But in his duty 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 try'd 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 dismay'd,
The reverend champion stood. At his controul,
Defpair and anguish fled the struggling foul ;
Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise,'
And his laft falt'ring accents wifper'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 paft, around the pious man,
With ready zeal each honeft ruftic ran;
E'en children follow'd with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to fhare the good man's fmile,
His ready fmile a parent's warmth exprest,
Their welfare pleas'd him, and their cares diftreft ;
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 storm,
Tho' round its breaft the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal funfhine fettles on its head.
THE WISH.
ONTENTMENT, 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 choofe 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 gard of Spleen,
And meretricious arts of drefs,
To feign a joy, and hide distress:
Unmov'd when the rude tempeft blows,
Without an opiate they repose ;
And cover'd by your shield, defy
The whizzing shafts, that round them fly:
Nor meddling with the gods' affairs,
Concern themselves with distant cares;
But place their blifs in mental reft,
And feaft upon the good poffefs'd.
Forc'd by foft violence of pray'r,
The blithfome goddess fooths my care;
I feel the deity inspire,
And thus fhe models my
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 heaven (it's all I wish for) fend
One general room to treat a friend,
Where decent cup-board, little plate,
Display benevolence, not ftate.
And may my humble dwelling ftand
Upon fome chofen fpot 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 surrounds :
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
Infpire, 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 measur'd motions frisk about,
'Till old Silenus puts them out.
There fee the clover, pea, and bean,
Vie in variety of green;.
Fresh pastures 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 fea,
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, fphincter 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 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.
Unburt by fickness blasting rage,
And flowly mellowing into age,
When Fate extends is gathering gripe,
Fall off like fruit grown fully ripe;
Quit a worn being without pain
In hope to bloffom foon again.
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