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Title:  The task: a poem, in six books. By William Cowper, ... To which are added, by the same author, An epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. ... To which are added, ... an epistle ... and the history of John Gilpin.
Author: Cowper, William, 1731-1800.
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Need other physic none to heal th' effectsOf loathfome diet, penury, and cold.Blest he, though undistinguish'd from the crowdBy wealth or dignity, who dwells secureWhere man, by nature fierce, has laid asideHis fierceness, having learnt, though slow to learn,The manners and the arts of civil life.His wants, indeed, are many; but supplyIs obvious; placed within the easy reachOf temp'rate wishes and industrious hands.Here virtue thrives as in her proper soil;Not rude and surly, and beset with thorns,And terrible to sight, as when she springs,(If e'er she spring spontaneous) in remoteAnd barb'rous climes, where violence prevails,And strength is lord of all; but gentle, kind,By culture tam'd, by liberty refresh'd,And all her fruits by radiant truth matur'd.War and the chace engross the savage whole.0