By casing a low shed of rural mould

With marble walls, and roof adorn'd with gold30.
Who but Eulogius now is prais'd and known,
The very ignis fatuus of the town?
Our ready scholar in a single year
Could lie, forget, swear, flatter, and forswear 31,
Rough to the tim'rous, timid with the brave,
'Midst wits a witling, and with knaves a knave.
Fame, not contented with her broad high way,
Delights,for change, thro' private paths to stray;
And, wand'ring to the hermit's distant cell,
Vouchsaf'd Eulogius' history to tell.

At night a dream confirm'd the hermit more;
He started, scream'd, and sweat from ev'ry pore.
He dream'd that on his throne th' Almighty sate
In th' awful valley of Jehoshaphat 32,
Where, underneath a spreading cedar's shade,
He 'spy'd his friend on beds of roses laid;
Round him a crowd of threat'ning furies stands,
With instruments of vengeance in their hands.

The judge supreme soon cast a stedfast eye,
(Stern, yet attemper'd with benignity,)
On the rash hermit; who with impious pray'r,
Had been the sponsor of another's care.
"Wretch, thou art lost in part, and in the
whole!

Is this the mortgage for thy brother's soul?"
An apoplex of dread Eusebius shook:
Despairing Judas glar'd in all his look,
Trembling he fell before th' Almighty-throne;
Importunate as Abraham 33 t'attone
For others' crimes: "O Pow'r Supreme," said
[see:
he,
"Grant me, once more, th' ungrateful wretch to
Suspend thy doom till then: on Christian ground
No graceless monster, like my friend, is found.”
He spoke, and wak'd aghast: he tore his hair,
And rent his sack-cloth garments in despair;
Walk'd to Constantinople, and inquir'd
Of all he met; at length the house desir'd
By chance he found, but no admission gain'd;
A Thracian slave the porter's place maintain'd,
(Sworn foe to thread-bare suppliants,) and with
pride

His master's presence, nay, his uame, deny'd.
There walk'd Eusebius at the dawn of light,
There walk'd at noon, and there he walk'd at
night,

In vain.

At length, by Providence's care, He found the door unclos'd, nor servants near. He enter'd, and thro' sev'ral rooms of state Pass'd gently; in the last Eulogius sate. "Old man, good morrow," the gay courtier cry'd;

"God give you grace, my son," the sire reply'd;

30 Sic Orig.

31 "Those who are accustomed to swear often may sometimes by chance happen to forswear: as he that indulges his tongue in talking frequently speaks that which he blushes for in silence."

St. Chrysost. Again, St. Jerom adds, "Let thy tongue be a stranger to lying and swearing; on the contrary, let the love of truth be so strongly in thee, that thou countest whatever thou sayest to be sealed with an oath."

32 Joel, ch. iii, v. 12.

33 Gen. ch. xviii, v. 23-33.

And then, in terms as moving and as strong,
As clear, as ever fell from angel's tongue,
Besought, reprov'd, exhorted, and condemn'd:-
Eulogius knew him, and tho' known, contemn'd.
The hermit then assum'd a bolder tone;
His rage was kindled, and his patience gone.
"Without respect to titles or to place,
I call thee" (adds he) "miscreant to thy face.
My pray'rs drew down Heav'n's bounty on thy
[head,
And in an evil hour my wishes sped.
Ingratitude's black curse thy steps attend,
Monster to God, and faithless to thy friend!"

With all the rage of an insulted man
The courtier call'd his slaves, who swiftly ran;
"Androtion, Geta, seize this aged fool,
See him well-scourg'd, and send him back to
school.

Teach the old chronicle, in future times
To bear no mem'ry but of poor rogues' crimes."
The hermit took the chastisement, and went
Back to Thebaïs full of discontent;
Saw his once impious rashness more and more,
And, victim to convinc'd contrition, bore
With Christian thankfulness the marks he wore.
And then on bended knees with tears and sighs
He thus invok'd the Ruler of the skies:
"My late request, All-gracious Pow'r, forgive!
And that yon miscreant may repent, and live,
Give him that poverty which suits him best,
And leave disgrace and grief to work the rest."

