Of a clear river, gently drive the flock, And plunge them one by one into the flood: Plung'd in the flood, not long the struggler finks; With his white flakes, that gliften through the tide ; The sturdy ruftic, in the middle wave Awaits to feize him rifing; one arm bears His lifted head above the limpid stream, While the full clammy fleece the other laves Around, laborious, with repeated toil; And then refigns him to the funny bank, Where, bleating loud, he shakes his dripping locks. Shear them the fourth or fifth return of morn, Left touch of bufy fly-blows wound their skin : Thy peaceful fubjects without murmur yield Their yearly tribute: 'tis the prudent part To cherish and be gentle, while ye strip The downy vefture from their tender fides. Prefs not too clofe; with caution turn the points; And from the head in regular rounds proceed :- But speedy when ye chance to wound, with tar Prevent the wingy fwarm and fcorching heat; And careful house them, if the lowering clouds Mingle their ftores tumultuous: through the gloom Then thunder oft with pondrous wheels rolls loud, And breaks the crystal urns of heaven: adown Falls ftreaming rain. Sometimes among the steeps Of Cambrian glades (pity the Cambrian glades) Faft tumbling brooks on brooks enormous fwell, And fudden o'erwhelm their vanish'd fields: Down with the flood away the naked sheep, Bleating in vain, are borne, and straw-built huts, And rifted trees, and heavy enormous rocks, Down with the rapid torrent to the deep.
At fhearing-time, along the lively vales, Rural feftivities are often heard: Beneath each blooming arbour all is joy And lufty merriment: while on the grafs The mingled youth in gaudy circles fport, We think the golden age again return'd, And all the fabled Dryades in dance. Leering they bound along, with laughing air, To the fhrill pipe, and deep remurmuring cords Of th' ancint harp, or tabor's hollow found.
While th' old apart, upon a bank reclin'd, Attend the tuneful carol, foftly mixt With every murmur of the fliding wave, And every warble of the feather'd choir; Mufic of paradife! which still is heard, When the heart liftens; ftill the views appear Of the first happy garden, when Content To Nature's flowery fcenes directs the fight. Yet we abandon thofe Elyfian walks, Then idly for the loft delight repine: As greedy mariners, whofe defperate fails Skim o'er the billows of the foamy flood, Fancy they fee the liftening fhores retire, And figh a farewel to the finking hills.
Could I recall thofe notes, which once the Mufe Heard at a fhearing, near the woody fides Of blue-topp'd Wreakin*! Yet the carols fweet, Through the deep maze of the memorial cell, Faintly remurmur. First arofe in fong Hoar-headed Damon, venerable swain, The footheft thepherd of the flowery vale. "This is no vulgar fcene: no palace-roof
*A high hill in Shropshire.
"Was e'er fo lofty, nor fo nobly rife
Their polish'd pillars, as these aged oaks, "Which o'er our fleecy wealth and harmless sports "Thus have expanded wide their sheltering arms, "Thrice told an hundred fummers. Sweet Con
"Ye gentle shepherds, pillow us at night.” "Yes, tuneful Damon, for our cares are shorts "Rifing and falling with the chearful day," Colin reply'd;" and pleasing weariness "Soon our unaching head to fleep inclines. "Is it in cities fo? where, poets tell, "The cries of forrow fadden all the streets, "And the diseases of intemperate wealth. "Alas, that any ills from wealth should rife!
"May the sweet nightingale on yonder spray, "May this clear ftream, thefe lawns, thofe fnow white lambs,
"Which, with a pretty innocence of look, "Skip on the green, and race in little troops; "May that great lamp, which finks behind the hills,
"And streams around variety of lights, "Recall them erring this is Damon's wish.
"Huge Breaden's * ftony fummit once I climb'd "After a kindling: Damon, what a fcene! "What various views unnumber'd spread beneath! "Woods, towers, vales, caves, dells, cliffs and "torrent floods;
"And here and there, between the spiry rocks, "The broad flat sea. Far nobler prospects thefe, "Than gardens black with smoke in dusty towns, "Where ftenchy vapours often blot the fun : "Yet, flying from his quiet, thither crouds "Each greedy wretch for tardy-rifing wealth, "Which comes too late; that courts the taste in
"Or naufeates with diftempers. Yes, ye rich, "Still, ftill be rich, if thus ye fashion life; "And piping, careless, filly fhepherds we, "We filly fhepherds, all intent to feed
"Our fnowy flocks, and wind the fleeky fleece." "Deem not, howe'er, our occupation mean," Damon reply'd, "while the Supreme accounts "Well of the faithful fhepherd, rank'd alike "With king and priest: they also shepherds are ; "For fo th' All-feeing ftyles them, to remind "Elated man, forgetful of his charge."
