x

against him, that he loses; and one lofs may
be of
more confequence to him than all his former winnings.
It is like the present war of the Chriftians against the
Turk; every year they gain a victory, and by that a
town; but if they are once defeated, they lose a pro-
vince at a blow, and endanger the safety of the whole
empire. You, my lord, enjoy your quiet in a garden,
where you have not only the leifure of thinking, but
the pleasure to think of nothing which can difcompofe
your mind. A good confcience is a port which is
land-locked on every fide, and where no winds can
poffibly invade, no tempefts can arife. There a man
may stand upon the thore, and not only see his own
image, but that of his Maker, clearly reflected from
the undisturbed and filent waters. Reafon was in-
tended for a bleffing, and fuch it is to men of honour
and integrity; who defire no more than what they
are able to give themselves; like the happy old Cori-
cyan, whom my author defcribes in his Fourth Geor-
gic; whofe fruits and fallads, on which he lived con-
tented, were all of his own growth, and his own
plantation. Virgil feems to think that the bleffings of
a country life are not complete, without an improve-
ment of knowledge by contemplation and reading.

"O fortunatos nimiùm, bona fi fua norint,
"Agricolas !"

It is but half poffeffion not to understand that happiness which we poffefs: a foundation of good sense, and a cultivation of learning, are required to give a feafoning

seasoning to retirement, and make us tafte the blef- | fing. God has bestowed on your lordship the first of thefe, and you have bestowed on yourself the second. Eden was not made for beafts, though they were fuffered to live in it, but for their mafter, who studied God in the works of his creation. Neither could the devil have been happy there with all his knowledge, for he wanted innocence to make him fo. He brought envy, malice, and ambition into paradife, which foured to him the sweetness of the place. Wherever) inordinate affections are, it is hell. Such only can enjoy the country, who are capable of thinking when they are there, and have left their paffions behind them in the town. Then they are prepared for folitude; and in that folitude is prepared for them

"Et fecura quies, et nefcia fallere vita."

As I began this dedication with a verfe of Virgil, fo I conclude it with another. The continuance of your health, to enjoy that happiness which you so well deferve, and which you have provided for yourself, is the fincere and earnest wish of

Your lordship's

moft devoted, and

moft obedient fervant,

JOHN DRYDEN.

The Poet, in the beginning of this Book, propounds the general defign of each Georgic: and, after a folemn invocation of all the gods who are any way related to his fubject, he addresses himself in particular to Auguftus, whom he compliments with divinity; and after ftrikes into his bufinefs. He fhews the different kinds of tillage proper to different foils, traces out the original of agriculture, gives a catalogue of the husbandman's tools, fpecifies the employments peculiar to each season, describes the changes of the weather, with the figns in heaven and earth that forebode them. Inftances many of the prodigies that happened near the time of Julius Cæfar's death. And fhuts up all with a fupplication to the gods for the fafety of Auguftus, and the prefervation of Rome.

WHAT makes a plenteous harvest, when to turn The fruitful foil, and when to fow the corn;

The

The care of fheep, of oxen, and of kine;
And how to raife on elms the teeming vine;
The birth and genius of the frugal bee,
I fing, Mæcenas, and I fing to thee.

Ye Deities! who fields and plains protect,
Who rule the seasons, and the year
direct;
Bacchus and foftering Ceres, Powers divine,
Who gave us corn for maft, for water wine:
Ye Fawns, propitious to the rural swains,

5

ΤΟ

Ye Nymphs that haunt the mountains and the plains,
Join in my work, and to my numbers bring
Your needful fuccour, for your gifts I fing.
And thou, whofe trident ftruck the teeming earth, 15
And made a paffage for the courfer's birth;
And thou, for whom the Caan fhore fuftains
The milky herds, that graze the flowery plains;
And thou, the fhepherds tutelary god,

Leave for a while, O Pan! thy lov❜d abode :
And, if Arcadian fleeces be thy care,

From fields and mountains to my fong repair.
Inventor, Pallas, of the fattening oil,

Thou founder of the plough and plough-man's toil;
And thou, whofe hands the shroud-like cypress

rear;

25

Come all ye gods and goddesses that wear
The rural honours, and increase the year.
You, who fupply the ground with feeds of grain;
And you, who fwell thofe feeds with kindly rain:
And chiefly thou, whofe undetermin'd state
Is yet the bufinefs of the gods debate;

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