cepts relative to changes of weather and seasons. Particular care of new-fallen lambs. The advantages and security of the English shepherd above those in hotter or colder climates; exemplified with respect to Lapland, Italy, Greece, and Arabia. Of sheep-shearing. Song on that occasion. Custom in Wales of sprinkling the rivers with flowers. Sheep-shearing feast and merriments on the banks of the Severn.
THE care of sheep, the labours of the loom, And arts of trade, I sing. Ye rural nymphs, Ye swains, and princely merchants, aid the verse. And ye, high-trusted guardians of our isle, Whom public voice approves, or lot of birth To the great charge assigns: ye good, of all Degrees, all sects, be present to my song. So may distres, and wretchedness, and want, The wide felicities of labour learn: So may the proud attempts of restless Gaul From our strong borders, like a broken wave, In empty foam retire. But chiefly thou, The people's shepherd, eminently plac'd Over the numerous swains of every vale, With well-permitted power, and watchful eye, On each gay field to shed beneficence, Celestial office! thou protect the song.
On spacious airy downs, and gentle bills, With grass and thyme o'erspread, and clover wild, Where smiling Phoebus tempers every breeze, The fairest flocks rejoice. They, nor of halt, Hydropic tumours, nor of rot, complain; Evils deform'd and foul: nor with hoarse cough Disturb the music of the pastoral pipe; But, crowding to the note, with silence soft The close-woven carpet graze; where Nature blends Flowrets and herbage of minutest size, Innoxious luxury. Wide airy downs
Are Health's gay walks to shepherd and to sheep. All arid soils, with sand, or chalky flint, Or shells diluvian mingled; and the turf, That mantles over rocks of brittle stone, Be thy regard: and where low-tufted broom, Or box, or berry'd juniper arise;
Or the tall growth of glossy-rinded beech; And where the burrowing rabbit turns the dust; And where the dappled deer delights to bound. Such are the downs of Banstead, edg'd with woods,
And towery villas; such Dorcestrian fields, Whose flocks innumerous whiten all the land: Such those slow-climbing wilds, that lead the step Insensibly to Dover's windy cliff,
Tremendous height and such the clover'd lawns And sunny mounts of beauteous Normanton', Health's cheerful haunt, and the selected walk Of Heathcote's leisure: such the spacious plain Of Sarum, spread like Ocean's boundless round, Where solitary Stonehenge, gray with moss, Ruin of ages, nods: such too the leas And ruddy tilth, which spiry Ross beholds, From a green hillock, o'er her lofty elms; And Lemster's brooky tract, and airy Croft 2; And such Harleian Eywood's 3 swelling turf,
Wav'd as the billows of a rolling sea: And Shobden 4, for its lofty terrace fam'd, Which from a mountain's ridge, elate o'er woods And girt with all Siluria5, sees around Regions on regions blended in the clouds. Pleasant Siluria, land of various views, Hills, rivers, woods, and lawns, and purple groves Pomaceous, mingled with the curling growth Of tendril hops, that flaunt upon their poles, More airy wild than vines along the sides Of treacherous Falernum 6; or that hill Vesuvius, where the bowers of Bacchus rose, And Herculanean and Pompeian domes.
But if thy prudent care would cultivate Leicestrian fleeces, what the sinewy arm Combs through the spiky steel in lengthen'd flakes; Rich saponaceous loam, that slowly drinks The blackening shower, and fattens with the draught,
Or marle with clay deep-mix'd be then thy choice, Of one consistence, one complexion, spread Through all thy glebe; where no deceitful veins Of envious gravel lurk beneath the turf, To loose the creeping waters from their springs, Tainting the pasturage: and let thy fields In slopes descend and mount, that chilling rains May trickle off, and hasten to the brooks.
