Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/242

But sweet Vicissitudes of Rest and Toyl
Make easy Labour, and renew the Soil.
Yet sprinkle sordid Ashes all around,
And load with fat'ning Dung thy fallow Ground.
Thus change of Seeds for meagre Soils is best; 120
And Earth manur'd, not idle, though at rest.
Long Practice has a sure Improvement found,
With kindled Fires to burn the barren Ground;
When the light Stubble, to the Flames resign'd,
Is driv'n along, and crackles in the Wind.125
Whether from hence the hollow Womb of Earth
Is warm'd with secret Strength for better Birth,
Or when the latent Vice is cur'd by Fire,
Redundant Humours thro' the Pores expire;129
Or that the Warmth distends the Chinks, and makes
New Breathings, whence new Nourishment she takes;
Or that the Heat the gaping Ground constrains,
New Knits the Surface, and new Strings the Veins;
Lest soaking Show'rs shou'd pierce her secret Seat,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
Or freezing Boreas chill her genial Heat;135
Or scorching Suns too violently beat.
Nor is the Profit small, the Peasant makes;
Who smooths with Harrows, or who pounds with Rakes
The crumbling Clods: Nor Ceres from on high
Regards his Labours with a grudging Eye;140
Nor his, who plows across the furrow'd Grounds,
And on the Back of Earth inflicts new Wounds: