Requires; to eat, to drink, to fleep to fill
A cheft with gold, the sprightly breast demands
Inceffant rapture; life, a tedious load
Deny d its continuity of joy.

But whence obtain? philofophy requires
No vifh coft; crown its utmost prayer
Suffice the root-built cell the fimple fleece,
The juicy viand, and the chrystal stream.
Ev'h mild ftudipidy rewards her train
With cheap contentment. Tatte alone requires,
Entire profufion! Days and nights, and hours,
Thy voice hydropic fancy! calls aloud
For coftly draughts, inundant bowls of joy,
Rivers of rich regalement feas of bliss !
Seas without fhore! infinity of fweets !

And yet, unless fage reafon join her hand
In pleasure's purchase, pleasure is unfure :
And yet, uniefs œconomy's couf ne
Legitimate expence, fome gracelets mark,
Some symptom ill-conceal'd, fhall, foon or late,
Burft like a pime from the vicious tide
Of acid bood proclaiming want's difgafe,
Amidst the bloom of fhow The fcanty fiream
Slow-liter ng in its channel, feems to vie
With Vaga's depth; but fhould the fedgy power
Vain-glorious empty his penurious urn
O'er the rough rock, how muft his fellow streams
Deride the tinklings of the boaftive ri!!!

I not afpire to mark the dubious path That leads to wealth, to poets mark'd in vain ! But, ere felf flattery footh the vivid breast With dreams of fortune near ally'd to fame, Reflect how few, who charm'd the liftening ear Of fatrap or of king, her smiles enjoy'd! Confider well, what meagre alms repay'd The great Mæonian fire of tuneful fong, And prototype of all that foar'd sublime, And left dull cares below; what griefs impell'd The modeft bard of learn'd Eliza's reign, To fwell with tears his Mulla's parent stream, And mourn aloud the pang to ride, to rull, "To fpend, to give, to want, to be undone." Why should tell of Cowley s penfive mufe Belov'd in vain? too copious is my theme! Which of your boafted race might hope reward Like loyal Butler, when the liberal Charles, The judge of wit, perus'd the sprightly page, Triumphant o'er his foes? believe not hope, The poet's parafite; but learn alone To spare the fcanty boon the fates decree, Poet and rich! 'tis folccifm extreme! 'Tis heighten'd contradiction in his frame, every nerve and fibre of his foul

In

The latent feeds and principles of want,

Has nature wove; and fate confirmed the clue.

Of

Nor yet defpair to fhun the ruder gripe
penury; with nice precilion learn

A dollar's value. Foremost in the page
That marks th' expence of each revolving year,
Place inattention. When the luft of praise,
Or honour's falfe idea, tempts thy foul
To flight frugality. affure thine heart
That dager's near. This perishable coin
Is no vain ore. It is thy liberty,
It fetters mifers, but it muft alone

Infranchife thee. The world, the cit like world,

Bids thee beware; thy little craft effay;
Nor, piddling with a tea-fpoon's flender form,
See with foup-ladles devils gormandize.

Oeconomy thou good old aunt! whofe mien
Furrow'd with age and care the wife adore,
The wits contemn! referving ftill thy ftores
To chear thy friends at laft! why with the cit
Or bookless churl, with each ignoble name,
Each earthly nature, deign't thou to refide?
And, fhunning all who by thy favours crown'd
Might glad the world, to feek fome vulgar mind
Infpiring pride, and felfish thapes of ill?

Why with the old, infirm, and impotent, And childlefs, love to dwell: yet leave the breaft Of youth unwar'd, unguided, uninform'd? Of youth, to whom thy monitory voice

cre doubly kind? for fure to youthful eyes (How fhort foe'er it prove) the road of life Appears protracted: fair on either fide The Loves, the Graces play, on Fortune's child Profusely fmiling well might you effay The frugal plan, the lucrative employ. Source of their favour all the live-long day, But fate affents not. Age alone contracts His meagre palm, to clench the tempting bane Of all his peace, the glittering feeds of care!