Yet some defect in all on Earth appears; All seek for help, all press for social aid. Too cold the grassy mantle of the marle, In stormy winter's long and dreary nights, For eumbent sheep; from broken slumber oft They rise, benumb'd, and vainly shift the couch; Their wasted sides their evil plight declare. Hence, tender in his care, the shepherd swain Seeks cach contrivance. Here it would avail, At a meet distance from the upland ridge, To sink a trench, and on the hedge-long bank Sow frequent sand, with lime, and dark manure; Which to the liquid element will yield
A porous way, a passage to the foe. Plough not such pastures: deep in spungy grass The oldest carpet is the warmest lair, And soundest; in new herbage coughs are heard. Nor love too frequent shelter: such as decks The vale of Severn, Nature's garden wide, By the blue steeps of distant Malvern wall'd Solemnly vast. The trees of various shade, Scene behind scene, with fair delusive pomp Enrich the prospect, but they rob the lawns. Nor prickly bramble, white with woolly theft, Should tuft thy fields. Applaud not the remiss Dimetians, who, along their mossy dales, Consume, like grasshoppers, the summer hour; While round them stubborn thorns and furze in-
And creeping briars. I knew a careful swain, Who gave them to the crackling flames, and spread
5 Siluria, the part of England which lies west of the Severn, viz. Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, &c.
6 Treacherous Falernum, because part of the hills of Falernum was many years ago overturned by an eruption of fire, and is now a high and
A seat of sir John Heathcote in Rutlandshire. barren mount of cinders, called Monte Novo.
2 A seat of sir Archer Croft.
3 A seat of the earl of Oxford.
7 Malvern, a high ridge of hills near Worcester. 8 Dimetia, Caermarthenshire in South Wales.
Their dust saline upon the deepening grass : Aud oft with labour-strengthen'd arm he de!v'd The draining trench across his verdant slopes, To intercept the small meandring rills Of upper hamlets: haughty trees, that sour The shaded grass, that weaken thorn-set mounds, And harbour villain crows, he rare allow'd: Only a slender tuft of useful ash,
And mingled beech and elm, securely tall, The little smiling cottage warm embower'd; The little smiling cottage, where at eve He meets his rosy children at the door, Prattling their welcomes, and his honest wife, With good brown cake and bacon slice, intent To cheer his hunger after labour hard.
Nor only soil, there also must be found Felicity of clime, and aspect bland, Where gentle sheep may nourish locks of price. In vain the silken fleece on windy brows And northern slopes of cloud-dividing hills Is sought, though soft Ioeria spreads her lap Beneath their rugged feet, and names their heights Biscaian or Segovian. Bothnic realms, And dark Norwegian, with their choicest fields, Dingles, and dells, by lofty fir embower'd, In vain the bleaters court. Alike they shun Libya's hot plains: what taste have they for groves Of palm, or yellow dust of gold? no more Food to the flock, than to the miser wealth, Who kneels upon the glittering heap, and starves. E'en Gallic Abbeville the shining fleece, That richly decorates her loom, acquires Basely from Albion, by th' ensnaring bribe, The bait of avarice, which, with felon fraud, For its own wanton mouth, from thousands steals. How erring oft the judgment in its bate, Or fond desire! Those slow-descending showers, Those hovering fogs, that bathe our growing vales In deep November (loath'd by trifling Gaul, Effeminate), are gifts the Pleiads shed, Britannia's handmaids. As the beverage falls, Her hills rejoice, her valleys laugh and sing.
Hail, noble Albion; where no golden mines, No soft perfumes, nor oils, nor myrtle bowers, The vigorous frame and lofty heart of man Enervate round whose stern cerulean brows White-winged snow, and cloud, and pearly rain, Frequent attend, with solemn majesty:
Rich queen of Mists and Vapours! These thy sons With their cool arms compress; and twist their
For deeds of excellence and high renown. Thus form'd, our Edwards, Henrys, Churchills, Blakes,
Our Lockes, our Newtons, and our Miltons, rose. See the Sun gleams; the living pastures rise, After the nurture of the fallen shower, How beautiful! how blue th' ethereal vault, How verdurous the lawns, how clear the brooks! Such noble warlike steeds, such herds of kine, So sleek, so vast; such spacious flocks of sheep, Like flakes of gold illumining the green, What other Paradise adorn but thine, Britannia? happy, if thy sons would know Their happiness. To these thy naval st (ams, Thy frequent towns superb of busy trade, And ports magnific add, and stately ships, Innumerous. But whither strays my Muse? Pleas'd, like a traveller upon the strand Arriv'd of bright Augusta: wild he roves,
From deck to deck, through groves immense of masts;
'Mong crowds, bales, cars, the wealth of either Ind; Through wharfs, and squares, and palaces, and domes,
In sweet surprise; unable yet to fix
His raptur'd mind, or scan in order'd course Each object singly; with discoveries new His native country studious to enrich.
