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And where they nothing have to do but please: Ah! gracious God! thou know'st they ask no other fees.

But now, alas! we live too late in time:
Our patrons now even grudge that little claim,
Except to such as sleek the soothing rhyme;
Andyet, forsooth, they wear Maecenas naine:
Poor sons of puft-up vanity, not fame.
Unbroken spirits cheer! still, still remains
The eternal patron, Liberty; whose flame,
While she protects, inspires the noblest strains.
The best, and sweetest far, are toil-created gains.
When as the knight had franı'd in Britain-land
A matchless form of glorious government,
In which the sov'reign law alone command,
Laws 'stablish'd by the public free consent,
Whose majesty is to the scepire lent;
When this great plan, with each dependentart,
Was settled firm), and to his heart's content,
Then sought he from the toilsome scene to part,
And let life's vacant eve breathe quiet thro' the
heart.

For this he chose a farm in Deva's vale,
Where his long alleys peep'd upon the main;
In this calin seat he drew the health gale,
Heremix'd the chief, the patriot, and theswain.
The happy monarch of his sylvan train,
Here, sided by the guardians of the fold,
He walk'd his rounds, and cheer'd his blest
domain:

His days, the days of unstain'd nature, roll'd,
Replete with peace and joy, like patriarchs of old.
Witness ye lowing herds, who gave him milk;
Witness, ve flocks, whose woolly vestments far
Exceed soft India's cotton, or her silk; [car,
Witness, with autumn charg'd, the nodding|
That homeward came beneath sweet evening's
Orof September moons the radiance mild. [star;
O hide thy head, abominable war!
Of crimes and ruffian idleness the child!
From heaven this life ysprung, from hell thy
glories wild!

Nor from his deep retirement banish'd was
The musing care of rural industry.

Still as with grateful change the seasons pass,
Newscenes arise, new landscapes striketheeye,
And all the enliven'd country beautify:
Gay plains extend where marshes slept before;
O'er recent meads the exulting streamlets fly
Dark frowning heaths grow bright ith Ceres'
store,
[the shore.
And woods embrown the steep, or wave along
As nearer to his farm you made approach,
He polish'd nature with a finer hand:
Yet on her beauties durst not art encroach;
"Tis art's alone these beauties to expand.
In graceful dance immingled, o'er the land,
Pans, Pales, Flora, and Pomona play'd :
Here too, brisk gales the rude wild common
fann'd,

An happy place where free and unafraid, Amid the flow'ring brakes each coyer creature stray'd.

But in prime vigor what can last for ay? That soul-enfeebling wizard Indolence, I whilom sung, wrought in his works decay : Spread far and wide was his curs'd influence; Of public virtue much he dull'd the sense, Even much of private; ate our spirit out, And fed our rank luxurions vices; whence The land was overlaid with many a lout; Not, as old fame reports, wise, gen'rons, bold,

and stout.

A rage of pleasure madden'd ev'ry breast, Down to the lowest lees the ferment ran: To his licentious wish each must be bless'd, With joy be fever'd; snatch it as he can. Thus vice the standard rear'd; her arrier-ban Corruption call'd, and loud she gave the word, "Mind, mind yourselves! why should the “vulgar man,

"The lacquey be more virtuous than his lord? "Enjoy this span of life! 'tis all the gods afford." The tidings reach'd to where, in quiet hall, The good old knight enjoy'd well-earn'drepose. Come, come, Sir Knight! thy children on "thee call;

"Come, save us yet, ere ruin round us close; "The demon Indolence thy toil o'erthrows." On this the noble color stain'd his cheeks, Indignant, glowing thro' the whitening snows Of venerable eld; his eye full speaks [breaks. His ardent soul, and from his couch at once he I will (he cried), so help me, God! destroy That villain Archimage. His page thea He to him call'd, a fiery-footed boy, [stright Bonempt Dispatch. "My steed be at the gate, Mybardattend; quick, bring the net offate.” This net was twisted by the sisters three: Which when once cast o'er harden'd wretch, too late

