[THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.]

ARGUMENT of the FOURTH BOOK.

The post comes in. — The news-paper is read. — The world contemplated at a distance. — Address to Winter. — The amusements of a rural winter evening compared with the fashionable ones. Address to evening. — A brown study. — Fall of snow in the evening. — The waggoner — A poor family piece. — The rural thief. — Public houses. — The multitude of them censured. — The farmer's daughter, what she was. — What she is. — The simplicity of country manners almost lost. — Causes of the change. — Desertion of the country by the rich. — Neglect of magistrates. — The militia principally in fault. — The new recruit and his transformation. — Reflection on bodies corporate. — The love of rural objects natural to all, and never to be totally extinguished.

[Page]

BOOK IV.

THE WINTER EVENING.

HARK! 'tis the twanging horn! o'er yonder bridge
That with its wearisome but needful length
Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright,
He comes, the herald of a noisy world,
With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks,
News from all nations lumb'ring at his back. 
True to his charge the close-pack'd load behind,
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern
Is to conduct it to the destin'd inn,
[Page 138]11  And having dropp'd th' expected bag — pass on. 
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful: messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some,
To him indiff'rent whether grief or joy. 
Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks,
Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet
With tears that trickled down the writers cheeks
Fast as the periods from his fluent quill,
Or charged with am'rous sighs of absent swains
Or nymphs responsive, equally affect
His horse and him, unconscious of them all. 
But oh th' important budget! usher'd in
With such heart-shaking music, who can say
What are its tidings? have our troops awaked? 
Or do they still, as if with opium drugg'd,
Snore to the murmurs of th' Atlantic wave? 
Is India free? and does she wear her plumed
And jewelled turban with a smile of peace,
Or do we grind her still? the grand debate,
[Page 139]31  The popular harrangue, the tart reply,
The logic and the wisdom and the wit
And the loud laugh — I long to know them all;
I burn to set th' imprison'd wranglers free,
And give them voice and utt'rance once again. 

Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in. 
Not such his evening, who with shining face
Sweats in the crowded theatre, and squeezed
And bored with elbow-points through both his sides,
Out scolds the ranting actor on the stage. 
Nor his, who patient stands 'till his feet throb
And his head thumps, to feed upon the breath
Of patriots bursting with heroic rage,
Or placemen, all tranquillity and smiles. 
[Page 140]50  'This folio of four pages, happy work! 
Which not ev'n critics criticise, that holds
Inquisitive attention while I read
Fast bound in chains of silence, which the fair,
Though eloquent themselves, yet fear to break,
What is it but a map of busy life
Its fluctuations and its vast concerns? 
Here runs the mountainous and craggy ridge
That tempts ambition. On the summit, see,
The seals of office glitter in his eyes;
He climbs, he pants, he grasps them. At his heels,
Close at his heels a demagogue ascends,
And with a dext'rous jerk soon twists him down
And wins them, but to lose them in his turn. 
Here rills of oily eloquence in soft
Maeanders lubricate the course they take;
The modest speaker is ashamed and grieved
T' engross a moment's notice, and yet begs,
Begs a propitious ear for his poor thoughts,
However trivial all that he conceives. 
[Page 141]70 Sweet bashfulness! it claims, at least, this praise,
The dearth of information and good sense
That it foretells us, always comes to pass. 
Cataracts of declamation thunder here,
There forests of no-meaning spread the page
In which all comprehension wanders lost;
While fields of pleasantry amuse us there,
With merry descants on a nation's woes. 
The rest appears a wilderness of strange
But gay confusion, roses for the cheeks
And lilies for the brows of faded age,
Teeth for the toothless, ringlets for the bald,
Heav'n, earth, and ocean plunder'd of their sweets,
Nectareous essences, Olympian dews,
Sermons and city feasts and fav'rite airs,
Aetherial journies, submarine exploits,
And Katterfelto with his hair on end
At his own wonders, wond'ring for his bread. 

