* Fond wretch, that vainly weenest all delight | Her words breathe fire celestial, and impart To gratify the sense, reserv'd for thee! Yet the most pleasing object to the sight.

Thine own fair action never didst thou see, Though lulled with softest sounds thou liest along,

New vigor to his soul, that sudden caught The generous flame; with great intent his heart

Swells full, and labors with exalted thought.
The mist of errors from his eyes dispell'd,
Thro' all her fraudful arts, in clearest light,

Soft music, warbling voices, melting lays,
Ne'er didst thou hear, more sweet than sweet-Sloth in her native form he now beheld;

est song

Charming the soul, thou ne'er didst hear thy No-to thy revels let the fool repair; [praise! To such go smooth thy speech, and spread thy tempting snare.

"Vast happiness enjoy thy gay allies!

A youth of follies, an old age of cares;
Young yet inervate, old, yet never wise,
Vice wastes their vigor, and their mind im-
pairs.

Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtless ease,
Reserving woes for age, their prime they
spend ;

All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days,

With sorrow to the verge of life they tend. Griev'd with the present, of the past asham'd, They live, and are despis'd; they die, nor more are nam'd.

Unveil'd she stood confest before his sight; False Siren!-All her vaunted charms, that [and gone.

shone

So fresh erewhile and fair, now wither'd, pale,
No more the rosy bloom in sweet disguise
Masks her dissembled looks; each borrow'd
grace
[her eyes
Leaves her wan cheek; pale sickness clouds
Livid and sunk, and passions dim her face.
As when fair Iris has a while display'd

Her wat❜ry arch with gaudy painture gay,
While yet we gaze the glorious colors fade,

And from our wonder gently steal away; Where shone the beauteous phantom, erst so bright, [the sight. Now low'rs the low-hung cloud, all gloomy to But Virtue more engaging, all the while Disclos'd new charms, more lovely, more

"But with the gods, and godlike men I dwell;
Me, his supreme delight, th' Almighty Sire
Regards well pleas'd: whatever works excel,"
All, or divine or human, I inspire.
Counsel with strength, and industry with art,
In union meet conjoin'd with me reside :
My dictates arm, instruct, and mend the heart,
The surest policy, the wisest guide. [bind
With me true friendship dwells: she deigns to
Those generous souls alone, whom I before
have join'd.

"Nor need my friends the various costly feast,
Hunger to them th' effects of art supplies;
Labor prepares their weary limbs to rest;
Sweet is their sleep; light, cheerful, strong,
they rise.
[and renown
Through health, through joy, through pleasure
They tread my paths: and by a soft descent
At length to age all gently sinking down,

Look back with transport at a life well spent,
In which no hour flew unimprov'd away;
In which some gen'rous deed distinguish'd
ev'ry day.

And when the destin'd term at length's com-
plete,

Their ashes rest in peace, eternal fame Sounds wide their praise: triumphant over fate, In sacred song for ever lives their name. This, Hercules, is happiness! obey

My voice, and live; let thy celestial birth Lift and enlarge thy thoughts: behold the way That leads to fame, and raises thee from earth,

Immortal! Lo, I guide thy steps, Arise, Pursue the glorious path and claim thy native skies."

serene;

Beaming sweet influence, a milder smile
Soften'd the terrors of her lofty mien.
Lead, goddess; I am thine!" transported

cried

Alcides; "O propitious pow'r, thy way
Teach me ! possess my soul! be thou my guide:

From thee oh never, never let me stray !"
While ardent thus the youth his vows address'd,
With all the goddess fill'd, already glow'd his

breast.

The heav'nly maid with strength divine endued
His daring soul; there all her pow'rs com-

bin'd:

Firm constancy, undaunted fortitude,

Enduring patience, arm'd his mighty mind
Unmov'd in toils, in dangers undismay'd,
By many a hardy deed and bold emprize,
From fiercest monsters, thro' her powerful aid,
He freed the earth! thro' her he gain'd the

skies.

'Twas Virtue plac'd him in the blest abode; Crown'd with eternal youth, among the gods a god.

§ 55. The Hermit. PARNELL.
FAR in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a rev'rend Hermit grew;
The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell;
His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well:
Remote from man, with God he pass'd his
days,

Pray'r all his business, all his pleasure praise.
A life so sacred, such serene repose,
Seem'd heav'n itself, till one suggestion rose
That vice should triumph, virtue vice obey,
This sprung some doubt of Providence's sway

His hopes no more a certain prospect boast,
And all the tenor of his soul is lost.

