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No farther feek his merits to difclofe,

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Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repofe,) The bofom of his Father and his God.

Jor AND SORROW CONNECTED..
Still, where rofy pleasure leads,
See a kindred grief purfue;

Behind the fteps that mis'ry treads,.
Approaching comforts view.

The hues of blifs more brightly glow,
Chaftis'd by fable tints of wo:

And blended form, with artful ftrife,
The strength and harmony of life.

THE GOLDEN MEAN..

He that holds faft the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,

Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Imbitt'ring all his state.

The tallest pines feel moft the pow'r
Of wintry blaft; the loftieft tow'r
Comes heaviest to the ground.

The bolts that fpare the mountain's fide,
His cloud-capt eminence divide ;

And spread the ruin round.

MODERATE VIEWS AND AIMS RECOMMENDED.
With paffions unruffled, untainted with pride,
By reafon my life let me fquare;

The wants of my nature are cheaply fupplied;
And the rest are but folly and care.

How vainly, through infinite trouble and ftrife,
The many their labours employ !
Since all that is truly delightful in life,
Is what all, if they pleafe, may enjoy.

ATTACHMENT TO LIFE.

The tree of deepeft root is found

Leaft willing ftill to quit the ground: "Twas therefore faid, by ancient fages,

That love of life increas'd with years,
So much, that in our later stages,

When pains grow fharp, and fickness rages,
The greatest love of life appears.

VIRTUE'S ADDRESS TO PLEASURE.*

Vaft happiness enjoy thy gay allies!

A youth of follies, an old age of cares; Young yet enervate, old yet never wife,

Vice waftes their vigour, and their mind impairs. Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtless eafe,

Referving woes for age, their prime they spend;
All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days,

With forrow to the verge of life they tend.
Griev'd with the prefent, of the past afham'd.

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They live and are defpis'd; they die, nor more are nam'd.

SECTION V.

VERSES IN WHICH SOUND CORRESPONDS TO SIGNIFICA

TION.

SMOOTH AND ROUGH VERSE.

Soft is the ftrain when zephyr gently blows,
And the fmooth ftream in fmoother numbers flows,
But when loud furges lafh the founding fhore,
The hoarfe rough verfe fhould like the torrent roar.
SLOW MOTION IMITATED.

When Ajax ftrives fome rock's vaft weight to throw,
The line too labours, and the words move flow.

SWIFT AND EAST MOTION.

Not fo when swift Camilla fcours the plain,

'Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and fkimś along the main. FELLING TREES IN A WOOD:

Loud founds the axe, redoubling strokes on ftrokes ;
On all fides round the foreft hurls her oaks

Headlong. Deep echoing groan the thickets brown;
Then rustling, crackling, crafhing, thunder down.

SOUND OF A BOW STRING.

The ftring let fly Twang'd fhort and fharp, like the thrill fwallow's cry.

* Senfual pleasure.

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THE PHEASANT.

See! from the brake the whirring pheafant fprings
And mounts exulting on triumphant

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS

Dire Scylla there a fcene of horror forms,
And here Charybdis fills the deep with storms.
When the tide rushes from her rumbling caves,
The rough rock roars; tumultuous boil the waves:
BOISTEROUS AND GENTLE SOUNDS.

Two craggy rocks projecting to the main,
The roaring winds tempeftuous rage restrain
Within, the waves in fofter murmurs glide;
And fhips fecure without their hawfers ride.

LABORIOUS AND IMPETUOUS MOTION.

:

With many a weary step and many a groan,
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round ftone
The huge round ftone refulting, with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down, and fmokes along the ground:

REGULAR AND SLOW MOVEMENT.

Firft march the heavy mules fecurely flow;
O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks they go.

MOTIONS SLOW AND DIFFICULT.

A needlefs Alexandrine ends the fong,

That, like a wounded fnake, drags its flow length along. A ROCK TORN FROM THE BROW OF A MOUNTAIN

Still gath'ring force, it fmokes, and urg'd amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down, impetuous to the plain:
EXTENT AND VIOLENCE OF THE WAVES.

The waves behind impel the waves before,
Wide rolling, foaming high, and tumbling to the shore:
PENSIVE NUMBERS.
In thofe deep folitudes, and awful cells,
Where heav'nly penfive contemplation dwells,
And ever mufing melancholy reigns.

BATTLE.

-Arms on armour clafhing bray'd

Horrible difcord; and the madding wheels
Of brazen fury rag'd.

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SOUND IMITATING RELUCTANCE.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,

This pleafin anxious being e'er refign'd; Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor caft one longing, ling'ring look behind.

SECTION VI.

PARAGRAPHS OF GREATER LENGTH.

CONNUBIAL AFFECTION.

THE love that cheers life's lateft ftage,
Proof against fickness and old age,
Prefery'd by virtue from declenfion,
Becomes not weary of attention:
But lives, when that exterior grace,
Which firft infpir'd the flame, decays.
'Tis gentle, delicate, and kind,
To faults compaffionate, or blind;
And will with fympathy endure
Thofe evils it would gladly cure.
But angry, coarfe, and harsh expreffion,
Shows love to be a mere profeffion;
Proves that the heart is none of his,
Or foon expels him if it is.

SWARMS OF FLYING INSECTS.

Thick in yon ftream of light, a thousand ways,
Upward and downward, thwarting and convolv'd
The quiv'ring nations fport; till, tempeft wing'd,
Fierce winter fweeps them from the face of day.
Ev'n fo, luxurious men, unheeding, pafs
An idle fummer life, in fortune's fhine,
A feafon's glitter! Thus they flutter on,
From toy to toy, from vanity to vice;
Till, blown away by death, oblivion comes
Behind, and ftrikes them from the book of life.

BENEFICENCE ITS OWN REWARD.

My fortune (for I'll mention all,

And more than you dare tell) is fmall;
Yet ev'ry friend partakes my ftore,
And want goes fmiling from my door.
Will forty fhillings warm the breaft
Of worth or industry diftreis'd?
S

This fum I cheerfully impart;

'Tis fourfcore pleatures to my heart:
And you may make, by means like thefe,
Five talents ten, whene'er you please.
'Tis true, my little purfe grows light;
But then I fleep fo fweet at night!
This grand fpecific will prevail,
When all the doctor's opiates fail.

VIRTUE THE BEST TREASURE.

Virtue, the ftrength and beauty of the foul,
Is the beft gift of Heav'n: a happiness,
That even above the smiles and frowns of fate;
Exalts great nature's favourites: a wealth
That ne'er encumbers; nor to baser hands
Can be transferr'd. It is the only good
Man juftly boafts of, or can call his own.
Riches are oft by guilt and baseness earn'd.
But for one end, one much neglected use,
Are riches worth our care; (for nature's wants
Are few, and without oppulence supplied;
This noble end is to produce the foul;
To fhow the virtues in their fairest light;
And make humanity the minifter
Of bounteous Providence.

CONTEMPLATION.

As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds,
Slow meeting, mingle into folid gloom.
Now, while the drowsy world lies loft in fleep,
Let me affociate with the ferious night,
And contemplation her fedate compeer;
Let me fhake off th' intrufive cares of day,
And lay the meddling fenfes all afide.
Where now, ye lying vanities of life!
Ye ever tempting, ever cheating train!
Where are you now? and what is your amount?
Vexation, difappointment, and remorse.
Sad, fick'ning thought! And yet deluded man,
A fcene of crude disjointed vifions past
And broken flumbers, rifes ftill refolv'd,
With new flush'd hopes, to run the giddy round.

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