"But hafte, begin the rites: fee purple Eve "Stretches her shadows: all ye nymphs and fwains "Hither affemble. Pleas'd with honours due, "Sabrina, guardian of the crystal flood,
"Shall blefs our cares, when the by moonlight clear "Skims o'er the dales, and eyes our fleeping folds; "Or in hoar caves around Plynlymmon's brow, "Where precious minerals dart their purple gleams, "Among her fifters the reclines; the lov'd "Vaga †, profufe of graces, Ryddol † rough, "Blithe Yftwith †, and Clevedoc † swift of foot; "And mingles various feeds of flowers and herbs, "In the divided torrents, ere they burst
* A hill on the boarders of Montgomeryshire. Vaga, Ryddol, Yftwith, and Clevedoc, rivers, the fprings of which rife in the fides of Plyn. lymmón.
*Through the dark clouds, and down the mountain " roll.
"Nor taint-worm shall infect the yeaning herds, "Nor penny-grafs, nor fpearwort's poisonous "leaf."
He faid: with light fantastic toe, the nymphs Thither affembled, thither every swain ; And o'er the dimpled ftream a thousand flowers, Pale lillies, rofes, violets, and pinks,
Mix'd with the greens of burnet, mint, and thyme, And trefoil, fprinkled with their sportive arms.
Such cuftom holds along th' irriguous vales, From Wreakin's brow to rocky Dolvoryn *, Sabrina's early haunt, ere yet the fled
The fearch of Guendolen, her ftepdame proud, With envious hate enrag'd. The jolly chear, Spread on a moffy bank, untouch'd abides, Till ceafe the rites: and now the moffy bank Is gaily circled, and the jolly chear Difpers'd in copious meafure; early fruits, And those of frugal ftore, in husk or rind; Steep'd grain, and curdled milk with dulcet cream Soft temper'd, in full merriment they quaff, And caft about their gibes; and fome apace Whistle to roundelays: their little-ones Look on delighted: while the mountain-woods, And winding vallies, with the various notes
Of pipe, fheep, kine, and birds, and liquid brooks, Unite their echoes: near at hand the wide Majestic wave of Severn flowly rolls Along the deep-divided glebe: the flood, And trading bark with low contracted fail, Linger among the reeds and copfy banks To liften; and to view the joyous fcene.
ARGU M É N INTRODUCTION. Recommendation of mercifulness to animals. Of the winding of wool. Diversity of wool in the fleece: fkill in the afforting of it; particularly among the Dutch. The ufes of each fort. Severe winters pernicious to the fleece. Directions to prevent their effects. Wool lighteft in commonfields inconveniencies of common fields. Vulgar trrors concerning the wool of England: its real excellencies; and directions in the choice. No good wool in cold or wet paftures: yet all pastures improvcable; exemplified in the drainage of Bedford Level. Britain in ancient times not esteemed for wool. Countries efteemed for wool before the Argonautic expedition. Of that expedition, and its confequences. Countries afterwards efteemed for wol. The decay of arts and sciences in the barba
rous ages : their revival, firft at Venice. Coun tries noted for wool in the prefent times. Wool the beft of all the various materials for cloathing. The wool of our island, peculiarly excellent, is the combing wool. Methods to prevent its exportation Apology of the author for treating this subject. Bishop Blaize the inventor of wool-combing. Of the dying of wool. Few dyes the natural produči of England. Neceffity of trade for importing them. The advantages of trade, and its utility in the mo ral world; exemplified in the profperity and ruin of the elder Tyre.
TOW, of the fever'd lock, begin the fong,
With various numbers, through the imple theme
To win attention: this, ye fhepherd f vains, This is a labour. Yet, O Wray, if thou Cease not with fkilful hand to point her way, The lark-wing'd Muse, above the graffy vale; And hills, and wood, thall, finging, foar aloft ; And he, whom Learning, Wisdom, Candor, Grace,
Who glows with all the virtues of his fire, Royston approve, and patronize the ftrain.