So pray'd the hermit, and with reason pray'd.
Some plants the sun-shine ask, and some the
shade.
[bloom
At night the nure-trees spread, but check their
At morn, and lose their verdure and perfume.
The virtues of most men will only blow,
Like coy auriculas, in Alpine snow 33;
Transplant them to the equinoctial line,
Their vigour sickens, and their tints decline.-
Heav'n to its predilected children grants
The middle space 'twixt opulence and wants.

Meanwhile Eulogius, un-abash'd and gay,
Pursu'd his courtly track without dismay:
Remorse was hood-wink'd, conscience charm'd
away.

Reason the felon of herself was made,
And Nature's substance hid by Nature's shade!
Our fine man, now completed, quickly found
Congenial friends in Asiatic ground.
Th' advent'rous pilot in a single year
Learn'd his state-cock-boat dextrously to steer;
Versatile, and sharp-piercing like a screw,
Made good th' old passage, and still forc'd a new:
For, just as int'rest whiffled on his mind,
He Anatolians left, or Thracians join'd;
Caught ev'ry breeze, and sail'd with ev'ry tide;
But still was mindful of the lee-ward side:
Still mark'd the pinnacle of fortune's height,
And bark'd—to be made turn-spit of the state.

By other arts he learns the knack to thrive;
The most obsequious parasite alive:
Camelion of the court, and country too:
Pays Cesar's tax, but gives the mob their due;
And makes it, in his conscience, the same thing
To crown a tribune, or behead a king:

33 This flower was discovered under the snow, at the feet of some ice-mountains amongst the Alps.

34 Protinus assimulat tetigit quoscunque colores. Ovid. Met. XV. v. 411.

35 Filamotte (Dryden) is that " clouded mixture of crimson, yellow, and umber-colours, which are seen in the beginning of winter on a falling leaf." Filamotte, quasi feüeille morte. Thus Isabella-colour denotes a certain grave colour worn by the infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, arch-dutchess of Austria, &c. 1623. For grideline, see the Vision of Death, page 373, note 23. 36"A friend cannot be known in prosperity, and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity." Ecclus. ch.xii.

Here, were it not too long, I might declare
The motives and successes of the war,
The prowess of the knights, their martial deeds,
Their swords, their shields, their surcoats 4 and
Till Belisarius at a single blow [their steeds:
Suppress'd the faction and repell'd the foe.
By a quick death the traitors he reliev'd;
Condemn'd, if taken; famish'd, if repriev'd.

Now see Eulogius (who had all betray'd
Whate'er he knew) in loathsome dungeon laid:
A pris'ner, first of war, and then of state:
Rebel and traitor ask a double fate!
But good Justinian, whose exalted mind
(In spite of what Pirasmus urg'd) inclin'd
To mercy, soon the forfeit-life forgave,
And freed it from the shackles of a slave.
Then spoke with mild, but in majestic strain,
Repent and haste thee to Larissa's plain,
Or wander thro' the world, another Cain.
Thy lands and goods shall be the poor man's lot,
Or feed the orphans you've so long forgot."

Forsaken, helpless, recognised by none,
Proscrib'd Eulogius left th' unprosp'rous town:
For succour at a thousand doors he knock'd;
Each heart was harden'd, and each door was
lock'd;

A pilgrim's staff he bore, of humble thorn;
Pervious to winds his coat, and sadly torn:
Shoes he had none: a beggar gave a pair,
Who saw feet poorer than his own, and bare.
He drank the stream, on dew-berries he fed,
And wildings harsh supply'd the place of bread;
Thus homeward urg'd his solitary way;
(Four years had he been absent to a day.)

Vainly I thought, that, to increase thy store,
Was to increase Heav'n's manna for the poor.
Man's virtue cannot go beyond its length;
God's gifts are still proportioned to our strength.
The scripture-widow 46 gives her well-sav'd mite
With affluent joy, nor fears to suffer by't:
Whilst Dives' heaps (the barter of his soul)
Lie bury'd in some base inglorious hole,
Or on the wings of pomp and lux'ry fly,
Accurst by Heav'n, and dead to charity 47!
The charitable few are chiefly they
Whom Fortune places in the middle way 4;
Just rich enough, with economic care,
To save a pittance, and a pittance spare:
Just poor enough to feel the poor man's moan,
Or share those suff'rings which may prove their
own!-

Great riches, with insinuating art,
Debase the man, and petrify the heart.
Let the false friend, like Satan, be withstood,
Who wishes us more wealth-to do more good!
To this great trial some are equal found;
Most in th' unnavigable stream are drown'd 49."*
He spoke and, with a flood of tears opprest,
Left his Eulogius to divine the rest.

