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Delighted he recalls

Through what fair scenes his lingering feet have trod:

But ever when he tells of perils past,

And troubles now no more,
His eyes most sparkle, and a readier joy
Flows thankful from his heart.

No, William, no, I would not live again
The morning hours of life;

I would not be again

The slave of hope and fear;
I would not learn again

The wisdom by Experience hardly taught.

To me the past presents
No object for regret;
To me the present gives

All cause for full content.

The future,. it is now the cheerful noon,

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And on the sunny-smiling fields I gaze
With eyes alive to joy;

When the dark night descend,

I willingly shall close my weary lids,
Secure to wake again.

XVI.

RELIGION.

O BLESS'D Religion, heavenly fair,
Thy kind, thy healing power,
Can sweeten pain, alleviate care,
And gild each gloomy hour!

When dismal thoughts, and boding fears,
The trembling heart invade,
And all the face of nature wears

An universal shade,

Thy sacred dictates can assuage
The tempest of my soul;

The fiercest storm shall lose its rage

At thy divine control.

Through life's bewilder'd darksome way,

Thy hand unerring leads;

And o'er the path thy heavenly ray

A cheering lustre sheds.

When feeble reason, tired and blind,

Sinks helpless and afraid,

Thou best Supporter of the mind,

How powerful is thy aid!

O let my heart confess thy power,
And find thy sweet relief

To brighten every gloomy hour,
And soften every grief!

XVII.

THREE YOUNG SHEPHERDESSES SEEK INSTRUCTION

FROM URANIA, AND OBTAIN THE FOLLOWING
PRECEPTS AND OBSERVATIONS.

SINCE, gentle nymphs, my friendship to obtain,
You've sought with eager steps this peaceful plain,
My honest counsel with attention hear;
Though plain, well meant-imperfect, yet sincere ;
What from maturer years alone I've known,
What time has taught me, and experience shown.
No polish'd phrase my artless speech will grace,
But unaffected candour fill its place;

My lips shall flattery's smooth deceit refuse;
And truth be all the eloquence I'll use.

Know, then, that life's chief happiness and woe From good or evil education flow;

And hence our future dispositions rise;
The vice we practise, or the good we prize.
When pliant Nature any form receives
That precept teaches, or example gives,
The yielding mind with virtue should be graced,
For first impressions seldom are effaced.
Then holy habits, then chastised desires,
Should regulate disorder'd Nature's fires.

If ignorance, then, her iron hold maintain,
If prejudice preside, or passion reign,
If vanity preserve her native sway,
If selfish tempers cloud the opening day,
If no kind hand impetuous pride restrain,
But for the wholesome curb we give the rein;
The erring principle is rooted fast,

And fix'd the habits that through life may

last.

XVIII.

THE DOVE.

THE Dove let loose in Eastern skies,

Returning fondly home,

Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies
Where idle warblers roam :

But high she shoots through air and light, Above all low delay;

Where nothing earthly bounds her flight, Nor shadow dims her way,

So grant me, Lord! from every stain
Of sinful passion free,

Aloft, through virtue's purer air,
To steer my course to Thee!

No sin to cloud, no lure to stay
My soul, as home she springs;
The sunshine on her joyful way,
Thy freedom on her wings.

XIX.

THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE.

TO A LITTLE GIRL.

PHILOSOPHERS, dear girl, have toil'd

Two thousand years, and still been foil'd, To find that far-famed precious stone

They arrogantly call their own;

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