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Plump Ceres golden treffes wear,
And poppy-top-knots deck her hair,
And filver ftreams through meadows ftray,
And Naiads on the margin play,

And leffer nymphs on fide of hills

From play-thing urns pour down the rills.
Thus fhelter'd, free from care and ftrife,
May I enjoy a calm through life;
See faction, fafe in low degree,
As men at land fee ftorms at fea,
And laugh at miferable elves,
Not kind fo much as to themselves,
Curs'd with fuch fouls of base alloy,
As can poffefs, but not enjoy;
Debarr'd the pleasure to impart
By av'rice, fphincter of the heart,
Who wealth, hard-earn'd by guilty cares,
Bequeath untouch'd to thanklefs heirs.
May I, with look ungloom'd by guile,
And wearing Virtue's liv'ry fmile,
Prone the diftreffed to relieve,
And little trefpaffes forgive,

With income not in Fortune's pow'r,
And skill to make a bufy hour,
With trips to town life to amufe,

To purchase books, and hear the news,
To fee old friends, brush off the clown,
And quicken tafte at coming down,
Unhurt by ficknefs' blafting rage,

And flowly mellowing in age,

When Fate extends its gathering gripe,

Fall off like fruit grown fully ripe,

Quit a worn being without pain,

In hope to bloffom foon again.

ELEGY to a YOUNG NOBLEMAN leaving the UNIVERSITY.

[MASON.]

E Front Cange margin, and the peaceful vale,

RE yet, ingenuous youth, thy steps retire

Where Science call'd thee to her ftudious quire,
And met thee mufing in her cloyiters pale;
O let thy friend (and may he boaft the name)
Breathe from his artless reed one parting lay;

H

A

A lay like this thy early virtues claim,
And this let voluntary friendship pay.

Yet know, the time arrives, the dangerous time,
When all thofe virtues, opening now fo fair,
Transplanted to the world's tempeftuous clime,
Muft learn each paffion's boilt'rous breath to bear.
There, if Ambition peftilent and pale,

Or Luxury fhould taint their vernal glow;
If cold Self-intereft, with her chilling gale,
Should blaft th' unfolding bloffoms ere they blow;
If mimic hues, by Art, or Fashion spread,

Their genuine, fimple colouring should fupply;
O! with them may these laureate honours fade;
And with them (if it can) my friendship die.
And do not blame, if, tho' thyself infpire,
Cautious I ftrike the panegyric string;
The mufe full oft purfues a meteor fire,
And, vainly vent'rous, foars on waxen wing.
Too actively awake at Friendship's voice,
The poet's bofom pours the fervent ftrain,
Till fad reflection blames the hafty choice,
And oft invokes oblivion's aid in vain.
Go then, my friend, nor let thy candid breaft
Condemn me, if I check the plaufive string;
Go to the wayward world; compleat the reft;
Be, what the pureft mufe would wish to fing.
Be fill thyfelf; that open path of truth,

Which led thee here, let manhood firm pursue;
Retain the fweet fimplicity of youth,

And, all thy virtue dictates, dare to do.
Still fcorn, with confcious pride, the mask of art;
On vice's front let fearful caution lour,
And teach the diffident, difcreeter part.

Of knaves that plot, and fools that fawn for power.
So, round thy brow when age's honours spread,

When Death's cold hand unftrings thy MASON's lyre, When the green turf lies lightly on his head, Thy worth fhall fome fuperior bard infpire: He, to the ampleft bounds of Time's domain, On Rapture's plume fhall give thy name to fly; For truft, with rev'rence truft this Sabine ftrain: The Mufe forbids the virtuous man to die."

SHEEP

SHEEP-SHEARING: SONG on that OCCASION. Sheep-fhearing Feast and Merriments.

[DYER.]

TOW, jolly fwains, the harveft of your cares
ow,
Prepare to reap, and feek the founding caves
Of high Brigantium, * where, by ruddy flames,
Vulcan's ftrong fons, with nervous arm, around
The steady anvil, and the glaring mafs,

Clatter their heavy hammers down by turns,
Flatt'ning the fteel; from their rough hands receive
The fharpen'd inftrument, that from the flock
Severs the fleece. If verdant elder fpreads
Her filver flowr's; if humble daifies yield
To yellow crow-foot, and luxuriant grafs,
Gay fhearing-time approaches. First, howe'er,
Drive to the double fold, upon the brim
Of a clear river, gently drive the flock,
And plunge them one by one into the flood:
Plung'd in the flood, not long the ftruggler finks,
With his white flakes, that gliften thro' the tide;
The sturdy ruftic, in the middle wave,
Awaits to feize him rifing; one arm bears
His lifted head above the limpid ftream,
While the full clammy fleece the other laves
Around, laborious, with repeated toil;
And then refigns him to the funny bank,