66

Father," he cry'd, (and with complacence
smil'd)
[child.
"Heav'n's trials have at length reclaim'd its
Omniscience only can our wants fore-know,
And Ail-beneficence will best bestow.
Some few God's bounty on the poor employ:
There are--whom to promote, is to destroy!
Rough, thorny, barren, is pale virtue's road;
And poisons are true cures when giv'n by God.
Spontaneous I resign, with full accord,
The empty nothings wealth and pow'r afford;
My mind's my all, by Heav'n's free grace re
stor'd.

Fame thro' Thebais his arrival spread,
Half his old friends reproach'd him, and half
Of help and common countenance bereft, [fled:
No creature own'd him, but a dog he left.
Compunction touch'd his soul, and, wiser made
By bitter suff'rings, he resum'd his trade:
Thank'd Heav'n for want of pow'r and want of Grant me, as I begun, to end my days

O Pow'r Supreme! unsearchable thy views!
Omniscient, or to give, or to refuse!

In acts of humble charity and praise;
In thy own paths my journey let me run,
And, as in Heav'n, on Earth thy will be done!"

46 Luke, ch. xxi, v. 2. 2 Cor. ch. viii, v. 12. 47 "God is not honoured with our expending that money which is bedewed with the tears of the oppressed. St. Chrysost.

45 The truly charitable man, (who happens to be neither rich nor poor) is well painted by an ancient classic. quote the verses, because I never saw them quoted :

Cujus

Nou frontem vertêre mine; sed candida semper
Gaudia, & in vultu curarum ignara voluptas.
Non tibi sepositas infelix strangulat arca
Divitias; avidéve animum dispendia torquent
Fonoris expositi census; sed docta fruendi
Temperies, &c.

49 Hugo, in his excellent treatise De Anima, makes the following remark upon greatness and ambition:

"The human heart is a small thing, and yet desireth great matters. It is barely sufficient for a kite's dinner, and yet the whole world suf

44 Surcoat, an upper garment of defence. 45 See Luke, ch. xxii, v. 55-62. "Peter stood more firmly, after he had la-ficeth it not," mented his fall, than before he fell."

St. Ambrose.

Thus he maintain'd Almighty Wisdom's cause. The Sun shone forth-The hermit pleas'd withdraws

And Nature wore an aspect of applause.

MACARIUS; OR, THE CONFESSOR.
Da vocem magno, Pater, ingeniumque dolori.
Stat. Epiced. Patris.

AN EPISTLE TO THE REV. DR. ROBERT HORT,
CANON OF WINDSOR.

ALL sober poets with thy bard' agree,

Who sung, "That truth was truest poetry."-
Alike to me, and the deceas'd, a friend;

O Hort, to these my pious strains attend.

He show'd him what to seek and what to shun:
Harcourt with him the thorny journey run,
Companion of his studies; and a friend
Sincere in youth, and stedfast to the end.

Courts and the world he knew, but not admir'd;
He travell'd thro' them wisely, and retir'd:
Giving to solitude and heav'nly care
Those moments which the worldling cannot spare,
Thus, half a century, his course he run
Of pray'r and praises, daily, like the sun:
Happy! who truth invariably pursues,
And well-earn'd fame by better fame renews 7!
His books, like friends were chosen, few and
Constantly us'd and truly understood. [good:
The Sacred Scriptures were his chief delight ;
Task of the day, and vision of the night:
Truth's second sources he with care survey'd,
And walk'd with Hermas in the rural shade 9,

Thou knew'st the man; and thy good sense is Cyprian with awful gravity he sought;

uch,

I dare not say too little or too much.-
Under his eye the self same views combin'd
Our studies, and one horoscope conjoin'd.

He check'd th' impatient wand'rings of our youth,
And grafted on our fancy facts and truth.
Together we amus'd our youthful prime,
Days seem'd but hours, and time improv'd on
time:

Mindless of cares, (and how they pass'd or came)
Our sports, our labours, and our rest the same 2,
See'st thou yon yews, by pensive nature
made

For tears, and grief, and melancholy shade;
Wide o'er the church they spread an awful light,
Than day more serious, half-compos'd as night,
(There, where the winding Kennet gently laves
Britannia's Lombardy 3 with silver waves ;)
There sleeps Macarius, foe to pomp and pride;
Who liv'd contented, and contented dy'd.

