THE fubject propofed. Dedicatory addrefs. Of paftures in general, fit for theep for fine-wwool'd sheep: for long-wool'd sheep. Defects of pastures, and their remedies. Of climates. The moisture of the English elimate vindicated. Particular beauties of England. Different kinds of English Sheep: the two common forts of rams defcribed. Different kinds of foreign Sheep. The feveral forts of food. The diftempers arifing from thence, with their remedies. Sheep led by inftinet to their proper food and phyfic. Of the hepherd's ferip, and its furniture. Care of Sheep in tupping time. Of the caftration of lambs, and the folding of sheep. Various precepts relative to changes of weather and feafons. Particular care of newfallen lambs. The advantages and fecurity of the English Shepherd above those in hotter or colder climates; exemplified with respect to Lapland, Italy, Greece, and Arabia. Of heep-fhearing. Song on that occafion. Cuftom in Wales of fprinkling the rivers with flowers. Sheep-fhearing feaft and merriments on the banks of the Severn.
HE care of sheep, the labours of the loom, And arts of trade, I fing. Ye rural nymphs, Ye fwains, and princely merchants, aid the verse. And ye, high-trufted guardians of our ifle, Whom public voice approves, or lot of birth To the great charge affigns: ye good, of all Degrees, all fects, be prefent to my song. So may diftrefs, and wretchednefs, and want, The wide felicities of labour learn: So may the proud attempts of restless Gaul From our ftrong borders, like a broken wave, In empty foam retire. But chiefly Thou, The people's thepherd, eminently plac'd Over the numerous fwains of every vale, With well-permitted power, and watchful eye, On each gay field to fhed beneficence, Celeftial office! Thou protect the song.
On fpacious airy downs, and gentle hills, With grafs and thyme o'erfpread, and clover wild, Where fmiling Phoebus tempers every breeze,
The fairest flocks rejoice! they, nor of halt, Hydropic tumours, nor of rot, complain; Evils deform'd and foul: nor with hoarie cough Disturb the mufic of the paftoral pipe ;
But, crouding to the note, with filence foft
The clofe-woven carpet graze; where Nature blends
Flowrets and herbage of minutest size, Innoxious luxury. Wide airy downs
Are Health's gay walks to fhepherd and to sheep. All arid foils, with fand, or chalky flint, Or fhelves deluvian mingled; and the turf, That mantles over rocks of brittle ftone, Be thy regard: and where low-tufted broom, Or box, or berry'd juniper arife; Or the tall growth of gloffy-rinded beech; And where the burrowing rabbit turns the duft; And where the dappled deer delights to bound. Such are the downs of Banftead, edg'd with woods,
And towery villas; fuch Dorceftrian fields, Whofe flocks innumerous whiten all the land: Such thofe flow-climbing wilds, that lead the ftep Infenfibly to Dover's windy cliff,
Tremendous height! and such the clover'd lawns And funny mounts of beauteous Normanton Health's chearful haunt, and the felected walk Of Heathcote's leifure: fuch the fpacious plain Of Sarum, spread like Ocean's boundless round, Where folitary Stonehenge, grey with moss, Ruin of ages, nods: fuch too the leas And ruddy tilth, which fpiry Rofs beholds, From a green hilloc, o'er her lofty elms; And Lemfter's brooky tract, and airy Croft †, And fuch Harleian Eywood's fwelling turf, Wav'd as the billows of a rolling fea: And Shobden, for its lofty terrace fam'd, Which from a mountain's ridge, elate o'er woods And girt with all Siluria ||, fees around Regions on regions blended in the clouds. Pleafant Siluria, land of various views, Hills, rivers, woods, and lawns, and purple
Pomaceous, mingled with the curling growth Of tendril hops, that flaunt upon their poles, More airy wild than vines along the fides Of treacherous Falernum ¶; or that hill Vefuvius, where the bowers of Bacchus rofe, And Herculanean and Pompeian domes.
But if thy prudent care would cultivate Leiceftrian fleeces, what the finewy arm Combs through the fpiky fteel in lengthen'd flakes ; Rich faponaceous loam, that flowly drinks The blackening fhower, and fattens with the draught, Or marle with clay deep-mix'd, be then thy choice,
*A feat of Sir John Heathcote in Rutland hire. A feat of Sir Archer Croft.
Of the Earl of Oxford.
§ A feat of Lord Bateman.
Siluria, the part of England which lies weft of the Severns, viz. Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, &c.
