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THE TASK,

A POEM.

BOOK I.

ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.

Hiftorical deduction of feats, from the flool to the Sofa.

A School-boy's ramble.—A walk in the country. -The Scene defcribed.-Rural founds as well as fights delightful.-Another walk.—Mistake concerning the charms of folitude corrected.-Colonnades commended.—Alcove, and the view from it. -The wilderness.-The grove.—The thresher.— The neceffity and the benefits of exercise.-The works of nature superior to, and in fome inftances inimitable by, art.-The wearifomeness of what is commonly called a life of pleasure.-Change of Scene fometimes expedient.-A common defcribed, and the character of crazy Kate introduced.—Gipfies.— The bleffings of civilized life.-That state moft favourable to virtue.-The South Sea islanders compaffionated, but chiefly Omai.-His prefent flate of mind fuppofed.-Civilized life friendly to virtue, but not great cities.-Great cities, and London in particular, allowed their due praife, but cenfured. -Fete champetre.-The book concludes with a reflection on the fatal effects of diffipation and effeminacy upon our public measures.

THE TASK.

BOOK I.

THE SOFA.

I

SING the Sofa. I who lately fang

Truth, Hope, and Charity*, and touched with awe
The folemn chords, and with a trembling hand,
Escaped with pain from that adventurous flight,
Now feek repose upon an humbler theme;
The theme though humble, yet auguft and proud
The occafion-for the Fair commands the song.

Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use, Save their own painted skins, our fires had none. As yet black breeches were not; satin smooth,

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Or velvet foft, or plush with fhaggy pile:
The hardy chief upon the rugged rock
Washed by the sea, or on the gravelly bank
Thrown up by wintry torrents roaring loud,
Fearless of wrong, reposed his weary strength.
Those barbarous ages paft, fucceeded next
The birth-day of invention; weak at first,
Dull in defign, and clumfy to perform.
Joint-ftools were then created; on three legs
Upborne they flood. Three legs upholding firm
A maffy flab, in fashion fquare or round.
On fuch a ftool immortal Alfred fat,

And fwayed the fceptre of his infant realms :
And fuch in ancient halls and manfions drear
May ftill be feen; but perforated fore,

And drilled in holes, the solid oak is found,
By worms voracious eating through and through.

At length a generation more refined

Improved the fimple plan; made three legs four,
Gave them a twisted form vermicular,

And over the feat, with plenteous wadding fluffed,
Induced a splendid cover, green and blue,
Yellow and red, of tapestry richly wrought

And woven close, or needle-work fublime. There might ye fee the piony spread wide, The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lass, Lap-dog and lambkin with black staring eyes, And parrots with twin cherries in their beak.

Now came the cane from India smooth and bright With Nature's varnish; fevered into stripes, That interlaced each other, these supplied Of texture firm a lattice-work, that braced The new machine, and it became a chair. But reftlefs was the chair; the back erect Diftreffed the weary loins, that felt no ease; The flippery feat betrayed the fliding part, That preffed it, and the feet hung dangling down, Anxious in vain to find the distant floor.

These for the rich: the reft, whom fate had placed
In modeft mediocrity, content

With base materials, fat on well-tanned hides,
Obdurate and unyielding, glaffy smooth,
With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn,
Or fcarlet crewel, in the cushion fixt,

If cushion might be called, what harder seemed
Than the firm oak, of which the frame was formed.

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