THE solitary bird of night
Through the pale shades now wings his flight,
And quits the time-shook tow'r,
Where, shelter'd from the blaze of day,
In philosophic gloom he lay,
Beneath his ivy bow'r.

With joy I hear the solemn sound,
Which midnight echoes waft around,
And sighing gales repeat:
Fav'rite of Pallas! I attend,
And faithful to thy summons, bend
At Wisdom's awful seat.

She loves the cool, the silent eve,
Where no false shows of life deceive,
Beneath the lunar ray:

Here Folly drops each vain disguise,
Nor sports her gaily-color'd dyes,
As in the glare of day.

O Pallas! queen of ev'ry art

"That glads the sense or mends the heart,"

Blest source of purer joys;
In ev'ry form of beauty bright,
That captivates the mental sight
With pleasure and surprise;
To thy unspotted shrine I bow,
Assist thy modest suppliant's vow,

That breathes no wild desires :
But, taught by thy unerring rules
To shun the fruitless wish of fools,
To nobler views aspires.

Not Fortune's gem, Ambition's plume,
Nor Cytherea's fading bloom,

Be objects of my pray'r;
Let av'rice, vanity, and pride,
These glitt'ring envied toys divide,
The dull rewards of care.

To me thy better gifts impart,
Each moral beauty of the heart,

By studious thought refin'd:

For wealth, the smiles of glad content;
For pow'r, its amplest, best extent,

An empire o'er my mind.
When Fortune drops her gay parade,
When Pleasure's transient roses fade,
And wither in the tomb,
Unchang'd is thy immortal prize,
Thy ever-verdant laurels rise
In undecaying bloom.

By thee protected, I defy
The coxcomb's sneer, the stupid lie
Of ignorance and spite;
Alike contemn the leaden fool,
And all the pointed ridicule
Of undiscerning wit.

From envy, hurry, noise, and strife,
The dull impertinence of life,

Pursue thee to thy peaceful groves,
In thy retreat I rest;
Where Plato's sacred spirit roves,

In all thy graces drest.
He bid Ilyssus' tuneful stream
Convey the philosophic theme.

Of perfect, fair, and good:
Attentive Athens caught the sound,
And all her list'ning sons around
In awful silence stood.
Reclaim'd, her wild licentious youth
Confess'd the potent voice of truth,
And felt its just control:

The passions ceas'd their loud alarms, And virtue's soft persuasive charms

O'er all their senses stole.

Thy breath inspires the poet's song,
The patriot's free unbiass'd tongue,

The hero's gen'rous strife:
Thine are retirement's silent joys,
And all the sweet endearing ties
Of still, domestic life.

No more to fabled names confin'd,
To thee, supreme, all perfect mind,
My thoughts direct their flight:
Wisdom's thy gift, and all her force
From thee deriv'd, unchanging source
Of intellectual light!

O send her sure, her steady ray,
To regulate my doubtful way,

Thro' life's perplexing road;
The mists of error to control;
And thro' its gloom direct my soul
To happiness and good!
Beneath her clear discerning eye,
The visionary shadows fly

Of Folly's painted show:
She sees, thro' ev'ry fair disguise,
That all but Virtue's solid joys
Is vanity and woe.

The storm impetuous; let thy silver hairs,
Time-hallow'd Age, be witness! the dim eye,
The tottering tread, the furrow'd cheek, the hand
Yet trembling from the blast. Tell, ye who tend
The bed of death, how o'er the helpless race
Of human victims strides the harpy foot
Of Misery triumphant! while the veins
Shrink to the Fever's scorching breath, or feel,
Starting, the fiery dart of racking Pain,
That writhes to agony; or loosen'd shake
Before Consumption; when her baleful sponge
Drops its green poison on the springs of life.

Nor these alone pursue the race of man.
Far other ills await; far other woes
Like vultures revel on his canker'd heart.

O ye who nightly languish o'er the tomb,
Where sleeps thy dust, Eugenio! Ye whose hearts
O'er Virtue bleed, when, reeking from the scourge
Of dire Oppression, in some lonely cave
She pines all desolate !-Ye powers that haunt
The vale where Genius breathes her plaint alone,
Wild to the whistling wind; her voice unheard
As airs that warble o'er the murmuring dale
Remote, to Solitude's enchanting ear!
O tell, why wrapt in Grandeur's floating robe,
Vice mounts her throne! while trembling at the
bar,

Stands Innocence appall'd! Tell why the hand
Of strutting Impudence, unlicens'd, grasps
The palm of Worth, and his indignant brow
Looks down, while meek-ey'd Modesty, dismay'd,
Mantles her cheek in crinison, and retires
To blush in silence! why thy purple car,
High-plum'd Ambition, bathes its rolling wheels
In blood, and o'er pale Virtue's streaming corse,
Rapid and madd'ning springs to reach the goal!