Treacherous Falernum, because part of the bills of Falernum was many years ago overturned by an eruption of fire, and is now an high and barren mount of cinders, called Monte Novo.
Of one confiftence, one complexion, spread Through all thy glebe; where no deceitful veins Of envious gravel lurk beneath the turf, To loose the creeping waters from their springs, Tainting the pafturage: and let thy fields In flopes defcend and mount, that chilling rains May trickle off) and haften to the brooks.
Yet fome defect in all on earth appears ; All feek for help, all prefs for focial aid, Too cold the graffy mantle of the marl, In ftormy winter's long and dreary nights, For cumbent theep; from broken flymber oft They rife benumb'd, and vainly fhift the couch; Their wafted fides their evil plight declare. Hence, tender in his care, the thepherd fwain Seeks each contrivance. Here it would avail, At a meet distance from the upland ridge, To fink a trench, and on the hedge-long bank Sow frequent fand, with lime, and dark manure; Which to the liquid element will yield A porous way, a paffage to the foe.
Plow not fuch paftures: deep in spungy grafs The oldeft carpet is the warmest lair,
And foundest; in new herbage coughs are heard. Nor love too frequent fhelter: fuch as decks The vale of Severn, Nature's garden wide, By the blue fteeps of diftant Malvern wall'd Solemnly vaft. The trees of various fhade, Scene behind scene, with fair delufive pomp Enrich the profpect, but they rob the lawns. Nor prickly bramble, white with woolly theft, Should tuft thy fields. Applaud not the remifs Dimetians †, who, along their moffy dales, Confume, like grafshoppers, the fummer hour; While round them stubborn thorns and furze increase,
And creeping briars. I knew a careful swain, Who gave them to the crackling flames, and fpread Their duft faline upon the deepening grafs : And oft with labor-ftrengthen'd arm he delv'd The draining trench across his verdant Lopes, To intercept the small meandring rills Of upper hamlets: haughty trees, that four The fhaded grafs, that weaken thorn-fet mounds, And harbour villain crows, he rare allow'd: Only a slender tuft of useful ash,
And mingled beech and elm, securely tall, The little fmiling cottage, warm embower'd; The little fmiling cottage, where at eve He meets his rofy children at the door, Prattling their welcomes, and his honeft wife, With good brown cake and bacon flice, intent To cheer his hunger after labour hard.
Nor only foil, there alfo must be found Felicity of clime, and afpe&t bland, Where gentle sheep may nourish locks of price. In vain the filken fleece on windy brows, And northern slopes of cloud-dividing hills Is fought, though foft Iberia fpreads her lap Beneath their rugged feet, and names then heights Bifcaian or Segovian. Eothnic realms, And dark Norwegian, with their choiceft fields, Dingles, and dells, by lofty fir embower'd,
Malvern, a high ridge of hills near Worcester. Dimetia, Caermarthenshire in South Wales.
In vain the bleaters court. Alike they shun Libya's hot plains: what taste have they for groves Of palm, or yellow duft of gold? no more Food to the flock, than to the mifer wealth, Who kneels upon the glittering heap, and starves. Ev'n Gallic Abbeville the fhining fleece, That richly decorates her loom, acquires Bafely from Albion, by th' enfnaring bribe, The bait of avarice, which with felon fraud, For its own wanton mouth, from thousands fteals, How erring oft the judgment in its bate, Or fond defire! Those flow-defcending showers, Those hovering fogs, that bathe our growing vales In deep November (loath'd by trifling Gaul, Effeminate), are gifts the Pleiads fhed, Britannia's handmaids. As the beverage falls, Her hills rejoice, her valljes laugh and fing.
Hail, noble Albion; where no golden mines, No foft perfumes, nor eils, nor myrtle bowers, The vigorous frame and lofty heart of man Enervate: round whofe ftern cerulean brows White-winged fnow, and cloud, and pearly rain, Frequent attend, with folemn majesty:
Rich Queen of Mifts and Vapours! Thefe thy fons With their cool arms comprefs; and twist their
For deeds of excellence and high renown.
