Enjoy the various lower things,
That unexalted Commerce brings;
Your own fuperior taftes fupprefs,
And to an humbler fashion dress;-

Nay, fo our comrades play their part,
And Nature still prefer to Art,
Whate'er the Character, then fure
It must our love, nay tafte, fecure;
(Not th' abfence of our tastes we grieve,
Whate'er delight accordance give;

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No, 'tis their knowledge but in part,*

That baulks and wounds the Tafte and Heart;)

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Yes; could we, thus be-gifted, pafs

The fands, too fpeedy, of our glass;

This fure, MINERVA, were thy plan,

And happiest destiny of man!

* Methinks almost every man can illustrate this from his own experience, since every man has fome reigning taste and knowledge, and probably excellence, whether of an inferior or exalted kind; whether in painting, mufick, country fports, or exercifes; or chymistry, mathematicks, or what not? And to every one of them, the meeting with a congenial associate is delightful, in proportion as is disgustful the half-knowing dabbler in either. At this I verily think every intelligent reader would catch,

Tranfition

Transition sweet of life to know,
Enjoying high and low things too!-
Man, foolish Man! fhall never, say,
Or warning, or experience fway,

Thy sense misled? All Wisdom's pow'r,

In perspective, a single hour,

Shall ne'er ensure the fancy'd view
Of future plans thy thoughts pursue:
What! trust to causes not thy own;
To minds that love themselves alone,
And dream your reas'nings must prevail!
"A pin drops in, and turns the scale."
Nay grant, (how much to grant) yourself
Nor led by Intereft, Pride, or Pelf,

Still Sense, with Virtue's felf conjoin'd,
Shall fix nor guide the human mind.

-Lo! Misconception's fatal train,

Where Sense and Truth ftill charm in vain!

While welcome DISCORD, from the air,

His influence dire o'er human care

Triumphant sheds in deadly glee,
And kills the foul of Harmony!

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And

And fee- -Oh! heart-lov'd, Heav'nly Maid, "Tis here that thy peculiar aid

Thy vot'ry fupplicates; alive

To taste the fruits thy bounties give;

And INTUITION, Thou, thy ray

Of light, if poffible, difplay,

And with thee join DISTINCTION keen,
Through error's mifts ftill not unfeen;
Whilft the Mufe, vent'rous in her flight,
Above, perhaps, Man's common fight,
Attempts bright TRUTH'S celeftial road,

And quitting Man, feeks Nature's God!
And yes she dares (fair Virtue, fay,

If true, thy footsteps thus can stray;)

Aver, that in Contention's ftrife,

That fad concomitant of life,

E'en Thou, fair VIRTUE! can't defcend,

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At times, foul Falfehood to befriend;

Lift to the paradox, and own,

Th' averment comes from Truth alone:

And does not e'en the very name

Of friend and partial mean the fame?

Synonymous

Synonymous the terms we fee;

To this what friend would not agree?
Nay, who his friend's perfections, say,
Still would not place in broadeft day?
His imperfections ftrive to hide,
And from them turn each eye afide;
When abfent, who would not defend,
Nay, tho' e'en Truth attack'd, his friend?

Bleft Falfehood fure, great Nature fays;

Vice feems to 've got in Virtue's ways,

And Prejudice, fo oft our fcorn,

Will now your character adorn.

-Thus in your rich metallic mines,

The ore through drofs extends its lines.

Alas! what obftacles through life,

Exclufive of fad human ftrife,
Obstructive to our future schemes,

Convert our reas'nings into dreams!

Atoms as well, through Nature's space,
In form might take Arrangement's place,

As we infure effect and cause,

Subfervient to Fate's hidden laws;

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Effect, for ever infecure,

While from no cause it can be fure.

'But one fucceeds, another fails,
As folly or as fenfe prevails:"
Senfe may and does fucceed, 'tis true,
And folly fails full often too:-
Yet, the whole range within your view,
You'll ftill believe the fated tale-

"A Pin drops in, and turns the scale."*

Since then, as through life's chequer'd way,

By chance or fate propell'd, we ftray,
Ills still with Bleffings will arife,
Bleffings, perhaps, we highly prize!
Oh! grant, with philofophic eye,
To view those Ills I cannot fly!
Not paltry Ills of little felf,

The Goffip-tale, the lofs of Pelf,

The bow of Pride, that may await

Perhaps Pride's Slave,-the Man of State;

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* I verily think, that hardly a reader of this paffage (I mean one ever fo little above the most unthinking part of mankind) but will acknowledge that himself can illustrate and verify it from the recollection of perhaps fome fingle event or accident, perhaps more than one, having been the means of the principal happiness or unhappiness of his life; as also of the failure of means suggested by himself with every feeming probability in their favour.