Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/35

When tir'd with study let him seek the plains,
And mark the homely humours of the swains;
Or pleas'd the toyls to spread, or horns to wind,
Hunt the fleet mountain-goat, or forest-hind.
Mean time the youth, impatient that the day
Should pass in pleasures unimprov'd away,
Steals from the shouting crowd, and quits the plains,
To sing the sylvan gods in rural strains:
Or calls the muses to Albunea's shades,
Courts, and enjoys the visionary maids.
So labour'd fields with crops alternate blest,
By turns lie fallow, and indulge their rest;
The swain contented bids the hungry soil
Enjoy a sweet vicissitude from toil;
'Till earth renews her genial pow'rs to bear,
And pays his prudence with a bounteous year.

On a strict view your solid judgment frame,
Nor think that genius is in all the same;
How oft' the youth who wants the sacred fire,
Fondly mistakes for genius his desire?

Courts