Her mingled fuits and fequences, and fits Spectatrefs both and fpectacle, a fad And filent cypher, while her proxy plays. Others are dragg'd into the crowded room Between supporters; and once feated, fit Through downright inability to rife, "Till the ftout bearers lift the corpfe again. Thefe fpeak a loud memento. Yet ev❜n the fe Themfelves love life, and cling to it, as he That overhangs a torrent, to a twig. They love it, and yet loath it; fear to die, Yet fcorn the purposes for which they live. Then, wherefore not renounce them? No-the dread, The flavish dread of folitude, that breeds Reflection and remorfe, the fear of fhame, And their invet'rate habits, all forbid.
Whom call we gay? That honor has been long The boast of mere pretenders to the name. The innocent are gay-the lark is gay That dries his feathers faturate with dew Beneath the rofy cloud, while yet the beams Of day-spring overshoot his humble neft. The peasant too, a witnefs of his fong, Himself a songsler, is as gay as he.
But fave me from the gaiety of those
Whofe head-achs nail them to a noon-day bed; And fave me too from theirs whofe haggard eyes Flash defperation, and betray their pangs For property ftripp'd off by cruel chance;
From gaiety that fills the bones with pain, The mouth with blafphemy, the heart with woe.
The earth was made fo various, that the mind Of defultory man, ftudious of change, And pleas'd with novelty, might be indulged.' Profpects however lovely may be seen
"Till half their beauties fade; the weary fight, Too well acquainted with their fmiles, flides off. Faftidious, feeking lefs familiar fcenes. Then fnug inclosures in the shelter'd vale, Where frequent hedges intercept the eye, Delight us, happy to renounce a while,
Not fenfelefs of its charms, what still we love, That fuch fhort abfence may endear it more. Then forefts, or the favage rock may pleafe, That hides the fea-mew in his hollow clefts Above the reach of man: his hoary head Confpicuous many a league, the mariner Bound homeward, and in hope already there, Greets with three cheers exulting. At his wait A girdle of half-wither'd fhrubs he fhows, And at his feet the baffled billows die.. The common overgrown with fern, and rough With prickly gofs, that shapelefs and deform And dang'rous to the touch, has yet its bloom And decks itself with ornaments of gold, Yields no unpleafing ramble; there the turf Smells fresh, and rich in odorif'rous herbs D. 2
And fungous fruits of earth, regales the fenfe With luxury of unexpected fweets.
There often wanders one, whom better days Saw better clad, in cloak of fattin trimm'd With lace, and hat with splendid ribband bound. A ferving-maid was fhe, and fell in love.. With one who left her, went to fea and died. Her fancy followed him through foaming waves To diftant fhores, and fhe would fit and weep At what a failor fuffers: fancy too Delufive moft where warmest wishes are, Would oft anticipate his glad return,
And dream of transports she was not to know.. She heard the doleful tidings of his death, And never fmil'd again. And now flie roams The dreary waste; there fpends the livelong day, And there, unlefs when charity forbids,
The livelong night. A tatter'd apron hides, Worn as a cloak, and hardly hides a gown More tatter'd ftill; and both but ill conceal A bofom heav'd with never-ceafing fighs. She begs an idle pin of all she meets
And hoards them in her sleeve; but needful food, Though prefs'd with hunger oft, or comelier cloaths, Though pinch'd with cold, afks never.-Kate is craz'd..
I fee a column of flow rising smoke O'ertop the lofty wood that skirts the wild. A vagabond and afelefs tribe there eat
Their miferable meal. A kettle flung Between two poles upon a stick transverse, Receives the morfel; flesh obfcence of dog,. Or vermin, or at beft, of cock purloin'd From his accuftom'd perch. Hard-faring race! They pick their fuel out of ev'ry hedge, Which kindled with dry leaves, juft faves unquench'd The fpark of life. The fportive wind blows wide Their flutt'ring rags, and shows a tawny skin, The vellum of the pedigree they claim. Great skill have they in palmistry, and more To conjure clean away the gold they touch, Conveying worthless dross into its place. Loud when they beg, dumb only when they steal. Strange! that a creature rational, and cast In human mould, fhould brutalize by choice His nature, and though capable of arts By which the world might profit and himself, Self-banish'd from fociety, prefer
Such fqualid floth to honorable toil.
Yet even these, though feigning sickness oft They fwathe the forehead, drag the limping limb And vex their flesh with artificial fores,
Can change their whine into a mirthful note When fafe occafion offers, and with dance And mufic of the bladder and the bag
Beguile their woes and make the woods refound. Such health and gaiety of heart enjoy
The houseless rovers of the fylvan world;
And breathing wholefome air, and wand'ring much,
Need other phyfic none to heal th' effects Of loathfome diet, penury, and cold.
Blest he, though undistinguish'd from the crowd By wealth or dignity, who dwells fecure Where man, by nature fierce, has laid afide His fiercenefs, having learnt, though flow to learn, The manners and the arts of civil life..
His wants, indeed, are many; but fupply Is obvious; placed within the easy reach Of temp rate wifhes and induftrious hands. Here virtue thrives as in her proper foil; Not rude and furly, and befet with thorns, And terrible to fight, as when the fprings,. (If e'er the spring fpontaneous) in remote: And barb'rous climes, where violence prevails, And ftrength is lord of all; but gentle, kind, By culture tam'd, by liberty refresh'd,
And all her fruits by radiant truth matur'd. War and the chace engrofs the favage whole. War follow'd for revenge, or to fupplant The envied tenants of fome happier spot, The chace for fuftenance, precarious truft! His hard condition with fevere constraint Binds all his faculties, forbids all growth Of wisdom, proves a school in which he learns Sly circumvention, unrelenting hate, Mean felf-attachment, and scarce aught befide. Thus fare the fhiv'ring natives of the north, And thus the rangers of the western world
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