Tis pleasant through the loop-holes of retreat
To peep at such a world. To see the stir
[Page 142]90  Of the great Babel and not feel the crowd. 
To hear the roar she sends through all her gates
At a safe distance, where the dying sound
Falls a soft murmur on th' uninjured ear. 
Thus sitting and surveying thus at ease
The globe and its concerns, I seem advanced
To some secure and more than mortal height,
That lib'rates and exempts me from them all. 
It turns submitted to my view, turns round
With all its generations; I behold
The tumult and am still. The sound of war
Has lost its terrors 'ere it reaches me,
Grieves but alarms me not. I mourn the pride
And av'rice that make man a wolf to man,
Hear the faint echo of those brazen throats
By which he speaks the language of his heart,
And sigh, but never tremble at the sound. 
He travels and expatiates, as the bee
From flow'r to flow'r, so he from land to land;
The manners, customs, policy of all
[Page 143]110  Pay contribution to the store he gleans,
He sucks intelligence in ev'ry clime,
And spreads the honey of his deep research
At his return, a rich repast for me. 
He travels and I too. I tread his deck,
Ascend his topmast, through his peering eyes
Discover countries, with a kindred heart
Suffer his woes and share in his escapes,
While fancy, like the finger of a clock,
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home. 

Oh Winter! ruler of th' inverted year,
Thy scatter'd hair with sleet like ashes fill'd,
Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks
Fring'd with a beard made white with other snows
Than those of age; thy forehead wrapt in clouds,
A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne
A sliding car indebted to no wheels,
But urged by storms along its slipp'ry way;
I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st,
[Page 144]129  And dreaded as thou art. Thou hold'st the sun
A pris'ner in the yet undawning East,
Short'ning his journey between morn and noon,
And hurrying him impatient of his stay
Down to the rosy West. But kindly still
Compensating his loss with added hours
Of social converse and instructive ease,
And gathering at short notice in one group
The family dispersed, and fixing thought
Not less dispersed by day light and its cares. 
I crown thee King of intimate delights,
Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours
Of long uninterrupted evening know. 
No ratt'ling wheels stop short before these gates. 
No powder'd pert proficient in the art
Of sounding an alarm, assaults these doors
'Till the street rings. No stationary steeds
Cough their own knell, while heedless of the sound
[Page 145]149  The silent circle fan themselves, and quake. 
But here the needle plies its busy task,
The pattern grows, the well-depicted flow'r
Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn
Unfolds its bosom, buds and leaves and sprigs
And curling tendrils, gracefully disposed,
Follow the nimble finger of the fair,
A wreath that cannot fade, of flow'rs that blow
With most success when all besides decay. 
The poet's or historian's page, by one
Made vocal for th' amusement of the rest;
The sprightly lyre, whose treasure of sweet sounds
The touch from many a trembling chord shakes out;
And the clear voice symphonious, yet distinct,
And in the charming strife triumphant still,
Beguile the night, and set a keener edge
On female industry; the threaded steel
Flies swiftly, and unfelt the task proceeds,
The volume closed, the customary rites
Of the last meal commence. A Roman meal. 
[Page 146]169 Such as the mistress of the world once found
Delicious, when her patriots of high note,
Perhaps by moonlight, at their humble doors,
And under an old oak's domestic shade
Enjoyed, spare feast! a radish and an egg. 
Discourse ensues, not trivial, yet not dull,
Nor such as with a frown forbids the play
Of fancy, or proscribes the sound of mirth. 
Nor do we madly, like an impious world,
Who deem religion frenzy, and the God
That made them an intruder on their joys,
Start at his awful name, or deem his praise
A jarring note. Themes of a graver tone
Exciting oft our gratitude and love,
While we retrace with mem'ry's pointing wand
That calls the past to our exact review,
The dangers we have scaped, the broken snare,
The disappointed foe, deliv'rance found
Unlook'd for, life preserved and peace restored,
Fruits of omnipotent eternal love. 
[Page 147]189 Oh evenings worthy of the Gods! exclaim'd
The Sabine bard. Oh evenings, I reply,
More to be prized and coveted than yours,
As more illumin'd and with nobler truths,
That I and mine and those we love, enjoy. 

