Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/76

68 Or tame its savage genius to the grace Of careless sweet rusticity, that seems The amiable result of happy chance, Is to create; and gives a god-like joy, Which every year improves. Nor thou disdain To check the lawless riot of the trees, To plant the grove, or turn the barren mould. O happy he! whom, when his years decline, (His fortune and his fame by worthy means Attain'd, and equal to his moderate mind; His life approv'd by all the wise and good, Even envied by the vain) the peaceful groves Of Epicurus, from this stormy world, Receive to rest; of all ungrateful cares Absolv'd, and sacred from the selfish crowd. Happiest of men! if the same soil invites A chosen few, companions of his youth, Once fellow-rakes perhaps, now rural friends; Rh