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النشر الإلكتروني

205

Go! and pretend your Family is young;
Nor own your Fathers have been Fools fo long.
What can ennoble Sots, or Slaves, or Cowards?
Alas! not all the Blood of all the HOWARDS.
Look next on Greatnefs, fay where Greatness lies!
"Where, but among the Heroes, and the Wise ?”
Heroes are much the fame, the Point's agreed,
From Macedonia's Mad-men to the Swede:
The whole ftrange Purpose of their Lives, to find,
Or make, an Enemy of all Mankind :
Not one looks backward, onward ftill he goes,
Yet ne'er looks forward, further than his Nose.
No lefs alike the Politic and Wife,

All fly flow Things, with circumfpective Eyes:
Men in their loofe unguarded Hours they take,
Nor that themselves are wife, but others weak.
But grant, that thofe can conquer, theie can cheat,
'Tis Phrafe abfurd, to call a Villain great.
Who wickedly is wife, or madly brave,
Is but the more a Fool, the more a Knave.
Who noble Ends, by noble Means obtains,
Or failing, fmiles in Exile, or in Chains;
Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed
Like Socrates, that Man is great indeed.

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What's Fame? That fancy'd Life in others Breath!

A Thing beyond us, ev'n before our Death.

Juft what you bear you have, and what's unknown,

The fame (my Lord) is Tully's, as your own.

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All that we feel of it, begins and ends

In the fame Circle, of our Foes or Friends;
To all befide, as much an empty Shade,

An Eugene living, as a Cafar dead.

Alike, or when or where, they fhone or shine,
Or on the Rubicon, or on the Rhine.

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A Wit's a Feather, and a Chief a Rod;

An honeft Man's the noblest Work of God:

Fame, but from Death a Villain's Name can fave,

As Juftice tears his Body from the Grave;

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When what t' Oblivion better were refign'd,

Is hung on high, to poifon half Mankind.

All Fame is foreign, but of true Desert,

Plays round the Head, but comes not to the Heart.

One

One felf-approving Hour whole Years out-weighs 245
Of ftupid Starers, and of loud Huzza's;
And more true Joy, Marcellus exil'd feels,
Than Cæfar with a Senate at his Heels.

In Parts fuperior what Advantage lies?
Tell, (for you can) what is it to be wife?
"Tis but to know, how little can be known,
To fee all other's Faults, and feel our own;
Condemn'd in Bufinefs, or in Arts, to drudge
Without a Second, or without a Judge:

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Truths would you teach, or fave a finking Land? 255
All fear, none aid you, and few understand.
Painful Preheminence! yourself to view,

Above Life's Weakness, and it's Comforts too.

Bring then thefe Bleffings to a strict Account,

Make fair Deductions, fee to what they mount!

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How much of other each is fure to coft!

How each for other oft is wholly loft!

How inconfiftent greater Goods with these !

How fometimes Life is rifqu'd, and always Eafe'
Think, and if ftill the Things thy Envy call,

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Say, would't thou be the Man to whom they fall? To figh for Ribbans, if thou art fo filly,

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Mark how they grace Lord Umbra, or Sir Billy,
Is yellow Dirt the Paffion of thy Life?
Look but on Gripus, or on Gripus Wife.
If Parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin'd;
The wifeft, brighteft, meaneft of Mankind:
Or ravish'd with the Whistling of a Name,
See Cromwell, damn'd to everlasting Fame!
If all, united, thy Ambition call,
From ancient Story learn to fcorn them all.
There, in the rich, the honour'd, fam'd, and great,
See the falle Scale of Happiness compleat !
In Hearts of Kings, or Arms of Queens who lay,
(How happy!) those to ruin, these betray;
Mark by what wretched Steps their Glory grows,
From Dirt, and Sea-weed, as proud Venice rose;
In each, how Guilt and Greatness equal ran,
And all that rais'd the Hero, funk the Man.
Now Europe's Lawrels on their Brows behold,
But ftain'd for Blood, or ill exchang'd for Gold :

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Then fee them broke with Toils, or lost in Ease,
Or infamous for plunder'd Provinces.

