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 fmile.

O let a rural confcious mufe,

For well she knows, your froward sense accuse: Forth to the folemn oak you bring the fquare, And span 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 the pleases 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 their foaming tides,

The mountain fwells, the dale subsides;

Ev'n thriftless furze detains their wandering fight,

And the rough barren rock grows pregnant with delight.

With

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 fome 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 comprehensive and more free,

Her lavish charter, taste, 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 fimile upon her face,
Enjoys triumphant every grace,
And finds her more his own.

Fatigu'd

Fatigu'd with form's oppreffive laws,
When SOMERSET avoids the great;
When cloy'd with merited applause,
She feeks the rural calm retreat;
Does fhe not praife 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 the not more delighted hear
Yon throftle chaunt the rifing year?
Could the not fpurn the wreaths of fame,
To crop the primrofe 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 fpires,
To where the lonely halcyons play,

Her philofophic step retires :

While ftudious of the moral theme,

She, to fome smooth fequefter'd ftream

Likens the fwain's inglorious day;

Pleas'd from the flowery margin to furvey,

How cool, ferene, and clear the current glides away.

O blind

O blind to truth, to virtue blind,
Who flight the sweetly-penfive mind!
On whofe fair birth the graces mild,
And every mufe prophetic fmil'd.

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 shall such bofoms claim a part

In all that glads the human heart;

Yet these the spirits, form'd to judge and prove [love. All nature's charms immense, and heaven's unbounded

And oh the tranfport, most ally'd to fong,
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 carelefs

groups of rofes bloom;

Or let fome fhelter'd lake ferene

[fcene.

Reflect flow'rs, woods and spires, and brighten all the

O fweet

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 breast partakes the joy!
While charity at eve furveys the fwain,
Enabled by these toils to chear
A train of helpless infants dear,
Speed whistling home across the plain;
See vagrant luxury, her hand-maid grown,

For half her graceless deeds atone,

[own.

And hails the bounteous work, and ranks it with her

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 ufe alone;

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

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 prefervation? Every sphere
Shall bid fair pleafure's rightful claim

appear.

And