The' undreaded volley with a sword of straw,
And stands an impudent and fearless mark.

Have we not track'd the felon home, and found
His birthplace and his dam? The country mourns,
Mourns because every plague that can infest
Society, and that saps and worms the base
Of the' edifice that policy has raised,

Swarms in all quarters: meets the eye, the ear,
And suffocates the breath at every turn.
Profusion breeds them: and the cause itself
Of that calamitous mischief has been found:
Found too where most offensive, in the skirts
Of the robed pedagogue! Else let the' arraign'd
Stand up unconscious, and refute the charge.
So, when the Jewish leader stretch'd his arm,
And waved his rod divine, a race obscene,
Spawn'd in the muddy beds of Nile, came forth
Polluting Egypt: gardens, fields, and plains
Were cover'd with the pest; the streets were fill'd;
The croaking nuisance lurk'd in

every

nook ;

Nor palaces, nor even chambers scaped:

And the land stank-so numerous was the fry.

DRAWN BY RICHARD WESTALL R.A.ENGRAVED BY CHARLES ROLLS: PUBLISHED BY JOHN SHARPE, PICCADILLY.

MARCH 25.1825.

THE TASK.

BOOK III.

THE GARDEN.

Self-recollection and reproof.-Address to domestic happiness.-Some account of myself. The vanity of many of their pursuits who are reputed wise.-Justification of my censures.-Divine illumination necessary to the most expert philosopher.-The question, What is truth? answered by other questions.-Domestic happiness addressed again.-Few lovers of the country.-My tame hare.-Occupations of a retired gentleman in his garden.-Pruning.-Framing.-Greenhouse.-Sowing of flower seeds.-The country preferable to the town even in the winter.-Reasons why it is deserted at that season-Ruinous effects of gaming and of expensive improvement.-Book concludes with an apostrophe to the metropolis.

As one who long in thickets and in brakes
Entangled winds now this way and now that
His devious course uncertain, seeking home:
Or, having long in miry ways been foil'd
And sore discomfited, from slough to slough
Plunging and half despairing of escape;
If chance at length he find a greensward smooth
And faithful to the foot, his spirits rise,