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His graceful ringlets wave his hair;
His wings their whit'ning plumes difplay,
His burnifh'd plumes reflect the day;
Light flows his fhining azure vest,
And all the angel ftands confefs'd.

I view'd the change with fweet furprise;
And, Oh! I panted for the skies;

Thank'd heav'n, that e'er I drew my breath;
And triumph'd in the thoughts of death.

CHAP. III.

DIDACTIC PIECES.

SECTION I.

THE VANITY OF WEALTH.

O MORE thus brooding o'er yon heap,
With av'rice painful vigils keep;
Still unenjoy'd the present store,
Still endless fighs are breath'd for more.
O! quit the fhadow, catch the prize,
Which not all India's treasure buys!
To purchase heav'n has gold the pow'r ?
Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can love be bought with gold?
Are friendship's pleafures to be fold?
No; all that's worth a wifh, a thought,
Fair virtue gives unbrib'd, unbought.
Cease then on trafh thy hopes to bind ;
Let nobler views engage thy mind.

SECTION II.

NOTHING FORMED IN VAIN.

Let no prefuming impious railer tax
Creative wisdom, as if aught was form'd
In vain, or not for admirable ends.
Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce
His works unwife, of which the smallest part
Exceeds the narrow vifion of her mind?
As if, upon a full proportion'd dome,
T

COTTON.

DR. JOHNSON.

On fwelling columns heav'd, the pride of art!
A critic fly, whofe feeble ray fcarce spreads
An inch around, with blind prefumption bold,
Should dare to tax the ftructure of the whole.
And lives the man, whose universal eye

Has fwept at once th' unbounded scheme of things;
Mark'd their dependence fo, and firm accord,

As with unfalt'ring accent to conclude,
That this availeth nought? Has any feen'
The mighty chain of beings, leff'ning down
From infinite perfection to the brink
Of dreary nothing, defolate abyfs!

From which aftonish'd thought, recoiling, turns?
Till then alone let zealous praise ascend,
And hymns of holy wonder, to that POWER,
Whofe wisdom fhines as lovely in our minds,
As on our smiling eyes his fervant fun.

SECTION III.

ON PRIDE.

Of all the causes, which confpire to blind
Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind,
What the weak head with strongest bias rules,
Is pride, the never failing vice of fools.
Whatever nature has in worth deny'd,
She gives in large recruits of needful pride!
For, as in bodies, thus in fouls, we find

THOMSON

What wants in blood and fpirits, fwell'd with wind.
Pride, where wit fails, fteps into our defence,
And fills up all the mighty void of sense.
If once right reafon drives that cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with refistless day.
Truft not yourself; but, your defects to know,
Make ufe of ev'ry friend, and ev'ry foe.
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or tafte not the Pierian fpring:
There fhallow draughts intoxicate the brain;
And drinking largely fobers us again.
Fir'd at firft fight with what the mufe imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts,
While, from the bounded level of our mind,

Short views we take, nor fee the lengths behind;
But, more advanc'd, behold, with ftrange furprise,
New diftant fcenes of endlefs fcience rife!

So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and feem to tread the fky;
Th' eternal fnows appear already paft,

And the first clouds and mountains feem the last :
But, thofe attain'd, we tremble to furvey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way;
Th' increafing profpect tires our wand'ring eyes;
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arife.

SECTION IV.

CRUELTY TO BRUTES CENSURED.

I WOULD not enter on my lift of friends,

(Though grac'd with polish'd manners and fine fenfe,
Yet wanting fenfibility,) the man

Who needlessly fets foot upon a werm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail,
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread afide, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermine, loathfome to the fight,
And charg'd perhaps with venom, that intrudes
A visitor unwelcome into scenes

Sacred to neatnefs and repofe, th' alcove,
The chamber, or refectory, may die.
A neceffary act incurs no blame.

