THE

CASTLE

O F

INDOLENCE.

The caftle hight of indolence,
And its falfe luxury ;
Where for a little time, alas?
We liv'd right jollily.

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,
A most enchanting wizard did abide,

Than whom a fiend more fell is no where found.

VOL. I.

I i

It

It was, I ween, a lovely spot of ground;
And there a feafon atween June and May,
Half prankt with fpring, with fummer half imbrown'
A listless climate made, where, sooth to say,
No living wight could work, ne cared even for play.

III.

Was nought around but images of rest:
Sleep-foothing groves, and quiet lawns between;
And flowery beds that slumbrous influence kest,
From poppies breath'd; and beds of pleasant green,
Where never yet was creeping creature seen.
Mean-time unnumber'd glittering streamlets play'd,
And hurled every-where their waters sheen;
That as they bicker'd through the funny glade,
Tho' restless still themfelves, a lulling murmur made.
IV.

Join'd to the prattle of the purling rills,
Were heard the lowing herds along the vale,
And flocks loud-bleating from the distant hills,
And vacant shepherds piping in the dale:
And now and then sweet Philomel would wail,
Or stock-doves plain amid the forest deep,
That drowsy ruftled to the fighing gale;
And still a coil the grashopper did keep :
Yet all these founds yblent inclined all to fleep.

V.

Full in the paffage of the vale, above,

A fable, filent, folemn forest stood;

Where nought but shadowy forms was feen to move,
As Idlefs fancy'd in her dreaming mood:

And

up

the hills, on either fide a wood,

Of blackening pines ay waving to and fro,
Sent forth a fleepy horror through the blood;

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;
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,
For ever flushing round a fummer-sky :
There eke the foft delights, that witchingly
Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast,
And the calm pleasures always hover'd nigh;
But whate'er fmack'd of noyance, or unrest,
Was far far off expell'd from this delicious nest.
VII.

The landscape fuch, infpiring perfect ease,
Where INDOLENCE (for fo the wizard hight)
Clofe hid his castle mid embowering trees,

That half shut out the beams of Phoebus bright,
And made a kind of chequer'd day and night:
Mean-while, unceasing at the maffy gate;
Beneath a spacious palm, the wicked wight
Was plac'd; and to his lute, of cruel fate,
And labour harsh, complain'd, lamenting man's eftate.
VIII.

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,
The freshness of this valley fmote their eye,
And drew them ever and anon more nigh;
Till clustering round th' enchanter false they hung,
Ymolten with his fyren melody; :

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
up bill; but as the farthest steep

«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,