Oh, blest seclusion from a jarring world,
Which he, thus occupied, enjoys! Retreat
Cannot indeed to guilty man restore
Loft innocence, or cancel follies past ;
But it has peace, and much secures the mind
From all affaults of evil; proving ftill
A faithful barrier, not o'erleap'd with ease
By vicious custom, raging uncontroll'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 breaft,
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 loofe 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 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 less,

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 praise,
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 thofe fcenes which God ordain'd
Should best secure them and promote them moft;
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 chafte, though unconfin'd, whom I extol.
Not as the prince in Shufhan, when he call'd,
Vain-glorious of her charms, his Vashti forth
To grace the full pavilion. His defign}
Was but to boaft 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 whofe form.
And lineaments divine I trace a hand
That errs not, and find rapture

ftill 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 fhe 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 wholefome airs, though unperfum
By rofes; and clear funs, though fcarcely 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 volcanoes make,

Whofe Stygian throats breathe darkness all day long;
And to the flir 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 honeft pleafures. Mansions 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 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 fhrewd fharper, ere it buds again.
Eftates are landscapes, gaz'd upon a while,
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 ftrip and ftarve themselves.
The wings that waft our riches out of fight
Grow on the gamefter's elbows; and th' alert
And nimble motion of thofe 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!
Th' omnipotent magician, Brown, appears!
Down falls the venerable pile, th' abode
Of our forefathers-a grave whisker'd race,
But taftelefs. Springs a palace in its ftead,
But in a diftant fpot; where, more expos'd,
It may enjoy th' advantage of the north,
And aguish eaft, till time fhall have transformı'd
Those naked acres to a fhelt'ring grove.
He speaks, the lake in front becomes a lawn;
Woods vanish, hills fubfide, and valleys rife;
And ftreams, as if created for his use,

Pursue the track of his directing wand;
Sinuous or ftraight, now rapid, and now flow,
Now murm'ring foft, now roaring in cascades-
Ev'n as he bids! Th' enraptur'd owner fmiles.
'Tis finifh'd, and yet, finish'd as it seems,
Still wants a grace, the lovelieft it could fhow,
A mine to fatisfy th' enormous cost.

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 purfu'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 stake left, no pledge t' endear
Her int'refts, or that gives her facred caufe
A moment's operation on his love,

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