Not fo, when held within their proper bounds,
And guiltlefs of offence, they range the air,
Or take their paftime in the fpacious field:
There they are privileg'd. And he that hunts
Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong;
Disturbs th' economy of nature's realm,
Who when the form'd, defign'd them an abode.
The fum is this; if man's convenience, health,
Or fafety, interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguifh theirs.
Elfe they are all, the meaneft things that are,
As free to live and to enjoy that life,
As God was free to form them at the first,

POPE,

Who, in his fovereign wisdom, made them all.
Ye therefore who love mercy, teach your fons
To love it too. The fpring time of our years
Is foon dishonour'd and defil'd, in most,
By budding ills that ask a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas! none sooner shoots
If unreftrain'd, into luxuriant growth,
Than cruelty, most dev'lish of them all.
Mercy to him that fhows it, is the rule.
And righteous limitation of its act,

By which heav'n moves in pard'ning guilty man ;
And he that fhows none, being ripe in years,
And confcious of the outrage he commits,
Shall feek it, and not find it in his turn,

SECTION V..

COWPER.

A PARAPHRASE ON THE LATTER PART OF THE SIXTH CHAPTER

OF MATTHEW.

WHEN my breaft labours with oppreffive care,
And o'er my cheek defcends the falling tear ;-
While all my warring paffions are at strife,
Oh! let me liften to the words of life!
Raptures deep felt his doctrine did impart,
And thus he rais'd from earth the drooping heart.
"Think not, when all vour fcanty ftores afford,
Is fpread at once upon the sparing board;
Think not, when worn the homely robe appears,
While on the roof the howling tempest bears;
What farther fhall this feeble life fuftain,
And what shall clothe thefe fhiv'ring limbs again..
Say, does not life its nourishment exceed?
And the fair body its investing weed?
Behold! and look away your low despair-
See the light tenants of the barren air:
To them, nor ftores, nor granaries, belong;
Nought, but the woodland, and the pleafing fong;
Yet, your
kind heav'nly Father bends his eye
On the leaft wing that flits along the sky.
To him they fing, when fpring renews the plain;
To him they cry, in winter's pinching reign;
Nor is their music, nor their plaint in vain :

He hears the gay, and the distressful call;
And with unfparing bounty fills them all."
"Obferve the rifing lilly's fnowy grace;
Obferve the various vegetable race;

They neither toil, nor fpin, but careless grow;
Yet fee how warm they blufh! how bright they glowt
What regal veftments can with them compare!
What king fo fhining! or what queen fo fair !"
"If ceafelefs, thus, the fowls of heav'n he feeds;
If o'er the fields fuch lucid robes he spreads;
Will he not care for you, ye faithless, say?
Is he unwife? or are ye lefs than they?"

SECTION. VI..

THOMSON,

THE DEATH OF A GOOD MAN A STRONG INCENTIVE TO VIRTUS,

THE chamber where the good man meets his fate,
Is privileg'd beyond the common walk'

Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heav'n..
Fly, ye profane! if not, draw near with awe,
Receive the bleffing, and adore the chance,
That threw in this Bethesda your disease:
If unreftor'd by this, defpair your cure.
For, here, refiftlefs demonftration dwells;
A death bed's a detector of the heart.
Here tir'd diffimulation drops her mask,
Thro' life's grimace that mistress of the scene!"
Here real and apparent, are the fame.

You fee the man; you fee his hold on heav'n,
If found his virtue, as Philander's found.

Heav'n waits not the last moment; owns her friends
On this fide death; and points them out to men ;
A lecture, filent, but of fov'reign pow'r!
To vice, confufion; and to virtue, peace.
Whatever farce the boastful hero plays,

Virtue alone has majesty and death;

And greater ftill, the more the tyrant frowns,

YOUNG.

SECTION VII

REFLECTIONS ON A FUTURE STATE FROM A REVIEW OF WINTER

'Tis done! dread winter fpreads his latest glooms,

And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year,
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!

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