EPISTLES

FAMILIAR AND HUMOROUS.

EPISTLES FAMILIAR AND HUMOROUS.

IN days, my Lord, when mother Time,
Though now grown old, was in her prime,
When SATURN first began to rule,
And Jove was hardly come from school,
How happy was a country life!
How free from wickedness and strife!
Then each man liv'd upon his farm,
And thought and did no mortal harm ;
On mossy banks fair virgins slept,
As harmless as the flocks they kept;
Then love was all they had to do,

And nymphs were chaste, and swains were true.

But now, whatever poets write,

'Tis sure the case is alter'd quite,