A radiant cross its form expands ;- Grant me, kind Heav'n, in prosp'rous hour Like Tobit (when the hand, approv'd By Heav'n, th' obstructing filmns remov'd 15) I now see objects as I ought: Ambition's 16 hideous; pleasure vain; Passions and frauds surround us all, Shun their blandishments and wiles ; In highest stations snares misguide; Midst wines a fraud, midst mirth a cheat, The toils are fixt, the sportsmen keen: It 14" My heart is a vain and wandering heart, whenever it is led by its own determinations. is busy to no purpose, and occupied to no end, whenever it is not guided by divine influence: it seeketh rest and findeth none: it agreeth not with itself: it alters resolutions, changeth judgment, frames new thoughts, and suppresses old ones; pulls down every thing, and re-buildeth nothing; in short, it never continueth in the same state. St. Bernard. Meditat. "Seest thou the luminary of the greater world in the highest pitch of meridian glory; where it continueth not, but descends in the same proportion as it ascended? Look next and consider if the light of this lower world is more permanent? Continuance is the child of Eternity, and not of Time." Ex. Vet. Ascet. 15 Tobit, ch. iii, v. 17. 16 All vices wax old by age: covetousness (and ambition) alone grow young." Ex. Vet. Ascet. "Why are earth and ashes proud? There is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man: for such an one setteth his own soul to sale, because, while he liveth, he casteth away his powels;" i. e. is a stranger to compassion. Ecclus. ch. x, v. 9. [blest! PERMIT me, Stanhope', as I form'd thy youth 17 ПАРAKAНTOE: The Comforter; the Holy Spirit. John, ch. xiv, v. 16–26. Dryden first introduced the word Paraclete into the English language, in his translation of the Hymn Veni Creator Spiritus: as also in his Britannia Rediviva: Last solemn Sabbath saw the church attend; 'Philip Stanhope, esq. late member of parliament for St. German's in Cornwall, and at present envoy extraordinary to the court of Dresden and the circle of Lower Saxony, &c. The natural son of lord Chesterfield, to whom his celebrated letters were addressed. 2 Væ tempori illi quando non deum cognovimus! August. Soliloq. c. 31. Zimri ask'd wealth, and wealth o'erturn'd his [ By his own art th' artificer was try'd, parts.- Lelio 4 would be th' Angelics of a school; "A tale," says Prior, "ne'er should be too Ill-judging is the bard, who slacks his pace Or, wand'ring to enchanted castles, sleeps art: (All study'd blandishments t'allure the heart.) Like Santueil's "stream, gliding thro' flow'ry plains, Th' effects are seen; the source unknown remains. Ambitious Oniri rose, and dropp'd down-right-Displays their ease the more, and deep-plann'd 7 swung. [all 8, "Learn hence," he cry'd, " my merry brethren Tyburn's agáric stanches wit, and gall." Others mount Pegasus, but lose their seat: And break their necks, before they end the heat. Libanius try'd the streams of cloquence, [sense. But plummet deep he sunk, unbuoy'd with Soncinas 9 ask'd the "knack of plotting treason Against the crown and dignity of reason 10" 3 Hic tibi mortis erunt metæ: domus alta Lyrnessi domus alta:-Solo Laurente se- "A small space of ground after death contains both rich and poor. Nature produceth us all alike, and makes no distinction at death. Open the grave, view the dead bodies; move the ashes, you will find no difference between the patrician and the peasant, except thus far; that by the magnificence of the tomb of the former you may perceive he had much more to resign and lose than the latter." St. Ambrose. 4 Late lord B***. 5 Doctor Angelicus. 6 Milton interceded, and saved D'Avenant, when he was a state-prisoner at Cowes castle in the isle of Wight, anno 1650: D'Avenant, in return, preserved Milton at the Restoration. 