And, middle fiz'd, can pafs between
Life's hubbub fafe, because unfeen,
And 'midft the glare of greatness trace
A wat'ry fun-fhine in the face,
And pleasures fled to, to redress
The fad fatigue of idleness.
Contentment, parent of delight,
So much a stranger to our fight,
Say, goddefs, in what happy place
Mortals behold thy blooming face;
Thy gracious aufpices impart,
And for thy temple choose my heart.
They, whom thou deigneft to inspire,
Thy science learn, to bound defire ;
By happy alchymy of mind
They turn to pleasure all they find;
They both difdain in outward mien
The grave and folemn garb of Spleen,
And meretricious arts of dress,
To feign a joy, and hide diftrefs;
Unmov'd when the rude tempeft blows,
Without an opiate they repose;
And cover'd by your fhield, defy
The whizzing shafts, that round them fly:
Nor meddling with the god's affairs,
Concern themselves with diftant cares ;
But place their bliss in mental rest,
And feaft upon the good poffefs'd.
Forc'd by foft violence of pray❜r,
The blithfome goddefs fooths my care,
I feel the deity inspire,
And thus the models my defire.
Two hundred pounds half-yearly paid,
Annuity fecurely made,
A farm fome twenty miles from town,
Small, tight, falubrious, and my own;
Two maids, that never faw the town,
A ferving-man not quite a clown,
A boy to help to tread the mow,
And drive, while t'other holds the plough;
A chief, of temper form'd to please,
Fit to converse, and keep the keys;
And better to preserve the peace,
Commiffion'd by the name of niece;
With understandings of a fize
To think their master very wife.
May heav'n (it's all I wifh for) fend
One genial room to treat a friend,
Where decent cup-board, little plate,
Display benevolence, not state.
And may my humble dwelling ftand
Upon fome chosen spot of land;
A pond before full to the brim,
Where cows may cool, and geefe may swim;
Behind, a green like velvet neat,
Soft to the eye, and to the feet;
Where od'rous plants in evening fair
Breathe all around ambrofial air;
From Eurus, foe to kitchen ground,
Fenc'd by a flope with bufhes crown'd,
Fit dwelling for the feather'd throng,
Who pay their quit-rents with a fong;
With op'ning views of hill and dale,
Which fense and fancy too regale,
Where the half-cirque, which vision bounds,
Like amphitheatre furrounds :
And woods impervious to the breeze,
Thick phalanx cf embodied trees,
From hills through plains in dusk array
Extended far, repel the day.
Here ftillness, height, and folemn shade
Invite, and contemplation aid :
Here nymphs from hollow oaks relate
The dark decrees and will of fate,
And dreams beneath the spreading beech
Infpire, and docile fancy teach,
While foft as breezy breath of wind,
Impulfes ruftle through the mind,
Here Dryads, fcorning Phœbus' ray,
While Pan melodious pipes away,
In meafur'd motions frisk about,
'Till old Silenus puts them out.
There fee the clover, pea, and bean,
Vie in variety of green;
Fresh paftures fpeckled o'er with sheep,
Brown fields their fallow fabbaths keep,
Plump Ceres golden treffes wear,
And poppy-top-knots deck her hair,
And filver-ftreams through meadows ftray,
And Naiads on the margin play,
And leffer nymphs on fide of hills
From play-thing urns pour down the rills.
Thus fhelter'd, free from care and strife,
May I enjoy a calm through life;
See faction, fafe in low degree,
As men at land fee ftorms at sea,
And laugh at miferable elves,
Not kind, fo much as to themselves.
Curs'd with fuch fouls of base alloy,
As can poffefs, but not enjoy;
Debarr'd the pleasure to impart
By av'rice, sphincter of the heart,
Who wealth, hard earn'd by guilty cares,
Bequeath untouch'd to thankless heirs.
May I, with look ungloom'd by guile,
And wearing Virtue's liv'ry-fmile,
Prone the diftreffed to relieve,
And little trefpaffes forgive,
With income not in Fortune's pow'r,
And skiil to make a busy hour,
With trips to town life to amufe,
To purchase books, and hear the news,
To fee old friends, brush off the clown,
And quicken tafte at coming down,
Unhurt by fickness' blasting rage,
And flowly mellowing in age,
When Fate extends its gathering gripe,
Fall off like fruit grown fully ripe,
Quit a worn being without pain,
Perhaps to bloffom foon again.
But now more ferious fee me grow,
And what I think, my Memmius, know.
Th' enthusiast's hope, and raptures wild,
Have never yet my reason foil'd.
His fpringy foul dilates like air,
When free from weight of ambient care,
And, hush'd in meditation deep,
Slides into dreams, as when asleep;
Then, fond of new discoveries grown,
Proves a Columbus of her own,
Difdains the narrow bounds of place,
And through the wilds of endless space,
Borne up on metaphyfic wings,
Chafes light forms and fhadowy things,
And in the vague excurfion caught,
Erings home fome rare exotic thought,
The melancholy man fuch dreams,
As brightest evidence, efteems;
Fain would he fee fome distant fcene
Suggested by his reflefs Spleen,
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