The amomum there with intermingling flowers And cherries hangs her twigs. Geranium boafts Her crimson honours, and the fpangled beau, Ficoides, glitters bright the winter long.
All plants, of every leaf, that can endure
The winter's frown, iffcreened from his fhrewd bite,
Live there, and profper. Those Aufonia claims,
Levantine regions these; the Azores fend
Their jeffamine, her jeffamine remote
Caffraia: foreigners from many lands,
They form one focial fhade, as if convened
By magic fummons of the Orphean lyre.
Yet juft arrangement, rarely brought to pafs
But by a master's hand, difpofing well
The gay diverfities of leaf and flower,
Muft lend its aid to illuftrate all their charms,
And dress the regular yet various scene.
Plant behind plant afpiring, in the van
The dwarfish, in the rear retired, but ftill
Sublime above the reft, the statelier ftand.
So once were ranged the sons of ancient Rome,
A noble fhow! while Rofcius trod the stage;
And fo, while Garrick, as renowned as he,
The fons of Albion; fearing each to lose
Some note of Nature's mufic from his lips,
And covetous of Shakespeare's beauty, seen
In every flash of his far-beaming eye.
Nor tafte alone and well-contrived display
Suffice to give the marshalled ranks the grace
Of their complete effect. Much yet remains
Unfung, and many cares are yet behind,
And more laborious; cares on which depend
Their vigour, injured foon, not foon restored.
The foil must be renewed, which often washed
Lofes its treasure of falubrious falts,
And disappoints the roots; the flender roots Close interwoven, where they meet the vase, Muft smooth be fhorn away; the fapless branch Muft fly before the knife; the withered leaf Must be detached, and where it ftrews the floor Swept with a woman's neatness, breeding else Contagion, and diffeminating death.
Discharge but thefe kind offices, (and who
Would spare, that loves them, offices like these?)
Well they reward the toil. The fight is pleased,
The scent regaled, each odoriferous leaf,
Each opening bloffom, freely breathes abroad
Its gratitude, and thanks him with its sweets.
So manifold, all pleafing in their kind,
All healthful, are the employs of rural life,
Reiterated as the wheel of time
Runs round; ftill ending, and beginning still.
Nor are thefe all. To deck the fhapely knoll,
That foftly fwelled and gaily dreffed appears
A flowery island, from the dark green lawn
Emerging, must be deemed a labour due
To no mean hand, and asks the touch of tafte.
Here also grateful mixture of well-matched
And forted hues (each giving each relief,
And by contrafted beauty fhining more)
Is needful. Strength may wield the ponderous fpade,
May turn the clod, and wheel the compoft home;
But elegance, chief grace, the garden shows,
And most attractive, is the fair result
Of thought, the creature of a polished mind.
Without it all is gothic as the scene,
To which the infipid citizen resorts
Near yonder heath; where induftry mifpent,
But proud of his uncouth ill-chofen task,
Has made a heaven on earth; with funs and moons Of close-rammed ftones has charged the encumbered foil,
And fairly laid the zodiac in the duft.
He therefore, who would fee his flowers difpofed
Sightly and in just order, ere he gives
The beds the trusted treasure of their seeds,
Forecafts the future whole; that when the scene
Shall break into its preconceived display,
Each for itself, and all as with one voice
Confpiring, may atteft his bright defign.
Nor even then, difmiffing as performed
His pleasant work, may he suppose it done.
Few felf-fupported flowers endure the wind
Uninjured, but expect the upholding aid
Of the smooth-fhaven prop, and neatly tied
Are wedded thus, like beauty to old age
For interest fake, the living to the dead.
Some clothe the foil that feeds them, far diffused
And lowly creeping, modeft and yet fair,
Like virtue, thriving moft where little feen:
Some more aspiring catch the neighbour shrub
With clasping tendrils, and invest his branch,
Elfe unadorned, with many a gay feftoon
And fragrant chaplet, recompenfing well
The ftrength they borrow with the grace they lend.
All hate the rank fociety of weeds,
Noifome, and ever greedy to exhaust
The impoverished earth; an overbearing race,
That, like the multitude made faction-mad,
Disturb good order, and degrade true worth.
Oh bleft feclufion from a jarring world,
Which he, thus occupied, enjoys! Retreat
Cannot indeed to guilty man restore
Loft innocence, or cancel follies paft;
But it has peace, and much secures the mind
From all affaults of evil; proving ftill
A faithful barrier, not o'erleaped with ease
By vicious cuftom, raging uncontrolled
Abroad, and defolating public life.
When fierce temptation, feconded within
By traitor appetite, and armed with darts
Tempered in hell, invades the throbbing breast,
To combat may be glorious, and success
Perhaps may crown us; but to fly is fafe.
Had I the choice of fublunary good,
What could I wish, that I poffefs not here?
Health, leifure, means to improve it, friendship,
No loose or wanton, though a wandering, muse,
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