Friendly the weight of leisure to remove, 5
And to beguile the lassitude of ease;
Gracious to all the dear dependencies
Of house and field,—to plenty, peace, and love.
There too did Fancy prize the murmuring wheel;
For sympathies, inexplicably fine, 10
Instilled a confidence—how sweet to feel!
That ever in the night-calm, when the Sheep
Upon their grassy beds lay couch’d in sleep,
The quickening spindle drew a trustier line.