How fometimes life is rifle'd and always ease;
Think; and if till fuch things thy envy call,
Say, would't thou be the man to whom they fall?
To figh for ribbonds if thou art fo filly,
Mark how they grace Lord Umbra, or Sir Billy,
Is yellow dirt the paffion of thy life?
Look but on Gripus or on Gripus' wife,
If parts allure thee, think how Bacon hin'd,
The wifeft, brightest-meanest of mankind :
Or, ravish'd with the whittling of a name,
See Cromwell dam'd to everlasting fame :
If all united thy ambition call,
From ancient ftory learn to fcorn them all,
VARIOUS CHARACTERS.
TIS from high life high characters are drawn
A faint in crape is twice a faint in lawn ;
A judge is jult, a chanc'llor jufter till;
A gownman learn'd; a bishop-what you will;
Wile, if a minifter; but if a king,
More wife, more juft, more learn'd more every thing. 'Tis education forms the common mind;
Juft as the twig is bent the tree's inclin'd.
Boaftful and rough, your firft fon is a fquire:
The next a tradesman, meek, and much a liar :
Tom ftruts a foldier, open, bold and brave:
Will faeeks a fcriv'ner, an exceeding knave.
Is he a Churchman? Then he's fond of power
A Quaker? Sly: A Prefbyterian? Sour:
A fmart Freethinker? All things in an hour.
'Manners with fortunes, humors turn with climes,
Tenets with books, and principles with times.
Search then the ruling paffion. There alone,
The wild are conftant, and the cunning known.
The WORLD compared to a STAGE,
ALL the world's a ftage:
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances :
And one man in his time plays many parts;
His acts being feven ages. At firft the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurfe's arms.-
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel.
And fhining morning face, creeping like frail,
Unwillingly to fcliool. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress' eye-brow. Then a foldier,
Full of ftrange oaths, and bearded like the pard;
Jealous in honor; fudden and quick in quarrel;
Seeking the bubble reputation,
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the juftice☆
In fair round body, with good capon lined:
With eyes fevere, and beard of formal cut;
Full of wife laws and modern inftances:
And fo he plays his part.-The fixth
Into the lean and flipper'd pantaloon;
With fpectacles on nofe, and pouch on fide;
His youthful hofe well fav'd a world too wide
For his fhrunk fhank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whiftles in his found.-Laft fcene of all,
That ends this ftrange eventful hiftory,
Is fecond childishness, and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, fans eyes, fans tafte, fans every thing.
COLUMBUS to FERDINAND. CCLUMBUS was a confiderable number of years engaged in folicit ing the court of Spain to fit him out, in order to discover a new continent, which be immagined exifted fomewhere in the weflern parts of the ocean. During his negociation, he is fuppofed to addrefs King FERDINAND in the following flanzas: LLUSTRIOUS monarch of Iberia's foil,
Too long I wait permiflion to depart;
Sick of delays, I beg thy lift'ning ear-
Shine forth the patron and the prince of art.
While yet Columbus breathes the vital air,
Grant his requeft to pass the western main;
Referve this glory for thy native foil,
And what must pleafe thee more-for thy own reign.
Of this huge globe how small a part we know
Does Heaven their worlds to western funs deny
How difpropertion'd to the mighty deep
The lands that yet in human profpect lie!"
Does Cynthia, when to western skies arriv'd,
Spend her fweet beam upon the barren main ;
And ne'er illume with midnight fplendor, fhe,
The native dancing on the light fome green?
Should the vaft circuit of the world contain
Such waftes of ocean an fuch fcanty land?
'Tis reafon's voice that bids me think not fo;
I think more nobly of the Almighty hand.
Does yon fair lamp trace half the circle round
To light the waves and monfters of the feas?
No-be there muft beyond the billowy watte,
Islands, and men, and animals, and trees,
An unremitting flame my breaft infpires,
To feek new lands amidst the barren waves,
Where falling low, the fource of day defcends,
And the blue fea his evening vifage leaves.
Hear, in his tragic lay, Cordova's fage ;*
"The time hall come, when numerous years are past,
The ocean fhall diffolve the bands of things,
And an extended region rife at last ;
And Typhis fhall difclose the mighty land,
Far, far away, where none have rov'd before;
Nor fhall the world's remoteft regions be
Gibralter's rock, or Thule's favage fhore."
Fir'd at the theme, I languish to depart,
Supply the barque, and bid Columbus fail
He fears no ftorms upon the untravell'd deep;
Reason shall steer, and skill difarm the gale:
Nor does he dread to lose the intended courfe,
Though far from land the reeling gally ftray,
And kies above, and gulfy feas below,
Be the fola object feen for many a day.