Say, shall the lamp were Tullia was entomb'd,
Burn twice sev'n ages, and be un-consum'd?
And not one verse be sacred to a name
Endear'd by virtuous deeds and silent fame?
True fame demands not panegyric aid;
The fun'ral torch burns brightest in the shade;
Too fast it blazes, fann'd by public air ;—
Thus blossoms fall, before their tree can bear.
True fame, like porc'lain earth, for years must
lay

Bury'd, and mix'd with elemental clay.

His younger days were not in trifling spent, For pious Hall a kind inspection lent:

'Cowley. See his Davideis.

These eight lines are imitated from a famous passage in Persius, Sat. V, too well known to be reprinted. It begins

Geminos horoscope- &c.

3 Berkshire.

It is reported that the Chinese beat and mix thoroughly together the composition that makes porcelain, and then bury it in a deep bed of clay for an hundred years. See Dr. Donne's Letters. See also the Discovery of Hidden Treasure, 4to. London, 1656, p. 89; (a very scarce and curious work, by the famous Gabriel Plattes.)

5 Mr. John Hall, master of Pembroke College,

And true simplicity Ignatius brought;
Lively Minucius did his hours beguile;
Lactantius charm'd with elegance of style:
But mostly Chrysostom engag'd his mind:
Great without labour, without art refin'd!
Now see his gentle elocution flows,
Soft as the flakes of heav'n-descending snows;

Now see him, like th' impetuous torrent, roll;
Pure in his diction, purer in his soul:
By few men cquall'd, and surpass'd by none;
A Tully and Demosthenes in one 10!

Oxford, in 1667, and rector of St. Aldate's in the
same university. Created D D. in 1669; elect-
ed Margaret professor in 1676; and consecrated
bishop of Bristol the 12th of June, 1691. All
which preferments he enjoyed together.

6 Mr. Simon Harcourt, afterwards lord chancellor Harcourt, offered him a bishopric from queen Anne many years after the Revolution; but the favour was declined with grateful acknowledgments.

7" Surely vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God; and could not, out of the good things that are seen, know him. That is, nei ther, by considering the works did they acknow ledge the work-master."

Wisd. of Sol. ch. xiii, v. 1.

8 He employed ten or twelve hours a day in study, without any interruption, but that of casual sickness for fifty years successively. His principal business was in referring every difficult part of Scripture to those particular passages in the fathers, and eminent modern divines, who had explained them expressly or occasionally.

• Alluding to a work entituled the Shepherd of Hermas. Hermas was cotemporary with some of the apostles.

In order to judge a little of these two asser tions, be pleased only to read St. Chrysostom's Homily on the Ten Talents, or his Commentary on St. Matthew; and his Orations to the People of Antioch. ПIEPI ANAPIANTON.

See also Ferrarius De Concione Veterum, and the Eloquence Crétienne of M. Gisbert: the last of which works was a favourite book with the late lord Somers, and wrought a great effect on his future way of thinking.

This anecdote was imparted to me by the late Mr. Elijah Fenton, as matter of fact on his own knowledge,

fire

Something at cheerful intervals was due'
To Roman classics, and Athenian too.
Plato with raptures did his soul inspire;
Plotinus fann'd the Academic
Then came the Stagyrite ;-whose excellence
Beams forth in clearness, brevity, and sense!
Next, for amusement' sake, he turu'd his
eyes

To them, whom we despoil, and then despise :
Fore-most of these, unrivall'd Shakespeare stands;
With Hooker, Raleigh, Chillingworth, and
Sands 12;-

(For in those days "were giants in our lands !'')
Thus, like the bee, he suck'd from ev'ry flow'r,
And hour surpass'd the predecessor hour.
Latimer's father 13 was his type of yore,
Little he had, but something for the poor;
And oft on better days the board was spread
With wholesome meat and hospitable bread.
Poor in himself, men poorer he reliev'd,
And gave the charities he had receiv'd.

