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THE TASK.

BOOK III.

THE GARDEN.

ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK.

Self-recollection, and reproof-Address to domestick happiness Some account of myself-The vanity of many of their pursuits, who are reputed wise-Justification of my censures-Divine illumination necessary to the most expert philosopher.-The question, What is truth? answered by other questions-Domestick happiness addressed again-Few lovers of the country-My tame hare Occupations of a retired gentleman in his garden-Pruning -Framing-Greenhouse-Sowing of flower seeds-The country preferable to the town even in the winter-Reasons why it is deserted at that season-Ruinous effects of gaming and of expensive improvement-Book concludes with an apostrophe to the metropolis.

AS one, who long in thickets and in brakes
Entangled, winds now this way and now that
His devious course uncertain, seeking home;
Or, having long in miry ways been foil'd
And sore discomfited, from slough to slough
Plunging, and half despairing of escape;

If chance at length he find a greensward smooth
And faithful to the foot, his spirits rise,

He cherups brisk his ear-erecting steed,

And winds his way with pleasure and with ease! 10 So I, designing other themes, and call'd

T'adorn the Sofa with eulogium due,

To tell its slumbers, and to paint its dreams,
Have rambled wide. In country, city, seat
Of academick fame, (howe'er deserv'd,)
Long held, and scarcely disengag'd at last :
But now with pleasant pace a cleanlier road
I mean to tread. I feel myself at large,
Courageous, and refresh'd for future toil,
If toil await me, or if dangers new.

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Since pulpits fail, and sounding boards reflect Most part an empty ineffectual sound, What chance that I, to fame so little known, Nor conversant with men or manners much, Should speak to purpose, or with better hope Crack the satirick thong? 'Twere wiser far For me, enamour'd of sequester'd scenes, And charm'd with rural beauty, to repose Where chance may throw me, beneath elm or vine, My languid limbs; when summer sears the plains; 30 Or, when rough winter rages, on the soft

And shelter'd Sofa, while the nitrous air

Feeds a blue flame, and makes a cheerful hearth;
There, undisturb'd by Folly, and appriz'd
How great the danger of disturbing her,
To muse in silence, or at least confine
Remarks, that gall so many, to the few
My partners in retreat. Disgust conceal'd
Is ofttimes proof of wisdom, when the fault
Is obstinate, and cure beyond our reach.

Domestick happiness, thou only bliss

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Of Paradise, that has surviv'd the fall!

Though few now taste thee unimpair'd and pure,

Or tasting, long enjoy thee! too infirm,

Or too incautious, to preserve thy sweets

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Unmix'd with drops of bitter, which neglect
Or temper sheds into thy crystal cup;

Thou art the nurse of Virtue-in thine arms
She smiles, appearing, as in truth she is,
Heav'n-born, and destin'd to the skies again:

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Thou art not known where Pleasure is ador d,
That reeling goddess, with the zoneless waist
And wand'ring eyes, still leaning on the arm
Of Novelty, her fickle, frail support;

For thou art meek and constant, hating change,
And finding in the calm of truth-tried love,
Joys that her stormy raptures never yield.
Forsaking thee, what shipwreck have we made
Of honour, dignity, and fair renown!
Till prostitution elbows us aside

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In all our crowded streets; and senates seem
Conven'd for purposes of empire less

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Than to release the adult'ress from her bond.
Th' adult'ress! what a theme for angry verse!
What provocation to th' indignant heart,
That feels for injur'd love! but I disdain
The nauseous task to paint her as she is,
Cruel, abandon'd, glorying in her shame?
No-let her pass, and, charioted along
In guilty splendour, shake the publick ways;
The frequency of crimes has wash'd them white,
And verse of mine shall never brand the wretch,'
Whom matrons now of character unsmirch'd
And chaste themselves, are not asham'd to own.
Virtue and vice had bound'ries in old time,
Not to be pass'd and she that had renounced
Her sex's honour, was renounc'd herself
By all that priz'd it; not for prud'ry's sake
But dignity's, resentful of the wrong.

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'Twas hard perhaps on here and there a waif, Desirous to return and not receiv'd:

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But was a wholesome rigour in the main,

And taught th' unblemish'd to preserve with care
That purity, whose loss was loss of all.
Men too were nice in honour in those days,
And judg'd offenders well. Then he that sharp'd,
And pocketed a prize by fraud obtain❜d,

Was mark'd and shunn'd as odious. He that sold

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His country, or was slack when she requir'd
His ev'ry nerve in action and at stretch,
Paid with the blood that he had basely spar'd
The price of his default. But now-yes, now
We are become so candid and so fair

So lib'ral in construction, and so rich
In christian charity, (good natur'd age!)
That they are safe; sinners of either sex

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Transgress what laws they may. Well dress'd, well bred,

Well equipag'd, is ticket good enough,

To pass as readily through ev'ry door.

Hypocrisy, detest her as we may,

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(And no man's hatred ever wrong'd her yet, May claim this merit still-that she admits

The worth of what she mimicks, with such care,
And thus gives virtue indirect applause;
But she has burnt her mask, not needed here,
Where vice has such allowance, that her shifts
And specious semblances have lost their use.
I was a stricken deer, that left the herd
Long since. With many an arrow deep infix'd
My panting side was charg'd, when I withdrew
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.
There was I found by one who had himself
Been hurt by th' archers. In his side he bore,

And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars.
With gentle force soliciting the darts,

He drew them forth, and heal'd, and bade me live.
Since then, with few associates, in remote
And silent woods I wander, far from those
My former partners of the peopled scene;
With few associates, and not wishing more.
Here much I ruminate, as much I may,
With other views of men and manners now
Than once, and others of a life to come:
I see that all are wand'rers, gone astray
Each in his own delusions; they are lost

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In chase of fancied happiness, still woo'd
And never won. Dream after dream ensues;
And still they dream that they shall still succeed,
And still are disappointed. Rings the world
With the vain stir. I sum up half mankind
And add two thirds of the remaining half,
And find the total of their hopes and fears
Dreams, empty dreams. The million fit as gay,
As if created only like the fly,

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That spreads his motley wings in th' eye of noon, 135
To sport their season, and be seen no more.
The rest are sober dreamers, grave and wise,

And pregnant with discoveries new and rare.
Some write a narrative of wars, and feats

Of heroes little known; and call the rant
A history describe the man, of whom

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His own coevals took but little note,

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And paint his person, character, and views,

As they had known him from his mother's womb.
They disentangle from the puzzled skein,

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In which obscurity has wrapp'd them up,

The threads of politick and shrewd design,
That ran through all his purposes, and charge
His mind with meanings that he never had,

Or, having, kept conceal'd. Some drill and bore 150
The solid earth, and from the strata there
Extract a register, by which we learn,
That he who made it and reveal'd its date
To Moses, was mistaken in its age.

Some, more acute, and more industrious still,
Contrive creation; travel nature up

To the sharp peak of her sublimest height,

And tell us whence the stars; why some are fix'd,
And planetary some; what gave them first

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Rotation, from what fountain flow'd their light. 160
Great contest follows, and much learned dust
Involves the combatants; each claiming truth,
And truth disclaiming both. And thus they spend

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