Is winter hideous in a garb like this? 
Needs he the tragic fur, the smoke of lamps,
The pent-up breath of an unsav'ry throng
To thaw him into feeling, or the smart
And snappish dialogue that flippant wits
Call comedy, to prompt him with a smile? 
The self-complacent actor when he views
(Stealing a side long glance at a full house)
The slope of faces from the floor to th' roof,
(As if one master-spring controul'd them all)
Relax'd into an universal grin,
Sees not a count'nance there that speaks a joy
Half so refin'd or so sincere as ours. 
Cards were superfluous here, with all the tricks
[Page 148]208  That idleness has ever yet contrived
To fill the void of an unfurnish'd brain,
To palliate dullness and give time a shove. 
Time as he passes us, has a dove's wing,
Unsoiled and swift and of a silken sound. 
But the world's time, is time in masquerade. 
Theirs, should I paint him, has his pinions fledg'd
With motley plumes, and where the peacock shows
His azure eyes, is tinctured black and red
With spots quadrangular of di'mond form,
Ensanguin'd hearts, clubs typical of strife,
And spades, the emblem of untimely graves. 
What should be, and what was an hour-glass once
Becomes a dice-box, and a billiard mast
Well does the work of his destructive scythe. 
Thus deck'd he charms a world whom fashion blinds
To his true worth, most pleas'd when idle most,
Whose only happy are their wasted hours. 
Ev'n misses, at whose age their mother's wore
The back-string and the bib, assume the dress
[Page 149]228  Of womanhood, sit pupils in the school
Of card-devoted time, and night by night
Plac'd at some vacant corner of the board,
Learn ev'ry trick, and soon play all the game. 
But truce with censure. Roving as I rove,
Where shall I find an end, or how proceed? 
As he that travels far, oft turns aside
To view some rugged rock or mould'ring tow'r,
Which seen delights him not; then coming home,
Describes and prints it, that the world may know
How far he went for what was nothing worth;
So I with brush in hand and pallet spread
With colours mixt for a far diff'rent use,
Paint cards and dolls, and ev'ry idle thing
That fancy finds in her excursive flights. 

Come evening once again, season of peace,
Return sweet evening, and continue long! 
Methinks I see thee in the streaky west,
With matron-step slow-moving, while the night
[Page 150]247  Treads on thy sweeping train; one hand employ'd
In letting fall the curtain of repose
On bird and beast, the other charged for man
With sweet oblivion of the cares of day;
Not sumptuously adorn'd, nor needing aid
Like homely featur'd night, of clust'ring gems,
A star or two just twinkling on thy brow
Suffices thee; save that the moon is thine
No less than hers, not worn indeed on high
With ostentatious pageantry, but set
With modest grandeur in thy purple zone,
Resplendent less, but of an ampler round. 
Come then, and thou shalt find thy vot'try calm
Or make me so. Composure is thy gift. 
And whether I devote thy gentle hours
To books, to music, or the poets toil,
To weaving nets for bird-alluring fruit;
Or twining silken threads round iv'ry reels
When they command whom man was born to please,
I slight thee not, but make thee welcome still. 
[Page 151]267 Just when our drawing-rooms begin to blaze
With lights by clear reflection multiplied
From many a mirrour, in which he of Gath
Goliah, might have seen his giant bulk
Whole without stooping, tow'ring crest and all,
My pleasures too begin. But me perhaps
The glowing hearth may satisfy awhile
With faint illumination that uplifts
The shadow to the cieling, there by fits
Dancing uncouthly to the quiv'ring flame. 
Not undelightful is an hour to me
So spent in parlour twilight; such a gloom
Suits well the thoughtfull or unthinking mind,
The mind contemplative, with some new theme
Pregnant, or indisposed alike to all. 
Laugh ye, who boast your more mercurial pow'rs
That never feel a stupor, know no pause
Nor need one. I am conscious, and confess
Fearless, a soul that does not always think. 
Me oft has fancy ludicrous and wild
[Page 152]287  Sooth'd with a waking dream of houses, tow'rs,
Trees, churches, and strange visages express'd
In the red cinders, while with poring eye
I gazed, myself creating what I saw. 
Nor less amused have I quiescent watch'd
The sooty films that play upon the bars
Pendulous, and foreboding in the view
Of superstition prophesying still
Though still deceived, some strangers near approach. 
'Tis thus the understanding takes repose
In indolent vacuity of thought,
And sleeps and is refresh'd. Meanwhile the face
Conceals the mood lethargic with a mask
Of deep deliberation, as the man
Were task'd to his full strength, absorb'd and lost. 
Thus oft reclin'd at ease, I lose an hour
At evening, till at length the freezing blast
That sweeps the bolted shutter, summons home
The recollected powers, and snapping short
The glassy threads with which the fancy weaves
[Page 153]307  Her brittle toys, restores me to myself. 
How calm is my recess, and how the frost
Raging abroad, and the rough wind, endear
The silence and the warmth enjoy'd within. 
I saw the woods and fields at close of day
A variegated show; the meadows green
Though faded, and the lands where lately waved
The golden harvest, of a mellow brown,
Upturn'd so lately by the forceful share. 
I saw far off the weedy fallows smile
With verdure not unprofitable, grazed
By flocks fast feeding and selecting each
His fav'rite herb; while all the leafless groves
That skirt th' horizon wore a sable hue,
Scarce noticed in the kindred dusk of eve. 
To-morrow brings a change, a total change! 
Which even now, though silently perform'd
And slowly, and by most unfelt, the face
Of universal nature undergoes. 
Fast falls a fleecy show'r. The downy flakes
[Page 154]327  Descending and with never-ceasing lapse
Softly alighting upon all below,
Assimilate all objects. Earth receives
Gladly the thick'ning mantle, and the green
And tender blade that fear'd the chilling blast,
Escapes unhurt beneath so warm a veil. 

