The bounds of true felicity complete ;

Before his eyes for ever to behold ; Yet by immense benignity inclin'd

The goddess from whose inspiration flows To ss ead around him that primeval joy

The toil of patriots, the delight of friends; Which filld himself, he rais'd his plastic arm, Without whose work divine, in Heaven or Earth, And sounded through the hollow depth of space Nought lovely, nought propitious, comes to pass, The strong, creative mandate. Straight arose Nor hope, nor praise, nor honor. Her the Sire These heavenly orbs, the glad abodes of life Gave it in charge to rear the blooming mind, Effusive kindled by his breath divine

The folded powers 10 open, to direct Through endless forms of being. Each inhal'd The growth luxuriant of his young desires, From him its portion of the vital flame,

And from the laws of this majestic worid In measure such, that, from the wide complex To teach him what was good. As thus the nymph Of coexistent orders, one might rise,

Her daily care attended, by her side One Order, all-involving and entire.

With constant steps her gay companions stay'd, He too beholding in the sacred light

The fair Euphrosyné, the gentle queen Of his essential reason, all the shapes

Of smiles, and graceful gladness, and delights Of swist contingence, all successive ties

That cheer alike the hearts of morial men Of action propagated through the sum

And powers immortal. See the shining pair! Of possible existence, he at once,

Behold, where from his dwelling now disclos'd Down the long series of eventful time,

They quit their youthful charge and seek the skies. So fix'd the dates of being, so dispos'd,

“I look'd, and on the Rowery turf there stood, To every living soul of every kind

Between two radiant forms, a smiling youth, The field of motion and the hour of rest,

Whose tender cheeks display'd the vernal flower That all conspir'd to his supreme design,

of beauty; sweetest innocence illum'd To universal good: with full accord

His bashful eyes, and on his polish'd brow Answering the mighty model he had chosen, Sate young Simplicity. With fond regard The best and fairest of unnumber'd worlds, He view'd the associates, as their steps they mov'd; That lay from everlasting in the store

The younger chief his ardent eyes detain'd, or his divine conceptions. Nor content,

With mild regret invoking her return.
By one exertion of creative power

Bright as the star of evening she appear'd
His goodness to reveal; through every age, Amid the dusky scene. Eternal youth
Through every moment up the tract of time, O'er all her form its glowing honors breath'd ;
His parent-hand, with ever-new increase

And smiles eternal from her candid eyes of happiness and virtue, has adorn'd

Flow'd, like the dewy lustre of the morn The vast harmonious frame : his parent-hand, Effusive trembling on the placid waves. From the mute shell-fish gasping on the shore, The spring of Heaven had shed its blushing spoils To men, to angels, to celestial niinds,

To bind her sable tresses: full diffus'd
For ever leads the generations on

Her yellow mantle floated in the breeze ;
To higher scenes of being; while, supplied And in her hand she wav'd a living branch
From day to day with his enlivening breath, Rich with immortal fruits, of power to calm
Inferior orders in succession rise

The wrathful heart, and from the brightening eyes To fill the void below. As flame ascends,

To chase the cloud of sadness. More sublime As bodies to their proper centre move,

The heavenly partner mov’d. The prime of age As the pois'd ocean to the attracting Moon Compos'd her steps. The presence of a god, Obedient swells, and every headlong stream High on the circle of her brow enthron'd, Devolves its winding waters to the main ;

From each majestic motion daried awe, So all things which have life aspire to God, Devoted awe! till, cherish'd by her looks The Sun of being, boundless, unimpair’d,

Benevolent and meet, confiding love Centre of souls! Nor does the faithful voice To filial rapture soften'd all the soul. Of Nature cease to prompt their eager steps Free in her graceful hand she poisid the sword Aright; nor is the care of Heaven withheld Of chaste dominion. An heroic crown Froin granting to the task proportion d aid ; Display'd the old simplicity of pomp That in their stations all may persevere

