If mild the evening, in the fields they stray’d,

And their own flock with partial eye survey’d;

But oft the husband, to indulgence prone,

Resumed his book, and bade them walk alone.

“Do, my kind Edward - I must take mine ease -

Name the dear girl the planets and the trees:

Tell her what warblers pour their evening song,

What insects flutter, as you walk along;

Teach her to fix the roving thoughts, to bind

The wandering sense, and methodize the mind.”