31
Where Young and Old, intent on pleasure, throng,
And half man's life is Holiday and Song?
Vain search for scenes like these! no view appears,
By sighs unruffled or unstain'd by tears;
Since Vice the world subdued and Waters drown'd,
Aubern and Eden can no more be found.
Hence good and evil mix'd, but Man has skill
And power to part them, when he feels the will;
Toil, care, and patience, bless th' abstemious few,
Fear, shame, and want, the thoughtless herd pursue.
Behold the Cot! where thrives th' industrious Swain,
Source of his pride, his pleasure and his gain;
Screen'd from the Winter's wind, the Sun's last ray
Smiles on the window and prolongs the day;
Projecting thatch the woodbine's branches stop,
And turn their blossoms to the casement's top:—
All need requires, is in that Cot contain'd,
And much that taste untaught and unrestrain'd
Surveys delighted; there she loves to trace
In one gay picture all the Royal Race;
Around the walls are Heroes, Lovers, Kings;
The print that shews them, and the verse that sings.
Above the mantel, bound with ribband blue,
The Swain's emblazon'd Arms demand our view.
In meadow Vert, there feeds in Gules a cow,
Beneath an Argent share and Sable plow;
While for a crest, an Azure arm sustains
In Or a wheatsheaf, rich with bristling grains.
There is King Charles, and all his Golden Rules,
Who prov'd Misfortune's was the best of schools;
And half man's life is Holiday and Song?
Vain search for scenes like these! no view appears,
By sighs unruffled or unstain'd by tears;
Since Vice the world subdued and Waters drown'd,
Aubern and Eden can no more be found.
Hence good and evil mix'd, but Man has skill
And power to part them, when he feels the will;
Toil, care, and patience, bless th' abstemious few,
Fear, shame, and want, the thoughtless herd pursue.
Behold the Cot! where thrives th' industrious Swain,
Source of his pride, his pleasure and his gain;
Screen'd from the Winter's wind, the Sun's last ray
Smiles on the window and prolongs the day;
Projecting thatch the woodbine's branches stop,
And turn their blossoms to the casement's top:—
All need requires, is in that Cot contain'd,
And much that taste untaught and unrestrain'd
Surveys delighted; there she loves to trace
In one gay picture all the Royal Race;
Around the walls are Heroes, Lovers, Kings;
The print that shews them, and the verse that sings.
Above the mantel, bound with ribband blue,
The Swain's emblazon'd Arms demand our view.
In meadow Vert, there feeds in Gules a cow,
Beneath an Argent share and Sable plow;
While for a crest, an Azure arm sustains
In Or a wheatsheaf, rich with bristling grains.
There is King Charles, and all his Golden Rules,
Who prov'd Misfortune's was the best of schools;
