"To curb Imagination's lawless rage,

"And from within the cherish'd heart to brace,
"Philosophy appears. The gloomy race

"By indolence and moping Fancy bred,

"Fear, Discontent, Solicitude, give place,

"And Hope and Courage brighten in their stead, "While on the kindling soul her vital beams are shed.

"Then waken from long lethargy to life*
"The seeds of happiness, and powers of thought;
"Then jarring appetites forego their strife,

"A strife by ignorance to madness wrought. "Pleasure by savage man is dearly bought "With fell revenge, lust that defies control, "With gluttony and death. The mind untaught "Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempests howl; "As Phoebus to the world, is Science to the soul.

"And reason now, thro' number, time, and space, "Darts the keen lusture of her serious eye, "And learns, from facts compar'd, the laws to trace, "Whose long progression leads to Deity. "Can mortal strength presume to soar so high! "Can mortal sight so oft bedimm'd with tears, "Such glory bear!-for lo! the shadows fly "From Nature's face; Confusion disappears, "And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears.

*The influence of the Philosophic Spirit, in humanizing the mind, and preparing it for intellectual exertion, and delicate pleasure;-in exploring, by the help of geometry, the system of the universe;-in banishing superstition;-in promoting navigation, agriculture, medicine, and moral and political science;from this Stanza to the end of the second Stanza, Page 51.

"In the deep windings of the grove no more "The hag obscene, and grisly phantom dwell; "Nor in the fall of mountain-stream, or roar "Of winds, is heard the angry spirit's yell; "No wizard mutters the tremendous spell, "Nor sinks convulsive in prophetic swoon; "Nor bids the noise of drums and trumpets swell, "To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon, "Or chase the shade that blots the blazing orb of noon.

"Many a long lingering year, in lonely isle, "Stunn'd with the eternal turbulence of waves, "Lo, with dim eyes that never learn'd to smile, "And trembling hands, the famish'd native craves "Of Heaven his wretched fare: shivering in caves, "Or scorch'd on rocks, he pines from day to day; "But Science gives the word; and lo, he braves "The surge and tempest, lighted by her ray, "And to a happier land wafts merrily away.

"And even where Nature loads the teeming plain "With the full pomp of vegetable store, "Her bounty, unimprov'd, is deadly bane: [shore "Dark woods and rankling wilds, from shore to "Stretch their enormous gloom; which to explore "Even Fancy trembles in her sprightliest mood; "For there each eye-ball gleams with lust of gore, "Nestles each murderous and each monstrous brood, "Plague lurks in every shade, and streams from every flood.

E

""Twas from Philosophy man learned to tame
"The soil by plenty to intemperance fed.

"Lo! from the echoing ax, and thundering flame
"Poison and plague and yelling rage are fled.
"The waters bursting from their slimy bed,
"Bring health and melody to every vale :
"And from the breezy main and mountain's head
"Ceres and Flora, to the sunny dale,

"To fan their glowing charms, invite the fluttering gale.

"What dire necessities on every hand

"Our art, our strength, our fortitude require!
"Our foes intestine what a numerous band
"Against the little throb of life conspire!
"Yet Science can elude their fatal ire
"Awhile, and turn aside Death's levell'd dart,
"Sooth the sharp pang, allay the fever's fire,

"And brace the nerves once more, and cheer the

heart,

"And yet a few soft nights and balmy days impart.

"Nor less to regulate man's mortal frame "Science exerts her all-composing sway.

"Flutters thy breast with fear, or pants for fame, "Or pines, to Indolence and Spleen a prey, "Or Avarice, a fiend more fierce than they? "Flee to the shades of Academus' grove; "Where cares molest not! discord melts away "In harmony, and the pure passions prove

"How sweet the words of truth breath'd from the lips of love.

"What cannot Art and Industry perform, "When Science plans the progress of their toil! "They smile at penury, disease, and storm: "And oceans from their mighty mounds recoil. "When tyrants scourge, or demagogues embroil "A land, or when the rabble's headlong rage "Order transforms to anarchy and spoil, "Deep-vers'd in man, the philosophic Sage "Prepares with lenient hand their frenzy to assuage.

""Tis he alone, whose comprehensive mind, "From situation, temper, soil, and clime "Explor'd, a nation's various powers can bind "And various orders, in one form sublime "Of polity, that midst the wrecks of time, "Secure shall lift its head on high, nor fear, "Th' assault of foreign or domestic crime, "While public faith, and public love sincere, "And Industry and Law maintain their sway severe."

Enraptur'd by the Hermit's strain, the Youth
Proceeds the path of Science to explore.
And now, expanding to the beams of Truth,
New energies, and charms unknown before,
His mind discloses: Fancy now no more
Wantons on fickle pinion through the skies;
But, fix'd in aim, and conscious of her power,
Sublime from cause to cause exults to rise,
Creation's blended stores arranging as she flies.

Nor love of novelty alone inspires,

Their laws and nice dependencies to scan;

For mindful of the aids that life requires,
And of the services man owes to man,
He meditates new arts on Nature's plan,
The cold desponding breast of Sloth to warm,
The flame of Industry and Genius fan,

And Emulation's noble rage alarm,

And the long hours of Toil and Solitude to charm.

But she, who set on fire his infant heart, And all his dreams, and all his wandering shar'd, And bless'd the Muse, and her celestial art, Still claim'd th' Enthusiast's fond and first regard. From Nature's beauties variously compar'd And variously combin'd, he learns to frame Those forms of bright perfection, which the Bard, While boundless hopes and boundless views inflame, Enamour'd consecrates to never-dying-fame.

Of late, with cumbersome, tho' pompous show,
Edwin would oft his flowery rhyme deface
Through ardour to adorn; but Nature now
To his experienc'd eye a modest grace
Presents, where Ornament the second place
Holds, to intrinsic worth and just design
Subservient still. Simplicity apace

Tempers his rage: he owns her charm divine, And clears the ambiguous phrase, and lops the unwieldy line.

Fain would I sing (much yet unsung remains)
What sweet delirium o'er his bosom stole,