Where, bleating loud, he fhakes his dripping locks,
Shear them the fourth or fifth return of morn,
Left touch of bufy fly-blows wound their fkin:
Thy peaceful fubjects without murmur yield
Their yearly tribute: 'tis the prudent part
To cherish and be gentle, while ye ftrip
The downy vefture from their tender fides
Prefs not too clofe; with caution turn the points;
And from the head in reg'lar rounds proceed:
But fpeedy, when ye chance to wound, with tar
Prevent the wingy (warm and fcorching heat;
And careful house them, if the low'ring clouds
Mingle their flores tumultuous: through the gloom
Then thunder oft with pond'rous wheels rolls loud,
And breaks the cryftal urns of heav'n: adown
Falls ftreaming rain. Sometimes among the fteeps

The caves of Brigantium-the forges of Sheffield in Yorkshire, where the shepherds hears and all edge-tools are made.

Of Cambrian glades, (pity the Cambrian glades}
Faft tumbling brooks on brooks enormous fwell,
And fudden overwhelm their vanish'd fields:
Down with the flood away the naked fheep,
Bleating in vain, are borne, and straw-built huts,
And rifted trees, and heavy enormous rocks,
Down with the rapid torrent to the deep.

At fhearing-time, along the lively vales,
Rural feftivities are often heard:

Beneath each blooming arbour all is joy
And lufty merriment: while on the grafs
The mingled youth in gaudy circles fport,
We think the golden age again return'd,
And all the fabled Dryades in dance.
Leering they bound along, with laughing air,
To the fhrill pipe, and deep remurm'ring cords
Of th' ancient harp, or tabor's hollow found.
While th' old apart, upon a bank reclin'd,
Attend the tuneful carol, foftly mixt
With ev'ry murmur of the fliding wave,
And ev'ry warble of the feather'd choir;
Mufic of paradife! which ftill is heard,
When the heart liftens; ftill the views appear
Of the first happy garden, when content
To nature's flow'ry fcenes directs the fight.
Yet we abandon thofe Elyfian walks,
Then idly for the loft delight repine:
As greedy mariners, whofe defp'rate fails
Skim o'er the billows of the foamy flood,
Fancy they fee the lefs'ning fhores retire,
And figh a farewel to the finking hills.

Could I recall thofe notes, which once the Muse
Heard at a fhearing, near the woody fides

Of blue-top'd Wreakin*. Yet the carols fweet,
Through the deep maze of the memorial cell,
Faintly remurmur. Firft arofe in fong
Hoar-headed DAMON, venerable fwain,
The footheft fhepherd of the flow'ry vale.
"This is no vulgar scene: no palace roof
"Was e'er fo lofty, nor fo nobly rife
"Their polifh'd pillars, as thefe aged oaks,
"Which o'er our fleecy wealth and harmlefs fports
"Thus have expanded wide their fhelt'ring arms,

*Wreakin, a high hill in Shropshire.

"Thrice

"Thrice told an hundred fummers. Sweet content,
"Ye gentle fhepherds, pillow us at night."
"Yes, tuneful DAMON, for our cares are fhort,
"Rifing and falling with the chearful day,"
COLIN reply'd," and pleafing wearinefs
"Soon our unaching heads to fleep inclines.
"Is it in cities fo? where, poets tell,
"The cries of forrow fadden all the streets,.
"And the diseases of intemperate wealth.

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Alas, that any ills from wealth fhould rife!
"May the fweet nightingale on yonder spray,

"May this clear ftream, thefe lawns, thofe fnow-white lambs,

"Which, with a pretty innocence of look,

"Skip on the green, and race in little troops;
"May that great lamp, which finks behind the hills,
"And ftreams around variety of lights,

"Recall them erring: this is DAMON's wifh.

*

"Huge Breaden's ftony fummit once I climb'd "After a kiddling: DAMON, what a fcene! "What various views unnumber'd fpread beneath! "Woods, tow'rs, vales, caves, dells, cliffs, and torrent floods;

"And here and there, between the fpiry rocks,
"The broad flat fea. Far nobler prospect thefe,
"Than gardens black with fmoak in dufty towns,
"Where ftenchy vapours often blot the fun :
"Yet flying from his quiet, thither crowds
"Each greedy wretch for tardy-rifing wealth,

"Which comes too late; that courts the taste in vain,
"Or nauseates with diftempers. Yes, ye rich,
"Still, ftill be rich, if thus ye fafhion life;
"And piping, careless, filly fhepherds we,
"We filly fhepherds, all intent to feed

"Our fnowy flocks, and wind the fleeky fleece."
"Deem not, howe'er, our occupation mean,"
DAMON reply'd, while the SUPREME accounts
"Well of the faithful fhepherd, rank'd alike
"With king and prieft: they alfo fhepherds are;
"For fo th' All-feeing ftiles them, to remind
"Elated man, forgetful of his charge.

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"But hafte, begin the rites: fee purple Eve "Stretches her fhadows: all ye nymphs and fwains "Hither

H 3

Breaden, a hill on the borders of Montgomeryshire.

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