The Village and The Newspaper | Page 2

tints the rocky coasts abound,?And a sad splendour vainly shines around.?So looks the nymph whom wretched arts adorn,?Betray'd by man, then left for man to scorn;?Whose cheek in vain assumes the mimic rose,?While her sad eyes the troubled breast disclose;?Whose outward splendour is but folly's dress,?Exposing most, when most it gilds distress.
Here joyless roam a wild amphibious race,?With sullen woe display'd in every face;?Who, far from civil arts and social fly,?And scowl at strangers with suspicious eye.
Here too the lawless merchant of the main?Draws from his plough th' intoxicated swain;?Want only claim'd the labour of the day,?But vice now steals his nightly rest away.
Where are the swains, who, daily labour done,?With rural games play'd down the setting sun;?Who struck with matchless force the bounding ball,?Or made the pond'rous quoit obliquely fall;?While some huge Ajax, terrible and strong,?Engaged some artful stripling of the throng.?And fell beneath him, foil'd, while far around?Hoarse triumph rose, and rocks return'd the sound??Where now are these?--Beneath yon cliff they stand,?To show the freighted pinnace where to land;?To load the ready steed with guilty haste,?To fly in terror o'er the pathless waste,?Or, when detected, in their straggling course,?To foil their foes by cunning or by force;?Or, yielding part (which equal knaves demand),?To gain a lawless passport through the land.
Here, wand'ring long, amid these frowning fields,?I sought the simple life that Nature yields;?Rapine and Wrong and Fear usurp'd her place,?And a bold, artful, surly, savage race;?Who, only skill'd to take the finny tribe,?The yearly dinner, or septennial bribe,?Wait on the shore, and, as the waves run high,?On the tost vessel bend their eager eye,?Which to their coast directs its vent'rous way;?Theirs or the ocean's miserable prey.
As on their neighbouring beach yon swallows stand,?And wait for favouring winds to leave the land;?While still for flight the ready wing is spread:?So waited I the favouring hour, and fled;?Fled from these shores where guilt and famine reign,?And cried, Ah! hapless they who still remain;?Who still remain to hear the ocean roar,?Whose greedy waves devour the lessening shore;?Till some fierce tide, with more imperious sway,?Sweeps the low hut and all it holds away;?When the sad tenant weeps from door to door;?And begs a poor protection from the poor!
But these are scenes where Nature's niggard hand?Gave a spare portion to the famish'd land;?Hers is the fault, if here mankind complain?Of fruitless toil and labour spent in vain;?But yet in other scenes more fair in view,?When Plenty smiles--alas! she smiles for few -?And those who taste not, yet behold her store,?Are as the slaves that dig the golden ore -?The wealth around them makes them doubly poor.?Or will you deem them amply paid in health,?Labour's fair child, that languishes with wealth??Go then! and see them rising with the sun,?Through a long course of daily toil to run;?See them beneath the Dog-star's raging heat,?When the knees tremble and the temples beat;?Behold them, leaning on their scythes, look o'er?The labour past, and toils to come explore;?See them alternate suns and showers engage,?And hoard up aches and anguish for their age;?Through fens and marshy moors their steps pursue,?When their warm pores imbibe the evening dew;?Then own that labour may as fatal be?To these thy slaves, as thine excess to thee.
Amid this tribe too oft a manly pride?Strives in strong toil the fainting heart to hide;?There may you see the youth of slender frame?Contend with weakness, weariness, and shame;?Yet, urged along, and proudly loth to yield,?He strives to join his fellows of the field:?Till long-contending nature droops at last,?Declining health rejects his poor repast,?His cheerless spouse the coming danger sees,?And mutual murmurs urge the slow disease.
Yet grant them health, 'tis not for us to tell,?Though the head droops not, that the heart is well;?Or will you praise that homely, healthy fare,?Plenteous and plain, that happy peasants share??Oh! trifle not with wants you cannot feel,?Nor mock the misery of a stinted meal;?Homely, not wholesome, plain, not plenteous, such?As you who praise would never deign to touch.
Ye gentle souls, who dream of rural ease,?Whom the smooth stream and smoother sonnet please;?Go! if the peaceful cot your praises share,?Go look within, and ask if peace be there;?If peace be his, that drooping weary sire;?Or theirs, that offspring round their feeble fire;?Or hers, that matron pale, whose trembling hand?Turns on the wretched hearth th' expiring brand!
Nor yet can Time itself obtain for these?Life's latest comforts, due respect and ease;?For yonder see that hoary swain, whose age?Can with no cares except its own engage;?Who, propt on that rude staff, looks up to see?The bare arms broken from the withering tree,?On which, a boy, he climb'd the loftiest bough,?Then his first joy, but his sad emblem now.
He once was chief in all the rustic trade;?His steady hand the straightest furrow made;?Full many a prize he won, and still is proud?To find the triumphs of