" And, leaning where yon oak expands her arms, « Heard these rude cliffs thine awful voice rebound,

(For in thy speech I recognise the found.) • You mourn'd for ruin'd man, and virtue Toit, « And feem'd to feel of keen remorse the wound,

Pondering on former days, by guilt engross d, Or in the giddy Itorm of diflipation tofs d.

XXVIII. • But say, in courtly sife can craft be learn'd, • Where knowledge opens, and exalts the soul ;

Where fortune lavishes her gifts unearn'd, Can seifishness the liberal art control.? • Is glory there atchiev'd by arts, as foul • As those which felons, fiends, and furies plan?

Spiders en Inare, snakes poison, tygers prowl ; • Love is the godlike attribnte of man. • teach a simple youth this mystery to scan.

XXIX. . Or elle the lamentable strain disclaim, • And give me back the calm, contented mind ; • Which, late, exulting, view'd in Nature's frame, • Goodness untainted, wisdom uncontined, • Grace, grandeur, and utility combine. • Restore those tranquil days, that saw me still

Well-pleased with all, hut most with humankind; • When Fancy roam'd through Nature's works at will, • Uncheck'd by cold distrust, and uninform’d of ill.'

XXX. · Wouldi tkou (the Sage replied) in peace return • To the gay dreams of fond romantic youth,

Leave me to hide. in this remote sojourn,

From every gentle ear the dreadful truth : - For if my desultory strain with ruth • And indignation make thine eyes o'erflow, • Alaz! what comfort could thy anguilh footh, • Shouldst thou th' extent of human fully know. Be ignorance thychoice, where knowledge leadstowo.

XXXI. • But let untender thoughts afar be driven • Nor venture to arraign the dread decree : • For know, to man, a candidate for h«aven, • The voice of The Eternal said, Be free: . And this divine prerogative to thee • Does virtue, happiness, and heaven convey; · For virtue is the child of liberty, • And happiness of virtue ; nor can they • Be free to keep the path who are not free to stray.

1

XXXII.
" Yet leave me not. I would allay that grief,
" Which elfe might thy young virtue overpower ;
• And in thy converse I shall ford relief,
• When the dark shades of melancholy lower ;
6. For solitude has many a dreary hour,

Even when exempt from grief, remorse, and pain : • Come often then; for, haply, in my bower,

• Amusement, knowledge, wisdom thou may'st gain: • If I one soul improve, I have not lived in vain.

XXXIII.
And now, at length, to Edwiu's ardent gaze
The Muse of history unrolls her page.
But few alas! the scenes her art displays,
To charm his fancy, or his heart engage.
Her Chiefs their thirst of power in blood afswage,
And straight their flames with tenfold fierceness burn:
Here smiling Virtue prompts the patriot's rage,

But lo, ere long, is left alone to mourn,
And languish in the dust, and clasp the abandon'd urn.

XXXIV. Ab, what avails (he said) to trace the springs • That whirl of empire the stupendous wheel! « Ab, what have I to do with conquering kings, • Hands drench'd in blood, and breasts begirt with

• steel !

• To those, whom Nature taught to think and fech,

Heroes, alas ! are things of small concern. • Could History man's secret heart reveal,

• And what imports a heaven-born mind to learn, • Her transcripts to explore, what bosom would not yearn!

XXXV. • This praise, O Chero' an Sage*, is thine. • (Why should this praise to thee alone belong :) • All elfe from Nature's moral path decline, • Lured by the toys that captivate the throng ;

To herd'in cabinets and camps, among

Spoil, carnage, and the cruel pomp of pride; • Or chaunt of heraldry the drowsy song,

< How tyrant blood, o'er many a region wide, • Rolls to a thousand thrones its execrable tide.

XXXVI. • O who of man the story will unfold, · Ere victory and empire wrought annoy, • In that Elysian age (misnamed of gold) • The age of love, and innocence, and joy, • When all were great and free! man's fole employ • To deck the bolom of his parent earth ; • Or towards his bower the murmuring stream decoy,

To aid the floweret's long-expected birth, . And lull the bed of peace, and crown the board of mirth,

XXXVII. Sweet were your shades, Oye primeval groves, • Whole boughs to man his food and shelter lent, • Pure in his pleasures, happy in his loves, His

eyes Atill smiling, and his heart content. • Then, hand in hand, Health, Sport, and Labour went. • Nature supplied the wish the taught to crave. • None prowled for prey, none watch'd to circumvent.

• To all an equal lot Heaven's bowty gave: No vallal fear'd his lord, no tyrant fear'd his flave.

* PLUTARCH.

XXXVIII. . But ab! th' Hiftorick Muse has never dared • To pierce those hallow'd bowers: 'tis Fancy's bean · Pour'd on the vision of th' enraptured Bard, • That paints the charms of that delicious theme. • Then hail sweet fancy's ray! and hail the dream

That weans the weary soul from guilt and woe!
. Careless what others of

my
choice

may

deem, • I long where Love and Fancy lead to go, And meditate on heaven ; enough of earth I know.'

XXXIX. • I cannot blame thy choice (the Sage replied)

For soft and smooth are Fancy's flowery ways.

And yet, even there, if left without a guide, • The young adventurer unsafely plays. • Eyes dazzled long by Fiction's gaudy rays

In modeft Truth no light nor beauty find. . And who, my child, would trust the meteor-blaze,

That foon muft fail, and leave the wanderer blind, More dark and helpless far, than if it ne'er had shined?

XL. • Fancy enervates, while it fooths the heart, • And, while it dazzles, wounds the mental sight: • To joy each heightening charm it can impart, • But wraps the hour of woe in tenfold night. • And often, where no real ills affright;

Its visionary fiends, an endless train, • Affail with equal or superior might, * And through the throbbing heart, and dizzy brain, . And shivering nerves, shout itings of more than mortal

pain.

1

XLI. • And yet, alas! the real ills of life • Claim the full vigour of a mind prepared,

Prepared for patient, long, laborious strife, . Its guide Experience, and Truth its guard.

• We fare on earth as other men have fared ?
• Were they successful ? Let not us despair.
· Was disappointment oft their sole reward ?

" Yet shall their tale instruct, if it declare,
• How they have born the load ourselves are doom'd to

bear.

XLII. ? What charms th' Historic Muse adorn, from spoils, . And blood, and tyrants, when she wings her flight, • To hail the patriot Prince, whose pious toils • Sacred to science, liberty, and right, · And peace, through every age divinely bright • Shall shine the boat and wonder of mankind ! "Sees yonder fun from his meridian height.

• A lovelier scene, than Virtue thus inshrined • In power, and man with man for mutual aid combined.

XLIII. • Hail sacred Polity, by Freedom reard ! • Hail sacred Freedom, when by Law reitrain'd! • Without you what were man? A groveling herd "In darkness, wretchedness, and want enchain'd. • Sublimed by you, the Greek and Roman reign'd • In arts unrival'd: 0, to latett days, • In Albion may your influence unprofaned

• To godlike worth the generous bosom raise, • And prompt the Sage's lore, and fire the poet's lays.

XLIV.
- But now let other themes our care engage.

Forlo, with modeft yet majestic grace,
• To curb Imagination's lawless rage,
• And from within the cherish'd heart to brace,
· Philosophy appears.

The gloomy race
• By Indolence and moping Fancy bred,
• Fear, Discontent; Solicitude'give place,

. And hope and Courage brighten in their stead,
. While on the kindling foul her vital beams are shed.