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Repentance comes: replevy cannot be From the strong iron grasp of vengeful destiny. He came, the bard, a little druid wight, Of wither'd aspect; but his eye was keen, With sweetness mix'd. In russet brown be As is his sister in the copses green, [dight, He crept along, unpromising of mien. Gross he who judges so. His soul was fair, Bright as the children of yon azure sheen. True comeliness, which nothing can impair, Dwells in the mind: all else is vanity and glare. Come (quoth the knight), a voice has reach'"

mine ear:

The demon Indolence threats overthrow To all that to mankind is good and dear: Come, Philomelus; let us instant go, O'erturn his bowers, and lay his castle low. Those men, those wretched men, who will be slaves,

• The Nightingale. '

Must

Must drink a bitter wrathful cup of woe: But some there be, thy song,as fromtheirgraves, Shall raise. Thrice happy he! who without rigor saves.

Issuing forth, the knight bestrode his steed, Of ardent bay, and on whose front a star Shone blazing bright: sprung from the generous breed

That whirl of active day the rapid car, He prane'd along, disdaining gate or bar. Mean time, the bard on milk-whitepalfreyrode; An honest sober beast, that did not mar His meditations, but full softly trode: And much they moraliz'd as thus y fere they yode. They talk'd of virtue, and of human bliss; What else so fit for man to settle well? And still their long researches met in this, This truth of truths, which nothing can refel: "From virtue's fount the purest joys out-well,

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Sweet rills of thought that cheer the con"scious soul;

"While vice pours forth the troubled streams "of hell,

"The which, howe'erdisguis'd, atlastwithdole! "Will through the tortur'd breast their fiery " torrent roll."

At length it dawn'd, that fatal valley gay, O'er which high wood-crown'd hills their summits rear.

On the cool height awhile our palmers stay, Andspite even of themselves their senses cheer; Then to thewizard'swonne theirstepstheysteer. Like a green isle, it broad beneath then spread, With gardens round, and wandering currents clear,

And tufted groves to shed the meadow bed, Sweet airs and song and without hurry all seem'd glad.

"As God shall judge me, knight, we must for(The half-enraptur'd Philomelus cried) [give The frail good man deluded here to live,

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"And in these groves his musing fancy hide. "Ah! nought is pure. It cannot be denied, That virtue still some tincture has of vice, "And vice of virtue. What should then betide, "But that our charity be not too nice? "Come, let us those we can to real bliss entice." "Ay, sicker (quoth the knight) all flesh is frail, "To pleasant sin and joyous dalliance bent; "But let not brutish vice of this avail, "And think to 'scape deserved punishment. Justice were cruel weakly to relent;

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"From mercy's self she got her sacred glaive: "Grace be to those who will, and can repent: "But penance long, and dreary to the slave, "Who must in floods of fire his gross foul spirit "lave."

Thus,holdinghighdiscourse,theycametowhere
The cursed carle was at his wonted trade,
Still tempting heedless men into his snare,

In witching wise, as 1 before have said, But when he saw, in goodly geer array'd, The grave majestic knight approaching nigh, And by his side the bard so sage and staid, His count'nance fell; yet oft his anxious cye Mark'd them, like wily fox who roosted cock doth spy.

Nathless, with feign'd respect, he bade give back The rabble-rout,and welcom'd them full kind; Struck with the noble twain, theywere not slack His orders to obey, and fall behind.

Then he resum'd his song; and unconfin'd Pour'd all his music, ran thro' all his strings: With magic dust their eyne he tries to blind, And virtue's tender airs o'er nature flings. What pity base his song who so divinely sings! Elate in thought, he counted them his own, They listen'd so intent with fix'd delight : But they instead, as if transmew'd to stone, Marvel'd he could with such sweet art unite The lights and shades of manners, wrong and right.

Meantime, the silly crowd the charm devour, Wide pressing to the gate. Swift on the knight He darted fierce, to drag him to his bower, Who back'ning shunn'd his touch, for well he knew it's power.