In such a world, so thorny, and where none
Finds happiness unblighted, or if sound,
Without some thistly sorrow at its side,
It seems the part of wisdom, and no sin
Against the law of love, to measure lots
With less distinguish'd than ourselves, that thus
We may with patience bear our mod'rate ills,
And sympathize with others, suffering more. 
Ill fares the trav'ller now, and he that stalks
In pond'rous boots beside his reeking team. 
The wain goes heavily, impeded sore
By congregated loads adhering close
To the clogg'd wheels; and in its sluggish pace
[Page 155]346  Noiseless, appears a moving hill of snow. 
The toiling steeds expand the nostril wide,
While ev'ry breath by respiration strong
Forced downward, is consolidated soon
Upon their jutting chests. He, form'd to bear
The pelting brunt of the tempestuous night,
With half-shut eyes and pucker'd cheeks, and teeth
Presented bare against the storm, plods on. 
One hand secures his hat, save when with both
He brandishes his pliant length of whip,
Resounding oft, and never heard in vain. 
On happy! and in my account, denied
That sensibility of pain with which
Refinement is endued, thrice happy thou. 
Thy frame robust and hardy, feels indeed
The piercing cold, but feels it unimpair'd. 
The learned finger never need explore
Thy vig'rous pulse, and the unhealthful East,
That breathes the spleen, and searches ev'ry bone
Of the infirm, is wholesome air to thee. 
[Page 156]366 Thy days roll on exempt from household care,
Thy waggon is thy wife; and the poor beasts
That drag the dull companion to and fro,
Thine helpless charge, dependent on thy care. 
Ah treat them kindly! rude as thou appear'st
Yet show that thou hast mercy, which the great
With needless hurry whirl'd from place to place,
Humane as they would seem, not always show. 

Poor, yet industrious, modest, quiet, neat,
Such claim compassion in a night like this,
And have a friend in ev'ry feeling heart. 
Warm'd, while it lasts, by labor, all day long
They brave the season, and yet find at eve
Ill clad and fed but sparely time to cool. 
The frugal housewife trembles when she lights
Her scanty stock of brush-wood, blazing clear
But dying soon, like all terrestrial joys. 
The few small embers left she nurses well,
And while her infant race with outspread hands
[Page 157]385  And crowded knees sit cow'ring o'er the sparks,
Retires, content to quake, so they be warm'd. 
The man feels least, as more inur'd than she
To winter, and the current in his veins
More briskly moved by his severer toil;
Yet he too finds his own distress in theirs. 
The taper soon extinguished, which I saw
Dangled along at the cold fingers end
Just when the day declined, and the brown loaf
Lodged on the shelf half-eaten without sauce
Of sav'ry cheese, or butter costlier still,
Sleep seems their only refuge. For alas! 
Where penury is felt the thought is chain'd,
And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few. 
With all this thrift they thrive not. All the care
Ingenious parsimony takes, but just
Saves the small inventory, bed and stool,
Skillet and old carved chest from public sale,
They live, and live without extorted alms
From grudging hands, but other boast have none
[Page 158]405  To sooth their honest pride that scorns to beg,
Nor comfort else, but in their mutual love. 
I praise you much, ye meek and patient pair,
For ye are worthy; chusing rather far
A dry but independent crust, hard-earn'd
And eaten with a sigh, than to endure
The rugged frowns and insolent rebuffs
Of knaves in office, partial in the work
Of distribution; lib'ral of their aid
To clam'rous importunity in rags,
But oft-times deaf to suppliants who would blush
To wear a tatter'd garb however coarse,
Whom famine cannot reconcile to filth;
These ask with painful shyness, and refused
Because deserving, silently retire. 
But be ye of good courage. Time itself
Shall much befriend you. Time shall give increase,
And all your num'rous progeny well train'd
But helpless, in few years shall find their hands,
And labor too. Meanwhile ye shall not want
[Page 159]425  What conscious of your virtues we can spare,
Nor what a wealthier than ourselves may send. 
I mean the man, who when the distant poor
Need help, denies them nothing but his name. 

