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And right toward the favoured place
Proceeding with his nimblest pace,
In hope to bask a little yet,

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Juft reached it when the fun was fet.
Your hermit, young and jovial, firs!
Learns fomething from whate'er occurs—
And hence, he faid, my mind computes
The real worth of man's purfuits.
His object chofen, wealth or fame,
Or other fublunary game,
Imagination to his view

Prefents it decked with every hue,
That can feduce him not to spare
His powers of beft exertion there,
But youth, health, vigour to expend
On fo defirable an end.

Ere long approach life's evening fhades,
The glow that fancy gave it fades;
And, earned too late, it wants the grace,
Which firft engaged him in the chafe.
True, anfwered an angelic guide,
Attendant at the fenior's fide-

But whether all the time it coft

To

urge the fruitless chase be loft,

302

THE MORALIZER CORRECTED.

Muft be decided by the worth

Of that, which called his ardour forth.
Trifles pursued, whate'er the event,
Must cause him fhame or difcontent;
A vicious object ftill is worse,
Successful there he wins a curse;
But he, whom ev'n in life's last stage
Endeavours laudable engage,

Is paid, at least in peace of mind,
And sense of having well defigned;
And if, ere he attain his end,
His fun precipitate descend,
A brighter prize than that he meant
Shall recompenfe his mere intent.
No virtuous wifh can bear a date
Either too early or too late.

THE FAITHFUL FRIEND.

THE green-house is my fummer feat; My fhrubs difplaced from that retreat Enjoyed the open air;

Two goldfinches, whose sprightly song Had been their mutual folace long, Lived happy prisoners there.

They fang, as blithe as finches fing,
That flutter loose on golden wing,
And frolic where they lift;

Strangers to liberty, 'tis true,

But that delight they never knew,
And therefore never missed.

But nature works in every breast;
Inftinct is never quite fuppreffed;

And Dick felt fome defires,
Which, after many an effort vain,
Inftructed him at length to gain

A país between his wires.

The

open windows feemed to invite The freeman to a farewell flight;

But Tom was ftill confined; And Dick, although his way was clear, Was much too generous and fincere To leave his friend behind.

For, fettling on his grated roof,

He chirped and kiffed him, giving proof That he defired no more;

Nor would forfake his cage at laft,

Till gently feized, I fbut him fast,
A prifoner as before.

Oh

ye, who never knew the joys Of Friendship, satisfied with noise,

Fandango, ball, and rout!

Blush, when I tell you how a bird,

A prison with a friend preferred
To liberty without.

THE NEEDLESS ALARM.

A TALE.

THERE is a field, through which I often pass,
Thick overspread with moss and filky grass,
Adjoining close to Kilwick's echoing wood,
Where oft the bitch-fox hides her hapless brood,
Referved to folace many a neighbouring 'fquire,
That he may follow them through brake and briar,
Contufion hazarding of neck or spine,
Which rural gentlemen call sport divine.
A narrow brook, by rushy banks concealed,
Runs in a bottom, and divides the field;
Oaks intersperse it, that had once a head,
But now wear crefts of oven-wood instead;
And where the land flopes to its watery bourn,
Wide yawns a gulph befide a ragged thorn;
Bricks line the fides, but shivered long ago,
And horrid brambles intertwine below;
A hollow scooped, I judge in ancient time,
For baking earth, or burning rock to lime.
X

VOL. II.

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