This truth howe'er Mines bright to human senfe ; Each bird and beast, and these thy fleecy tribe:
Each strong affection of th’ unconscious brute, When high the sapphire cope, supine they couch,
Each bent, each passion of the finallest mite, And chew the cud delighted; but, ere rain,
Is witely given; harmonious they perform

Eager, and at unwonted hour, they feed :
The work of perfect reason (blush, vain man!) Slight not the warning ; soon the tempest rolls,
And turn the wheels of nature's valt machine. Scattering them wide, close rushing at the heels

See that thy ferip have fiore of healing tar, Of th' hurrying o’ertaken (wains : forbear And marking pitch and raddle ; nor forget

Such nights to fold ; such nights be theirs to shift Thy sheers true pointed, nor th' officious dog, On ridge or hillock; or in homesteads soft, Faithful to teach thy ftragglers to return :

Or softer cotes, detain them. Is thy lot So may'st thou aid who lag along, or steal

A chill penurious turf, to all thy toils Afide into the furrows or the shades,

Untractable ? Before harsh winter drowns Silent to droop; or who, at every gate

The noisy dykes, and starves the ruthy glebe, Or hillock, rub their fores and loofen'd wool. Shift the frail breed to sandy hamlets warm: But rather these, the feeble of thy flock,

There let them sojourn, till gay Procne skims Banish before th' autumnal months : ev'n age The thickening verdure, and the rising flowers. Forbear too much to favour; oft renew,

And while departing autumn all embrowns And through thy fold let joyous youth appear. The frequent-bitten fields; while thy free hand Beware the feason of imperial love,

Divides the tedded hay; then be their feet Who through the world his ardent fpirit pours ; Accustom'd to the barriers of the rick, Ev’n theep are then intrepid : the proud ram Or fome warm umbrage ; left, in erring fright, With jealous eye surveys the spacious field;

When the broad dazzling snows defcend, they run All rivals keep aloof, or desperate war

Dispers’d to ditches, where the swelling drift Suddenly rages; with impetuous force,

Wide overwhelms : anxious the shepherd Swains And fury irresistable, they dah

Issue with axe and spadt, and, all abroad, Their hardy frontlets; the wide yale resounds; In doubtful aim explore the glaring waste; The flock amaz'd stands safe afar; and oft

And some, perchance, in the deep delve upraise, Each to the other's might a victim falls:

Drooping, ev’n at the twelfth cold dreary day, As fell of old, before that engine's fway,

With still continued feeble pulse of life ; Which hence ambition imitative wrought,

The glebe, their feece, their felh, by hunger The beauteous towers of Salem to the dust.

gnaw'd. Wife custom, at the fifth or sixth return,

Ah, gentle shepherd, thine the lot to tend, Or ere they ’ave past the twelfth of orient morn, Of all, that feel distress, the most affail'd, Caltrates the lambkins; necessary rite,

Feeble, defencelefs : lenient be thy care : Ere they be number'd of the peaceful herd.

But spread around thy tenderest diligence But kindly watch whom thy sharp hand has griev'd, In Aowery spring-time, when the new-dropt In those rough months, that lift the turning year :

lamh, Not tedious is the office; to thy aid

Tottering with weakness by his mother's side, Favonius haitens; soon their wounds he heals, Feels the fresh world about him; and each thorn, And leads them skipping to the flowers of May; Hillock, or furrow, trips his feeble feet : May, who allows to fold, if poor the tilth,

O, guard his meek sweet innocence from all Like that of dreary, houseless, common fields, Th’innumerous ills that ruh around his life; Worn by the plough: but fold on fallows dry. Mark the quick kite, with beak and talons prone, Enfeeble not thy flock to feed thy land :

Circling the skies to snatch him from the plain ; Nor in too narrow bounds the prisoners croud : Observe the lurking crows; beware the brake, Nor ope the wattled fence, while balmy morn There the Ny fox the careless minute waits ; Lies on the reeking pasture ; wait till all

Nor trust thy neighbour's cog, nor earth, nor sky: The crystal dews, impearl'd upon the grass, Thy bofom to a thousand cares divide. Are touch'd by Phoebus' beams, and mount aloft, Eurus oft Nings his hail; the tardy fields With various clouds to paint the azure sky.

