Of herbs and flow'rs; or what the beams of morn Draw forth, diftilling from the clifted rind In balmy tears. But fome, to higher hopes Were deftin'd; fome within a finer mould She wrought, and temper'd with a purer flame. To thefe the Sire Omnipotent unfolds
The world's harmonious volume, there to read The tranfcript of himself. On every part They trace the bright impreffions of his hand : In earth, or air, the meadow's purple ftores, The moon's mild radiance, or the virgin's form Blooming with rofy fmiles, they fee pourtray'd That uncreated beauty, which delights The Mind fupreme. They alfo feel her charms, Enamour'd; they partake th' eternal joy.
* CHA P. XXX.
GREATNESS.
AY, why was man so eminently rais'd
Amid the vaft creation; why ordain'd Thro' life and death to dart his piercing eye, With thoughts beyond the limits of his frame; But that th' Omnipotent might fend him forth In fight of mortal and immortal pow'rs, As on a boundless theatre, to run
The great career of justice; to exalt His gen'rous aim to all diviner deeds; To chafe each partial purpose from his breast; And thro' the mifts of paffion and of sense, And thro' the toffing tide of chance and pain,
To hold his course unfault'ring, while the voice Of truth and virtue, up the steep ascent
Of nature, calls him to his high reward,
Th' applauding finile of Heav'n: Elfe wherefore burns In mortal bosoms this unquenched hope,
That breathes from day to day fublimer things, And mocks poffeffion? Wherefore darts the mind, With fuch refiftlefs ardour to embrace
Majestic forms; impatient to be free,
Spurning the grofs controul of wilful might; Proud of the strong contention of her toils; Proud to be daring? Who but rather turns To Heav'n's broad fire his unconstrained view, Than to the glimmering of a waxen flame? Who that, from Alpine heights, his labʼring eye: Shoots round the wild horizon, to survey
Nilus or Ganges rolling his bright wave
Thro' mountains, plains, thro' empires black with shade, And continents of fand! will turn his
To mark the windings of a fcanty rill
That murmurs at his feet? The high-born foul Difdains to rest her heav'n-afpiring wing Beneath its native quarry. Tir'd of earth And this diurnal fcene, fhe fprings aloft Thro' fields of air; purfues the flying storm; Rides on the volley'd light'ning thro' the heav'ns; Or yok'd with whirlwinds and the northern blast, Sweeps the long tract of day. Then high the foars The blue profound, and hovering round the fun Beholds him pouring the redundant stream Of light; beholds his unrelenting fway Bend the reluctant planets to abfolve
The fated rounds of time.
She darts her swiftness up the long career Of devious comets; thro' its burning figns Exulting measures the perennial wheel
Of nature, and looks back on all the stars, Whofe blended light, as with a milky zone, Invests the orient. Now amaz'd she views
Th' empyreal wafte, where happy spirits hold, Beyond this concave heav'n, their calm abode; And fields of radiance, whofe unfading light Has travell'd the profound fix thousand years, Nor yet arrives in fight of mortal things. Ev'n on the barriers of the world untir'd She meditates th' eternal depth below;
Till, half recoiling, down the headlong fteep She plunges; foon o'erwhelm'd and fwallow'd up In that immenfe of being. There her hopes Reft at the fated goal. For from the birth Of mortal man, the fovereign Maker faid, That not in humble nor in brief delight, Not in the fading echoes of renown, Pow'r's purple robes, nor pleasure's flow'ry lap, The foul should find enjoyment: but from these Turning difdainful to an equal good, Thro' all th' afcent of things enlarge her view, "Till every bound at length fhould disappear, And infinite perfection clofe the fcene,
NOVELTY.
CALL now to mind what high capacious pow'rs
Lie folded up in man; how far beyond
The praise of mortals, may th' eternal growth Of nature to perfection half divine
Expand the blooming foul. What pity then Should floth's unkindly fogs depress to earth Her tender bloffom, choak the ftreams of life, And blast her spring! Far otherwife design'd Almighty wifdom; nature's happy cares Th' obedient heart far otherwife incline. Witness the fprightly joy when ought unknown Strikes the quick fenfe, and wakes each active pow'r To brifker measures: witnefs the neglect. Of all familiar profpects, the' beheld
With tranfport once; the fond attentive gaze. Of young aftonishment; the fober zeal Of age, commenting on prodigious things. For fuch the bounteous providence of Heav'n, In every breast implanting this defire Of objects new and ftrange, to urge us on With unremabour to pursue
Thofe facred ftores that wait the ripening foul,. In truth's exhaustless bosom. 'What need words To paint its pow'r? For this, the daring youth' Breaks from his weeping mother's anxious arms, In foreign climes to roves the pénfivé fage, Heedlefs of fleep, or midnight's harmful damp, Hangs o'er the fickly taper; and untir'd• **\}
The virgin follows, with inchanted step,
The mazes of fome wife and wond'rous tale, From morn to eve; unmindful of her form, Unmindful of the happy dress that stole The wishes of the youth, when every maid With envy pin'd. Hence finally by night The village matron, round the blazing hearth, Sufpends the infant-audience with her tales, Breathing aftonishment! of witching rhimes,. And evil fpirits; of the death-bed call.
Of him who robb'd the widow, and devour'd 'The orphan's portion; of unquiet fouls Ris'n from the grave to eafe the heavy guilt Of deeds in life conceal'd; of fhapes that walk At dead of night, and clank their chains, and wave- The torch of hell around the murd'rer's bed.. At every folemn paufe the croud recoil
Gazing each other fpeechiefs, and congeal'd With fhiv'ring fighs: till eager, for th' event, Around the beldame all erect they hang,
Each trembling heart with grateful terrors quell'd.
HEN erft contagion with mephitic breath
And wither'd famine urg'd the work of death;: Marfeilles' good bishop, London's generous mayor, With food and faith, with medicine and with prayer, Raised the weak head and stayed the parting figh, Or with new life relumed the swimming eye.-
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