As in throng'd amphitheatre of old, The weary Retiarius* trapp'd his foe; Ev'n so the knight, returning on him bold, At once involv'd him in the net of woe, Whereof I mention made not long ago. Enrag'd at first, he scorn'd so weak a jail, And leap'd, and flew, and flounced to and fro ; But when he found that nothing could avail, He sat him felly down, and gnaw'd his bitter nail.

Alarm'd, the inferior demons of the place Rais'd rueful shrieks and hideous yells around; Black stormy clouds deform'd the welkin's face, And from beneath was heard a wailing sound, As of infernal sprights in cavern bound; A solemn madness ev'ry creature strook, And lightnings flash'd, and horror rock'd the ground; [mish'd look, Huge crowds on crowds out-pour'd with bleAs if on time's last verge this frame of things

had shook.

Soon as the short-liv'd tempest was yspent, Steam'd from the jaws of vex'd Avernus' hòle, And hush'd the hubbub of the rabblement, Sir Industry the first calm moment s:ole: "There must (he cried) amid so vast a shoal "Be some who are not tainted at the heart, "Not poison'd quite by this same villain's "bowl: [pare:

"Come then, my bard, thy heavenly fire im"Touch soul with soul, till forth the latent “spirit start.”

The bard obey'd; and taking from his side, Where it in seemly sort depending hung,

• A Gladiator, who made use of a net, which he threw over his adversary. Ee2

His

His British harp, its speaking strings he tried, The which with skilful touch he deftly strung, Till tinkling in clear symphony they rung, Then, as he felt the Muses come along, Light o'er the cords his raptur'd hand he flung, And play'd a prelude to his rising song : The whilst, like midnight mute, ten thousands round him throng.

Thus ardent burst his strain

"Ye hapless race, "Dire-laboring here to smother reason's ray, "That lights our Maker's image in our face, And gives us wide o'er earth unquestion'd

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"sway;

"What is the ador'd Supreme Perfection, say? "What, but eternal never-resting soul,

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Almighty power, and all directing day;

By whom each atom stirs, the planets roil; "Who fills, surrounds, informs, and agitates "the whole!

"Come, to the beaming God your hearts “unfold!

[alone "Draw from its fountain life! 'Tis hence "We can excel. Up from unfeeling mold, "To scraphs burning round the Almighty's "throne,

"Life rising still on life, in higher tone, "Perfection forms, and with perfection bliss. "In universal nature this clear shown, "Not needeth proof: to prove it were, I wis, "To prove the beauteous world excels the brute abyss.

"Is not the field, with lively culture green, "A joyous sight more than the green morass? "Do not the skies, with active ether clean, "And fann'd by sprightly zephyrs, far sur་་ pass [mass, "The foul November fogs, and slumb'rous "With which sad Nature veils her drooping "face? [glass,

"Does not the mountain-stream, as clear as "Gay dancing on, the putrid pool disgrace? "The same in all holds true, but chief in hu

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"With brother brutes the human race had "graz'd;

"None e'er had soar'd to fame, none honor'd "been, none prais'd.

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"Great Homer's song had never fir'd the breast "To thirst of glory and heroic deeds; "Sweet Maro's Muse, sunk in inglorious rest, "Had silent slept amid the Mincian reeds: 66 The wits of modern time had told their "beads,

And monkish legendsbeen their only strains: "Our Milton's Eden had lain wraptin weeds, "Our Shakspeare stroll'd and laugh'd with "Warwick swains; [plains. Ne had iny master Spenser charm'd his Mulla's "Dumb too had been the sage historic Muse, "And perish'd all the sons of antient fame; Those starry lights of virtue that diffuse "Through the dark depth of time their vivid flame,

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"Who does not act is dead: absorpt entire

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In miry sloth, no pride, no joy he hath ; "O leaden-hearted men, to be in love with death! "Ah! what avail the largest gifts of Heaven "When drooping health and spirits go amiss? "How tasteless then whatever can be given! "Health is the vital principle of bliss, "And exercise of health. In proof of this, "Behold the wretch, who slugs his life away, Soon swallow'd in disease's sad abyss ; While he whom toil has brac'd, or manly "play, [as day Has light as air each limb, each thoughtas clear "who can speak the vigorous joys of health?

