To his behefts, and act what you disdain,
Yet nourish in your hearts the gen❜rous love
Of piety and truth, no more restrain

The manly zeal; but all your finews move

The present to reclaim, the future race improve!
LXXXIV.

Eftfoons by your joint efforts shall be quell'd
Yon haughty GrANT, who fo proudly fways
A fceptre by repute alone upheld;

Who where he cannot dictate ftrait obeys.
Accuftom'd to conform his flattering phrase
To numbers and high-plac'd authority,
Your party he will join, your maxims praise,
And drawing after all his menial fry,
Soon teach the general voice your act to ratify.
LXXXV.

Ne for th' atchievement of this great emprize

The want of means or counsel may ye

dread.

From my TWIN-DAUGHTERS' fruitful wombs fhall rife A race of letter'd fages, deeply read

In Learning's various writ: by whom y-led

Through each well cultur'd plot, each beauteous grove, Where antique Wisdom whilom wont to tread,

With mingled glee and profit may ye rove,

And cull each virtuous plant, each tree of knowledge prove.

LXXXVI. Your

LXXXVI.

Yourselves with virtue thus and knowledge fraught Of what, in ancient days of good or great Hiftorians, bards, philofophers have taught ; Join'd with whatever elfe of modern date Maturer judgment, fearch more accurate Discover'd have of Nature, Man, and God, May by new laws reform the time-worn state Of cell-bred difcipline, and fmoothe the road That leads through Learning's vale to Wisdom's bright abode. LXXXVII.

By you invited to her fecret bow'rs

Then fhall PÆDIA reafcend her throne
With vivid laurels girt and fragrant flow'rs;
While from their forked mount defcending down
Yon fupercilious pedant train fhall own
Her empire paramount, ere long by Her
Y-taught a leffon in their schools unknown,

"To Learning's richest treasures to prefer

"The knowledge of the world, and man's great business there. LXXXVIII.

On this prime fcience, as the final end

Of all her difcipline, and nurturing care, fhall bend

Her PÆDIA fixing aye eye

Her every thought and effort to prepare

Her

Her tender pupils for the various war, Which Vice and Folly shall upon them wage, As on the perilous march of life they fare With prudent lore fore-arming every age 'Gainft Pleasure's treacherous joys,and Pain's embattled rage.

LXXXIX.

Then shall my youthful fons, to Wisdom led

By fair example and ingenuous praife,

With willing feet the paths of Duty tread ;
Through the world's intricate or rugged ways
Conducted by Religion's facred rays;
Whofe foul-invigorating influence

Shall

purge their minds from all impure allays

Of fordid selfishness and brutal sense,

And swell th' ennobled heart with bleft benevolence.
XC.

Then alfo fhall this emblematick pile,

By magick whilom fram'd to fympathize

With all the fortunes of this changeful isle,

Still, as my fons in fame and virtue rise,

Grow with their growth, and to th' applauding fkies It's radiant cross up-lift; the while, to grace

The multiplying niches, fresh supplies

Of worthies fhall fucceed, with equal pacè

Aye following their fires in virtue's glorious race.

XCI. Fir'd

XCI.

Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame
She rofe majestick from her lowly sted;
While from her vivid eyes a sparkling flame
Out-beaming, with unwonted light o'erfpread
That monumental pile; and as her head
To every front fhe turn'd, difcover'd round
The venerable forms of heroes dead;

Who for their various merit erft renown'd,

In this bright fane of glory fhrines of honour found.
XCII.

On thefe that royal dame her ravish'd eyes
Would often feaft; and ever as she spy'd

Forth from the ground the length'ning structure rise
With new-plac'd ftatues deck'd on every fide,
Her parent-breaft would fwell with gen'rous pride. 1
And now with her in that fequefter'd plain,
The Knight awhile conftraining to abide,
She to the Fairy Youth with pleafure fain

Those sculptur'd chiefs did fhew, and their great lives explain.r

r Great lives explain.] I cannot forbear taking occafion from these words to make my acknowledgements to the writers of Biographia Britannica, for the pleasure and profit I have lately received from perusing the two first volumes of that ufeful and entertaining work, of which the monumental ftructure above mentioned, decorated with the statues of great and good men, is no improper emblem. This work, which contains the lives of the most eminent perfons, who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, down to the present time, appears to me, as far as

it has hitherto gone, to be executed with great fpirit, accuracy, and judgment; and deferves, in my opinion, to be encouraged by all, who have at heart the honour of their country, and that of their particular families and friends; and who can any ways affift the ingenious and laborious authors, to render as perfect as poffible, a defign fo apparently calculated to ferve the publick, by fetting in the trueft and fulleft light the characters of perfons already generally, though perhaps too indiftinctly known; and reviving from obfcurity and oblivion, examples of private and retired merit, which, though less glaring and oftentatious than the former, are not, however, of a lefs extenfive or less beneficial influence. To thofe, who may happen not to have seen this repofitory of British glory, I cannot give a better idea of it, than in the following lines of Virgil:

Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera paffi ;
Quique facerdotes cafti, dum vita manebat;
Quique pii vates & Phobo digna locuti ;
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes;
Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo.

Virg. Æn. L. 6.

The End of the FIRST CANTO.

VOL. IV.

D

PEN