O that the Mufe's voice might pierce the ear Of generous youth! for youth deferves her fong, Youth is fair virtue's feafon, virtue then Requires the pruner's hand; the frequent stage It barely vegetates: nor long the space Fre robb'd of warmth its arid trunk difplay Fell winter's total reign. O lovely fource Of generous foibles, youth when opening minds Are hopeft as the light. lucid as air As foftering breezes kind, as linnets gay, Tender as bude, and lavish as the spring! Yet hapless flate of man! his earliest youth Cozens itfelf, his age defrauds mankind.

Nor deem it strange that rolling years abrade
The focial bias. Life's extensive page
What does it but unfold repeated proofs
Of gold's omnipotence? Vith patriots, friends,
Sickening beneath its ray, enervate fome,
And others dead, whofe putrid name exhales
A noisome scent, the bulky volume teems.
With kininen, brothers, fons, moifteuing the
. fhroud,

Or honouring the grave, with fpecious grief.
Of thort duration; foon in fortune's beanis
Alert, and wondering at the tears they fled.

But who fhall fave by tame profaic strain
That glowing breaft, where wit with youth con-
Ipires

To fweeten luxury? The fearful Mufe
Shali yet proceed, though by the fainteft gleam
Of hope infpir'd, to warn the train fhe loves.

PART THE SECOND.

IN fume dark faafon, when the mifty shower
Obfcures the fun, and faddens all the fky;
When linnets drop the wing, nor grove nor stream
Invites thee forth, to sport thy drooping Mufe;
Seize the dull hour, nor with regret aflign
To worldly prudence. She nor nice nor coy

Accepta

*Its melting ftores, and in the dreary void
"Leave not a doit behind." Ere yet exhauft
Its flimfy folds offend thy penfive eye,
Away! embofom'd deep in distant shades,
Nor feen nor feeing, thou mayft vent thy scorn
Of lace, embroidery, purple, gems, and gold!
There of the farded fop, and effenc'd beau,
Ferocious with a ftoic's frown difclofe
Thy manly fcorn, averfe to tinfel pomp ;
And fluent thine harangue. But can thy foul
Deny thy limbs the radiant grace of dreis,
Where dress is merit! where thy graver friend
Shall with thee burnish'd! where the fprightly

fair

Demand embellishment! ev'n Delia's eye,
As in a garden, roves, of hues alone
Inquirent, curious? Fly the curst domain;
These are the realms of luxury and fhew;
No claffic foil: away! the bloomy spring
Attracts thee hence; the waning autumn warns ;
Fly to thy native fhades, and dread evʼn there,
Lell bufy fancy tempt thy narrow ftate
Beyond its bounds. Obferve Florelio's mien."
Why treads my friend with melancholy step
That beauteous lawn? why penfive ftrays his eye
O'er ftatues, grottos, urns, by critic art
Proportion'd fair? or from his lofty dome,
Bright glittering through the grove, returns

eye

Unpleas'd, difconfolate? And is it love, Difaftrous love, that robs the finish'd fcenes Of all their beauty? centering all in her His foul adores? or from a blacker caufe

his

Springs this remorseful gloom? is conscious guilt
The latent fource of more than love's despair?
It cannot be within that polifh'd breast
Where fcience dwells, that guilt hould harbour
there;

No! 'tis the fad furvey of present want,
And past profufion! Loft to him the sweets
Of yon pavillion, fraught with every charm
For other eyes; or, if remaining, proofs
Of criminal expence ! fweet interchange
Of river, valley. mountain, woods, and plains I
How gladfome once he rang'd your native turf,
Your fimple scenes, how raptur'd! ere expence
Had lavish'd thousand ornaments, and taught
Convenience to perplex him, art to pall,
Pomp to deject, and beauty to displease.

Oh! for a foul to all the glare of wealth,
To fortune's wide exhauftiefs treasury,
Nobly fuperior! but let caution guide
The coy difpofal of the wealth we fcorn,
And prudence be our almoner! Ala's !"
The pilgrim wandering o'er fome diftant clime,
Sworn foe of avarice! not difdains to learn
Its coin's imputed worth; the deftin'd means
To fmooth his paffage to the favour'd shrine.
Ah let not us, who tread this ftranger-world,
Let none who fojourn on the realms of life,
Forget the land is mercenary, nor watte
His fare, ere landed on no venal shore.