Pay not their promis'd food ; and ott the dam In teizing fly-time, dank, or frosty days,

C'er her weak twins with empty udder mourns, With unctuous liquids, or the lees of oil,

Or fails to guard, when the boid bird of prey
Rub their fost ikins, between the parted locks; Alights, and hops in many turns around,
Thus the Brigantes * ; 'tis not idle pains :

And tires her also turning: to her aid
Nor is that skill despis’d, which trims their tails, Be nimble, and the weakest, in chine arms,
Ere summer heats, of filth and tagged wool. Gently convey to the warm cote, and oft,
Coolness and cleanliness to health conduce.

Between the lark's note and the nightingale's, To mend thy mounds, to trench, to clear, to foil His hungry bleating still with tepid milk : Thy grateful fields, to medicate thy sheep,

In this soft office may thy children join, Hurdles to weave, and chearly Inelters raise, And charitable habits learn in sport: Thy vacant hours require : and ever learn

Nor yield him to himself, ere vernal airs Quick æther's motion : oft the scene is turn'd; Sprinkle thy little croft with, daisy flowers. Now the blue vault, and now the murkey cloud, Nor yet forget him : life has riting ills : Hail, rain, or radiance; theft the moon will tell, Various as æther is the pastoral care ;

Through now experience, by a patient brealt, * The inhabitants of Yorkshire.

The whole long letfon gradual is attain'd,
By precept after precept, oft receivid

3

With deep attention: such as Nuceus * sings See the swift furies, famine, plague, and was,
To the full vale near Suare's t enamour'd brook, In frequent thunders rage o'er neighbouring realms,
While all is filence : sweet Hincklean swain ! And spread their plains with desolation wide :
Whom rude obscuriey severely clasps :

Yet your mild homesteads, ever-blooming smile The Muse, howe'er, will deck thy simple cell Among embracing woods; and waft on high With purple violets and primrose flowers,

The breath of plenty, from the ruddy tops Well-pleas'd thy faithful lessons to repay.

Of chimnies, curling o'er the gloomy trees, Sheep no extremes can bear: both heat and cold In airy azure ringlets, to the sky. Spread sores cutaneous; but, more frequent, heat : Nor ye by need are urg'd, as Attic Iwains, The fly-blown vermin, froin their woolly nest, And Tarentine, with skins to cloath your sheep; Press to the tortur'd skin, and Aeth, and bone, Expensive toil; howe'er expedient found In littleness and number dreadful foas.

In fervid climates, while from Phoebus' beams Long rains in miry winter cause the halt;

They fed to rugged woods and tangling brakes. Rainy luxuriant summers rot your pock;

But those expensive to:ls are now no more, And all excess, ev'n of salubrious food,

Proud tyranny devours their flocks and herds : As fure destroys, as famine or the wolf.

Nor bleat of sheep may now, nor found of pipe, Inferior theirs to man's world-roving frame,

Sooth the sad plains of once sweet Arcady, Which all extremes in every zone endures.

The Thepherds' kingdom : dieary solitude
With grateful heart, ye British swains, enjoy Spreads o'er Hymettus, and the shaggy vale
Your gentle seasons and indulgent clime.

Of Athens, which, in folemn silence, sheds.
Lo, in the sprinkling clouds, your bleating hills Her venerable ruins to the duft.
Rejoice with herbage, while the horrid rage

The weary Arabs roam from plain to plain, Of winter irrefiftable o'erwhelms

Guiding the languid herd in quest of food : Th' Hyperborean tracts: his arrowy frosts,

And thift their little home's uncertain scene That pierce through Ainty rocks, the Lappian fies; | With frequent farewell : strangers, pilgrims all, And burrows deep beneath the snowy world;

As were their fathers. No sweet fall of rain
A drear abode, from rose-diffusing hours,

May there be heard; nor sweeter liquid lapse
That dance before the wheels of radiant day, Of river, o'er the pebbles gliding by
Far, far remote ; where by the squalid light

In murmurs: goaded by the rage of thirst,
Of foetid oil infiam'd, sea-monster's spume, Daily they journey to the distant clefts
Or fir-wood, glaring in the weeping vault,

Of craggy rocks, where gloomy palms o'erhang Twice three now gloomy months, with various ills The ancient wells, deep sunk by toil immense, Sullen he struggles; such the love of life !

