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His patrimonial timber caft its leaf,

Sells the laft fcantling, 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 dews,
By a juft judgment ftrip and starve themselves.
The wings that waft our riches out of fight,
Grow on the gamefter's elbows, and th' alert
And nimble motion of those restlefs joints,
That never tires, foon fans them all away.
Improvement too, the idol of the age,
Is fed with many a victim. Lo! he comes-
The 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 spot; where more expos'd,
It may enjoy th' advantage of the North,
And agueish Eaft, till time fhall have transform'd,
Thofe naked acres to a fhelt'ring grove.

He speaks. The lake in front becomes a lawn,
Woods vanish, hills fubfide, and vallies rife,
And streams, as if created for his use,
Purfue the track of his directing wand,
Sinuous or ftraight, now rapid, and now flow,
Now murm'ring soft, now rearing in cascades,
Ev'n as he bids. Th' enraptur'd owner smiles.
'Tis finish'd. And yet finish'd as it seems,
Still wants a grace, th' lovelieft it could fhow,

A mine

A mine to fatisfy the enormous coft.
Drain'd to the laft poor item of his wealth,
He fighs, departs, and leaves the accomplish'd plan
That he has touch'd, retouch'd, many a long day
Labor'd, and many a night pursu'd in dreams,
Juft 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 chest,
Or if that mine be fhut, fome private purse
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 these,
Crape and cock'd pistol, and the whistling ball,
Sent through the trav❜llers temples! he that finds
One drop of heav'ns fweet mercy in his
Can dig, beg, rot, and perish well-content,
So he may wrap himself in honest rags,
At his laft gasp; but could not for a world,
Fish up his dirty and dependant bread,
From pools and ditches of the commonwealth,
Sordid and fick'ning at his own fuccefs.

Ambition, av'rice, penury incurr'd, By endless riot; vanity, the luft

cup,

Of

Of pleasure and variety, dispatch,

As duly as the fwallows difappear,

The world of wand'ring knights and squires to town.
London ingulphs them all. The fhark is there,

And the fhark's prey. The fpendthrift, and the leech,
That fucks him. There, the fycophant and he,
That with bare-headed, and obfequious bows,
Begs a warm office, doom'd to a cold jail,
And groat per diem, if his patron frown.

The levee fwarms, as if in golden pomp,
Were character'd on ev'ry statesman's door,
"BATTER'D AND BANKRUPT FORTUNES MENDED
66 HERE."

These are the charms that fully, and eclipfe
The charms of nature. 'Tis the cruel gripe,
That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts,
The hope of better things, the chance to win,
The wish to fhine, the thirft to be amus'd,
That at the found of Winter's hoary wing,
Unpeople all our counties, of fuch herds,
Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, loose,
And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaft
And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.

Oh thou refort and mart of all the earth,
Chequer'd with all complexions of mankind,
And spotted with all crimes; in whom I fee
Much that I love, and more that I admire,
And all that I abhor; thou freckled fair,
That pleases, and yet fhocks me, I can laugh,
And I can weep, can hope, and can defpond,

Feel

Feel wrath, and pity, when I think on thee!
Ten righteous would have fav'd a city once,
And thou haft many righteous-Well for thee-
That falt preferves thee; more corrupted elfe,
And therefore more obnoxious at this hour,
Than Sodom, in her day, had pow'r to be,
For whom God heard his Abr'am plead in vain.

ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH BOOK.

The poft comes in.-The news-paper is read.-The world contemplated at a distance.-Address to Winter. The amusements of a rural winter evening compared with the fashionable ones.—Addrefs to Evening.-A brown ftudy.-Fall of fnow in the evening.

The waggoner.-A poor family-piece.-The rural thief-Public houses.-The multitude of them cenfured.---The farmer's daughter, what she was.--What he is.---The fimplicity of country manners almoft loft.---Causes of the change.-- Desertion of the country by the rich.---Neglect of magistrates.---The militia principally in fault.---The new recruit, and his transformation.---Reflection on bodies corporate. ---The love of rural objects natural to all, and never to be totally extinguished.

THE

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HARK!'tis thetwanging horn! o'er yonderbridge,

That with its wearifome, but needful length,
*Beftrides the wintry flood, in which the moon
Sees her unwrinkl'd face reflected bright;
He comes, the herald of a noify world,

With fpatter'd boots, ftrapp'd waist, and frozen locks,
News from all nations lumb'ring at his back.
True to his charge, the close-pack'd load behind,
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern,
Is to conduct it to the destin'd inn,
And having dropp'd th' expected bag---pass on.
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold, and yet cheerful: meffenger of grief,
N

Perhaps

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