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manage them, and an omiffion even of fuch difcipline as they are fufceptible of, the objects are yet too numerous for minute attention; and the aching hearts of ten thousand parents, mourning under the bittereft of all disappointments, attest the truth of the allegation. His quarrel therefore is with the mischief at large, and not with any particular inftance of it.

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THE TASK,

A POEM.

BOOK I.

ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.

Hiftorical deduction of feats, from the flool to the Sofa.

A School-boy's ramble.-A walk in the country. -The Scene defcribed.-Rural founds as well as fights delightful.—Another walk.-Miftake concerning the charms of folitude corrected.-Colonnades commended.—Alcove, and the view from it. -The wilderness.-The grove.-The thresher.— The neceffity and the benefits of exercise.-The works of nature fuperior to, and in fome inftances inimitable by, art.-The wearisomeness of what is commonly called a life of pleasure.-Change of Scene Sometimes expedient.—A common described, and the character of crazy Kate introduced.-Gipfies.The bleffings of civilized life.-That state moft favourable to virtue.-The South Sea islanders compaffionated, but chiefly Omai.-His present ftate of mind fuppofed.-Civilized life friendly to virtue, but not great cities.-Great cities, and London in particular, allowed their due praife, but cenfured. -Fete champetre.-The book concludes with a reflection on the fatal effects of diffipation and effeminacy upon our public meafures.

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