35. Diseases are the Consequence of IntempeOgilvie

rance.

LONG o'er the lilied plain I cast my eye, Long mark'd the crowd that roam'd delighted Alternate transport, pity, love, and fear, [on; Work'd in my bosom.

I look'd, and hovering o'er the flowery turf Were seen innumerable shapes, whose wings Wav'd on the wind, or o'er the glittering field Who trod in silence. Care with lowering brow Slow stalk'd; and Slander, speckled as the snake That stings th' unwary traveller, along The tainted earth trail'd loose, or borne on wings Blue as the brimstone's gleam, in secret shot Her poison'd arrows. Pining Envy gnaw'd A blasted laurel, from the locks of Fame Snatch'd, as the goddess to her lips applied Her mighty trump, and swell'd a solemn note To Homer's venerable name.-Not far Stood Discord foaming. Riot double-tongu'd, And gleaming Frenzy, and thy yellow wing, Revenge, fell fiend! shook plagues, and thro the Infus'd their venom to the inmost soul. [breast O'er all, Disease her beauty withering wand Wav'd high; and, heaving on the heavy air, Her raven pinions, bloated as she sail'd'

The face of Nature. Shapeless was her form'
And void; the owl's ill-omen'd eyes high-raisd,
Speckled her front, her nostrils breath'd a cloud,
Pale Famine's sallow hand had scoop'd her cheek;
And a green viper forin'd her forky tongue.
-Slow she mov'd

Along the troubled air; and from a bag
Wrought deep by Envy in her midnight den)
Scatter'd the seeds of death. The sparkling bowl
Receiv'd them now; and now the enfeebled corse,
Lank, open, spent, at each unfolding pore
Suck'd in the poison, as it rose decay'd,
Livid and weak, from Pleasure's loose embrace.
Soon o'er each withering cheek the baleful
pow'r

Had spread unseen her life-consuming stain:
Nor knew th' exulting youth, who quaff'd elate
The draught delicious, that untimely frost
Lurk'd by the springs of life; and secret chill'd
The florid blood, and mark'd him for the tomb.

At last with weak step came the trembling Sage, Haggard, and shrinking from the breeze; his voice Was deep, and hollow; and the loose nerves shook His silver-sprinkled head. He thus began:

"Oyet, while Heav'n suspends your doom, be My sons! O cease to listen to the lure [wise, Of Pleasure! Death attends her forward step, And Peril lays the sure, tho' secret snare. Hear, then, the words of age Yet Fate bestows One hour; yet Virtue, with indulgent voice, By me invites to shun the devious maze Of Error!-Yet to crown with length of days, With joy, with happiness, your bold career She hopes! O snatch the proffer'd boon! be rous'd; Ere her strong arm tremendous at your heads Shall launch th' avenging thunder; ere dismay'd, Perplex'd, bewilder'd, wild, you seek the haunt Of Peace, when darkness veils her lowly cot: And mourn her gentle smile for ever gone."

§ 36. Wishes obtained often make Men miserable: Ogilvie,

YET warn'd, behold what danger marks the

path

Of high-brow'd Opulence! Intemperance,
The fruitful parent of Disease, behind
Reels loose, and silent plants th' entangling snare.
Oft when, to vengeance rous'd, th' Eternal dooms
Some wretch to misery extreme, he grants
The fervent wish; he gives th' insatiate eye
To rove transported o'er its golden store;
The heart to swell like Xerxes', when he view'd
His hosts that wrapt th' immeasurable plain,
And triumph'd in his pow'r. Thus fares the
wretch

As, whirl'd by Passion, thro' life's dusty field
He burs's exulting. On the drooping head
Of Merit, shy to censure, and represt
By decent Pride from murmuring; his rude hand
Arrests the palm. He gains it; and ador'd
By Folly's wond'ring train, presumptuous shapes
His course; till like a canker at the root,
That secret riots on the vital stream,

By birth exalted, by the lavish hand [hours
Of Fortune crown'd with honor, whose gay
Dance to the melting lute's melodious lay,
Is happy?-Know, thy wandering search mistakes
The shade for substance. Could thy thought
The mind within, what real ills excite [explore
The mental tumult; to the trembling gaze
Of Fear what phantoms of imagin'd woes
Swim thro' the dark night's solemn noon, when
Sleep

