Fierce the dispute, whate'er the theme; while she,
Fell discord, arbitress of such debate,

Perch'd on the sign-post, holds with even hand,
Her undecisive scales. In this she lays
A weight of ignorance; in that, of pride;
And smiles, delighted with the eternal poise.
Dire is the frequent cusse, and its twin sound,
The cheek-distending oath not to be prais'd
As ornamental, musical, polite,

485

Like those which modern senators employ,

490

Whose oath is rhetoric, and who swear for fame!

Behold the schools in which plebeian minds,
Once simple, are initiated in arts,

Which some may practise with politer grace,

But none with readier skill!-'tis here they learn

495.

The road that leads, from competence and peace,
To indigence and rapine; till at last

Society grown weary of the load,

Shakes her encumber'd lap, and casts them out.
But censure profits little vain the attempt

:

To advertise, in verse, a public pest,

500

That, like the filth with which the peasant feeds
His hungry acres, stinks, and is of use.
The excise is fatten'd with the rich result
Of all this riot; and ten thousand casks,
For ever dribbling out their base contents,
Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state,
Bleed gold for ministers to sport away.

505

Drink, and be mad, then; 'ts your country bids !
Gloriously drunk, obey the important call!

510

Her cause demands the assistance of your throats ;

Ye all can swallow, and she asks no more.

Would I had fallen upon those happier days

That poets celebrate; those golden times,

And those Arcadian scenes, that Maro sings,

515

And Sidney, warbler of poetic prose.

Nymphs were Dianas then, and swains had hearts

That felt their virtues: innocence, it seems,

From courts dismiss'd, found shelter in the groves.

The footsteps of simplicity, impress'd

520

Upon the yielding herbage, (so they sing)

Then were not all effac'd: then speech profane,
And manners profligate, were rarely found;
Observ'd as prodigies, and soon reclaim'd.

Vain wish! those days were never: airy dreams

525

Sat for the picture; and the poet's hand,

Imparting substance to an empty shade,

Impos'd a gay delirium for a truth.

Grant it :-I still must envy them an age

That favour'd such a dream; in days like these

$30

Impossible, when virtue is so scarce,

That to suppose a scene where she presides,
Is tramontane, and stumbles all belief.
No: we are polish'd now! The rural lass,
Whom once her virgin modesty and grace,
Her artless manners, and her neat attire,
So dignified, that she was hardly less
Than the fair shepherdess of old romance,
Is seen no more. The character is lost!
Her head, adorn'd with lappets pinn'd aloft,
And ribbands streaming gay, superbly rais'd,
And magnified beyond all human size,
Indebted to some smart wig-weaver's hand
For more than half the tresses it sustains ;

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Her elbows ruffled, and her tottering form

545

Ill propp'd upon French heels; she might be deem'd

(But that the basket dangling on her arm
Interprets her more truly) of a rank
Too proud for daily work, or sale of eggs.
Expect her soon with foot-boy at her heels,
No longer blushing for her awkward load,
Her train and her umbrella all her care!

550

The town has ting'd the country; and the stain

Appears a spot upon a vestal's robe,

The worse for what it soils. The fashion runs

555

Down into scenes still rural; but, alas,

Scenes rarely grac'd with rural manners now!

Time was when, in the pastoral retreat,

The unguarded door was safe; men did not watch

To invade another's right, or guard their own.

560

Then sleep was undisturb'd by fear, unscar'd

By drunken howlings; and the chilling tale
Of midnight murder was a wonder, heard
With doubtful credit, told to frighten babes.
But farewell now to unsuspicious nights,
And slumbers unalarm'd! Now, ere you sleep,
See that your polish'd arms be prim'd with care,
And drop the night-bolt ;-ruffians are abroad;
And the first larum of the cock's shrill throat
May prove a trumpet, summoning your ear

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To horrid sounds of hostile feet within.

Even daylight has its dangers; and the walk

Thro' pathless wastes and woods, unconscious once
Of other tenants than melodious birds,

Or harmless flocks, is hazardous and bold.

Lamented change! to which full many a cause
Inveterate, hopeless of a cure, conspires.
The course of human things from good to ill,
From ill to worse, is fatal, never fails.
Increase of power begets increase of wealth;
Wealth luxury, and luxury excess ;
Excess, the scrofulous and itchy plague
That seizes first the opulent, descends
To the next rank contagious, and in time
Taints downward all the graduated scale
Of order, from the chariot to the plough.

