Canst thou forego the pure ethereal soul,
In each fine sense so exquisitely keen,
On the dull couch of Luxury to loll,
Stung with disease and stupified with spleen;
Fain to impart the aid of Flattery's screen,
Even from thyself thy loathsome heart to hide 70 (The mansion then no more of joy serene,) Where fear, distrust, malevolence abide,
And impotent desire and disappointed pride.
O, how canst thou renounce the boundless store
Of charms which Nature to her votary yields !
75 The warbling woodlands, the resounding shore,
The pomp of groves and garniture of fields;
All that the general ray of morning gilds,
And all that echoes to the song of even;
All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields;
And all the dread magnificence of Heaven-
O how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven ?
These charms shall work thy soul's eternal health,
And love, and gentleness, and joy, impart,
But these thou must renounce, if lust of wealth
E'er win its way to thy corrupted heart;
For ah! it poisons like a scorpion's dart,
Prompting the ungenerous wish, the selfish scheme,
The stern resolve unmoved by pity's smart,
The troublous day, and long distressful dream:
Return, my roving Muse, resume thy purpos'd theme.
FROM "CONVERSATION."-Cowper.
A STORY in which native humor reigns,
Is often useful, always entertains;
A graver fact, enlisted on your side
May furnish illustrations well applied ;
But sedentary weavers of long tales
Give me the fidgets, and my patience fails.
'Tis the most asinine employ on earth,
To hear (G. 148.) them tell of parentage and birth,
And echo conversations, dull and dry,
10 Embellished with-" He said," and "So said I."
At every interview their rout the same,
The repetition makes attention lame;
We bustle up with unsuccessful speed
And in the saddest part cry-"Droll indeed !"
15 The path of narrative with care pursue,
Still making probability your clew;
On all the vestiges of truth attend,
And let them guide you to a decent end.
Of all ambitions man may entertain,
20 The worst that can invade a fickly brain,
Is that which angles hourly for surprise,
And baits its hook with prodigies and lies.
Credulous infancy, or age as weak,
Are fittest auditors for such to seek.
25 Who, to please others, will themselves disgrace,
Yet please not, but affront you to their face;
A great retailer of this curious ware,
Having unloaded and made many stare,
"Can this be true?"—an arch observer cries,
30 "Yes," (rather mov'd) "I saw it with these eyes."
"Sir! I believe it on that ground alone;
I could not, had I seen it with my own."
FROM "THE TASK."— Cowper.
I VENERATE the man whose heart is warm,
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrines and whose life
35 Coincident, exhibit lucid proof
That he is honest in the sacred cause.
To such I render more than mere respect,
Whose actions say that they respect themselves.
In colleges and halls in ancient days,
40 When learning, virtue, piety, and truth,
Were precious, and inculcated with care,
There dwelt a sage call'd Discipline. His head,
Not yet by time completely silvered o'er,
Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth,
45 But strong for service still and unimpair'd.
His eye was meek and gentle, and a smile
Play'd on his lips; and, in his speech, was heard
Paternal sweetness, dignity and love.
The occupation, dearest to his heart
Was to encourage goodness. He would stroke
The head of modest and ingenuous worth,
That blushed at its own praise;
and press Close to his side that pleas'd him. Learning grew Beneath his care. a thriving, vig'rous plant; 55 The mind was well informed, the passions held Subordinate, and diligence was choice.
If e'er it chanc'd, as sometimes chance it must,
That one among so many overleap'd
The limits of control, his gentle eye
60 Grew stern and darted a severe rebuke;
His frown was full of terror, and his voice
Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe,
As left him not till penitence had won
Lost favor back again, and clos'd the breach.
FROM "TIROCINIUM".-Couper.
OUR public hives. of puerile resort,
That are of chief and most approved report,
To such base hopes in many a sordid soul,
Owe their repute in part, but not the whole:
A principle, whose proud pretensions pass
70 Unquestion'd, though the jewel be but glass-
That with a world, not often over-nice,
Ranks as a virtue, and is yet a vice;
Or rather a gross compound, justly tried,
Of envy, hatred, jealousy, and pride—
75 Contributes most, perhaps, t'enhance their fame ;
And Emulation is its specious name.