Let never bard confult Palladio's rules; Let never bard, O Burlington! furvey Thy learned art, in Chifwick's dome difplay'd;

YE

PART THE THIRD.

ET once again, and to thy doubtful faté
The trembling Mufe configns thee. Efe
contempt,

Or want's empoison'd arrow, ridicule,
Transfix thy weak unguarded breast, behold!
The poet's roofs, the careless poet's, his
Who fcerns advice, fhall clofe ny ferious lay.
When Gulliver, now great, now little deem'd,
The play-thing of comparison, arrív'd
Where learned bofoms their aerial schemes
Mid thefe, one fubtler artist he descry'd,
Projected, ftudious of the public weal;
Who cherish'd in his duty tenement
The fpider's web, injurious to fupplant
Fair Albion's fleeces! Never, never may
Our monarchs on fuch fatal purpose smile,'
And irritate Minerva's beggar'd fons

The Melksham weavers! Here in every nook
Their wefts they fpun here revel'd uncontroul'd,
And, like the flags from Westminster's high 100f
Dependent, here their fluttering textures wav'd.
Such, fo adorn'd, the cell I mean to fing!
Cell ever fqualid! where the fneerful maid
Will not fatigue her hand! broom never comes,
That comes to all! o'er whofe quiefcent walls
Arachne's unmolested care has drawn
Curtains fubfufk, and fave th'expence of art.

Survey those walls, in fady texture clad,
Where wandering fnails in many a flimfy path,
Free, unreftrain'd, their various journeys crawl;
Peregrinations ftrange, and labyrinths
Confus'd, inextricable ! fuch the clue
Of Cretan Ariadne ne'er explain'd !
Hooks! angles! crooks! and involutions wild!
Mean time, thus filver'd with meanders gay,
In mimic pride the fnail-wrought tiffue fhines,
Perchance of tabby, or of harateen,
Not ill expreffive! fuch the power of fnails.
Behold the chair, whose fractur'd feat infirm
An aged cushion hides replete with duft
The foliag'd velvet; pleafing to the eye
Of great Eliza's reign, but now the snare
Of weary guest that on the fpecious bed
Sits down confiding. Ah!, difastrous wight!
In evil hour and rafhly doft thou trust
The fraudful couch! for, though in velvet cas'd,
Thy fated thigh fhall kifs the dufty floor.
The traveller thus, that o'er Hibernian plains
Hath fhap'd his way; on beds profufe of flowers,
Cowflip, or primrose, or the circular eye
Of daifie fair, decrees to bask fupine.

And

And fee! delighted, down he drops, fecure
Offweet refreshment, eafe without annoy,
Or lufcious noon-day nap.
Ah much deceiv'd,

Much fuffering pilgrim thou nor noon-day nap,
Norfweet repofe fhall find; the falle morals
In quivering undulations yields beneath
Thy burden, in the miry gulph enclos d!
And who would tru&t appearance? caft thine eye
Where 'mid machines of heterogeneous form
His coat depends; alas! his only coat,
Eldeft of things! and naplefs, as an heath
Of fmall extent by fleecy myriads graz'd.
Not different have I feen in dreary vault
Difplay'd, a coffin; on each fable fide
The texture unmolefted feems entire.
Fraudful, when touch'd it glides to duft away!
And leaves the wondering (wain to gape, or
ftare,

And with expreffive fhrug, and piteous ligh,
Declare the fatal force of rolling years,

Or dire extent of frail mortality.

