THE PRAISES OF A COUNTRY LIFE 



woods ; and the fountains murmur with their purling 

 streams, which invites gentle slumbers. 



But when the wintry season of the tempestuous air 

 prepares rains and snows, he either drives the fierce 

 boars, with dogs on every side, into the intercepting 

 toils ; or spreads his thin nets with the smooth pole, as 

 a snare for the voracious thrushes ; or catches in his 

 gin the timorous hare, or that stranger, the crane, 

 pleasing rewards for his labour. 



Amongst such joys as these, who does not forget 

 those mischievous anxieties, which are the property 

 of love ? But if a chaste wife, assisting on her part 

 in the management of the house and beloved children, 

 (such as is the Sabine, or the sunburnt spouse of the 

 industrious Apulian) piles up the sacred hearth with 

 old wood, just at the approach of her weary husband, 

 and shutting up the fruitful cattle in the woven hurdles 

 milks dry their distended udders ; and drawing this 

 year's wine out of a well-seasoned cask, prepares the 

 unbought collation ; not the Lucrine oysters could 

 delight me more, nor the turbot, nor the scar, should 

 the tempestuous Winter drive any from the Eastern 

 floods to this sea : not the turkey, nor the Asiatic wild 

 fowl, can come into my stomach more agreeable than 

 the Olive, gathered from the richest branches of the 

 trees, or the Sorrel that loves the meadows, or Mallows 

 salubrious for a sickly body, or a lamb slain at the feast 

 of the god Terminus, or a kid just rescued from a wolf. 



Amidst these dainties, how it pleases one to see the 

 well-fed sheep hastening home ? To see the weary oxen, 

 with drooping neck, dragging the inverted plough- 

 share ! and numerous slaves, the test of a rich family 

 ranged about the smiling household gods 1 



71 



