133 



for swallows and martins; " the moulder- 

 ing abbey'' for ravens and jackdaws;" the 

 ^^ ruined castle'' for bats and owls; and 

 the ''antiquated cot," whose chimney is 

 choked up with ivy, may perhaps yield a 

 residence for squalid misery and want: 

 but is affluence to be denied a suitable 

 habitation, because 



" Harsh and cold the builder's work appears. 

 Till soften'd down by long revolving years; 

 Till time and weather have conjointly spread 

 Their mould'n'ng hues and mosses o'er its head?" 



THE LANDSCAPE. 



or because, in some M'ild and romantic 

 scenery, the appearance of art would of- 

 fend the eye of taste, are we to banish all 

 convenience from close mown grass, or 

 firm gravel walks, and to bear M'ith weeds, 

 and briers, and docks, and thistles, in com- 

 pliment to the slovenly mountain nymphsj 

 who exclaim with this author, 



"" Break their fell scythes, that would these beauties 

 shave. 

 And sink their iron rollers in the wave?" 



And again, in the bitterness of prejudice 

 against all that is neat and cleanly, 



