New matter still the mould'ring mass sustains,
The manfion chang'd, the tenant still remains;
And from the fleeting ftream repair'd by food,
Diftinct, as is the fwimmer from the flood.
What am I then? Sure, of a nobler birth.
By parent's right, I own as mother, earth;
But claim fuperior lineage by my Sire,

Who warm'd the unthinking clod with heavenly fire:
Effence divine, with lifeless clay allay'd,

By double nature, double instinct sway'd;
With look erect, I dart my longing eye,
Seem wing'd to part, and gain my native sky;
I ftrive to mount, but ftrive, alas! in vain,
Ty'd to this maffy globe with magick chain.
Now with fwift thought I range from pole to pole,
View worlds around their flaming centers roll:
What fteady powers their endless motions guide,
Through the fame trackless paths of boundless void!
I trace the blazing comet's fiery trail,

And weigh the whirling planets in a scale:
Thefe godlike thoughts while eager I pursue,
Some glittering trifle offer'd to my view,
A gnat, an infect of the meanest kind,
Erafe the new-born image from my mind;
Some beastly want, craving, importunate,
Vile as the grinning mastiff at my gate,
Calls off from heav'nly truth this reas'ning me,
And tells me, I'm a brute as much as he,
If on fublimer wings of love and praise,
My foul above the ftarry vault I raise,
Lur'd by fome vain conceit, or fhameful luft,
I flag, I drop, and flutter in the duft.
The tow'ring lark thus from her lofty ftrain,
Stoops to an emmet, or a barley grain.

By adverse gufts of jarring instincts tofs'd,

I rove to one, now to the other coast;

Το

To blifs unknown my lofty foul afpires,
My lot unequal to my vaft defires.
As 'mongst the hinds a child of royal birth
Finds his high pedigree by confcious worth;
So man, amongst his fellow-brutes expos'd,'
Sees he's a king, but 'tis a king depos'd.
Pity him, beafts! you by no law confin'd,
Are barr'd from devious paths by being blind;
Whilft man, through op'ning views of various ways
Confounded, by the aid of knowledge ftrays;
Too weak to chufe, yet chufing still in haste,
One moment gives the pleasure and distaste;
Bilk'd by paft minutes, while the prefent cloy,
The flatt'ring future ftill must give the joy:
Not happy, but amus'd upon the road,
And (like you) thoughtless of his last abode,
Whether next fun his being shall restrain
To endless nothing, happiness or pain.

Around me, lo! the thinking, thoughtless crew,
(Bewilder'd each) their diff'rent paths pursue:
Of them I ask the way; the first replies,

Thou art a god!' and fends me to the skies:

• Down on the turf,' the next, thou two-legg'd beast,
There fix thy lot, thy blifs and endless rest.'
Between these wide extremes the length is fuch,
I find I know too little or too much,

Almighty Power, by whose most wife command,
Helpless, forlorn, uncertain, here I ftand;

• Take this faint glimmering of thyself away,
• Or break into my foul with perfect day!'

This faid, expanded lay the Sacred Text,
The balm, the light, the guide of fouls perplex'd.
Thus the benighted traveller that strays
Through doubtful paths, enjoys the morning rays;
The nightly mist, and thick-defcending dew,
Parting, unfold the fields, and vaulted blue.

O Truth

O Truth divine! enlighten'd by thy ray,
I grope and guess no more, but see my way;
Thou clear'dft the fecret of my high descent,
And told me what those myftick tokens meant:
Marks of my birth, which I had worn in vain,
Too hard for worldly fages to explain.
Zeno's were vain, vain Epicurus' fchemes,
Their fyftems false, delufive were their dreams;
Unfkill'd my two-fold nature to divide,

One nurs'd my pleasure, and one nurs'd my pride:
Those jarring truths which human art beguile,
Thy facred page thus bids me reconcile.
Offspring of God, no lefs thy pedigree,
What thou once wert, art now, and ftill may be,
Thy God alone can tell, alone decree;
Faultlefs thou dropp'dft from his unerring skill,
With the bare power to fin, fince free of will:
Yet charge not with thy guilt his bounteous love,
For who has power to walk, has power to rove;
Who acts by force impell'd, can nought deserve,
And wifdom, fhort of infinite, may fwerve.
Borne on thy new-imp'd wings, thou took'ft thy flight,
Left thy Creator, and the realms of light;
Difdain'd his gentle precept to fulfil;

And thought to grow a god by doing ill:
Though by foul guilt thy heavenly form defac'd,
In nature chang'd, from happy manfions chac'd,
Thou ftill retain'ft fome sparks of heav'nly fire,
Too faint to mount, yet reftless to aspire;
Angel enough to feek thy blifs again,
And brute enough to make thy fearch in vain.
The creatures now withdraw their kindly use,
Some fly thee, fome torment, and some seduce;
Repaft ill-fuited to fuch diff'rent guests,
For what thy fenfe defires, thy foul diftaftes;

}

Thy

Thy luft, thy curiofity, thy pride,

Curb'd, or deferr'd, or baulk'd, or gratify'd,
Rage on, and make thee equally unbless'd,

In what thou want'ft, and what thou haft poffefs'd:
In vain thou hop'ft for blifs on this poor clod;
Return, and feek thy Father and thy God:
Yet think not to regain thy native sky,
Borne on the wings of vain philosophy;
Mysterious paffage! hid from human eyes;
Soaring you'll fink, and finking you will rise.
Let humble thoughts thy wary footsteps guide,
Repair by meekness what you loft by pride.

F

CONTENTMENT.

BY MR. DUCK.

AREWEL, afpiring thoughts! no more
My foul shall leave the peaceful shore,
To fail Ambition's main;

Fallacious as the harlot's kifs,

You promise me uncertain bliss,
And give me certain pain.

I'm weary of the painful chace;

Let others run this endless race
To catch a flying fhade.

Let others boaft their ufelefs wealth;
Have I not honefty and health,

Which riches cannot give ?

Let others to preferment foar,
And, changing liberty for pow'r, ́ ́
In golden fhackles live.

'Tis time, at length, I fhould be wife,
'Tis time to feek fubftantial joys,
Joys out of Fortune's pow'r:

Wealth, honours, dignities, and fame,
Are toys the blind capricious dame
Takes from us ev'ry hour.

Come, confcious Virtue, fill my breast,
And bring Content, thy daughter, drefs'd
In ever-fmiling charms:-

Let facred Friendship, too, attend;
A friendship worthy of my friend,
Such as my Lælius warms.