6?4 THE CHOICE OF A SITUATION BOOK III. 



his residence at pleasure. Content to receive from man only 

 what are called the necessaries of life, he is sure of enjoying the 

 most sublime mental luxuries which heaven and earth afford : 

 — and whether he opens his eyes and beholds the rising sun 

 dispersing the clouds which empurple the distant horizon, or 

 shutting them contemplates that variegated circle of colours 

 which is formed by the compression of the eyelids — whether he 

 remarks the " green blade which twinkles in the sun/' or " the 

 huge oak which in the forest grows," his soul is alike exalted 

 in the discovery of divinity. 



(i He looks abroad' into the varied field 

 Of nature ; and though poor, perhaps, compared 

 With those whose mansions glitter in his sight, 

 Calls the delightful scenery all his own. 

 His are the mountains, and the vallies his, 

 And the resplendent rivers. His t'enjoy 

 With a propriety that none can feel, 

 But who, with filial confidence inspired, 

 Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye, 

 And smiling say, ' My father made them all'.' r 



COWPER. 



I shall close this part of the work by addressing a few cursory 

 remarks to those interested in a country life; which, like the 

 foregoing, are the result of observation on the actual state of 

 civil society. 



1. A person sensible of having a bad situation, without the 