Through all the brute creation, none, as sheep, To lordly man such ample tribute pay. For him their udders yield nectareous streams: For him their downy vestures they refign; For him they spread the feaft: ah! ne'er may he Glory in wants, which doom to pain and death His blameless fellow-creatures. Let difeafe, Let wafted hunger, by deftroying live; And the permiffion ufe with trembling thanks, Meekly reluctant: 'tis the brute beyond! And gluttons ever murder when they kill. Ev'n to the reptile every cruel deed Is high impiety. Howe'er not all, Not of the fanguinary tribe are all ;
All are not favage. Come, ye gentle fwains, Like Brama's healthy fons on Indus' banks; Whom the pure stream and garden fruits sustain, Ye are the fons of Nature; your mild hands Are innocent: ye, when ye fhear, relieve. Come, gentle swains, the bright unfully'd locks Collect: alternate fongs thall footh your cares, And warbling mufic break from every spray. Be faithful; and the genuine locks alone Wrap round: nor alien flake nor pitch enfold: Stain not your ftores with base defire to add Fallacious weight: nor yet, to mimic those, Minute and light, of fandy Urchinfield Leffen, with fubtle artifice, the fleece: Equal the fraud. Nor interpofe delay, Left busy æther through the open wool Debiliating pafs, and every film Ruffle and fully with the valley's duft. Guard too from moifture, and the fretting moth Pernicious: fhe, in gloomy fhade conceal'd, Her labyrinth cuts, and mocks the comber's care. But in loufe locks of fells fhe most delights, And feeble fleeces of diftemper'd fheep, Whither the haftens, by the morbid fcent
*The country about Rofs, in Herefordshire.
Allur'd; as the fwift eagle to the fields Of laughtering war or carnage: such apart Keep for their proper ufe. Our ancestors Selected fuch, for hofpitable beds To reft the stranger, or the gory chief, From battle or the chace of wolves return'd. When many-colour'd Evening finks behind The purple woods and hills, and opposite Rifes, full-orb'd, the filver harvest-moon, To light th' unwearied farmer, late afield His scatter'd fheaves collecting; then expect The artists, bent on speed, from populous Leeds, Norwich, or Froome; they traverse every plain, And every dale, where farm or cottage fmokes : Reject them not; and let the feafon's price Win thy foft treasures: let the bulky wain Through dufty roads roll nodding; or the bark, That filently adown the cerule ftream Glides with white fails, dispense the downy freight To copfy villages on either fide, And fpiry towns, where ready diligence, The grateful burden to receive, awaits, Like ftrong Briareus, with his hundred hands. In the fame fleece diversity of wool Grows intermingled, and excites the care Of curious skill to fort the feveral kinds. But in this fubtle fcience none exceed
Th' industrious Belgians, to the work who guide Each feeble hand of want: their spacious domes With boundlefs hospitality receive
Each nation's outcafts: there the tender eye May view the maim'd, the blind, the lame, employ'd,
And unrejected age; ev'n childhood there Its little fingers turning to the toil Delighted : rimbly, with habitual fpeed, They fever lock from lock, and long and short, And soft, and rigid, pile in feveral heaps. This the dusk hatter afks; another fhines, Tempting the clothier; that the hofier feeks; The long bright lock is apt for airy stuffs; But often it deceives the artist's care, Breaking unuseful in the fteely comb: For this long fpungy wool no more increase Receives, while Winter petrifies the fields: The growth of Autumn ftops: and what though Spring
Succeeds with rofy finger, and spins on The texture? yet in vain fhe ftrives to link The filver twine to that of Autumn's hand.
Be then the fwain advis'd to fhield his flocks
From winter's deadening frofts and whelming frows:
Let the loud tempeft rattle on the roof, While they, fecure within, warm cribs enjoy, And fwell their fleeces, equal to the worth
Of cloath'd Apulian *, by foft warmth improv'd: Or let them inward heat and vigor find, By food of cole or turnep, hardy plants. Befides, the lock of one continued growth Imbibes a clearer and more equal dye.
But lightest wool is theirs, who poorly toil,
* The fhepherds of Apulia, Tarentum, and Attica, ufed to cluath their fheep with fkins, to preferve and improve their fleeces.
