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letfach anxious moments feel,
A friendly aids of steel;
simport the diftant cane,
ely the monarch of the main.
At the foul be warp'd afide
Baton, prejudice, and pride?
Imty of heart I call
The word deformity of all.
Your car to body are confin'd;
Feiquity of mind.
Why adorn the better part?
The theme for art.
For what is form, or what is face,
Al's index, or its cafe?
take a fimile at hand,
Ce the mental foil to land.

ds be till'd with annual care, ans le fallow ev'ry year?

the crop depends on you, the culture which is due: ed, and drefs the foil, all repay your toil. 1ds refemble trees ift agrees), gglers of your vine, purple clusters fhine. nows that fruitful life

Ilutary knife: Freyluxuriant shoot Com, or farves the fruit. ia Roman times,

Teach them to fpurn inglorious reft,
And roufe the hero in their breast:
Painty Creffy's vanquish'd field anew,
Their fouls thall kindle at the view;
Refolv'd to conquer or to fall,
When Liberty and Britain call.
Thus fhall they rule the crimson plain,
Or hurl their thunders thro' the main;
Gain with their blood, nor grudge the coft,
What their degen'rate fires have loft:
The laurel thus fhall grace their brow,
As Churchill's once, or Warren's now.
One fummer's evening, as I ftray'd
Along the filent moon-light glade,
With thefe reflections in my breast,
Beneath an oak I funk to reft;
A gentle flumber intervenes,
And fancy drefs'd inftructive fcenes.
Methought a fpacious road I fpied,
And ftately trees adorn'd its fide;
Frequented by a giddy crowd
Of thoughtless mortals, vain and loud;
Who tripp'd with jocund heel along,
And bade me join their fmiling throng.

Woke Britain, groan'd with crimes,

acred truth,

are the bane of youth;
ch pursuits attend,
in forrows end:
advent'rer gains,
nce, and pains.
, the Roman page,
ne revere the fage;
eir midnight oil,
r nerves by manly toil.
By grow, like Temple, wife;
stare Lockes and Newtons rife;
Cets to wield the lance,

fom the chains of France.
You fons betimes forego
rous paths where pleafures grow,
young mind is Folly's flave;
Wir erty virtue finds a grave.

bght character be nam'd, For for valour fam'd.

youths to fcience prone? immortal Bacon fhone! g meaner joys to kings, a contemplation's wings; far fields of nature o'er, mortal trod before : e vaft capacious plan angel more than m...! Dee of martial fame in pire? je fair, the gen'rous fire; • Peraus.

I ftraight obey'd-perfuafion hung
Like honey on the fpeaker's tongue :
A cloudlefs fun improv'd the day,
And pinks and rofes ftrew'd our way.
Now as our journey we pursue,
A beauteous fabric rofe to view;
A ftately dome, and fweetly grac'd
With ev'ry ornament of taste.
This ftructure was a female's claim,
And Pleafure was the Monarch's name

The hall we enter'd uncontroul'd,
And faw the queen enthron'd on gold:
Arabian fweets perfum'd the ground,
And laughing Cupid's flutter'd round;
A flowing veft adorn'd the fair,

And flow'ry chaplets wreath'd her hair.
Fraud taught the queen a thoufand wiles,
A thousand foft infidious fmiles;
Love taught her lifping tongue to speak,
And form'd the dimple in her cheel:;
The lily and the damask rofe
The tincture of her face compofe;
Nor did the god of wit difdain
To mingle with the shining train.
Her vot'ries flock from various parts,
And chiefly youth refign'd their hearts;
The old in fparing numbers prefs'd,
But awkward devotees at best!

Now let us range at large,' we cried,
Thro' all the garden's hoafted pride.'
Here ja mines fpread the filver flow'r,
To deck the wall, or weave the bow'r;
The woodbines mix in am'rous play,
And breathe their fragrant lives away.
Here rifing myrties form a fhade;

here rofes blufb, and fcent the glade;
The orange, with a vernal face,
Wears ev'ry rich autumnal grace;

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While the young bloffoms here unfold,
There fhines the fruit like pendent gold.
Citrons their balmy fweets exhale,
And triumph in the diftant gale.
Now fountains, murm'ring to the fong,
Roll their tranflucent ftreams along;
Thro' all the aromatic groves
The faithful turtles coo their loves;
The lark afcending pours his notes,
And linnets fwell their rapt'rous throats.
Pleasure, imperial fair! how gay
Thy empire, and how wide thy fway!
Enchanting queen, how foft thy reign!
How man, fond man! implores thy chain!
Yet thine each meretricious art,
That weakens and corrupts the heart:
The childish toys, and wanton page,
Which fink and proftitute the stage!
The masquerade, that just offence
To virtue, and reproach to fenfe!
The midnight dance, the mantling bowl,
And all that diffipate the foul;
All that to ruin man combine,
Yes, pecious harlot! all are thine.

