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النشر الإلكتروني

SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

Safe in the hand of one disposing power,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance, direction, which thou canst not see.
A discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.

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SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

KNOW thou thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great;
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest,
In doubt to deem himself a God, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused or disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;

Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled;
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Go, wondrous creature! mount where Science guides; Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides; Instruct the planets in what orbs to run, Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun; Go, soar with Plato to the empyreal sphere, To the first good, first perfect, and first fair; Or tread the mazy round his followers trod, And, quitting sense, call imitating God;

As eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule-
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!

KNOWLEDGE PROGRESSIVE.

FIRED, at first sight, with what the muse imparts,
In fearless youth, we tempt the heights of arts,
While, from the bounded level of our mind,
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind;
But, more advanced, behold with strange surprise
New distant scenes of endless science rise!
So pleased at first the towering Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky;

The eternal snows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains seem the last:
But, those attained, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthened way;
The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

RICHARD SAVAGE.
BORN, 1698; DIED, 1743.

ADVANTAGES OF ADVERSITY.

I KNOW thy soul believes,

'Tis hard vice triumphs, and that virtue grieves; Yet oft affliction purifies the mind,

Kind benefits oft flow from means unkind.

Were the whole known, that we uncouth

suppose,

Doubtless, would beauteous symmetry disclose.
The naked cliff, that singly rough remains,
In prospect dignifies the fertile plains;

Lead-coloured clouds, in scattering fragments seen,
Show, though in broken views, the blue serene.
Severe distresses industry inspire;

Thus captives oft excelling arts acquire,

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FRIENDSHIP.

And boldly struggle through a state of shame,
To life, ease, plenty, liberty and fame.

Sword-law has often Europe's balance gain'd,
And one red victory years of peace maintain'd.
We pass through want to wealth, through dismal strife
To calm content, through death to endless life.
Libya thou nam'st-let Afric's wastes appear
Curst by those heats that fructify the year;
Yet the same suns her orange-groves befriend,
Where clustering globes in shining rows depend.
Here, when fierce beams o'er withering plants are roll'à,
There, the green fruit seems ripen'd into gold.
Ev'n scenes that strike with terrible surprise,
Still prove a God, just, merciful, and wise.
Sad wintery blasts, that strip the autumn, bring
The milder beauties of a flowery spring.
Ye sulphurous fires in jaggy lightnings break!
Ye thunders rattle, and ye nations shake!
Ye storms of riving flame the forest tear!

Deep crack the rocks! rent trees be whirl'd in air,
Reft at a stroke, some stately fane we'll mourn;
Her tombs wide shattered, and her dead up-torn;
Were noxious spirits not from caverns drawn,
Rack'd earth would soon in gulphs enormous yawn:
Then all were lost!-Or would we floating view
The baleful cloud, there would destruction brew!
Plague, fever, frenzy, close engendering lie,
'Till these red ruptures clear the sullied sky.

ROBERT BLAIR.

BORN 1699; DIED, 1746.

FRIENDSHIP.

FRIENDSHIP! mysterious cement of the soul!
Sweet'ner of life, and solder of society!

I owe thee much. Thou hast deserved of me
Far, far beyond whatever I can pay.

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Oft have I proved the labours of thy love,
And the warm efforts of the gentle heart,
Anxious to please. O! when my friend and I
In some thick wood have wandered heedless on,
Hid from the vulgar eye, and sat us down
Upon the sloping cowslip covered bank,
Where the pure limpid stream has slid along,
In grateful errors through the underwood,

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Sweet murm'ring, methought the shrill-tongued thrush
Mended his song of love; the sooty blackbird
Mellowed his pipe, and softened every note;
The eglantine smelled sweeter, and the rose
Assumed a dye more deep; whilst every flower
Vied with his fellow plant in luxury

Of dress. O! then the longest summer's day
Seemed too, too much in haste: still the full heart
Had not imparted half :—'tis happiness

Too exquisite to last!

JAMES THOMSON.

BORN, 1700; DIED, 1748.

PEACE.

O! FIRST of human blessings! and supreme!
Fair Peace! how lovely, how delightful thou!
By whose wide tie the kindred sons of men
Like brothers live, in amity combined,
And unsuspicious faith; while honest toil
Gives every joy, and to those joys a right,
Which idle, barbarous rapine but usurps.
Pure is thy reign; when, unaccursed by blood,
Nought, save the sweetness of indulgent showers,
Trickling distils into the verdant glebe;

Instead of mangled carcasses, sad-seen,

When the blithe sheaves lie scattered o'er the field; When only shining shares, the crooked knife

HEALTH PROMOTED BY EXERCISE.

And hooks, imprint the vegetable wound;
When the land blushes with the rose alone,
The falling fruitage, and the bleeding vine.
Oh, Peace! thou source and soul of social life;
Beneath whose calm inspiring influence,
Science his views enlarges, Art refines,
And swelling commerce opens all her ports;
Bless'd be the man divine, who gives us thee!
Who bids the trumpet hush his horrid clang,
Nor blow the giddy nations into rage:

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Who sheaths the murderous blade; the deadly gun
Into the well piled armory returns ;

And every vigour, from the work of death,
To grateful industry converting, makes
The country flourish, and the city smile.
Unviolated, him the virgin sings;

And him the smiling mother to her train.
Of him, the shepherd, in the peaceful dale,
Chants; and the treasures of his labour sure,
The husbandman of him, as at the plough,
Or team, he toils. With him the sailor soothes,
Beneath the trembling moon, the midnight wave;
And the full city, warm, from street to street,
And shop to shop, responsive, rings of him.
Nor joys one land alone; his praise extends
Far as the sun rolls the diffusive day ;

Far as the breeze can bear the gifts of peace,
Till all the happy nations catch the song.

JOHN ARMSTRONG.
BORN, 1709; Died, 1779.

HEALTH PROMOTED BY EXERCISE.

TOIL and be strong. By toil the flaccid nerves
Grow firm and gain a more compacted tone.
Come, my companions, ye who feel the charms

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