Through a dull round, in unimproving farms Of common-fields: inclofe, inclofe, ye fwains; Why will you joy in common-field, where pitch, Noxious to wool, must stain your motley flock, To mark your property ? The mark dilates, Enters the flake depreciated, defil'd, Unfit for beauteous tint : befides, in fields Promifcuous held, all culture languishes ; The glebe, exhausted, thin fupply receives; Dull waters reft upon the rushy flats And barren furrows: none the rifing grove There plants for late pofterity, nor hedge® 'To fhield the flock, nor copfe for chearing fire; And, in the diftant village, every hearth Deyours the graffy fwerd, the verdant food Of injur'd herds and flocks, or what the plough Should turn and moulder for the bearded grain.; Pernicious habit, drawing gradual on Increasing beggary, and Nature's frowns. Add too, the idle pilferer easier there Eludes detection, when a lamb or ewe From intermingled flocks he fteals; or when, With loofen'd tether of his horfe or cow, The milky ftalk of the tall green ear❜d corn, The year's flow-ripening fruit, the anxious hope Of his laborious neighbour, he destroys.
There are, who over-rate our spungy ftores, Who deem that Nature grants no clime, but ours, To spread upon its fields the dews of heaven, And feed the filky fieece ; that card, nor comb, The hairy woll of Gaul can e'er fubdue, To form the thread, and mingle in the loom, Unlefs a third from Britain fwell the heap. Illufion all; though of our fun and air Not trivial is the virtue: nor their fruit, Upon our fnowy flocks, of small efteem: The grain of brightest tincture none so well Imbibes: the wealthy Gobelin's must to this Bear witnefs, and the coЯlieft of their looms.
And though, with hue of crocus or of rose, No power of fubtle food, or air, or foil, Can dye the living fleece; yet 'twill avail To note their influence in the tinging vase. Therefore from herbage of old-paftur'd plains, Chief from the matted turf of azure marle, Where grow the whiteft locks, collect thy ftores. Those fields regard not, through whofe recent turf The miry foil appears; not ev'n the streams Of Yare, or filver Stroud, can purify Their frequent-fully'd fleece;
winds, Keen-biting on tempeftuous hills, inbrown. Yet much may be perform`d, to check the force Of Nature'srigor: the high heath, by trees Warm-fhelter'd, may defpife the rage of ftorms: Moors, bogs, and weeping fens, may learn to fmile, And leave in dykes their foon-forgotten tears. Labor and Art will every aim atchieve Of noble bofoms. Bedford Level *, erst A dreary pathlefs wafte, the coughing flock Was wont with hairy fleeces to deform; And, fmiling with her lure of summer flowers, The heavy ox, vain-struggling, to ingulph; Ruffel, arofe, who drain'd the rushy fen, Till one, of that high-honour'd patriot name,
Confin'd the waves, bade groves and gardens | Unwonted objects: now first, now they learn'd
And through his new creation led the Ouze, And gentle Camus, filver-winding streams; God-like beneficence; from chaos drear To raise the garden and the fhady grove!
But fee Ierne's moors and hideous bogs, Immeasurable tract. The traveller
Slow tries his mazy step on th' yielding tuft, Shuddering with fear: ev'n fuch perfidious wilds, By labor won, have yielded to the comb The fairest length of wool. See Deeping fens, And the long lawns of Bourn. 'Tis Art and Toil Gives Nature value, multiplies her stores, Varies, improves, creates: 'tis Art and Toil Teaches her woody hills with fruits to shine, The pear and tasteful apple; decks with flowers And foodful pulfe the fields, that often rise, Admiring to behold their furrows wave With yellow corn. What changes cannot Toil With patient Art, effect? There was a time, When other regions were the swains delight, And thepherdlefs Britannia's rushy vales, Inglorious, neither trade nor labor knew, But of rude baskets, homely ruftic geer, Woven of the flexile willow; till, at length, 'The plains of Sarum open'd to the hand Of patient Culture, and, o'er finking woods, High Cotswold fhow'd her fummits. Urchinfield, And Lemfter's crofts, beneath the pheasant's brake,
Long lay unnoted. Toil new pafture gives ; And, in the regions oft of active Gaul, O'er leffening vineyards fpreads the growing turf, In eldest times, when kings and hardy chiefs In bleeting sheepfolds met, for pureft wool Phoenicia's hilly tracts were most renown'd, And fertile Syria's and Judæa's land,
Hermon, and Seir, and Hebron's brooky fides: Twice with the murex' crimson hue. they ting'd The fhining fleeces: hence their gorgeous wealth; And hence arose the walls of ancient Tyre.
