No fhape-fmith fet up fhop, and drove a trade
To mend the work wife Providence had made;
Tires were unheard of, and unknown the loom,
And thrifty filkworms fpun for times to come;
Bare limbs were then the marks of modefty;
All like Diana were below the knee.

The men appear'd a rough, undaunted race,
Surly in fhow, unfashion'd in addrefs;
Upright in actions, and in thought fincere ;
And strictly were the fame they would appear.
Honour was plac'd in probity alone;

For villains had no titles but their own. "None travel'd to return politely mad;

But ftill what fancy wanted, reafon had,
Whatever Nature afk'd, their hands could give;
Unlearn'd in feafts, they only eat to live.
No cook with art increas'd phyficians' fees:
Nor ferv'd up Death in foups and fricafees :
Their tafte was, like their temper, unrefin'd;
For looks were then the language of the mind.
Ere right and wrong, by turns, fet prices borè;
And confcience had its rate like common whore;
"Or tools to great employments had pretence;
Or merit was made out by impudence ;
Or coxcombs look'd afluming in affairs;
And humble friends grew haughty minifters;
In thofe good days of innocence, here ftood

Of oaks, with heads unfhorn, a folemn wood,
Frequented by the Druids, to bestow
Religious honours on the Miffelros.

The naturalifts are puzzled to explain, How trees did first this ftranger entertain; Whether the bufy birds ingraft it there; Or elfe fome deity's myfterious care,

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As Druids thought; for, when the blasted oak
By lightning falls, this plant efcapes the stroke.
So, when the Gauls the towers of Rome defac'd,
And flames drove forward with outrageous wafte, 135
Jove's favour'd capitol uninjur'd stood:

So facred was the manfion of a God.

Shades honour'd by this plant the Druids chofe,
Here, for the bleeding victims, altars rofe.
To Hermes oft' they paid their facrifice;
Parent of arts, and patron of the wife.

Good rules in mild perfuafions they convey'd ;
Their lives confirming what their lectures faid.
None violated truth, invaded light;

Yet had few laws, but will and appetite.

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145

The people's peace they studied, and profest
No politicks but public interest.

Hard was their lodging, homely was their food;
For all their luxury was doing good.

No mitre'd prieft did then with princes vie,

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Nor o'er his mafter claim fupremacy;

Nor were the rules of faith allow'd more pure,

For being feveral centuries obfcure.

None loft their fortunes, forfeited their blood,

For not believing what none understood.

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Nor fimony, nor fine-cure, were known;

Nor would the Bee work honey for the Drone.

Nor was the way invented, to difmifs
Frail Abigails with fat Pluralities.

But then, in fillets bound, a hallow'd band
Taught how to tend the flocks, and till the land;
Could tell what murrains in what months begun,
And how the feafons travel'd with the fun;

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When his dim orb feem'd wading through the air,
They told that rain on dropping wings drew near; 165
And that the winds their bellowing throats would try,
When reddening clouds reflect his blood-fhot eye:
All their remarks.on Nature's laws require
More lines than would even Alpin's readers tire.
This fect in facred veneration held

Opinions, by the Samian Sage reveal'd;
That matter no annihilation knows,

But wanders from these tenements to thofe ;
For when the plastic particles are gone,
They rally in fome fpecies like their own;
The felf-fame atoms, if new-jumbled, will
In feas be reftlefs, and in earth be ftill;
Can, in the truffle, furnish out a feaft,
And naufeate, in the fealy fquill, the rafte.
Those falling leaves that wither with the year,
Will, in the next, on other ftems appear.
The fap, that now forfakes the bursting bud,
In fome new fhoot will circulate
green blood.
The breath to-day that from the jafmine blows,
Will, when the feason offers, fcent the rofe.

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And those bright flames that in carnations glow,

Ere long will blanch the lily with a fnow.

*They

They hold that matter must be still the same, And varies but in figure and in name ;

And that the foul not dies, but fhifts her feat,

New rounds of life to run, or paft repeat.

Thus, when the brave and virtuous cease to live,
In beings brave and virtuous they revive.
Again fhall Romulus in Nassau reign;

Great Numa, in a Brunswick prince, ordain

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-Good laws; and Halcyon years fhall hush the world again.

The truths of old traditions were their theme;
Or Gods defcending in a morning dream.

Pafs'd acts they cited; and to come, foretold;
And could events, not ripe for fate, unfold:
Beneath the fhady covert of an oak,

In rhymes uncouth, prophetic truths they spoke.
Attend then, Clare; nor is the legend long;

The story of thy villa is their fong.

The fair Montano, of the sylvan race,

Was with each beauty blefs'd, and every grace.
His fire, green Faunus, guardian of the wood;
His mother, a fwift Naiad of the flood.

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Her filver urn fupply'd the neighbouring streams,
A darling daughter of the bounteous Thames.
Not lovelier feem'd Narciffus to the eye;
Nor, when a flower, could boaft more fragrancy :
His fkin might with the down of fwans compare,
More fmooth than pearl; than mountain-fnow more fair:
In shape so poplars or the cedars please ;

But thofe are not fo ftraight, nor graceful these :

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His flowing hair in unforc'd ringlets hung:
Tuneful his voice, perfuafive was his tongue;
The haughtieft fair fcarce heard without a wound,
But funk to softness at the inelting sound.

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The fourth bright luftre had but just begun To shade his blufhing cheeks with doubtful down. All day he rang'd the woods, and spread the toils, And knew no pleasures but in fylvan spoils. In vain the nymphs put on each pleasing grace; 225 Too cheap the quarry feem'd, too fhort the chace : For, though poffeffion be th' undoubted view, To feize is far lefs pleasure than pursue. Thofe nymphs, that yield too soon, their charms impair, And prove at laft but defpicably fair. His own undoing glutton Love decrees ; And palls the appetite, he meant to please : His flender wants too largely he supplies; Thrives on fhort meals, but by indulgence dies.

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A grot there was, with hoary mofs o'ergrown, 235 Rough with rude fhells, and arch'd with mouldering stone; Sad filence reigns within the lonesome wall; And weeping rills but whisper as they fall; The clafping ivies up the ruin creep, And there the bat and droufy beetle fleep.

This cell fad Echo chofe, by love betray'd,

A fit retirement for a mourning maid.
Hither, fatigu'd with toil, the Sylvan flies,
To fhun the calenture of fultry skies;
But feels a fiercer flame: Love's keenest dart
Finds through his eyes a paffage to his heart.

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