To bind their rage, and stay their headlong § 59. A Friend to Freedom can never beaTraite.

y the same cold, torm by the same disease, [gar. And show'rs profusely pow'r and splendour on hat scorches, freezes, racks, and kills the beg

MALLET.

-0

$64. True End of Royalty.
WITNESS, Heaven!
Whose eye the heart's profoundest
depth explores,

hat if not to perform my regal task;
be the cominon father of my people,
tron of honour, virtue and religion;
not to shelter useful worth, to guard
s well-earn'd portion from the sons of rapine,
id deal out justice with impartial hand;
not to spread on all good men thy bounty,
e treasures trusted to me, not my own;
not to raise anew our English name,
peaceful arts, that grace the land they bless,
d generous war to humble proud oppressors:
more, if not to build the public weal
that firm base, which can alone resist
h time and chance, fair liberty and law;
for these great ends am not ordain'd
y I ne'er poorly fill the throne of England.

[they,
them,
Whate'er th' expanded heart can wish; when
Accepting the reward, neglect the duty,
Or, worse, pervert those gifts to deeds of ruin,
Is there a wretch they rule so base as they?
Guilty, at once, of sacrilege to Heaven,
And of perfidious robbery to man!

breathe

§ 68. The true End of Life. THOMSON.
WHO, who would live, my Narva, just to
This idle air, and indolently run,
Day after day, the still returning round
Of life's mean offices, and sickly joys?
But in the service of mankind to be
A guardian god below; still to employ
The mind's brave ardour in heroic aims,
Such as may raise us o'er the groveling.herd,
And make us shine for ever-that is life.

3. Character of a good King. THOMSON.
YES, we have lost a father!

The greatest blessing Heaven bestows
on mortals,

S. JOHNSON.

§ 69. The same.
REFLECT that life and death, affecting sounds,
Are only varied modes of endless being.
Reflect that life, like every other blessing,
Derives its value from its use alone;
Nor for itself, but for a nobler end,
Th Eternal gave it, and that end is virtue,
When inconsistent with a greater good,
Reason commands to cast the less away;
Thus life, with loss of wealth, is well preserv'd,
And virtue cheaply sav'd with loss of life.

§ 70. A Lion overcome by a Man. Lɛɛ. THE prince in a lone court was plac'd,

Unarm'd, all but his hands, on which he
[wore
A pair of gantlets.
At last, the door of an old lion's den
Being drawn up, the horrid beast appear'd:
The flames which from his eye shot glaring red,
Made the sun start, as the spectators thought,
And round them cast a day of blood and death.

The prince walk'd forward: the large beast de

scried

seldom found amidst these wilds of time,
od, a worthy king!-Hear me, my Tancred!
I will tell thee, in a few plain words,
he deserv'd that best, that glorious title.
nought complex, 'tis clear as truth and
virtue.

His prey; and with a roar that inade us pale, ov'd his people, deem'd them all his children; Flew fiercely on him: but Lysimachus, good exalted, and depress'd the bad: [ed Starting aside, avoided his first stroke purn'd the flattering crew, with scorn reject-With a slight hurt, and, as the lion turn'd, irsmooth advice, that only means themselves, Thrust gautlet, arni and all, into his throat: ir schemes to aggrandize him into baseness, Then with Herculean force tore forth by the I knowing that a people in their rights industry protected; living safe eath the sacred shelter of the laws; ourag'd in their genius, arts and labours; I happy each as he himself deserves, ne'er ungrateful. With unsparing hand y will for him provide: their filial love I confidence are his unfailing treasury,

every honest man his faithful guard.

67. The Guilt of bad Kings. MALLET. THEN those whom Heaven distinguishes o'er

millions,

roots

The foaming, bloody tongue; and while the sa

vage, Faint with the loss, sunk to the blushing earth, To plow it with his teeth, your conqu'ring soldier [pieces. Leap'd on his back, and dash'd his skull to

$ 71. Character of an excellent Man. Rowe.
could
my tongue
How
Take pleasure, and be lavish in thy
praise!

llow

THOMSON.

$77. The same. RowE.

when the spring renews the flow'ry field, And warns the pregnant nightingale w build;

Where she may trust her little tuneful brood.

$73. The happy Effects of Misfortune. misfortune comes, she brings along She safest The bravest virtues, so many great Illustrious spirits have convers'd with woe, Have in her school been taught, as are enough To consecrate distress, and make ambition E'en wish the frown beyond the smile of for

tune.