Around her honor'd head. A matron's robe, To climb the ascent of being, and approach White as the sun-shine streams through vernal For ever nearer to the life divine.

clouds, "• That rocky pile thou see'st, that verdant lawn Her stately form invested. Hand in hand Fresh-water'd from the mountains. Let the scene The immortal pair forsook the enameld green, Paint in thy fancy the primeval scat

Ascending slowly. Rays of limpid light of man, and where the will supreme ordain'd Gleam'd round their path; celestial sounds were His mansion, that pavilion fair diffus'd

heard, Along the shady brink; in this recess

And through the fragrant air ethereal dews To wear the appointed season of his youth, Distillid around them ; till at once the clouds, Till riper hours should open to his toil

Disparting wide in midway sky, withdrew The high communion of superior minds,

Their airy veil, and left a bright expanse Or consecrated heroes and of gods.

or empyréan llame, where, spent and drown'd, Nor did the Sire Omnipotent forget

AMicted vision plung'd in vain to scan His tender bloom to cherish ; nor withheld What object it involvid. My feeble eyes Celestial footsteps from his green abode.

Endur'd not. Bending down to Earth I stood, oft from the radiant honors of his throne,

With dumb attention. Soon a female voice, He sent whom most he lov'd, the sovereign fair, As watery murmurs sweet, or warbling shados, The effluence of his glory, whom ho plac'd

With sacred invocation thus began.

" Father of gods and mortals! whose right arm Her features. From the glooms which hung around With reins eternal guides the moving heavens, No stain of darkness mingled with the beam Bend thy propitious ear. Behold well-pleas'd of her divine effulgence. Now they stoop I seek to finish thy divine decree.

Upon the river-bank ; and now, to hail With frequent steps I visit yonder seat

His wonted guests, with eager steps advanc'd Of man, thy offspring ; from the tender seeds The unsuspecting inmate of the shade. or justice and of wisdom, to evolve

“ As when a famish'd wolf, that all night long The latent honors of his generous frame;

Had rang'd the Alpine snows, by chance at morn Till thy conducting hand shall raise his lot Sees from a cliff incumbent o'er the smoke From Earth's diin scene to these ethereal walks, of some lone village, a neglected kid The temple of thy glory. But not me,

That strays along the wild for herb or spring ; Not my directing voice, he ost requires,

Down from the winding ridge he sweeps amain, Or hears delighted : this enchanting maid,

And thinks he tears him: so with tenfuld rage, The associate thou hast given me, her alone The monster sprung rernorseless on his prey. He loves, O Father! absent, her he craves ; Amaz'd the stripling stood: with panting breast And but for her glad presence ever join'd, Feebly he pour'd ihe lamentable wail Rejoices not in mine : that all my hopes

Of helpless consternation, struck at once, This thy benignant purpose to fulfil,

And rooted to the ground. The queen beheld I deem uncertain : and my daily cares

His terror, and with looks of tenderest care Unfruitful all and vain, unless by thee

Advanc'd to save him. Soon the tyrant felt Still further aided in the work ne.'

Her awful power. His keen, tempestuous arm “She ceas'd ; a voice more awful thus replied. Hung nerveless, nor descended where his rage O thou! in whom for ever I delight,

Had aim'd the deadly blow: then dumb retir'd Fairer than all the inhabitants of Heaven,

With sullen rancor. Lo! the sovran maid Best image of thy author! far from thee

Folds with a mother's arms the fainting boy, Be disappointment, or distaste, or blame;

Till life rekindles in his rosy cheek ; Who, soon or late, shall every work fulfil,

Then grasps his hands, and cheers him with her tongue And no resistance find. If man refuse

“.O wake thee, rouse ihy spirit! Shall the spite To hearken to thy dictates; or, allur'd

Of yon tormenter thus appal ihy heart, By meaner joys, to any other power

While 1, thy friend and guardian, am at hand Transfer the honors due to thee alone;

To rescue and to heal? O let thy soul That joy which he pursues he ne'er shall taste, Remember, what the will of Heaven ordains That power in whom delighteth ne'er behold. Is ever good for all ; and if for all, Go then, once more, and happy be thy toil Then good for thee. Nor only by the warmth Go then! but let not this thy smiling friend And soothing sun-shine of delightful things, Partake thy footsteps. In her stead, behold! Do minds grow up and flourish. Oft misled With thee the son of Nemesis I send;

By that bland light, the young unpracuis'd views The fiend abhorrid! whose vengeance takes account of reason wander through a fatal road, of sacred Order's violated laws.

