While many a sun-ray through the interstices
A quivering light upon the darkness shed,
Blending in varying hues green night with golden day
How pleasant is the quiet of the copse! ...
Yea, all I see is given by Providence,
The world itself is for its burgher's joy;
Nature's inspired with the general weal,
The highest goodness shews its trace in all.

Friedrich von Hagedorn, too, praises country pleasures in _The
Feeling of Spring_:

Enamelled meadows! freshly decked in green,
I sing your praises constantly;
Nature and Spring have decked you out....
Delightful quiet, stimulant of joy,
How enviable thou art!

This idyllic taste for country life was common at the time,
especially among the so-called 'anacreontists.' Gleim, for instance,
in his _Praise of Country Life_: 'Thank God that I have fled from the
bustle of the world and am myself again under the open sky.'

And in _The Countryman_:

How happy is he who, free from cares, ploughs his father's
fields; every morning the sun shines on the grass in which he
lies.

And Joh. Friedrich von Cronegk: