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THE TASK.

BOOK VI.

Bells at a distance-Their effect.-A fine noon in winter.-A sheltered walk.-Meditation better than

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books. Our familiarity with the course of nature

makes it appear less wonderful than it is.-The transformation that spring effects in a shrubbery de scribed. A mistake concerning the course of nature corrected.-God maintains it by an unremitted act. -The amusements fashionable at this hour of the day reproved.--Animals happy, a delightful sight.— Origin of cruelty to animals.-That it is a great crime proved from Scripture.-That proof illustrated by a tale.-A line drawn between the lawful and unlawful destruction of them.-Their good and useful properties insisted on.-. -Apology for the encomiums bestowed by the author on animals.-Instances of man's extravagant praise of man.—The groans of the creation shall have an end.—A view taken of the restoration of all things.-An invocation and an invitation of Him who shall bring it to pass.-The retired man vindicated from the charge of uselessness.— Conclusion.

THE TASK.

BOOK VI.

THE WINTER WALK AT NOON.

THERE is in souls a sympathy with sounds,
And as the mind is pitch'd the ear is pleas'd
With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave;
Some chord in unison with what we hear

Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies.
How soft the music of those village bells,
Falling at intervals upon the ear

In cadence sweet, now dying all away,
Now pealing loud again, and louder still,

Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes on!

With easy force it opens all the cells

Where Mem'ry slept. Wherever I have heard A kindred melody, the scene recurs,

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And with it all it's pleasures and it's pains.

Such comprehensive views the spirit takes,
That in a few short moments I retrace

(As in a map the voyager his course)

The windings of my way through many years.
Short as in retrospect the journey seems,

It seem'd not always short; the rugged path, 20
And prospect oft so dreary and forlorn,

Mov'd many a sigh at it's disheart'ning length.
Yet feeling present evils, while the past
Faintly impress the mind, or not at all,

How readily we wish time spent revok❜d,
That we might try the ground again, where once
(Through inexperience, as we now perceive)

We miss'd that happiness we might have found! Some friend is gone, perhaps, his son's best friend, A father, whose authority, in show

When most severe, and must'ring all it's force,

Was but the graver countenance of love;

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Whose favour, like the clouds of spring, might low'r,

And utter now and then an awful voice,

But had a blessing in it's darkest frown,
Threat'ning at once and nourishing the plant.
We lov'd, but not enough, the gentle hand,
That rear'd us. At a thoughtless age, allur'd
By ev'ry gilded folly, we renounc'd

His shelt'ring side, and wilfully forewent

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That converse, which we now in vain regret.
How gladly would the man recall to life

The boy's neglected sire! a mother too,
That softer friend, perhaps more gladly still,
Might he demand them at the gates of death.
Sorrow has, since they went, subdu'd and tam'd
The playful humour; he could now endure,
(Himself grown sober in the vale of tears)
And feel a parent's presence no restraint.
But not to understand a treasure's worth,
Till time has stol'n away the slighted good,
Is cause of half the poverty we feel,

And makes the World the wilderness it is,

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