Expos'd their inexperience to the snare,

And left them to an undirected choice.

See then the quiver broken and decay'd,
In which are kept our arrows! Rusting there
In wild disorder, and unfit for use,

What wonder, if, discharg'd into the world,
They shame their shooters with a random flight,
Their points obtuse, and feathers drunk with wine!
Well may the church wage unsuccessful war
With such artillery arm'd. Vice parries wide 810
Th' undreaded volley with a sword of straw,
And stands an impudent and fearless mark.

Have we not track'd the felon home, and found His birthplace and his dam? The country mourns, Mourns because ev'ry plague, that can infest Society, and that saps and worms the base Of th' edifice, that policy has rais'd,

Swarms in all quarters: meets the

eye, the ear,

And suffocates the breath at ev'ry turn.

820

Profusion breeds them; and the cause itself
Of that calamitous mischief has been found:
Found too where most offensive, in the skirts
Of the rob'd pedagogue! Else let th' arraign'd
Stand up unconscious, and refute the charge.
So, when the Jewish leader stretch'd his arm,
And wav'd his rod divine, a race obscene,
Spawn'd in the muddy beds of Nile, came forth,
Polluting Egypt: gardens, fields, and plains,
Were cover'd with the pest; the streets were fill'd;
The croaking nuisance lurk'd in ev'ry nook;
Nor palaces, nor even chambers, 'scap'd:

And the land stank-so num'rous was the fry. 832

THE TASK.

BOOK III.

THE ARGUMENT.

Self-recollection, and reproof.—Address to domestic happiness.-Some account of myself.-The vanity of many of their pursuits, who are reputed wise.-Justification of my censures.-Divine illumination necessary to the most expert philosopher.—The question, What is truth? answered by other questions.-Domestic happiness addressed again.-Few lovers of the country. My tame hare.-Occupations of a retired gentleman in his garden.--Pruning.-Framing.-Greenhouse.-Sowing of flower seeds.-The country preferable to the town even in the winter.— Reasons why it is deserted at that season.-Ruinous effects of gaming and of expensive improvement.— Book concludes with an apostrophe to the metropolis.

THE TASK.

As

BOOK III.

THE GARDEN.

one, who long in thickets and in brakes
Entangled winds now this way and now that
His devious course uncertain, seeking home;
Or, having long in miry ways been foil'd
And sore discomfited, from slough to slough
Plunging and half-despairing of escape;

If chance at length he find a greensward smooth
And faithful to the foot, his spirits rise,

He cherups brisk his ear-erecting steed,

And winds his way with pleasure and with ease;

So I, designing other themes, and call'd

T' adorn the Sofa with eulogium due,

To tell it's slumbers, and to paint it's dreams,