O DE VI.

TO A FRIEND,

ON HIS MARRIAGE, AND REMOVAL INTO THE COUNTRY.

[Written at Stanway-Hall, in Effex.]

WHATE'ER of lighter strain the

Mufe

Effay'd, in vacant hours of eafe,
At thy expence to raise a smile,

I deem thy candour will excuse;

For fure I meant not to displease,

For fure I wish'd thee well the while*.

The Author alludes to fome trifling pieces of humour, written on his Friend, for the amufement of a few intimate acquaintance.

And now the nuptial knot is tied,
That Mufe no idle flattery brings,
Nor talks of joy unmixt with care-

I trust that none who e'er has tried
The fober ftate of human things,

Will give thee hope fuch joy to share.

Domestic Life must soon be thine

'Tis various as an April day;

'Tis pleasure now, and now 'tis pain : Thro' ftorms of foul and gleams of fine Contented hold thy fteady way,

And these enjoy, and those fuftain.

From London's streets to folitude,

From brilliant shops to dirty fields,

From beaux and belles to rugged hinds

The change I own is ftrange and rude:

Yet fcarce a place fo little yields,

But he who feeks amusement finds.

Perchance

Perchance thou'lt not difdain to hear

The ploughman's hiftory of the plain;

Thy fight the profpect's fcenes may charm:
And fure faftidious is the ear,

That flights the milkmaid's fimple ftrain,
At evening echoing from the farm.

The market lore of artful fwains

The price of cattle and of corn,
The fportfinan's feats of dogs and guns;-
To practife that will coft thee pains;
And these with patience must be born,
For he will be diflik'd who fhuns.

Courage, my friend! whate'er our fate;
So verfatile the human mind,

That oft, when novelty is o'er,

To objects of our former hate

Affimilated and refign'd,

We wonder they difpleas'd before.

'Twas

'Twas on the festive, focial day,

Where Beauty caft her smiles around,

And Mirth the mind from care reliev'd;
What time our hands in harmless play

Thy brow with wreaths of myrtle bound,
My thoughts this grateful lay conceiv'd.

From Stanway's groves, from fields of Layer *,

To other scenes and other friends

To-morrow calls my steps away;

Yet Memory them in view shall bear;
Yet them the wish of health attends,
And many a moment calm and gay.

Layer Breton: a village in Effex.

ODE VII.

WRITTEN IN WINTER.

WHILE in the sky black clouds impend,

And fogs arife, and rains defcend,

And one brown profpect opens round

Of leaflefs trees and furrow'd ground;
Save where unmelted spots of fnow

Upon the shaded hill-fide show;

While chill winds blow, and torrents roll,

The scene difgufts the fight, depresses all the foul,

Yet worse what polar climates fhare-
Vaft regions, dreary, bleak, and bare!-

There, on an icy mountain's height,

Seen only by the moon's pale light,

Stern