Boys, once on fire with that contentious zeal,
Feel all the rage that female rivals feel;
The prize of beauty in a woman's eyes,
80 Not brighter than in theirs, the scholar's prize.
The spirit of that competition burns
With all varieties of ill by turns;
Each vainly magnifies his own success,
Resents his fellows, wishes it were less,
85 Exults in his miscarriage, if he fail,
Deems his reward too great, if he prevail,
And labors to surpass him, day and night,
Less for improvement than to tickle spite.
The spur is powerful, and I grant its force;
90 It pricks the genius forward in its course,
Allows short time for play and none for sloth,
And felt alike by each, advances both;
But judge, where so much evil intervenes, The end, though plausible, not worth the means. 95 Weigh, for a moment, classical desert,
Against a heart depraved, and temper hurt;-
Hurt, too, perhaps for life-for early wrong,
Done to the nobler part, affects it long;
And you are staunch indeed in learning's cause, 100 If you can crown a discipline, that draws Such mischiefs after it, with much applause.
FROM "PLEASURES OF THE IMAGINATION."-Akenside.
1. THUS with a faithful arm have we presumed,
Adventurous, to delineate Nature's form;
Whether in vast, majestic pomp arrayed,
Or drest for pleasing wonder, or serene
5 In Beauty's rosy smile. It now remains,
Through various being's fair-proportioned scale—
To trace the rising luster of her charms,
From their first twilight, shining forth at length,
To full meridian splendor. Of degree
10 The least and lowliest, in the effusive warmth
Of colors mingling with the random blaze,
Doth Beauty dwell. Then higher in the line
And variation of determined shape,
Where Truth's eternal measures mark the bound
The third ascent
15 Of circle, cube, or sphere.
Unites this varied symmetry of parts
With color's bland allurements; as the pearl
Shines in the concave of its azure bed,
And painted shells indent their speckled wreath.
20 Then more attractive rise the blooming forms,
Through which the breath of Nature has infus'd
Her genial power to draw with pregnant veins
Nutritious moisture from the bounteous Earth,
In fruit and seed prolific; thus the flowers
25 Their purple honors with the spring resume;
And thus the stately tree with Autumn bends
With blushing treasures. But more lovely still
Is Nature's charm, where to the full consent
Of complicated members to the bloom
30 Of color, and the vital change of growth,
Life's holy flame and piercing sense are given,
And active motion speaks the temper'd soul.
So moves the bird of Juno; so the steed
With rival ardor beats the dusky plain,
35 And faithful dogs with eager airs of joy
Salute their fellows. Thus doth Beauty dwell
There most conspicuous, even in outward shape,
Where dawns the high expression of a mind;
By steps conducting our enraptur'd search
To that eternal origin, whose power,
Through all the unbounded symmetry of things,
Like rays effulging from the parent Sun,
This endless mixture of her charms diffus'd.
Mind, mind alone, (bear witness, Earth and Heaven)
45 The living fountains in itself contains
Of beauteous and sublime; here hand in hand,
Sit paramount the Graces; here enthron'd,
Celestial Venus, with divinest airs,
Invites the soul to never-fading joy.
FROM "A GLORIOUS ENTERPRISE."-Dr. Humphrey.
He who created the earth and "hung it upon nothing," made it an abode fit for angels. Spotless as the shining robe of day, it rolled on obedient to that great central atraction which first traced out its path in the heavens, when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Sweet was the dawn of every morning-serene the shutting in of every evening. More gentle than the dew that afterwards descended upon Zion, was the mist that went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. The breath of every breeze was health; the voice of all nature was praise. Man, created in the image of God, and reflecting that image back to the skies, stood pre-eminent, in the midst of beauty and harmony and life and happiness.
A stranger to sin, he felt no fear. No care set upon his brow-no unholy passion rankled in his bosom. All was peace, and love, and devotion, in the garden which the Lord had planted, and which he delighted to visit. O, had the great destroyer never found it, what a paradise would this
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