His hungry acres, ftinks, and is of use.
Th' excife is fatten'd with the rich refult
Of all this riot; and ten thousand casks,
For ever dribbling out their base contents,
Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state,
Bleed gold for minifters to sport away.

Drink, and be mad, then; 'tis your country bids!
Gloriously drunk, obey th' important call!

Her caufe demands th' affiftance of your throats;Ye all can swallow, and she asks no more.

Would I had fall'n upon thofe happier days
That poets celebrate; thofe golden times,
And thofe Arcadian fcenes, that Maro fings,

And Sidney, warbler of poetic profe.

Nymphs were Dianas then, and fwains had hearts

That felt their virtues: innocence, it seems,

From courts difmifs'd, found fhelter in the groves;

The footsteps of fimplicity, imprefs'd

Upon the yielding herbage, (fo they fing)

Then were not all effac'd: then speech profane,

And manners profligate, were rarely found;
Obferv'd as prodigies, and foon reclaim'd.
Vain with! those days were never: airy dreams
Sat for the picture; and the poet's hand,
Imparting fubftance to an empty fhade,
Impos'd a gay delirium for a truth.

Grant it:-I ftill must envy them an age

That favour'd fuch a dream; in days like thefe

Impoffible, when virtue is so scarce,

That to suppose a scene where she prefides,
Is tramontane, and stumbles all belief.
No: we are polish'd now! the rural lass,
Whom once her virgin modefty and grace,
Her artless manners, and her neat attire,
So dignified, that fhe was hardly lefs
Than the fair fhepherdefs of old romance,
Is feen no more. The character is loft!
Her head, adorn'd with lappets pinn'd aloft,
And ribbands streaming gay, fuperbly rais'd,

And magnified beyond all human fize,
Indebted to fome fmart wig-weaver's hand
For more than half the treffes it fuftains;

Her elbows ruffled, and her tott'ring form

Ill propp'd upon French heels; fhe might be deem'd
(But that the basket dangling on her arm
Interprets her more truly) of a rank

Too proud for dairy work, or fale of eggs.
Expect her foon with foot-boy at her heels,
No longer blushing for her awkward load,
Her train and her umbrella all her care!

The town has ting'd the country; and the stain Appears a spot upon a veftal's robe,

The worse for what it foils. The fashion runs

Down into scenes ftill rural; but, alas,

Scenes rarely grac'd with rural manners now!
Time was when, in the paftoral retreat,

Th' unguarded door was fafe; men did not watch

T' invade another's right, or guard their own.

Then fleep was undisturb'd by fear, unfcar'd
By drunken howlings; and the chilling tale
Of midnight murder was a wonder heard
With doubtful credit, told to frighten babes.
But farewell now to unfufpicious nights,
And flumbers unalarm'd! Now, ere you sleep,
See that your polish'd arms be prim'd with care,
And drop the night-bolt ;-ruffians are abroad;
And the firft larum of the cock's fhrill throat
May prove a trumpet, fummoning your ear
To horrid founds of hoftile feet within.

Ev'n day-light has its dangers; and the walk
Through pathlefs wastes and woods, unconfcious once
Of other tenants than melodious birds,

Or harmless flocks, is hazardous and bold.

Lamented change! to which full many a cause
Invet'rate, hopeless of a cure, conspires.

The course of human things from good to ill,
From ill to worse, is fatal, never fails.

Increase of pow'r begets increase of wealth;

Wealth luxury, and luxury excess;
Excefs, the fcrofulous and itchy plague
That feizes first the opulent, defcends
To the next rank contagious, and in time
Taints downward all the graduated fcale
Of order, from the chariot to the plough.

The rich, and they that have an arm to check
The license of the lowest in degree,

Defert their office; and themfelves, intent

On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus

To all the violence of lawless hands

Refign the scenes their prefence might protect.
Authority herself not seldom fleeps,

Though resident, and witness of the wrong.
The plump convivial parfon often bears

The magifterial fword in vain, and lays

His rev'rence and his worship both to rest

On the fame cushion of habitual floth.

Perhaps timidity restrains his arm;

When he should ftrike he trembles, and fets free,