Thus form'd, our Edwards, Henrys, Churchills,
Our Lockes, our Newtons, and our Miltons, rose. See the fun gleams; the living pastures rise, After the nurture of the fallen fhower, How beautiful! how blue th' ethereal vault, How verdurous the lawns, how clear the brooks! Such noble warlike fteeds, fuch herds of kine, So fleek, fo vaft; fuch fpacious flocks of sheep, Like flakes of gold illumining the green, What other paradife adorn but thine, Britannia? happy, if thy fons would know Their happiness. To thefe thy naval streams, Thy frequent towns fuperb of busy trade, And ports magnific add, and stately ships, Innumerous. But whither strays my Mufe? Pleas'd, like a traveller upon the strand Arriv'd of bright Augufta: wild he roves, From deck to deck, through groves immense of
'Mong crouds, bales, cars, the wealth of either Ind;
Through wharfs, and fquares, and palaces, and domes,
In sweet furprize; unable yet to fix
His raptur'd mind, or fcan in order'd courfe Each object fingly; with discoveries new His native country ftudious to enrich,
Ye shepherds, if your labours hope fuccefs, Be firft your purpose to procure a breed, To foil and clime adapted. Every foil And clime, ev'n every tree and herb, receives Its habitant peculiar: each to each, The Great Invifible, and each to all, Through earth, and fea, and air, harmonious fuits. Tempestuous regions, Darwent's * naked peaks,
* Darwent's naked peaks, the peaks of Derbyshire,
Snowden and blue Plynlymmon *, and the wide Aerial fides of Cader-yddris huge;
'These are bestow'd on goat-horn'd sheep, of fleece Hairy and coarse, of long and nimble shank, Who rove o'er bog or heath, and graze or brouze Alternate, to collect, with due dispatch, O'er the bleak wild, the thinly-scatter'd meal. But hills of milder air, that gently rife O'er dewy dales, a fairer species boast, Of horter limb, and frontlet more ornate; Such the Silurian. If thy farm extends Near Cotswold downs, or the delicious groves Of Symmonds, honour'd through the fandy foil Of elmy Rofs †, or Devon's myrtle vales, That drink clear rivers near the glaffy sea; Regard this fort, and hence thy fire of lambs Select: his tawny fleece in ringlets curls; Long fwings his flender tail; his front is fenc'd With horns Ammonian, circulating twice Around each open ear, like those fair scrolls That grace the columns of th' Ionic dome.
Yet fhould thy fertile glebe be marly clay, Like Melton paftures, or Tripontian fields ‡, Where ever-gliding Avon's limpid wave Thwarts the long courfe of dufty Watling-street; That larger fort, of head defenceless, feek, Whole fleece is deep and clammy, close and plain : The ram fhort-limb'd, whofe form compact defcribes
One level line along his fpacious back;
Of full and ruddy eye, large ears, ftretch'd head, Noftrils dilated, breast and shoulders broad, And spacious haunches, and a lofty dock.
Thus to their kindred foil and air induc'd, Thy thriving herd will bless thy skilful care, That copies Nature: who, in every change, In each variety, with Wisdom works, And powers diverfify'd of air and foil, Herrich materials. Hence Sabæa's rocks, Chaldæa's marl, Ægyptus' water'd loam, And dry Cyrene's fand, in climes alike, With different stores supply the marts of trade. Hence Zembla's icy tracts no bleaters hear; Small are the Ruffian herds, and harsh their fleece; Of light efteem Germanic, far remote From foft fea-breezes, open winters mild, And fummers bath'd in dew: on Syrian sheep The coftly burden only loads their tails: No locks Cormandel's, none Malacca's tribe Adorn; but fleek of flix, and brown like deer, Fearful and fhepherdlefs, they bound along The fands. No fleeces wave in torrid climes, Which verdure boaft of trees and shrubs alone, Shrubs aromatic, caufee wild, or thea, Nutmeg, or cinnamon, or fiery love, Unapt to feed the fleece. The food of wool Is grafs or herbage foft, that ever blooms In temperate air, in the delicious downs Of Albion, on the banks of all her streams.
Snowden, Plynlymmon, and Cader-yddris, high hills in North Wales.
A town in Herefordshire.
1 Tripontian fields, the country between Rugby, in Warwickshire, and Lutterworth, in Leicesterpire.
Of graffes are unnumber'd kinds, and all (Save where foul waters linger on the turf) Salubrious. Early mark, when tepid gleams Oft mingle with the pearls of fummer showers, And fwell too hastily the tender plains: Then snatch away thy fheep; beware the rot; And with deterfive bay-salt rub their mouths; Or urge them on a barren bank to feed, In hunger's kind diftrefs, on tedded hay; Or to the marish guide their easy steps, If near thy tufted crofts the broad fea fpreads. Sagacious care foreacts: when strong disease Breaks in, and stains the purple ftreams of health, Hard is the ftrife of art: the coughing pest From their green pasture sweeps whole flocks away. That dire distemper fometimes may the swain, Though late, difcern: when on the lifted lid, Or vifual orb, the turgid veins are pale; The fwelling liver then her putrid store Begins to drink: ev'n yet thy skill exert, Nor fuffer weak despair to fold thy arms: Again deterfive falt apply, or fhed The hoary medicine o'er their arid food.