Far from their native aim; as if to lie
See where he calls thee, burning to be gone, Inglorious in the fragrant shade, and wait
Fierce to exhaust the tempest of his wrath The soft access of ever-circling joys,
On yon devoted head. But thou, my child, Were all the end of being. Ask Thyself,
Control his cruel frenzy, and protect

This pleasing error did it never lull
Thy tender charge; that when Despair shall grasp Thy wishes ? Has thy constant heart refus'd
His agonizing bosom, he may learn,

The silken setters of delicious ease ?
Then he may learn to love the gracious hand Or when divine Euphrosyné appear'd
Alone sufficient in the hour of ill

Within this dwelling, did not thy desires To save his feeble spirit; then confess

Hang far below the measure of thy fate, Thy genuine honors, O excelling fair !

Which I reveal'd before thee? and thy eyes, When all the plagues that wait the deadly will Impatient of my counsels, turn away Of this avenging demon, all the storms

To drink the soft effusion of her smiles? Of night infernal, serve but to display

Know then, for this the everlasting Sire
The energy of thy superior charms

Deprives thee of her presence, and instead,
With mildest awe triumphant o'er his rage, O wise and still benevolent! ordains
And shining clearer in the horrid gloom.'

This horrid visage hither to pursue
“ Here ceas'd that awful voice, and soon I felt My steps; that so thy nature may discern
The cloudy curtain of refreshing eve

Its real good, and what alone can save Was clos d once more, from that immortal fire Thy feeblo spirit in this hour of ill Sheltering my eyelids. Looking up, I view'd From folly and despair. O yet belov'd ! A vast gigantic spectre striding on

Let not this headlong terror quite o'erwhelm Through murmuring thunders and a waste of clouds, Thy scatter'd powers ; nor fatal deem the rage With dreadful action. Black as night, his brow of this tormenter, nor his proud assault, Relentless frowns involvid. His savage limbs While I am here to vindicate thy toil, With sharp impatience violent he writh'd,

Above the generous question of thy arm. As through convulsive anguish ; and his hand, Brave by thy fears, and in thy weakness strong, Arm'd with a scorpion-lash, full oft he rais'd This hour he triumphs; but confront his might, In madness to his bosom; while his eyes

And dare him to the combat, then with case Rain'd bitter tears, and bellowing loud he shook Disarm'd and quellid, his fierceness he resigns The void with horror. Silent by his side To bondage and to scorn: while thus inur'd The virgin came. No discomposure stirr'd By watchful danger, by unceasing toil,

The immortal mind, superior to his fate,

May sometimes dare intrude, yet never more Amid the outrage of external things,

Shalt thou, descending to the abode of man, Firm as the solid base of this great world,

Alone endure the rancor of his arm, Rests on his own foundations. Blow, ye winds ! Or leave ihy lov'd Euphrosyné behind.' Ye waves! ye thunders! roll your tempest on; “She ended ; and the whole romantic scene Shake, ye old pillars of the marble sky!

