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Princes and lords may florish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroy'd, can never be supplied.

A time there was, ere England's griefs began,
When every rood of ground maintained its man;
For him light labour spread her wholesome store;
Just gave what life required, but gave no more:
His best companions, innocence and health,
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train
Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain;
Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose,
Unwieldy wealth and cumberous pomps repose;
And every want to luxury allied,

And every pang that folly pays to pride.

Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom,
Those calm desires that ask'd but little room,

Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful

scene

Lived in each look, and brighten'd all the green
These, far departing, seek a kinder shore,

And rural mirth and manners are no more.

Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey
The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay,
'Tis yours to judge, how wide the limits stand
Between a splendid and a happy land,
Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore,
And shouting Folly hails them from her shore;
Hoards, even beyond the miser's wish abound,
And rich men flock from all the world around.
Yet count our gains. This wealth is but a name
That leaves our useful product still the same.
Not so the loss. The man of wealth and pride,
Takes up a space that many poor supplyed;
Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds,
Space for his horses, equipage and hounds;
The robe that wraps his limbs in silken cloth,
Has robb'd the neighbouring fields of half their
growth;

His seat, where solitary sports are seen,
Indignant spurns the cottage from the green;
Around the world each needful product flies,
For all the luxuries the world supplies,
While thus the land adorned for pleasure all,
In barren splendor feebly waits its fall.

VOL. III.

As some fair female unadorned and plain,
Secure to please while youth confirms her reign,
Slights every borrowed charm that dress supplies;
Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes:

But when those charms are past, for charms are frail,

When time advances, and when lovers fail,
She then shines forth solicitous to bless,
In all the glaring impotence of dress.
Thus fares the land, by luxury betray'd,
In natures simplest charms at first aray'd,
But verging to decline, its splendors rise,
Its vista's strike, its palaces surprise;

While scourged by famine from the smiling land,
The mournful peasant leads his humble band;
And while he sinks, without one arm to save,

The country blooms

a

garden, and a grave.

*

*

HENRY BAKER.

1774.

From his poems, published in two volumes, 1725, and 1726. He was the confidential friend of Miller, from whose poetry there are extracts in this work.

The Petition.

GRANT me, you Gods! before I die,

A happy mediocrity;

I envy not the man that's great;

His floors inlaid, his coach of state;

To me an humble quiet's more

Than all the statesman's dearly purchas'd store.
Nor rank, nor wealth, I ask, but let me be
Above contempt, and wantful poverty.
Give me a mind not anxious to encrease,
But able to enjoy my little stock in peace ;

Be it unruffled, calm, sedate,

Not rais'd above, but equal to my fate.
Good nature still in my behaviour shine,
And be humanity for ever mine :

May true religion, that unerring guide,
Direct my flight

To Heaven aright,

But let me lay its empty forms aside.
Health and sound reason give me still,
To judge unbiass'd what is good or ill.
Obedient let my passions be

To all the rules of strict morality.

Now, you Heav'nly Powers above!
Benign, indulgent, full of love,
If in all your boundless store
A blessing so unprizeable there be,

Crown whate'er you gave before
With a true friend, full of sincerity:
Be he the adviser of my rising thoughts,
Able and willing to correct their faults.

Grant me this, and wheresoe'er
Phoebus shews his golden ray,

Underneath the frozen bear,

Or in the sultry wilds of Africa,

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