In cold stiff foils the bleaters oft complain Of gouty ails, by fhepherds term'd the half Those let the neighbouring fold or ready crook Detain; and pour into their cloven feet Corrofive drugs, deep-fearching arfenic, Dry alum, verdigrife, or vitriol keen. But if the doubtful mischief fcarce appears, 'Twill ferve to shift them to a dryer turf, And falt again: th' utility of falt Teach thy flow fwains: redundant humours cola Are the diseases of the bleating kind.
Th' infectious fcab, arifing from extremes Of want or furfeit, is by water cur'd Of lime, or fodden ftave-acre, or oil Difperfive of Norwegian tar, renown'd By virtuous Berkeley, whofe benevolence Explor'd its powers, and easy medicine thence Sought for the poor: ye poor, with grateful voices; Invoke eternal bleffings on his head.
Sheep alfo pleurifies and dropfies know, Driv'n oft from Nature's path by artful man, Who blindly turns afide, with haughty hand, Whom facred Instinct would securely lead. But thou, more humble fwain, thy rural gates Frequent unbar, and let thy flocks abroad, From lea to croft, from mead to arid field; Noting the fickle feafons of the sky. Rain-fated pastures let them hun, and feek Changes of herbage and falubrious flowers. By their All-perfect Master inly taught, They beft their food and phyfic can discern; For He, Supreme Exiftence, ever near, Informs them. O'er the vivid green obferve With what a regular confent they crop, At every fourth collection to the mouth, Unfavoury crow-flower; whether to awake Langour of appetite with lively change, Or timely to repel approaching ills, Hard to determine. Thou, whom nature love, And with her falutary rules entrusts', Benevolent Mackenzie *, fay the cause.
* Dr. Mackenzie, late of Worcester, now Drumfugh, near Edinburgh.
This truth howe'er fhines bright to human fense; Each ftrong affection of th' unconscious brute, Each bent, each paffion of the falleft mite, Is wifely given; harmonious they perform The work of perfect reafon (blush, vain man!) And turn the wheels of nature's vaft machine.
See that thy fcrip have flore of healing tar, And marking pitch and raddle; nor forget Thy fheers true pointed, nor th' officious dog, Faithful to teach thy ftragglers to return: So may'st thou aid who lag along, or steal Afide into the furrows or the thades, Silent to droop; or who, at every gate Or hillock, rub their fores and loofen'd wool. But rather thefe, the feeble of thy flock, Banifh before th' autumnal months: ev'n age Forbear too much to favour; oft renew, And through thy fold let joyous youth appear. Beware the feafon of imperial love,
Who through the world his ardent spirit pours; Ev'n fheep are then intrepid: the proud ram With jealous eye furveys the fpacious field; All rivals keep aloof, or defperate war Suddenly rages; with impetuous force, And fury irrefiftable, they dash
Their hardy frontlets; the wide vale refounds; The flock amaz'd stands fafe afar; and oft Each to the other's might a victim falls: As fell of old, before that engine's fway, Which hence ambition imitative wrought, The beauteous towers of Salem to the duft.
Wife cuftom, at the fifth or fixth return, Or ere they 'ave paft the twelfth of orient morn, Caftrates the lambkins; neceffary rite, Ere they be number'd of the peaceful herd. But kindly watch whom thy fharp hand has griev'd, In thofe rough months, that lift the turning year: Not tedious is the office; to thy aid Favonius haftens; foon their wounds he heals, And leads them fkipping to the flowers of May; May, who allows to fold, if poor the tilth, Like that of dreary, houfelefs, common fields, Worn by the plough: but fold on fallows dry. Enfeeble not thy flock to feed thy land: Nor in too narrow bounds the prifoners croud: Nor ope the wattled fence, while balmy morn Lies on the reeking pafture; wait till all The crystal dews, impearl'd upon the grafs, Are touch'd by Phoebus' beams, and mount aloft, With various clouds to paint the azure fky.
In teizing fly-time, dank, or frofty days, With unctuous liquids, or the lees of oil, Rub their foft skins, between the parted locks; Thus the Brigantes; 'tis not idle pains: Nor is that skill defpis'd, which trims their tails, Ere fummer heats, of filth and tagged wool. Coolness and cleanlinefs to health conduce.