Next bufy Colchis, blefs'd with frequent rains, And lively verdure (who the lucid stream Of Phafis boafted, and a portly race Of fair inhabitants) improv'd the fleece; When, o'er the deep by flying Phryxus brought, The fam'd Theffalian ram enrich'd her plains.
This, rifing Greece with indignation view'd, And youthful Jafon an attempt conceiv'd Lofty and bold: along Peneus' banks, Around Olympus' brow, the Muses' haunts, He rouz'd the brave, to re-demand the fleece. Attend, ye British swains, the ancient song. From every region of Ægea's fhore
The brave affembled; thofe illustrious twins, Caftor and Pollux; Orpheus, tuneful bard; Zetes and Calais, as the wind in speed ; Strong Hercules, and many a chief renown'd, On deep Iolcos' fandy fhore they throng'd Gleaming in armour, ardent of exploits; And foon, the laurel cord, and the huge ftone Up-lifting to the deck, unmoor'd the bark; Whofe keel, of wondrous length, the skilful hand Or Argus fashion'd for the proud attempt; And in th' extended keel a lofty maft Up-rais'd, and fails full-fwelling; to the chiefs
To Thynia's hofpitable ifle. The brave Pafs many pearls, and to fame by such Experience rife. Refresh'd, again they speed From cape to cape, and view unnumber'd streams Halys, with hoary Lycus, and the mouths Of Afparus and Glaucus, rolling swift To the broad deep their tributary waves; Till in the long-fought harbour they arrive Of golden Phafis. Foremost on the strand Jafon advanc'd: the deep capacious bay, The crumbling terrace of the marble port, Wondering he view'd, and stately palace-domes, Pavilions proud of luxury; around,
In every glittering hall, within, without, O'er all the timbrel-founding fquares and streets, Nothing appear'd but luxury, and crowds Sunk deep in riot. To the public weal Attentive none he found: for he, their chief Of fhepherds, proud Aëtes, by the name Sometimes of king distinguish'd, 'gan to flight The fhepherd's trade, and turn to fong and dance : Ev'n Hydrus ceas'd to watch; Medea's fongs Of joy, and rofy youth, and Beauty's charms, With magic fweetness lull'd his cares asleep, Till the bold heroes grafp'd the golden fleece. Nimbly they wing'd the bark, furrounded foon By Neptune's friendly waves: fecure they speed O'er the known feas, by every guiding cape, With profperous return. The myrtle fores, And glaffy mirror of Iolcos' lake,
With loud acclaim receiv'd them. Every vale, And every hillock, touch'd the tuneful stops Of pipes unnumber'd, for the ram regain'd..
Thus Phafis loft his pride: his flighted nymphs Along the withering dales and pastures mourn'd; The trade-fhip left his ftreams; the merchant fhunn'd
His defart borders; each ingenious art, Trade, Liberty, and Affluence; all retir'd, And left to Want and Servitude their feats: Vile fucceffors! and gloomy Ignorance Following like dreary, Night, whofe fable hand Hangs on the purple skirts of flying day.
Sithence the fleeces of Arcadian plains, And Attic, and Theffalian, bore esteem; And thofe in Grecian colonies difpers'd, Caria and Doris, and lönia's coaft, And fam'd Tarentum, where Galefus' tide, Rolling by ruire hoar of ancient towns, Through folitary vallies feeks the sea. Or green Altinim, by an hundred Alps High-crown'd, whofe woods and fnowy peaks aloft
Shield her low plains from the rough northern blaft.
Thofe too of Boetica's delicious fields,
With golden fruitage blefs'd of highest taste, What need I name? The Turdetanian tract, Or rich Coraxus, whofe wide looms unroll'd The finest webs? where scarce a talent weigh'd A ram's equivalent. Then only Tin To late improv'd Britannia gave renown.
