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To fertile vales, and dewy meads,
My weary wand'ring fteps he leads;
Where peaceful rivers, soft and flow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.

Tho' in the paths of Death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
For thou, O Lord, art with me ftill;
Thy friendly crook fhall give me aid,
And guide me thro' the dreadful shade.

Tho' in a bare and rugged way,
Thro' devious lonely wilds I ftray,
Thy bounty fhall my pains beguile :
The barren wilderness fhall fmile,

With fudden greens and herbage crown'd;
And ftreams fhall murmur all around.

ADDISON.

TO WISDOM.

O WISDOM! if thy foft controul
Can foothe the fickness of the foul,
Can bid the warring paffions cease,
And breathe the calm of tender peace;

Wisdom! I bless thy gentle fway,
And ever, ever will obey.

But if thou com'ft with frown auftere
To nurse the brood of care and fear;
To bid our sweetest paffions die,
And leave us in their room a figh;
Or if thine afpect stern have pow'r
To wither each poor tranfient flow'r
That cheers this pilgrimage of woe,

And dry the springs whence hope fhould

flow; Wisdom, thine empire I disclaim, Thou empty boast of pompous

name!

In gloomy fhade of cloisters dwell,
But never haunt my cheerful cell,
Hail to pleafure's frolic train!
Hail to fancy's golden relgn!
Festive mirth, and laughter wild,
Free and sportful as the child!
Hope with eager sparkling eyes,
And eafy faith, and fond surprise!
Let thefe, in fairy colours drest,
For ever fhare my careless breaft:
Then, tho' wife I may not be,

The wife themselves fhall envy me.

MRS. BARBAULD.

N

THE FRAILTY AND FOLLY OF MAN.

GREAT Heav'n how frail thy creature man is

made!

How by himself infenfibly betray'd!

In our own ftrength unhappily, fecure,
Too little cautious of the adverse pow'r ;
And, by the blaft of felf-opinion mov'd,
We wish to charm, and seek to be belov'd.
On pleasure's flow'ry brink we idly stray,
Masters as yet of our returning way :
Seeing no danger, we difarm our mind,
And give our conduct to the waves and wind:
Then in the flow'ry mead, or verdant shade,
To wanton dalliance negligently laid,

We weave the chaplet, and we crown the bowl,
And fmilling fee the nearer waters roll ;
Till the ftrong gufts of raging paffions rife,
Till the dire tempeft mingles earth and skies ;
And, fwift into the boundless ocean borne,
Our foolish confidence too late we mourn:

Round our devoted heads the billows beat;

And from our troubled view the leffen'd lands re

treat.

PRIOR

AGAINST CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

I WOULD not enter on my lift of friends, (Though grac'd with polifh'd manners and fine fenfe,

Yet wanting fenfibility) the man

Who needlessly fets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail,
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread afide, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermin, loathsome to the fight,
And charg'd perhaps with venom, that intrudes
A vifitor unwelcome into scenes

Sacred to neatnefs and repofe-th' alcove,
The chamber, or refectory, may die.
A neceffary act incurs no blame.

Not fo, when held within their proper bounds,
And guiltless of offence, they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the spacious field;
There they are privileg'd. And he that hunts
Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong;
Disturbs th' œconomy of Nature's realm,
Who, when she form'd, defign'd them an abode.
The fum is this ;—if man's convenience, health,

Or fafety, interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Elfe they are all-the meaneft things that are,
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,
As God was free to form them at the first,
Who, in his fovereign Wisdom, made them all.

Ye therefore who love mercy, teach your fons
To love it too. The fpring-tide of our years ‹
Is foon difhonour'd, and defil'd, in most,

By budding ills, that afk a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas ! none fooner fhoots,
If unreftrain'd, into luxurious growth,

Than cruelty, moft dev'lifh of them all.
Mercy to him that fhews it, is the rule
And righteous limitation of its act,

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By which Heav'n moves, in pard'ning guilty man:
And he that fhews none, being ripe in years,
And conscious of the outrage he commits,
Shall feek it, and not find it in his turn.

COWPER.

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