THE DESERTED VILLAGE. TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. DEAR SIR,-I can have no expectations, in an address of this kind, either to add to your reputation or to establish my own. You can gain nothing from my admiration, as I am ignorant of that art in which you are said to excel; and I may lose much by the severity of your judgment, as few have a juster taste in poetry than you. Setting interest therefore aside, to which I never paid much attention, I must be indulged at present in following my affections. The only dedication I ever made was to my brother, because I loved him better than most other men. He is since dead. Permit me to inscribe this Poem to you. How far you may be pleased with the versification and mere nechanical parts of this attempt, I do not pretend to inquire; but I know you will object (and indeed several of our best and wisest friends concur in the opinion), that the depopulation it deplores is nowhere to be seen, and the disorders it laments are only to be found in the poet's own imagination. To this I can scarcely make any other answer than that I sincerely believe what I have written; that I have taken all possible pains, in my country excursions, for these four or five years past, to be certain of what I allege, and that all my views and inquiries have led me to believe those miseries real which I here attempt to display. But this is not the place to enter into an inquiry, whether the country be depopulating or not; the discussion would take up much room, and I should prove myself, at best, an indifferent politician, to tire the reader with a long preface, when I want his unfatigued attention to a long poem. In regretting the depopulation of the country, I inveigh against the increase of our luxuries; and here also I expect the shout of modern politicians against me. For twenty or thirty years past, it has been the fashion to consider luxury as one of the greatest national advantages; and all the wisdom of antiquity, in that particular, as erroneous. Still, however, I must remain a professed ancient on that head, and continue to think those luxuries prejudicial to states by which so many vices are introduced, and so many kingdoms have been undone. Indeed so much has been poured out of late on the other side of the question, that, merely for the sake of novelty, and variety, one would sometimes wish to be in the right. I am, dear SIR, Your sincere friend, and ardent admirer, THE DESERTED VILLAGE. SWEET Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, And parting summer's lingering blooms delay'd: Seats of my youth, when every sport could please, Where humble happiness endear'd each scene! The shelter'd cot, the cultivated farm, The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church that topp'd the neighbouring hill, The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made! How often have I bless'd the coming day, When toil remitting lent its turn to play, And all the village train, from labour free, And sleights of art and feats of strength went round; Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired; The swain, mistrustless of his smutted face, The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love. The matron's glance that would those looks reprove. These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these, With sweet succession, taught e'en toil to please; B These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed, Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn ; The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, A time there was, ere England's griefs began, But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train And every pang that folly pays to pride. Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, These, far departing, seek a kinder shore, Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour, Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. Amidst thy tangling walks, and ruin'd grounds, O blest retirement, friend to life's decline, Up yonder hill the village murmur rose; |