THE TASK,

A POEM.

BOOK I.

1

ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.

Hiftorical deduction of feats, from the stool to the Sofa.-A School-boy's ramble -Awalk in the country. The scene described. Rural founds as well as fights delightful.Another walk. Mistake concerning the charms of folitude corrected. - Colonnades commended. - Alcove, and the view from it. The wilderness. The grove. The thresher. The neceffity and benefits of exercise. The works of nature fuperior to, and in some instances inimitable by, art. The wearisomeness of what is commonly called a life of pleasure. Change of scene fometimes expedient.-A common defcribed, and the character of crazy Kate introduced. - Gipsies. The bleffings of civilized life. That state most favourable to virtue. The South Sea islanders compaffionated, but chiefly Omai.--His preSent ftate of mind supposed. Civilized life friendly to virtue, but not great cities. Great cities, and London in particular, allowed their due praise, but cenfured.-Fete champetre. The book concludes with a reflection on the fatal effects of diffipation and effeminacy upon our public measures.

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THE TASK..

I

BOOK I.

THE SOFA.

SING the Sofa. I, who lately sang
Truth, Hope, and Charity *, and touch'd with awe
The folemn chords, and with a trembling hand,
Escap'd with pain from that advent'rous flight,
Now seek repose upon an humbler theme;
The theme though humble, yet august and proud
Th' occafion-for the Fair commands the song.

Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use,
Save their own painted skins, our fires had none.
As yet black breeches were not; satin smooth,
Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile:

The hardy chief upon the rugged rock Wash'd by the fea, or on the grav'ly bank Thrown-up by wintry torrents roaring loud, Fearless of wrong, repos'd his weary strength. Those barb'rous ages past, succeeded next The birth-day of invention; weak at first, Dull in design, and clumsy to perform. Joint-stools were then created; on three legs Upborn they stood. Three legs upholding firm A massy flab, in fashion square or round. On such a stool immortal Alfred fat, And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms : And fuch in ancient halls and mansions drear May still be seen; but perforated fore, And drill'd in holes, the solid oak is found, By worms voracious eating through and through.

At length a generation more refin'd Improv'd the fimple plan; made three legs four, Gave them a twisted form vermicular, And o'er the feat, with pleriteous wadding stuff'd, Induc'd a splendid cover, green and blue, Yellow and red, of tap'ftry richly wrought And woven close, or needle-work fublime. There might ye see the piony spread wide, The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lafs,

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Lap-dog and lambkin with black staring eyes,
And parrots with twin cherries in their beak.

Now came the cane from India, smooth and bright

With Nature's varnish; sever'd into stripes
That interlac'd each other, these fupplied
Of texture firm a lattice-work, that brac'd
The new machine, and it became a chair.
But restless was the chair; the back erect
Distress'd the weary loins, that felt no ease;
The flipp'ry feat betray'd the sliding part
That press'd it, and the feet hung dangling down,
Anxious in vain to find the distant floor.

These for the rich: the rest, whom fate had plac'd
In modest mediocrity, content

With base materials, fat on well tann'd hides,
Obdurate and unyielding, glassy smooth,
With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn,
Or scarlet crewel, in the cushion fixt;
If cushion might be call'd, what harder seem'd
Than the firm oak of which the frame was form'd.
No want of timber then was felt or fear'd
In Albion's happy ifle. The umber stood
Pond'rous and fixt by its own massy weight.
But elbows still were wanting; these, some say,