Toil of the patriarchs, with sublime intent
His lank and scanty herds around him press, Themselves and long posterity to serve.
As, hunger-itung, to gritty meal he grinds There, at the public hour of sultry noon,
The bones of fish or inward bark of trees,

They share the beverage, when to watering come,
Their common sustenance. While ye, O swains, And grateful umbrage, all the tribes around,
Ye, happy at your ease, behold your sheep

And their lean flocks, whose various bleatings fill Feed on the open turf, or croud the tilth,

The echoing caverns : then is absent none, Where, thick among the greens, with busy mouths Fair nymph or shepherd, each inspiring each They scoop white turnips : little care is yours; To wit, and song, and dance, and active feats ; Only, at morning hour, to interpose

In the same rustic scene, where Jacob won Dry food of oats, or hay, or brittle straw,

Fair Rachael's bosom, when a rock's vast weight The watery juices of the boffy root

From the deep dark mouth'd well his strength re. Absorbing: or from noxious air to screen

mov'd, Your heavy teeming ewes, with wattled fence And to her circling sheep refreshment gave. Of furze or cople-wood, in the lofty field

Such are the perils, such the toils of life, Which bleak ascends among the whistling winds. In foreign climes. But speed thy flight, my Muse in Or, if your sheep are of Silurian breed,

Swift turns the year; and our unnumber'd flocks Nightly to house them dry on fern or Itraw, On fleeces overgrown uneasy lie. Silkening their fleeces. Ye, nor rolling but,

Now, jolly swains, the harvest of your cares Nor watchful dog, require ; where never roar Prepare to reap, and seek the founding caves Of savage tears the air, where carcless night

Of high Brigantium *, where, hy ruddy fames, In balmy Neep lies lull'd, and only wakes

Vulcan's strong sons, with nervous arm, around To pienteous peace.

Alas! o'er warmer zones The steady anvil and the glaring mass, Wild terror Itrides: their stubborn rocks are rent ; Clatter their heavy hammers down by turns, Their mountains îink; their yawning caverns fame; Flattening the steel; from their rough hands receive And fiery torrents roll impetuous down,

The sharper'd instrument, that from the flock Proud cities deluging ; Pompeian towers,

Severs the feece. If verdant elder spreads And Herculantan, and what riotous stood

Her silver fowers ; if humble daisies yield In Syrian valley, where now the Dead Sea

To yellow crow-foot, and luxuriant grass, Mong fol.tary hills infectious lies.

Gay shearing-time approaches. Firit, howe'er,

Drive to the double fold, upon the brim * Mr. Joseph Nutt, an eminent apothecary at Hinckley; of whom see the history of that time, * The caves of Brigantium—the forges of Shef. p. 157.

field, in Yorkshire, where the shepherds Acars and + Soare a river in Leicestershire.

all edge-tools are made.

* roll.

,

* Through the dark clouds, and down the mountain rous ages : their revival, forft at Venice. Couna

tries noted for wool in the present times. - Wool the i Ner taint-worm Thall infect the yeaning herds,' best of all ihe various materials for cloathing. The “ Nor penny-grass, nor spearwort's poisonous wool our island, peculiarly excellent, is the combo « leaf."

ing wool.

Methods to prevent its exportationa He said: with light fantastic toe, the nymphs Apology of the author for treating this subje&t. Thither assembled, thither every swain ;

Bishop Blaize the inventor of wool-combing. Of And o'er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers, the dying of wool. Few dyes the natural product Pale lillies, roses, violets, and pinks,

of England. Neceffity of trade for importing them. Mix'd with the greens of burnet, mint, and thyme, The advantages of trade, and its utility in the moAnd trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms. ral world; exemplified in the prosperity and ruin of Such custom holds along th' irriguous vales,

the elder Tyre.
From Wreakin's brow to rocky Dolvoryn *,
Sabrina's early haunt, ere yet the fled
The search of Guendolen, her stepdame proud,

With various numbers, through the simple With envious hate enragéd. 'The jolly chear,

theme Spread on a moffy bank, untouch'd abides,

To win attention : this, ye shepherd s vains, Till cease the rites : and now the mosty bank

This is a labour. Yet, O Wray, if thou Is gaily circled, and the jolly chear

Cease not with skilful iland to point her way, Dispers'd in copious measure ; early fruits,

The lark-wing'd Muse, above the grasly vale; And those of frugal store, in husk or rind ;

And hills, and wood, ihall, singing, fuar aloft ; Steep'd grain, and curdled milk with dulcet cream

And he, whom Learning, Wisdom, Candors Soft temper'd, in full merriment they quaff,

Grace,
And cast about their gibes; and some apace Who glows with all the virtues of his fire,
Whistle to roundelays : their little-ones
Look on delighted : while the mountain-woods,

Royston approve, and patronize the strain.

