That seizes first the opulent, descends 585 The rich, and they that have an arm to check Desert their office; and themselves, intent On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus 590 To all the violence of lawless hands Resign the scenes their presence might protect. Though resident, and witness of the wrong. 595 The plump convivial parson often bears Perhaps timidity restrains his arm; When he should strike he trembles, and sets free, 600 Th' audacious convict whom he dares not bind. 605 610 Of publick virtue, ever wish'd remov'd, 615 Arms, through the vanity and brainless rage 620 Seem most at variance with all moral good, The clown, the child of nature, without guile, But his own simple pleasures; now and then 625 A wrestling match, a foot-race, or a fair; Is balloted, and trembles at the news: Sheepish he doffs his hat, and mumbling swears To do he knows not what. The task perform'd, 630 His awkward gait, his introverted toes, Bent knees, round shoulders, and dejected looks, 635 Grows conscious of a change, and likes it well: 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, 645 650 By lewdness, idleness, and sabbath breach, The great proficiency he made abroad; T'astonish, and to grieve his gazing friends; 655 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 flow'r 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 leagued with man By regal warrant or self-join'd by bond For int'rest sake, or swarming into clans Like flow'rs selected from the rest, and bound 665 In all their private functions, once combin'd, 675 For dissolution, hurtful to the main. Their nature; and, disclaiming all regard 680 Hence, too, the field of glory, as the world Misdeems it, dazzied by its bright array, 685 With all its majesty of thund'ring pomp, Enchanting musick, and immortal wreaths, Is but a school, where thoughtlessness is taught For folly, gallantry for ev'ry vice. 690 But slighted as it is, and by the great 695 But there I laid the scene. There early stray'd Had found me, or the hope of being free. 700 No bard could please me but whose lyre was tun'd 705 Of Tityrus, assembling, as he sang, The rustick throng beneath his fav'rite beech. 710 As twice seven years, his beauties had then first Engag'd my wonder; and admiring still, 715 And still admiring, with regret suppos'd The joy half lost, because not sooner found. With transports such as favour'd lovers feel, 720 725 Though stretch'd at ease in Chertsey's silent bow'rs, "Tis born with all: the love of Nature's works Infus'd at the creation of the kind. And, though th' Almighty Maker has throughout 730 Discriminated each from each, by strokes That all discern a beauty in his works, And all can taste them: minds that have been form'd And tutor'd with a relish more exact, 741 But none without some relish, none unmov'd. It is a flame that dies not even there, Where nothing feeds it: neither business, crowds, 745 Whatever else they smother of true worth In human bosoms, quench it or abate. The villas, with which London stands begirt, 750 The glimpse of a green pasture, how they cheer E'en in the stifling bosom of the town A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms That sooth the rich possessor; much consol'd, 755 That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint 760 Of orange, myrtle, or the fragrant weed, The Frenchman's darling?* are they not all proofs, That man, immur'd in cites, still retains 766 His inborn inextinguishable thirst Of rural scenes, compensating his loss By supplemental shifts, the best he may ? The most unfurnish'd with the means of life, 770 And they, that never pass their brick-wall bounds, * Mignionette. |