The midnight-lamp, in crystal case enclos'd, Beams bright; nor is to winds nor rains expos'd:

A watch-tow'r to the wand'rers of mankind;
Forlorn, belated, and with passions blind 14,

11 Academic is used in the Horatian sense of

the word:

Who tread the foolish round their fathers trod
And,'midst life's errours, hit on death's by-road 15.
'Midst racking pains 16 his mind was calm and
ev'n;

Patience and cheerfulness to him were giv'n;
Patience! the choicest gift on this side Heav'n!
His strength of parts surviv'd the sev'ntieth year,
And then, like northern fruits, left off to bear;
Nought but a vestal fire such heat contains;
Age seldom boasts so prodigal remains 17.
Some few beyond life's usual date are cast:
Prime clusters of the grape 18 till winter last.
To these a sacred preference is giv'n :
Each shaft is polish'd, and th' employer Heav'n 1o.
Jeffr**s (if that were possible) restrain'd
His fury, when you mournfully complain'd 21
And Kirk's barbarians, hard as harden'd steel,
Forgot their Lybia, and vouchsaf'd to feel.

When crowns were doubtful, and when num-
bers steer'd

As honour prompted, or self-int'rest veer'd,
(Times! when the wisest of mankind might err,
And, lost in shadows, wrong or right, prefer;)
The tempter, in a vapour's form 21, arose,
And o'er his eyes a dubious twilight throws,
To lead him, puzzling, o'er fallacious ground,
Suborn his passions, and his sense confound:
Pomp to foretaste, and mitres pre-descry;
(For mists at once enlarge and multiply ;)
Our hero paus'd-and, weighing either side,
Took poverty, and conscience for his guide:
For he, who thinks he suffers for his God,
Deserves a pardon, tho' he feels the rod.
Yet blam'd he none; (himself in honour clear;}

That were a crime had cost his virtue dear!
Thus all he lov'd; and party he had none,
Except with charity, and Heav'n alone.
In his own friends some frailties he allow'd;
These were too singular, and those too proud.
Rare spirit! in the midst of party-flame,

Atque inter sylvas Acadeшni quærere verum. 12 Edwyn Sandys, archbishop of York, was one of the first eminent reformers, not only of our holy religion, (which almost every person knows) but of our language (which circumstance few persons are apprized of). His sermons the time when he preached them being duly considered) may be looked upon as a master-piece of eloquence and fine writing. They were chiefly preached between the years 1550 and 1576. His son George (and here let me be under-To think well-meaning men are half the same! stood to refer chiefly to his Paraphrase on Job) knew the true harmony of the English heroic couplet long before Denham and Waller took up the pen; and preserved that harmony more uniformly. Variety perhaps was wanting; which Dryden afterwards supplied, but not till he came to the forty-fifth year of his age; namely, till the time he published Aurengzebe.

13 Bishop Hugh Latimer (whom I quote only by memory, not having the original at hand) says, in one of his sermons preached at St. Paul's Cross, abont the year- "that tho' his father possessed no more than 40 acres of free land, or thereabouts, yet he had always something to give to the poor, and now and then entertained his friends;-that he portioned out three daughters, at 51. a piece, and bred up a son at the university; (otherwise adds he,) I should not have had the honour of appearing in this pulpit before the king's majesty."

Note, The original edition says 4 acres, which must be an errour of the press, instead of 40 acres. Old Latimer lived in good repute about the year 1470, in which year his son Hugh was born.

*Palantesque homines passim, ac rationis
egentes,
Despectare procul.

Ovid. Met.

Sed nil dulcius est, bene quàm munita tenere
Edita doctrinâ sapientûm templa serena,
Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre
Errare, atque viam palantes quærere vitæ.
Lucret. L. II, v. 6.

17

15 Wisd. of Sol. ch. i, v. 12. 16 In the last year of his life Macarius was grievously afflicted with nephritic pains. Cui vix certaverit ulla Aut tantùm fluere, aut totidem durare per Virg. Georg. 2. annos, 182 Esdras, ch. xii, v. 42. 19 Isaiah xlix, v. 2. "A polished shaft in the quiver of God."

20 When judge Jeffr**s came to Taunton assizes, in the year 1685, to execute his commission upon the unfortunate people concerned in Monmouth's rebellion, the person here spoken of, being minister of St. Mary Magdalen's cnurch at Taunton, waited on him in private, and remonstrated much against his severities. The judge listened to him calmly, and with some attention; and, though he had never seen him before, advanced him in a few months to a prebendal stall in the cathedral church of Bristol.

21 See Sandys's Paraphrase on Job, where Są, tan arises in form of an exhalation.