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That finews bought and fold have ever earn'd.
No dear as freedom is, and in my heart's
Juft eftimation priz'd above all price;

:

I had much rather be myself the flave,
And wear the bonds, than faften them on him.
We have no flaves at home; then why abroad?
And they themselves once ferried o'er the wave
That parts us, are emancipate and loos'd.
Slaves cannot breathe in England: if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country, and their fhackles fall.
That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud
And jealous of the bleffing. Spread it then,
And let it circulate through ev'ry vein
Of all your empire; that where Britain's power
Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too:

T

CHAP. IV.

DESCRIPTIVE PIECES.

SECTION I.

THE MORNING IN SUMMER.

COMPER.

HE meek ey'd morn appears, mother of dews,
At first faint gleaming in the dappled east;
Till far o'er ether spreads the wid'ning glow;
And from before the luftre of her face

White break the clouds away. With quicken'd step
Brown night retires: young day pours in apace,
And opens all the lawny profpect wide.
The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top,
Swell on the fight, and brighten with the dawn.
Blue, thro' the dusk, the fmoking currents shine;
And from the bladed field the fearful hare
Limps, aukward: while along the foreft glade
The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze
At early paffenger. Mufic awakes
The native voice of undiffembled joy ;
And thick around the woodland hymns arise.
Rous'd by the cock, the foon clad fhepherd leaves
His mofly cottage, where with peace he dwells;

And from the crowded fold, in order, drives
His flock to tafte the verdure of the morn.
Falfely luxurious, will not man awake;
And, fpringing from the bed of floth, enjoy
The cool, the fragrant, and the filent hour,
To meditation due and facred fong?
For is there aught in fleep can charm the wife?
To lie in dead oblivion, lofing half
The fleeting moments of too short a life;
Total extinction of the enlightened foul!
Or elfe to feverish vanity alive,

Wilder'd, and toffing thro' diftemper'd dreams?
Who would in fuch a gloomy state, remain
Longer than nature craves; when ev'ry muse
And ev'ry blooming pleasure waits without,
To blefs the wildly devious morning walk?

SECTION II.

THOMSON.

RURAL SOUNDS, AS WELL AS RURAL SIGHTS, DELIGHTFUL.

NOR rural fights alone, but rural founds

Exhilarate the fpirit, and restore

The tone of languid nature. Mighty winds,

That sweep the skirt of fome far fpreading wood
Of ancient growth, make mufic, not unlike
The dafh of ocean on his winding shore,
And lull the fpirit while they fill the mind,
Unnumber'd branches waving in the blast,
And all their leaves faft flutt'ring all at once.
Nor lefs compofure waits upon the roar
Of distant floods; or on the fofter voice
Of neighb'ring fountain; or of rills that flip
Through the cleft rock, and, chiming as they fall
Upon loose pebbles, lofe themselves at length
In matted grafs, that, with a livelier green,
Betrays the fecret of their filent courfe.
Nature inanimate employs fweet sounds,
But animated nature sweeter till,

To footh and fatisfy the human ear.

Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one

The live long night. Nor thefe alone, whofe notes

Nice finger'd art muft emulate in vain,

But cawing rooks, and kites that fwim fublime,

In ftill repeated circles, fcreaming loud,
The jay, the pye, and ev'n the boding owl
That hails the rifing moon, have charms for me.
Sounds inharmonious in themselves, and harih,
Yet heard in fcenes where peace for ever reigns,
And only there, please highly for their fake.

COWPER.

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THE rofe had been wafh'd, juft wash'd in a fhower, Which Mary to Anna convey'd;

The plentiful moisture encumber'd the flower, And weigh'd down its beautiful head.

The cup was all fill'd, and the leaves were all wet, And it feem'd to a fanciful view,

To weep for the buds it had left with regret,
On the flourishing buih where it grew.

I haftily feiz'd it, unfit as it was
For a nofegay, fo dripping and drown'd;
And fwinging it rudely, too rudely, alas!
I fnapp'd it; it fell to the ground.

And fuch, I exclaim'd, is the pitilefs part,
Some act by the delicate mind,

Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart,
Already to forrow refign'd.