́§74. A Description of the Morning. OTWAY. WISH'D morning's come; and now upon the

plains,

And distant mountains, where they feed their flocks,

The happy shepherds leave their homely huts,
And with their pipes proclaim the new-born
day:

The lusty swain comes with his well-fill'd scrip
Of healthful viands, which, when hunger calls,
With much content and appetite he eats,
To follow in the field his daily toil,
And dress the grateful glebe that yields him
fruits:

The beasts, that under the warm hedges slept,
And weather'd out the cold bleak night, are up;
And, looking tow'rds the neighbouring pas-
tures, raise

Their voice, and bid their fellow brutes good

morrow:

The cheerful birds too on the tops of trees
Assemble all in choirs; and with their notes
Salute and welcome up the rising sun.

§ 75. Another. LEE.

FROM amber shrouds I see the morning rise;
Her rosy hands begin to

And now the city emmets leave their hive,
And rousing hinds to cheerful labour drive;
High cliffs and rocks are pleasing objects now,
And nature smiles upon the mountain brow;

Where no rude swains her shady cell may kner,
No serpents climb, nor blasting winds n

blow:

Fond of the chosen place, she views it o'er,
Sits there, and wanders thro' the grove

en be this truth the star by which we steer: bove ourselves our country shall be dear.

§ 80. The same. W. WHITEHEAD. EARN hence, ye Romans! on how sure a base

And that a hapless Celtiberian prince,
Her lover, and belov'd, forgot his chains,
His lost dominions, and for her alone
Wept out his tender soul; sudden the heart
Of this young, conqu'ring, loving, godlike Ro
Felt all the great divinity of virtue.
[man
His wishing youth stood check'd, his tempting
pow'r

he patriot builds his happiness; no stroke,
keenest, deadliest shaft of adverse fate
u make his generous bosom quite despair,
it that alone by which his country falls.
ief may to grief in endless round succeed,
id nature suffer when our children bleed:
t still superior must that hero prove,
hose first, best passion, is his country's love. Rack'd by a thousand mingling passions, fear,

Restrain'd by kind humanity At once
He for her parents and her lover call'd.
The various scene imagine: how his troops
Look'd dubious on, and wonder'd what he
[lay
While stretch'd below the trembling suppliants

meant ;

Hope, jealousy, disdain, submission, grief;
Anxiety, and love, in every shape;

To these as different sentiments succeeded,
As mixt emotions; when the man divine
Thus the dread silence to the lover broke:
"We both are young, both charm'd. The
right of war

66

"Has put thy beauteous mistress in my pow'r; With whom I could in the most sacred ties "Live out a happy life: but know that Ro

mans

$81. In what Philosophy really consists. THOMSON. -PHILOSOPHY consists not

In airy schemes or idle speculations. e rule and conduct of all social life er great province. Not in lonely cells. scure she lurks, but holds her heavenly light senates and to kings, to guide their councils, d teach them to reform and bless mankind. policy but hers is false and rotten; valour not conducted by her precepts a destroying fury sent from hell, plague unhappy man, and ruin nations.

44

"Their hearts, as well as enemies, can conquer.
"Then take her to thy soul; and with her take
Thy liberty and kingdom. In return
"I ask but this:—when you behold these eyes,
"These charms, with transport, be a friend to
"Rome."

shape was harmony. But eloquence
eath her beauty fails; which seem'd on pur-
nature lavish'd on her, that mankind [pose

cht see the virtue of a hero tried

ost beyond the stretch of human force. tas she pass'd along, with downcast eyes, ere gentle sorrows swell'd, and now and

then

pp'd o'er her modest cheek a trickling tear,
Roman legions languish'd, and hard war
more than pity. Een their chief himself,
on his high tribunal rais'd he sat,
n'd from the dang 'rous sight, and chiding
officers, if by this gift they meant fask'd
cloud his virtue in its very dawn?

: question'd of her birth, in trembling ac

cents,

th tears, and blushes broken, told her tale. then he found her royally descended, lier old captive parents the sole joy;

§ 83. The Blessings of Peace. THOMSON. BEAUTEOUS peace!

O

Sweet union of a state! what else but thou

Gives safety, strength, and glory to a people?
bow, Lord Constable, beneath the snow
Of many years; yet in my breast revives
A youthful flame. Methinks I see again
Those gentle days renew'd, that bless'd our isle
Ere by this wasteful fury of division,
Worse than our tua's most destructive fires,
It desolated sunk. I see our plains
Unbounded waving with the gifts of harvest;
Our seas with commerce throng'd, our busy
poris

•

With cheerful toil. Our Enna blooms afresh ;
Afresh the sweets of thymy Hybla blow.
Our nymphs and shepherds, sporting in cach

vale,

Inspire new song, and wake the pastoral reed.

$84. Providence.

THOMSON.

HERE is a pow'r

THE
Unseen, that rules th' illimitable world,
That guides its motions, from the brightest star-
To the least dust of this sin-tainted mould;
While man, who madly deems himself the lord
Of all, is nought but weakness and dependance.
This sacred truth, by sure experience taught,

Y y

Thou