Was but to boast his own peculiar good, Which all might view with envy, none partake. My charmer is not mine alone; my sweets, And fhe that sweetens all my bitters too, Nature, enchanting Nature, in whose form That errs not, and find raptures still renew'd, Strange that fo fair a creature should yet want With meaner objects, ev'n the few fhe finds! She lofes all her influence. Cities then Attract us, and neglected Nature pines, But are not wholesome airs, though unperfum'd By rofes; and clear funs, though fcarcely felt, From clamour, and whofe very filence charms, That That Metropolitan volcanos make, Whofe Stygian throats breathe darkness all day long, And to the stir of commerce, driving flow, And thund'ring loud, with his ten thousand wheels? They would be, were not madness in the head, And all their honeft pleasures. Manfions once Is but a tranfient gueft, newly arriv'd, Sells the last scantling, and transfers the price Eftates are landscapes, gaz'd upon awhile, The The country starves, and they that feed th' o'ercharg'd And furfeited lewd town with her fair dues, away. Improvement too, the idol of the age, Is fed with many a victim. Lo! he comes- He fpeaks. The lake in front becomes a lawn, And streams, as if created for his use, Purfue Pursue the track of his directing wand, Sinuous or straight, now rapid and now flow, Drain'd to the last poor item of his wealth, He fighs, departs, and leaves th' accomplish'd plan Juft when it meets his hopes, and proves the heav'n And now perhaps the glorious hour is come, When, having no stake left, no pledge t' endear Her int'refts, or that gives her facred caufe A moment's operation on his love, Or, if that mine be fhut, fome private purse To be refunded duly, when his vote, Crape and cock'd pistol, and the whistling ball Can dig, beg, rot, and perish well-content, So he may wrap himself in honest rags At his last gasp; but could not for a world From pools and ditches of the commonwealth, Ambition, av'rice, penury incurr'd By endless riot; vanity, the luft Of pleasure and variety, dispatch, As duly as the swallows difappear, The world of wand'ring knights and fquires to town. London |