This aged vefture, fcorn of gazing beaux,
And formal cits, (themselves too haply fcorn'd)
Both on its fleeve and on its skirt, retains
Full many a pin wide sparkling; for, if e'er
Their well-known creft met his delighted eye,
Though rapt in thought, commercing with the

iky,

He, gently ftooping, fcorn'd not to upra¡fe,
And on each fleeve, as confcious of their use,
Indenting fix them; nor when arm'd with thefe,
The cure of rents and feparations dire,
And chafms enormous, did he view difmay'd
Hedge, bramble, thicket, buih portending fate
To breeches, coat, and hofe! had any wight
Of vulgar skill, the tender texture owu'd;
But gave his mind to form a fonnet quaint
Of Silvia's fhoe-ftring, or of Chloe's fan,
Or fweetly fashion'd tip of Celia's car.
Alas! by frequent ufe decays the force
Of mortal art! the refractory robe
Eludes the taylor's art, eludes his own;
How potent once, in unión quaint conjoin'd!

See near his bed his bed too falfely call'd
The place of reft, while it a Bard fuftains;
Pale, meagre, Mufe-rid wight! who reads in

vain

Narcotic volumes o'er his candlestick,
Radiant machine, when from the plastic hand
Of Mulciber, the mayor of Birmingham,
The engine iffued; now alas difguis'd

By many a munctuous tide, that wandering down
Its fides congeal. what he, perhaps, effays
With humour forc'd, and ill-diffembled faile,
Idly to liken to the poplar's trunk
When o'er its bark the lucid amber, wound
In many a pleating fold, incrufts the tree.

Or fuits him more the winter's candy'd thorn, When from each branch, anneal'd the works of froft

Pervasive, radiant ificles depend?

How fhall I fing the various ill that waits
The careful foneteer? or who can paint
The fhifts enormous, that in vain he forms
To patch his panelefs window; to coment
His batter'd tea-pot, ill-retentive vase?

To war with ruin? anxious to conceal
Want's fell appearance, of the real ill
Nor foe, nor fearful., Ruin unforeseen
Invades his chattels; ruin will invade;
Will claim his whole invention to repair,
Nor, of the gift, for tuneful ends design'd,
Allow one part to decorate his fong.
While ridicule, with ever pointing hand
Conscious of every fhift, of every shift
Indicative, his inmost plot betrays,
Points to the nook, which he his study calls
Pompous and vain! for thus he might efteer
His cheft, a wardrobe; purfe a treasury:
And fhews, to crown her full difplay, himfel.
One whom the powers above, in place of health,
And wonted vigour; of paternal cot,
Or little farm; of bag, or fcrip, or staff,
Cup, dith, fpoon, plate, or worldly wenfil,
A poet fram'd; yet fram'd not to repine,
And with the cobler's loftieft fite his own;
Nor, partial as they seem, upbraid the fates,
Who to the humbler mechanifm, join'd
Goods fo fuperior, fuch exalted blifs!

See with what seeming ease, what labour'd peace,
He, hapless hypocrite! refines his nail,
His chief amufement! then how feign'd, how
forc'd,

That care-defying fonnet, which implies
His debts difcharg'd, and he of half a crown
In full poffeffion, uncontested right
And property! Yet ah! whoe'er this wight
Admiring view, if fuch there be, distrust
The vain pretenee; the fmiles that harbour grief
As lurks the ferpent deep in flowers unwreath'd.
Forewarn'd, be frugal; or with prudent rage
Thy pen demolish; chufe the truftier flail,
And blefs thofe labours which the choice ina
fpir'd.

But if thou view'ft a vulgar mind, a wight
Of common fenfe, who feeks no brighter name,
Him envy, him admire, him, from thy breaft,
Prefcient of future dignities, falute
Sheriff, or mayor, in comfortable furs
Enwrapt, fecure: nor yet the laureat's crown
In thought exclude him! He perchance fhall rife
To nobler heights than forefight can decree
When, fir'd with wrath, for his intrigues dif
play'd,

In many an idle fong, Saturnian Jove

Vow'd fure deftruction to the tuneful race;

Appeas'd by suppliant Phoebus, Bards, he said, Henceforth of plenty, wealth, and pomp debar'd But fed by frugal cares, might wear the bay Secure of thunder."-Low the Delian bow'd, Nor at th' invidious favour dar'd repine.

