The man of wealth and pride
Takes up a space that many poor supplied —
Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds,
Space for his horses, equipage and hounds;
The robe that wraps his limbs in silken cloth
Has robbed the neighboring fields of half their growth;
His seat where solitary sports are seen
Indignant spurns the cottage from the green;
Around the world each needful product flies,
For all the luxuries the world supplies,
While thus the land adorned for pleasure all
In barren splendor feebly waits the fall.
— OLIVER GOLDSMITH, The Deserted Village.
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