Whence fprung th' accurfed luft of play,
Which beggars thoufands in a day?
Speak, forc'refs, fpeak (for thou canst tell),
Who call'd the treach'rous card from hell:
Now man profanes his reas'ning pow'rs,
Frofanes fweet friendfhip's facred hours;
Abandon'd to inglorious ends,
And faithlefs to himself and friends;
A dupe to ev'ry artful knave,
To ev'ry abject with a flave:
But who against himself combines,
Abets his enemy's defigns.
When rapine meditates a blow,
He thares the guilt who aids the foe.
Is man a thief who fteals my pelf—
How great his theft who robs himself?
Is man, who gulls his friend, a cheat-
How heinous, then, is felf-deceit ?
Is murder juftly deem'd a crime-
How black his guilt who murders time!
Should cuftom plead, as custom will,
Grand precedents to palliate ill;
Shall modes and forms avail with me,
When reafon difavows the plea?
Who gaines is felon of his wealth,
His time, his liberty, his health:
Virtue forfakes his fordid mind,
And Honour fcorns to ftay behind.
From man when thefe bright cherubs part,
Ah, what's the poor deferted heart!
A favage wild that fhocks the fight!
Or chaos, and impervious night!
Each gen'rous principle destroy'd,
And dæmons crowd the frightful void:
Shall Siam's elephant fupply
The baneful defolating die!
Against the honelt fylvan's will,
You taught his iv'ry tufk to kill.
Heaven, fond its favours to difpenfe,
Gave him that weapon for defence:

That weapon for his guard defign'd,
You render'd fatal to mankind.
He plann'd no death for thoughtless youth
You gave the venom to his tooth.
Blufh, tyrant, blush! for, oh! 'tis true,
That no fell ferpent bites like you.

The guests were order'd to depart;
Reluctance fat on every heart:
A porter fhew'd a diff'rent door,
Not the fair portal known before.
The gates, methought, were open'd wide;
The crowds defcended in a tide:
But oh! ye heavens, what vaft surprise
Struck the advent'rers' frighted eyes!
A barren heath before us lay,

And gathering clouds obfcur'd the day;
The darkne's rofe in fmoky fpires;
The lightnings flash'd their livid fires;
Loud peals of thunder rent the air,
While vengeance chill'd our hearts with fear
Five ruthless tyrants fway'd the plain,
And triumph'd o'er the mangled flain.
Here fat Diftafte, with fickly mien,
And more than half devour'd with spleen:
There flood Remorfe with thought oppreft,
And vipers feeding on his breaft :
Then Want, dejected, pale, and thin,
With bones juft ftarting thro' his fkin;
A ghattly fiend!-and clofe behind,
Difeafe his aching head reclin'd;
His everlafting thirst confefs'd
The fires which rag`d within his breast:
Death clos'd the train! the hideous form
Smil'd, unrelenting, in the ftorm;
When straight a doleful fhriek was heard:
I 'woke the vifion difappear'd.

Let not the unexperienc'd boy
Deny that pleafures will deftroy;
Or fay that dreams are vain and wild,
Like fairy tales to please a child.
Important hints the wife may reap
From fallies of the foul in fleep:
And fince there's meaning in my dream,
The moral merits your esteem.

§ 113. Vifion III. Health. ATTEND my Vifions, thoughtless youths, Ere long you 'li think them weighty truths; Prudent it were to think fo now,

Ere age has filver'd o'er your brow:
For he, who at his early years
Has fown in vice, fhall reap in tears.
If folly has poffefs'd his prime,
Difenfe thall gather ftrength in time:
Poifon fhall rage in ev'ry vein;
Nor penitence dilute the ftain:
And when each hour shall urge his fate,
Thought, like the doctor, comes too late,
The fubject of my fong is Health,
A good fuperior far to wealth.
Can the young mind diftruft its worth?
Confult the monarchs of the earth:
Imperial czars, and fultans, own
No gem fo bright that decks their throne;

Each

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to widom make pretence,
to be thought a man of fenfe?
empace (always friend to fame)
ready hand direct your aim!
An archer in the dark,

rand m fuft will mifs the mark:.
Fy who fight her golden rules,
Is volume ftand for fools.
, unadorn`d by art,

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known to reach the heart: tantrektrive to raise my theme teenery of a dream.

my slumbers, sweet my reft, the rant's on the breast;

ftver on the wing,

the genial fpring, blaze of light,

to my fight.