Shakes not her poppies o'er his longing eyes,
That roll in vain; what inward-eating care
Preys on his pamper'd blood; what wishes wild;
What dread of future misery; what dreams
Of horror gleam athwart the sable scroll [scene
Where Memory prints her records: would the
Wake thee to envy? Would thy wishing soul
Pant for the boon that glitters to the eye,
But stings the heart, and poisons all its joy?
I read thy secret doubt:-" "Tis Guilt that

shades

grasp

The brow of Grandeur; 'tis the solemn peal
Of Conscience, thundering in the mental ear,
That wakes to quick sensation. To the dream
Of harmless Innocence, no Demon shakes
His front terrific: all is calm within,
And tun'd to perfect harmony.-Yet Peace
May dwell with Opulence; one happy mind
May eye rejoicing its extended pow'r
To work for man; exulting as it views
A smiling tribe around, snatch'd from the
Of ruthless want, and basking in the beam
Of joy, to transport kindling, and to love."
"Tis just-The noble mind by Fortune rais'd,
And warm'd by strong benevolence to spread
Its happiness to all, displays to man
His Maker's image. To a godlike few
Heav'n gives at once the virtue and the power;
Yet plants not Opulence for these a snare,
That poverty escapes?—The wretch who dragg'd
His sire relentless to the tomb-say rose
No boiling passion in his rankled heart?
Felt not his tortur'd breast the venom sting
Of keen Impatience? Flam'd not to his eye
Gold, titles, honor; all the tinsel-show,
That on the sullen front of Avarice wakes
A gloomy smile, and bids his little thought
Receive a gleam of joy? From these secure
Lives not untutor'd Indigence at ease?
And steals unseen along the vale of Life,
Calm, peaceful, shelter'd from the stormy blast
That shakes Ambition's plume: that wrecks the
hope,

The quiet of mankind?-What though to these The means are scanty?-O'er the roughen'd cheek

Health sheds her bloom; their sinews knit by toil, Robust and firm, support th' allotted weight,

And gradual loos'd by long revolving years,
Resign their charge, untainted by the seeds
Of lurking Death, slow thro' the form diffusd
From meals that Nature nauseates, from the cup
Where the wine laughs, and on the mantling
cheek

Kindles a transient blush, but works disease,
And shades the temples with untimely snow.

§ 37. DEITY. Boyse.

Unde nil majus generatur Ipso,
Nec viget quidquam simile aut secundum. HoR.
From wealth's allurements, and ambition's
FROM earth's low prospects and deceitful aims,
dreams,

The lover's raptures, and the hero's views,
The schemes of science, the delights of wine,
All the false joys mistaken man pursues;
Recal, fond Bard, thy long-enchanted sight
Or the more pleasing follies of the Nine!
Deluded with the visionary light!

A nobler theme demands thy sacred song,
A theme beyond or man's or angel's tongue!
But oh, alas! unhallow'd and profane,
How shalt thou dare to raise the heav'nly strain ?
Do Thou, who from the altar's living fire
Isaiah's tuneful lips didst once inspire,
Come to my aid, celestial Wisdom, come;
From my dark mind dispel the doubtful gloom :
My passions still, my purer breast inflame,
To sing that God from whom existence came;
Till heav'n and nature in the concert join,
And own the Author of their birth divine.

I. ETERNITY.

Whence sprung this glorious frame! or whence The various forms the universe compose? [arose From what Almighty Cause, what mystic springs Shall we derive the origin of things?

Sing, heav'nly Guide! whose all-efficient light Drew dawning planets from the womb of night! Since reason, by the sacred dictates taught, Adores a pow'r beyond the reach of thought.

First Cause of causes! Sire supreme of birth! Sole light of heav'n! acknowledg'd life of earth! Whose Word from nothing call'd this beauteous whole,

This wide expanded All from pole to pole!
Who shall prescribe the boundary to Thee,
Or fix the æra of Eternity?

Should we, deceiv'd by error's sceptic glass, Admit the thought absurd-That Nothing was! Thence would this wild, this false conclusion flow,

That Nothing rais'd this beauteous All below! When from disclosing darkness splendor breaks, Associate atoms move, and matter speaks, When non-existence bursts its close disguise, How blind are mortals-not to own the skies! If one vast void eternal held its place, Whence started time? or whence expanded space? What gave the slumb'ring mass to feel a change, Or bid consenting worlds harmonious range?

