To thy ftraw couch, and flumber unalarmed;

For I have gained thy confidence, have pledged
All that is human in me to protec

Thine unfufpecting gratitude and love.
If I survive thee I will dig thy grave;
And, when I place thee in it, fighing say,

I knew at least one hare that had a friend *.

How various his employments, whom the world Calls idle; and who justly in return

Efteems that busy world an idler too.

Friends, books, a garden, and perhaps his pen,
Delightful induftry enjoyed at home,

And nature in her cultivated trim
Dreffed to his taste, inviting him abroad—
Can he want occupation who has these?
Will he be idle who has much to enjoy?
Me therefore ftudious of laborious ease,
Not flothful, happy to deceive the time,
Not wafte it, and aware that human life
Is but a loan to be repaid with use,
When He fhall call his debtors to account,
From whom are all our bleffings; business finds
E'en here: while fedulous I feek to improve,

* See the note at the end of this volume.

At least neglect not, or leave unemployed,

The mind he gave me; driving it, though slack

Too oft, and much impeded in its work
By caufes not to be divulged in vain,
To its juft point-the service of mankind.
He, that attends to his interior self,

That has a heart, and keeps it; has a mind
That hungers, and fupplies it; and who seeks
A focial, not a diffipated life,

Has bufinefs; feels himself engaged to achieve
No unimportant, though a filent, task.

A life all turbulence and noise may feem
To him that leads it wife, and to be praised;
But wisdom is a pearl with most success
Sought in ftill water, and beneath clear skies.
He that is ever occupied in ftorms,

Or dives not for it, or brings up instead,
Vainly induftrious, a difgraceful prize.

The morning finds the felf-fequestered man
Fresh for his talk, intend what task he may.
Whether inclement seasons recommend
His warm but fimple home, where he enjoys

With her, who shares his pleasures and his heart,

Sweet converfe, fipping calm the fragrant lymph,

Which neatly the prepares; then to his book
Well chosen, and not sullenly perused

In felfish filence, but imparted oft,

As aught occurs, that the may fmile to hear,
Or turn to nourishment, digested well.
Or if the garden with its many cares,

All well repaid, demand him, he attends

The welcome call, conscious how much the hand

Of lubbard labour needs his watchful eye,
Oft loitering lazily, if not o'erfeen,

Or mifapplying his unskilful strength.

Nor does he govern only or direct,

But much performs himself. No works indeed,
That afk robust tough finews, bred to toil,
Servile employ; but fuch as may amufe,
Not tire, demanding rather skill than force.
Proud of his well-fpread walls, he views his trees
That meet (no barren interval between)
With pleasure more than e'en their fruits afford,
Which, fave himself who trains them, none can feel;
These therefore are his own peculiar charge;
No meaner hand may discipline the shoots,
None but his steel approach them. What is weak,

Diftempered, or has loft prolific powers,
Impaired by age, his unrelenting hand

Dooms to the knife: nor does he fpare the foft
And fucculent, that feeds its giant growth,

But barren, at the expence of neighbouring twigs
Lefs oftentatious, and yet ftudded thick

With hopeful gems. The reft, no portion left
That may difgrace his art, or disappoint
Large expectation, he disposes neat
At measured distances, that air and fun,
Admitted freely may afford their aid,
And ventilate and warm the fwelling buds.
Hence fummer has her riches, autumn hence,
And hence e'en winter fills his withered hand
With blufhing fruits, and plenty not his own*.
Fair recompenfe of labour well bestowed,
And wife precaution; which a clime fo rude
Makes needful ftill, whose spring is but the child
Of churlish winter, in her froward moods
Discovering much the temper of her fire.
For oft, as if in her the stream of mild
Maternal nature had reversed its course,

* Miraturque novos fructus et non fua poma. VIRG.

She brings her infants forth with many fmiles;
But once delivered kills them with a frown.
He therefore timely warned himself supplies
Her want of care, screening and keeping warm
The plenteous bloom, that no rough blaft may sweep
His garlands from the boughs. Again, as oft
As the fun peeps and vernal airs breathe mild,
The fence withdrawn, he gives them every beam,
And spreads his hopes before the blaze of day.

To raife the prickly and green-coated gourd,
So grateful to the palate, and when rare
So coveted, elfe bafe and difefteemed-
Food for the vulgar merely-is an art
That toiling ages have but juft matured,
And at this moment unaffayed in song.

Yet gnats have had, and frogs and mice, long fince,
Their eulogy; those fang the Mantuan bard,
And these the Grecian, in ennobling ftrains;
And in thy numbers, Phillips, fhines for aye
The folitary fhilling. Pardon then,
Ye fage difpenfers of poetic fame,

The ambition of one meaner far, whose powers,
Prefuming an attempt not lefs fublime,