7 Alluding to a passage in Dryden: "A man may be capable, as Jack Ketch's wife said of his servant, of a plain piece of work, bare hanging; but, to make a malefactor die sweetly, was only belonging to her husband.” Dedication to Juvenal. In ancient times, scarce talk'd of, and less When pious Justin 'fill'd the eastern throne, His life was but the comment of his thought. On the south aspect of a sloping hill, "Alluding to his famous inscription: Quæ dat aquas saxo letet hospita Nympha sub imo; Sic tu, cum dederis dora, latere velis. let. About the year DXxvi. Santol. Poem. 2 Dorp, a village, or more properly an hamDryden. It is a German word, and adopted by our best 10 Logic: so defined by our venerable poet writers in the beginning and middle of the last From an old poem. 9 A Spanish casuist. Francis Quarles, 1638. century. No stately larch-tree there expands a shade No lofty poplars catch the murm'ring breeze, [trees; A nameless dwelling, and an unknown name! Instead of forest-monarchs, and their train, The unambitious rose bedeck'd the plain : Trifoliate cytisus restrain'd its boughs For humble sheep to crop, and goats to browze. On skirting heights thick stood the clust'ring vine, And here and there the sweet-leav'd eglantine; One lilac only, with a statelier grace, Presum'd to claim the oak's and cedar's place, And, looking round him with a monarch's care, Spread his exalted boughs to wave in air. This spot, for dwelling fit, Eulogius chose, And in a month a decent home-stall rose, Something, between a cottage and a cell.— Yet Virtue here could sleep, and Peace could dwell. From living stone, (but not of Parian rocks) And then, without the aid of neighbours' art, Wife he had none: nor had he love to spare; Four rooms, above, below, this mansion grac'd, Emblems of industry and virtuous gains 4! See note 12. 4 Nullus, cum per cœlum licuit, otio periit dies. Plin. Hist. Natural, l. 1. All leguminous plants are, as the learned say, papilionaceous, or bear butterflied flowers. 6 Cochlearia. Spoon-wort is the old English word for scurvy-grass. And that 7, which on the Baptist's vigil sends For great the man, and useful without doubt, Who seasons pottage-or expells the gout; Whose science keeps life in, and keeps death out! No flesh from market-towns our peasant sought; The happiest, most contented man alive, gave, content. Alternate were his labours and his rest, He sought, not to prolong poor lives, but save: Corrodes, and blasts the blossom e'er it blows: Eusebius, hermit of a neighb'ring cell, [well: 8 An Arabian physician, well skilled in botany. 9 Quid prohibietis aquas? Usus communis aquarum est. Ovid. Met. Et cunctis undamque auramque patentem. Virg. Æn. vii. 10 But Ovid is still more explicite, Met. I. shines, Sicilian plenty, and the Indian mines; Instead of Pencus, let Pactolus lave Yon' spring, which bubbles from the mountain's | Give him Bizantium's wealth, which useles reward! But, self-devoted from the prime of youth Alen, scraphs, all, Eulogius' praise proclaim, From one small source so many bounties spring, Each, in the compass of his pow'r, he serves; His garden's precincts with a golden wave; So pray'd he, whilst an angel's voice from Bade him surcease to importune the sky: And wing'd purveyors his sharp hunger fed And high fed lux'ry prompt him to rebell. Nor dreamt our anchorete, that, if his friend Should reach, O virtuous Poverty! thy eud, That conscience and religion soon might fly To some forsaken elime and distant sky. Ign'rant of happiness, and blind to ruin, How oft are our petitions our undoing! Jephtha, with grateful sense of vict'ry fir'd, Made a rash vow, and thought the vow inspir'd: In piety the first, his daughter ran, To hail with duteous voice the conq'ring man: Well meaning, but unconscious of her doom, She sought a blessing, and she found a tomb 16! 141 Kings, ch. xvii, v. 4, &c. 15 Maslin bread, i. e. miscellane, or miscellaneous bread, an ancient English word, given to a plain sort of household bread. When people in a middling station used it, they generally mixed two gallons of oats and rye with six gallons of wheat. The poorer people mixed in cqual quantities wheat, barley, oats, rye, buckwheat, pulse, &c. But such is the luxury of the present age (even amongst the poor) that not only the thing but the very name is forgotten; and a preference given to a whiter, but more unwholesome sort of bread, if alum enters into the composition; which, indeed, cannot be concealed. One of the first cares of a prime-minister (who ought also to be considered as proveditor-general of a kingdom) is to see the people supplied with bread, of an wholesome nature, at as reasonable a price as possible. Hence the great Gustavus used to say, "That it required more talents to feed a large army in the field, upon easy terms, in times of war; than to conduct the fighting part," 16 Judges, ch. xi, v. 51. The Pow'r Supreme, (my author so declares) | Heard with concern the erring hermit's pray'rs; Heard disapproving; but at length inclin'd To give a living