Of their complete effect. Much yet remains
Unfung, and many cares are yet behind,
And more laborious; cares on which depend
Their vigour, injur'd foon, not foon restor❜d.
The foil must be renew'd, which often wash'd,
Lofes its treasure of falubrious falts,
And disappoints the roots; the flender roots
Close interwoven, where they meet the vafe
Must smooth be fhorn away; the fapless branch
Muft fly before the knife; the wither'd leaf
Must be detach'd, and where it ftrews the floor
Swept with a woman's neatnefs, breeding else
Contagion, and diffeminating death.
Discharge but these kind offices, (and who
Would fpare, that loves them, offices like thefe ?)
Well they reward the toil. The fight is pleas'd,
The scent regal'd, each odorif'rous leaf,
Each opening bloffom, freely breathes abroad
Its gratitude, and thanks him with its fweets.
So manifold, all pleafing in their kind,
All healthful, are th' employs of rural life,
Reiterated as the wheel of time
Runs round, ftill ending, and beginning ftill.
Nor are these all. To deck the shapely knoll,
That foftly fwell'd and gaily drefs'd, appears
A flow'ry island, from the dark green lawn
Emerging, must be deem'd a labour due
To no mean hand, and asks the touch of tafte:
Here also graceful mixture of well-match'd
And forted hues, (each giving each relief,
And by contrafted beauty fhining more)
Is needful. Strength may wield the pond'rous fpade,
May turn the clod, and wheel the compoft home, But elegance, chief grace the garden fhows,
And most attractive, is the fair result
Of thought, the creature of a polish'd mind.
Without it, all is Gothic as the scene
To which th' infipid citizen reforts
Near yonder heath; where industry mispent,
But proud to his uncouth ill-chosen task,
Has made a heav'n on earth; with funs and
Of close-ramm'd stones has charg'd th' incumber'd
And fairly laid the Zodiac in the duft.
He therefore who would fee his flow'rs difpos'd Sightly and in just order, ere he gives
The beds the trufted treasure of their feeds,
Forecafts the future whole; that when the scene
Shall break into its preconceiv'd difplay,
Each for itself, and all as with one voice
Confpiring, may atteft his bright defign.
Nor even then, difmiffing as perform'd
His pleasant work, may he fuppofe it done.
Few felf fupported flow'rs endure the wind
Uninjur'd, but expect th' upholding aid
Of the smooth-fhaven prop, and neatly tied,
Are wedded thus like beauty to old age,
For int'reft fake, the living to the dead.
Some cloath the foil that feeds them, far diffus'd
And lowly creeping, modest and yet fair,
Like virtue, thriving moft where little seen.
Some, more afpiring, catch the neighbour shrub
With clasping tendrils, and inveft his branch,
Elfe unadorn'd, with many a gay feftoon
And fragrant chaplet, recompenfing well
The strength they borrow with the grace they
lend.
All hate the rank fociety of weeds,
Noifome, and ever greedy to exhaust
Th' impov'rish'd earth; an overbearing race,
That like the multitude, made faction-mad,
Disturb good order, and degrade true worth.
Oh bleft feclufion 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 fecures the mind
From all affaults of evil, proving still
A faithful barrier, not o'erleap'd with ease
By vicious custom, raging uncontroul'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 breast,
To combat may be glorious, and fuccefs
Perhaps may crown us, but to fly is fafe.
Had I the chice of fublunary good,
What could I wish, that I poffefs not here?
Health, leifure, means t'improve it, friendship,
No loose or wanton, though a wand'ring mufe,
And constant 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 seek the guiltless joys that I describe,
Allur'd by my report: but sure no less,
That, felf-condemn'd, they must neglect the prize,
And what they will not tafte, must yet approve.
What we admire we praise; and when we praise,
Advance it into notice, that its worth
Acknowledg'd, others may admire it too.
I therefore recommend, though at the rifk
Of popular disguft, yet boldly ftill,
The cause of piety and sacred 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 smiles,
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 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, univerfal prize.
Strange that fo fair a creature should 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 fcarcely felt,
And groves, if unharmonious, yet fecure
From clamour, and whofe very filence charms,
To be preferr'd to smoke, to the eclipfe
The Metropolitan volcanos make,
Whofe Stygian throats breathe darkness all day
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