LXXI.

Her thus immers d in anxious thought profound;
When as the Knight perceiv'd, he nearer drew;
To weet what bitter bale did her aftound,
And whence th' occafion of her anguish grew.
For that right noble MATRON well he knew;
And many perils huge, and labours fore.
Had for her fake endured; her vaffal true,
Train'd in her love, and practiced evermore
Her honour to refpect, and reverence her lore.
LXXII.

O deareft drad! he cried, fair ifland queen!

*

Mother of heroes! empress of the main !

What means that ftormy brow of troublous teen ?
Sith heav'n-born Peace, with all her fmiling train
Of sciences and arts, adorns thy reign

With wealth and knowledge, fplendour and renown? Each port how throng'd! how fruitful every plain! How blithe the country! and how gay the town! While Liberty fecures and heightens every boon!. LXXIII.

Awaken'd from her trance of penfive woe

By thefe fair flattering words, fhe rais'd her head; And bending on the KNIGHT her frowning brow, Mock'it thou my forrows, Fairy Son? she said.

• Sith, fince.

Or

Or is thy judgment by thy heart misled

To deem that certain, which thy hopes fuggeft?
To deem them full of life and P luftihead,

Whofe cheeks in Hebe's vivid tints are dreft,

And with Joy's careless mien, and dimpled fmiles impreft? LXXIV.

Thy unfufpecting heart how nobly good

I know, how fanguine in thy country's cause!
And mark'd thy virtue, fingle how it flood
.Th' affaults of mighty CUSTOM, which o'er-awes
The faint and timorous mind, and oft withdraws
From Reafon's lore th' ambitious and the vain
By the sweet lure of popular applause,
Against their better knowledge, to maintain
The lawless throne of Vice, or Folly's childish reign.
LXXV.

How vaft his influence! how wide his fway!
Thy felf ere-while by proof didft understand:

And faw'ft, as through his realms thou took'st thy way,
How Vice and Folly had o'er-fpread the land.

And can't thou then, O Fairy's Son, demand
The reafon of my woe? or hope to ease

The throbbings of my heart with speeches bland,

And words more apt my forrows to increase,

The once-dear names of Wealth, and Liberty, and Peace?

P Lufiibead, ftrong health, vigour.

LXXVI. Peace,

LXXVI.

Peace, Wealth, and Liberty, that nobleft boon,
Are bleffings only to the wife and good.

To weak and vicious minds their worth unknown
And thence abused but serve to furnish food
For riot and debauch, and fire the blood
With high-spiced luxury; whence ftrife, debate,
Ambition, envy, Faction's vip'rous brood,
Contempt of order, manners profligate ;

The fymptoms of a foul, difeafed and bloated state.
LXXVII.

Ev'n Wit and Genius, with their learned train
Of Arts and Mufes, though from heav'n above
Defcended, when their talents they prophane
To varnish folly, kindle wanton love,
And aid excentrick fceptic Pride to rove
Beyond cæleftial Truth's attractive sphere,
This moral fyftem's central fun, aye prove
To their fond votaries a curse fevere,
And only make mankind more obftinately err.
LXXVIII.

And ftand my fons herein from cenfure clear?
Have They confider'd well, and understood
The ufe and import of those bleffings dear,
Which the great Lord of Nature hath bestow'd

As

As well to prove, as to reward the good?
Whence are these torrents then, these billowy feas
Of vice, in which, as in his proper flood,

The fell leviathan licentious plays,

And upon fhip-wreck'd faith, and finking virtue preys?

LXXIX.

To you, ye Noble, Opulent and Great!
With friendly voice I call, and honest zeal!
Upon your vital influences wait

The health and fickness of the common-weal;
The maladies you caufe, yourselves must heal.
In vain to the unthinking harden'd crowd
Will Truth and Reason make their just appeal;
In vain will facred Wisdom cry aloud;

And Justice drench in vain her vengeful sword in blood.
LXXX.

With You must reformation firft take place: You are the head, the intellectual mind Of this vast body politick; whose base, And vulgar limbs, to drudgery confign'd, All the rich ftores of Science have refign'd To You, that by the craftsman's various toil, The fea-worn mariner, and fweating hind, In peace and affluence maintain'd, the while You, for yourselves and them, may drefs the mental foil.

LXXXI. Be

LXXXI.

Bethink you then, my children, of the truft In you repos'd: ne let your heav'n-born mind Confume in pleasure, or unactive ruft;

But nobly roufe you to the task affign'd,

The godlike task to teach and mend mankind :
Learn that ye may inftruct: to virtue lead
Yourfelves the way: the herd will crowd behind,
And gather precepts from each worthy deed:

Example is a leffon, that all men can read.
LXXXII.

But if (to All or Moft I do not speak) In vain and fenfual habits now grown old, The ftrong Circaan charm you cannot break, Nor re-affume at will your native 9 mould, Yet envy not the ftate, you could not hold ; And take compaffion on the rifing age: In them redeem your errours manifold; And, by due difcipline and nurture fage, In Virtue's lore betimes your docile fons engage. LXXXIII.

You chiefly, who like me in fecret mourn

The prevalence of CUSTOM lewd and vain;
And you, who, though by the rude torrent borne
Unwillingly along you yield with pain

9 Mould, shape, form.