To his behefts, and act what you disdain, The manly zeal; but all your finews move Eftfoons by your joint efforts fhall be quell'd Who where he cannot dictate ftrait obeys. Ne for th' atchievement of this great emprize my TWIN-DAUGHTERS' fruitful wombs fhall rife A race of letter'd fages, deeply read In Learning's various writ: by whom y-led Through each well cultur'd plot, each beauteous grove, Where antique Wisdom whilom wont to tread, With mingled glee and profit may ye rove, And cull each virtuous plant, each tree of knowledge prove. LXXXVI. Your LXXXVI. Yourselves with virtue thus and knowledge fraught Of what, in ancient days of good or great Hiftorians, bards, philofophers have taught; Join'd with whatever elfe of modern date Maturer judgment, search more accurate Discover'd have of Nature, Man, and God, May by new laws reform the time-worn ftate Of cell-bred difcipline, and fmoothe the road That leads through Learning's valeto Wisdom's bright abode. LXXXVII. By you invited to her fecret bow'rs Then fhall PÆDIA reafcend her throne On this prime science, as the final end Her Her tender pupils for the various war, Then shall my youthful fons, to Wisdom led With willing feet the paths of Duty tread; Whose foul-invigorating influence Shall purge their minds from all impure allays And fwell th' ennobled heart with bleft benevolence. Then alfo fhall this emblematick pile, By magick whilom fram'd to sympathize With all the fortunes of this changeful ifle, Still, as my fons in fame and virtue rife, Grow with their growth, and to th' applauding kies The multiplying niches, fresh fupplies Of worthies fhall fucceed, with equal pace Aye following their fires in virtue's glorious race. XCI. Fir'd XCI. Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame Who for their various merit erft renown'd, In this bright fane of glory fhrines of honour found. On thefe that royal dame her ravish'd eyes Those fculptur'dchiefs did fhew,and their great lives explain1. Great lives explain.] I cannot forbear taking occafion from these words to make my acknowledgements to the writers of Biographia Britannica, for the pleasure and profit I have lately received from perusing the two first volumes of that ufeful and entertaining work, of which the monumental Aructure above-mentioned, decorated with the ftatues of great and good men, is no improper emblem. This work, which contains the lives of the most eminent perfons, who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, down to the prefent time, appears to me, as far as bas hitherto gone, to be executed with great fpirit, acCuracy, and judgment; and deferves, in my opinion, to be encouraged by all, who have at heart the honour of their Country, and that of their particular families and friends; and who can any ways affift the ingenious and laborious authors, to render as perfect as poffible, a defign so apparently calculated to ferve the publick, by fetting in the trueft and fulleft light the characters of perfons already generally, though perhaps too indiflinctly known; and retrieving from obfcurity and oblivion, examples of private and retired merit, which, though less glaring and oftentatious than the former, are not, however, of a less extenfive or lefs beneficial influence. To those, who may happen not to have feen this repofitory of British glory, I cannot give a better idea of it, than in the following lines of Virgil: Hic ic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi ; Quique facerdotes cafti, dum vita manebat; Quique pii pates & Phaba digna locuti; Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes; Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo. Who is Simmi donɔ to dusid el val. Virg. Æn. L. 6. ¿ saotleda moí bolo.. The End of the FIRST CANTO. |