Andicape I defcried,

the robes of fummer pride;

Teds adorn'd the floping hills; getter'd with their tinkling rills; the Becy mothers tray'd,

and their sportive lambkins play'd.
to a mum ring brook I faw
e cottage, thatch'd with itraw;
den, that fupplied

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for fe, and none for pride:
evall'd thro' ev'ry part;
re of nature than of art.

hoa tweet, calm, unenvied feat!'

leis'd the fair retreat;

would I pafs my remnant days,

a to cenfure or to praife; the world, and be forgot,

She claim'd the cottage for her own:
To Health a cottage is a throne.

The annals fay (to prove her worth)
The Graces folemniz'd her birth.
Garlands of various flow'rs they wrought,
The orchard's blufhing pride they brought:
Hence in her face the lily fpeaks,

And hence the rofe which paints her checks;
The cherry gave her lips to glow;
Her eyes were debtors to the floe;
And, to complete the lovely fair,
'Tis faid the chefnut ftain'd her hair.
The virgin was averfe to courts,
But often feen in rural sports:
When in her roly veft the morn
Walks o'er the dew-befpangled lawn,
The nymph is firft to form the race,
Or wind the horn, and lead the chace,
Sudden I heard a fhouting train;
Glad acclamations fill'd the plain;
Unbounded joy improv'd the scene,
For Health was loud proclaim'd a queen.

Two fmiling cherubs grac'd her throne
(To modern courts, I fear, unknown):
One was the nymph that loves the light,
Fair Innocence, array'd in white;
With fifter Peace in clofe embrace,
And heaven all opening in her face.
The reign was long, the empire great,,
And Virtue m.nister of ftate.

e describes his vettal's lot.' thus I mus`d, a beauteous maid from a thicket's neighbouring thade; Hnton's gallery can boat, Halen paint, lo fair a toast:

In other kingdoms, ev'ry hour,
You hear of Vice preferr'd to power:
Vice was a perfect ftranger here;
No knaves engrois'd the royal ear:
No fools obtain'd this monarch's grace;
Virtue difpos'd of ev'ry place.

What fickly appetites are ours,
Still varying with the varying hours!
And tho' from good to bad we range,
No matter' fays the fool, 'tis change.

Her fubjects now exprefs'd apace
Diffatisfaction in their face;

Some view the ftate with Envy's eye;
Some were difpleas'd, they knew not why;
When Faction, ever bold and vain,
With rigour tax'd their monarch's reign.
Thus, thould an angel from above,
Fraught with benevolence and love,
Defcend to earth, and here impart
Important truths to mend the heart,
Would not th' inftructive gueft difpenfe
With pattion, appetite, and fenfe,
We should his heavenly lore defpife,
And fend him to his former skies.

A dang'rous hoftile pow'r arole

To Health, whofe household were her foest

A harlot's loofe attire the wore,
And Luxury the name the bore.
This princels of unbounded sway,
Whom Alia's fofter fons obey,
Made war against the queen of Health
Afhifted by the troops of Wealth.

* In allufion to 2 Kings, xviii. 21.

The queen was first to take the field,
Ari'd with her helmet and her shield;
'Temper'd with fuch fuperior art,
That both were proof to ev'ry dart.
Two warlike chief's approach'd the green,
And wond'rous fav'rites with the queen;
Both were of Amazonian race;
Both high in merit and in place.
Here Refolution march'd, whose foul
No fear could shake, no pow'r controul;
The heroine wore a Roman vest;
A lion's heart inform'd her breast.
There prudence fhone, whofe bofom wrought
With all the various plans of Thought;
'Twas hers to bid the troops engage,
And teach the battle where to rage.

And now the Syren's armies prefs;
Their van was headed by Excefs;
The mighty wings that form'd the fide,
Commanded by that giant Pride;
While Sickness, and her fifters, Pain
And Poverty, the centre gain:
Repentance, with a brow fevere,
And Death were ftation'd in the rear!

Health rang'd her troops with matchless art,
And acted the defenfive part:
Her army pofted on a hill,
Plainly bespoke fuperior skill.

Hence were difcover'd, through the plain,
The motions of the hoftile train:
While Prudence, to prevent furprise,
Oft fallied with her trufty fpies;
Explor'd each ambuscade below,
And reconnoitred well the foe.
Afar when Luxury defcried
Inferior force by art fupplied,
The Syren fpake- Let Fraud prevail,
Since all my num'rous hofts must fail;
Henceforth hoftilities fhall ceafe;
I'll fend to Health and offer peace.'

Straight the dispatch'd, with pow'rs complete, Pleafure, her minifter, to treat.

This wicked ftrumpet topp'd her part,

And fow'd fedition in the heart!

Thro' ev'ry troop the poison ran;
All were infected to a man.
The wary generals were won
By Pleasure's wiles, and both undone.
Jove held the troops in high difgrace,
And bade difeafes blaft the race;
Look'd on the queen with melting eyes,
And fnatch'd his darling to the fkies:
Who ftill regards thofe wifer few,
That dare her dictates to purfue.
For where her ftricter law prevails,
Tho' paffion prompts or vice affails,
Long fhall they cloudlefs ikies behold,
And their calm fun-fet bem with gold.