So when a smooth expanse receives imprest
Calm nature's image on its wat'ry breast,
Down bend the banks, the trees depending
grow,

And skies beneath with answering colors glow:
But if a stone the gentle sea divide,
Swift ruffling circles curl on ev'ry side,
And glimmering fragments of a broken sun;
Banks, trees, and skies in thick disorder run.
To clear this doubt, to know the world by
sight,

To find if books or swains report it right,
(For yet by swains alone the world he knew,
Whose feet came wand' ring o'er the nightly
dew)

He quits his cell; the pilgrim staff he bore,
And fix'd the scallop in his hat before!
Then with the sun a rising journey went,
Sedate to think, and watching each event.

The morn was wasted in the pathless grass,
And long and lonesome was the wild to pass;
But when the southern sun had warm'd the
day,

A youth came posting o'er a crossing way;
His raiment decent, his complexion fair,
And soft in graceful ringlets wav'd his hair :
Then near approaching, "Father, hail!" he
cried :

And "Hail, my son !" the rev'rend sire replied.
Words follow'd words, from question answer
flow'd,

And talk of various kind deceiv'd the road;
Till each with other pleas'd, and loth to part,
While in their age they differ, join in heart.
Thus stands an aged elm in ivy bound,
Thus youthful ivy clasps an elm around.

Now sunk the sun; the closing hour of day
Came onward, mantled o'er with sober grey;
Nature in silence bid the world repose;
When near the road a stately palace rose;
There, by the moon, through ranks of trees

they pass,

Whose verdure crown'd their sloping sides of

grass.

It chanc'd the noble master of the dome
Still made his house the wand'ring stranger's

home;

Yet still the kindness, from a thirst of praise,
Prov'd the vain flourish of expensive ease.
The pair arrive; the liveried servants wait;
Their lord receives them at the pompous gate.
The table groans with costly piles of food,
And all is more than hospitably good.
Then, led to rest, the day's long toil they
drown,
[down.
Deep sunk in sleep, and silk, and heaps of
At length 'tis morn, and at the dawn of day
Along the wide canals the zephyrs play;
Fresh o'er the gay parterres the breezes creep,
And shake the neighb'ring wood to banish
sleep.

Up rise the guests obedient to the call;

An early banquet deck'd the splendid hall;

Rich luscious wine a golden goblet grac'd,
Which the kind master forc'd the guests to
taste.
[they go :

Then pleas'd and thankful, from the porch
And, but the landlord, none had cause of woe;
His cup was vanish'd; for in secret guise
The younger guest purloin'd the glitt'ring prize,
As one who spies a serpent in his way,
Glist'ning and basking in the summer ray,
Disorder'd stops to shun the danger near,
Then walks with faintness on, and looks with
fear;

So seem'd the sire, when far upon the road
The shining spoil his wily partner show'd.
He stopp'd with silence, walk'd with trembling
heart,
[part:

And much he wish'd, but durst not ask, to
Murm'ring he lifts his eyes, and thinks it hard
That gen'rous actions meet a base reward.

While thus they pass, the sun his glory

shrouds,

The changing skies hang out their sable clouds ;
A sound in air presag'd approaching rain,
And beasts to covert scud across the plain.
Warn'd by the signs, the wand'ring pair retreat
To seek for shelter at a neighb'ring seat:
"Twas built with turrets on a rising ground,
And strong, and large, and unimprov'd around;
Its owner's temper, tim'rous and severe,
Unkind and griping caus'd a desert there.
As near the miser's heavy doors they drew,
Fierce rising gusts with sudden fury blew;
The nimble lightning mix'd with show'rs be-
gan,

And o'er their heads loud rolling thunder ran;
Here long they knock, but knock or call in

And when the tempest first appear'd to cease,
A ready warning bid them part in peace.

With still remark the pond'ring Hermit
In one so rich a life so poor and rude; [view'd,
And why should such (within himself he cried)
Lock the lost wealth a thousand want beside?
But what new marks of wonder soon took
In ev'ry settling feature of his face, [place
When from his vest the young companion bore
That cup the gen'rous landlord own'd before :
And paid profusely with the precious bowl
The stinted kindness of this churlish soul'

But now the clouds in airy tumult fly;
The sun emerging opes an azure sky;
A fresher green the smelling leaves display,
And, glitt'ring as they tremble, cheer the day

The weather courts them from the poor re- His youthful face grew more serenely sweet; His robe turn'd white, and flow'd upon his feet;

treat,

And the glad master bolts the wary gate. While hence they walk the Pilgrim's bosom wrought

With all the travail of uncertain thought;
His partner's acts without their cause appear;
"Twas there a vice; and seem'd a madness
here:

Detesting that, and pitying this, he goes,
Lost and confounded with the various shows.
Now night's dim shades again involve the
Again the wand'rers want a place to lie : [sky;
Again they search, and find a lodging nigh.
The soil improv'd around, the mansion neat,
And neither poorly low nor idly great,
It seem'd to speak its master's turn of mind,
Content, and not for praise but virtue kind.

