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Loose scarfs to fall athwart thy weeds, Long palls, draws hearfes, cover'd feeds, And plumes of black, that, as they tread; Nod o'er the 'fcutcheons of the dead?

Nor can the parted body know, Nor wants the foul thefe forms of woe; As men who long in prifon dwell, With lamps that glimmer round the cell, Whene'er their fuffering years are run, Spring forth to greet the glittering sun: Such joy, though far transcending fenfe, Have pious fouls at parting hence. On earth, and in the body plac'd, A few, and evil years, they wafte: But when their chains are cast aside, See the glad fcene unfolding wide, Clap the glad wing, and tower away, And mingle with the blaze of day.

HYMN TO CONTENTMENT. LOVELY, lafting peace of mind! Sweet delight of human kind! Heavenly born, and bred on high, To crown the favourites of the fky With more of happinefs below, Than victors in a triumph know! Whither, O whither aft thou fled, To lay thy meek contented head; What happy region dost thou please To make the feat of calnis and ease!

Ambition fearches all its fphere
Of pomp and state, to meet thee there.
Encreasing avarice would find
Thy prefence in its gold infhrin'd.
The bold adventurer ploughs his way,
Through rocks amidst the foaming sea,
To gain thy love; and then perceives
Thou wert not in the rocks and waves.
The filent heart, which grief affails,
Treads foft and lonefome o'er the vales,
Sees daifies open, rivers run,
And feeks (as I have vainly done)
Amusing thought; but learns to know
v That folitude's the nurfe of woe. I
No real happiness is found

In trailing purple o'er the ground
Or in a foul exalted high,
To range the circuit of the fky,
Converse with stars above, and know |
All nature in its forms below;
The reft it fecks, in feeking dies,
And doubts at laft, for knowledge, rife.
Lovely, lafting peace, appear!
This world itself, if thou art here,
Is once again with Eden bleft,
And man contains it in his breast.
'Twas thus, as under fhade I ftood,
I fung my wishes to the wood,
And, loft in thought, no more perceiv'd
The branches whifper as they wav'd:
It seem'd as all the quiet place
Confefs'd the prefence of his grace.

When thus fhe spoke-Go rule thy will,
Bid thy wild paffions all be still,
Know God-and bring thy heart to know,
know
The joys which from religion flow:
Then every grace fhall prove its gueft,
And I'll be there to crown the rest.`
Oh! by yonder moffy feat,
In my hours of fweet retreat,
Might I thus my foul employ,
With fenfe of gratitude and joy:
Rais'd as ancient prophets were,
In heavenly vifion, praife, and prayer;
Pleasing all men, hurting none,
Pleas'd and blefs'd with God alone:
Then while the gardens take my fight,
With all the colours of delight;
While filver waters glide along,
To please my ear, and court my song :
I'll lift my voice, and tune my string,
And thee, great fource of nature, fing.
The fun that walks his airy way,
To light the world, and give the day;
The moon that fhines with borrow'd light;
The stars that gild the gloomy night;
The feas that roll unnumber'd waves 6;
The wood that fpreads its fhady leaves;
The field whofe ears conceal the grain,
The yellow treasure of the plain;
All of these, and all I fee,
Should be fung, and fung by me :
They speak their Maker as they can,
But want and afk the tongue of inan.

Go fearch among yður idle dreams,
Your bufy or your vain extremes;
And find a life of equal bliss,
Or own the next
gun in this.

THE HERMIT.

FAR in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a reverend hermit grew;
The mofs his bed, the cave his humble cell,
His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well:
Remote from men, with God he pafs'd the days,
Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.

A life so sacred, such serene repose,
Seem'd heaven itfelf, till one fuggeftion rofe;
That vice fhould triumph, virtue vice obey,
This fprung fome doubt of Providence's fway:
His hopes no more a certain profpect boast,
And all the tenour of his foul is loft:
So when a fimooth expanfe receives impreft
Calm nature's image on its watery breaft,
Down bend the banks, the trees depending grow,
And skies beneath with anfwering colours glow:
But if a ftone the gentle fea divide,
Swift ruffling circles curl on every fide,
And glimmering fragments of a broken fun,
Banks, trees, and skies, in thick disorder run.