lesson to mankind; That men thence-forward should submissive live; And leave omniscience the free pow'r to give. For wealth or poverty, on man bestow'd, Alike are blessings from the hand of God! How often is the soul ensnar'd by health? How poor in virtue is the man of wealth. The hermit's pray'r permitted, not approv'd; Soon in an higher sphere Eulogius mov'd: Each sluice of affluent fortune open'd soon, And wealth flow'd in at morning, night, and noon. One day, in turning some uncultur'd ground, (In hopes a free-stone quarry might be found) His mattock met resistance, and behold A casket burst, with di'monds fill'd and gold. He cramm'd his pockets with the precious store, And ev'ry night review'd it o'er and o'er; Till a gay conscious pride, unknown as yet, Touch'd a vain heart, and taught it to forget: And, what still more his stagg'ring virtue try'd, His mother, tut'ress of that virtue, dy'd. A neighb'ring matron, not unknown to fame, (Historians give her Teraminta's name,) The parent of the needy and distress'd, With large demesnes and well-sav'd treasure blest; [store (For like th' Egyptian prince 7 she hoarded To feed at periodic dearths the poor ;) This matron, whiten'd with good works and age, Approach'd the sabbath of her pilgrimage; Her spirit to himself th' Almighty drew ;→→→ Breath'd on th' alembic, and exhal'd the dew. In souls prepar'd, the passage is a breath From time t'eternity, from life to death 18. But first, to make the poor her future care, She left the good Eulogius for her heir. Who but Eulogius now exults for joy? New thoughts, new hopes, new views his mind employ. Pride push'd forth buds at ev'ry branching shoot, O'ershoots the valley which beneath him lies, Forgets the depths between, and travels with his eyes. The tempter saw the danger in a trice, (For the man slidder'd upon fortune's ice:) And, having found a corpse half-dead, half-warm, Reviv'd it, and assum'd a courtier's form: Swift to Thebaïs urg'd his airy flight; And measur'd half the globe in half a night. With flowing manners exquisitely feign'd, And accent soft, he soon admission gain'd: Survey'd each out-work well, and mark'd apart Each winding avenue that reach'd the heart; 17 Gen. ch. xli, v. 35, &c. 18 "The time in which we now live is borrowed from the space of our existence: what is past is dead aud vanished; what remaineth is daily made less and less; insomuch that the whole time of our life is nothing but a passage to death." St. August. de Civitat. Dei, X. VOL. XVI. Displaying, like th' illusive fiend of old, Th' artificer of fraud, (tho' here he fail❜d,) Straight chang'd approaches, and the ear assail'd; This only chink accessible he finds; For flatt'ry's oil pervades ev'n virtuous minds. With lenient artifice, and fluent tongue, Eulogius saw with pride, or seem'd to see, (Not yet in act, but in the pow'r to be,) Great merit lurking dormant in his mind : He had been negligent—but Nature kind: Till by degrees the vain, deluded elf, Grew out of humour with his former self. He thought his cottage small, and built in haste; It had convenience but it wanted taste. His mien was awkward; graces he had none; Provincial were his notions and his tone; His manners emblems of his own rough stone. Then, slavish copyist of his copying friend, He ap'd him without skill, and without end: Larissa's gutturals convuls'd his throat; He smooth'd his voice to the Bizantine note. With courtly suppleness unfurl'd his face; Or screw'd it to the bonne mine of grimace; With dignity he sneez'd, and cough'd with grace. The pious mason onee, had time no more To mark the wants and mis'ry of the poor! Suspicious thoughts his pensive miud employ, A sullen gratitude, and clouded joy. In days of poverty his heart was light; He sung his hymns at morning, noon, and night. Want sharpens poesy, and grief adorns ; The spink chants sweetest in a hedge of thorns 23. 19 Matth. ch. v, v. 8. 29 See Sandys's Travels into the Holy Land, folio, p. 138. Presepio is an Italian word, taken from the Latin, and signifies a stable or manger. It is now become a term of art, and denotes any picture, drawing, or print, where Christ is represented as born in a stable or lying in the manger. 21 A famous Greek rhetorician in the fourth century, whose orations are still extant. 22 Spink, the old poetical name for finches of every sort. See Country Farm, by Surflet and Markham, folio, printed in 1616. 23 Sic Orig. |