Immediate vanish'd ; rocks, and woods, and rills, Till all its orbs and all its worlds of fire

The mantling tent, and each mysterious form, Be loosen'd from their seats ; yet still serene, Flew like the pictures of a morning dream, The unconquer'd mind looks down upon the wreck; When sun-shine fills the bed. Awhile I stood And ever stronger as the storms advance,

Perplex'd and giddy ; till the radiant power Firm through the closing ruin holds his way, Who bade the visionary landscape rise, Where Nature calls him to the destin'd goal.' As up to him I turn'd, with gentlest looks

So spake the goddess; while through all her frame Preventing my inquiry, thus began. Celestial raptures flow'd, in every word,

“. There lei thy soul acknowledge its complaint In every motion kindling warmth divine

How blind! how impious! There behold the ways To seize who listen'd. Vehement and swift, Of Heaven's eternal destiny to man, As lightning fires the aromatic shade

For ever just, benevolent, and wise : In Ethiopian fields, the stripling felt

That Virtue's awful steps, howe'er pursued Her inspiration catch his fervid soul,

By vexing Fortune and intrusive Pain, And, starting from his languor, thus exclaim'd: Should never be divided from her chaste,

« • Then let the trial come! and witness thou, Her fair attendant, Pleasure. Need I urge If terror be upon me; if I shrink

Thy tardy thought ihrough all the various round
To meet the storm, or falter in my strength Of this existence, that thy softening soul
When hardest it besels me. Do not think At length may learn what energy the hand
That I am fearful and infirm of soul,

Of Virtue mingles in the bitter tide
As late thy eyes beheld; for thou hast chang'd of passion, swelling with distress and pain,
My nature; thy commanding voice has wak'd To mitigate the sharp with gracious drops
My languid powers to bear me boldly on,

Of cordial pleasure ? Ask the faithful youth
Where'er the will divine my path ordains

Why the cold urn of her whom long he lov'd Through toil or peril: only do not thou

So often fills his arms; so ofien draws Forsake me; O be thou for ever near,

His lonely footsteps at the silent bour, That I may listen to thy sacred voice,

To pay the mournful tribute of his tears? And guide by thy decrees my constant feet. Oh! he will tell thee, that the wealth of worlds But say, for ever are my eyes bereft?

Should ne'er seduce his bosom to forego Say, shall the fair Euphrosyné not once

That sacred hour, when, stealing from the noise Appear again to charm me? Thou, in Heaven! Of care and envy, sweet remembrance soothes O thou eternal arbiter of things !

With Virtue's kindest looks his aching breast, Be thy great bidding done: for who am I,

And turns his tears to rapture.-Ask the crowd To question thy appointment? Let the frowns Which flies impatient from the village-walk of this avenger every morn o'ercast

To climb the neighboring cliffs, when far below The cheerful dawn, and every evening damp The cruel winds have hurl'd upon the coast With double night my dwelling ; I will learn Some helpless bark; while sacred Pity melts To hail them both, and unrepining bear

The general eye, or Terror's icy hand His hateful presence; but permit my tongue

Smites their distorted limbs and horrent hair; One glad request, and if my deeds may find While every mother closer to her breast Thy awful eye propitious, o restore

Catches her child, and, pointing where the waves The rosy-featur d maid, again to cheer

Foam through the shatter'd vessel, shrieks aloud, This lonely seat, and bless me with her smiles.' As one poor wretch that spreads his piteous arms • He spoke ; when instant through the sable For succor, swallow'd by the roaring surge, glooms

As now another, dash'd against the rock, With which that furious presence had involv'd Drops lifeless down : 0! deemest thou indeed The ambient air, a flood of radiance came No kind endearment here by Nature given Swist as the lightning flash ; the melting clouds To mutual terror and Compassion's tears? Flew diverse, and amid the blue serene

No sweetly-melting sofiness which attracts, Euphrosyné appear'd. With sprightly step O'er all that edge of pain, the social powers The nymph alighted on the irriguous lawn, To this their proper action and their end ? And to her wondering audience thus began. -Ask thy own heart; when at the midnight hour, “* Lo! I am here to answer to your vows,

Slow through that studious gloom thy pausing eye, And be the meeting fortunate! I come

Led by the glimmering taper, moves around With joyful tidings; we shall part no more.