To clear this doubt, to know the world by fight, To find if books, or swains, report it right, (For yet by swains alone the world he knew, Whofe feet came wandering o'er the nightly dew)

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He quits his cell; the pilgram ftaff he bore,
And fix'd the fcallop in his hat before;
Then with the fun a rifing journey went,
Sedate to think, and watching each event.

The morn was wafted in the pathlefs grafs,
And long and lonesome was the wild to pass;
But when the fouthern fun had warm'd the day,
A youth came posting o'er a croffing way;
His raiment decent, his complexion fair,
And foft in graceful ringlets wav'd his hair.
Then near approaching, Father, hail! he cry'd,
And hail, my fon, the reverend fire reply'd;
Words follow'd words, from queftion answer
flow'd,

And talk of various kind deceiv'd the road;
Till each with other pleas'd, and loth to part,
While in their age they differ, join in heart.
Thus ftands an aged elm in ivy bound,
Thus youthful ivy clafps an elm around.

Now funk the fun; the clofing hour of day
Came onward, mantled o'er with fober grey;
Nature in filence bid the world repofe;
When near the road a stately palace rose :
There, by the moon, through ranks of trees they
Whofe verdure crown'd their floping fides of grafs.
It chanc'd the noble master of the dome

[pafs,

Still made his houfe the wandering franger's

home:

Yet ftill the kindnefs, from a thirst of praife,
Frov'd the vain flourish of expenfive eafe.
The pair arrive the livery'd fervants wait;
Their lord receives them at the pompous gate.
The table groans with coftly piles of food,
And all is more than hospitably good.
Then led to reft, the day's long toil they drown,
Deep funk in fleep, and filk, and heaps of down.

At length 'tis morn, and at the dawn of day,
Along the wide canals the zephyrs play :
Fresh o'er the gay parterres the breezes creep,
And shake the neighbouring wood to banish sleep.
Up rife the guests, obedient to the call:
An early banquet deck'd the fplendid hall;
Rich lufcious wine a golden goblet grac'd,
Which the kind master forc'd the guests to taste.
Then, pleas'd and thankful, from the porch they
gos

And, but the landlord, none had caufe of woe;
His cup was vanifh'd; for in fecret guife
The younger guest purloin'd the glittering prize:
As one who fpies a ferpent in his way,
Gliftening and basking in the fummer ray,
Disorder'd ftops to fhun the danger near,
Then walks with faintness

fear;

OD,

and looks with

So feem'd the fire; when far upon the road,
The fhining spoil his wiley partner fhow'd.
He ftop'd with filence, walk'd with trembling
heart,

And much he wish'd, but durft not ask to part:
Murmuring he lifts his eyes, and thinks it hard,
That generous actions meet a bafe reward.

While thus they pafs, the fun his glory fhrouds, The changing fkies hang out their fable clouds; A found in air prefag'd approaching rain, And beasts to covert fcud across the plain.

Warn'd by the figns, the wandering pair retreat,
To feek for fhelter at a neighbouring feat.
'Twas built with turrets, on a rising ground,
And strong, and large, and unimprov'd around;
Its owner's temper, timorous and fevere,
Unkind and griping, caus'd a defert there.

As near the mifer's heavy doors they drew,
Fierce rifing gufts with fudden fury blew;
The nimble lightning mix'd with showers began,
And o'er their heads loud rolling thunders ran.
Here long they knock, but knock or call in vain,
Driven by the wind, and batter'd by the rain.
At length fome pity warm'd the master's breaft
('Twas then his threshold first receiv'd a guest);
Slow creeking turns the door with jealous care,
And half he welcomes in the fhivering pair;
One frugal faggot lights the naked walls,
And nature's fervour through their limbs recalls:
Bread of the coarfest fort, with cager wine,
(Each hardly granted) ferv'd them both to dine;
And when the tempeft first appear'd to cease,
A ready warning bid them part in peace.

