THE

CASTLE

O F

INDOLENCE.

The castle hight of indolence,

And its falfe luxury;
Where for a little time, alas!
We liv'd right jollily.

I.

Mortal man, who livest here by toil,

Do not complain of this thy hard eftate; That like an emmet thou must ever moil, Is a fad fentence of an ancient date; And, certes, there is for it reafon great; For, tho' fometimes it makes thee weep and wail, And curfe thy ftar, and early drudge and late, Withouten that would come an heavier bale, Loofe life, unruly paffions, and diseases pale.

II.

In lowly dale, faft by a river's fide,

With woody hill o'er hill encompass'd round,

A moft enchanting wizard did abide,

Than whom a fiend more fell is no where found.
It was, I ween, a lovely fpot of ground;

And there a feafon atween June and May,

Half prankt with fpring, with fummer half imbrown'd,

A liftlefs climate made, where, footh to fay, No living wight could work, ne cared even for play.

III.

Was nought around but images of rest: Sleep-foothing groves, and quiet lawns between; And flowery beds that flumbrous influence kest, From poppies breath'd; and beds of pleasant green, Where never yet was creeping creature seen. Mean time unnumber'd glittering streamlets play'd, And hurled every-where their waters sheen; That, as they bicker'd through the funny glade, Though reftlefs ftill themselves, a lulling murmur made.

IV.

Join'd to the prattle of the purling rills,
Were heard the lowing herds along the vale,
And flocks loud-bleating from the distant hills,
And vacant fhepherds piping in the dale:
And now and then sweet Philomel would wail,
Or ftock-doves plain amid the foreft deep,
That drowsy ruftled to the fighing gale;
And ftill a coil the grafhopper did keep;
Yet all thefe founds yblent inclined all to fleep.

V.

Full in the paffage of the vale above,

A fable, filent, folemn forest stood;

Where nought but shadowy forms was seen to move, As Idlefs fancy'd in her dreaming mood:

And

up the hills, on either fide, a wood

Of blackening pines, ay waving to and fro,

Sent forth a fleepy horror thro' the blood;
And where this valley winded out, below,

The murmuring main was heard, and fcarcely heard to flow.

VI.

A pleafing land of drowsy-head it was,

Of dreams that wave before the half-fhut eye;
And of gay caftles in the clouds that pafs,
For ever flufhing round a fummer-fky:
There eke the foft delights, that witchingly
Inftil a wanton sweetness through the breast,
And the calm pleafures always hover'd nigh;
But whate'er fmack'd of noyance, or unrest,
Was far far off expell'd from this delicious neft.

VII.

The landskip fuch, infpiring perfect ease, Where INDOLENCE (for fo the wizard hight) Clofe-hid his castle mid embowering trees, That half-fhut out the beams of Phoebus bright, And made a kind of checker'd day and night; Mean while, unceafing at the maffy gate, Beneath a fpacious palm, the wicked wight Was plac'd; and to his lute, of cruel fate, And labour harsh, complain'd, lamenting man's eftate.

VIII.

Thither continual pilgrims crowded still,

From all the roads of earth that pass there by:

For, as they chaunc'd to breathe on neighbouring hill, The freshness of this valley fmote their eye,

And drew them ever and anon more nigh;

Till clustering round th' enchanter falfe they hung, Ymolten with his fyren melody;

While o'er th' enfeebling lute his hand he flung, And to the trembling chords thefe tempting verfes fung:

IX.

"Behold! ye pilgrims of this earth, behold! "See all but man with unearn'd pleasure gay: "See her bright robes the butterfly unfold, "Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May! "What youthful bride can equal her array? "Who can with her for easy pleasure vie? "From mead to mead with gentle wing to stray, "From flower to flower on balmy gales to fly, "Is all fhe has to do beneath the radiant fky.

X.

"Behold the merry minstrels of the morn,

"The fwarming fongfters of the careless grove, "Ten thousand throats! that, from the flowering

thorn,

"Hymn their good God, and carol fweet of love, "Such grateful kindly raptures them emove: "They neither plough nor fow; ne, fit for flail, "E'er to the barn the nodden fheaves they drove; "Yet theirs each harveft dancing in the gale, "Whatever crowns the hill, or fmiles along the vale.

XI.

"Outcaft of Nature, man! the wretched thrall
"Of bitter-dropping sweat, of sweltry pain,
"Of cares that eat away thy heart with gall,
“And of the vices, an inhuman train,
"That all proceed from favage thirst of gain:
For when hard-hearted Intereft first began

To poifon earth, Aftræa left the plain;

"Guile, violence, and murder feiz'd on man,

"And, for foft milky streams, with blood the rivers ran.

XII.

"Come, ye, who fill the cumbrous load of life "Push hard up hill; but as the fartheft steep "You trust to gain, and put an end to strife, "Down thunders back the ftone with mighty sweep, "And hurls your labours to the valley deep, "For-ever vain: come, and, withouten fee, "I in oblivion will your forrows steep,

"Your cares, your toils, will steep you in a fea "Of full delight: O come, ye weary wights, to me!

XIII.

"With me, you need not rife at early dawn, "To pass the joyless day in various stounds: "Or, louting low, on upstart fortune fawn, "And fell fair honour for fome paltry pounds; "Or through the city take your dirty rounds, "To cheat, and dun, and lye, and vifit pay, "Now flattering base, now giving fecret wounds; "Or proul in courts of law for human prey, "In venal fenate thieve, or rob on broad highway.