Lo the revolving course of mighty time, Who loftinefs abafes, tumbles down Olympus' brow, and lifts the lowly vale. Where is the majesty of ancient Rome, The throng of heroes in her fplendid streets, The fnowy veft of peace, or purple robe, Slow trail'd triumphal? Where the Attic fleece, And Tarentine, in warmeft litter'd cotes, Or funny meadows, cloath'd with coftly care? All in the folitude of ruin loft,
War's horrid carnage, vain Ambition's duft.
Long lay the mournful realms of elder Fame In gloomy defolation, till appear'd Beauteous Venetia, firft of all the nymphs, Who from the inclancholy wafte emerg'd: In Adria's gulph her clotted locks she lav'd, And rofe another Venus: each soft joy, Each aid of life, her bufy wit reftor'd; Science reviv'd, with all the lovely Arts, And all the Graces. Reftituted Trade To every Virtue lent his helping ftores, And chear'd the vales around; again the pipe, And bleating flocks, awak'd the chearful lawn. The gloffy ficeces now of prime esteem Soft Afia boafts, where lovely Caffimere, Within a lofty mound of circling hills, Spreads her delicious ftores; woods, rocks, caves, lakes,
Hills, lawns, and winding ftreams; a region term'd
The paradife of Indus. Next, the plains Of Lahor, by that arbor stretch'd immenfe, Through many a realm, to Agra, the proud throne Of India's worthip'd prince, whofe luft is law: Remote dominions; ror to ancient Fame, Nor modern ki.own, till public-hearted Roe,
Faithful, fagacious, active, patient, brave, Led to their diftant climes adventurous trade. Add too the filky weol of Libyan lands, Of Caza's bowery dales, and brooky Caus, Where lofty Atlas fpreads his verdant feet, While in the clouds his hoary fhoulders bend. Next proud Iberia glories in the growth Of high Caftile, and mild Segovian glades.
And beauteous Albion, fince great Edgar chac'd The prowling wolf, with many a lock appears Of filky luftre; chief, Siluria, thine; Thine, Vaga, favour'd stream; from theep minute On Cambria tred: a pound o'erweighs a fleece. Gay Epfom's too, and Banftead's, and what gleams On Vecta's ifle, that shelters Albion's fleet, With all its thunders: or Salopian stores, Thofe which are gather'd in the fields of Clun : High Cotswold alfo 'mong the fhepherd fwains Is oft remember'd, though the greedy plough Preys on its carpet: He*, whofe ruftic Mufe O'er heath and craggy holt her wing display'd, And fung the bofky bourns of Alfred's fhires, Has favour'd Cotswold with luxuriant praise. Need we the levels green of Lincoln note, Or rich Leicestra's marly plains, for length Of whiteft locks and magnitude of fleece Peculiar; envy of the neighbouring realms ? But why recount our graffy lawns alone, While ev'n the tillage of our cultur'd plains, With boffy turnep, and luxuriant cole, Learns through the circling year their flocks to feed. Ingenious trade! to cloath the naked world, Her foft materials, not from fheep alone, From various animals, reeds, trees, and ftones, Collects fagacious: in Euboea's ifle
A wondrous rock † is found, of which are woven Vests incombuftible: Batavia, flax ; Siam's warm marish yields the fiffile cane; Soft Perfia, filk; Balafor's fhady hills Tough bark of trees; Peruvian Pito, grafs; And every fultry clime the fnowy down Of cotton bursting from its stubborn shell To gleam amid the verdure of the grove. With gloffy hair of Tibet's fhagged goat Are light tiaras woven, that wreath the head, And airy float behind: the beaver's flix Gives kindlieft warmth to weak enervate limbs, When the pale blood flow rifes through the veins. Still fhall o'er all prevail the fhepherd's flores, For numerous uses known: none yield fuch warmth, Such beauteous hues receive, fo long endure; So pliant to the loom, fo various, none.
Wild rove the flocks, no burdening fleece they bear,
In fervid climes: Nature gives nought in vain. Carmenian wool on the broad tail alone Refplendent fwells, enormous in its growth: As the fleek ram from green to green removes, On aiding wheels his heavy pride he draws, And glad refigns it for the hatter's ufe.
Ev'n in the new Columbian world appears The woolly covering: Apacheria's * glades, And Canfes' *, echo to the pipes and flocks
* Drayton. The Afbeftos. * Provinces in Louisiana, on the western fide of the Miffifippi.
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