This elegant rofe, had I fhaken it lefs,
Might have bloom'd with its owner a while;
And the tear that is wip'd with a little addrefs,
May be follow'd perhaps by a fmile.

SECTION IV.

W CARE OF BIRDS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

AS THUS the patient dam affiduous fits,
Not to be tempted from her tender task,
Or by fharp hunger, or by fmooth delight,
Tho' the whole loofened fpring around her blows,
Her fympathifing partner takas his ftand
High on th' opponent bank, and ceafelefs fings
The tedious time away; or elfe fupplies
Her place a moment, while fhe fudden Hits

U

COWPER.

To pick the feanty meal. Th' appointed time
With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young,
Warm'd and expanded into perfect life,

Their brittle bondage break, and come to light,
A helpless family, demanding food

. With conftant clamour. O what paffions then,
What melting fentiments of kindly care,
On the new parents feize! Away they fly
Affectionate, and undefiring bear

The most delicious morfel to their young;
Which equally distributed, again

The fearch begins. Even fo a gentle pair,
By fortune funk, but form'd of gen'rous mould,
And charm'd with cares beyond the vulgar breast,
In fome lone cot amid the distant woods,
Suftain'd alone by providential Heaven,
Oft, as they weeping eye their infant train,
Check their own appetites, and give them all.

SECTION V.

LIBERTY AND SLAVERY CONTRASTED.

THOMSON.

PART OF A LETTER

WRITTEN FROM ITALY BY ADDISON.

How has kind heav'n adorn'd the happy land,
And fcatter'd bleffings with a wasteful hand!
But what avail her unexhaufted ftores,
Her blooming mountains, and her funny fhores,
With all the gifts that heav'n and earth impart,
The fmiles of nature, and the charms of art,
While proud oppreffion in her valleys reigns,
And tyranny ufurps her happy plains?

The poor

inhabitant beholds in vain
The red'ning orange, and the fwelling grain;
Joylefs he fees the growing oils and wines,
And in the myrtle's fragrant fhade repines.
Oh, Liberty, thou pow'r fupremely bright,
Profufe of blifs, and pregnant with denght!
Perpetual pleasures in thy prefence reign;
And fmiling plenty leads thy wanton train.
Eas'd of her load, fubjection grows more light;
And poverty looks cheerful in thy fight.
Thou mak'it the gloomy face of nature gay;
iv'ft beauty to the fun, and pleafure to the day.

On foreign mountains, may the fun refine
The grape's foft juice, and mellow it to wine
With citron groves adorn a diftant foil,
And the fat olive fwell with floods of oil:
We envy not the warmer clime, that lies
In ten degrees of more indulgent skies;
Nor at the coarfeness of our heav'n repine,
Tho' o'er our heads the frozen Pleiads fhine:
"Tis Liberty that crowns Britannia's ifle,

And makes her barren rocks, and her bleak mountains

fmiler

SECTION VI.

SHARITY. A PARAPHRASE ON THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER OF THE FIRST
EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

DID fweeter founds adorn my flowing tongue,
Than ever man pronounc'd, or angel fung;
Had I all knowledge, human and divine,
That thought can reach, or fcience can define;
And had I pow'r to give that knowledge birth,
In all the fpeeches of the babbling earth;
Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breaft infpire,
To weary tortures, and rejoice in fire;
Or had I faith like that which Ifrael faw,
When Mofes gave them miracles, and law :
Yet, gracious charity, indulgent guest,
Were not thy pow'r exerted in my breaft;
Thofe fpeeches would fend up unheeded pray'r ;
That fcorn of life would be but wild defpair;
A cymbal's found were better than my voice;
My faith were form; my eloquence were noife.
Charity, decent, modeft, easy, kind,

Softens the high, and rears the abject mind;
Knows with juft reins, and gentle hand, to guide
Betwixt vile fhame, and arbitrary pride.
Not foon provok'd, fhe easily forgives;
And much she suffers, as the much believes.
Soft peace fhe brings wherever she arrives;
She builds our quiet, as fhe forms our lives;
Lays the rough paths of peevifh nature even;
And opens in each heart a little heav'n.

Each other gift, which God on man bestows,

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