The sacred volumes of the dead, the songs Hark! how the gentle Echo from her cell Of Grecian bards, and records writ by Fame Talks through the cliffs, and murmuring o'er the For Grecian heroes, where the present power

Of Heaven and Earth surveys th' immortal page, Repeats the accents—we shall part no more. Even as a father blessing, while he reads O my delightful friends! well-pleas'd on high The praises of his son If then thy soul, The Father has beheld you, while the might Spurning the yoke of these inglorious days, or that stern foe with bitter trial prov'd

Mix in their deeds and kindle with their flame; Your equal doings; then for ever spake

Say, when the prospect blackens on thy view, The high decree: That thou, celestial maid ! When rooted from the base, heroic states Howe'er that grisly phantom on thy steps

Mourn in the dust, and tremblo at the frown

66

stream

:

Of curst Ambition : when the pious band What wonder therefore, since the endearing ties
of youths who fought for freedom and their sires, of passion link the universal kind
Lie side by side in gore; when russian Pride Of man so close, what wonder if to search
Usurps the throne of Justice, turns the pomp This common nature through the various change
Of public power, the majesty of rule,

Of sex, and age, and fortune, and the frame
The sword, the laurel, and the purple robe, of each peculiar, draw the busy mind
To slavish, empty pageants, to adorn

With unresisted charms? The spacious west,
A tyrant's walk, and glitter in the eyes

And all the teeming regions of the south, Of such as bow the knee; when honor'd urns Hold not a quarry, to the curious flight Of patriots and of chiefs, the awful bust

of knowledge, half so tempting or so fair, And storied arch, to glut the coward rage

As man to man. Nor only where the smiles Of regal Envy, strew the public way

Of Love invite ; nor only where the applause With hallow'd ruins; when the Muse's baunt, Of cordial Honor turns the attentive eye The marble porch where Wisdom wont to talk On Virtue's graceful deeds. For since the course With Socrates or Tully, hears no more,

or things external acts in different ways Save the hoarse jargon of contentious monks, On human apprehensions, as the hand Or female superstition's midnight prayer;

of Nature temper'd to a different frame When ruthless Rapine from the hand of Time Peculiar minds ; so haply where the powers Tears the destroying scythe, with surer blow Of Fancy neither lessen nor enlarge To sweep the works of glory from their base; The images of things, but paint, in all Till Desolation o'er the grass-grown street Their genuine hues, the features which they wore Expands his raven-wings, and up the wall, In Nature; there Opinion will be true, Where senates once the price of monarchs doom'd, And Action right. For Action treads the path Hisses the gliding snake through hoary weeds In which Opinion says he follows good, That clasp the mouldering column; thus defac’d, Or flies from evil; and Opinion gives Thus widely mournful when the prospect thrills Report of good or evil, as the scene Thy beating bosom, when the patriot's tear Was drawn by Fancy, lovely or deformid: Starts from thine eye, and thy extended arm Thus her report can never there be true, In fancy hurls the thunderbolt of Jove,

Where Fancy cheats the intellectual eye, To fire the impious wreath on Philip's brow, With glaring colors and distorted lines. Or dash Octavius from the trophied car;

Is there a man, who at the sound of Death Say, does thy secret soul repine to taste

Sees ghastly shapes of terror conjur'd up, The big distress? Or wouldst thou then exchange And black before him ; nought but death-bed groans Those heart-ennobling sorrows for the lot

And fearful prayers, and plunging from the brink Of him who sits amid the gaudy herd

of light and being, down the gloomy air Of mute barbarians bending to his nod,

An unknown depth? Alas! in such a mind, And bears alost his gold-invested front,

If no bright forms of excellence attend And says within himself-I am a king,

The image of his country; nor the pomp And wherefore should the clamorous voice of woe of sacred senates, nor the guardian voice Intrude upon mine ear?- The baleful dregs Of Justice on her throne, nor aught that wakes Of these late ages, this inglorious draught The conscious bosom with a patriot's flame; Of servitude and folly, have not yet,

Will not Opinion tell him, that to die, Blest be the eternal Ruler of the world!

