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Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And ev❜n his failings lean'd to Virtue's fide:
But in his dury prompt at every call,.

He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all.
And, as a bird each fond endearment tries,
To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies;
He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay,
Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way.

Befide the bed where parting life was laid,
And forrow, guilt, and pain, by turns difmay'd,
The reverend Champion flood. At his control
Defpair and anguish fled the struggling foul;
Comfort came down, the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last falt'ring accents whisper'd praife.

At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorn'd the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double fway,
And fools who came to fcoff, remain'd to pray..
The fervice past, around the pious man

1

With ready zeal each honeft ruftic ran:
Ev'n children follow'd with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to fhare the good man's fimile;
His ready fmile a parent's warmth exprefs'd,
Their welfare pleas'd him, and their cares diftrefs'd;
To them his heart, his love, his griefs were giv'n,
But all his ferious thoughts had reft in Heav'n.
As fome tall cliff that lifts its awful form,

Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the ftorm,
Though round its breaft the rolling clouds are fpread,
Eternal funfhine fettles on its head..

CHAP. VI.

THE WISH.

CONTENTMENT, parent of delight,
So much a ftranger to our fight,

GOLDSMITH,

Say,

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Say, goddess, 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 infpire,
Thy science learn, to bound defire;
By happy alchymy of mind

They turn to pleasure all they find;
They both di dain in outward mien
The grave and folemn garb of fpleen,
And meretricious arts of dress,

To feign a joy, and hide distress:
Unmov'd when the rude tempeft blows,
Without an opiate they repose;
And cover'd by your fhield, defy
The whizzing fhafts that round them fly:
Nor meddling with the gods' affairs,
Concern themselves with diftant cares;
But place their bliss in mental reft,
And feaft upon the good poffefs'd.
Forc'd by foft violence of pray❜r,
The blithsome goddess fooths my care;
I feel the deity inspire,

And thus fhe 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 saw 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 converfe, and keep the keys;

And

And better to preferve the peace,
Commiffion'd by the name of niece;
With understandings of a fize
To think their master very wife:
May Heaven (it's all I wish for) fend
One genial room to treat a friend,
Where decent cup-board, little plate,
Difplay 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 bushes 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 fenfe and fancy too regale,
Where the half cirque, which vifion bounds,
Like amphitheatre furrounds;

And woods impervious to the breeze,
Thick phalanx of embodied trees,

From hills, through plains, in dusk array

Extended far, repel the day,

Here ftillness, height, and folemn fhade,
Invite, and contemplation aid:
Here nymphs from hollow oaks relate
The dark decrees and will of fate
And dreams beneath the spreading beech,
Inspire, and docile fancy teach;

While foft as breezy breath of wind,
Impulfes ruftle through the mind:
Here Dryads, fcorning Phoebus' ray
While Pan melodious pipes away,
In meafur'd motions frifk 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 fheep,
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 ftrife,
May I enjoy a calm through life;
See faction, fafe in low degree,
As men at land fee ftorms at fea;
And laugh at miferable elves,
Not kind, fo much as to themfelves,
Curs'd with fuch fouls of bafe 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 thanklefs 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 skill to make a bufy hour,

With trips to town life to amuse,

To purchase books, and hear the news,
To fee old friends, brush off the clown,
And quicken tafte at coming down.
Unhurt by fickness' blafting rage,
And flowly mellowing into age:
When fate extends its gath'ring gripe;
Fall off like fruit grown fully ripe ;
Quit a worn being without pain,
In hope to bloffom soon again.

CHAP. VII.

GRONGAR HILL.

SILENT nymph, with curious eye,
Who, the purple ev'ning, lie
On the mountain's lonely van,
Beyond the noife of bufy man,"
Painting fair the form of things,
While the yellow linnet fings;
Or the tuneful nightingale
Charms the foreft with her tale;
Come with all thy various hues,
Come and aid thy fifter Muse:
Now while Phoebus riding high
Gives luftre to the land and sky!
Grongar Hill invites my fong,
Draw the landscape bright and strong;
Grongar, in whofe moffy cells
Sweetly mufing Quiet dwells;
Grongar, in whofe filent fhade,
For the modest Muses made,
So oft I have, the evening ftill,
At the fountain of a rill,
Sate

upon a flow'ry bed,
With my hand beneath my head:

GREEN,

While

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