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“Of fome indecent clown! She looks, methinks,

"Of old ACASTO's line; and to my mind "Recalls that patron of my happy life, "From whom my liberal fortune took its rise; "Now to the dust gone down; his houses, lands, "And once fair-fpreading family diffolv'd.

"'Tis faid that in fome lone obfcure retreat,

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Urg'd by remembrance fad, and decent pride, "Far from those scenes which knew their better days, "His aged widow and his daughter live, "Whom yet my fruitlefs fearch could never find. "Romantic wish! would this the daughter were!"

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WHEN, ftri&t enquiring, from herfelf he found She was the fame, the daughter of his friend, Of bountiful ACASTO; who can fpeak The mingled paffions that furpriz'd his heart, And thro' his nerves in shivering transport ran ? Then blaz'd his fmother'd flame, avow'd, and bold; And as he view'd her, ardent, o'er and o'er, Love, gratitude, and pity wept at once. Confus'd, and frighten'd at his fudden tears, Her rifing beauties flush'd a higher bloom, As thus PALEMON, paffionate, and juft, Pour'd out the pious rapture of his foul.

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"AND art thou then ACASTO's dear remains?

"She, whom my reftlefs gratitude has fought, "So long in vain ? O yes! the very fame,

"The

"The foftened image of my noble friend, "Alive, his every feature, every look,

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"More elegantly touch'd. Sweeter than Spring! "Thou fole furviving blossom from the root "That nourish'd up my fortune! Say, ah where, "In what fequefter'd desart, haft thou drawn "The kindest aspect of delighted heaven ? "Into fuch beauty spread, and blown fo fair; 275 "Tho' poverty's cold wind, and crushing rain, "Beat keen, and heavy, on thy tender years? "O let me now, into a richer foil,

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Transplant thee fafe! where vernal funs, and 66 showers,

"Diffuse their warmeft, largest influence;
"And of my garden be the pride, and joy!
"Ill it befits thee, oh it ill befits
"ACASTO's daughter, his whose open ftores,
"Tho' vaft, were little to his ampler heart,
"The father of a country, thus to pick
"The very refuse of those harvest-fields,

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"Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy. "Then throw that shameful pittance from thy hand, "But ill apply'd to such a rugged task ;

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"The fields, the master, all, my fair, are thine ;"If to the various bleffings which thy house "Has on me lavish'd, thou wilt add that blifs, "That dearest blifs, the power of bleffing thee!"

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HERE ceas'd the youth: yet still his speaking eye Exprefs'd the facred triumph of his foul, With confcious virtue, gratitude, and love, Above the vulgar joy divinely rais'd. Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm Of goodness irresistible, and all

In fweet diforder loft, she blush'd confent.

The news immediate to her mother brought,

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While, pierc'd with anxious thought, fhe pin'd away The lonely moments for LAVINIA's fate;

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Amaz'd, and scarce believing what she heard,
Joy feiz'd her wither'd veins, and one bright gleam
Of fetting life fhone on her evening-hours :
Not lefs enraptur'd than the happy pair;
Who flourish'd long in tender bliss, and rear'd
A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves,
And good, the grace of all the country round. 310

DEFEATING oft the labours of the year,
The fultry fouth collects a potent blast.
At first, the groves are scarcely seen to stir
Their trembling tops; and a ftill murmur runs
Along the foft-inclining fields of corn.
But as th' aërial tempeft fuller fwells,
And in one mighty ftream, invifible,
Immenfe, the whole excited atmosphere,
Impetuous rushes o'er the founding world;
Strain'd to the root, the flooping foreft pours

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A

A ruftling fhower of yet untimely leaves.
High-beat, the circling mountains eddy in,
From the bare wild, the diffipated florm,
And fend it in a torrent down the vale.
Expos'd, and naked, to its utmost rage,
Thro' all the fea of harvest rolling round,
The billowy plain floats wide; nor can evade,
Tho' pliant to the blast, its feizing force;
Or whirl'd in air, or into vacant chaff

Shook waste. And fometimes too a burft of rain,
Swept from the black horizon, broad, defcends
In one continuous flood. Still over head
The mingling tempeft weaves its gloom, and still
The deluge deepens; till the fields around
Lie funk, and flatted, in the fordid wave.
Sudden, the ditches fwell; the meadows fwim.
Red, from the hills, innumerable streams
Tumultuous roar; and high above its banks
The river lift; before whofe rushing tide,
Herds, flocks, and harvefts, cottages, and fwains,
Roll mingled down; all that the winds had fpar'd
In one wild moment ruin'd; the big hopes,
And well-earn'd treasures of the painful year.
Fled to fome eminence, the husbandman
Helpless beholds the miferable wreck
Driving along; his drowning ox at once

Defcending, with his labours fcatter'd round,
He fees; and inftant o'er his shivering thought
Comes Winter unprovided, and a train

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Of clamant children dear. Ye mafters, then, 350 Be mindful of the rough laborious hand,

That finks you foft in elegance and ease;

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Be mindful of thofe limbs in ruffet clad,
Whofe toil to yours is warmth, and graceful pride;
And oh be mindful of that fparing board,
Which covers yours with luxury profufe,
Makes your glafs fparkle, and your sense rejoice!
Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains,
And all-involving winds have fwept away.

HERE the rude clamour of the sportsman's joy,
The gun faft-thundering, and the winded horn,
Would tempt the Mufe to fing the rural Game :
How, in his mid-career, the spaniel struck,
Stiff, by the tainted gale, with open nose,
Outftretch'd, and finely fenfible, draws full,
Fearful, and cautious, on the latent prey;
As in the fun the circling covey bask
Their varied plumés, and watchful every way
Thro' the rough ftubble turn the fecret eye.
Caught in the meshy fnare, in vain they beat
Their idle wings, intangled more and more :
Nor on the furges of the boundless air,
Tho' borne triumphant, are they safe; the gun,
Glanc'd juft, and fudden, from the fowler's eye
O'ertakes their founding pinions; and again,
Immediate, brings them from the towering wing,

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