Hither the walkers turn with weary feet,
Then bless the mansion, and the master greet.]
Their greeting fair, bestow'd with modest
guise,

Fair rounds of radiant points invest his hair;
Celestial odors breathe thro' purpled air;
And wings, whose colors glitter'd on the day,
Wide at his back their gradual plumes display.
The form ethereal bursts upon his sight,
And moves in all the majesty of light.

Tho' loud at first the Pilgrim's passion grew
Sudden he gaz'd and wist not what to do;
Surprise in secret chains his words suspends,
And in a calm his settling temper ends.
But silence here the beauteous angel broke
(The voice of music ravish'd as he spoke):
"Thy pray'r, thy praise, thy life to vice un-
known,

In sweet memorial rise before the throne:
These charms success in our bright region
find,

And force an angel down to calm thy mind:
For this commission'd, I forsook the sky-
Nay, cease to kneel!-thy fellow-servant I.
"Then know the truth of government di-
vine,

And let these scruples be no longer thine.
"The Maker justly claims that world he

made,

In this the right of Providence is laid;
Its sacred majesty through all depends
On using second means to work his ends;
"Tis thus, withdrawn in state from human eye,
The pow'r exerts his attributes on high;
Your actions uses, nor controls your will,
And bids the doubting sons of men be still.
"What strange events can strike with more

The courteous master hears and thus replies; "Without a vain, without a grudging heart,| To him who gives us all I yield a part; From him you come, for him accept it here, A frank and sober, more than costly cheer." He spoke, and bid the welcome table spread, Then talk'd of virtue till the time of bed; When the grave household round his hall repair, [pray'r. Warn'd by a bell, and close the hours with At length the world renew'd by calm repose, Was strong for toil; the dappled morn arose. Before the Pilgrims part, the younger crept, Near the clos'd cradle, where an infant slept, And writh'd his neck; the landlord's little [eyes? pride, [died. Than those which lately struck thy wond'ring O strange return! grew black, and gasp'd, and Yet, taught by these, confess th' Almighty just; Horror of horrors! what! his only son? And, where you can't unriddle, learn to trust. How look'd our hermit when the fact was done? "The great vain man, who far'd on costly Not hell, tho' hell's black jaws in sunder part,| And breathe blue fire, could more assault his heart.

Confus'd, and struck with silence at the deed,
He flies; but trembling, fails to fly with speed,
His steps the youth pursues: the country lay
Perplex'd with roads; a servant show'd the
way;

A river cross'd the path; the passage o'er
Was nice to find; the servant trod before:
Long arms of oaks an open bridge supplied,
And deep the waves beneath the bending
branches glide.

The youth, who seem'd to watch a time to sin,
Approach'd the careless guide, and thrust him

in :

Plunging he falls; and rising lifts his head;
Then flashing turns, and sinks among the dead.
Wild sparkling rage inflames the father's

eyes:

surprise,

food,

Whose life was too luxurious to be good;
Who made his iv'ry stands with goblets shine,
And forc'd his guests to morning draughts of
wine;

Has with the cup, the graceless custom lost,
And still he welcomes, but with less of cost.
"The mean suspicious wretch whose bolted

door

Ne'er mov'd in pity to the wand'ring poor,
With him I left the cup, to teach his mind
That Heaven can bless, if mortals will be kind.
Conscious of wanting worth, he views the
bowl,

And feels compassion touch his grateful soul.
Thus artists melt the sullen ore of lead,
With heaping coals of fire upon its head;
In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow,
And loose from dross, the silver runs below.
"Long had our pious friend in virtue trod,

He bursts the bands of fear, and madly cries, But now the child half-wean'd his heart from "Detested wretch!"-But scarce his speech

began,

God;

[man. (Child of his age) for him he liv'd in pain, When the strange partner seem'd no longer And measur'd back his steps to earth again.

To what excesses had his dotage run!
But God, to save the father, took the son.
To all but thee in fits he seem'd to go!
And 'twas my ministry to deal the blow.
The poor fond parent, humbled in the dust,
Now owns in tears the punishment was just.
"But how had all his fortunes felt a wrack,
Had that false servant sped in safety back!
This night his treasur'd heaps he meant to
And what a fund of charity would fail! [steal,
Thus Heav'n instructs thy mind: this trial o'er,
Depart in peace, resign, and sin no more."
On sounding pinions here the youth with-
drew;

Whose pillars swell with sculptur d stones,
Arms, angels, epitaphs, and bones;
These all the poor remains of state,
Adorn the rich, or praise the great ;
Who while on earth in fame they live,
Are senseless of the fame they give..

