The contrast

In London I never knew what I'd be at,

Enraptured with this, and enchanted by that,

I'm wild with the sweets of variety's plan,

And life seems a blessing too happy for man.

But the country, Lord help me!, sets all matters right,

So calm and composing from morning to night;

Oh! it settles the spirit when nothing is seen

But an ass on a common, a goose on a green.

Your magpies and stockdoves may flirt among trees,

And chatter their transports in groves, if they please:

But a house is much more to my taste than a tree,

And for groves, O! a good grove of chimneys for me.

In the country, if Cupid should find a man out,

The poor tortured victim mopes hopeless about,

But in London, thank Heaven! our peace is secure,

Where for one eye to kill, there's a thousand to cure.

I know love's a devil, too subtle to spy,

That shoots through the soul, from the beam of an eye;

But in London these devils so quick fly about,

That a new devil shill drives an old devil out.