FRAGMENT.
Thy walks are ever pleasant; every scene
Is rich in beauty, lively, or serene—
Rich is that varied view with woods around,
Seen from the seat, within the shrubb’ry bound;
Where shines the distant lake, and where appear,
From ruins bolting, unmolested deer;
Lively—the village-green, the inn, the place,
Where the good widow schools her infant race.
Shops, whence are heard the hammer and the saw,
And village-pleasures unreproved by law.
Then how serene, when in your favorite room,
Gales from your jasmines soothe the evening gloom;
And when from upland paddock you look down.
And just perceive the smoke which hides the town;
When weary peasants at the close of day
Walk to their cots, and part upon the way;
When cattle slowly cross the shallow brook,
And shepherds pen their folds, and rest upon their crook.
Geo. Crabbe, 1754–1832.