575

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The rich, and they that have an arm to check

Perhaps timidity restrains his arm;

When he should strike he trembles, and sets free,

600

Himself enslav'd by terror of the band,

The audacious convict, whom he dares not bind.

Perhaps, though by profession ghostly pure,

He too may have his vice, and sometimes prove
Less dainty than becomes his grave outside
In lucrative concerns. Examine well

605

His milk-white hand; the palm is hardly clean-
But here and there an ugly sniutch appears.
Foh! 'twas a bribe that left it: he has touch'd
Corruption! Whoso seeks an audit here
Propitious, pays his tribute, game or fish,
Wild-fowl or venison; and his errand speeds.

610

But faster far, and more than all the rest,
A noble cause, which none who bears a spark
Of public virtue, ever wish'd remov'd,

615

.

Works the deplor'd and mischievous effect.
'Tis universal soldiership has stabb'd
The heart of merit in the meaner class.
Arms, through the vanity and brainless rage
Of those that bear them, in whatever cause,
Seem most at variance with all moral good,
And incompatible with serious thought.
The clown, the child of nature, without guile,
Blest with an infant s ignorance of all

620

But his own simple pleasures,-now and then

625

A wrestling match, a foot-race, or a fair,—
Is ballotted, and trembles at the news:

Sheepish he doffs his hat, and, mumbling, swears
A bible-oath to be whate'er they please,

To do he knows not what! The task perform'd,

630

That instant he becomes the serjeant's care,
His pupil, and his torment, and his jest.

His awkward gait, his introverted toes,

Bent knees, round shoulders, and dejected looks,

Procure him many a curse. By slow degrees,

635

Unapt to learn, and form'd of stubborn stuff,

He yet by slow degrees puts off himself,

Grows conscious of a change, and likes it well:
He stands erect; his slouch becomes a walk;

He steps right onward, martial in his air,

640

His form, and movement: is as smart above

As meal and larded locks can make him; wears

His hat, or his plum'd helmet, with a grace;
And, his three years of heroship expir d,
Returns indignant to the slighted plough.
He hates the field, in which no fife or drum
Attends him; drives his cattle to a march;
And sighs for the smart comrades he has left.
'Twere well if his exterior change were all-
But with his clumsy port the wretch has lost
His ignorance, and harmless manners too!

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To swear, to game, to drink; to show at home,
By lewdness, idleness, and sabbath-breach,

The great proficiency he made abroad;

To astonish and to grieve his gazing friends;

955

To break some maiden's and his mother's heart;

To be a pest where he was useful once;
Are his sole aim, and all his glory, now!

Man, in society, is like a flower

Blown in its native bed: 'tis there alone

660

His faculties expanded in full bloom,
Shine out; there only reach their proper use.
But man, associated and leagu'd with man
By regal warrant, or self-join'd by bond,
For interest-sake, or swarming into clans
Beneath one head, for purposes of war,

665

Like flowers selected from the rest, and bound
And bundled close to fill some crowded vase,
Fades rapidly, and, by compression marr'd,
Contracts defilement not to be endur'd.

670

Hence charter'd boroughs are such public plagues;

And burghers, men immaculate, perhaps,

In all their private functions, once combin'd,
Become a loathsome body, only fit
For dissolution, hurtful to the main.
Hence merchants, unimpeachable of sin
Against the charities of domestic life,
Incorporated, seem at once to lose

675

Their nature; and, disclaiming all regard

For mercy and the common rights of man,

680

Build factories with blood, conducting trade

At the sword's point, and dyeing the white robe

Of innocent commercial justice red.

Hence, too, the field of glory, as the world

Misdeems it, dazzled by its bright array,

685

With all its majesty of thund'ring pomp,

Enchanting music and immortal wreaths,

Is but a school where thoughtlessness is taught
On principle, where foppery atones

For folly, gallantry for every vice.

690

But, slighted as it is, and by the great
Abandon'd, and, which still I more regret,
Infected with the manners and the modes
It knew not once, the country wins me stil.
I never fram'd a wish, or form'd a plan,
That flatter'd me with hopes of earthly bliss,

695

But there I laid the scene. There early stray'd

My fancy, ere yet liberty of choice

Had found me, or the hope of being free.

My very dreams were rural; rural, too,

700

The first born efforts of my youthful muse,
Sportive, and jingling her poetic bells

Ere yet her ear was mistress of their powers.

No bard could please me but whose lyre was tun'd
To Nature's praises. Heroes and their feats

705