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HUMAN FRAILTY.

WEAK and irrefolute is man;

The purpose of to-day,

Woven with pains into his plan,

To-morrow rends away.

The bow well-bent, and smart the spring,
Vice feems already flain!

But Paffion rudely fnaps the ftring,
And it revives again.

Some foe to his upright intent
Finds out his weaker part,

Virtue engages his assent,

But Pleafure wins his heart.

'Tis here the folly of the wife,
Thro' all his art we view;
And while his tongue the charge denies,
His confcience owns it true.

Bound on a voyage of awful length,

And dangers little known,

A ftranger to fuperior strength,

Man vainly trufts his own.

But oars alone can ne'er prevail

To reach the diftant coaft;

The breath of Heaven muft fwell the fail,

Or all the toil is loft.

COWPER.

ON LOVE OF PRAISE.

OF all the fprings within the mind,
Which prompt her fteps in Fortune's maze,
From none more pleasing aid we find,
Than from the genuine love of praise.

Nor any partial, private end,

Such rev'rence to the public bears;
Nor any paffion, Virtue's friend,
So like to Virtue's felf appears.

For who in glory can delight,
Without delight in glorious deeds?
What man a charming voice can flight,
Who courts the echo that fucceeds?

But not the echo on the voice

More, than on Virtue, praise depends;

To which, of course, its real price,
The judgment of the praifer lends.

If praise then with religious awe
From the fole perfect judge be fought,
A nobler aim, a purer law,

Nor prieft, nor bard, nor fage hath taught.

With which in character the fame,
Tho' in an humbler sphere it lies,

I count that foul of human fame,
The fuffrage of the good and wife.

AKENSIDE.

ODE TO SLEEP.

SOFT fleep, profoundly pleafing power,
Sweet patron of the peaceful hour,
O listen from thy calm abode,
And hither wave thy magic rod!
Extend thy filent foothing fway,
And charm the canker Care away.
L

Whether thou lov't to glide along,
Attended by an airy throng

Of gentle dreams and smiles of joy,
Such as adorn the wanton boy;
Or to the monarch's fancy bring
Delights that better suit a king :
The glittering hoft, the groaning plain,
The clang of arms, and victor's train,
Or fhould a milder vifion please,
Prefent the happy scenes of peace;
Plump Autumn, blushing all around,
Rich Industry with toil embrown'd,
Content, with brow ferenely gay,
And genial Art's refulgent ray.

SMOLLETT.

ODE ON SCIENCE.

OH! heavenly-born! in deepest cells'
If faireft Science ever dwells

Beneath the moffy cave;

Indulge the verdure of the woods;
With azure beauty gild the floods,
And flowery carpets-lave.

For melancholy ever reigns,

Delighted in the fylvan fcenes

With fcientific light,

While Dian, huntress of the yales, Seeks lulling founds and fanning gales, Tho' wrapt from mortal fight.

Yet goddess, yet the way explore,
With magic rites and heathen lore
Obftructed and depress'd;

Till Wisdom give the facred Nine
Untaught, not uninspir'd to shine,
By Reafon's
power redrefs'd.

When Solon and Lycurgus taught
To moralize the human thought
Of mad Opinion's maze,

To erring zeal they gave new laws,
Thy charms, O Liberty, the cause,
That blends congenial rays.

Bid bright Aftræa gild the morn,
Or bid an hundred fons be born,

To hecatomb the year;

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