Each bird and beaft, and thefe thy fleecy tribe: When high the fapphire cope, fupine they couch, And chew the cud delighted; but, ere rain, Eager, and at unwonted hour, they feed: Slight not the warning; foon the tempeft rolls, Scattering them wide, clofe rufhing at the heels Of th' hurrying o'ertaken fwains: forbear Such nights to fold; fuch nights be theirs to shift On ridge or hillock; or in homesteads soft, Or fofter cotes, detain them. Is thy lot A chill penurious turf, to all thy toils Untractable? Before harsh winter drowns The noify dykes, and starves the ruthy glebe, Shift the frail breed to fandy hamlets warm: There let them fojourn, till gay Procne skims The thickening verdure, and the rifing flowers. And while departing autumn all embrowns The frequent-bitten fields; while thy free hand Divides the tedded hay; then be their feet Accuftom'd to the barriers of the rick,
Or fome warm umbrage; left, in erring fright, When the broad dazzling fnows defcend, they run Difpers'd to ditches, where the fwelling drift Wide overwhelms: anxious the shepherd fwains Iffue with axe and spade, and, all abroad, In doubtful aim explore the glaring waste ; And fome, perchance, in the deep delve upraife, Drooping, ev'n at the twelfth cold dreary day, With ftill continued feeble pulfe of life;
The glebe, their fleece, their flesh, by hunger gnaw'd.
Ah, gentle shepherd, thine the lot to tend, Of all, that feel diftrefs, the most affail'd, Feeble, defencelefs: lenient be thy care: But fpread around thy tendereft diligence
flowery fpring-time, when the new-dropt lamb,
Tottering with weakness by his mother's fide, Feels the fresh world about him; and each thorn, Hillock, or furrow, trips his feeble feet: O, guard his meek sweet innocence from all Th' innumerous ills that rush around his life; Mark the quick kite, with beak and talons prone, Circling the skies to snatch him from the plain; Obferve the lurking crows; beware the brake, There the fly fox the careless minute waits; Nor truft thy neighbour's dog, nor earth, nor sky: Thy bofom to a thousand cares divide. Eurus oft flings his hail; the tardy fields Pay not their promis'd food; and oft the dam C'er her weak twins with empty udder mourns, Or fails to guard, when the boid bird of prey Alights, and hops in many turns around, And tires her alfo turning: to her aid Be nimble, and the weakeft, in thine arms, Gently convey to the warm cote, and oft, 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 fheep, Hurdles to weave, and chearly fhelters raife, Thy vacant hours require: and ever learn Quick æther's motion: oft the fcene is turn'd; Now the blue vault, and now the murkey cloud, Hail, rain, or radiance; thefe the moon will tell,
The inhabitants of Yorkshire.
In this fost office may thy children join, And charitable habits learn in sport: Nor yield him to himself, ere vernal airs Sprinkle thy little croft with,daify flowers. Nor yet forget him: life has rifing ills: Various as æther is the paftoral care ; Through flow experience, by a patient breast, The whole long letfon gradual is attain'd, By precept after precept, oft receiv'd
With deep attention: fuch as NUCEUS *fings To the full vale near Soare's † enamour'd brook, While all is filence: fweet Hincklean fwain ! Whom rude obfcurity feverely clasps: The Mufe, howe'er, will deck thy fimple cell With purple violets and primrose flowers, Well-pleas'd thy faithful leffons to repay.
Sheep no extremes can bear: both heat and cold Spread fores cutaneous; but, more frequent, heat: The fly-blown vermin, from their woolly neft, Prefs to the tortur'd fkin, and fileth, and bone, In littleness and number dreadful foes. Long rains in miry winter caufe the halt; Rainy luxuriant fummers rot your flock; And all excefs, ev'n of falubrious food, As fure destroys, as famine or the wolf. Inferior theirs to man's world-roving frame, Which all extremes in every zone endures.
