245 No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, I
Relax his ponderous strength,] and lean to hear ;]
The host himself no longer shall be found
Careful to see the mantling bliss go round ;|
Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest,
250 Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest.
[Yes] let the rich deride,] the proud disdain,
These simple blessings of the lowly train ;]
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm,] than all the gloss of art.]
255 Spontaneous joys,) where nature has its play, |
The soul adopts,) and owns their first-born sway ;]
Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind,
Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined:
But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade,
260 With all the freaks of wanton wealth array'd,
In these,) ere triflers half their wish obtain, |
The toiling pleasure sickens into pain ;)
And,) even while Fashion's brightest arts decoy, |
The heart distrusting asks,) if this be joy? |
[Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen,] who survey
The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay,]
'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand
Between a splendid and a happy land. |
Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore,|
270 And shouting Folly hails them from her shore ;|
Hoards, even beyond the miser's wish, abound, |
And rich men flock from all the world around. [
Yet count our gains.] This wealth is but a name
That leaves our useful products still the same. |
254. Supply is before one native charm.
257. Vacant-See lines 122, 136.
259. Irregular sentence. Pomp and masquerade are placed absolutely at the head of the sentence, instead of being governed by the preposition in.
266. The poor's-The s of the genitive case
belongs to Substantives, and not to Adjec tives. Note the poetical license.
268. This line is all grammatically dependent on "limits," not on "stand." 269. With loads of freighted ore-complement to "proud.” 273. Supply the Subj. "
Takes up a space) that many poor puppiai
Space for his lake, his park & extrudić bosa
Space for his horses, equipage, aut boudite
The robes that wrape site is milkasa.
280 Ew rou ( the neighbouring four of Aus
Er wear,) where solar sport task, wors
Ladigar spuri tu cutsags from tus
Aut the work eat
Where, then, ah! where shall poverty reside,
To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride ?|
305 If to some common's fenceless limits stray'd,
He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade, |
Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide,|
And even the bare-worn common is denied. |
If to the city sped]—what waits him there ?|
310 To see profusion] that he must not share ; |
To see ten thousand baneful arts combined
To pamper luxury and thin mankind ;]
To see each joy) the sons of pleasure know,]
Extorted from his fellow-creature's woe :)
315 Here while the courtier glitters in brocade,
There the pale artist plies the sickly trade ;|
Here while the proud their long-drawn pomp display, |
There the black gibbet glooms beside the way :|
The dome) where Pleasure holds her midnight reign, |
320 Here, richly deck'd, admits the gorgeous train ;|
Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square,|
The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare. |
Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy !|
Sure these denote one universal joy !—|
325 Are these thy serious thoughts |—ah, turn thine ey
Where the poor houseless shivering female lies : |
She once, perhaps, in village plenty bless'd,
Has wept at tales of innocence distress'd ;|
306. He cannot refer to poverty (line 303), for that could not be made masculine. We must therefore refer it to a Noun (poor man), suggested by the Abstract Noun poverty.
308. Reference to the Enclosure Acts, by which numerous bare-worn commons were divided, enclosed, and turned into rich fields, to the great advantage of agriculture and the country in general. The desponding views of the poet do not stand the test of political science.
309. Sped, ie, having sped. Partic. of Intransitive Verbs are v used without Auxiliary Verbs (s€€ Task, i. 4, note). The gramm struction is incomplete.
310. To see profusion [waits Supply also the same Pred. in
314. His would read better t $15. Here while are invert license.
316. Artist artisan.
really a subject also, of the objective case. ry pride, ie., my pride in
cliff: Tornen is a river at orth of the Gulf of Bothnia
side: A mountain in South rly under the Equator,
Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
Redress the rigours of th' inclement clime ;|
Aid slighted Truth, with thy persuasive strain ;]
Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain ;]
425 Teach him] that states, of native strength possest,
Though very poor, may still be very blest ; |
That Trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, |
As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away; |
While self-dependent power can time defy, |
430 As rocks resist the billows and the sky. |
428. The image would be clearer, if this line were expressed in the passive; for the idea is that "Trade's proud empire must
perish as the laboured mole is swept away by the ocean; whilst power, independent of trade, can brave every storm."
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