Or stand the hazard, is a greater ill Defild to such a depth of sordid shame

Than to betray his country? And in act The native honors of the human soul,

Will he not choose to be a wretch, and live? Nor so effac'd the image of its sire.'”

Here vice begins then. From the enchanting cup

Which Fancy holds to all, the unwary thirst

of youth oft swallows a Circæan draught,
Book III.

That sheds a baleful tincture o'er the eye
Argument.

Of Reason, till no longer he discerns,

And only guides to err. Then revel forth Pleasure in observing the tempers and manners of A furious band that spurns him from the throne !

men, even where vicious or absurd. The origin And all is uproar. Thus Ambition grasps of vice, from false representations of the fancy, The empire of the soul : thus pale Revenge producing false opinions concerning good and Unsheathes her murderous dagger; and the hands evil. Inquiry into ridicule. The general sources Of Lust and Rapine, with unholy arts, of ridicule in the minds and characters of men, Watch to o'erturn the barrier of the laws enumerated. Final cause of the sense of ridi- That keeps them from their prey: thus all the plagues cule. The resemblance of certain aspects of in- The wicked bear, or o'er the trembling scene animate things to the sensations and properties of The tragic Muse discloses, under shapes the mind. The operations of the mind in the Of honor, safety, pleasure, ease, or pomp, production of the works of imagination, described. Stole first into the mind. Yet not by all The secondary pleasure from imitation. The be- Those lying forms which Fancy in the brain nevolent order of the world illustrated in the ar. Engenders, are the kindling passions driven bitrary connexion of these pleasures with the ob- 'To guilty deeds ; nor Reason bound in chains, jects which excite them. The nature and conduct That Vice alone may lord it: oft adorn'u of taste. Concluding with an account of the With solemn pageants, Folly mounts the throne, natural and moral advantages resulting from a And plays her idiot-antics, like a queen. sensible and well-formed imagination.

A thousand garbs she wears; a thousand ways

She wheels her giddy empire.—Lo! thus far The vanity of riches, the contempt
With bold adventure, to the Mantuan lyre

Of pomp and power. Be prudent in your zeal,
I sing of Nature's charms, and touch well-pleas'd Ye grave associates! let the silent grace
A stricter note: now haply must my song

Of her who blushes at the fond regard Unbend her serious measure, and reveal

Her charms inspire, more eloquent unfold In lighter strains, how Folly's awkward arts The praise of spotless honor: let the man Excite impetuous Laughter's gay rebuke;

Whose eye regards not his illustrious poinp The sportive province of the comic Muse.

And ample store, but as indulgent streams See! in what crowds the uncouth forms advance: To cheer the barren soil and spread the fruits Each would outstrip the other, each prevent Of joy, let him by juster measures fix Our careful search, and offer to your gaze, The price of riches and the end of power. Unask’d, his motley features. Wait awhile,

Another tribe succeeds ; deluded long My curious friends! and let us first arrange, By Fancy's dazzling optics, these behold In proper order, your promiscuous throng.

The images of some peculiar things Behold the foremost band; of slender thought, With brighter hues resplendent, and portray'd And easy faith ; whom flattering Fancy soothes With features nobler far than e'er adorn'd With lying spectres, in themselves to view Their genuine objects. Hence the fever'd heart Illustrious forms of excellence and good,

Pants with delirious hope for tinsel charms; That scorn the mansion. With exulting hearts Hence oft, obtrusive on the eye of Scorn, They spread their spurious treasures to the Sun, Untimely Zeal her witless pride betrays! And bid the world admire! but chief the glance And serious manhood from the lowering aim or wishful Envy draws their joy-bright eyes, Of Wisdom, stoops to emulate the boast And lifts with self-applause each lordly brow. or childish ioil. Behold yon mystic form, In numbers boundless as the blooms of spring, Bedeck'd with feathers, insects, weeds, and shells ! Behold their glaring idols, empty shades