Ye shepherds, if your labours hope success, Be first your purpose to procure a breed To soil and clime adapted. Every soil And clime, e'en every tree and herb, receives Its habitant peculiar: each to each, The Great Invisible, and each to all, Through earth, and sea, and air, harmonious suits. Tempestuous regions, Darwent's9 naked peaks, Snowdon 10 and blue Plynlymnon 10, and the wide Aerial sides of Cader-yddris 10 huge;
These are bestow'd on goat horn'd sheep, of fleece Hairy and coarse, of long and nimble shank, Who rove o'er bog or heath, and graze or browse Alternate, to collect, with due dispatch, O'er the bleak wild, the thinly-scatter'd meal. But hills of milder air, that gently rise O'er dewy dales, a fairer species boast, Of shorter limb, and frontlet more ornate; Such the Silurian. If thy farm extends Near Cotswold downs, or the delicious groves Of Symmonds, honour'd through the sandy soil Of elmy Ross, or Devon's myrtle vales, That drink clear rivers near the glassy sea; Regard this sort, and hence thy sire of lambs Select his tawny fleece in ringlets curls; Long swings his slender tail; his front is fenc'd With horns Ammonian, circulating twice Around each open ear, like those fair scrolls That grace the columns of th' lonic dome.
Yet should thy fertile glebe be marly clay, Like Melton pastures, or Tripontian fields", Where ever-gliding Avon's limpid wave Thwarts the long course of dusty Watling-street: That larger sort, of head defenceless, seek, Whose fleece is deep and clammy, close and plain : The ram short-limb'd, whose form compact de- scribes
One level line along his spacious back;
Of full and ruddy eye, large ears, stretch'd head, Nostrils dilated, breast and shoulders broad, And spacious haunches, and a lofty dock.
Thus to their kindred soil and air induc'd, Thy thriving herd will bless thy skilful care, That copies Nature: who, in every change, In each variety, with wisdom works, And powers diversify'd of air and soil, Her rich materials. Hence Sabaa's rocks, Chaldæa's marle, Egyptus' water'd loam, And dry Cyrene's sand, in climes alike, With different stores supply the marts of trade. Hence Zembla's icy tracts no bleaters hear; Small are the Russian herds, and harsh their fleece;
9 Darwent's naked peaks, the peaks of Derbyshire.
10 Snowdon, Plynlymmon, and Cader-yddris, are high hills in North Wales.
11 A town in Herefordshire.
"Tripontian fields, the country between Rugby in Warwickshire and Lutterworth in Leicestershire.
Of light esteem Gerinanic, far remote From soft sea-breezes, open winters mild, And summers bath'd in dew: on Syrian sheep The costly burthen only loads their tails: No locks Cormandel's, none Malacca's tribe Adorn; but sleek of flix, and brown like deer, Fearful and shepherdless, they bound along The sands. No fleeces wave in torrid climes, Which verdure boast of trees and shrubs alone, Shrubs aromatic, caufee wild, or thea, Nutmeg, or cinnamon, or fiery clove, Unapt to feed the fleece. The food of wool Is grass or herbage soft, that ever blooms In temperate air, in the delicious downs Of Albion, on the banks of all her streams. Of grasses are unnumber'd kinds, and all (Save where foul waters linger on the turf) Salubrious. Early mark, when tepid gleams Oft mingle with the pearls of summer showers, And swell too hastily the tender plains: Then snatch away thy sheep: beware the rot; And with detersive bay-salt rub their mouths; Or urge them on a barren bank to feed, In hunger's kind distress, on tedded hay; Or to the marish guide their easy steps,
If near thy tufted crofts the broad sea spreads. Sagacious care foreacts: when strong disease Breaks in, and stains the purple streams of health, Hard is the strife of art: the coughing pest From their green pasture sweeps whole flocks away. That dire distemper sometimes may the swain, Though late, discern; when on the lifted lid, Or visual orb, the turgid veins are pale; The swelling liver then her putrid store Begins to drink: e'en yet thy skill exert, Nor suffer weak despair to fold thy arms: Again detersive salt apply, or shed The hoary med'cine o'er their arid food.
