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THE TASK,

A POE M.

BOOK I.

ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.

Hiftorical deduction of feats, from the ftool to the Sofa.-A School-boy's ramble-A walk in the country.—The Scene defcribed. Rural founds as well as fights delightful.Another walk.-Miftake concerning the charms of folitude corrected. - Colonnades commended.

- Alcove, and the view from it.-The wilderness. The grove.-The thresher.-The neceffity and benefits of exercise.-The works of nature fuperior to, and in fome inftances inimitable by, art.-The wearisomeness of what is commonly called a life of pleasure.-Change of Scene fometimes expedient.-A common defcribed, and the character of crazy Kate introduced.-Gipfies.-The blessings of civilized life. That flate mofi favourable to virtue.-The South Sea iflanders compaffionated, but chiefly Omai. His prefent ftate of mind supposed.--Civilized life friendly to virtue, but not great cities.-Great cities, and London in particular, allowea their due praife, but cenfured.-Fete champetre. The book concludes with a reflection on the fatal effects of diffipation and effeminacy upon our public measures.

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THE TASK..

BOOK I.

THE

SOFA.

I

SING the Sofa. I, who lately fang

Truth, Hope, and Charity*, and touch'd with awe

The folemn chords, and with a trembling hand,
Efcap'd with pain from that advent'rous flight,
Now feek repose upon an humbler theme;
The theme though humble, yet august and proud
Th' occafion-for the Fair commands the song.

Time was, when clothing fumptuous or for use, Save their own painted skins, our fires had none. As yet black breeches were not; fatin smooth, Or velvet foft, or plush with fhaggy pile:

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The hardy chief upon the rugged rock
Wash'd by the fea, or on the grav❜ly bank
Thrown-up by wintry torrents roaring loud,
Fearless of wrong, repos'd his weary strength.
Thofe barb'rous ages paft, fucceeded next
The birth-day of invention; weak at first,
Dull in defign, and clumsy to perform.
Joint-ftools were then created; on three legs
Upborn they stood. Three legs upholding firm
A maffy flab, in fashion square or round.
On such a stool immortal Alfred fat,

And fway'd the fceptre of his infant realms :
And fuch in ancient halls and manfions drear
May ftill be seen; but perforated fore,
And drill'd in holes, the folid oak is found,
By worms voracious eating through and through.

At length a generation more refin'd

Improv'd the fimple plan; made three legs four,
Gave them a twisted form vermicular,

And o'er the feat, with plenteous wadding stuff'd,
Induc'd a fplendid cover, green and blue,
Yellow and red, of tap'ftry richly wrought
And woven close, or needle-work fublime.
There might ye fee the piony spread wide,
The full-blown rofe, the fhepherd and his lafs,

Lap-dog and lambkin with black staring eyes,
And parrots with twin cherries in their beak.

Now came the cane from India, fmooth and bright
With Nature's varnish; fever'd into stripes
That interlac'd each other, these fupplied
Of texture firm a lattice-work, that brac'd
The new machine, and it became a chair.
But reftlefs was the chair; the back erect
Distress'd the weary loins, that felt no eafe;
The flipp'ry feat betray'd the fliding part

That prefs'd it, and the feet hung dangling down,
Anxious in vain to find the diftant floor.

These for the rich: the reft, whom fate had plac'd
In modeft mediocrity, content

With base materials, fat on well tann'd hides,
Obdurate and unyielding, glaffy smooth,

With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn,
Or fcarlet crewel, in the cushion fixt;

If cushion might be call'd, what harder seem'd
Than the firm oak of which the frame was form'd.
No want of timber then was felt or fear'd

In Albion's happy ifle. The umber food
Pond'rous and fixt by its own mally weight.
But elbows ftill were wanting; thefe, some say,

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