With grateful heart, ye British fwains, enjoy Your gentle feafons and indulgent clime. Lo, in the fprinkling clouds, your bleating hills Rejoice with herbage, while the horrid rage Of winter irrefiftable o'erwhelms
Th' Hyperborean tracts: his arrowy frosts, That pierce through flinty rocks, the Lappian flies; And burrows deep beneath the fnowy world; A drear abode, from rofe-diffufing hours, That dance before the wheels of radiant day, Far, far remote; where by the fqualid light Of foetid oil inflam'd, fea-monster's fpume, Or fir-wood, glaring in the weeping vault, Twice three flow gloomy months, with various ills Sullen he ftruggles; fuch the love of life! His lank and fcanty herds around him prefs, As, hunger-ftung, to gritty meal he grinds The bones of fish or inward bark of trees, Their common fuftenance. While ye, O fwains, Ye, happy at your eafe, behold your sheep Feed on the open turf, or croud the tilth, Where, thick among the greens, with bufy mouths They scoop white turnips: little care is yours; Only, at morning hour, to interpofe Dry food of oats, or hay, or brittle straw, The watery juices of the boffy root Abforbing or from noxious air to screen Your heavy teeming ewes, with wattled fence Of furze or copfe-wood, in the lofty field Which bleak afcends among the whistling winds. Or, if your theep are of Silurian breed, Nightly to houfe them dry on fern or straw, Silkening their fleeces. Ye, nor rolling hut, Nor watchful dog, require; where never roar Of favage tears the air, where carclefs night In balmy fleep lies lull'd, and only wakes To plenteous peace. Alas! o'er warmer zones
Wild terror ftrides: their ftubborn rocks are rent; Their mountains fink; their yawning caverns flame; And fiery torrents roll impetuous down, Proud cities deluging; Pompeian towers, And Herculanean, and what riotous stood In Syrian valley, where now the Dead Sea Mong folitary hills infectious lies.
Mr. Jofeph Nutt, an eminent apothecary at Hinckley; of whom fee the hiftory of that time, P. 187.
+ Soare a river in Leicestershire.
See the fwift furies, famine, plague, and war, In frequent thunders rage o'er neighbouring realms, And fpread their plains with defolation wide: Yet your mild homesteads, ever-blooming fmile Among embracing woods; and waft on high The breath of plenty, from the ruddy tops Of chimnies, curling o'er the gloomy trees, In airy azure ringlets, to the fky.
Nor ye by need are urg'd, as Attic swains, And Tarentine, with fkins to cloath your sheep; Expenfive toil; howe'er expedient found
In fervid climates, while from Phoebus' beams They fled to rugged woods and tangling brakes. But thofe expenfive toils are now no more, Proud tyranny devours their flocks and herds: Nor bleat of sheep may now, nor found of pipe, Sooth the fad plains of once sweet Arcady, The shepherds' kingdom: dreary folitude Spreads o'er Hymettus, and the fhaggy vale Of Athens, which, in folemn filence, fheds Her venerable ruins to the duft.
The weary Arabs roam from plain to plain, Guiding the languid herd in queft of food: And shift their little home's uncertain scene With frequent farewell: ftrangers, pilgrims all, As were their fathers. No fweet fall of rain May there be heard; nor fweeter liquid lapse Of river, o'er the pebbles gliding by In murmurs: goaded by the rage of thirst, Daily they journey to the diftant clefts Of craggy rocks, where gloomy palms o'erhang The ancient wells, deep funk by toil immenfe, Toil of the patriarchs, with fublime intent Themselves and long pofterity to serve. There, at the public hour of fultry noon, They fhare the beverage, when to watering come, And grateful umbrage, all the tribes around, And their lean flocks, whofe various bleatings fill The echoing caverns: then is abfent none, Fair nymph or fhepherd, each infpiring each To wit, and fong, and dance, and active feats In the fame ruftic fcene, where Jacob won Fair Rachael's bofom, when a rock's vaft weight From the deep dark mouth'd well his ftrength re- mov'd,
And to her circling sheep refreshment gave.
Such are the perils, fuch the toils of life, In foreign climes. But speed thy flight, my Mufes Swift turns the year; and our unnumber'd flocks On fleeces overgrown uneafy lie.
Now, jolly fwains, the harvest of your cares Prepare to reap, and feek the founding caves Of high Brigantium *, where, by ruddy flames, Vulcan's strong fons, with nervous arm, around The fteady anvil and the glaring mass, Clatter their heavy hammers down by turns, Flattening the fteel; from their rough hands receive The fharpen'd inftrument, that from the flock Severs the fleece. If verdant elder spreads Her filver flowers; if humble daifies yield To yellow crow-foot, and luxuriant grafs, Gay fhearing-time approaches. First, howe'er, Drive to the double fold, upon the brim
* The caves of Brigantium-the forges of Sheffield, in Yorkshire, where the shepherds hears and all edge-tools are made.
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