62
AMYNTAS.
I was a stranger quite to dark design;
Simply I thought, and simply spoke, and acted.
The world grows old; and growing old, grows worse:
The world collectively, like individuals,
Is chilled, and hardened by the hand of time;
Loses the genial mellowness of nature,
The vigorous flow of large philanthropy,
Contracted, shrivelled, and locked up in self.
Simply I thought, and simply spoke, and acted.
The world grows old; and growing old, grows worse:
The world collectively, like individuals,
Is chilled, and hardened by the hand of time;
Loses the genial mellowness of nature,
The vigorous flow of large philanthropy,
Contracted, shrivelled, and locked up in self.
THYRSIS.
Perhaps in earlier times the human form
Had not so much, within, the hungry wild beast;
Went not so much abroad in quest of prey.
Inhabitants of noisy capitals
Sought not so oft our rural shades to breathe in,
Cloyed with a multiplicity of pleasure,
Smiting the healthy minds of cottagers
With the contagion of distempered fancy.
Nor did our country-girls so often seek
The baleful atmosphere of publick life.
Perhaps in earlier times the human form
Had not so much, within, the hungry wild beast;
Went not so much abroad in quest of prey.
Inhabitants of noisy capitals
Sought not so oft our rural shades to breathe in,
Cloyed with a multiplicity of pleasure,
Smiting the healthy minds of cottagers
With the contagion of distempered fancy.
Nor did our country-girls so often seek
The baleful atmosphere of publick life.
Different
