To thofe, whom Nature taught to think and feel, ‹ Heroes, alas! are things of Imall concern. 'Could History man's fecret heart reveal,

And what imports a heaven-born mind to learn, Her tranfcripts to explore, what bofom would not yearn!

XXXV.

'This praife, O Cheroncan Sage*, is thine,
(Why should this praife to thee alone belong :)
All elfe from Nature's moral path decline,
Lured by the toys that captivate the throng;
To herd in cabinets and camps, among

Spoil, carnage, and the cruel pomp of pride;
Or chaunt of heraldry the drowsy fong,

'How tyrant blood, o'er many a region wide,
Rolls to a thousand thrones its execrable tide.
XXXVI.

'O who of man the story will unfold, Ere victory and empire wrought annoy, In that Ely an age (mifnamed of gold) • The age of love, and innocence, and joy, When all were great and free! man's fole employ To deck the bofom of his parent earth;

'Or towards his bower the murmuring stream decoy, To aid the floweret's long-expected birth,

And lull the bed of peace, and crown the board of mirth. XXXVII.

Sweet were your fhades, O ye primeval

groves, 'Whole boughs to man his food and shelter lent, Pure in his pleafures, happy in his loves, 'His eyes till fmiling, and his heart content. 'Then, hand in hand, Health, Sport, and Labour went. 'Nature fupplied the wish she taught to crave. 'None prowled for prey, none watch'd to circumvent. To all an equal lot Heaven's bounty gave:

No vaffal fear'd his lord, no tyrant fear'd his flave.

PLUTARCH.

XXXVIII.

But ah! th' Hiftorick Mufe has never dared To pierce those hallow'd bowers: 'tis Fancy's beam Pour'd on the vifion of th' enraptured Bard, That paints the charms of that delicious theme. • Then hail fweet fancy's ray! and hail the dream That weans the weary foul from guilt and woe! Careless what others of my choice may deem, I long where Love and Fancy lead to go, And meditate on heaven ; enough of earth I know.'

XXXIX.

I cannot blame thy choice (the Sage replied)
For foft and fmooth are Fancy's flowery ways.
And yet, even there, if left without a guide,
The young adventurer unfafely plays.

• Eyes dazzled long by Fiction's gaudy rays
In modeft Truth no light nor beauty find.

And who, my child, would truft the meteor-blaze,' That foon muft fail, and leave the wanderer blind, More dark and helpless far, than if it ne'er had fhined?

XL.

Fancy enervates, while it fooths the heart,

And, while it dazzles, wounds the mental fight:
To joy each heightening charm it can impart,
But wraps the hour of woe in tenfold night.
And often, where no real ills affright,
Its vifionary fiends, an endless train,
Affail with equal or fuperior might,

And through the throbbing heart, and dizzy brain, And fhivering nerves, fhoot ftings of more than mortal

And yet, alas! the real ills of life
Claim the full vigour of a mind prepared,
Prepared for patient, long, laborious ftrife,
Its guide Experience, and Truth its guard.

• We fare on earth as other men have fared?
Were they fuccefsful? Let not us defpair.
Was difappointment oft their fole reward?
Yet fhall their tale inftruct, if it declare,

How they have born the load ourselves are doom'd to bear.

XLII.

What charms th' Hiftoric Mufe adorn, from spoils,
And blood, and tyrants, when the wings her flight,
To hail the patriot Prince, whofe pious toils
Sacred to science, liberty, and right,

And peace, through every age divinely bright
Shall (hine the boat and wonder of mankind!
Sees yonder fun from his meridian height.
A lovelier feene, than Virtue thus infhrined
In power, and man with man for mutual aid combined.

XLIII.

Hail facred Polity, by Freedom rear'd!
Hail facred Freedom, when by Law reftrain'd!
Without you what were man? A groveling herd
In darkness, wretchedness, and want enchain'd.
Sublimed by you, the Greek and Roman reign'd.
In arts unrival'd: O, to latest days,

• In Albion may your influence unprofaned

To godlike worth the generous bosom raife,

And prompt the Sage's lore, and fire the poet's lays.

XLIV.

-But now let other themes our care engage.
For io, with modest yet majestic grace,
To curb Imagination's lawlefs rage,

And from within the cherish'd heart to brace,
Philofophy appears. The gloomy race
By Indolence and moping Fancy bred,
Fear, Difcontent, Solicitude give place,
And hope and Courage brighten in their ftead,
While on the kindling foul her vital beams are shed.

XLV.

Then waken from long lethargy to life * The feeds of happiness, and powers of thought: Then jarring appetites forgoe their strife, A ftrife by ignorance to madness wrought. Pleafure by favage man is dearly bought With fell revenge, luft that defies controul, With gluttony and death. The mind untaught Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempefts howl; As Phoebus to the world, is Science to the Soul.

XLVI.

And Reafon now through Number, Time, and Space, ‹ Darts the keen lufter of her serious eye,

• And learns from facts compared the laws to trace, Whofe long progreffion leads to Deity. • Can mortal ftrength prefime to foar fo high! • Can mortal fight, fo oft bedim'd with tears, Such glory bear!-for lo, the fshadows fly From Nature's face; Confufion disappears, And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears. XLVII.

In the deep windings of the grove, no more The hag unfeen, and grily phantom dwell; Nor in the fall of mountain-ítream, or roar Of winds, is heard the angry fpirits yell; No wizard mutters the tremendous spell Nor finks convulfive in prophetic fwoon; Nor bids the noise of drums and trumpets fwell, • To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon, • Or chase the fhades that blots the blazing orb of noon.

* The influence of the Philofophic Spirit,-in humanizing the mind, and preparing it for intellectual exertion and delicate pleafure;-in exploring, by the help of geometry, the fyftem, of the univerfe ;-in banishing fuperftition;-in promoting navigation, agriculture, medicine, and moral and political fcience :from Stanza XLV, to Stanza LV.

XLVIII.

'Many a long-lingering year, in lonely ille, Stun'd with th' eternal turbulence of waves, 'Lo, with dim eyes, that never learn'd to smile, And trembling hands, the famifo'd native craves Of Heaven his wretched fare: fhivering in caves, Or fcorch'd on rocks, he pines from day to day; But Science gives the word; and lo, he braves The furge and tempeft, lighted by her ray, ' And to a happier land wafts merrily away.

XLIX.

And even where Nature loads the teeming plain With the full pap of vegetable store, Her bounty, unimproved, is deadly bane : 'Dark woods and rankling wilds, from fhore to fhore, 'Stretch their enormous gloom; which to explore Even Fancy trembles, in her fprightlieft mood; For there, each eyeball gleams with luft of gore, Nettles each murderous and each monstrous brood,. Plague lurks in every fhade, and teams from every flood.

L.

'Twas from Philofophy man learn'd to tame The foil by plenty to intemperance fed.

Lo, from the echoing ax, and thundering flame, 'Poifon and plague and yielding rage are fled. The waters, burting from their slimy bed,

Bring health and melody to every vale:

And, from the breezy main, and mountain's head,

Ceres and Flora, to the funny dale,

'To fan their glowing charms, invite the fluttering gale.

LI.

'What dire neceffities on every hand

Our art, our ftrength, our fortitude require?

'Of foes intestine what a numerous band

Againft this little throb of life confpire !

'Yet Science can elude their fatal ire

'A while, and turn afide Death's level'd dart, Sooth the fharp pang, allay the fever's fire,

And brace the nerves once more, and cheer the heart, 'And yet a few foft nights and balmy days impart.