In cold stiff soils the bleaters oft complain Of gouty ails, by shepherds term'd the halt: Those let the neighbouring fold or ready crook Detain; and pour into their cloven feet Corrosive drugs, deep-searching arsenic, Dry alum, verdigrise, or vitriol keen. But if the doubtful mischief scarce appears, 'T will serve to shift them to a drier turf, And salt again: th' utility of salt
Teach thy slow swains: redundant humours cold Are the diseases of the bleating kind.
Th' infectious scab, arising from extremes
Of want or surfeit, is by water cor'd
Of lime, or sodden stave-acre, or oil Dispersive of Norwegian tar, renown'd By virtuous Berkeley, whose benevolence Explor'd its powers, and easy medicine thence Sought for the poor: ye poor, with grateful voice, Invoke eternal blessings on his head.
Sheep also pleurisies and dropsies know, Driv'n oft from Nature's path by artful man, Who blindly turns aside, with haughty hand, Whom sacred Instinct would securely lead. But thou, more humble swain, thy rural gates Frequent unbar, and let thy flocks abroad, From lea to croft, from mead to arid field; Noting the fickle seasons of the sky. Fain-sated pastures let them shun, and seek Changes of herbage and salubrious flowers. By their All-perfect Master inly taught, They best their food and physic can discern; For he, Supreme Existence, ever near,
Informs them. O'er the vivid green observe With what a regular consent they crop, At every fourth collection to the mouth, Unsavory crow-flower; whether to awake Languor of appetite with lively change, Or timely to repel approaching ills, Hard to determine, Thou, whom Nature loves, And with her salutary rules intrusts, Benevolent Mackenzie 13, say the cause. This truth howe'er shines bright to human sense; Each strong affection of th' unconscious brute, Each bent, each passion of the smallest mite, Is wisely given; harmonious they perform The work of perfect reason, (blush, vain man') And turn the wheels of Nature's vast machine.
See that thy scrip have store of healing tar, And marking pitch and raddle; nor forget Thy sheers true pointed, nor th' officious dog, Faithful to teach thy stragglers to return: So mayst thou aid who lag along, or steal Aside into the furrows or the shades, Silent to droop; or who, at every gate Or hillock, rub their sores and loosen'd wool. But rather these, the feeble of thy flock, Banish before th' autumnal months: e'en age Forbear too much to favour; oft renew, And through thy fold let joyous youth appear. Beware the season of imperial Love, Who through the world his ardent spirit pours; E'en sheep are then intrepid: the proud ram With jealous eye surveys the spacious field: All rivals keep aloof, or desperate war Suddenly rages; with impetuous force, And fury irresistible, they dash
Their hardy frontlets; the wide vale resounds; The flock amaz'd stands safe afar; and oft Each to the other's might a victim falls: As fell of old, before that engine's sway, Which hence Ambition imitative wrought, The beauteous towers of Salem to the dust.
Wise custom, at the fifth or sixth return, Or ere they 'ave past the twelfth of orient morn, Castrates the lambkins; necessary rite,
Ere they be number'd of the peaceful herd. But kindly watch whom thy sharp hand has griev'd, In those rough months, that lift the turning year: Not tedious is the office; to thy aid
Favonius bastens; soon their wounds he heals, And leads them skipping to the flowers of May; May, who allows to fold, if poor the tilth, Like that of dreary, houseless, common fields, Worn by the plough: but fold on fallows dry. Enfeeble not thy flock to feed thy land: Nor in too narrow bounds the prisoners crowd: Nor ope the wattled fence, while balmy Mora Lies on the reeking pasture; wait till all The crystal dews, impearl'd upon the grass, Are touch'd by Phoebus' beams, and mount alɔft, With various clouds to paint the azure sky. In teasing fly-time, dank, or frosty days, With unctuous liquids, or the lees of oil, Rub their soft skins, between the parted locks; Thus the Brigantes 14; 't is not idle pains: Nor is that skill despis'd, which trims their tails, Ere summer heats, of filth and tagged wool. Coolness and cleanliness to health conduce.
