yer.

„Each greedy wretch for tardy-rising wealth

Which comes too late, that courts the taste in vain,
„Or nauseates with distempers. Yes, ye Rich!
-, Still, ftill be rich, if thus ye fashion life;

And piping, Careless, filly shepherds we,
„We filly shepherds, all intent to feed
, Our snowy flocks, and wind the fleeky Fleece.

„Deem not, however, our occupation mean," Damon reply d, „while the supreme accounts

Well of the faithful shepherd, rank d alike
„With king and priest: they also shepherds are;

For so th' All-leeing styles them, to remind
Elated man, forgetful of his charge.“

„But haste, begin the rites: fee purple Eve Stretches her shadows: all ye Nyinphs and

Swains,
Hither assemble! Pleas'd with honours due,
,, Sabrina, guardian of the crystal flood,
Shall bless our cares, when she by moonlight

clear
,,Skims o'er the dales, and eyes our sleeping

folds;
„Or in hoar caves around Plynlynimon's brow,
Where precious minerals dart their purple

gleams
„Among her sisters she reclines; the lov'd
» Vaga, profuse of graces, Ryddol rough,

Blithe Ystwith, and Clevedoc, *) swift of foot;
„And mingles various feeds of Aow'rs and herbs,
„In the divided torrents, ere they burst
„Thro' the dark clouds, and down the mountain

roll. „Nor taint-worm shall infect the yeaning herds,

„Nor

*) Vaga, Ryddol, YAwith, and Clevedoc, rivers, the

springs of which rise in the sides of Plynlym

Nor penny-grafs, nor spearwort's pois'nous

leaf.“

Dyer.

He said: with light fantastic toe the nymphs
Thither assembled, thither every swains,
And o'er the dimpled stream a thousand flow'rs,
Pale lilies, roses, violets, and pinks,
Mix'd with the greens of burnet, mint, and thy-

me,

And trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms.

Such custom holds along th’ irriguous vales
From Wreakin's brow to rocky Dolvoryn *)-
Sabrina's early haunt, ere yet she fled
The search of Guendolen, her stepdame proud,
With envious hate enrag'd. The jolly cheer,
Spread on a mofly bank, untouch'd abides
Till cease the rites; and now the mosly bank
Is gaily circled, and the jolly cheer
Dispers'd in copious measure: early fruits
And those of frugal store, in hulk or rind;
Steep'd grain, and curdled milk with dulcet

cream

Soft temper'd, in full merriment they quaff,
And cast about their gibes; and some apace
Whistle to roundelays: their little ones
Look on delighted; while the mountain - woods
And winding vallies with the various notes
Of pipe, sheep, kine, and birds, and liquid

brooks,

*) Dalvoryn, a ruinous castle in Montgomeryshire, on the

Dyer.

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 coply banks
To listen, and to view the joyous scene.

Dr. John Armstrong war ein einsichtvoller und geschickter Arzt, der zu Anfange dieses Jahrhunderts im Kirchspiel Cafleton geboren wurde, und im I. 1779 in London farb. Sein erstes Lehrgedicht, The Oeconomy of Love hatte zu viel freie Stellen, die er in einer umgeänderten Ausgabe vom J. 1768 größtentheils wegließ ; indeß fand er doch dieß Gedicht einer Aufnahme in die Sammlung seiner wißigen Schriften nicht würdig, die er im I. 1770 unter dem Titel, Miscellanies, in zwei Bånden herausgab. An der Spişc dieser Sammlung fteht fein besseres, und von Seiten des Inhalts sowohl als der Ausführung überaus sch&tbares Lehrgedicht: The Art of preserving Health, in vier Büchern, worin Vor: schriften der Lebensordnung in vierfacher Rückricht, auf Luft, Nahrung, Bewegung und Gemüthsjuftand, ertheilt werden. Zur Probe gebe ich hier nur eine kurze Stelle des lekten Buchs, weil das ganze Gedicht neulich im zweiten Bande von Hrn. Benzler's Poetical Library, einer sehr ems pfehlungsmerthen Sammlung der besten englischen didaktis fchen und beschreibenden Gedichte abgedruckt ist. -- Vergl. Duidh's Briefe, Ch. II, Br. 15.

THE ART OF PRESERVING HEALTH,

B. IV. V. 220–303.

How to live happiest; how avoid the pains,
The disappointments, and disgusts of those,
Who would in pleasure all their hours employ,
The precepts here of a divine old man
I could recite. Tho' old, he still retain'd
His manly sense, and energy of mind.
Virtuous and wife he was, but not severe;
He still remember'd that he once was young;
His easy presence check'd no decent joy.
Him even the dissolute admir'd; for he

Urmstrong. A graceful looseness, when he pleas d, put on,
And laughing could instruct. Much had, he-

read,
Much more had seen; he studied from the life
And in th' original perus’d mankind.
Vers'd in the woes and vanities of life,
He pitied man: and much he piticd those
Whom fallely - smiling fate has curs'd with

means

1

To dislipate their days in queft of joy.
Our aim is Happiness; 'tis your's, 'tis mine!
He said, 'tis the pursuit of all that live;
Yet few attain it, if 'twas e'er attain'd.
But they the wideft wander from the mark,
Who thro' the flow'ry paths of faunt'ring joy
Seek this coy Goddess, that from stage to

ftage
Invites us still, but shifts as we pursue.
For, not to name the pains that Pleasure brings.
To counterpoise itself, relentless Fate
Forbids that we thro'gay voluptuous wilds
Should ever roam: And were the Fates more

kind
Our narrow luxuries would soon be ftale.
Were thefe exhaustless, Nature would grow

sick,

And cloy'd with pleasure, fqueamilhly com

plain
That all was vanity, and life a dream.
Let nature reft; be busy for yourself,
And for your friend; be buly even in vain,
Rather than teize her fated'appetites
Who never fasts, no banquet e er enjoys;
Who never toils or watches, never sleeps.
Let nature reft: And when the taste of joy
Grows keen, indulge; but fhun fatiety.
'Tis not for mortals always to be bleft.
But him the least the dull or painful hours
Of life oppress, whom sober sense conducts,
And virtue thro' this labyrinth, we tread.

Vir