Not with intenser view the Samian sage By Fancy gilded o'er, and then set up

Bent his fixt eye on Heaven's intenser fires, For adoration. Some in Learning's garb,

When first the order of that radiant scene With formal band, and sable-cinctur'd gown, Swell'd his exulting thought, than this surveys And rags of mouldy volumes. Some elate A muckworm's entrails or a spider's fang. With martial splendor, steely pikes and swords Next him a youth, with flowers and myriles crown'd Of costly frame, and gay Phænician robes

Attends that virgin form, and blushing kneels, Inwrought with flowery gold, assume the port With fondest gesture and a suppliant's tongue, Of stately Valor: listening by his side

To win her coy regard: adieu, for him,
There stands a female form; to her, with looks The dull engagements of the bustling world!
Or earnest import, pregnant with amaze,

Adieu the sick impertinence of praise !
He talks of deadly deeds, of breaches, storms, And hope, and action! for with her alone,
And sulphurous mines, and ambush: then at once By streams and shades, to steal these sighing hours,
Breaks off, and smiles to see her look so pale, Is all he asks, and all that Fate can give!
And asks some wondering question of her fears. Thee too, facetious Momion, wandering here,
Others of graver mien; behold, adorn'd

Thee, dreaded censor, oft have I beheld
With holy ensigns, how sublime they move, Bewilder'd unawares: alas! too long
And, bending oft their sanctimonious eyes, Flush'd with thy comic triumphs and the spoils
Take homage of the simple-minded throng ; Of sly Derision! till on every side
Ambassadors of Heaven! Nor much unlike Hurling thy random bolts, offended Truth
Is he whose visage, in the lazy mist

Assign'd thee here thy station with the slaves
That mantles every feature, hides a brood Of Foily. Thy once formidable name
Of politic conceits; of whispers, nods,

Shall grace her humble records, and be heard
And hints deep-omen'd with unwieldy schemes, In scoffs and mockery, bandied from the lips
And dark portents of state. Ten thousand more, Of all the vengeful brotherhood around,
Prodigious habits and tumultuous tongues, So oft the patient victims of thy scorn.
Pour dauntless in, and swell the boastful band. But now, ye gay! to whom indulgent Fate,

Then comes the second order, all who seek of all the Muse's empire, hath assign'd
The debt of praise, where watchful Unbelief The fields of folly, hither each advance
Darts through the thin pretence her squinting eye Your sickles; here the seeming soil affords
On some retir'd appearance, which belies

Its richest growth. A favorite brood appears ; The boasted virtue, or annuls the applause In whom the demon, with a mother's joy, That Justice else would pay. Here side by side Views all her charms reflected, all her cares I see two leaders of the solemn train

At full repaid. Ye most illustrious band ! Approaching: one a female old and grey, Who, scorning Reason's tame, pedantic rules, With eyes demure, and wrinkle-furrow'd brow, And Order's vulgar bondage, never meant Pale as the cheeks of Death; yet still she stuns For souls sublime as yours, with generous zeal The sickening audience with a nauseous tale ; Pay Vice the reverence Virtue long usurp'd, How many youths her myrtle-chains have worn, And yield Deformity the fond applause How many virgins at her triumphs pin'd!

Which Beauty wont to claim ; forgive my song, Yet how resolv'd she guards her cautious heart; That for the blushing diffidence of youth, Such is her terror at the risks of love,

It shuns the unequal province of your praise. And man's seducing tongue! The other seems Thus far triumphant in the pleasing guile A bearded sage, ungentle in his mien,

Of bland Imagination, Folly's train And sordid all his habit; peevish Want

Have dar'd our search: but now a dastard kind Grins at his heels, while down the gazing throng Advance reluctant, and with faltering feet He stalks, resounding in magnific phrase

Shrink from the gazer's eye; enfeebled hearts