But poverty with most who whimper forth
Their long complaints, is self inflicted woe,
Th' effect of laziness or sottish waste. 
Now goes the nightly thief prowling abroad
For plunder; much solicitous how best
He may compensate for a day of sloth,
By works of darkness and nocturnal wrong. 
Woe to the gard'ner's pale, the farmer's hedge
Plash'd neatly, and secured with driven stakes
Deep in the loamy bank. Uptorn by strength
Resistless in so bad a cause, but lame
To better deeds, he bundles up the spoil
An asses burthen, and when laden most
And heaviest, light of foot steals fast away. 
Nor does the boarded hovel better guard
[Page 160]444  The well stack'd pile of riven logs and roots
From his pernicious force. Nor will he leave
Unwrench'd the door however well secured,
Where chanticleer amidst his haram sleeps
In unsuspecting pomp. Twitched from the perch
He gives the princely bird with all his wives
To his voracious bag, struggling in vain,
And loudly wond'ring at the sudden change. 
Nor this to feed his own. 'Twere some excuse
Did pity of their sufferings warp aside
His principle, and tempt him into sin
For their support, so destitute. But they
Neglected pine at home, themselves, as more
Exposed than others, with less scruple made
His victims, robb'd of their defenceless all. 
Cruel is all he does. 'Tis quenchless thirst
Of ruinous ebriety that prompts
His ev'ry action and imbrutes the man. 
Oh for a law to noose the villain's neck
Who starves his own. Who persecutes the blood
[Page 161]464  He gave them in his childrens veins, and hates
And wrongs the woman he has sworn to love. 

Pass where we may, through city or through town,
Village or hamlet of this merry land
Though lean and beggar'd, ev'ry twentieth pace
Conducts the unguarded nose to such a whiff
Of stale debauch forth-issuing from the styes
That law has licensed, as makes temp'rance reel. 
There sit involved and lost in curling clouds
Of Indian fume, and guzzling deep, the boor,
The lacquey and the groom. The craftsman there
Takes a Lethaean leave of all his toil;
Smith, cobler, joiner, he that plies the sheers,
And he that kneads the dough; all loud alike,
All learned, and all drunk. The fiddle screams
Plaintive and piteous, as it wept and wailed
Its wasted tones and harmony unheard:
Fierce the dispute whate'er the theme. While she,
Fell Discord, arbitress of such debate,
[Page 162]483  Perch'd on the sign-post, holds with even hand
Her undecisive scales. In this she lays
A weight of ignorance, in that, of pride,
And smiles delighted with th' eternal poise. 
Dire is the frequent curse and its twin sound
The cheek-distending oath, not to be praised
As ornamental, musical, polite,
Like those which modern senators employ,
Whose oath is rhet'ric, and who swear for fame. 
Behold the schools in which plebeian minds,
Once simple, are initiated in arts
Which some may practise with politer grace,
But none with readier skill! tis here they learn
The road that leads from competence and peace
To indigence and rapine; till at last
Society grown weary of the load,
Shakes her incumber'd lap, and casts them out. 
But censure profits little. Vain th' attempt
To advertize in verse a public pest,
That like the filth with which the peasant feeds
[Page 163]503  His hungry acres, stinks and is of use. 
Th' excise is fatten'd with the rich result
Of all this riot. And ten thousand casks
For ever dribbling out their base contents,
Touched by the Midas finger of the state,
Bleed gold for Ministers to sport away. 
Drink and be mad then. 'Tis your country bids. 
Gloriously drunk obey th' important call,
Her cause demands th' assistance of your throats,
Ye all can swallow, and she asks no more. 

