London ingulphs them all! The fhark is there, And the shark's prey; the spendthrift, and the leech That fucks him. There the fycophant, and he Who, with bare-headed and obfequious bows, Begs a warm office, doom'd to a cold jail And groat per diem, if his patron frown. The levee fwarms, as if, in golden pomp, Were character'd on ev'ry statesman's door, "BATTER'D AND BANKRUPT FORTUNES MENDED HERE.". These are the charms that fully and eclipfe The charms of nature. 'Tis the cruel gripe The hope of better things, the chance to win, Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, loofe Oh thou, refort and mart of all the earth, Chequer'd with all complexions of mankind, And spotted with all crimes; in whom I see Much that I love, and more that I admire, And all that I abhor; thou freckled fair, That pleaseft and yet fhock'ft me, I can laugh And I can weep, can hope, and can defpond, Feel wrath and pity, when I think on thee! Ten righteous would have fav'd a city once, And thou haft many righteous.-Well for theeThat falt preferves thee; more corrupted elfe, And therefore more obnoxious, at this hour Than Sodom in her day had pow'r to be, For whom God heard his Abr'am plead in vain, ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH BOOK. The poft comes in.-The news-paper is read.-The world contemplated at a distance.-Addrefs to Winter.-The rural amufements of a winter evening compared with the fashionable ones.-Addrefs to evening.-A brown Study.-Fall of fnow in the evening.-The waggoner. -A poor family-piece.-The rural thief.-Public boufes.-The multitude of them cenfured.—The farmer's daughter: what she was what he is.-The fimplicity of country manners almoft loft.-Causes of the change.-Defertion of the country by the rich.Neglect of magistrates.-The militia principally in fault.-The new recruit and his transformation.— Reflection on bodies corporate.-The love of rural objects natural to all, and never to be totally extinguished. THE TAS K. THE BOOK IV. WINTER EVENING. HARK! 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge, That with its wearifome but needful length Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright ; He comes, the herald of a noify world, With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks, True to his charge, the close-pack'd load behind, Is to conduct it to the deftin'd inn; |