With still remark the pondering hermit view'd, In one fo rich, a life fo poor and rude; And why should such, within himself he cry'd, Lock the loft wealth a thousand want befide? But what new marks of wonder foon took place, In every fettling feature of his face; When from his veft the young companion bore That cup, the generous landlor'd own'd before, And paid profufely with the precious bowl The ftinted kindness of this churlish foul.

But now the clouds in airy tumult fly; The fun emerging opes an azure sky; A fresher green the smelling leaves display, And, glittering as they tremble, cheer the day: The weather courts them from the poor retreat, And the glad mafter bolts the wary gate.

While hence they walk, the pilgrim's bofon
wrought

With all the travel of uncertain thought;
His partner's acts without their cause appear,
'Twas there a vice, and feem'd a madness here:
Detefting that, and pitying this, he goes,
Loft and confounded with the various fhows.

Now night's dim fhades again involve the sky,
Again the wanderers want a place to lie,
Again they fearch, and find a lodging nigh.
The foil improv'd around, the mansion neat,
And neither poorly low, nor idly great:
It feem'd to speak its master's turn of mind,
Content, and not to praise, but virtue kind.

Hither the walkers turn with weary feet,
Then blefs the manfion, and the mafter greet:
Their grecting fair, beftow'd with modeft guise,
The courteous mafter hears, and thus replies:

Without a vain, without a grudging heart,, To him who gives us all, I yield a part; From him you come, for him accept it here, A frank and sober, more than coftly cheer, He spoke, and bid the welcome table spread, Then talk of virtue till the time of bed, When the grave household round his hall repair, Warn'd by a bell, and clofe the hours with

prayer,

At length the world, renew'd by calm repose, Was ftrong for toil, the dappled morn arose; Before the pilgrims part, the younger crept, Near the clos'd cradle where an infant flept, And writh'd his neck: the landlord's little pride, Oftrange return! grew black, and gafp'd, and dy'd.

Horror of horrors! what his only fon!

How look'd our hermit when the fact was done;
Not hell, though hell's black jaws in funder part,
And breathe blue fire, could more affault his heart.
Confus'd, and ftruck with filence at the decd,
He flies, but trembling fails to fly with speed.
His steps the youth pursues; the country lay
Perplex'd with roads, a fervant show'd the way:
A river cross'd the path; the paffage o'er
Was nice to find; the fervant trod before;
Long arms of oaks an open bridge fupply'd,
And deep the waves beneath the bending glide.
The youth, who seem'd to watch a time to fin,
Approach'd the careless guide, and thrust him in;
Plunging he falls, and riting lifts his head,
Then flashing turns, and finks among the dead.
Wild, fparkling rage inflames the father's eyes,
He burfts the bands of fear, and madly cries,
Detefted wretch-But fcarce his fpeech began,
When the strange partner feem'd no longer man :
His youthful face grew more ferenely sweet;
His robe turn'd white, and flow'd upon his feet;
Fair rounds of radiant points invest his hair;
Celestial odours breathe through purpled air;
And wings, whofe colours glitter'd on the day,
Wide at his back their gradual plumes difplay.
The form etherial burft upon his fight,
And moves in all the majesty of light.

Though loud at firft the pilgrim's paffion grew,
Sudden he gaz'd, and wist not what to do;
Surprise in fecret chains his words fufpends,
And in a calm his fettling temper ends.
But filence here the beauteous angel broke
(The voice of music ravish'd as he spoke).

Thy prayer, thy praife, thy life to vice un-
known,

In fweet memorial rife before the throne:
Thefe charms, fuccefs in our bright region find,
And force an angel down, to calm thy mind;
For this, commiflion'd, I forfook the fky,
Nay, ceafe to kneel-Thy fellow-fervant I.
Then know the truth of government divine,
And let these fcruples be no longer thine.

The Maker juftly claims that world he made,
In this the right of Providence is laid;
Its facred majefly through all depends
On ufing fecond means to work his ends:
'Tis thus, withdrawn in frate from human eye,
The Power exerts his attributes on high,
Your actions uses nor controls your will,
And bids the doubting fons of men be ftill.

