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"Why heed we not, while mad we haste along,
"The gentle voice of Peace, or Pleafure's fong?
"Or wherefore think the flow'ry mountain's fide,
"The fountain's murmurs, and the valley's pride;
Why think we these less pleafing to behold
"Than dreary deferts, if they lead to gold?

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"Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
"When firft from Shiraz' walls I bent my way!
"O! cease my fears!—all frantic as I go,

"When thought creates unnumber'd scenes of woe.

Let there be now fome dread expreffèd in your manner.

"What if the Lion in his rage I meet!

"Oft in the duft I view his printed feet:
"And fearful! oft, when day's declining light
"Yields her pale empire to the mourner night,
"By hunger rous'd, he fcours the groaning plain,
"Gaunt wolves and fullen tigers in his train;
"Before them death, with fhrieks, directs their way!
"Fills their wild yell, and leads them to their prey.
"Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
"When first from Shiraz' walls I bent

my way!

Give, in repeating these two lines fo often, as much variety as you can, ftill preferving the moving effect so neceffary in the whole.

"`At that dead hour the filent afp shall creep,
"If aught of rest I find, upon my sleep:

" Or

< Or fome swoln ferpent twist his scales around,
"And wake to anguifh with the burning wound.
"Thrice happy they, the wife, contented poor;
"From luft of wealth and dread of death fecure!
"They tempt no deferts, and no griefs they find;
"Peace rules the day, where Reason rules the mind.
"Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
"When first from Shiraz' walls I bent my way!
"O hapless youth for fhe thy love hath won,
"The tender Zara, will be most undone!

"Big fwell'd my heart, and own'd the pow'rful
"Maid,

"When first she dropp'd her tears, and thus she said:
Farewell the Youth whom fighs could not detain,
"Whom Zara's breaking heart implor'd in vain;
"Yet as thou go'ft, may ev'ry blast arise
“Weak and unfelt as these rejected fighs!

"Safe o'er the wild, no perils may'st thou fee;
"No griefs endure; nor weep, falfe youth, like

"me!

"O let me fafely to the fair return!

"Say, with a kifs, fhe muft not, shall not mourn!
66 let me teach my heart to lose its fears,
"Recall'd by Wisdom's voice, and Zara's tears!?!

Now lower your voice, and make a pause.

He faid, and call'd on Heav'n to bless the day,
When back to Shiraz' walls he bent his way!

The above Eclogue is finely adapted for reaching the heart; and the reader, to do it juftice, would do well to

fancy

fancy the dreary folitary picture fo ably delineated by the poet before his eyes; and, by his method of reading it, to ftamp the fame impreffion on the mind of the hearer.

ECLOGUE III.

ABRA, OR THE GEORGIAN SULTANA.

Scene, a Foreft. Time, the Evening.

IN Georgia's land, where Tefflis' tow'rs are feen
In diftant view along the level green;

Let your voice be Smooth, clear, and regular.

While evening's dews enrich the glitt'ring glade,
And the tall forests caft a longer fhade;

What time 'tis fweet o'er fields of rice to stray,
Or fcent the breathing maize at fetting day;
Amid the maids of Zagen's peaceful grove,
Emyra fung the pleafing cares of love.

The fentence does not end until the clofe of the laft line, fo that, of course, you must keep up your voice until you come to it. You may pause in the last line, after "fung," and if you fpeak the remaining words rather foft, the effect will be pleasing.

Of Abra first began the tender strain,

Who led her youth with flocks upon the plain;
At morn she came, those willing flocks to lead,
Where lilies rear them in the wat'ry mead :

From

From early dawn the livelong hours fhe told,
Till late at filent eve fhe penn'd the fold.
Deep in the grove, beneath the secret shade,
A various wreath of odorous flow'rs fhe made,
Gay motley'd pinks and fweet jonquils fhe chofe,
The violet blue that on the mofs-bank grows;
All sweet to fenfe the flaunting rofe was there:
The finish'd chaplet well adorn'd her hair.

Great Abbas' chanc'd that fated morn to ftray,
By Love conducted from the chase away:
Among the vocal vales he heard her fong,
And fought the vales and echoing groves among.
At length he found, and woo'd the rural maid;
She knew the monarch, and with fear obey'd.
"Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,
"And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!"
The royal lover bore her from the plain,
Yet ftill her crook and bleating flock remain:
Oft, as she went, she backward turn'd her view,
And bade that crook and bleating flock adieu!

Speak the last two lines expreffive of the greatest regret.

Fair happy Maid! to other fcenes remove;
To richer scenes of golden pow'r and love!
Go leave the fimple pipe, and shepherd's ftrain,
With love delight thee, and with Abbas reign.
"Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,
"And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!”

Yet,

Yet, midft the blaze of courts, the fix'd her love
On the cool fountain or the fhady grove.

Speak from "fe fix'd her love," &c. the latter part of the last line but one, and the whole of the last line, in a gentle, tender manner.

Still with the fhepherd's innocence, her mind
To the sweet vale and flow'ry mead inclin'd:
And oft as spring renew'd the plains with flow'rs,
Breath'd his foft gales, and led the fragrant hours,
With fure return fhe fought the sylvan scene,
The breezy mountains, and the foreft

green.

Speak all these lines in nearly the fame way we above recommended.

Her maids around her mov'd, a duteous band!
Each bore a crook all rural in her hand:

Some fimple lay of flocks and herds they fung;
With joy the mountain and the foreft rung.
"Be ev'ry youth like royal Abbas mov'd,
"And ev'ry Georgian maid like Abra lov'd!"
And oft the royal lover left the care

And thorns of state, attendant on the fair;
Oft to the fhades and low-roof'd cots retir'd,

Or fought the vale where first his heart was fir'd:

The laft part of the last line, in the manner as before.

A ruffet mantle, like a fwain, he wore;
And thought of crowns and busy courts no more.

Be

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