LXXVI.

Peace, Wealth, and Liberty, that noblest boon,
Are bleffings only to the wife and good.

To weak and vicious minds their worth unknown,

And thence abused but ferve to furnish food

For riot and debauch, and fire the blood

With high-spiced luxury; whence ftrife, debate, Ambition, envy, Faction's vip'rous brood, Contempt of order, manners profligate;

The fymptoms of a foul, difeafed and bloated state.
LXXVII.

Ev'n Wit and Genius, with their learned train
Of Arts and Muses, though from heav'n above
Descended, when their talents they prophane

To varnish folly, kindle wanton love,
And aid excentric sceptic Pride to rove
Beyond cæleftial Truth's attractive sphere,
This moral fyftem's central fun, aye prove
To their fond votaries a curfe fevere,
And only make mankind more obftinately err.
LXXVIII.

And stand my fons herein from cenfure clear?
Have They confider'd well, and understood
The use and import of those bleffings dear,
Which the great Lord of Nature hath bestow'd
VOL. IV.

D

As

As well to prove, as to reward the good?
Whence are these torrents then, these billowy feas
Of vice, in which, as in his proper flood,

The fell leviathan licentious plays,

And upon ship-wreck'd faith, and finking virtue preys?
LXXIX.

To you, ye Noble, Opulent and Great!
With friendly voice I call, and honest zeal !
Upon your vital influences wait

The health and fickness of the common-weal;
The maladies you cause, yourselves must heal.
In vain to the unthinking harden'd crowd

Will Truth and Reason make their just appeal; ; In vain will facred Wisdom cry aloud;

And Justice drench in vain her vengeful fword in blood. LXXX.

With You must reformation first take place:

You are the head, the intellectual mind Of this vaft body politic; whose base, And vulgar limbs, to drudgery confign'd, All the rich ftores of Science have refign'd To You, that by the craftsman's various toil, The fea-worn mariner, and fweating hind, In peace and affluence maintain'd, the while You, for yourselves and them, may dress the mental foil.

LXXXI. Be

LXXXI.

Bethink you then, my children, of the trust
In you repos'd; ne let your heav'n-born mind
Confume in pleasure, or unactive rust;

But nobly roufe you to the task affign'd,
The godlike task to teach and mend mankind:
Learn that ye may instruct: to virtue lead
Yourselves the way: the herd will crowd behind,
And gather precepts from each worthy deed:

Example is a leffon, that all men can read."

LXXXII.

But if (to All or Moft I do not fpeak)
In vain and fenfual habits now grown old,
The strong Circaan charm you cannot break,
Nor re-affume at will your native & mould,
Yet envy not the state, you could not hold :
And take compaffion on the rifing age:
In them redeem your errours manifold;
And, by due difcipline and nurture fage,
In Virtue's lore betimes your docile fons engage.
LXXXIII.

You chiefly, who like me in fecret mourn

The prevalence of CUSTOM lewd and vain;

And you, who, though by the rude torrent borne
Unwillingly along you yield with pain

Mould, fhape, form.

D 2

To

1

To his behefts, and act what you difdain,
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 GIANT, who fo proudly fways
A fceptre by repute alone upheld;

Who where he cannot dictate strait 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

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

With mingled glee and profit may ye rove, [prove. And cull each virtuous plant, each tree of knowledge 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 else of modern date Maturer judgment, search more accurate Discover'd have of Nature, Man, and God, May by new laws reform the time-worn state Of cell-bred difcipline, and smoothe the road That leads thro' Learning's vale to Wisdom's bright abode. LXXXVII.

By you invited to her secret bow'rs,

Then fhall PÆDIA reascend her throne

With vivid laurels girt, and fragrant flow'rs;
While from their forked mount descending down
Yon fupercilious pedant train shall 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

LXXXVIII.

On this prime science, as the final end

Of all her discipline, and nurturing care,

Her eye PÆDIA fixing aye shall bend

Her every thought and effort to prepare

[there."