§ 114. Vifion. IV. Content.
MAN is deceiv'd by outward fhew-
Tis a plain homeípun truth I know;
The fraud prevails at ev'ry age,
"o fays the fchool boy and the Life:

Yet ftill we hug the dear deceit,
And still exclaim against the cheat.
But whence this inconfiftent part?
Say, moralifts, who know the heart:
If you'll this labyrinth pursue,
I'll go before, and find the clue.

I dream'd ('twas on a birth-day night) A fumptuous palace role to fight: The builder had, thro' ev'ry part, Obferv'd the chafteft rules of art; Raphael and Titian had difplay'd All the full force of light and thade: Around the liveried fervants wait; An aged porter kept the gate.

As I was traverting the hall,

Where Bruffels looms adorn'd the wall
(Whofe tap try fhews, without my aid,
A nun is no fuch useless maid),
A graceful perfon came in view

(His form, it feems, is known to few);
His drefs was unadorn'd with lace,
But charms! a thousand in his face.

This, Sir, your property?' I cried;
Mafter and manfion coincide:
Where all, indeed, is truly great,
And proves that blifs may dwell with flate;
Pray, Sir, indulge a ftranger's claim,
And grant the favour of your name.'
Content!' the lovely form replied;
But think not here that I relide:
'Here lives a courtier, bafe and fly;
An open, honeft ruftic, I.

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Our tafte and manners difagree;
His levee boafts no charms for me:
For titles, and the fimiles of kings,
To me are cheap, unheeded things.
('Tis virtue can alone impart
The patent of a ducal heart:
Unlefs this herald fpeaks him great,
What fhall avail the glare of state?)

Thofe fecret charms are my delight,
Which thine remote from public fight-
Paffions fubdued, defires at reft:
And hence his chaplain thares my breast.
There was a time (his grace can tell)
I knew the duke exceeding well;
Knew ev'ry fecret of his heart;
In truth, we never were apart:
But when the court became his end,
He turn'd his back upon his friend.
One day I call'd upon his grace,
Juft as the duke had got a place:
I thought (but thought amifs, 'tis clear)
I fhould be welcome to the peer;
Yes, welcome to a man in pow`r;
And fo I was-for half an hour:
But he grew weary of his gueft,
And foon difcarded me his breaft;
Upbraided me with want of merit,
But most for poverty of spirit.

You relish not the great man's lot!
Come, hatten to my humbler cot.
Think me not partial to the great,
I'm a fworn foe to pride and itate!

No

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Much lefs, by pride or int'reft drawn,
Sigh for the mitre and the lawn,
Obferve the fecrets of my art,
I'll fundamental truths impart;
If you 'll my kind advice pursue,
I'll quit my hut, and dwell with you.

The paffions are a num'rous crowd,
Imperious, pofitive, and loud:
Curb thefe licentious fons of itrife;
Hence chiefly rife the ftorms of life:
If they grow mutinous, and rave,
They are thy mafters, thou their flave.
Regard the world with cautious eye,
Nor raise your expectation high.
See that the balanc'd fcales be fuch,
You neither fear nor hope too much :
For difappointment's not the thing;
'Tis pride and paffion point the fting,
Life is a fea, where ftorms must rise;
'Tis folly talks of cloudless skies;
He who contracts his fwelling fail,
Eludes the fury of the gale.

Be ftill, nor anxious thoughts employ;
Diftruft embitters present joy :
On God for all events depend;

You cannot want when God's your friend.
Weigh well your part, and do your best;
Leave to your Maker all the reit.

The hand which form'd thee in the womb,
Guides from the cradle to the tomb.
Can the fond mother flight her boy?
Can fhe forget her prattling joy?
Say, then, thall fov'reign love defert
The humble and the honeft heart?
Heaven may not grant thee all thy mind;
Yet fay not thou, that Heav'ns unkind.
God is alike both good and wife
In what he grants and what denies:
Perhaps, what Goodness gives to-day,
To-morrow Goodness takes away.

You fay, that troubles intervene;
That forrows darken half the scene."
True-and this confequence you see,
The world was ne'er design'd for thee;
You 're like a paffenger below,
That stays perhaps a night or fo;
But till his native country lies
Beyond the bound'ries of the skies.

Of Heaven afk virtue, wisdom, health,
But never let thy pray'r be wealth.
If food be thine (tho' little gold),
And raiment to repel the cold;
Such as may Nature's wants fuffice,
Not what from pride and folly'rife;
If foft the motions of thy foul,

And a calm confcience crown the whole;
Add but a friend to all this ftore,
You can't in reafon with for more:

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