Page:An Epistle to Curio - Akenside (1744).djvu/15


 * Swift o'er the Land the fair Contagion flew,

And with thy Country's Hopes thy Honours grew. Thee, Patriot, the Patrician Roof confess'd; Thy pow'rful Voice the rescued Merchant bless'd; Of thee with Awe the rural Hearth resounds; The Bowl to thee the grateful Sailor crowns; Touch'd in the sighing Shade with manlier Fires, To trace thy Steps the love-sick Youth aspires; The learn'd Recluse, who oft amaz'd had read Of Graecian Heroes, Roman Patriots dead, With new Amazement hears a living Name Pretend to share in such forgotten Fame; And he who, scorning Courts and Courtly Ways, Left the tame Track of these dejected Days, The Life of nobler Ages to renew In Virtues sacred from a Monarch's View, Rouz'd by thy Labours from the blest Retreat, Where social Ease and public Passions meet, Again