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For ev'ry fair object my eyes can survey,
Contributes to gladden my heart.

How vainly through infinite trouble and ftrife
The many their labours employ !

Since all that is truly delightful in life,

Is what all, if they will, may enjoy.

FITZGERALD.

SECT. III.

ON MENTAL BEAUTY.

THE charms which blooming beauty fhows

From faces heav'nly fair,

We to the lily and the rose

With femblance apt compare :

With femblance apt, for ah! how soon,

How foon they all decay!

The lily drops, the rofe is gone,

And beauty fades away.

But when bright virtue shines confeft,

With fweet difcretion join'd;

When mildness calms the peaceful breaft,

And wisdom guides the mind;

When charms like thefe, dear maid, confpire

Thy perfon to approve,

They kindle generous chafte défire,

And everlasting love.

B 3

Beyond

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FAIR

Source of all comfort to the human breaft!
Depriv'd of thee, in fad defpair we moan,
And tedious roll the heavy moments on.
Though beauteous objects all around us rife
To charm the fancy, and delight the eyes;
Though art's fair works, and nature's gifts conspire
To please each fenfe, and fatiate each defire,
'Tis joyless all-till thy enliv'ning ray
Scatters the melancholy gloom away.
Then opens to the foul a heavenly scene,

Gladness and peace, all sprightly, all ferene.
Where doft thou deign, fay, in what bleft retreat,
To choose thy manfion, and to fix thy feat?
Thy facred prefence how fhall we explore?
Can av'rice gain thee with her golden ftore?
Can vain ambition with her boafted charms
Tempt thee within her wide-extended arms ?
No, with Content alone canft thou abide,
Thy fifter, ever fmiling by thy fide.

When

When boon companions void of ev'ry care
Crown the full bowl, and the rich banquet fhare,
And give a loose to pleasure-art thou there?
Or when th' assembled great and fair advance
To celebrate the mask, the play, the dance,
Whilft beauty fpreads its fweeteft charms around,
And airs ecftatic fwell their tuneful found,
Art thou within the pompous circle found?
Does not thy influence more fedately shine?
Can fuch tumultuous joys as these be thine?
Surely more mild, more conftant in their course,
Thy pleasures iffue from a nobler fource;
From sweet difcretion ruling in the breast,
From paffions temper'd, and from lufts repres;
From thoughts unconscious of a guilty smart,
And the calm tranfports of an honest heart.
Thy aid, O ever faithful, ever kind!
Thro' life, thro' death, attends the virtuous mind;
Of angry fate wards from us ev'ry blow,
Cures ev'ry ill, and foftens ev'ry woe.
Whatever good our mortal ftate defires,
What wisdom finds, or innocence infpires;
From nature's bounteous hand whatever flows,
Whate'er our Maker's providence beftows,
By thee mankind enjoys; by thee repays
A grateful tribute of perpetual praise.

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FITZGERALD

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SECT. V.

ON INDUSTRY.

UEEN of all virtues! for whate'er we call

Godlike and great, 'tis thou obtain'st it all.
No talk too arduous for thy ftrong effay,
And art and nature own thy potent sway.
Infpir'd by thee to each fuperior aim,

We prefs with ardour thro' the paths of fame,

Up to the facred top, and leave behind

Th' inglorious crowd, the herd of human kind;
While wisdom round us pours her heavenly ray,
And old experience guides our steady way.
No anxious care, no furious lufts controul
The free habitual vigour of the foul.
Each part, each station gracefully we fill,
And bend and shape our fortune to our will.

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*

The hero, down through ev'ry age renown'd,
With triumph, praife, and glorious titles crown'd,
By thee has gain'd his honourable spoils,

And mighty fame atchiev'd by mighty toils.
The fage, whilst learning ftudious he pursues,
By thee the ftubborn sciences subdues ;
Through truth's wide fields expatiates unconfin'd,
And ftores for ever his capacious mind.
Nor feek the lower ranks thy aid in vain ;
The poor mechanic and the lab'ring fwain:
Health, peace, and sweet content to thefe it brings,
More precious prizes than the wealth of kings.

When

When whelming round us death's fad terrors roll,
'Tis thou speak'st peace and comfort to the foul,
Then, if our recollecting thoughts prefent
A well-plan'd life in virtuous labour spent ;
If uteful we have pafs'd through every stage,
And paid our debt of service to the age;
If ftill we've made our duty our delight,
Nor hid our master's talent from our fight,
All's well, 'tis all by our own heart approv❜d,
From hence we pafs by God and man belov❜d;
Cheerful we pafs, to Heaven's high will resign'd,
And leave a bleffed
memory behind.

FITZGERALD.

SECT. VI.

ON BEDLAM.

WHERE proud Augufta, bleft with long repose,

Her ancient wall and ruin'd bulwark shows;

Close by a verdant plain, with graceful height
A ftately fabric rifes to the fight.

Yet, though its parts all elegantly shine,

And sweet proportion crowns the whole defign;
Though art, in ftrong expreffive fculpture shown,
Confummate art informs the breathing stone;
Far other views than these within appear,
And woe and horror dwell for ever here.
For ever from the echoing roofs rebounds
A dreadful din of heterogeneous founds.
From this, from that, from ev'ry quarter rise
Loud shouts, and fullen groans, and doleful cries;

B 5

Heart"

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