Ha! while I gaze, pale Cynthia fades,
The bursting earth unveils the shades:
All slow, and wan, and wrap'd with shrouds
They rise in visionary crowds,
And all with sober accent cry,
"Think, mortal, what it is to die!"

Now from yon black and funeral yew,
That bathes the charnel-house with dew,
Methinks I hear a voice begin;
(Ye ravens, cease your croaking din,
Ye tolling clocks, no time resound
O'er the long lake and midnight ground)
It sends a peal of hollow groans,
Thus speaking from among the bones :—

The sage stood wond'ring as the seraph flew.
Thus look'd Elisha, when, to mount on high,
His master took the chariot of the sky;
The fiery pomp ascending left the view;
The prophet gaz'd, and wish'd to follow too.
The bending hermit here a pray'r begun ;
Lord! as in heav'n, on earth thy will be done." When men my scythe and dart supply,
Then, gladly turning, sought his ancient place,
And pass'd a life of piety and peace.
$56. A Night-Piece, on Death. PARNELL.
By the blue taper's trembling light,
No more I waste the wakeful night,
Intent with endless view to pore
The schoolmen and the sages o'er :
Their books from wisdom widely stray,
Or point at best the longest way,
I'll seek a readier path, and go
Where wisdom's surely taught below.

How deep yon azure dyes the sky!
Where orbs of gold unnumber'd lie,
While through their ranks in silver pride
The nether crescent seems to glide.
The slumbering breeze forgets to breathe,
The lake is smooth and clear beneath,
Where once again the spangled show
Descends to meet our eyes below.
The grounds, which on the right aspire,
In dimness from the view retire:
The left presents a place of
Whose wall the silent water laves.
That steeple guides thy doubtful sight
Among the livid gleams of night.
There pass, with melancholy state,
By all the solemn heaps of fate,
And think, as softly sad you tread
Above the venerable dead,

graves,

"Time was, like thee, they life possess'd;
And time shall be when thou shalt rest."

Those, with bending osier bound,
That nameless heave the crumbled ground,
Quick to the glancing thought disclose
Where toil and poverty repose.

The flat smooth stones that bear a name,
The chisel, slender help to fame,
(Which ere our set of friends decay
Their frequent steps may wear away ;)
A middle race of mortals own,
Men, half ambitious, all unknown.

The marble tombs that rise on high,
Whose dead in vaulted arches lie,

How great a King of Fears am I?
They view me like the last of things;
They make, and then they dread my stings
Fools! if you less provok'd your fears,
No more my sceptered form appears.
Death's but a path that must be trod,
If man would ever pass to God:
A port of calms, a state of ease,
From the rough rage of swelling seas.

"Why then thy flowing sable stoles,
Deep pendent cypress, mourning poles,
Loose scarfs to fall athwart thy weeds,
Long palls, drawn hearses, cover'd steeds,
And plumes of black, that, as they tread,
Nod o'er the 'scutcheons of the dead?
"Nor can the parted body know,
Nor wants the soul, these forms of wo
As men who long in prison dwell,
With lamps that glimmer round the cell,
Whene'er their suffering years are run,
Spring forth to greet the glittering Sun :
Such joy, though far transcending sense,
Have pious souls at parting hence.
On Earth, and in the body plac'd,
A few, and evil years, they waste :
But when their chains are cast aside,
See the glad scenes unfolding wide,
Clap the glad wing, and tower away,
And mingle with the blaze of day."

$57. Piety; or, The Vision. PARNELL.
"TWAS when the night in silent sable fled,
When cheerful morning sprung with rising red,
When dreams and vapors leave to crowd the
brain,

And best the vision draws its heavenly scene,
"Twas then, as slumbering on my couch I lay,
A sudden splendor seem'd to kindle day;
A breeze came breathing in a sweet perfume.
Blown from eternal gardens, fill'd the room;
And in a void of blue, that clouds invest,
Appear'd a daughter of the realms of rest;
Her head a ring of golden glory wore,
Her honor'd hand the sacred volume bore;

Its curls unfolded, and around her spread; Bright angels waft their wings to raise the cloud,

And sweep their ivory lutes, and sing aloud; The scene moves off, while all its ambient sky Is turn'd to wondrous music as they fly; And soft the swelling sounds of music grow, And faint their softness, till they fail below. My downy sleep the warmth of Phobus broke, [spoke : [blow, And, while my thoughts were setting, thus I winters" Thou beauteous Vision! on my soul impress'd,