Would I had fall'n upon those happier days
That poets celebrate. Those golden times
And those Arcadian scenes that Maro sings,
And Sydney, warbler of poetic prose. 
Nymphs were Dianas then, and swains had hearts
That felt their virtues. Innocence it seems,
From courts dismiss'd, found shelter in the groves. 
The footsteps of simplicity impress'd
Upon the yielding herbage (so they sing)
[Page 164]522  Then were not all effaced. Then, speech profane
And manners profligate were rarely found,
Observed as prodigies, and soon reclaim'd. 
Vain wish! those days were never. Airy dreams
Sat for the picture. And the poet's hand
Imparting substance to an empty shade,
Imposed a gay delirium for a truth. 
Grant it. I still must envy them an age
That favor'd such a dream, in days like these
Impossible, when virtue is so scarce
That to suppose a scene where she presides,
Is tramontane, and stumbles all belief. 
No. We are polish'd now. The rural lass
Whom once her virgin modesty and grace,
Her artless manners and her neat attire
So dignified, that she was hardly less
Than the fair shepherdess of old romance,
Is seen no more. The character is lost. 
Her head adorn'd with lappets pinn'd aloft
And ribbands streaming gay, superbly raised
[Page 165]542  And magnified beyond all human size,
Indebted to some smart wig-weavers hand
For more than half the tresses it sustains;
Her elbows ruffled, and her tott'ring form
Ill propp'd upon French heels; she might be deemed
(But that the basket dangling on her arm
Interprets her more truely) of a rank
Too proud for dairy-work or sale of eggs. 
Expect her soon with foot-boy at her heels,
No longer blushing for her aukward load,
Her train and her umbrella all her care. 

The town has tinged the country. And the stain
Appears a spot upon a vestal's robe,
The worse for what it soils. The fashion runs
Down into scenes still rural, but alas! 
Scenes rarely graced with rural manners now. 
Time was when in the pastoral retreat
Th' unguarded door was safe. Men did not watch
T' invade another's right, or guard their own. 
[Page 166]561 Then sleep was undisturb'd by fear, unscared
By drunken howlings; and the chilling tale
Of midnight murther was a wonder heard
With doubtful credit, told to frighten babes. 
But farewell now to unsuspicious nights
And slumbers unalarm'd. Now 'ere you sleep
See that your polish'd arms be prim'd with care,
And drop the night-bolt. Ruffians are abroad,
And the first larum of the cock's shrill throat
May prove a trumpet, summoning your ear
To horrid sounds of hostile feet within. 
Ev'n day-light has its dangers. And the walk
Through pathless wastes and woods, unconscious once
Of other tenants than melodious birds
Or harmless flocks, is hazardous and bold. 
Lamented change! to which full many a cause
Invet'rate, hopeless of a cure, conspires. 
The course of human things from good to ill,
From ill to worse, is fatal, never fails. 
Increase of pow'r begets increase of wealth,
[Page 167]581  Wealth luxury, and luxury excess;
Excess, the scrophulous and itchy plague
That seizes first the opulent, descends
To the next rank contagious, and in time
Taints downward all the graduated scale
Of order, from the chariot to the plough. 
The rich, and they that have an arm to check
The license of the lowest in degree,
Desert their office; and themselves intent
On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus,
To all the violence of lawless hands
Resign the scenes their presence might protect. 
Authority herself not seldom sleeps,
Though resident, and witness of the wrong. 
The plump convivial parson often bears
The magisterial sword in vain, and lays
His rev'rence and his worship both to rest
On the same cushion of habitual sloth. 
Perhaps timidity restrains his arm,
When he should strike, he trembles, and sets free,
[Page 168]601  Himself enslaved by terror of the band,
Th' audacious convict whom he dares not bind. 
Perhaps, though by profession ghostly pure,
He too may have his vice, and sometimes prove
Less dainty than becomes his grave outside,
In lucrative concerns. Examine well
His milk-white hand. The palm is hardly clean —
But here and there an ugly smutch appears. 
Foh! 'twas a bribe that left it. He has touched
Corruption. Whoso seeks an audit here
Propitious, pays his tribute, game or fish,
Wildfowl or ven'son, and his errand speeds. 

