Like gay Voltaire,* whose shafts of wit And oft would death defy; Claud. Death is a fearful thing. Isab. And shamed life a hateful. Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; The weariest and most loathed worldly life, To what we fear of death, * This verse of the poet is not only applicable to the renowned and free thinking Voltaire, but may, with equal justice, be applied to the Rev. Dr. Dodd, who, in his writings, held up to derision all idea of terror at the contemplation of futurity; yet, when condemned himself, by the dread behest of justice, no individual ever evinced less firmness, on encountering his doom, than did that unfortunate de Who, when he drew his dying breath, Thus, many a modern wit gives birth linquent, to whom the following lines from Rowe's Fair Penitent may be well applied. Sci. Hast thou e'er dar'd to meditate on death? The pomp of words, and pendent dissertations, Books have taught cowards to talk nobly of it: *It is no very difficult matter to deride that which we have not experienced: but, in order to meet the blow of death with becoming calmness, we should ever keep the words of Persius in remembrace, who saith, Vive memor lethi! in which concentrates more sterling good, than all the boas For pious hope alone bestows The cordial drop which heals our woes; To which this thought is giv'n, That, when life's stormy voyage is o'er, L'ENVOY OF THE POET. That man, good sense with idiot name would brand, Who, void of food and raiment, journey'd far: Do thou prepare for that same unknown land; Nor, by neglect, thy soul's bright prospects mar. THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS. Come, trim the boat, let folly rear her whip, ted arguments of philosophers can inculcate; whose dying moments have, generally speaking, given the lie to their professions while living. SECTION XXXIV. OF DISCONTENTED FOOLS. Diruit, ædificat, mutat quadrata rotundis. HE* bears a fardel on his back, It is difficult to discriminate to what class of men this folly is most applicable, as they all partake of it in a certain degree; and are so thoroughly convinced of their weakness on this score, as to allow, that the more they have, the more they want travellers are peculiarly the slaves of this temperament of mind, as the globe itself is insufficient to gratify their thirst after inquiry: nor can a finer lesson be displayed than De Foe's Robinson Crusoe, which is a most finished picture of the instability of the human intellect. But navigators are not more unsettled than what are denominated men of science, whose labours have no termination, and whose brains are eternally conjuring up new speculations, which are too frequently hazarded without the warranty of reason. Toiling for that, which when attain'd, Whose primitive tradition reaches And much of Terra Incognita, Th' intelligible world can say. Much has been said of the female part of the creation, in speaking of this folly; nevertheless I must candidly affirm, that I do not perceive any feature so prominent in women, as to brand them more than their lords with this failing; and if we talk of affection, which is, perhaps, one of the noblest characteristics of the human mind, the feminine part of creation undoubtedly claims pre-eminence over the male. Where can we find more extraordinary instances of heroism, than have been displayed by women who have been actuated by love for men in misfortune: they generally give proofs of possessing a greater portion of equanimity: and, in the hour of success, the same fervor of passion animates their bosoms: while men, yielding to the fascinations of pleasure, as universally waver from the fixed principle which honour, · duty, and gratitude claim at their hands. In fine, the page of history displays one unvarying proof of the discontented |