OR THE

Acarian Shepherds:

A

POEM.

In SIXTEEN BOOKS.

The AUTHOR, JOHN SPENCER,

Not to know at large of things remote

From ufe, obfcure and fubtle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime wifdom; what is more, is fume,
Or emptiness, or fond impertinence;
And renders us in things of more concern
Unpractic'd, unprepar'd, and still to feck.

PARAD. LOST, Book viii. 1. 191,

Fond man! the vifion of a moment made!
Dream of a dream! and fhadow of a fhade.

YOUNG'S Paraphrafe on Jo B.

VOL. I.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE:

Printed by T. SAINT.

MDCCLXXII.

CA

280. j 129

DEDICATIO N.

FROM a full conviction, that Virtue

and Honour appear moft illuftrious,

when they are at once imitated and patronized by the Great; and from a pleafing remembrance of the many repeated profeffions, made by the worthy JOHN SPENCER, of his attachment to, and veneration for the Noble Family; this POEM is, with all due deference, dedicated to the Right

Honourable CHARLES EARL OF TANKERVILLE, by

His Lordship's

NEWCASTLE, July 24, 1771.

Moft humble Servant,

WILLIAM HILTON.

Advertisement.

OUND, by a most folemn promise to Mr SPENCER,

BOU

ND,

published; and again enjoined by his LAST WILL to the performance of it; I make no other apology to the public for presenting them with the following PASTORAL. If I may be charged with any kind of vanity in doing it, it is that of exulting in the thought of having my name. handed down to pofterity, with fo refpectable a one as the AUTHOR, and under fuch noble patronage. The facred, and inviolable friendship, which fubfifted between us, for a series of more than twenty years, hath created a fort of fecret defire, that, as in life we were so intimately united, we may not in death be altogether divided! With regard to the literary merit of the work, I have no comment to make thereon: It is not my province, nor have I leisure or abilities for a task of the kind. The Author in his preface has spoke for himself. Sufficient for me to believe, that I have discovered in the performance eminent traces of the principles of undefiled religion; of difinterested morality, and a perfect benevolence topure, wards men; and, upon the whole, a fund of rational amufement. My thanks are due to the courteous fubscribers, by whofe timely affiftance I have been the better enabled to get forward; and I flatter myself, none of them (who read the Poem feriously) will have any cause to apprehend that their generosity hath been mifapplied.

The EDITOR.