It was not by vile loitering in ease That Greece obtain'd the brighter palin of "That soft yet ardent Athens learn'd to please, "To keen the wit, and to sublime the heart," "In all supreme! complete in every part! "It was not thence majestic Rome arose, "And o'er the nations shook her conquering

"dart :

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Unclogg'd the body, unobseur'd the mind; "The morning rises gay; with pleasing stealth, "The temperate evening falls serene and kind In health the wiser brutes true gladness find "See! how the younglings frisk along the 'meads, [wind: "As May comes on, and wakes the balmy Rampant with life, their joy all joy exceeds Yet what but high-strung health this daucing "pleasaunce breeds?

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"But here, instead, is fostered every ill, "Which or distemper'd minds or bodiesknow "Come then, my kindred spirits! do not spill "Your

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Th' awaken'd heaps, in streamlets from on
Rous'd into action, lively leap away, [high,
Glad-warbling through the vales, in their new
being gay.

Not less the life, the vivid joy serene,
That lighted up these new created men,
Than that which wings th' exulted spirit clean
When, just deliver'd from this fleshy den,
It soaring seeks its native skies agen. [pow'rs,
How light its essence! how unclogg'd its
Beyond the blazon of my moral pen!
Even so we glad forsook these sinful bowers,
Even such enraptur'd life, such energy was ours.
But far the greater part, with rage enflam'd,
Dire-mutter'd curses, and blasphem'd high
Jove,

say) "Even death despis'd by generous actions. "All, but for those who to these bowers re"Their very power dissolv'd in luxury, [pair, "To quit of torpid sluggishness the lair, And from the powerful arms of sloth get "free [be!

* "Tis rising from the dead—Alas!

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- It cannot "Would you then learn to dissipate the band "Of these nuge threatening difficulties dire, "That in the weak man's way like lions "stand,

"

"His soul appal, and damp his rising fire?
Resolve, resolve, and to be men aspire.
"Exert that noblest privilege, alone
"Here to mankind indulg'd: control desire:
"Let godlike Reason, from her sovereign
"throne,
[is done.
Speak the commanding word- I will—and it
Heavens! can you then thus waste, in
shameful wise,

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"Your few important days of trial here?
Heirs of eternity! yborn to rise
"Through endless states of being still more

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"Ye sons of hate! (they bitterly exclaim'd) "What brought you to this seat of peace

" and love?

"While with kind nature, here amid the grove,
"We pass'd the harmless sabbath of our
time,

"What to disturb it could, fell men, emove
"Your barbarous hearts? Is happiness a
"crime?
[sublime."
Then do the fiends of hell rule in yon heaven
"Ye impious wretches," quoth the knight
in wrath,

"Your happiness behold!"-Then straight
a wand

He way'd, an anti-magic power that hath, Truth from illusive falsehood to command. Sudden, the landscape sinks on ev'ry hand; The pure quick streams are marshy puddles found; stand;

On baleful heaths the groves all blacken'd And o'er the weedy soul abhorred ground, Snakes, adders, toads, each loathsome creature crawls around.

And here and there, on trees by lightning
scath'd,

Unhappy wights who loathed life yhung:
Or, in fresh gore and recent murder bath'd,
They weltting lay; or else, infuriate flung
Into the gloomy flood, while ravens sung
The funeral dirge, they down the torrent
rowl'd:

night control'd

These, by distemper'd blood to madness stung,
Had dooin'd themselves; whence oft, when
[howl'd.
The world, returning hither their sad spirits
Meantime a moving scene was open Jaid;
That lazar house, I whilom in my lay
Depainted have, its horrors deep display'd, .
And gave unnumber'd wretches to the day,
Who tossing there in squalid misery lay.
Soon as of sacred light the unwonted smile
Pour'd on these living catacombs its ray,
Through the drear caverns stretching many
á mile,

The sick uprais'd their heads, and dropp'd their
woes a while.
O heaven!

Ee 3

"O heaven! (they cried) and do we once.