Through all the brute creation, none, as sheep, And winding vallies, with the various notes

To lordly man such ample tribute pay. Of pipe, sheep, kine, and birds, and liquid brouks,

For him their udders yield nectareous streams : Unite their echoes: near at hand the wide

For him their downy vestures they resign ; Majestic wave of Severn Nowly rolls

For him they spread the feast : ah ! ne'er may he Along the deep-divided glebe: the flood, And trading bark with low contracted fail,

Glory in wants, which doom to pain and death

His blameless fellow-creatures. Let disease, Linger among the reeds and copsy banks

Let wasted hunger, by destroying live;
To listen ; and to view the joyous scene.

And the permission use 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 savage. Come, ye gentle swains;

Like Brama's healthy sons on Indus' banks;
E C E

Whom the pure stream and garden fruits suitain,

Ye are the sons of Nature ; your mild hands
в о о к II.

Are innocent: ye, when ye fhear, relieve.
Come, gentle swains, the bright unsully'd locks

Collect : alternate songs Thall footh your cares,
Å RGU M E N T. And warbling music break from every spray.

Be faithful ; and the genuine locks alone INTRODUCTION. Recommendation of mercifulness Wrap round: nor alien flake nor pitch enfold :

is animals. Of the winding of wool. Diversity of Stain not your stores with base desire to add
wool in the flesce : fkill in the
aforting of it; parti-

Fallacious weight : nor yet, to mimic those,
cularly among the Dutch. The ufes of each jort. Minute and light, of sandy Urchinfield
Severe winters pernicious to the fleece. Directions 10 Lessen, with subtle artifice, the fleece :
prevent their effets. Wool lightest in common: Equal the fraud. Nor interpose delay,
fields ; inconveniencies of common fields. Vulgar Lest budy æther through the open wool
Errors concerning the wool of England : its real ex- Debiliating pass, and every film
cellencies ; and directions in the choice. No good Ruffle and fully with the valley's dust.
word in cold or wet pafures : yet all pastures im-

Guard too from moisture, and the fretting moth proveable ; exemplified in the drainage of Bedford Pernicious: the, in gloomy Made conceaid, Level. Britain in ancient times not esteemed for Her labyrinth cuts, and mocks the comber's care. wool. Countries esteemed for wool before the Ar

But in louse locks of fe!ls the most delights, gemaušic expedition. Of that expediticri, and its And feeble fleeces of distemper'd meep,

Countries afterwards efteemed for Whither The haftens, by the morbid (cent wiol. The decay of arts and sciences in the barba

* The country about Rofs, in Hereford hire. Dolvoryn, a ruinous castle in MontgomeryMire, on the banks of the Severr..

VOL. VII.

THE

ccnsequerces.

Allur'd; as the fwift eagle to the fields

Through a dull round, in unimproving farms Of Aaughtering war or carnage : such apart Of common-fields : inclose, inclose, ye swains ; Keep for their proper use. Our ancestors

Why will you joy in common-field, where pitch, Sclected such, for hospitable beds

Noxious to wool, muft stain your motley flock, To reft the stranger, or the gory chief,

To mark your property? The mark dilates, From battle or the chace of wolves return'd. Enters the flake depreciated, defild,

When many-colour'd Evening sinks behind Unfit for beauteous tint : besides, in fields The purple woods and hills, and opposite

Promiscuous held, all culture languishes ; Rises, full-orb'd, the filver harveft-moon,

The glebe, exhausted, thin supply receives ; To light th' unwearied farmer, late afield

Dull waters reft upon the rushy flats His scatter'd Meaves collecting ; then expect And barren furrows : none the rising grove The artists, bent on speed, from populous Leeds, There plants for late pofterity, nor hedge Norwich, or Froome; they traverse every plain, To field the flock, nor cople for chearing fire ; And every dale, where farm er cottage fmokes : And, in the distant village, every hearth Reject them not; and let tře season's price

