THE TASK.

BOOK I.

THE SOFA.

I

SING the Sofa. I who lately fang

Truth, Hope, and Charity*, and touched with awe
The folemn chords, and with a trembling hand,
Escaped with pain from that adventurous flight,
Now feek repose upon an humbler theme;
The theme though humble, yet auguft and proud
The occafion-for the Fair commands the fong.

Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use, Save their own painted skins, our fires had none. As yet black breeches were not; satin smooth,

Or velvet foft, or plufh with fhaggy pile:
The hardy chief upon the rugged rock
Washed by the fea, or on the gravelly bank
Thrown up by wintry torrents roaring loud,
Fearless of wrong, repofed his weary ftrength.
Thofe barbarous ages paft, fucceeded next
The birth-day of invention; weak at first,
Dull in defign, and clumfy to perform.
Joint-ftools were then created; on three legs
Upborne they flood. Three legs upholding firm
A maffy flab, in fashion fquare or round.
On fuch a ftool immortal Alfred fat,

And fwayed the fceptre of his infant realms:
And fuch in ancient halls and manfions drear
May ftill be feen; but perforated fore,

And drilled in holes, the folid oak is found,
By worms voracious eating through and through.

At length a generation more refined

Improved the fimple plan; made three legs four,
Gave them a twisted form vermicular,

And over the feat, with plenteous wadding ftuffed,
Induced a fplendid cover, green and blue,
Yellow and red, of tapeftry richly wrought

And woven close, or needle-work fublime. There might ye fee the piony spread wide, The full-blown rofe, the fhepherd and his lafs, Lap-dog and lambkin with black ftaring eyes, And parrots with twin cherries in their beak.

Now came the cane from India smooth and bright With Nature's varnish; fevered into ftripes, That interlaced each other, these supplied Of texture firm a lattice-work, that braced The new machine, and it became a chair. But reftlefs was the chair; the back erect Diftreffed the weary loins, that felt no ease; The flippery feat betrayed the fliding part, That preffed it, and the feet hung dangling down, Anxious in vain to find the diftant floor.

These for the rich: the reft, whom fate had placed
In modeft mediocrity, content

With bafe materials, fat on well-tanned hides,
Obdurate and unyielding, glaffy fmooth,
With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn,
Or fcarlet crewel, in the cushion fixt,

If cushion might be called, what harder seemed
Than the firm oak, of which the frame was formed.

No want of timber then was felt or feared

In Albion's happy ifle. The lumber ftood
Ponderous and fixt by its own massy weight.
But elbows ftill were wanting; these, some say,
An alderman of Cripplegate contrived;
And fome afcribe the invention to a priest
Burly and big, and studious of his ease.
But, rude at first, and not with easy flope
Receding wide, they preffed against the ribs,
And bruifed the fide; and, elevated high,
Taught the raised shoulders to invade the ears.
Long time elapfed or ever our rugged fires
Complained, though incommodiously pent in,
And ill at ease behind. The ladies firft
'Gan murmur, as became the fofter fex.
Ingenious fancy, never better pleased

Than when employed to accommodate the fair,
Heard the sweet moan with pity, and devised
The foft fettee; one elbow at each end,
And in the midst an elbow it received,

United yet divided, twain at once.

So fit two kings of Brentford on one throne;
And so two citizens who take the air,

Close packed, and smiling, in a chaife and one.

But relaxation of the languid frame,

By foft recumbency of outftretched limbs,
Was blifs referved for happier days. So flow
The growth of what is excellent; so hard
To attain perfection in this nether world.
Thus firft neceffity invented ftools,
Convenience next fuggefted elbow-chairs,
And luxury the accomplished sofa last.

The nurse fleeps fweetly, hired to watch the fick, Whom fnoring she disturbs. As sweetly he, Who quits the coach-box at the midnight hour To fleep within the carriage more fecure, His legs depending at the open door. Sweet fleep enjoys the curate in his defk; The tedious rector drawling over his head; And sweet the clerk below. But neither sleep Of lazy nurse, who fnores the fick man dead, Nor his, who quits the box at midnight hour To flumber in the carriage more secure, Nor fleep enjoyed by curate in his desk, Nor yet the dozings of the clerk, are sweet, Compared with the repose the SOFA yields.