anchoring vessel spreads the sail,
That idly waiting flaps with every gale, 400
Downward they move, a melancholy band,
Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand.
Contented toil, and hospitable care,
And kind connubial tenderness, are there;
And piety with wishes placed above, 405
And steady loyalty, and faithful love.
And thou, sweet Poetry, thou loveliest maid,
Still first to fly where sensual joys invade;
Unfit in these degenerate times of shame
To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame; 410
Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
My shame in crowds, my solitary pride;
Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,
That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so;
Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel, 415
Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well!
Farewell, and O! where'er thy voice be tried,
On Torno's cliffs,[27] or Pambamarca's side,[28]
Whether where equinoctial fervors glow,
Or winter wraps the polar world in snow, 420
Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
Redress the rigors of the inclement clime;
Aid slighted truth with thy persuasive strain;
Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain;
Teach him, that states of native strength possessed, 425
Though very poor, may still be very blest;
That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labored mole[29] away;
While self-dependent power can time defy,
As rocks resist the billows and the sky. 430

NOTE.--_The Deserted Village_, published in 1770, was immediately
popular, and to-day few English poems are so widely read or so often
quoted. If the poet had in mind any special place when writing of
"Sweet Auburn," it was probably Lissoy, in Ireland, where he grew up;
but the village of his imagination is lovelier than any actual spot,
and there is no use in hunting for it on the map. See the first note
on _The Traveller_ for remarks on metre, etc.

[1.] Decent, appropriate, fitting. Consult the dictionary for the
present meanings of the word.

[2.] Lawn, a cleared space in a wood.

[3.] One only master, etc. Sometimes, in England or in Ireland a
wealthy man would buy a large tract of land, pull down the house and
turn the entire region into parks or hunting grounds. Such a man was
not necessarily a tyrant. In many cases the villages demolished were
deserted because