What strange events can ftrike with more
furprise,

Than those which lately struck thy wondering eyes? Yet, taught by thefe, confefs th' Almighty juft, And where you can't unriddle, learn to trust!

The great, vain man, who far'd on coftly food, Whofe life was too luxurious to be good;

|

Who made his ivory stands with goblets shine,
And forc'd his guests to morning draughts of wine,
Has, with the cup, the graceless custom loit,
And still he welcomes, but with lefs of coft.

The mean, fufpicious wretch, whose bolted door Ne'er mov'd in duty to the wandering poor; With him I left the cup, to teach his mind

(That heaven can blefs, if mortals will be kind.)
Conscious of wanting worth, he views the bowl,
And feels compaffion touch his grateful foul.
Thus artists melt the fullen ore of lead,
With heaping coals of fire upon its head ;
In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow,
And loose from drofs the filver runs below.

Long had our pious friend in virtue trod,
But now the child half wean'd his heart from God;
(Child of his age) for him he liv'd in pain,
And meafur'd back his fteps to earth again.
To what exceffes had his dotage run?
But God, to fave the father, took the fon.
To all but thee, in fits he seem'd to go,
(And 'twas my miniftry to deal the blow)
The poor fond parent, humbled in the duft,
Now owns in tears the punishment was juft.

But now had all his fortune felt a wrack,
Had that falfe fervant fped in safety back;
This night his treafur'd heaps he meant to fteal,
And what a fund of charity would fail !
Thus Heaven inftructs thy mind: this trial o'er,
Depart in peace, refign, and fin no more.

On founding pinions here the youth withdrew、
The fage ftood wondering as the feraph flew.
Thus look'd Elisha when, to mount on high,
His master took the chariot of the fky;
The fiery pomp afcending left to view;
The prophet gaz'd, and wifh'd to follow too.
The bending hermit here a prayer begun,
Lord! as in heaven, on earth thy will be done :
Then, gladly turning, fought his ancient place,
And pafs'd a life of piety and peace.

PIETY, OR THE VISION.

'Twas when the night in filent fable fled,
When cheerful morning fprung with rifing red,
When dreams and vapours leave to crowd the brain,
And beft the vifion draws its heavenly scene;
'Twas then, as flumbering on my couch I lay,
A sudden splendor feem'd to kindle day,
A breeze came breathing in a fweet perfume,
Blown from eterual gardens, fill'd the room;
And in a void of blue, that clouds invest,
Appear'd a daughter of the realms of refl;
Her head a ring of golden glory wore,
Her honour'd hand the facred volume bore,
Her raiment glittering seem'd a filver white,
And all her sweet companions fons of light.

Straight as I gaz'd, my fear and wonder grew,
Fear barr'd my voice, and wonder fix'd my view;
When lo! a cherub of the fhining crowd
That fail'd as guardian in her azure cloud,
Fann'd the foft air, and downwards feem'd to glide,
And to my lips a living coal apply'd.

Then while the warmth o'er all my pulfes ran
Diffusing comfort, thus the maid began :

"Where glorious manfions are prepar'd above, "The feats of mufic, and the feats of love, " Thence I defcend, and Piety my name, "To warm thy bofom with celestial flame, "To teach thee praises mix'd with humble prayers, "And tune thy foul to fing feraphic airs.

37.

