But Chance is not; or is not where thou reign'st: Or difregard our follies, or that fit Thy purity, till pure as thou art pure; Made fuch by thee, we love thee for that cause, A voice is heard that mortal ears hear not, man, His high endeavour, and his glad fuccefs, ARGUMENT. Bells at a distance. Their effect. A fine noon in winter. A fheltered walk. Meditation better than books. Our familiarity with the courfe of nature makes it appear lefs wonderful than it is. The transformation that spring effects in a shrubbery described. A mistake concerning the courfe of nature corrected. God maintains it by an unremitted act. The amusements fashionable at this hour of the day reproved. Animals happy, a delightful fight. Origin of cruelty to animals. That it is a great crime proved from Scrip ture. That proof illustrated by a tale. A line drawn between the lawful and the unlawful destruction of them. Their good and useful properties infifted on. Apology for the encomiums bestowed by the author on animals. Inftances of man's extravagant praise of man. The groans of the creation shall have an end. A view taken of the restoration of all things. An Invocation and an Invitation of Him who shall bring it to pass. The retired man vindicated from the charge of ufeleffness. Conclufion. THE TASK. BOOK VI THE WINTER WALK AT NOON. HERE is in fouls a fympathy with sounds; pleased With melting airs, or martial, brisk, or grave: In cadence sweet, now dying all away, (As in a map the voyager his course) The windings of my way through many years. It seem'd not always fhort; the rugged path, |