"more see

"Yon blessed sun and this green earth so fair? "Arcwefromnoisomedamp-ofpest-housefree? "And drink our souls the sweet ethereal air? "Othou! or Knight, or God! whoholdestthere "That fiend, oh keep him in eternal chains! "But what for us, the children of despair, "Brought to the brink of hell, what hope [pains.'

"" remains?

Repentance does itself but aggravate our
The gentle Knight, who saw their rueful case,
Let fall adown his silver beard some tears.
"Certes (quoth he) it is not even in grace

T'undo the past, and eke your broken years: "Nathless, to nobler worlds Repentance rears, "With humble hope, her eye; to her is given

A pow'r the truly contrite heart that cheers; "She quells the brand by which the rocks "are riven; [Heaven.

She more than merely softens, she rejoices "Then patient bear the sufferings you have "earn'd,

And by these sufferings purify the mind: "Let wisdom be by past misconduct learn'd; "Or pious die, with penitence resign'd;

And to a life more happy and refin'd, "Doubt not, you shall new creatures yet arise. "Till then you may expect in me to find "One who will wipe your sorrow from your

"eyes;

One who will soothe your pangs, and wing you to the skies."

tears.

They silent heard, and pour'd their thanks in [tone) "For you (resum'd the Knight with sterner "Whose hard dry hearts th' obdurate demon "fears, [groan;

“That villain's gifts will cost you many a "In dolorous mansion long you must bemoan

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His fatal charms, and weep your stains away: "Till soft and pure as infant goodness grown,

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You feel a perfect change: then, who can say, What grace may yet shine forth in heaven's

"eternal day?"

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In which they bade each lenient aid be nigh, That could the sick-bed smoothe of that sad company.

It was a worthy edifying sight,

And gives to human kind peculiar grace,

The fear supreme around their soften'd beds, Some holy man by prayer all p'ning Heaven dispreds.

Attended by a glad acclaiming train,

Of those he rescued had from gaping hell, Then turn'd the Knight, and, to his hail again Soft-pacing, sought of Peace the inossy cell: Yet down his cheeks the gems of puy fell, To see the helpless wretches that remain'd, There left thro' delves and desarts dire to yell; Amaz'd, their looks with pale dismay were

stain'd,

And spreading wide their hands they meck re pentance feign'd.

But, ah! their scorned day of grace was past: For horrible to tell!) a desart wild [vast; Before them stretch'd, bare, comfortless, and With gibbets, bones, and carcases defild. There nor trim field, nor lively culture smil'd; Norwaving shade was seen, nor fountain fair, But sands abrupt on sands lay loosely pil'd, Thro' which they floundering toil'd with painful care,

Whilst Phoebus smote them sore, and fir'd the cloudless air.

Then, varying to a joyless land of bogs,
The sadden'd country a grey waste appear'd;
Where nought but putrid streams and noi-
some fogs

For ever hung on drizzly Auster's beard;
Or else the ground by piercing Caurus sear'd,
Was jagg'd with frost, or heap'd with glazed

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The first was with base dunghill rags yelad, Tainting the gale, in which they Huster'd light; Of morbid bue his features, sunk and sad; His hollow eyne shook forth a sickly light: And o'er his lank jaw-bone, in pitcous plight. His black rough beard was matted, rank, and vile;

Dircful to see! and heart-appalling sight! Meantine foul scurf and blotches him defile: And dogs, where'er he went, still barked all the while.

The other was a fell despightful fiend:
Hell holds none worse in haneful bow'r below:
By pride, and wit, and rage, and rankorkeen'd;
Of Man alike if good or bad the foe:
With nose up-turn'd, he always made a show
As if he smelt some nauseous scent; his eve
Was cold and keen, like blast from borealsnow;
And taunts he casten forth most bitterly. [fty.

To see kind hands attending day and night,Such were the twain that off drove this ungodly

With tender ministry, from place to place. Some prop the head; some from the pallid face Wipe off the faint cold dews weak naturesheds: Some reach the healing draught: the whilst, to chase

Even so through Brentford town,atownofinud, An herd of bristly swine is prick'd along i The filthy beast, that never chew the cud, Still grunt and squeak, and sing their troubleus

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