The clamors of contentious law,

And court and state, he wisely shuns;

Nor brib’d with hopes, nor dar’d with awe,

To servile salutations runs;

But either to the clasping vine

Does the supporting poplar wed,

Or with his pruning-hook disjoin

Unbearing branches from their head,

And grafts more happy in their stead;

Or climbing to a hilly steep,