13 Dr. Mackenzie, late of Worcester, now of Drumsugh, near Edinburgh.
14 The inhabitants of Yorkshire.
To mend thy mounds, to trench, to clear, to soil | Through slow experience, by a patient breast,
Thy grateful fields, to medicate thy sheep, Hurdles to weave, and cheerly shelters raise, Thy vacant hours require: and ever learn Quick ether's motion: oft the scene is turn'd; Now the blue vault, and now the murky cloud, Hail, rain, or radiance; these the Moon will tell, Each bird and beast, and these thy fleecy tribe: When high the sapphire cope, supine they couch, And chew the cud delighted; but, ere rain, Eager, and at unwonted hour, they feed: Slight not the warning; soon the tempest rolls, Scattering them wide, close rushing at the heels Of th' hurrying o'ertaken swains: forbear Such nights to fold; such nights be theirs to shift On ridge or hillock; or in homesteads soft, Or softer cotes, detain them. Is thy lot A chill penurious turf, to all thy toils Untractable? Before harsh Winter drowns The noisy dykes, and starves the rushy glebe, Shift the frail breed to sandy hamlets warm: There let them sojourn, till gay Procne skims The thickening verdure, and the rising flowers. And while departing Autumn all embrowns The frequent-bitten fields; while thy free hand Divides the tedded hay; then be their feet Accustom'd to the barriers of the rick,
Or some warm umbrage; lest, in erring fright, When the broad dazzling snows descend, they run Dispers'd to ditches, where the swelling drift Wide overwhelms : anxious, the shepherd swains Issue with axe and spade, and, all abroad, In doubtful aim explore the glaring waste; And some, perchance, in the deep delve upraise, Drooping, e'en at the twelfth cold dreary day, With still continued feeble pulse of life;
The glebe, their fleece, their flesh, by hunger gnaw'd.
Ah, gentle shepherd, thine the lot to tend, Of all, that feel distress, the most assail'd, Feeble, defenceless: lenient be thy care: But spread around thy tenderest diligence In flowery spring-time, when the new-dropt lamb, Tottering with weakness by his mother's side, Feels the fresh world about him; and each thorn, Hillock, or furrow, trips his feeble feet: O, guard his meek sweet innocence from all Th' innumerous ills that rush around his life; Mark the quick kite, with beak and talons prone, Circling the skies to snatch him from the plain; Observe the lurking crows; beware the brake, There the sly fox the careless minute waits;
The whole long lesson gradual is attain'd, By precept after precept, oft receiv'd With deep attention: such as Nuceus 15 sings To the full vale near Soare's 16 enamour'd brook, While all is silence: sweet Hincklean swain! Whom rude Obscurity severely clasps : The Muse, howe'er, will deck thy simple cell With purple violets and primrose flowers, Well-pleas'd thy faithful lessons to repay.
Sheep no extremes can bear: both heat and cold Spread sores cutaneous; but, more frequent, heat; The fly-blown vermin, from their woolly nest, Press to the tortur'd skin, and flesh, and bone, In littleness and number dreadful foes. Long rains in miry winter cause the halt; Rainy luxuriant summers rot your flock; And all excess, e'en of salubrious food, As sure destroys, as famine or the wolf. Inferior theirs to man's world-roving frame, Which all extremes in every zone endures.
