THE

TA A S K.

BOOK VI.

ARGUMENT of the Sixth BOOK.

Bells at a distance.—Their effe Et.— A fine noon in winter,

- A Meltered walk.- Meditation better than books. Our familiarity with the course of nature makes it appear less wonderful than it is. — The transformation that spring effeEts in a shrubbery described.--A mistake concerning the course of nature corrected.-God maintains it by an unremitted act. - The amusements fashionable at this hour of the day reproved.-

Animals kappy, a delightful sight. - Origin of cruelty to animals.--That it is a great crime prived from scripture,

That proof.illustrated by a tale. A line drawn between the lawful and unlawful destruction of them, -Their good and useful properties insisted on.- Apology for the encomiums bestowed by the author on animals.---- Instances of man's extravagant praise of man. Tbe

groans of the creation shall have an end.--A view taken of the restoration of all things. An Invocation and an Invitation of him who shall bring it to pass.The retired man vindicated from the charge of uselessness. Conclusion,

THERE is in fouls a sympathy with sounds,
And as the mind is pitch'd the ear is pleas’d
With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave.
Some chord in unison with what we hear
Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies.
How soft the music of those village bells
Falling at intervals upon the ear
In cadence sweet! now dying all away,
Now pealing loud again and louder still,
Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes on.
With easy force it opens all the cells

R 4

Where

(As in

a

Where mem'ry Nept. Wlierever I have heard
A kindred melody, the scene recurs,
And with it all its pleasures and its pains.
Such comprehensive views the spirit takes,
That in a few short moments I retrace

map
the
voyager

his course)
The windings of my way through many years.
Short as in retrospect the journey seems,
It seem'd not always short ; the rugged path,
And prospect oft so dreary and forlorn,
Mov'd many a figh at its disheart'ning length.
Yet feeling present evils, while the past
Faintly impress the mind, or not at all,
How readily we wish time fpent revok’d,
That we might try the ground again, where once
(Through inexperience as we now perceive)
We miss’d that happiness we might have found !
Some friend is gone, perhaps his son's best friend,
A father, whose authority, in show

When