“Sooth't were a pleasant life to lead,
With nothing in the world to do
But just to blow a shepherd's reed,
The silent season thro'
And just to drive a flock to feed,—
Sheep—quiet, fond and few!”

"Dolce far Niente", Stanza 1, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

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Samuel Laman Blanchard 40
British author and journalist 1804–1845

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