All on the margin of fome flow'ry stream,
To fpread his careless limbs amid the cool
Of plantane fhades, and to the lift'ning deer
The tale of flighted vows and love's disdain
Refounds, foft warbling, all the live-long day:
Confenting Zephyr fighs; the weeping rill
Joins in his plaint, melodious; mute the groves;
And hill and dale with all their echoes mourn.
Such and fo various are the tafles of men.

CHAP. XXVI.

AKENSIDE.

THE PLEASURES ARISING FROM A CULTIVATED IMAGINATION.

O BLEST of Heav'n, whom not the languid fongs

Of Luxury, the firen! not the bribes

Of fordid wealth, nor all the gaudy spoils
Of pageant Honour, can feduce to leave

Thofe ever-blooming fweets, which from the ftore
Of Nature, fair Imagination culls

To charm th' enliven'd foul! What though not all
Of mortal offspring can attain the height
Of envied life; though only few possess
Patrician treasures or imperial ftate:
Yet Nature's care, to all her children just,
With richer treasures and an ampler state
Endows at large whatever happy man
Will deign to use them.
The rural honours his.

His the city's pomp,
Whate'er adorns

The princely dome, the column and the arch,
The breathing marbles and the fculptur'd gold,,
Beyond the proud poffeffor's narrow claim,
His tuneful breaft enjoys. For him the spring
Diftils her dews, and from the filken gem
G

Its lucid leaves unfolds; for him the hand
Of autumn tinges every fertile branch
With blooming gold, and blushes like the morn.
Each paffing hour fheds tribute from her wing;
And still new beauties meet his lonely walk,
And loves unfelt attract him. Not a breeze
Flies o'er the meadow, not a cloud imbibes
The fetting fun's effulgence, not a strain
From all the tenants of the warbling fhade
Afcends, bat whence his bofom can partake
Fresh pleasure, unreprov'd. Nor then partakes
Fresh pleasure only: for th' attentive mind,
By this harmonious action on her pow'rs,
Becomes herself harmonious: wont fo oft
In outward things to meditate the charm
Of facred order, foon fhe feeks at home
To find a kindred order, to exert
Within herfelf this elegance of love,

This fair infpir'd delight: her temper'd pow'rs
Refine at length, and ev'ry paffion wears
A chafter, milder, more attractive mien.
But if to ampler profpects, if to gaze
On Nature's form, where negligent of all
Thefe leffer graces, the affumes the port
Of that eternal Majefty that weighed

The world's foundations; if to thefe the Mind
Exalts her daring eye; then mightier far
Will be the change, and nobler.

Would the forms

Of fervile cuftom cramp her gen'rous pow'rs?
Would ferdid pol.cies, the barb'rous growth
Of ignorance and rap ne, bow her down
To tame purfuits, to indolence and fear?
Lo! the appeals to Nature, to the winds
And rolling waves, the fan's unwearfed courfe,
The elements and feasons: all declare

For what th' eternal Maker has ordain'd
The pow'rs of man: we feel within ourselves
His energy divine: he tells the heart,

He meant, he made us to behold and love
What he beholds and loves, the general orb
Of life and being; to be great like him,
-Beneficent and active. Thus the men

Whom Nature's works can charm, with God himself
Hold converfe; grow familiar, day by day,
With his conceptions; act upon his plan;
And form to his, the relish of their fouls.

CHAP. XXVII.

SLAVERY.

HARK! heard ye not that piercing cry,
Which fhook the waves and rent the sky!

AKENSIDE.

E'en now, e'en now, on yonder Western fhores
Weeps pale Defpair, and writhing Anguish roars:
E'en now in Afric's groves with hideous yell
Fierce SLAVERY ftalks, and flips the dogs of Hell;
From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound,
And fable nations tremble at the found! -
-YE BANDS OF SENATORS! whofe fuffrage sways
Britannia's realms, whom either Ind obeys;
Who right the injur'd, and reward the brave,
Stretch your ftrong arm, for ye have power to fave!
Thron'd in the vaulted heart, his dread refort,
Inexorable CONSCIENCE holds his court;
With ftill finall voice the plots of Guilt alarms,
Bares his mask'd brow, his lifted hand difarms;
But, wrapp'd in night with terrours all his own,
He fpeaks in thunder, when the deed is done.
Hear him, ye Senates! hear this truth fublime,

HE WHO ALLOWS OPPRESSION SHARES THE CRIME.'

No radiant fearl, which crefted Fortune wears,
No gem, that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears,
Not the bright ftars, which Night's blue arch adorn,
Nor rifing funs that gild the vernal morn,

Shine with fuch luftre as the tear that breaks
For other's wee down Virtue's manly cheeks.

DARWIN.

BOOK IV.

ARGUMENTATIVE PIECES.

CHAP. I.

ON ANGER.

QUESTION. WHETHER Anger ought to be fuppreffed entirely, or only to be confined within the

bounds of moderation.

THOSE who maintain that refentment is blamable only in the excefs, fupport their opinion with fuch arguments as these :

SINCE Anger is natural and useful to man, entirely to banish it from our breast, would be an equally foolish and vain attempt: for as it is difficult, and next to impoffible, to oppofe nature with fuccefs; fo it were imprudent, if we had it in our power, to caft away the weapons with which fhe has furnished us for our defence. The best armour against injustice is a proper degree of spirit, to repel the / wrongs that are done, or defigned against us: but if we diveft ourselves of all refentment, we fhall perhaps prove too irrefolute and languid, both in refifting the attacks of in. juftice, and inflicting punishment upon thofe who have committed it. We fhall therefore fink into contempt, and, by the tameness of our fpirit, fhall invite the malicious to abufe and affront us. Nor will others fail to deny us the regard which is due from them, if once they think us incapable of refentment. To remain unmoved at grofs in