Happy the Bard, who, from his native hills, Soft mufing on a fummer's eve, furveys His azure ftream, with penfile woods enclos'd! Or o'er the glaffy furface, with his friend, Or faithful fair, through bordering willows green Wafts his small frigates. Fearless he of fhouts, Or taunts, the rhetoric of the watery crew That ape confufion from the realms they rule! Fearless of thefe; who shares the gentler voice Of peace and mufic; birds of sweetest fong Attune from native boughs their various lay, And chear the foreft; birds of brighter plume With bufy pinion fkim the glittering wave, And tempt the fun; ambitious to difplay Their feveral merit, while the vocal flute, Or number'd verfe, by female voice endear'd, Crowns his delight, and mollifies the scene.

If folitude his wandering steps invite
To fome more deep recefs (for hours there are,
When gay, when focial minds to friendship's
voice,

Or beauty's charm, her wild abodes prefer);
How pleas'd he treads her venerable shades,
Her folemn courts! the centre of the grove!
The root-built cave, by far-extended rocks
Around embosom d, how it soothes the foul!
If fcoop'd at firft by fuperftitious hands
The rugged cell receiv'd alone the foals
Of bigot minds, religion dwells not here,
Yet virtue pleas'd, at intervals, retires:
Yet here may wisdom, as the walks the maze,
Some ferious truths collect, the rules of life,
And ferious truths of mightier weight than gold!
I ask not wealth; but let me hoard with care,
With frugal cunning, with a niggard's art,
A few fix'd principles; in early life,
Ere indolence impede the fearch, explor'd.
Then, like old Latimer, when age impairs
My judgment's eye, when quibbling fchools at-

tack

My grounded hope, or fubtler wits deride,
Will I not blufh to fhun the vain debate,
And this mine anfwer: Thus, 'twas thus I
thought;

"My mind yet vigorous, and my foul entire ;
"Thus will I think, averfe to liften more
"To intricate difcuffion, prone to ftray.

Perhaps my reafon may but ill defend "My fettled faith; my mind, with age impair'd, "Too fure its own infirmities declare. "But I am arm'd by caution, ftudious youth, And early forefight; now the winds may rife, "The tempeft whistle, and the billows roar; "My pinnace rides in port, defpoil'd and worn, Shatter'd by time and ftorms, but while it fhuns Th' inequal conflict, and declines the deep, "Sees the ftrong veffei fluctuate lefs fecure."

Thus while he ftrays, a thousand rural scenes Suggeft inftruction, and inftructing please. And fee betwixt the grove's extended arms An a bbey's rude remains attract thy view, Gilt by the mid-day fun with lingering step Produce thine axe, (for, aiming to deftroy Tree, branch, or fhade, for never fhall thy brea VOL. VII.

Too long deliberate) with timorous hand
Remove th' obftructive bough; nor yet refuse,
Though fighing, to deftroy that favourite pine,
Rais'd by thine hand, in its luxuriant prime
Of beauty fair, that fcreens the vast remains.
Aggriev'd but conftant as the Roman fire,
The rigid Manlius, when his conquering fon
Bled by a parent's voice; the cruel meed
Of virtuous ardour, timelessly display'd;
Nor ceafe till, through the gloomy road, the pile
Gleam unchftructed; thither oft thine eye
Shall fweetly wander; thence returning, foothe,
With penfive fcenes thy philofophic mind.

These were thy haunts, thy opulent abodes,
O fuperflition! hence the dire difeafe,
(Balanc'd with which the fam'd Athenian poft
Were a fhort head-ach, were the trivial pain
Of tranfient indigestion) seiz'd mankind.

Long time the rag d, and scarce a fouthern gale
Warm'd our chill air, unloaded with the threats
Of tyrant Rome; but futile all, till fhe,
Rome's abler legate, magnify d their power,
And in a thoufand horrid forms attir'd.

Where then was truth to fanctify the page Of British annals? if a foe expir'd, The perjur'd monk fuborn'd infernal fhrieks, And fiends to fnatch at the departing foul With hellish emulation. If a friend, High o'er his roof exultant angels tune Their golden lyres, and waft him to the skies. What then were vows, were oaths, were pligh

ted faith?