. Lo! he comes-
The omnipotent magician, Brown, appears.
Down falls the venerable pile, th' abode
Of our forefathers, a grave whisker'd race,

But

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