His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train Usurp the land and dispossess the swain; Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose, Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose; And every want to luxury allied,

And every pang that folly pays to pride.

Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, 4 Those calm desires that ask'd but little room, Those healthful sports that grac'd the peaceful

scene,

Liv'd in each look, and brighten'd all the green ; These, far departing, seek a kinder shore,

And rural mirth and manners are no more.

Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour, Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. Here, as I take my solitary rounds, Amidst thy tangling walks, and ruin'd grounds, And, many a year elaps'd, return to view Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew, Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain.

In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs—and God has given my share

• Calm desires] Gentle thoughts, and calm desires !'

Carew's Poems, p. 22.

I still had hopes my latest hours to crown,
Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down;
To husband out life's taper at the close,
And keep the flame from wasting by repose:
I still had hopes, for pride attends us still,
Amidst the swains to show my book-learn❜d skill,
Around my fire an evening group to draw,
And tell of all I felt, and all I saw ;

And as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue,
Pants to the place from whence at first he flew,
I still had hopes, my long vexations past,
Here to return-and die at home at last.

O blest retirement, friend to life's decline, Retreats from care, that never must be mine, How blest is he who crowns in shades like these A youth of labour with an age of ease; Who quits a world where strong temptations try, 5 And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly! For him no wretches, born to work and weep, Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep; No surly porter stands in guilty state, To spurn imploring famine from the gate; But on he moves to meet his latter end, Angels around befriending virtue's friend; Sinks to the grave with unperceiv'd decay, While resignation gently slopes the way;

5 'By struggling with misfortunes we are sure to receive some wound in the conflict; the only method to come off victorious is by running away. The Bee, p. 56.

And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past!

Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close
Up yonder hill the village murmur rose;
There, as I past with careless steps and slow,
The mingling notes came soften'd from below;
The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung,
The sober herd that low'd to meet their young;
The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool,
The playful children just let loose from school;
The watchdog's voice that bay'd the whispering
wind,

And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind;
These all in sweet confusion sought the shade,
6 And fill'd each pause the nightingale had made.
But now the sounds of population fail,

No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale,
No busy steps the grass-grown footway tread,
But all the bloomy flush of life is fled.
All but yon widow'd, solitary thing,

That feebly bends beside the plashy spring;
She, wretched matron, forc'd, in age, for bread,
To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread,
To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn,
To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn;
She only left of all the harmless train,

The sad historian of the pensive plain.

6 And filled] The nightingale's pausing song would be the proper epithet for this bird's music.' An. Nat. i. p. 329.

Near yonder copse, where once the garden smil'd,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild;
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village preacher's modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year;
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had chang'd, nor wish'd to change his
place;

Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour;
Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize,
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.
His house was known to all the vagrant train,
He chid their wanderings, but reliev'd their pain,
The long remember'd beggar was his guest,
7 Whose beard descending swept his aged breast;
The ruin'd spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claim'd kindred there, and had his claims allow'd;
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sate by his fire, and talk'd the night away;
Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done,
Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were

won.

Pleas'd with his guests, the good man learn'd to glow,

And quite forgot their vices in their woe;

7 Whose]

'Stay till my beard shall sweep mine aged breast.' Hall's Satires, p. 79, ed. Singer.

8 Careless their merits, or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began.

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And e'en his failings lean'd to virtue's side; But in his duty prompt at every call,

He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all. And, as a bird each fond endearment tries

To tempt its new fledg'd offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way.

Beside the bed where parting life was laid, And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismay'd, The reverend champion stood. At his control Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul; Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise, And his last faltering accents whisper'd praise.

At church, with meek and unaffected grace, 9 His looks adorn'd the venerable place; 10 Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway,

Want pass'd for merit, at her open door.'

Dryden's Elegies, ii. p. 180.

9 His eyes diffused a venerable grace.'

10

Truth]

Dryden's good Parson, iii. 137.

For thou e'en sin didst in such words array,

That some who came bad parts, went out good play.'

Jasp. Mayne to the Mem. of B. Jonson.

Col. Poems, i. P. 256.

v. Nicholls'