Congeal'd amidst the rigorous winter's snows,

Scorch'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.
Hearst thou what monsters then thoú 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.

XVII.
The sparkling nectar coold with summer snows,

The dainty board with choicest viands spread,
To thee are tasteless all! sincere repose

Flies from thy Now'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 ber, you waste the joyless hours;

Sleep drowns thy days, and riot rules thy nights.

Immortal tho' thou art, indignant Jove

Hurl'd thee from breaven, 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 wrerch, that vainly weenest all delight

To gratify the sense, reserv'd for thee!
Yet the most pleasing object to the sight,

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 !
No - to thy revels let the fool repair;
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, tbro' 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 new 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 tbee 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 thoughr. The mist of error from his eyes dispellid,

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
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 yer we gaze the glorious colours fade,

And from our wonder gently steal away: Whero shone the beauteous phantom erst so bright, Now low'rs the low-hung cloud, all gloomy to the sight.

XXVI.
Bur Virtue, more 'engaging, all the while

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

Soften'd ihe terrors of her lofty mien. „Lead, goddess; I am thine!" transported cried

Alcides; „O propitious pow'r, thy way
Teach me! possess my soul! be thou my guide:

From thee ob never, never let me stray!”
While ardent thus the youth his rows address'd,
With all the goddess fillid, 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 de,

Enduring patience, armd 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 gaind the skies. 'Twas virtue plac'd him in the blest abode; Crown'd with eternal youth, among the gods a god.

Jorn Locax wurde um das Jahr 1746 zu Soutra, in dem in der Grafschaft Mid Lothian belegenen Kirchspiel Fala, ge• boren. 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 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 anf 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 ersta Ausgabe seiner Gedichte; die zweite kam 1782 heraus.

1783 bot er seine Tragödie Runnamede dem Direktor des Covertt - Garden - Theaters an; allein man untersagte von Seiten des Chamberlain-Office *) die Aufführung, weil man in derselben Anspielungen auf die damaligen politischen l'erhältnisse 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 Missmuth geneige war, so sehr, dafs er sein geistliches Amt niederzulegen beschloss. 'Er that dies um das Jahr 1986 und wurde mit einem mittelmässigen Jahrgehalt entlassen. Noch während der Unterhandlungen, welche hierüber zwi. schen 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, 8vo, welche die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums in einem hohen Grade auf sich zog. Dies war übrigens die letzte Schrift, die er bekannt machte. Er starb den 28sten Dezember 1988 im 40sten Jahre seines Alters. Nach seinem Tode erschien 1790 der erste Band seiner Predigten, 1791 der zweite ; cine dritte Ausgabe von beiden Theilen kom 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 Titen 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, welohe sum ersten Male anfgeführt werden sollen. Er kann ihre Aufführung untersagen, wenn etwas Anstössiges darin wahrnimmt.

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