But faster far and more than all the rest
A noble cause, which none who bears a spark
Of public virtue, ever wish'd removed,
Works the deplor'd and mischievous effect. 
'Tis universal soldiership has stabb'd
The heart of merit in the meaner class. 
Arms through the vanity and brainless rage
[Page 169]620  Of those that bear them in whatever cause,
Seem most at variance with all moral good,
And incompatible with serious thought. 
The clown, the child of nature, without guile,
Blest with an insant's ignorance of all
But his own simple pleasures, now and then
A wrestling match, a foot-race, or a fair,
Is ballotted, and trembles at the news. 
Sheepish he doffs his hat, and mumbling swears
A Bible-oath to be whate'er they please,
To do he knows not what. The task perform'd,
That instant he becomes the serjeant's care,
His pupil, and his torment, and his jest. 
His aukward gait, his introverted toes,
Bent knees, round shoulders, and dejected looks,
Procure him many a curse. By slow degrees,
Unapt to learn and formed of stubborn stuff,
He yet by slow degrees puts off himself,
Grows conscious of a change, and likes it well. 
He stands erect, his slouch becomes a walk,
[Page 170]640  He steps right onward, martial in his air
His form and movement; is as smart above
As meal and larded locks can make him; wears
His hat or his plumed helmet with a grace,
And his three years of heroship expired,
Returns indignant to the slighted plough. 
He hates the field in which no fife or drum
Attends him, drives his cattle to a march,
And sighs for the smart comrades he has left. 
'Twere well if his exterior change were all —
But with his clumsy port the wretch has lost
His ignorance and harmless manners too. 
To swear, to game, to drink, to shew at home
By lewdness, idleness, and sabbath-breach,
The great proficiency he made abroad,
T' astonish and to grieve his gazing friends,
To break some maiden's and his mother's heart,
To be a pest where he was useful once,
Are his sole aim, and all his glory now. 

[Page 171]

Man in society is like a flow'r
Blown in its native bed. 'Tis there alone
His faculties expanded in full bloom
Shine out, there only reach their proper use. 
But man associated and leagued with man
By regal warrant, or self-joined by bond
For interest-sake, or swarming into clans
Beneath one head for purposes of war,
Like flow'rs selected from the rest, and bound
And bundled close to fill some crowded vase,
Fades rapidly, and by compression marred
Contracts defilement not to be endured. 
Hence charter'd boroughs are such public plagues,
And burghers, men immaculate perhaps
In all their private functions, once combined
Become a loathsome body, only fit
For dissolution, hurtful to the main. 
Hence merchants, unimpeachable of sin
Against the charities of domestic life,
Incorporated, seem at once to Iose
[Page 172]679  Their nature, and disclaiming all regard
For mercy and the common rights of man,
Build factories with blood, conducting trade
At the sword's point, and dying the white robe
Of innocent commercial justice red. 
Hence too the field of glory, as the world
Misdeems it, dazzled by its bright array,
With all the majesty of its thund'ring pomp,
Enchanting music and immortal wreaths,
Is but a school where thoughtlessness is taught
On principle, where foppery atones
For folly, gallantry for ev'ry vice. 