With grateful heart, ye British swains, enjoy Your gentle seasons and indulgent clime. Lo, in the sprinkling clouds, your bleating hills Rejoice with herbage, while the horrid rage Of Winter irresistible o'erwhelms
Th' Hyperborean tracts: his arrowy frosts, That pierce through flinty rocks, the Lappian flies; And burrows deep beneath the snowy world; A drear abode, from rose-diffusing hours, That dance before the wheels of radiant day, Far, far remote; where, by the squalid light Of fætid oil inflam'd, sea-monster's spume,. Or fir-wood, glaring in the weeping vault, Twice three slow gloomy months, with various ill Sullen he struggles; such the love of life! His lank and scanty herds around him press, As, hunger-stung, to gritty meal he grinds The bones of fish, or inward bark of trees, Their common sustenance. While ye, O swains, Ye, happy at your ease, behold your sheep Feed on the open turf, or crowd the tilth, Where, thick among the greens, with busy mouths They scoop white turnips: little care is yours; Only, at morning hour, to interpose Dry food of oats, or hay, or brittle straw, The watery juices of the bossy root Absorbing; or from noxious air to screen Your heavy teeming ewes, with wattled fence Of furze or copse-wood, in the lofty field, Which bleak ascends among the whistling winds. Or, if your sheep are of Silurian breed,
Nor trust thy neighbour's dog, nor earth, nor sky: Nightly to house them dry on fern or straw, Thy bosom to a thousand cares divide. Eurus oft slings his hail; the tardy fields Pay not their promis'd food; and oft the dam O'er her weak twins with empty udder mourns, Or fails to guard, when the bold bird of prey Alights, and hops in many turns around, And tires her also turning: to her aid Be nimble, and the weakest, in thine arms, Gently convey to the warm cote, and oft, Between the lark's note and the nightingale's, His hungry bleating still with tepid milk: In this soft office may thy children join, And charitable habits learn in sport: Nor yield him to himself, ere vernal airs Sprinkle thy little croft with daisy flowers. Nor yet forget him: life has rising ills: Various as ether is the pastoral care;
Silkening their fleeces. Ye, nor rolling hut. Nor watchful dog, require; where never roar Of savage tears the air, where careless Night In balmy sleep lies lull'd, and only wakes To plenteous peace. Alas! o'er warmer zones Wild Terrour strides: their stubborn rocks are rent; Their mountains sink; their yawning caverns flame; And fiery torrents roll impetuous down, Proud cities deluging; Pompeian towers, And Herculanean, and what riotous stood In Syrian valley, where now the Dead Sea 'Mong solitary hills infectious lies.
15 Mr. Joseph Nutt, an eminent apothecary at Hinckley; of whom see the history of that time, p. 187. 16 A river in Leicestershire.
See the swift furies, Famine, Plague, and War, In frequent thunders rage o'er neighbouring realms, And spread their plains with desolation wide: Yet your mild homesteads, ever-blooming, smile Among embracing woods; and waft on high The breath of plenty, from the ruddy tops Of chimneys, curling o'er the gloomy trees, In airy azure ringlets, to the sky.
Nor ye by need are urg'd, as Attic swains, And Tarentine, with skins to clothe your sheep; Expensive toil; howe'er expedient found
In fervid climates, while from Phoebus' beams They fled to rugged woods and tangling brakes. But those expensive toils are now no more, Proud tyranny devours their flocks and herds: Nor bleat of sheep may now, nor sound of pipe, Sooth the sad plains of once sweet Arcady, The shepherds' kingdom: dreary solitude Spreads o'er Hymettus, and the shaggy vale Of Athens, which, in solemn silence, sheds Her venerable ruins to the dust.
The weary Arabs roam from plain to plain, Guiding the languid herd in quest of food; And shift their little home's uncertain scene With frequent farewell: strangers, pilgrims all, As were their fathers. No sweet fall of rain May there be heard; nor sweeter liquid lapse Of river, o'er the pebbles gliding by In murmurs: goaded by the rage of thirst, Daily they journey to the distant clefts
Of craggy rocks, where gloomy palms o'erhang The ancient welis, deep sunk by toil immense, Toil of the patriarchs, with sublime intent Themselves and long posterity to serve. There, at the public hour of sultry noon, They share the beverage, when to watering come, And grateful umbrage, all the tribes around, And their lean flocks, whose various bleatings fill The echoing caverns: then is absent none, Fair nymph or shepherd, each inspiring each To wit, and song, and dance, and active feats; In the same rustic scene, where Jacob won Fair Rachael's bosom, when a rock's vast weight From the deep dark-mouth'd well his strength re- mov'd,
And to her circling sheep refreshment gave.
