Such be my days, and such my fortunes be,
To live by reason, and to write by thee!

Nor deem this verse, though humble, thy disgrace:
All are not born the glory of their race:
Yet all are born to adore the great man's name,
And trace his footsteps in the paths to fame.
The Muse who now this early homage pays,
First learn'd from thee to animate her lays :
A muse as yet unhonour'd, but unstain’d,
Who prais'd no vices, no preferment gain'd:
Unbiass'd or to censure or commend,
Who knows no envy, and who grieves no friend;
Perhaps too fond to make those virtues known,
And fix her fame immortal on thy own.

CONTENTMENT, INDUSTRY, AND ACQUIESCENCE

UNDER THE DIVINE WILL.

AX ODE.

(Written in the Alpine parts of Carniola, 1749.)

• The wilderness and sobtary place shall be glad for them (the

children of the Lord :) and the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.'

Isaiah xxxv. 1, 2

Why dwells my unoffending eye
On yon blank desert's trackless waste ;
All dreary earth, or cheerless sky,
Like ocean wild, and bleak, and vast ?

There Lysidor's enamour'd reed
Ne'er taught the plains Eudosia's praise ;

here herds were rarely known to feed,
Or birds to sing, or flocks to graze.
Yet does my soul complacence find;
All, all from thee,
Supremely gracious Deity,
Corrector of the mind !*

The high-arch'd church is lost in sky,
The baset with thorns and briars bound :
The yawning fragments nod from high,
With close-encircling ivy crowu’d:
Heart-thrilling echo multiplies
Voice after voice, creation new!
Beasts, birds obscene, unite their cries :
Graves ope, and spectres free the view.
Yet nought dismays; and thence we find
'Tis all from thee,
Supremely gracious Deity,
Composer of the mind!

:

Earth's womb, half dead to Ceres' skill,
Can scarce the cake of offering give;
Five acres' corn can hardly fill
The peasant's wain, and bid him live.
The starving beldam gleans in vain,
In vain the hungry chough succeeds:
They curse the unprolific plain,
The scurf-grown moss, and tawdry weeds.

* "To be satisfied, is the highest pitch of art man can arrive to.'

St. Gregor, Hom. + Base, for basis.

See Zechar. v. 2.

December's Boreas issues forth,
In sullen gloom and horror dress'd,
Charg'd with the nitre of the north,
Abhor'd by man, by bird, and beast.
All nature's lovely tint embrown'd,
Sickens beneath the putrid blast:
Destruction withers up the ground,
Like parchment into embers cast.
Yet health and strength, and ease we find :
All, all from thee,
Supremely gracious Deity,
Composer of the mind!

mble, and yonder Alp behold,
Where half-dead nature gasps below:
Victim of everlasting cold,
Entomb'd alive in endless snow,
The northern side is horror all ;
Against the southern Phæbus plays;
In vain the innoxious glimmerings fall,
The frost outlives, outshines the rays.
Yet consolation still I find ;
And all from thee,
Supremely gracious Deity,
Corrector of the mind !.

Bless me! how doubly sharp it blows,
From Zemblan and Tartarian coasts!
In sollen silence fall the snows;
The only lustre nature boasts :

The nitrous power with tenfold force
Half petrifies earth's barren womb,
High-arch'd cascades suspend their force,
Men freeze alive, and in the tomb.
Yet warmth and happiness we find;
All, all from thee,
Supremely gracious Deity,
Composer of the mind !
Then, in exchange, a month or more
The sun with fierce solsticial gleams
Darting o'er vales his raging pow'r,
Like ray-collecting mirrors beams.
Torrents and cataracts are dry,
Men seek the scanty shades in vain :
The solar darts like lightning fly,
Transpierce the skull, and scorch the brain,
Yet still no restless heats we find;
And all from thee,
Supremely gracious Deity,
Corrector of the inind!
For nature rarely form’d a soil
Where diligence subsistence wants;
Exert but care, nor spare the toil,
And all beyond the Almighty grants.
Each earth at length to culture yields,
Each earth its own manure contains :
'Thus the Corycian nurs’d his fields,*
Heaven gave the increase, and he the pains.
The' industrious peace and plenty find;
All due to thee,
Supremely gracious Deity,
Composer of the mind :

Virg. Georg. IV. 127.

a

Scipio sought virtue in his prime, And, having early gain’d the prize, Stole from the’ungrateful world in time, Contented to be low and wise ! He serv'd the state with zeal and force, And then with dignity retir'd: Dismounting from the’ unruly horse, To rule himself, as sense requir'd. Without a sigh, he power resign’d. All, all from thee, Supremely gracious Deity, Corrector of the mind ! When Dioclesian sought repose, Cloy'd and fatigu’d with nauseous pow'r, He left his empire to his foes, For fools to' admire, and rogues devour : Rich in his poverty, he bought Retirement's innocence and health ; With his own hands the monarch wrought, And chang'd a throne for Ceres' wealth. Toil sooth'd his cares, his blood refin'dAnd all from thee, Supremely gracious Deity, Composer of the mind ! He,* who had ruld the world, exchang'd His sceptre for the peasant's spade, Postponing (as through groves he rang'd) Court splendour to the rural shade. Child of his hand, the engrafted thorn More than the victor laurel pleas'd : Heart's-ease, and meadow-sweet, adorn The brow, from civic garlands eas’d.

• Dioclesian.