That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labored mole[29] away;
While self-dependent power can time defy,
As rocks resist the billows and the sky. 430



NOTE.--_The Deserted Village_, published in 1770, was immediately
popular, and to-day few English poems are so widely read or so often
quoted. If the poet had in mind any special place when writing of
"Sweet Auburn," it was probably Lissoy, in Ireland, where he grew up;
but the village of his imagination is lovelier than any actual spot,
and there is no use in hunting for it on the map. See the first note
on _The Traveller_ for remarks on metre, etc.

[1.] Decent, appropriate, fitting. Consult the dictionary for the
present meanings of the word.

[2.] Lawn, a cleared space in a wood.

[3.] One only master, etc. Sometimes, in England or in Ireland a
wealthy man would buy a large tract of land, pull down the house and
turn the entire region into parks or hunting grounds. Such a man was
not necessarily a tyrant. In many cases the villages demolished were
deserted because the inhabitants had left them to seek more comfortable
homes across the ocean.

[4.] Decay, _i.e._ deteriorate, lose their high moral character.
Although this is not the inevitable consequence of great wealth, it is
certainly one of its dangers.