'Tis thus the underftanding takes repose

In indolent vacuity of thought,

And fleeps and is refreshed. Meanwhile the face
Conceals the mood lethargic with a mask
Of deep deliberation, as the man

Were tasked to his full ftrength, abforbed and loft.
Thus oft, reclined at eafe, I lose an hour
At evening, till at length the freezing blast,
That fweeps the bolted shutter, fummons home
The recollected powers; and snapping short
The glaffy threads, with which the fancy weaves
Her brittle toils, reftores me to myself.
How calm is my recefs; and how the frost,
Raging abroad, and the rough wind endear
The filence and the warmth enjoyed within'
I faw the woods and fields at close of day
A variegated show; the meadows green,
Though faded; and the lands, where lately waved
The golden harveft, of a mellow brown,

Upturned fo lately by the forceful share.

I faw far off the weedy fallows fmile
With verdure not unprofitable, grazed
By flocks, faft feeding, and selecting each
His favourite herb; while all the leaflefs groves,
That skirt the horizon, wore a fable hue,
Scarce noticed in the kindred dufk of eve.

To-morrow brings a change, a total change!
Which even now, though filently performed,
And flowly, and by most unfelt, the face
Of univerfal nature undergoes.

Faft falls a fleecy shower: the downy flakes
Defcending, and with never-ceasing lapse,
Softly alighting upon all below,

Affimilate all objects. Earth receives
Gladly the thickening mantle; and the green
And tender blade, that feared the chilling blaft,
Escapes unhurt beneath so warm a veil.

In fuch a world, fo thorny, and where none Finds happiness unblighted; or, if found Without fome thiftly forrow at its fide; It seems the part of wisdom, and no fin Against the law of love, to measure lots With lefs diftinguished than ourselves; that thus We may with patience bear our moderate ills, And fympathife with others, fuffering more. Ill fares the traveller now, and he that ftalks In ponderous boots beside his reeking team. The wain goes heavily, impeded fore

By congregated loads adhering close

To the clogged wheels; and in its fluggish pace Noiseless appears a moving hill of fnow.

The toiling fteeds expand the noftril wide,
While every breath, by respiration ftrong
Forced downward, is consolidated foon

Upon their jutting chefts. He, formed to bear
The pelting brunt of the tempeftuous night,
With half-fhut eyes, and puckered cheeks, and teeth
Prefented bare against the ftorm, plods on.

One hand fecures his hat, fave when with both
He brandishes his pliant length of whip,
Refounding oft, and never heard in vain.
Oh happy; and in my account denied
That fenfibility of pain, with which
Refinement is endued, thrice happy thou!
Thy frame, robuft and hardy, feels indeed
The piercing cold, but feels it unimpaired.
The learned finger never need explore

Thy vigorous pulfe; and the unhealthful eaft,
That breathes the spleen, and searches every bone
Of the infirm, is wholesome air to thee.

Thy days roll on exempt from household care;
Thy waggon is thy wife; and the poor beasts,
That drag the dull companion to and fro,
Thine helpless charge, dependent on thy care.
Ah treat them kindly! rude as thou appearest,
Yet show that thou haft mercy! which the great,
VOL. II.

Ꮐ

With needlefs hurry whirled from place to place, Humane as they would seem, not always show.

Poor, yet induftrious, modeft, quiet, neat,
Such claim compaffion in a night like this,
And have a friend in every feeling heart.
Warmed, while it lafts, by labour, all day long
They brave the season, and yet find at eve,
Ill clad and fed but sparely, time to cool.
The frugal housewife trembles when the lights
Her fcanty ftock of brush-wood, blazing clear,
But dying foon, like all terreftrial joys.
The few small embers left she nurses well;
And, while her infant race, with outspread hands
And crowded knees, fit cowering o'er the fparks,
Retires, content to quake, fo they be warmed.
The man feels leaft, as more inured than she
To winter, and the current in his veins
More briskly moved by his feverer toil;
Yet he too finds his own diftrefs in their's.
The taper foon extinguished, which I faw
Dangled along at the cold finger's end

Juft when the day declined, and the brown loaf
Lodged on the shelf, half-eaten without fauce
Of favory cheese, or butter, coftlier ftill;

Sleep feems their only refuge: for alas,

Where penury is felt the thought is chained,
And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few!

With all this thrift they thrive not. All the care,
Ingenious parfimony takes, but juft

Saves the small inventory, bed, and ftool,
Skillet, and old carved cheft, from public fale.
They live, and live without extorted alms
From grudging hands; but other boast have none
To footh their honest pride, that fcorns to beg,
Nor comfort elfe, but in their mutual love.
I praise you much, ye meek and patient pair,
For ye are worthy; choofing rather far
A dry but independent cruft, hard earned,
And eaten with a figh, than to endure
The rugged frowns and infolent rebuffs
Of knaves in office, partial in the work
Of diftribution; liberal of their aid
To clamorous importunity in rags,

But oft-times deaf to fuppliants, who would blush

To wear a tattered garb however coarse,

Whom famine cannot reconcile to filth:

These ask with painful fhynefs, and, refused

Because deserving, filently retire!

But be ye of good courage! Time itself

Shall much befriend you. Time shall give increase;