6 Or in hoar caves around Plynlymmon's brow, • Where precious minerals dart their purple gleams, “ Among her sisters she reclines; the lov'd Vaga, profuse of graces, Ryddol rough,

685 “ Blithe Ystwith, and Clevedoc t, swift of foot; " And mingles various seeds of flow'rs and herbs, “ In the divided torrents, ere they burst « Thro'the dark clouds, and down the mountain roll. « Nor taint-worm shall infect the yeaning herds, 690 “ Nor penny-grass, norspear-wort's pois’nous leaf.”

He said : with light fantastic toe the nymphs Thither assembled, thither every swain; And o’er the dimpled stream a thousand flow`rs, Pale lilies, roses, violets, and pinks, Mix'd with the greens of burnet, mint, and thyme, And trefoil sprinkled with their sportive arms.

Such custom holds along th' irriguous vales From Wreakin's brow to rocky Dolvoryn 1, Sabrina's early haunt, ere yet she fled

700 The search of Guendolen, her stepdame proud, With envious hate enrag'd. The jolly cheer, Spread on a mossy bank, untouch'd abides Till cease the rites : and now the mossy bank Is gaily circled, and the joily cheer

705 Dispers’d in copious measure ; early fruits, And those of frugal store, in husk or rind; Steep'd grain, and curdled milk with dulcet cream

69;

Soft temper’d, in full merriment they quaff,
And cast about their gibes ; and some apace 710
Whistle to roundelays : their little-ones
Look on delighted ; while the Mountain-woods
And winding vallies with the various notes
Of pipe, sheep, kine, and birds, and liquid brooks,
Unite their echoes : near 'at hand the wide 715
Majestic wave of Severn slowly rolls
Along the deep-divided glebe : the flood,
And trading bark with low contracted sail,
Linger among the reeds and copsy banks
To listen, and to view the joyous scene, 720

BOOK II.

The argument.

INTRODUCTION. Recommendation of mercifulness to animals. Of the

winding of wool. Diversity of wool in the Fleece: skill in the assorting of it, particularly among the Dutch. The uses of each sort. Severe winters pernicious to the Fleece. Directions to prevent their effects. Vool lightest in common fields: inconveniencies of common fields. Vul ar errors con. cerning the wool of England : its real excellencies; and directions in the choice. No good wool in cold or wet pastures; yet all pastures improvable exemplified in the drainage of Bedford Level. Britain in ancient times not esteemed for wool. Countries esteemed for wool before the Argonautic expedition, of that expedition, and its consequences. Countries afterwards esteemed for wool. The decay of arts and sciences in the barbarous ages: their revival, first at Venice. Countries noted for wool in the present times. Wool the best of all the various materials for clothing. The wool of our island peculiarly excellent is the combing wool. Methods to prevent its exportation. Apology of the Author for treating on this subject. Bishop Blaize the inventor of wool-combing. Of the dying of wool. Few dyes the natural product of England. Necessity of trade for importing them. The advantages of trade, and its utility in the moral world; exempilfied in the prosperity and ruin of the elder Tyre.

a

Now of the sever'd lock begin the song
With various numbers, thro' the simple theme
To win attention : this, ye Shepherd Swains !
This is a labour. Yet, O Wray ! if thou
Cease not with skilful hand to pointsher way,

5 The lark-wing’d Muse above the grassy vale, And bills, and woods, shall, singing, soar aloft; And he whom learning, wisdom, candour, grace, Who glows with all the virtues of his sire, Royston! approve, and patronize the strain.

Thro' all the brute creation none as sheep To lordly man such ample tribute pay.

20

For him their udders yield nectareous streams ;
For him their downy vestures they resign;
For him they spread the feast : ah ! ne'er may he 15
Glory in wants which doom to pain and death
His blameless fellow-creatures. Let disease,
Let wasted hunger, by destroying live,
And the permission use with trembling thanks,
Meekly reluctant : 't is the brute beyond ;
And gluttons ever murders when they kill.
Ev'n to the reptile every cruel deed
Is high impiety. Howe'er not all,
Not of the sanguinary tribe are all ;
All are not savage. Come, ye gentle Swains ! 25
Like Brama's healthy sons on Indus’banks,
Whom the pure stream and garden fruits sustain ;
Ye are the sons of Nature; your mild hands
Are innocent: ye, when ye shear, relieve.
Come, gentle Swains ! the bright unsully'd locks 30
Collect ; alternate songs shall sooth your cares,
And warbling music break from every spray.
Be faithful, and the genuine locks alone
Wrap round; nor alien flake nor pitch enfold;
Stain not your stores with base desire to add 35
Fallacious weight; nor yet, to mimic those,
Minute and light, of sandy Urchinfieldt,
Lessen, with subtile artifice, the Fleece ;
Equal the fraud: nor interpose delay,
Lest busy ether thro' the open

wool
Urchinfield, the country about Ross in Herefordshire.

4.0

Debilitating pass, and every film
Ruffle and sully with the valley’s dust.
Guard, too, from moisture, and the fretting moth
Pernicious : she, in gloomy shade conceald,
Her labyrinth cuts, and mocks the comber's care: 45
But in loose locks of fells she most delights,
And feeble Fleeces of distemper'd sheep,
Whither she hastens, by the morbid scent
Allur’d, as the swift eagle to the fields
Of slaught'ring war or carnage : such apart

50
Keep for their proper use : our ancestors
Selected such for hospitable beds
To rest the stranger, or the gory

chief From battle or the chase of wolves return'd.

When many-colour'd ev'ning sinks hehind 55 The purple woods and hills, and opposite Rises, full orb’d, the silver harvest moon, To light th' unwearied farmer, late a-field His scatter'd sheaves collecting, then expect The artists, benton speed, from populous Leeds, 60 Norwich, or Froome; they traverse every plain And every dale where farm or cottage smukes : Reject them not; and let the season's price Win thy soft treasures ; let the bulky wain Thro’ dusty roads roll nodding; or the bark,

65 That silently adown the cerule stream Glides with white sails, dispense the downy freight To copsy villages on either side, And spiry towns, where ready diligence,