But claim fuperior lineage by my SIRE,

Who warm'd th' unthinking cold with heavenly fire:
Effence divine, with lifelefs clay allay'd,
By double nature, double instinct sway'd;

With look erect, I dart my longing eye,

Seem wing'd to part, and gain my native sky;
I strive to mount, but strive, alas! in vain,

Ty'd to this maffy globe with magic chain.
Now with swift thought I range from pole to pole,
View worlds around their flaming centers roll:
What steady powers their endless motions guide,
Thro' the fame tracklefs paths of houndtefs void!
I trace the blazing fing planets a

tail,

STIC

Jan

And we
nese godlike thoughts, while eager I purlue,
Some glitt'ring trifle offer'd to my view,
A gnat, an infect, of the meanest kind,
Erafe the new-born image from my mind;
Some beastly want, craving, importunate,
Vile as the grinning maftiff at my gate,
Calls off from heavenly truth this reas'ning me,
And tells me I'm a brute as much as he.
If on fublimer wings of love and praife,
My foul above the starry vault I raise,
Lur'd by fome vain conceit, or fhameful luft,
I flag, I drop, and flutter in the duft.

The tow'ring lark thus from her lofty ftrain,
Stoops to an emmet, or a barley grain.
By adverse gufts, of jarring inftincts toft,
I rove to one, now to the other coast ;
N. 3

To

1

To blifs unknown my lofty foul afpires,
My lot unequal to my vast desires.

As 'mongst the hinds a child of royal birth
Finds his high pedigree by confcious worth;
So man, amongst his fellow brutes expos'd,
Sees he's a king, but 'tis a king depos'd:
Pity him, beafts! you by no law confin'd,
'Are barr'd from devious paths by being blind;
Whilft man, through op'ning views of various ways
Confounded, by the aid of knowledge ftrays;
Too weak to choose, yet choofing ftill in hafte,
One moment give the pleasure and distaste;
Bilk'd by paft more fill must give the joy.
Not happy, but amus'd upon the road,
And, like you, thoughtlefs of his last abode,
Whether next fun his being fhall restrain,
To endless nothing, happiness, or pain.

cloy,

Around me, lo, the thinking thoughtless crew, Bewilder'd each, their diff'rent paths pursue; Of them I ask the way; the first replies, Thou art a God; and fends me to the skies. Down on this turf (the next) thou two-legg'd beast, There fix thy lot, thy blifs, and endless reft: Between these wide extreams the length is fuch, I find I know too little or too much.

"Almighty power, by whose most wife command, "Helpless, forlorn, uncertain here I ftand; "Take this faint glimmering of thyself away, "Or break into my foul with perfect day!"

This faid, expanded lay the facred text,

The balm, the light, the guide of fouls perplex'd: Thus the benighted traveller who strays Through doubtful paths, enjoys the morning rays; The nightly. mift, and thick defcending dew, Parting, unfold the fields, and vaulted blue. "O truth divine! enlighten'd by thy ray, "I grope and guefs no more, but see my way; "Thou clear'dft the fecret of my high defcent, "And told me what those myftic tokens meant; "Marks of my birth, which I had worn in vain "Too hard for worldly fages to explain; "ZENO's were vain, vain EPICURUS' fchemes, "Their fyftems falfe, delufive were their dreams; "Unfkill'd by two-fold nature to divide, "One nurs'd by pleasure, and one nurs'd by pride: "Those jarring truths which human art beguile, ' Thy facred page thus bids me reconcile." Offspring of God, no lefs thy pedigree, What thou once waft, art now, and still may be, Thy God alone can tell, alone decree : Faultlefs thou dropt from his unerring skill, With the bare power to fin, fince free of will: Yet charge not with thy guilt, his bounteous love, For who has power to walk, has power to rove: Who acts by force impell'd, can nought deserve; And wisdom short of infinite, may fwerve. Borneon thy new-imp'd wings, thou took'ft thy flight, Left thy Creator, and the realms of light:

}

Dif

N 4

Disdain'd his gentle precept to fulfil,
And thought to grow a GOD by doing ill:
Though by foul guilt thy heavenly form defac'd, -
In nature chang'd, from happy mansions chac'd,
Thou ftill retain'ft some sparks of heavenly fire,
Too faint to mount, yet restless to aspire;
Angel enough to feek thy blifs again,

And brute enough to make thy fearch in vain.
The creatures now withdraw their kindly use,
Some fly thee, fome torment, and some seduce;
Repaft ill fuited to fuch diff'rent guests,
For what thy fenfe defires, thy foul diftaftes;
Thy luft, thy curiofity, thy pride,
Curb'd, or deferr'd, or balk'd, or gratify'd,
Rage on, and make thee equally unbless'd,
In what thou want'st, and what thou haft poffefs'd;
In vain thou hop'ft for blifs on this poor clod,
Return, and seek thy Father, and thy God:
Yet think not to regain thy native sky,
Borne on the wings of vain philofophy;
Myfterious paffage! hid from human eyes,
Soaring you'll fink, and finking you will rife:
Let humble thoughts thy wary footsteps guide,
Regain by meekness what you loft by pride.

BEDLA M.

A M.

BED LA

BY THE REV, MR. FITZGERALD.

W

HERE proud Augufta, bleft with long repofe, 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 sculpture 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 every quarter rife Loud fhouts, and fullen groans, and doleful cries; Heart-foft'ning plaints demand the pitying tear, And peals of hideous laughter fhock the ear.

Thus, when in fome fair human form we find The lufts all rampant, and the reason blind, Griev'd we behold fuch beauty given in vain, And nature's faireft work furvey with pain.

Within the chambers which this dome contains, In all her frantic forms diftraction reigns. For when the fense from various objects brings, Through organs craz'd, the images of things;