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Congeal'd amidst the rigorous winter's snows,

Storch'd by the summer's thirst-inflaming ray. Thy harden'd limbs shall boast superior might: Vigour shall, brace thine arm, resistless in the fight." XV.

Hear'st thou what monsters then thou must engage? What dangers, gentle youth, she bids thee prove?" (Abrupt says Sloth),,Ill fit thy tender age

Tumult and wars, fit age for joy and love. Turn, gentle youth, to me, to love, and joy!

To these I lead: no monsters here shall stay Thine easy course; no cares thy peace annoy; I lead to bliss a nearer, smoother way: Short is my way, fair, easy, smooth, and plain: Turn, gentle youth, with me eternal pleasures reign." XVI.

„What pleasures, vain mistaken wretch, are thine?"

(Virtue with scorn replied),, who sleep'st in ease Insensate; whose soft limbs the toil decline

That seasons bliss, and makes enjoyment please: Draining the copious bowl ere thirst require;

Feasting ere hunger to the feast invite;

Whose tasteless joys anticipate desire,

Whom luxury supplies with appetite: Yet nature loaths, and you employ in vain Variety and art to conquer her disdain.

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The sparkling nectar cool'd with summer snows,
The dainty board with choicest viands spread,
To thee are tasteless all! sincere repose

Flies from thy flow'ry couch and downy bed.

For thou art only tir'd with indolence,

Nor is thy sleep with toil and labour bought,
Th' imperfect sleep, that lulls thy languid sense
In dull oblivious interval of thought;

That kindly steals th' inactive hours away

From the long ling'ring space, that lengthens out the day.

XVIII.

From bounteous nature's unexhausted stores

Flows the pure fountain of sincere delights:

Averse to her, you waste the joyless hours;

Sleep drowns thy days, and riot rules thy nights.

Immortal tho' thou art, indignant Jove

Hurl'd thee from heaven, th' immortals blissful place,

For ever banish'd from the realms above,

To dwell on earth with man's degenerate race:

Fitter abode! on earth alike disgrac'd;

Rejected by the wise, and by the fool embrac'd.
XIX.

Fond wretch, that vainly weenest all delight

To gratify the sense, reserv'd for thee!

Yet the most pleasing object to the sight,

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Thine own fair action, never didst thou see.
Tho' lull'd with softest sounds thou liest along,

Soft music, warbling voices, melting lays;
Ne'er didst thou hear, more sweet than sweetest song
Charming the soul, thou ne'er didst hear thy praise!
to thy revels let the fool repair;

No

To such go smooth thy speech, and spread thy tempting snare. XX.

Vast happiness enjoy thy gay allies!

A youth of follies, and old age of cares:

Young yet enervate, old yet never wise,

Vice wastes their vigour, and their mind impairs

Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtless ease,

Reserving woes for age, their prime they spend,

All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days,

With sorrow to the verge of life they tend. Griev'd with the present, of the past asham'd,

They live and are despis'd; they die, nor more are nam'd.

XXI.

But with the gods, and godlike men; I dwell;
Me, his supreme delight, th' Almighty Sire
-Regards well pleas'd: whatever works excel,
All, or divine or human, I inspire.
Counsel with strength, and industry with art,
In union meet conjoin'd, with me reside:
My dictates arm, instruct, and mend the heart,
The surest policy, the wisest guide.

With me true friendship dwells: she deigns to bind
Those generous souls alone, whom I before have join'd.
XXII.

Nor need my friends the various costly feast;

Hunger to them th' effects of art supplies;

!

Labour prepares their weary

limbs to rest;

Sweet is their sleep; light, cheerful, strong, 'they rise. Thro' health, thro' joy, thro' pleasure, and renown, They tread my paths; and by a soft descent At length to age all gently sinking down,

Look back with transport in a life well spent; In which no hour flew unimprov'd away;

In which some gen'rous deed distinguish'd ev'ry day.

XXIII.

And when, the destin'd term at lengths complete,
Their ashes rest in peace, eternal fame
Sounds wide their praise: triumphant over fate,

In sacred song for ever lives their name.
This, Hercules, is happiness! obey

My voice, and live: let thy celestial birth Lift, and enlarge thy thoughts: behold the way

That leads to fame, and raises thee from earth

Immortal! Lo, I guide thy steps. Arise,

Pursue the glorious path, and claim thy native skies."
XXIV.

Her words breathe fire celestial, and impart

New vigour to his soul, that sudden caught The generous flame: with great intent his heart Swells full, and labours with exalted thought. The mist of error from his eyes dispell'd,

Thro' all her fraudful arts, in clearest light, Sloth in her native form he now beheld;

Unveil'd she stood confess'd before his sight:

False Siren! All her vaunted charms, that shone

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So fresh erewhile and fair, now wither'd, pale, and gone.

XXV.

No more the rosy bloom in sweet disguise

Masks her dissembled looks; each borrow'd grace Leaves her wan cheek; pale sickness clouds her eyes Livid and sunk, and passions dim her face.