Could Nothing link the universal chain?
No, 'tis impossible, absurd, and vain!
Here reason its eternal Author finds,
The whole who regulates, unites, and binds,
Enlivens matter, and produces minds!
Inactive Chaos sleeps in dull repose,
Nor knowledge thence, nor free volition flows!
A nobler source those powers ethereal show,
By which we think, design, reflect, and know;
These from a cause superior date their rise,
"Abstract in essence from material ties."
An origin immortal, as supreme,
From whose pure day, celestial rays! they came:
In whom all possible perfections shine,
Eternal, self-existent, and divine!

From this great spring of uncreated might!
This all-resplendent orb of vital light;
Whence all-created beings take their rise,
Which beautify the earth, or paint the skies!
Profusely wide the boundless blessings flow,
Which heav'n enrich and gladden worlds below!
Which are no less, when properly defin'd,
Than emanations of th' Eternal Mind!
Hence triumphs truth beyond objection clear
(Let unbelief attend and shrink with fear!)
That what for ever was-must surely be
Beyond commencement, and from period free;
Drawn from himself his native excellence,
His date eternal, and his space immense !
And all of whom that man can comprehend,
Is, that he ne'er began, nor e'er shall end.
In him from whom existence boundless flows,
Let humble faith its sacred trust repose:
Assur'd on his eternity depend,
"Eternal Father! and eternal Friend!"
Within that mystic circle safety seek,
No time can lessen, and no force can break!
And, lost in adoration, breathe his praise,
High Rock of ages, ancient Sire of days!

11. UNITY.

Thus recogniz'd, the spring of life and thought!
Eternal, self-deriv'd, and unbegot,
Approach, celestial Muse, th' empyreal throne,
And awfully adore th' exalted One!
In nature pure, in place supremely free,
And happy in essential unity!

Bless'd in himself, had from his forming hand
No creatures sprung to hail his wide command;
Bless'd, had the sacred fountain ne'er run o'er,
A boundless sea of bliss that knows no shore!
Nor sense can two prime origins conceive,
Nor reason two eternal Gods believe!
Could the wild Manichæan own that guide,
The good would triumph, and the ill subside!
Again would vanquish'd Aramanius bleed,
And darkness from prevailing light recede!
In diff'rent individuals we find
An evident disparity of mind;
Hence ductile thought a thousand changes gains,
And actions vary as the will ordains;
But should two Beings, equally supreme,
Divided pow'r and parted empire claim;

How soon would universal order cease!
How soon would discord harmony displace!
Eternal schemes maintain eternal fight,
Nor yield, supported by eternal might;
Where each would uncontroll'd his aim pursue,
The links dissever, or the chain renew!
Matter from motion cross impressions take,
As serv'd each pow'r his rival's pow'r to break,
While neutral Chaos from his deep recess,
Would view the never-ending strife increase,
And bless the contest that secur'd his peace!
While new creations would opposing rise,
And elemental war deform the skies!
Around wild uproar and confusion hurl'd,
Eclipse the heav'ns, and waste the ruin'd world.
Two independent causes to admit,
Destroys religion, and debases wit;
The first by such an anarchy undone,
The last acknowledges its source but one.
As from the main the mountain rills are drawn,
That wind irriguous through the flow'ry lawn;
So, mindful of their spring, one course they
keep,

Exploring, till they find their native deep!
Exalted Power, invisible, supreme,
Thou sov'reign, sole unutterable Name!
As round thy throne thy flaming seraphs stand,
And touch the golden lyre with trembling hand;
Too weak thy pure effulgence to behold,
With their rich plumes their dazzled eyes infold;
Transported with the ardors of thy praise,
The holy! holy! holy! anthem raise!
To them responsive, let creation sing,
Thee, indivisible eternal King!

III. SPIRITUALITY.

O say, celestial Muse! whose purer birth Disdains the low material ties of earth; By what bright images shall be defin'd The mystic nature of th' eternal Mind! Or how shall thought the dazzling height explore, Where all that reason can-is to adore!

That God's an immaterial essence pure, Whom figure can't describe, nor parts immure; Incapable of passions, impulse, fear, In good pre-eminent, in truth severe : Unmix'd his nature, and sublim'd his pow'rs From all the gross allay that tempers ours; In whose clear eye the bright angelic train Appear suffus'd with imperfection's stain! Impervious to the man's or seraph's eye, Beyond the ken of each exalted high. Him would in vain material semblance feign, Or figur'd shrines the boundless God contain; Object of faith! he shuns the view of sense, Lost in the blaze of sightless excellence! Most perfect, most intelligent, most wise, In whom the sanctity of pureness lies; In whose adjusting mind the whole is wrought, Whose form is spirit, and whose essence thought! Are truths inscrib'd by Wisdom's brightest ray, In characters that gild the face of day!

Reason confess'd (howe'er we may dispute), Fix'd boundary! discovers man from brute;