An unincumber'd Income, which fhou'd be
Not owing to our own, but Parents Industry:
A little Farm, yet of a fertile Soil,

And not ungrateful to the Tiller's Toil:"
A cleanly Hearth; a Fire which never dies,
Recruited by a neighb'ring Wood's Supplies
A Soul Serene, with no Contentions vex'd,
And with few bufy burd'ning Cares perplex'd:'
A Body bleft with Health, with Strength endu';
A Temper plain and open, but not rude:
An honeft Heart, Unknowing to deceive,
Yet circumfpect, nor eafie to believe:
A Friendship built (as if by Heav'n design'd)
On Likeness both of Fortune and of Mind:
A Table spread with fuch cheap homely Fare,
As our own cultivated Gardens bear:

At Night, a mod'rate Bowl, with Nectar fraught,
T'exhilerate, not drown, the penfive Thought:
A chafte, yet chearful Wife, in whom shou'd meet
Unfulli'd Virtue with a Humour sweet :

Sound Sleep, whose kind Delufion may unite
The Shades of Ev'ning to the Morning Light:
Peace and Contentment with our prefent State;
Torelifh Life, tho' not afraid of Fate..

4

From SENECA

ALL muft fubmit to Time's defpotic Pow's;

All, firft or laft, his Glutton-Jaws devour.

Nought a fecure and fettled Bafis knows,
But all, at length, his mighty Hand o'erthrows,
Rivers forget to flow: the growing Shore
Now naked lies, where Ocean reign'd before

BS

High

High Mountains fink, and ancient Hills fubfide,
Or whelm the Vallies with their ruin'd Pride.
Why do I name these leffer things below?
Yon' Orbs, that with unnumber'd Splendors glow,
Not long fhall on their steady Axes turn,
Ere, feiz'd by their own Native Fires, they burn.
No partial Wrong we undergo by Death;
'Tis Nature's Law, we fhou'd refign our Breath.
Death claims a right to All; the Time will come,
When Chaos fhall his antient Reign resume.

EPIT A PH.

From CLAUDIAN.

To great and beauteous things, a tranfient Date

And fudden Downfal is decreed by Fate:

Witness the Fair, that Here in Silence lies,
Whom Venus might have view'd with envious Eyes.

LEARNED IGNORANCE.

Tranflated from GROTIUS.

Nature ordains, whilft here we dwell below,

That much we should admire, and little know;

In fecret Labyrinths herself fhe hides,

And our defeated Cares and fruitlefs Search derides..
The curious Man, who with Ambition vain

Would All within his narrow Mind contain;

Who

Who, with a greedy luft of Knowledge fraught,
Difdains of his own Ignorance the Thought,
Beyond the Lot of Human-kind afpires,
And fondly things Impoffible defires.
Where this firft Error can Admiffion gain,
It draws of worse Mistakes a fatal Train;
For He, who rafhly will of All decide,
Muft oft' with Falfhood footh his learned Pride,
Ixion-like thin Clouds of Error chace,

And Shadows clasp in his deceiv'd Embrace.
Far more fecure and peaceful is the Mind,
Whofe Search, to plain and useful Truths confin'd,
Does dark uncertain Subtilties despise,

Nor cares to follow what the Seeker flies.

The Wilful Ignorance of trivial things

From Wisdom oft', and well-poiz'd Judgment fprings.

To SLE E P.

Propitious Pow'r ! to wretched Mortals kind,

Who, not content to footh the penfive Mind
With foft Repofe, doft fplendidly delight,
With rich Ideal Scenes, our Intellectual Sight.
Oft', while within thy downy Arms carefs'd
The lumpish Body takes refreshing Reft,
Free'd from its earthly Charge, the wakeful Soul
Vifits the Stars, and ranges o'er the Pole,
To diftant Worlds with nimble Pinions flies,
And climbs with eafie Steps the steepy Skies.

While bluft'ring Winds around my Chamber blow,

And all the neighb'ring Fields lie hid in Snow,

Whil

Whilft uncontroll'd, tempeftuous Winter reigns,
And ftrips of all their bloomy Pride the Plains ;
Wafted by Thee, to happier Climes I stray,
With Purple Spring and verd'rous Beauty, gay;
Where lightly skimming thro' mild Air, I rove
O'er the
green Meadows and enchanted Grove.

OF THE

CAUSES of DREAMS.

Dreams, which in Sleep their various Scenes difplay»

And mimick the Tranfactions of the Day,

Nor from th' Omnifcient Pow'rs above defcend,
Nor future Good prefage, nor Ill portend,
Nor the conceal'd Decrees of Fate forefhow,
But from our waking Thoughts mechanically flow.

For Nature by fix'd Laws has wifely join'd

The bright Ideas of the confcious Mind
To Motions of the liquid fpirit'ous Train,
Thro' pervious Traces of the humid Brain;
Thefe, when the Soul by drowfy Sleep opprefs'a

Into her private Cell retires to Reft,

Thro' beaten Paths their wand'ring Courses take,
And Images confus'd of things awake.

AN

ALAS! poor Tabby's dead! who can deny

On Tabby's Death to write an Elegy?"

Whose useful Merit in fuch various Ways
Deferves the juft Remembrance of our Lays;
Who by her watchful Care, while others flept,
Secure from thievish Mice the Pantry kept;
And by her purring Song and wanton Play,
Solac'd the Winter-Nights, and drove fad Thoughts away,
But what, alas! can Songs or Wiles avail,
When Death does with his mortal Dart affail?
What Mufick can his fullen Ear delight?
What Swiftness can preserve by nimble Flight
Now on the Hearth, methinks, I fee her fit,
With Mein Majestick and with solemn State;
A Royal Robe of fable Furr fhe wears,
And spotted Ermin on her Bosom bears,
While in the Miat of her projecting Mind,
Against the Mice, deep Stratagems are coin'd.
Her Death let all the purring Race attend,
And mourn in Mews and Catterwauls her End;
With folemn Rites, each Night, furround her Grave,
And her lov'd Mem'ry from Oblivion save.