Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/249

Of Beech the Plough-tail, and the bending Yoke;
Or softer Linden harden'd in the Smoke.255
I cou'd be long in Precepts, but I fear
So mean a Subject might offend your Ear.
Delve of convenient Depth your thrashing Floor;
With temper'd Clay, then fill and face it o'er:
And let the weighty Rowler run the round,260
To smooth the Surface of th' unequal Ground;
Lest crack'd with Summer Heats the flooring flies,
Or sinks, and thro' the Crannies Weeds arise.
For sundry Foes the Rural Realm surround:
The Field Mouse builds her Garner under ground,265
For gather'd Grain the blind laborious Mole,
In winding Mazes works her hidden Hole.
In hollow Caverns Vermine make abode,
The hissing Serpent, and the swelling Toad:
The Corn devouring Weezel here abides,270
And the wise Ant her wintry Store provides.
Mark well the flowring Almonds in the Wood;
If od'rous Blooms the bearing Branches load,
The Glebe will answer to the Sylvan Reign,
Great Heats will follow, and large Crops of Grain.275
But if a Wood of Leaves o'er-shade the Tree,
Such and so barren will thy Harvest be:
In vain the Hind shall vex the thrashing Floor,
For empty Chaff and Straw will be thy Store.
Some steep their Seed, and some in Cauldrons boil280
With vigorous Nitre, and with Lees of Oyl,