"Be thou my bard." A vial here she caught
(An angel's hand the crystal vial brought);
And as with awful found the word was faid,
She pour'd a facred unction on my head;
Then thus proceeded: "Be thy mufe thy zeal,
Dare to be good, and all my joys reveal.
"While other pencils flattering forms create,

And paint the gaudy plumes that deck the great; While other pens exalt the vain delight, "Whose wasteful revel wakes the depth of night; Or others foftly fing in idle lines. "How Damon courts, or Amaryllis fhines; "More wifely thou select a theme divine, "Fame is their recompence, 'tis heaven is thine. "Despise the raptures of difcorded fire, "Where wine, or paffion, or applause inspire "Low reftlefs life, and ravings born of earth, "Whose meaner fubjects speak their humble birth, "Like working feas, that, when loud winters

"blow,

"Not made for rising, only rage below. "Mine is a warm and yet a lambent heat, "More lafting ftill, as more intenfely great, "Produc'd where prayer, and praife, and pleasure "breathe,

"And ever mounting whence it shot beneath. "Unpaint the love, that, hovering over beds, "From glittering pinions guilty pleasure sheds; "Reftore the colour to the golden mines "With which behind the feather'd idol fhines; "To flowering greens give back their native " care,

"The rose and lily, never his to wear;

"To fweet Arabia fend the balmy breath;

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"Make the loud ftrings against thy fingers dance: " "Tis love that angels praife and men adore, ""Tis love divine that afks it all and more. "Fling back the gates of ever-blazing day, "Pour floods of liquid light to gild the way; "And all in glory wrapt, through paths untrod, "Pursue the great unfeen defcent of God. "Hail the meek virgin, bid the child appear, "The child is God, and call him Jefus here. "He comes, but where to rest? A manger's nigh, "Make the great Being in a manger lie; "Fill the wide fky with angels on the wing, "Make thousands gaze, and make ten thousand

fing;

Let nien afflict him, men he came to fave, " And ftill afflict him till he reach the grave; "Make him refign'd, his loads of forrow meet, "And me, like Mary, weep beneath his feet;

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(My fervours oft have won him thus before); "How pleas'd he looks! my words have reach'd his ear;

"He bids the gates unbar; and calls me near."

She ceas'd. The cloud on which she feem'd to
tread

Its curls unfolded, and around her spread;
Bright angels waft their wings to raife the cloud,
And fweep their ivory lutes, and fing aloud;
The fcene moves off, while all its ambient iky
Is turn'd to wondrous music as they fly;
And foft the fwelling founds of mufic grow,
And faint their foftnefs, till they fail below.

My downy fleep the warmth of Phoebus broke,
And while my thoughts were fettling, thus I fpoke.
Thou beauteous vifion! on the foul imprefs'd,
When moft my reafon would appear to reft,
"Twas fure with pencils dipt in various lights
Some curious angel limn'd thy facred fights;
From blazing funs his radiant gold he drew,
While moons the filver gave, and air the blue.
I'll mount the roving winds expanded wing,
And feek the facred hill, and light to fing;
('Tis known in Jewry well) I'll make my lays,
Obedient to thy fummons, found with praife.

But ftill I fear, unwarm'd with holy flame,
I take for truth the flatteries of a dream;
And barely with the wondrous gift I boast,
And faintly practise what deferves it most.

Indulgent Lord! whofe gracious love difplays
Joy in the light, and fills the dark with ease!
Be this, to blefs my days, no dream of blifs;
Or be, to bless the nights, my dreams like this.

BACCHUS; OR,

THE DRUNKEN METAMORPHOSIS.

As Bacchus, ranging at his leifure,
(Jolly Bacchus, king of pleasure!)
Charm'd the wide world with drink and dances,
And all his thousand airy fancies,
Alas! he quite forgot the while
His favourite vines in Lefbos ifle.

The god, returning ere they dy'd,
Ah! fee my jolly fauns, he cry'd,
The leaves but hardly borne are red,
And the bare arms for pity fpread:
The beafts afford a rich manure;
Fly, my boys, to bring the cure;
Up the mountains, o'er the vales,
Through the woods, and down the dales;
For this, if full the cluster grow,
Your bowls fhall doubly overflow.

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So cheer'd with more ofhcious hafte They bring the dung of every beast; The loads they wheel, the roots they bare, They lay the rich manure with care; While oft he calls to labour hard, And names as oft the red reward.

The plants refresh'd, new leaves appear,
The thickening clusters load the year;
The season swiftly purple grew,
The grapes hung dangling deep with blue.
A vineyard ripe, a day ferene
Now calls them all to work again.
The fauns through every furrow shoot
To load their flaskets with the fruit;
And now the vintage early trod,
The wines invite the jovial god.

