Was but to boast his own peculiar good,

Which all might view with envy, none partake. My charmer is not mine alone; my sweets,

And the that fweetens all my bitters too,

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-universal prize.

Strange that fo fair a creature fhould yet want
Admirers, and be deftin'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 smoke, to the eclipse

That Metropolitan volcanos make,

Whofe 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 madness in the head,
And folly in the heart; were England now

What England was; plain, hofpitable, kind,

And undebauch'd.

But we have bid farewell

To all the virtues of thofe better days,

And all their honest pleasures. Mansions once
Knew their own masters; and laborious hinds,
Who had furviv'd the father, ferv'd the fon.
Now the legitimate and rightful lord

Is but a tranfient gueft, newly arriv'd,
And foon to be fupplanted. He that faw
His patrimonial timber caft its leaf,
Sells the last scantling, and transfers the price
To fome threwd 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'ercharg'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 restless 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!
Th' omnipotent magician, Brown, appears
Down falls the venerable pile, th' abode
Of our forefathers-a grave whifker'd race,
But taftelefs. Springs a palace in its ftead,
But in a distant spot; where, more expos'd
It may enjoy th' advantage of the north,
And aguish eaft, till time fhall have transform'd
Thofe naked acres to a fhelt'ring grove.

He speaks. The lake in front becomes a lawn;
Woods vanifh, hills fubfide, and vallies rife,
And streams, as if created for his ufe,

Purfue the track of his directing wand,

Sinuous or ftraight, now rapid and now flow,
Now murm'ring soft, now roaring in cafcades-
Ev'n as he bids! Th' enraptur'd owner fmiles.
'Tis finish'd, and yet, finish'd as it seems,
Still wants a grace, the lovelieft it could show,
A mine to fatisfy th' enormous coft.

Drain'd to the last poor item of his wealth,

He fighs, departs, and leaves th' accomplish'd plan
That he has touch'd, retouch'd, many a long day
Labour'd, and many a night pursu’d in dreams,
Just when it meets his hopes, and proves the heav'n
He wanted, for a wealthier to enjoy!

And now perhaps the glorious hour is come,
When, having no ftake left, no pledge t' endear
Her int'refts, or that gives her facred cause

A moment's operation on his love,

He burns with most intense and flagrant zeal
To ferve his country. Ministerial grace
Deals him out money from the public chest;

Or, if that mine be fhut, fome private purfe
Supplies his need with an ufurious loan,

To be refunded duly when his vote,

Well-manag'd, fhall have earn'd its worthy price.
Oh innocent, compar'd with arts like thefe,
Crape, and cock'd piftol, and the whistling ball
Sent through the trav❜ller's temples! He that finds
in his cup,

One drop of heav'n's fweet mercy

Can dig, beg, rot, and perish, well content,

So he may wrap himself in honest rags

At his last gasp; but could not for a world

Fish up his dirty and dependent bread

From pools and ditches of the commonwealthy

Sordid and fick❜ning at his own fuccess.

Ambition, av'rice, penury incurr'd

By endless riot, vanity, the luft

Of pleasure and variety, dispatch,

As duly as the swallows disappear,

The world of wand'ring knights and fquires to town.