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Hibernia bleft from noxious creatures free,
A privilege indulg'd alone to thee;
Not rich Arabia can thy envy move

With all her od❜rous gums and spicy grove;
Where the fell tyger dreadful stalks around,
And peasants tim'rous tread the faithlefs ground.
Nor covet'st thou Hefperian fruits of old,
Where the dire dragon watch'd the growing gold.
Thy fons unhurt thro' all thy region stray,
Pursue their pleasures, to no beaft a prey;

Each glade and thicket trace, nor dread to wake
The fwelling toad, or rouse the rattling snake.
Whether thy water, air, or foil deny,

To feed their venom, and their rage supply,
The vulgar doubtor fince the general flood
Thy realm has never seen the dang❜rous brood-
Believe the mufe, fhe fhail old truths revive,
And in her fong th' amazing tale fhall live.

Once like thy neighbour lands was thine annoy'd ;
Thousand untimely deaths thy fons destroy'd:
The lion rav'ning rang'd the lonely wood,

And thro' the valley prowl'd the wolf for blood;
The wolf-dog then did ev'ry hind attend

To guard his labour, and his reft defend.

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But

But ah! what forefight could protection bring
From the toad's venom, and the viper's fting!
They with ftill treach'ry filent fate convey'd
To the poor fwain, in thoughtless slumbers laid,
His boiling veins with fubtle poifon fill'd,
And, tho' more flowly, yet as furely kill'd,

Thus groan'd thy ifle, by various woes oppreft,
When Patrick, ancient faint, a welcome guest,
Came by the filent call of heav'n's command
To plant the Gospel in th' unfaithful land.
Up rofe our Paul amid the gazing croud,
Demanded filence, and thus fpake aloud:

"I come, faid he,but your b
belief to move,
"I'll firft my miffion by a wonder prove.

"The swarms of favages that vex your isle,

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Your mountains ravage, and your forest spoil, "No more your fruitful glebe shall defart lay, "Affright your children, and your cattel flay: "Not ev'n an infect of the pois'nous kind "Henceforth fhall in your bounds a refuge find." He faid-and at his word, each den and cave Into his pow'r their brood of monsters gave; Panthers, and leopards fudden round him fwarm'd, And couch'd fubmiffive, of their rage difarm'd :

Snakes

Snakes, lizards, vipers, fcorpions spread the ground,
And toads, now inoffenfive, croak'd around..

When, at his word, the wond'ring throng beheld
Their loathly train their laughing fields expell'd,
O'erpower'd they rush into the neighb'ring main,
Ne'er to moleft their happy isle again:

All with loud-fhouts blefs their deliv'rer's hand;
Pronounce him Patron of their refeu'd land;
Gladly the truths, that he reveals, believe;
And greater bleffings from his lips receive.

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THE

HERM IT.

By Dr. THO. PARNELL.

F

AR in a wild, unknown to publick view,

From youth to age a rev'rend HERMIT grew;

The mofs his bed, the cave his humble cell,
His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well.
Remote from man, with God he pass'd the days,
Pray'r all his bus'nefs, all his pleasure praise.

;

A life fo facred, fuch ferene repofe,
Seem'd heav'n itself, 'till one fuggestion rose
That vice should triumph, virtue vice obey,
This fprung fome doubt of providence's sway:
His hopes no more a certain profpect boast,
And all the tenour of his foul is loft:

So

So when a smooth expanfe receives imprest
Calm nature's image on its watry breast,

Down bend the banks, the trees depending grow,
And skies beneath with anfw'ring colours glow:
But if a ftone the gentle fea divide,

Swift ruffling circles curl on ev'ry fide,

And glimmering fragments of a broken fun,
Banks, trees, and skies, in thick disorder run.
To clear this doubt, to know the world by fight,
To find if books, or fwains report it right;
(For yet by fwains alone the world he knew,
Whofe feet came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew)
He quits his cell; the pilgrim-staff he bore,
And fix'd the fcallop in his hat before;

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Then with the fun a rifing journey went,
Sedate to think, and watching each event.

The morn was wafted in the pathless grafs,
And long and lonesome was the wild to pass;
But when the fouthern fun had warm'd the day,
A youth came pofting o'er a croffing way;
His rayment decent, his complexion fair,
And foft in graceful ringlets wav'd his hair.
Then near approaching, Father, hail! he cry'd ;
And hail, my Son, the rev'rend Sire reply'd;

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