O blind to each indulgent aim,
Of pow'r fupremely wife;
Who fancy Happiness in aught
The hand of Heav'n denies!

Vain is alike the joy we seek,
And vain what we poflefs,
Unless harmonious Reafon tunes
The paflions into peace.

To temper'd wishes, juft defires,
Is Happiness confin'd;
And, deaf to folly's call, attends
The mufic of the mind.

WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT

IN A THUNDER STORM.

BY THE SAME.

LET coward Guilt, with pallid Fears
To fhelt'ring caverns fly,
And justly dread the vengeful fate,
That thunders through the sky.

Protected by that Hand, whofe law
The threat'ning ftorms obey,
Intrepid Virtue fmiles fecure,
As in the blaze of day.

In the thick cloud's tremendous gloom,
The lightning's lurid glare,
It views the fame all-gracious Power,
That breathes the vernal air.

Through Nature's ever-varying scene,
By different ways purfu'd,

The one eternal end of Heav'n
Is univerfal good:

With like beneficent effect,

O'er flaming æther glows,

As when it tunes the linnet's voice,
Or blushes in the rofe.

By reafen taught to fcorn thofe fears,
That vulgar minds moleft;
Let no fantaftic terrors break
My dear Narciffa's reit.

Thy life may all the tend'reft care of Providence defend;

And delegated angels round,

Their guardian wings extend I

When through creation's vast expanse, The laft dread thunders roll; Untune the concord of the spheres, And shake the rising foul:

Unmov'd, may'st thou the final form
Of jarring worlds furvey,

That ushers in the glad ferene
Of everlasting day!

THE EVENING WALK.

BY THE SAME.

HOW fweet the calm of this fequefter'd fhore,
Where ebbing waters musically roll;

And folitude, and filent eve restore
The philofophic temper of the foul!

The fighing gale, whose murmurs lull to reft
The bufy tumult of declining day,
To fympathetic quiet fooths the breast,
And ev'ry wild emotion dies away.

Farewel the objects of diurnal care,

Your task be ended with the setting fun: Let all be undisturb'd vacation here,

While o'er yon wave ascends the peaceful moon.

What beauteous vifions o'er the foften'd heart,
In this still moment all their charms diffufe,
Serener joys, and brighter hopes impart,

And cheer the foul with more than mortal views.

Her faithful mem'ry wakens all her pow'rs,
She bids her fair ideal forms afcend,

And quick to ev'ry gladden'd thought restores
The focial virtue, and the abfent friend.

Come,

****** come, and with me share The fober pleasures of this folemn scene: While no rude tempeft clouds the ruffled air, But all, like thee, is smiling and ferene.

Come, while the cool, the folitary hours

Each foolish care and giddy with controul, With all thy foft perfuafion's wonted pow'rs Beyond the stars tranfport my lift'ning foul.

Oft, when the earth detain'd by empty show,
Thy voice has taught the trifler how to rife;
Taught her to look with fcorn on things below,
And feek her better portion in the skies.

Come, and the facred eloquence repeat:
The world' fhall vanifh at its gentle found,
Angelic forms fhall vifit this retreat,

And op'ning Heav'n diffuse its glories round.

CONTEMPLATION.

BY THE SAME.

WHILE foft through water, earth, and air,
The vernal spirits rove,

From noify joys, and giddy crowds,
To rural fcenes remove.

The mountain fnows are all diffolv'd,
And hush'd the bluft'ring gale:
While fragrant Zephyrs gently breathe
Along the flow'ry vale.

The circling planets' constant rounds
The wint'ry wastes repair;
And ftill, from temporary death,
Renew the verdant year.

But ah! when once our tranfient bloom,
The fpring of life, is o'er,
That rofy feafon takes its flight,

And must return no more.

Yet judge by reason's fober rules,
From falfe opinion free,

And mark how little pilf 'ring years
Can fteal from you or me.

G