THE CASTLE O F INDOLENCE. The caftle hight of indolence, 1. Mortal man, who livest here by toil, Do not complain of this thy hard estate; That like an emmet thou must ever moil, Is a fad fentence of an antient date; And, certes, there is for it reason great ; For, tho' fometimes it makes thee weep and wail, And curfe thy ftar, and early drudge and late, Withouten that would come an heavier bale, Loofe life, unruly paffions, and diseases pale. II. In lowly dale, fast by a river's fide, With woody hill o'er hill encompass'd round, Than whom a fiend more fell is no where found. VOL. I. I i It It was, I ween, a lovely spot of ground; III. Was nought around but images of rest: Join'd to the prattle of the purling rills, V. Full in the paffage of the vale, above, A fable, filent, folemn forest stood; Where nought but shadowy forms was feen to move, And up the hills, on either fide a wood, Of blackening pines ay waving to and fro, And And where this valley winded out, below, The murmuring main was heard, and scarcely heard, to flow. VI. A pleafing land of drowfy-head it was:" Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; The landscape fuch, infpiring perfect ease, That half shut out the beams of Phoebus bright, Thither continual pilgrims orouded still, From all the roads of earth that pass there by : For, as they chaunc'd to breathe on neighb❜ring ni II, While o'er th' enfeebling lute his hand he flung, And to the trembling chords thofe tempting verfes fung: IX. " Behold! Ii2 IX. "Behold! ye pilgrims of this earth, behold! "See all but man with unearn'd pleasure gay: "See her bright robes the butterfly unfold, "Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May! "What youthful bride can equal her array? "Who can with her for easy pleasure vie ? "From mead to mead with gentle wing to ftray, "From flower to flower on balmy gales to fly, "Is all fhe has to do beneath the radiant sky. X. "Behold the merry minstrels of the morn, "The fwarming fongsters of the careless grove, "Ten thousand throats! that, from the flowering "thorn, ་ Hymn their good God, and carol fweet of love, "Such grateful kindly raptures them emove: "They neither plow, nor fow; ne, fit for flail, "E'er to the barn the nodding sheaves they drove; "Yet theirs each harvest dancing in the gale, "Whatever crowns the hill, or smiles along the vale. XI. "Outcast of nature, man! the wretched thrall "Of bitter-dropping fweat, and fweltry pain, "Of cares that eat away thy heart with gall, "And of the vices, an inhuman train, "That all proceed from favage thirst of gain: "For when hard-hearted Interest first began "To poifon earth, Afraea left the plain; "Guile, violence, and murder feiz'd on man, "And, for foft milky ftreams, with blood the rivers ran. Come, ye, ** Push hard XII. who ftill the cumbrous load of life «You "You trust to gain, and put an end to ftrife, "Down thunders back the stone with mighty sweep, "And hurls your labours to the valley deep, "For-ever vain: come, and, withouten fee, "I in oblivion will your forrows steep, "Your cares, your toils; will steep you in a fea "Of full delight: O come, ye weary wights, to me! XIII. "With me, you need not rise at early dawn, "To pass the joyless day in various stounds: "Or, louting low, on upstart fortune fawn, "And fell fair honour for fome paltry pounds; "Or through the city take your dirty rounds, "To cheat, and dun, and lie, and visit pay, "Now flattering bafe, now giving fecret wounds; "Or proul in courts of law for human prey, "In venal fenate thieve, or rob on broad highway. XIV. "No cocks, with me, to ruftic labour call, "From village on to village founding clear; "To tardy swain no fhrill-voic'd matrons squall; "No dogs, no babes, no wives, to stun your ear; "No hammers thump; no horrid blackfinith fear, "Ne noify tradesman your sweet slumbers start, "With founds that are a mifery to hear: "But all is calm, as would delight the heart "Of Sybarite of old, all nature, and all art. XV. "Here nought but candor reigns, indulgent eafe, "Good-natur'd lounging, fauntering up and down: "They who are pleas'd themselves must always please ; "On other's ways they never fquint a frown, |