As when fair Iris has awhile display'd

Her wat'ry arch, with gaudy painture gay,

While yet we gaze the glorious colours fade,
And from our wonder gently steal away:

Where shone the beauteous phantom erst so bright,
Now low'rs the low-hung cloud, all gloomy to the sight.

XXVI.

But Virtue, more engaging, all the while

Disclos'd new charms, more lovely, more serene, Beaming sweet influence: a milder smile

Soften'd the terrors of her lofty mien.

,,Lead, goddess; I am thine!" transported cried Alcides; O propitious pow'r, thy way

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Teach me! possess my soul! be thou my guide:
From thee oh never, never let me stray!"
While ardent thus the youth his vows address'd,
With all the goddess fill'd, already glow'd his breast.

XXVII.

The heavenly maid with strength divine endued.

His daring soul; there all her pow'rs combin'd: Firm constancy, undaunted fortituïde,

Enduring patience, arm'd his mighty mind. Unmov'd in toils, in dangers undismay'd,

By many a hardy deed and bold emprize, From fiercest monsters, thro' her pow'rful aid,

He freed the earth! thro' her he gain'd the skies. 'Twas virtue plac'd him in the blest abode; Crown'd with eternal youth, among the gods a god.

JOHN

LOGA N.

OHN LOGAN wurde um das Jahr 1748 zu Soutra, in dem in der Grafschaft Mid Lothian belegenen Kirchspiel Fala, geboren. Er studierte zu Edinburgh Theologie, und machte sich hier, wie bereits angeführt worden ist, durch die Herausgabe der Gedichte seines Freundes Bruce (s. Seite 401) bekannt. Nachdem er sich einige Zeit mit der Erziehung des durch seine statistischen Schriften und die Stiftung des Board of Agriculture bekannten, gegenwärtigen Sir John Sinclair beschäftigt hatte, wurde er wegen seiner eindringlichen Kanzelberedsamkeit von der Gemeine South-Leith zu einem ihrer Prediger ernannt, und 1775 ordinirt. Indessen er seinen Amtsverrichtungen oblag, verabsäumte er die Kultur seiner poetischen Talente und das Studium der Wissenschaften auf keine Weise. 1779 hielt er zu Edinburgh Vorlesungen über

die Philosophie der Geschichte, denen Robertson, Blair, Ferguson und andere talentvolle und gelehrte Männer beiwohnten, 1781 machte er seine Elements of the Philosophy of History bekannt, denen eine der Vorlesungen on the Manners and Government of Asia, 1782 folgte. 1781 erschien auch die erste Ausgabe seiner Gedichte; die zweite kam 1782 heraus. 1783 bot er seine Tragödie Runnamede dem Direktor des Covent-Garden- Theaters an; allein man untersagte von Seiten des Chamberlain-Office *) die Aufführung, weil man in derselben Anspielungen auf die damaligen politischen Verhältnisse gefunden haben wollte. Das Publikum nahm sie indessen mit Beifall auf; auch wurde sie nachher zu Edinburgh aufgeführt, Das Fehlschlagen verschiedener Hoffnungen verstimmte unsern Dichter, der von Natur schon zum Mifsmuth geneigt war, so sehr, dafs er sein geistliches Amt niederzulegen beschlofs. Er that dies um das Jahr 1786 und wurde mit einem mittelmässigen Jahrgehalt entlassen. Noch während der Unterhandlungen, welche hierüber zwischen ihm und der Gemeinde gepflogen wurden, ging er 1785 nach London, und arbeitete hier an dem English Review. 1788 gab er, ohne seinen Namen, eine Flugschrift heraus, betitelt: a Review of the principal Charges against Mr. Hastings, 800, welche die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums in einem hohen Grade auf sich zog. Dies war übrigens die Er starb den 28sten

letzte Schrift, die er bekannt machte. Dezember 1788 im 40sten Jahre seines Alters. Nach seinem Tode erschien 1790 der erste Band seiner Predigten, 1791 der zweite; eine dritte Ausgabe von beiden Theilen kem 1793 heraus. Ausserdem hinterliefs er verschiedene Werke im Manuskript, unter andern die Trauerspiele Electra, the Wedding Day, und the Carthagenian Heroine; ferner Lectures on the Roman history u. s. w., auch werden ihm, jedoch nicht mit Zuverlässigkeit, einige der Gedichte zugeschrieben, welche in der Ausgabe der Gedichte von Bruce stehen. Man findet übrigens Logan's Gedichte im 11ten Theil der Andersonschen Sammlung; einige der vorzüglichsten daraus sind folgende: Ode to the Cuckoo, ein vortreffliches

* Dem Lord Chamberlain liegt die Censur aller Stücke ob, welche zum ersten Male aufgeführt werden sollen. Er kann ihre Aufführung untersagen, wenn er etwas Anstöfsiges darin

wahrnimmt.

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