5 10 With mutiny had fir'd the train, 25 To drag the ploughshare through the soil, 30 you, The toils of servitude I knew. 40 The tumult ceas'd. The colt submitted, And, like his ancestors, was bitted. EDWARD EDWARD YOUNG, the author of the Night Thoughts. was born at Upham near Winchester in 1681, and finished his education at Oxford. In 1714 he published his poem 'On the Last Day,' and dedicated it to the Queen, in the hope of attracting her notice; but he was prevented by her death from gaining any thing in that quarter. On the accession of George I. he tried again, by means of flattering poetry, to procure the favour of his sovereign, but without effect. The earlier part of the life of this poet presents a series of panegyrics written to obtain the patronage of distinguished persons. In his later years, he was thoroughly ashamed of these productions, and in the last edition of his works omitted them all. Despairing of making his way as an author, Young entered into orders in 1728, but still continued to write ON PROCRASTINATION. Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer: Next day the fatal precedent will plead; Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life, Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled, 5 And to the mercies of a moment leaves The vast concerns of an eternal scene. Of man's miraculous mistakes this bears The palm, That all men are about to live.' YOUNG. both prose and poetry, and indeed his work Night Thoughts' was written after he had attained his sixtieth year. This poem consists of a series of reflections apor Life, Death and Immortality; it is divided into n.ne books or nights, each of which is supposed to express the poet's train of thought at the time of the com position. In 1758 he wrote his last and beautiful poem, Resignation,' to console a lady who had lost her he band. Young died in 1765 at the age of 84. He has als written several dramatic works, of which the following are the principal: 'Busiris' (1719), 'The Englishman (1713), "The Revenge' (1721), 'The Brothers' (1758), ot his poems we must not omit to mention The Love of Fame, an excellent satire, The Force of Religion, Vanquished Love,' 'The Last Day,' besides many ode For ever on the brink of being born, How excellent that life they ne'er will lead Time lodg'd in their own hands is Folly's vails; (1) (1) Gratuity or free gift. That lodg'd in Fate's to Wisdom they consign; The thing they can't but purpose, they postpone. 'Tis not in Folly, not to scorn a fool; And scarce in human Wisdom to do more. All promise is poor dilatory man, And that through ev'ry stage. When young, indeed, In full content we sometimes nobly rest, At thirty man suspects himself a fool; same. 30 THE EMPTINESS OF RICHES. Can gold calm passion, or make reason shine? Can we dig peace or wisdom from the mine? Wisdom to gold prefer, for 'tis much less 10 1 There, undermined, down rush eternal hills, The neighb'ring vales the vast destruction fills. 20 Hear'st thou that dreadful crack? that sound which broke Like peals of thunder, and the centre shook? What wonders must that groan of nature tell! Olympus there, and mightier Atlas, fell; Which seem'd' above the reach of fate to stand, 25 A tow'ring monument of God's right hand: Now dust and smoke, whose brow so lately spread O'er shelter'd countries its diffusive shade. Some angel say, where ran proud Asia's bound? He sees with other eyes than theirs; where they Behold a sun, he spies a Deity; What makes them only smile, makes him adore. Where they see mountains, he but atoms sees; An empire in his balance weighs a grain. Nor stoops to think his injurer his foe; s Nought but what wounds his virtue wounds his peace. A cover'd heart their character defends; A cover'd heart denies him half his praise RICHARD STEELE, born in Ireland in the year 1667 of a respectable family, was educated in London and at the university of Oxford. He enlisted as a private soldier in the horse-guards, his family being unwilling to procure him a commission. He however rose to the rank of captain, and led a very dissipated life, from which he hoped to wean himself by writing several pamphlets of a moral tendency, for instance "The Christian Hero.' He then published several comedies of very little merit, "The Funeral, or Grief à la mode' (1701) The Tender Husband, or the Accomplished Fool (1703); "The Lying Lover' (1704). The last mentioned of these works did not please the public taste, in consequence of which the author did not again write for the stage until 1722, when the 'Conscious Lovers' appeared and met with general approbation. Meanwhile, in 1709, Steele had begun the publication of a THE LOVE OF GLORY. Of all the affections which attend human life, the love of glory is the most ardent. According as this is cultivated in princes, it produces the greatest good or the greatest evil. Where sovereigns have it by impressions received from education only, it creates an ambitious rather than a noble mind; where it is the natural bent of the prince's inclination, it prompts him to the pursuit of things truly glorious. The two greatest men now in Europe (according to the common acceptation of the word Great) are Lewis of France, new periodical, entitled "The Tatler,' a paper published, as the author expresses it, 'to expose the false arts of life, to pull off the disguise of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behaviour. In 1711 Steele abandoned this task, and commenced, in conjunction with his friend Addison, the 'Spectator,' which was of the same character as 'The Tatler,' but more exclusively devoted to literature, &c. In this paper, Steele wrote the humorous parts, while Addison composed those for which Steele had neither the talent nor the inclination. A quarrel unfortunately took place. between the Editors, and their friendship was broken off. Steele had twice a seat in parliament, but the first time was expelled on account of the sarcasm with which he commented upon public affairs in his pamphlets. He died in 1729. and Peter emperor of Russia. As it is certain that all fame does not arise from the practice of virtue, it is, methinks, no unpleasing amusement to examine the glory of these potentates, and distinguish that which is empty, perishing and frivolous, from what is solid, lasting, and important. Lewis of France had his infancy attended by crafty and worldly men, who made extent of territory the most glorious instance of power, and mistook the spreading of fame for the acquisition of honour. The young monarch's heart was by such conversation easily deluded the true way to glory and honour, and application to useful arts, wherein to employ the laborious, the simple, the honest part of his people. Mechanic employments and operations were very justly the first objects of his favour and observation. With this glorious intention he travelled into foreign nations in an obscure manner, above receiving little honours where he sojourned, but prying into what was of more consequence, their arts of peace and of war. By this means has this great prince laid the foundation of a great and lasting fame, by personal labour, personal knowledge, personal valour. It would be injury to any of antiquity to name them with him. Who, but himself, ever left a throne to learn to sit in it with more grace? Who ever thought himself mean in absolute power, till he had learned into a fondness for vain-glory, and upon Peter Alexovitz of Russia, when he came to years of manhood, though he found himself emperor of a vast and numerous people, master of an endless territory, absolute commander of the lives and fortunes of his subjects, in the midst of this unbounded power and greatness turned his thoughts upon himself and people with sorrow. Sordid ignorance and a brute manner of life this generous prince beheld and contemned from the light of his own genius. His judgment suggested this to him, and his courage prompted him to amend it. In order to this he did not send to the nation from whence the rest of the world has borrowed its politeness, but himself left his diadem to learn If we consider this wonderful person, it is perplexity to know where to begin his encomium. Others may in a metaphorical or philosophic sense be said to command themselves, but this emperor is also literally under his own command. How generous and how good was his entering his own name as a private man in the army he raised, that none in it might expect to outrun the steps with which he himself advanced? By such measures this godlike prince learned to conquer, learned to use his conquests. How terrible has he appeared in battle, how gentle in victory? Shall then the base arts of the Frenchman be held polite, and the honest labours of the Russian barbarous? No: Barbarity is the ignorance of true honour, or placing any thing instead of it. The unjust prince is ignoble and barbarous, the good prince only renowned and glorious. Tho' men may impose upon themselves what they please by their corrupt imaginations, truth will ever keep its station; and as glory is nothing else but the shadow of virtue, it will certainly disappear at the departure of virtue. But how carefully ought the true notions of it to be preserved, and how industrious should we be to en |