These were thy charms but all these charms are fled. wol of Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled and all thy charms with drawn god ide sve viq 236 Amidst thy boats the tyrant's hand is seen And desolation saddens all thy greenrio One only master grasps the whole domain, And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain. 40 No more thy glassy brook reflects the day, But, choked with sedges, works its weedy way; Along the glades, a solitary guest, The hollow sounding bittern guards its nest; Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, 45 And tires their echoes with unvaried cries; Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all, And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall; And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Far, far away thy children leave the land. 50 Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay: Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; A breath can make them, as a breath has made: 54 But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed, can never be supplied. A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When every rood of ground maintained its 77 Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour, Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. Here, as I take my solitary rounds Amidst thy tangling walks and ruined grounds, And, many a year elapsed, return to view Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew, a Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain. 80 In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs and God has given my share 84 I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, Around my fire an evening group to draw, 90 And, as an hare whom hounds and horns pursue Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, The playful children just let loose from school The watch-dog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant 1 mind; These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And filled each pause the nightingale had made. But now the sounds of population fail, 125 131 141 The village preacher's modest mansion rose. Unpractised he to fawn, or seek for power, 145 The long-remembered beggar was his guest, Whose beard descending swept his aged breast; The ruined spendthrift, now no longer proud, Claimed kindred there, and had his claims allowed; The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, 155 Sat by the fire, and talked the night away, Wept o'er his wounds or, tales of sorrow done, Shouldered his crutch and showed how fields were won. 1 unoccupied by care Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to glow, And quite forgot their vices in their woe; 160 Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity begat Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And e'en his failings leaned to Virtue's side; But in his duty prompt at every call, 165 He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all, And, as a bird each fond endearment tries Beside the bed where parting life was laid, And sorrow, guilt, and pain by turns dismayed, 172 His ready smile a parent's warmth exprest; Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distrest: To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven. As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, 100 Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head. Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail; No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear; 246 The host himself no ionger shall be found Careful to see the mantling bliss1 go round; Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest, Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest. 250 Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, 256 But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade, With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed 260 The mournful peasant leads his humble band, To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride? If to the city sped what waits him there? 314 There the black gibbet glooms beside the way. The dome where pleasure holds her midnight reign 319 Here, richly deckt, admits the gorgeous train: Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square, The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare. thine eyes Ah, turn 325 1i.e., useful products are exchanged for luxuries 2 a field in which all villagers were entitled to pasture their cattle free 3 artisan 371 And took a long farewell, and wished in vain And blest the cot where every pleasure rose, And kist her thoughtless babes with many a 381 tear 395 Even now the devastation is begun, And half the business of destruction done; Even now, methinks, as pondering here I stand, I see the rural virtues leave the land. That idly waiting flaps with every gale, 400 405 Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel, Tho' very poor, may still be very blest; 426 That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, As ocean sweeps the laboured mole away; FROM RETALIATION 430 1 on the boundary between Russia and Sweden 2 a mountain in Ecuador 3 Lines 427-30 were added by Dr. Johnson. Dr. Barnard, Dean of Derry 5 Edmund Burke |