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Stand up unconfcious, and refute the charge.
So, when the Jewish leader stretch'd his arm,
And wav'd his rod divine, a race obscene,
Spawn'd in the muddy beds of Nile, came forth,
Polluting Ægypt: gardens, fields, and plains,
Were cover'd with the pest; the streets were fill'd;
The croaking nuisance lurk'd in ev'ry nook;
Nor palaces, nor even chambers, 'scap'd;
And the land stank-so num'rous was the fry.

THE

TASK.

BOOK III.

ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK.

Self-recollection and reproof.---Address to domestic happinefs. Some account of myself. The vanity of many of their pursuits who are reputed wife. Justification of my cenfures. Divine illumination necessary to the most expert philosopher. The question, What is truth? anfwered by other questions. - Domestic happiness addreffed again.-Few lovers of the country. -My tame bare. Occupations of a retired gentleman in his garden.-Pruning. - Framing. - Greenhouse.-Sowing of flower-feeds. The country preferable to the town even in the winter.-Reasons why it is deferted at that feafon.-Ruinous effects of gaming and of expensive improvement.-Book concludes with an apoftrophe to the metropolis.

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THE GARDEN.

As one who, long in thickets and in brakes Entangled, winds now this way and now that His devious course uncertain, seeking home; Or, having long in miry ways been foil'd And fore difcomfited, from flough to flough Plunging, and half defpairing of escape; If chance at length he find a greensward smooth And faithful to the foot, his fpirits rife, He chirrups brisk his ear-erecting steed, And winds his way with pleasure and with cafe; So I, designing other themes, and call'd

T' adorn the Sofa with eulogium due,
To tell its flumbers, and to paint its dreams,
Have rambled wide. In country, city, feat
Of academic fame (howe'er deserv'd),
Long held, and scarcely difengag'd at last.
But now, with pleasant pace, a cleanlier road
I mean to tread. I feel myself at large,
Courageous, and refresh'd for future toil,
If toil await me, or if dangers new.

Since pulpits fail, and founding-boards reflect Most part an empty ineffectual found, What chance that I, to fame so little known, Nor converfant with men or manners much, Should speak to purpose, or with better hope Crack the fatiric thong? 'Twere wifer far For me, enamour'd of fequefter'd scenes, And charm'd with rural beauty, to repose, Where chance may throw me, beneath elm or vine, My languid limbs, when fummer fears the plains;

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