But 'tis, fir, your command, and being fo,
I'm fworn t' obedience; and fo in they go.
Behind a hanging in a spacious room,
(The richest work of Mortclake's noble loom)
They wait awhile their wearied limbs to reft,
Till filence fhould invite them to their feaft.
"About the hour that Cynthia's filver light [?]
"Had touch'd the pale meridies of the night;"
At laft, the various fupper being done,
It happen'd that the company was gone
Into a room remote, fervants and all,

To please their noble fancies with a ball.

Our hoft leads forth his ftranger, and does find,
All fitted to the bounties of his mind.

Still on the table half-fill'd dishes ftood,

And with delicious bits the floor was ftrew'd. The courteous moufe prefents him with the beft, And both with fat varieties are bleft,

[1] About the hour that Cynthia's filver light] These two lines on mid-night, and the three, above, on Junfetting, are a fine ridicule on the prevailing taste of poetry at that time, as appears from the introduction,

and therefore, unluckily, on his own tafte, when he wrote (as he too often did, and as the best poets are apt to do) for prefent fame and reputation.

Th'

Th' induftrious peafant every where does range,
And thanks the gods for his life's happy change.
Lo! in the midst of a well-freighted pye,
Thy both at laft glutted and wanton lye.
When, fee the fad reverse of profperous fate,
And what fierce ftorms on mortal glories wait!
With hideous noife, down the rude fervants come,
Six dogs before run barking into th' room;
The wretched g'uttons fly with wild affright,
And hate the fulness, which retards their flight.
Our trembling peafant wifhes now in vain,
That rocks and mountains cover'd him again.
Oh how the change of his poor life he curft!
This, of all lives (faid he) is fure the worst.
Give me again, ye gods, iny cave and wood;
With peace, let tafes and acorns be my food.

A Paraphrafe upon the 10th Epiftle of the

First Book of HORACE.

HORACE to FUSCUS ARISTIUS.

HEALTH, from the lover of the country, me, Health, to the lover of the city, thee;

A difference in our fouls, this only proves ;

In all things elfe, we agree like married doves.

I

But

But the warin neft and crowded dove-houfe thou
Doft like; I loosely fly from bough to bough,
And rivers drink, and all the fhining day,
Upon fair trees or moffy rocks I play;
In fine, I live and reign, when I retire
From all that you equal with heaven admire.
Like one at laft from the priest's fervice fled,
Loathing the honied cakes, I long for bread.
Would I a houfe for happiness erect,
Nature alone should be the architect.
She'd build it more convenient, than great,
And doubtless in the country choose her feat.
Is there a place, doth better helps supply,
Against the wounds of winter's cruelty?
Is there an air, that gentlier does affuage
The mad celeftial dog's, or lion's rage?
Is it not there that fleep (and only there)
Nor noise without, nor cares within, does fear?
Does art through pipes a purer water bring,
Than that, which nature ftrains into a fpring?
Can all your tap'ftries, or your pictures, show
More beauties, than in herbs and flowers do grow?
Fountains and trees our wearied pride do please,
Even in the midst of gilded palaces.
And in your towns, that profpect gives delight,
Which opens round the country to our fight.

Men

Men to the good, from which they rafhly fly,
Return at laft; and their wild luxury

Does but in vain with those true joys contend,
Which nature did to mankind recommend.
The man, who changes gold for burnish'd brafs,
Or fmall right gems for larger ones of glass,
Is not, at length, more certain to be made
Ridiculous, and wretched by the trade,
Than he, who fells a folid good, to buy
The painted goods of pride and vanity.
If thou be wife, no glorious fortune choose,
Which 'tis but pain to keep, yet grief to lose.
For, when we place even trifles in the heart,
With trifles too, unwillingly we part [7].
An humble roof, plain bed, and homely board,
More clear, untainted pleafures do afford,
Than all the tumult of vain greatness brings
To kings, or to the favorites of kings [m].
The horned deer, by nature arm'd fo well,
Did with the horse in common pafture dwell;

[For, when we place &c.] He gives the fenfe of Horace,

but in a turn of phrase and verse more touching, and, though fomewhat paraphrastical, not lefs elegant. [m] Pope, Effay on Man, iv. 205.

And,

And, when they fought, the field it always wan,
Till the ambitious horfe beg'd help of man,
And took the bridle, and thenceforth did reign
Bravely alone, as lord of all the plain :
But never after could the rider get

From off his back, or from his mouth the bit.
So they, who poverty too much do fear,
T'avoid that weight, a greater burden bear;
That they might power above their equals have,
To cruel masters they themselves enslave.
For goid, their liberty exchang'd we see,
That fairest flower, which crowns humanity [n].
And all this mifchief does upon them light,
Only, because they know not how, aright
That great, but fecret, happiness to prize,
That's laid up in a little, for the wife :
That is the best and easiest estate,

Which to a man fits close, but not too ftrait;

[n] That faireft flower, which crowns humanity] The poet, as ufual, expreffes his own feeling: but he does more, he expreffes it very claffically. The allufion is to the antient cuftom of wearing wreaths or garlands of flowers, on any occasion of joy and festivity. Of these flowers (taken in the sense of pleajures, of which they were the emblems) the fairest, says he, that crowns the happy man, is liberty.

VOL. II.

N

Tis