Such are the perils, such the toils of life,
In foreign climes. But speed thy flight, my Muse; Swift turns the year; and our unnumber'd flocks On fleeces overgrown uneasy lie.
Now, jolly swains, the harvest of your cares Prepare to reap, and seek the sounding caves Of high Brigantium 17, where, by ruddy flames, Vulcan's strong sons, with nervous arm, around The steady anvil and the glaring mass, Clatter their heavy hammers down by turns, Flattening the steel; from their rough hands receive The sharpen'd instrument, that from the flock Severs the fleece. If verdant elder spreads Her silver flowers; if humble daisies yield To yellow crowfoot, and luxuriant grass, Gay shearing-time approaches. First, howe'er, Drive to the double fold, upon the brim Of a clear river, gently drive the flock, And plunge them one by one into the flood: Plung'd in the flood, not long the struggler sinks,
17 The caves of Brigantium-the forges of Sheffield, in Yorkshire, where the shepherds' shears and all edge-tools are made.
With his white flakes, that glisten through the tide; The sturdy rustic, in the middle wave, Awaits to seize him rising; one arm bears His lifted head above the limpid stream, While the full clammy fleece the other laves Around, laborious, with repeated toil; And then resigns him to the sunny bank, Where, bleating loud, he shakes his dripping locks. Shear them the fourth or fifth return of morn, Lest touch of busy fly-blows wound their skin : Thy peaceful subjects without murmur yield Their yearly tribute: 't is the prudent part To cherish and be gentle, while ye strip The downy vesture from their tender sides. Press not too close; with caution turn the points; And from the head in regular rounds proceed: But speedy, when ye chance to wound, with ar Prevent the wingy swarm and scorching heat; And careful house them, if the lowering clouds Mingle their stores tumultuous: through the gloom Then thunder oft with ponderous wheels rolls loud, And breaks the crystal uras of Heaven: adown Falls streaming rain. Sometimes among the steeps Of Cambrian glades (pity the Cambrian glades) Fast tumbling brooks on brooks enormous swell, And sudden overwhelm their vanish'd fields: Down with the flood away the naked sheep, Bleating in vain, are borne, and straw-built huts, And rifted trees, and heavy enormous rocks, Down with the rapid torrent to the deep.
At shearing-time, along the lively vales, Rural festivities are often heard: Beneath each blooming arbour all is joy And lusty merriment: while on the grass The mingled youth in gaudy circles sport, We think the golden age again return'd, And all the fabled Dryades in dance. Leering they bound along, with laughing air, To the shrill pipe, and deep remurmuring chords Of th' ancient harp, or tabor's hollow sound.
While th' old apart, upon a bank reclin'd, Attend the tuneful carol, softly mixt With every murmur of the sliding wave, And every warble of the feather'd choir; Music of Paradise! which still is heard, When the heart listens; still the views appear Of the first happy garden, when Content To Nature's flowery scenes directs the sight. Yet we abandon those Elysian walks, Then idly for the lost delight repine: As greedy mariners, whose desperate sails Skim o'er the billows of the foamy flood, Fancy they see the lessening shores retire, And sigh a farewel to the sinking hills.
Could I recall those notes, which once the Muse Heard at a shearing, near the woody sides Of blue-topp'd Wreakin 18! Yet the carols sweet, Through the deep maze of the memorial cell, Faintly remurmur. First arose in song Hoar-headed Damon, venerable swain, The soothest shepherd of the flowery vale. "This is no vulgar scene no palace-roof Was e'er so lofty, nor so nobly rise Their polish'd pillars, as these aged oaks, Which o'er our feecy wealth and harmless sports Thus have expanded wide their sheltering arms, Thrice told an hundred summers. Sweet Content, Ye gentle shepherds, pillow us at night."
18. A high hill in Shropshire.
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