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Through beauteous land, from all annoyance clear,
Of thorny evil and perplexing fear.

* Yon lofty grove's delicious bow'rs to gain,
You cross th' expanfe of this enamell'd plain,
A meadow with eternal beauty bright,
Beneath a purer heav'n, o'erflow'd with light.
Full in the center of the plain, behold

A court far-flaming with its wall of gold

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And gate of diamond, where the righteous reft; 325
This clime their home, the country of the bleft:
Here all the Virtues dwell, communion sweet!

With Happiness, who rules the peaceful feat.
In station at th' effulgent portal, fee

A beauteous form of mildest majesty.

Her eyes how piercing! how fedate her mien!
Mature in life, her countenance ferene :
Spirit and folid thought each feature shows,
And her plain robe with ftate unftudy'd flows.
She ftands upon a cube of marble, fix'd
As the firm rock, two lovely nymphs betwixt,
Her daughters, copies of her looks and air,
Here candid Truth, and fweet Perfuafion there:
She, the is Wifdom. In her ftedfaft eye
Behold th' oppreffive type of certainty :

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The third court, or the virtuous life.

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Certain

Certain her way, and permanent the deed
Of gift fubftantial to her friends decreed.
She gives the confidence erect and clear,
She gives magnanimous contempt of fear,
And bids th' invulnerable mind to know
Her fafety from the future fhafts of woe.
O treasure, richer than the fea or land!
But why without the walls her deftin'd stand?
There standing, she presents her potent bowl,
Divine cathartic, which restores the foul.

This afks a comment.

In fome dire disease,

Machaon's fkill first purges off the lees;

Then clear and strong the purple current flows,

And life renew'd in every member glows:
But if the patient all controul despise,
Juft victim of his stubborn will he dies.
So Wisdom, by her rules, with healing art
Expells Delusion's mischiefs from the heart;

Blindness, and error, and high-boasting pride,

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Intemp'rance, luft, fierce wrath's impetuous tide, 360 Hydropic avarice, all the plagues behind

Which in the first mad court oppress'd the mind.

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Thus purg'd, her pupil through the gate she brings, The Virtues hail their gueft, the guest enraptur'd fings. Behold the spotlefs band, celeftial charms!

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Scene that with awe chaftifes whom it warms:

No harlotry, no paint, no gay excefs,

But beauty unaffected as their drefs.

See Knowledge grasping a refulgent star,

See Fortitude in panoply of war:

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Justice her equal scale aloft displays,

And rights both human and divine she weighs.
There Moderation, all the pleasures bound

In brazen chains her dreaded feet furround.
There bounteous Liberality expands

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To want, to worth, her ever-loaded hands.

The florid hue of Temperance, her fide

Adorn'd by Health, a nymph in blooming pride.
Lo, foft-ey'd Meekness holds a curbing rein,

Anger's high-mettled spirit to restrain:
While Moral Order tunes her golden lyre,
And white-rob'd Probity compleats the choir.
O fairest of all fair! O blissful state!
What hopes fublime our ravish'd foul dilate!
Substantial hopes, if by the doctrine taught,
The fashion'd manners are to habit wrought.

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Yes,

Yes, 'tis refolv'd. We'll every nerve employ
Live, then, reftor'd; and reap the promis'd joy.
But whither do the Virtues lead their trust?
To Happiness, rewarder of the just.

Look upward to the hill beyond the grove,
A fovereign pile extends its front above:
Stately and strong, the lofty castle stands,
Its boundless profpect all the courts commands.
Within the porch, high on a jasper throne,
Th' Imperial Mother by her form is known;
Bright as the morn, when smiling on the hills
Earth, air, and fea with vernal joy fhe fills.
Rich without lavish coft her veft behold
In colours of the sky, and fring'd with gold:
A tiar, wreath'd with every flow'r that blows
Of livelieft tints, around her temples glows:
Eternal bloom her fnowy temples binds,
Fearless of burning funs and blasting winds.

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Now, with a crown of wond'rous pow'r, her hand 405 (Affiftant, round her, all the Virtues stand)

Adorns her hero, honourable meed

Of conquests won by many a valiant deed.

Formidable beafts fubdu'd:

What conquests?

Lab'ring he fought, he routed, he purfu'd.

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Once,

Once, a weak prey, beneath their force he cowr'd,
O'erthrown, and worry'd, and well-nigh devour'd;
'Till rouz'd from his inglorious floth, poffeft
With generous ardour kindling in his breast,
Lord of himself, the victor now constrains
Those hostile monsters in his pow'rful chains.
Explain thofe favage beafts at war with man.
Error and Ignorance, which head the van,
Heart-gnawing Grief, and loud-lamenting Woe,
Incontinence, a wild-destroying foe,
Rapacious Avarice; cruel numbers more:
O'er all he triumphs now, their flave before.
O great atchievements! more illuftrious far
Thefe triumphs, than the bloody wreaths of war.
But, fay, what falutary pow'r is fbed

By the fair crown, which decks the hero's head?
Most beatific. For poffeffing this
He lives, rich owner of man's proper bliss :
Bliss independent or on wealth or pow'r,
Fame, birth, or beauty, or voluptuous hour.
His hope's divorc'd from all exterior things,
Within himself the fount of pleasure springs;
Springs ever in the self-approving breast,

And his own honeft heart's a constant feast.

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