Deyours the grafty (werd, the verdant food Win thy soft treasures : let the bulky wain

Of injur'd herds and flocks, or what the plough Through dusty roads roll nodding ; or the bark, Should turn and moulder for the bearded grain.; That filently adown the cerule stream

Pernicious habit, drawing gradual on Glides with white fails, dispense the downy freight Increasing beggary, and Nature's frowns. To copfy villages on either side,

Add too, the idle pilferer easier there And spiry towns, where ready diligence,

Eludes detection, when a lamb or ewe
The grateful burden to receive, awaits,

From intermingled Aocks he steals; or when,
Like strong Briareus, with his hundred hands. With loofen'd tether of his horfe or cow,
In the same feece diversity of wool

The milky stalk of the tall green ear'd corn,
Grows intermingled, and excites the care

The year's Now-ripening fruit, the anxious hope Of curious skill to fort the feveral kinds.

Of his laborious neighbour, hedeftroys. But in this subtle science none exceed

There are, who over-rate our spungy storess' Th' industrious Belgians, to the work who guide Who deem that Nature grants no clime, but oursy Each feeble hand of want: their spacious domes To spread upon its fields the dews of heaven, With boundlefs hospitality receive

And feed the filky fleece ; that card, nor comb, Each nation's outcasts : there the tender eye The hairy woll of Gaul can e'er subdue, May view the maim'd, the blind, the lame, To form the thread, and mingle in the loom, employ'd,

Unlefs a third from Britain swell the heap. And unrejected age ; ev'n childhood there

Illusion all ; though of our sun and air Its little fingers turning to the toil

Not trivial is the virtue: nor their fruit, Delighted : simbly, with habitual speed,

Upon our snowy flocks, of small efteem: They sever lock from lock, and long and Morty The grain of brightest tin&ture none so well And soft, and rigid, pile in feveral heaps.

Imbibes: the wealthy Gobelins must to this This the dulk hatter asks; another shines,

Bear witness, and the coAlieft of their looms. Tempting the clothier ; that the hosier feeks;

And though, with hue of crocus or of rose, The long bright lock is apt for airy stuffs ;

NO power

of subtle food, or air, or soil, But often it deceives the artist's care,

Can dye the living fleece ; yet "twill avail Breaking unuseful in the steely comb:

To note their influence in the tinging vase. For this long Ipungy wool no more increase Therefore from herbage of old-pastur'd plains, Receives, while Winter petrifies the fields :

Chief from the matted turf of azure marle, The growth of Autumn stops : and what though Where grow the whitest locks, collect thy stores. Spring

Those fields regard riot, through whose recent turf Succeeds with rofy finger, and spins on

The miry soil appears; not ev'n the streams The texture ? yet in vain the strives to link

Of Yare, or silver Stroud, can purify The silver twine to that of Autumn's hand.

Their frequent-Sully'd feece ; nor what rough Be then the swain advis'd to Thield his flocks

winds, From winter's deadening frosts and whelming Keen-biting on tempestuous hills, inbrown. frows :

Yet much may be performd, to check the force Let the loud tempest rattle on the roof,

Of Nature'srigor : the high heath, by trees While they, secure within, warm cribs enjoy, Warm-shelter'd, may despise the rage of storms : And swell their fleeces, equal to the worth

Moors, bogs, and weeping fens, may learn to smile, Of cloath'd Apulian *, by soft warmth improv'd : And leave in dykes their soon-forgotten tears. Or let them inward neat and vigor find,

Labor and Art will every aim atchieve By food of cole or turnep, hardy plants.

Of noble bofoms. Bedford Level *, erst Besides, the lock of one continued growth

A dreary pathless waste, the coughing flock Imbibes a clearer and more equal dye.

Was wont with hairy ficeces to deform; But lightest wool is theirs, who poorly toil, And, smiling with her lure of summer flowers,

The heavy ox, vain-struggling, to ingulph; * The shepherds of Apulia, Tarentum; and Russel, arose, who drain’d the rushy fen,

Till one, of that high-honour'd patriot name, Attica, used in cluath their sheep with skins, to preserve and improve their fecces.

* In Cambridgeshire.