A narrow brook, by rushy banks conceal'd,
Runs in a bottom, and divides the field;
Oaks intersperse it, that had once a head,
But now wear crests of oven-wood instead;
And where the land slopes to it's wat'ry bourn,
Wide yawns a gulf beside a ragged thorn,
Bricks line the sides, but shiver'd long ago,
And horrid brambles interwine below;

A hollow scoop'd, I judge, in ancient time,
For baking earth, or burning rock to lime.

10

Not yet the hawthorn bore her berries red, With which the fieldfare, wint'ry guest, is fed; 20 Nor Autumn yet had brush'd from ev'ry spray, With her chill hand, the mellow leaves away; But corn was hous'd, and beans were in the stack, Now therefore issu'd forth the spotted pack,

With tails high mounted, ears hung low, and

throats

With a whole gamut fill'd of Heav'nly notes.

For which, alas! my destiny severe,

Though ears she gave me two, gave me no ear.

The Sun, accomplishing his early march,

His lamp now planted on Heav'n's topmost arch, When, exercise and air my only aim,

And heedless whither, to that field I came,

Ere yet with ruthless joy the happy hound

31

Told hill and dale that Reynard's track was found, Or with the high rais'd horn's melodious clang

r

All Kilwick' and all Dinglederry ' rang.

Sheep graz'd the field; some with soft bosom

press'd

The herb as soft, while nibbling stray'd the rest; Nor noise was heard but of the hasty brook,

Struggling, detain'd in many a petty nook.

40

All seem'd so peaceful, that, from them convey'd,

To me their peace by kind contagion spread.

Two woods belonging to John Throckmorton, Esq.

But when the huntsman with distended cheek, 'Gan make his instrument of music speak,

And from within the wood that crash was heard, Though not a hound from whom it burst appear'd, The sheep recumbent, and the sheep that graz'd, All huddling into phalanx, stood and gaz'd, Admiring, terrified, the novel strain,

Then cours'd the field around, and cours'd it

round again;

But, recollecting with a sudden thought,

50

That flight in circles urg'd advanc'd them nought,

They gather'd close around the old pit's brink,

And thought again—but knew not what to think.

The man to solitude accustom'd long Perceives in ev'ry thing that lives a tongue; Not animals alone, but shrubs and trees, Have speech for him, and understood with ease; After long drought, when rains abundant fall, He hears the herbs and flow'rs rejoicing all: 60

Knows what the freshness of their hue implies,

How glad they catch the largess of the skies;

But, with precision nicer still, the mind

He scans of ev'ry locomotive kind;

Birds of all feather, beasts of ev'ry name,

That serve mankind, or shun them, wild or tame;

The looks and gestures of their griefs and fears
Have all articulation in his ears;

He spells them true by intuition's light,
And needs no glossary to set him right.

This truth premis'd was needful as a text, To win due credence to what follows next.

70

Awhile they mus'd; surveying ev'ry face, Thou hadst suppos'd them of superior race; Their perriwigs of wool, and fears combin'd, Stamp'd on each countenance such marks of mind, That sage they seem'd, as lawyers o'er a doubt, Which, puzzling long, at last they puzzle out;

Or academic tutors, teaching youths,

Sure ne'er to want them, mathematic truths;
When thus a mutton, statelier than the rest,
A ram, the ewes and wethers sad, address'd.

80

Friends! we have liv'd too long. I never heard Sounds such as these, so worthy to be fear'd. Could I believe, that winds for ages pent

In Earth's dark womb have found at last a vent, And from their prisonhouse below arise,

With all these hideous howlings to the skies,

I could be much compos'd, nor should appear,

For such a cause, to feel the slightest fear.

90

Yourselves have seen, what time the thunders

roll'd

All night, me resting quiet in the fold.

Or heard we that tremendous bray alone,
I could expound the melancholy tone;
Should deem it by our old companion made,
The ass; for he, we know, has lately stray'd,