Wit & humour > Gentle shepherd

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Infernal malice, inly pining hate,
And envy grieving at another’s ftate.
Revenge no more muft in our hearts remafri,
Or burning luft, or avarice of gain.
When thefe are in the human bofom nurft.
Can Peace refide in dwellings fo accurft ?
Unlike, OEglintoun! thy happy-bread,
Calm and fcrene, enjoys the heavenly gueft;
From the tumultuous rule of paffions freed,
Pure in thy thought, and fpotlefs in thy deed.
In virtues rich, in goodnefs unconfin’d,
Thou fhin’ft a fair example to thy kind;
Sincere and equal to thy neighbour’s fame.
How Iwift to praife, how obdinate to blame ?
Bold in thy prefence balhful Senfe appears.
And backward Merit lofes all its fears.
Supremely bled by heav’n, heav’n’s riched grace
Confed is thine an early blooming race,
Whofe pleafant fmiles dial! Guardian Wifdom arm,
Divine indrudlion ! taught of thee to charm.
What tranfports diall they to thy foul impart!
(The confcious tranfports of a Parent’s heart.)
When thou beholds them of each grace poffed,
And fighing youths imploring to be bled,
After thy image form’d, with charms like thine,
Or in the vifit, or the dance to diine.
Thrice happy! who fucceed their mothers praife.
The lovely Eglintouns of other days.
Mean while perufe the following tender fceues.
And liden to thy native Poet’s drains.
In antient garb the home bred Mufe appears,
The garb our Mufes wore in former years.
As in a glafs refle&ed, here behold »
How fmiling Goodnefs look’d in days of old.
Nor blufh to read where beauty’s praife is fhown,
And virtuous love, the likenefs of thy own;
While