Think not that nature has unvail'd in vain
The myftic magnet to the mortal eye,
So late have we the guiding needle plan'd
Only to fail beneath our native sky?
Ere this was found the Ruling Power of all,
Found for our use an ocean in the land,
Its breadth fo fmall we could not wander long,
Nor long be abfent from the neighboring (trand.
Short was the courfe and guided by the tars
But flats no more fhall point our daring way;
The Bear fhall fink, and every guard be drown'd,
And great Arcturus fcarce efcape the fea,
When fourthward we fhall fteer-O grant my wish,
* Seneca, the poet, native of Cordova, in Spain.
Supply the barque, and bid Columbus fail
He dreads no tempeft on the untravell'd deep,
Reason shall steer, and skill difarm the gale.
DESCRIPTION of a STORM of HAIL
ONG rufh'd the victors o'er the fanguine field,
And fearce were Gibeon's loftieft fpires beheld,
When up the weft dark clouds began to rife,
Sail'd o'er the hills and lengthen'd round the fcies;
A ridge of folding fire, their fummits fhone,
But fearful blackness all beneath was thrown;
Swift round the fun the fpreading gloom was hurl'd,
And night and folitude amaz'd the world.
At once the voice of deep refounding gales
Rung flow and folemn in the diftant vales;
Then through the groves and o'er the extended plain
With ftormy rage the rapid whirlwinds ran.
Red o'er the glimmering hills, with pomp divine,
The lightning's flaming path began to fhine:
Far round the immenfe, usufual thunder driven,
Proclaim'd the onset of approaching Heaven:
Afonish'd nature own'd the ftrange alarm,
And the world trembled at the impending florm.
O'er the dark fields aghaft Canaan ftream'd;
Thigk in their courfe the fcatter'd bucklers gleam'd ;
Behind them Jofhua urg'd the furious car,
And tenfold horrors hover'd round the war.
But when the Chief the fpreading ftorm furvey'd,
And trac'd Almighty arms in heaven difplay'd;
With piercing voice he gave the great command,
Stand fill, ye chofen fons, admiring stand!
Behold what awful feenes in heaven arife!
Adore the Power that brightens in the fries!
Now God's tremendous arm afferts his laws;
Now hids his thunder aid the righteous caufe;
Shows man how virtue faves her chofen bands,
And points the vengeance doom'd for guilty lands
Behold, what flames fhoot forth ! what gloom afcends !
How nature trembles how the concave rends!
How the clouds darken! fee in yonder fky,
Their opening fkirts proclaim the Almighty nigh
le fpoke, and from the north a rushing found,
ou'd through the heavens, and fhook th' embattled ground;
Thron'd on a dark red cloud, an angel's form
Sail'd awfully fublime, above the ftorm.
Half veil'd in mift, his count'nance, like a fun,
1aflam'd the clouds, and through all æther fhone":
Long robes of crimson light behind him flow'd !
His wings were flames; his locks were dy'd in blood!
Ten thoufand fiery fhapes were round him driven,
And all the dazzling pomp of opening heaven!
Now, fave Canaan's cries that feebly rung
Round the dark plain a fearful filence hung;
Stretch in dire terror, o'er the quiv'ring band,
The etherial vifion wav'd his fun bright hand d;
At once, from opening fkies, red flames were hurl'd,
And thunders, roll'd on thunders, rock'd the world:
In one broad deluge funk the avenging hail,
And, fill'd with tempeft, roar'd the hoary vale;
Fierce raging whirlwinds boundless nature blend;
The ftreams rush back; the tott'ring mountains bend;
Down the tall steeps their burting fummits roll;
And cliffs on cliffs, hoarfe crafhing, rend the pole.
Far round the earth a wild drear horror reigns;
The high heavens heave, and roar the gloomy plains;
One fea of lightning all the region fills,
And waves of fire ride furging o'er the hills;
The nodding forefta plunge in flame around,
And with huge caverns gaps the fhuddering ground;
Swifer than rapid winds Canaan driven,
Refuse the conflict of embattled heaven.
But the dire hail in vain the victims fly,
And death unbounded shook from all the sky.
The thunder's dark career the feraph's arm,
Fierce vengeance blazing down the immense of storm,
From falling groves to burning flames they flew;
Hail roars around and angry hofts purfue;
From fhaking fkies, Almighty arms are hurl'd,
And all the gloomy concave bursts upon the world.
ADDRESS to the DEITY.
FATHER of light! exhauftlefs fource of good!
Supreme, eternal, felf exiftent GoD!
Before the beamy fun difpens'd a ray,
Flam'd in the azure vault, and gave the day.
Before the glimmering moon, with borrow'd light,
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