Oh Wealth, ill fated! which no Act of Fame
E'er taught to fhine, or fanctify'd from Shame!
What greater Bliss attends their Close of Life?
Some greedy Minion, or imperious Wife;
The trophy'd Arches, ftory'd Halls invade,
And haunt their Slumbers in the pompous Shade.
Alas! not dazled with their noon-tide Ray,
Compute the Morn and Evening to the Day:
The whole Amount of that enormous Fame,

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A Tale! that blends their Glory with their Shame !
Know then this Truth, (enough for Man to know)
VIRTUE alone is Happiness below:

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The only Point where human Bliss stands still,

And taftes the Good, without the Fall to Ill;
Where only Merit conftant Pay receives,

Is blefs'd in what it takes, and what it gives:
The Joy unequal'd, if its End it gain,
And if it lose, attended with no Pain:

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Without Satiety, tho' e'er so bless'd,

And but more relish'd as the more distress'd :

The broadeft Mirth, unfeeling Folly wears,

Lefs pleafing far than Virtue's very Tears.

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Good, from each Object, from each Place acquir'd,

For ever exercis'd, yet never tir'd;

Never elated, while one Man's opprefs'd,

Never dejected, while another's bless'd ;

And where no Wants, no Wishes can remain,

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Since but to wish more Virtue, is to gain.

See! the fole Bliss Heav'n can on all bestow,

Which, who but feels can tafte; but thinks can know ?
Yet poor with Fortune, and with Learning blind,
The Bad must mifs, the Good untaught will find; 320:
Slave to no Sect, who takes no private Road,
But looks thro' Nature, up to Ñature's GOD;
Pursues that Chain which links th' immense Design,
Joins Heav'n and Earth, and mortal, and divine;
Sees, that no Being any Bliss can know,
But touches fome above, and tome below;

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Learns, from this Union of the rifing Whole,
The first, laft Purpose of the human Soul;

And

And knows where Faith, Law, Morals, all began,
All end in LOVE of GOD, and LovE of MAN. 330
For him alone, Hope leads from Gole to Gole,
And opens fill, and opens on his Soul,
Till lengthen'd on to Faith, and unconfin'd,
It pours the Blifs that fills up all the Mind.
He fees, why Nature plants in Man alone
Hope of known Bliss, and Faith in Bliss unknown:
(Nature, whofe Dictates to no other Kind
Are giv'n in vain, but what they seek they find)
Wife is the Prefent; fhe connects in this
His greatest Virtue, with his greatest Bliss;

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At once, his own bright Profpect to be bleft,

And strongest Motive to affift the rest.

Self-Love thus pufh'd to Social, to divine,

Gives thee to make thy Neighbour's Bleffing thine :
Is this too little for the boundless Heart?
Extend it, let thine Enemies have Part:

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Grafp the whole Worlds of Reafon, Life, and Senfe, In one close System of Benevolence.

Happier, as kinder, in whate'er Degree,

And Height of Bliss, but Height of CHARITY. 350 GOD loves from Whole to Parts; but human Soul

Muft rife from Individuals to the Whole.

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Self-Love but ferves the virtuous Mind to wake ;
As the fmall Pebble stirs the peaceful Lake;
The Centre mov'd, a Circle strait succeeds,
Another ftill, and still another spreads?
Friend, Parent, Neighbour, first it will embrace,
His Country next, and next, all human Race;
Wide, and more wide, th' O'erflowings of the Mind
Take ev'ry Creature in, of ev'ry Kind;

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Earth fmiles around, with boundless Bounty bleft,

And Heav'n beholds its Image in his Breast.

Come then, my Friend! my Genius come along,
Oh, Master of the Poet, and the Song !

And while the Mufe now ftoops, or now afcends, 365
To Man's low Paffions, or their glorious Ends ;
Teach me, like thee, in various Nature wife,
To fall with Dignity, with Temper rife;
Form'd by thy Converfe happily to fteer
From grave to gay, from lively to severe;

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Correct

Correct with Spirit, eloquent with Ease,
Intent to reafon, or polite to please.

O! while along the Stream of Time, thy Name
Expanded flies, and gathers all its Fame,
Say, fhall my little Bark Attendant fail,
Purfue the Triumph, and partake the Gale?
And shall this Verfe to future Age pretend,
Thou wert my Guide, Philofopher, and Friend?
That urg'd by thee, I turn'd the tuneful Art

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From Sounds to Things, from Fancy to the Heart: 380
For Wit's falfe Mirror held up Nature's Light:
Shew'd erring Pride Whatever Is, is Right;
That Reafon, Paffion, answer one great Aim;
That, true Self-Love and Social are the fame;
That Virtue only makes our Bliss below
And all our Knowledge is, Ourfelves to know.

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F IN IS.

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