16

No Peasant had pin'd at his lot,
Tho' new fences the lone Heath enclose:
For, alas! the blest days are forgot,
When poor Men had their Sheep and their Cows.
Still had Labour been blest with Content,
Still Competence happy had been,
Nor Indigence utter'd a plaint,
Had Avarice spar'd but the Green.

17

Not Avarice itself could be mov'd
By desire of a morsel so small:
It could not be lucre he lov'd;
But to rob the poor folk of their all.
He in wantonness ope'd his wide jaws,
As a Shark may disport with the Fry;
Or a Lion, when licking his paws,
May wantonly snap at a Fly.

18

Could there live such an envious Man,
Who endur'd not the halcyon scene?
When the infantine Peasantry ran,
And roll'd on the daisy-deck'd Green:
Ah! sure 'twas fell Envy's despite,
Lest Indigence tasted of Bliss,