1

THE

CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.

By JAMES THOMSON.

CANTO I.

The Caftle high of Indolence,

And its falfe luxury,

Where for a little time, alas !

We liv'd right jollily.

I.

MORTAL Man! who liveft here by toil,

Do not complain of this thy hard estate ; That like an emmet thou must ever moil,

Is a fad fentence of an ancient date :

and wail,

And, certes, there is for it reafon great;
For tho' fometimes it makes thee weep
And curse thy ftar, and early drudge and late,
Withouten that would come an heavyer bale,
Loofe life, unruly paffions, and diseases pale.
II.

In lowly dale, faft by a river's fide,

With woody hill o'er hill encompafs'd round,
A most enchanting wizard did abide,

Than whom a fiend more fell is no where found.

It was, I ween, a lovely fpot of ground;
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Vol. VI. 23.

And

And there a feafon atween June and May,
Half prankt with fpring, with fummer half imbrown'd,
A liftlets climate made, where, footh to fay,

No living wight could work, ne cared even for play.

III.

Was nought around but images of rest,
Sleep-foothing groves, and quiet lawns between,
And flowery beds that flumbrous influence keft
From poppies breath'd, and beds of pleasant green,
Where never yet was creeping creature seen.
Mean time unnumber'd glittering ftreamlets play'd,
And hurled every where their waters sheen,
That, as they bicker'd thro' the funny glade,
Tho' refless still themselves, a lulling murmur made.

IV.

Join'd to the prattle of the purling rills,
Were heard the lowing herds along the vale,
And flocks loud-bleating from the diftant hills,
And vacant fhepherds piping in the dale;
And now and then fweet Philomel would wail,
Or flock-doves plain amid the foreft deep,
That drowsy ruftled to the fighing gale;
And still a coil the grafhopper did keep;
Yet all these founds yblent inclined all to fleep.

Full

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V.

Full in the paffage of the vale, above,
A fable, filent, folemn, foreft food,
Where nought but shadowy forms was seen to move,
As Idlefs fancy'd in her dreaming mood;

And up the hills, on either fide, a wood
Of blackening pines, ay waving to and fro,
Sent forth a fleepy horror thro' the blood;

And where this valley winded out, below,'

The murmuring main was heard, and fcarcely heard to flow

VI.

A pleafing land of drowsy-head it was,

Of Dreams that wave before the half-fhut eye,
And of gay Caflles in the cloud that pafs,

For ever flushing round a fummer sky;
There eke the foft Delights, that witchingly
Inftil a wanton fweetness thro' the breaft,
And the calm Pleasures, always hover'd nigh ;

But whate'er fmack'd of noyance or unrest

Was far, far off expell'd from this delicious neft.

VII.

The landscape fuch, infpiring perfect ease,
Where Indolence (for fo the wizard hight)
Clofe-hid his Castle mid embowering trees,
That half shut out the beams of Phœbus bright,
And made a kind of checker'd day and night;

A.2.

Mean while, unceafing at the maffy gate,
Beneath a fpacious palm, the wicked wight
Was plac'd, and to his lute, of cruel fate,
And labour harfh, complain'd, lamenting mans' eftate.

VIII.

Thither continual pilgrims crowded ftill,

From all the roads of earth that pass there by ;
For as they chaunc'd to breathe on neighbouring hill,
The freshness of this valley fmote their

eye, And drew them ever and anon more nigh;

Till clustering round th' enchanter false they hung,
Ymolten with his fyren melody,

While o'er th' enfeebling lute his hand he flung,
And to the trembling chords these tempting verses sung :

IX,

"Behold, ye Pilgrims of this earth! behold, "See all but man with unearn'd pleasure gay ; "See her bright robes the butterfly unfold, "Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May ! "What youthful bride can equal her array ? "Who can with her for eafy pleasure vie? "From mead to mead with gentle wing to ftray, "From flower to flower on balmy gales to fly, Is all fhe has to do beneath the radiant sky.

❝ Behold