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XXXVIII.

But ah! th' Hiftorick Mufe has never dared To pierce thofe 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 must fail, and leave the wanderer blind, * More dark and helpless far, than if it ne'er had shined?

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

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pain.

XLI.

And yet, alas! the real ills of life

Claim the full vigour of a mind prepared,
Prepared for patient, long, laborious strife,
Its guide Experience, and Truth its guard.

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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 inftru&t, 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 fhine the boat and wonder of mankind! Sees yonder fun from his meridian height. A lovelier fcene, 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, wretchednefs, 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 bofom raife,

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

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XLIV.

But now let other themes our care engage.
For lo, with modeft 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 fhed.

XLV.

• Then waken from long lethargy to life *
The feeds of happiness, and powers of thought:
Then jarring appetites forgoe their ftrife,
A ftrife by ignorance to madness wrought.
Pleasure by favage man is dearly bought
With fell revenge, luft that defies controul,
With gluttony and death. The mind untaught
Is a dark wafte, where fiends and tempefts howl;
As Phœbus 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 prefume to foar fo high! • Can mortal fight, fo oft bedim'd with tears, Such glory bear!-for lo, the fhadows 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 grifly phantom dwell ;
Nor in the fall of mountain-ftream, or roar
Of winds, is heard the angry fpirits yell;
No wizard mutters the tremendous spell

Nor finks convulfive in prophetic swoon;

• Nor bids the noife of drums and trumpets fwell, To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon, Or chafe 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 pleasure ;-in exploring, by the help of geometry, the fyftem, of the univerfe ;-in ba nishing fuperftition;-in promoting navigation, agriculture, medicine, and moral and political fcience from Stanza XLV, to Stanza LV,

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XLVIII.

Many a long-lingering year, in lonely isle, Stun'd with th' eternal turbulence of waves, Lo, with dim eyes, that never learn'd to smile, And trembling hands, the famifh'd native craves • Of Heaven his wretched fare: fhivering in caves, Or feorch'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 pomp of vegetable store,

Her bounty, unimproved, is deadly bane:

⚫ Dark woods and rankling wilds, from shore 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, • Nestles each murderous and each monftrous brood, Plague lurks in every fhade, and fteams from every flood.

L.

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

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Lo, from the echoing ax, and thundering flame, Poison and plague and yielding rage are fled.

The waters, burfting from their flimy 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 inteftine what a numerous band
Against 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 sharp 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.

LII.

Nor lefs to regulate man's moral frame • Science exerts her all-compofing fway.

Flutters thy breaft with fear, or pants for fame, • Or pines to indolence and Spleen a prey, 'Or Avarice, a fiend more fierce than they? Flee to the fhade of Academus' grove; Where cares moleft not, difcord melts away In harmony, and the pure paffions prove (Love. "How fweet the words of truth breathed from the lips of

LIII.

• What cannot Art and Induftry perform,

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When Science plans the progrefs of their toil!

They fmile at penury, disease, and storm ;

And oceans from their mighty mounds recoil. When tyrants fcourge, or demagogues embroil A land, or when the rabble's headlong rage. • Order transforms to anarchy and spoil, Deep-verfed in man the philofophic Sage Prepares with lenient hand their phrenzy to afswage. LIV.

'Tis he alone, whofe comprehenfive mind,
• From fituation, temper, foil, and clime
Explored, a nation's various power can bind
And various orders, in one Form fublime
Of polity, that, midft the wrecks of time,
Secure fhall lift its head on high, nor fear
Th' affault of foreign or domestic crime,
While public faith, and public love fincere,
• And Industry and Law maintain their sway severe.'
LV.

Enraptured by the Hermit's ftrain, the Youth
Proceeds the path of Science to explore.
And now, expanding to the beams of Truth,
New energies, and charms unknown before,
His mind difclofes : Fancy now no more
Wantons on fickle pinion through the skies;
But, fix'd in aim, and conscious of her power,
Sublime from cause to cause exults to rife,
Creation's blended ftores arranging as fhe flies.

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