But slighted as it is, and by the great
Abandon'd, and, which still I more regret,
Infected with the manners and the modes
It knew not once, the country wins me still. 
I never fram'd a wish, or form'd a plan
That flatter'd me with hopes of earthly bliss,
But there I laid the scene. There early stray'd
[Page 173]698  My fancy, 'ere yet liberty of choice
Had found me, or the hope of being free. 
My very dreams were rural, rural too
The first-born efforts of my youthful muse
Sportive, and jingling her poetic bells
'Ere yet her ear was mistress of their pow'rs. 
No bard could please me but whose lyre was tuned
To Nature's praises. Heroes and their feats
Fatigued me, never weary of the pipe
Of Tityrus, assembling as he sang
The rustic throng beneath his fav'rite beech. 
Then Milton had indeed a poet's charms. 
New to my taste, his Paradise surpass'd
The struggling efforts of my boyish tongue
To speak its excellence; I danced for joy. 
I marvel'd much that at so ripe an age
As twice sev'n years, his beauties had then first
Engaged my wonder, and admiring still
And still admiring, with regret supposed
The joy half lost because not sooner found. 
[Page 174]718 Thee too enamour'd of the life I loved,
Pathetic in its praise, in its pursuit
Determined, and possessing it at last
With transports such as favor'd lovers feel,
I studied, prized, and wished that I had known
Ingenious Cowley! and though now, reclaimed,
By modern lights from an erroneous taste,
I cannot but lament thy splendid wit
Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools,
I still revere thee, courtly though retired,
Though stretch'd at ease in Chertsey's silent bow'rs
Not unemploy'd, and finding rich amends
For a lost world in solitude and verse. 
'Tis born with all. The love of Nature's works
Is an ingredient in the compound, man,
Infused at the creation of the kind. 
And though th' Almighty Maker, has throughout
Discriminated each from each, by strokes
And touches of his hand with so much art
Diversified, that two were never found
[Page 175]738  Twins at all points — yet this obtains in all,
That all discern a beauty in his works
And all can taste them. Minds that have been form'd
And tutor'd, with a relish more exact,
But none without some relish, none unmoved. 
It is a flame that dies not even there
Where nothing feeds it. Neither business, crowds,
Nor habits of luxurious city-life,
Whatever else they smother of true worth
In human bosoms, quench it or abate. 
The villas with which London stands begirt
Like a swarth Indian with his belt of beads,
Prove it. A breath of unadult'rate air,
The glimpse of a green pasture, how they cheer
The citizen, and brace his languid frame! 
Ev'n in the stifling bosom of the town,
A garden in which nothing thrives, has charms
That sooth the rich possessor; much consoled
That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint,
Of nightshade or valerian grace the well
[Page 176]758  He cultivates. These serve him with a hint
That Nature lives, that sight-refreshing green
Is still the liv'ry she delights to wear,
Though sickly samples of th' exub'rant whole. 
What are the casements lined with creeping herbs,
The prouder sashes fronted with a range
Of orange, myrtle, or the fragrant weed
TheFrenchman's** Mignonette.
darling?aretheynotallproofs
That man immured in cities, still retains
His inborn inextinguishable thirst
Of rural scenes, compensating his loss
By supplemental shifts, the best he may? 
The most unfurnished with the means of life,
And they that never pass their brick-wall bounds
To range the fields and treat their lungs with air,
Yet feel the burning instinct: over-head
Suspend their crazy boxes planted thick
And water'd duely. There the pitcher stands
[Page 177]776  A fragment, and the spoutless tea-pot there;
Sad witnesses how close-pent man regrets
The country, with what ardour he contrives
A peep at nature, when he can no more. 

Hail therefore patroness of health and ease
And contemplation, heart-consoling joys
And harmless pleasures in the throng'd abode
Of multitudes unknown, hail rural life! 
Address himself who will to the pursuit
Of honors or emolument or fame,
I shall not add myself to such a chace,
Thwart his attempts, or envy his success. 
Some must be great. Great offices will have
Great talents. And God gives to ev'ry man
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill. 
To the deliv'rer of an injured land
He gives a tongue t' enlarge upon, an heart
[Page 178]795  To feel, and courage to redress her wrongs;
To monarchs dignity, to judges sense,
To artists ingenuity and skill;
To me an unambitious mind, content
In the low vale of life, that early felt
A wish for ease and leisure, and 'ere long
Found here that leisure and that ease I wish'd. 

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Title (in Source Edition): [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK IV.

Author: William Cowper

Themes: domestic life; family; rural life; patriotism

Genres: blank verse; narrative verse; georgic; philosophic poetry

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Source edition

Cowper, William, 1731-1800. The task: a poem, in six books. By William Cowper, ... To which are added, by the same author, An epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. ... To which are added, ... an epistle ... and the history of John Gilpin. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1785, pp. [135]-178. [8],359,[1]p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T14896; OTA K027776.000)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Secondary literature

Griffin, Dustin. Redefining Georgic: Cowper's Task. ELH 57 (1990): 565-79. Print.
Matheson, Ann. The Influence of Cowper's The Task on Coleridge's Conversational Poems. Sultana, Donald, ed. New Approaches to Coleridge. London: Vision, 1981. 137-50. Print.
Priestman, Martin. Cowper's Task: Structure and Influence. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Print.

[THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.]

ARGUMENT of the FOURTH BOOK.

BOOK IV.

THE WINTER EVENING.

Text

About this text

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Other works by William Cowper

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[THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.]

ARGUMENT of the FOURTH BOOK.

BOOK IV.

THE WINTER EVENING.

Text

About this text

Source edition

Editorial principles

Secondary literature

Related works

Other works by William Cowper

Phonological layer

Morphological layer

Syntactic layer

Semantic layer

Pragmatic layer