Strow the roses, raise the fong,
See the master comes along ;
Lufty revel join'd with laughter,
Whim and frolic follow after:
The fauns afide the vats remain,
To fhow the work, and reap the gain.
All around, and all around,
They fit to riot on the ground;
A vessel stands amidst the ring,

And here they laugh, and there they fing:
Or rife a jolly jolly band,
And dance about it hand in hand;
Dance about, and fhout amain,
Then fit to laugh and fing again.
Thus they drink, and thus they play
The fun and all their wits away.

But, as an ancient author fung,
The vine manur'd with every dung,
From every creature ftrangely drew
A twang of brutal nature too;
'Twas hence in drinking on the lawns
New turns of humour feiz'd the fauns.

Here one was crying out, By Jove!
Another, Fight me in the grove;
This wounds a friend, and that the trees 3
The lion's temper reign'd in these.

Another grins, and leaps about,
And keeps a merry world of rout,
And talks impertinently free,
And twenty talk the fame as he :
Chattering, idle, airy, kind :

These take the monkeys turn of mind,

Here one, that faw the nymphs which stood
To peep upon them from the wood,
Skulks off to try if any maid
Be lagging late beneath the fhade;
While loose discourse another raises
In naked Nature's plaineft phrases,
And every glass he drinks enjoys,
Which change of nonfenfe, luft, and noise ;
Mad and careless, hot and vain :
Such as these the goat retain.

Another drinks and cafts it up,
And drinks, and wants another cup;
Solemn, filent, and fedate,
Ever long, and ever late,

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Full of meats, and full of wine :
This takes his temper from the fwine.
Here fome who hardly feem to breathe,

Drink, and hang the jaw beneath.

Gaping, tender, apt to weep:
Their nature's alter'd by the sheep.

'Twas thus one autumn all the crew (If what the poets say be true) While Bacchus made the merry feast, Inclin'd to one or other beast: And fince, 'tis faid, for many a mile He spread the vines of Lesbos ifle.

THE HORSE AND THE OLIVE.

WITH moral tale let ancient wifdom move,
Whilft thus I fing to make the moderns wife.
Strong Neptune once with fage Minerva ftrove,
And rifing Athens was the victor's prize.

By Neptune, Plutus (guardian power of gain);
By great Minerva, bright Apollo stood:
But Jove fuperior bade the fide obtain,

Which best contriv'd to do the nation good.

Then Neptune striking, from the parted ground The warlike horfe came pawing on the plain, And as it toft its mane, and pranc'd around,

By this, he cries, I'll make the people reign.

The goddess, fmiling, gently bow'd her spear, And rather thus they shall be biefs'd, fhe faid: Then upwards fhooting in the vernal air,

With loaded boughs the fruitful olive spread.

Joye faw what gift the rural powers defign'd;
And took th' impartial fcales, refolv'd to show,
If greater blifs in warlike pomp we find,
Or in the calm which peaceful times beftow.

On Neptune's part he plac'd victorious days,
Gay trophies won, and fame extending wide;
But plenty, fafety, science, arts, and ease,

Minerva's fcale with greater weight fupply'd.

Fierce war devours whom gentle peace would fave:

Sweet peace restores what angry war destroys; War made for peace with that rewards the brave, While peace its pleasures from itself enjoys.

Hence vanquish'd Neptune to the sea withdrew, Hence wife Minerva rul'd Athenian lands; Her Athens hence in arts and honours grew, And fill her olives deck pacific hands.

From fables, thus difclos'd, a monarch's mind
May form juft rules to choose the truly great,
And fubjects weary'd with diftreffes find,
Whose kind endeavours most befriend the state.

Ev'n Britain here may learn to place her love,
If citics won her kingdom's wealth have coft;
If Anna's thoughts the patriot fouls approve,
Whofe care restore that wealth the wars had
loft.

But if we afk, the moral to disclose,

Whom her best patronefs Europa calls,

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