Nymphs were Dianas then, and swains had hearts That felt their virtues; Innocence, it seems, From courts dismiss'd, found shelter in the groves; The footsteps of Simplicity, impress'd Upon the yielding herbage (so they sing), Then were not all effaced: then speech profane, And manners profligate, were rarely found, Observed as prodigies, and soon reclaim'd. Vain wish! those days were never: airy dreams Sat for the picture: and the poet's hand, Imparting substance to an empty shade, Imposed a gay delirium for a truth. Grant it: I still must envy them an age That favour'd such a dream; in days like these Impossible, when Virtue is so scarce That to suppose a scene where she presides Is tramontane, and stumbles all belief. No: we are polish'd now. The rural lass, Whom once her virgin modesty and grace, Her artless manners, and her neat attire, So dignified that she was hardly less Than the fair shepherdess of old romance, Is seen no more. The character is lost!
Her head, adorn'd with lappets pinn'd aloft, And ribands streaming gay, superbly raised, And magnified beyond all human size, Indebted to some smart wig-weaver's hand For more than half the tresses it sustains; Her elbows ruffled, and her tottering form Ill propp'd upon French heels; she might be deem'd (But that the basket dangling on her arm Interprets her more truly) of a rank
Two proud for dairy work or sale of eggs. Expect her soon with footboy at her heels,
No longer blushing for her awkward load, Her train and her umbrella all her care!
The town has tinged the country; and the stain Appears a spot upon a vestal's robe,
The worse for what it soils.
Down into scenes still rural; but alas,
Scenes rarely graced with rural manners now! Time was when in the pastoral retreat
The' unguarded door was safe; men did not watch To' invade another's right, or guard their own. Then sleep was undisturb'd by fear, unscared By drunken howlings; and the chilling tale Of midnight murder was a wonder heard With doubtful credit, told to frighten babes. But farewell now to unsuspicious nights, And slumbers unalarm'd! Now, ere you sleep, See that your polish'd arms be primed with care, And drop the nightbolt;―ruffians are abroad; And the first larum of the cock's shrill throat May prove a trumpet, summoning your ear To horrid sounds of hostile feet within. E'en daylight has its dangers; and the walk Through pathless wastes and woods, unconscious Of other tenants than melodious birds,
Or harmless flocks, is hazardous and bold. Lamented change! to which full many a cause Inveterate, hopeless of a cure, conspires. The course of human things from good to ill, From ill to worse, is fatal, never fails. Increase of power begets increase of wealth; Wealth luxury, and luxury excess; Excess, the scrofulous and itchy plague, That seizes first the opulent, descends To the next rank contagious, and in time
Taints downward all the graduated scale Of order, from the chariot to the plough. The rich, and they that have an arm to check The license of the lowest in degree,
Desert their office; and themselves, intent On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus To all the violence of lawless hands
Resign the scenes their presence might protect. Authority herself not seldom sleeps, Though resident, and witness of the wrong. The plump, convivial parson often bears The magisterial sword in vain, and lays His reverence and his worship both to rest On the same cushion of habitual sloth. Perhaps timidity restrains his arm;
When he should strike he trembles, and sets free, Himself enslaved by terror of the band,
The' audacious convict whom he dares not bind. Perhaps, though by profession ghostly pure, He too may have his vice, and sometimes prové Less dainty than becomes his grave outside In lucrative concerns. Examine well
His milk-white hand; the palm is hardly clean— But here and there an ugly smutch appears. Foh! 'twas a bribe that left it: he has touch'd Corruption. Whoso seeks an audit here Propitious, pays his tribute, game or fish, Wildfowl or venison: and his errand speeds. But faster far, and more than all the rest, A noble cause, which none who bears a spark Of public virtue ever wish'd removed, Works the deplored and mischievous effect. 'Tis universal soldiership has stabb'd
The heart of merit in the meaner class.
Arms, through the vanity and brainless rage Of those that bear them, in whatever cause, Seem most at variance with all moral good, And incompatible with serious thought. The clown, the child of nature, without guile, Bless'd with an infant's ignorance of all But his own simple pleasures; now and then A wrestling match, a foot race, or a fair; Is balloted, and trembles at the news: Sheepish he doffs his hat, and mumbling swears A bible-oath to be whate'er they please, To do he knows not what. The task perform'd, That instant he becomes the sergeant's care, His pupil, and his torment, and his jest. His awkward gait, his introverted toes, Bent knees, round shoulders, and dejected looks, Procure him many a curse. By slow degrees, Unapt to learn, and form'd of stubborn stuff, He yet by slow degrees puts off himself, Grows conscious of a change, and likes it well: He stands erect; his slouch becomes a walk; He steps right onward, martial in his air, His form, and movement; is as smart above As meal and larded locks can make him; wears His hat or his plumed helmet with a grace; And, his three years of heroship expired, Returns indignant to the slighted plough. He hates the field in which no fife or drum Attends him; drives his cattle to a march; And sighs for the smart comrades he has left. "Twere well if his exterior change were all- But with his clumsy port the wretch has lost His ignorance and harmless manners too. To swear, to game, to drink; to show at home
By lewdness, idleness, and sabbath-breach, The great proficiency he made abroad: To' astonish and to grieve his gazing friends, To break some maiden's and his mother's heart, To be a pest where he was useful once, Are his sole aim and all his glory now. Man in society is like a flower
Blown in its native bed: 'tis there alone His faculties, expanded in full bloom, Shine out; there only reach their proper use. But man, associated and leagued with man By regal warrant, or self-join'd by bond For interest sake, or swarming into clans Beneath one head for purposes of war, Like flowers selected from the rest, and bound And bundled close to fill some crowded vase, Fades rapidly, and, by compression marr'd, Contracts defilement not to be endured. Hence charter'd boroughs are such public plagues; And burghers, men immaculate perhaps In all their private functions, once combined Become a loathsome body, only fit
For dissolution, hurtful to the main. Hence merchants, unimpeachable of sin Against the charities of domestic life, Incorporated seem at once to lose Their nature; and, disclaiming all regard For mercy and the common rights of man, Build factories with blood, conducting trade At the sword's point, and dyeing the white robe Of innocent, commercial Justice red. Hence too the field of glory, as the world Misdeems it, dazzled by its bright array, With all its majesty of thundering pomp,
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