Let fober draughts refresh, and wholesome fare
Decaying nature's wafted force repair;
And fprightly exercise the duller fpirits chear.
In all things ftill which to this care belong,
Obferve this rule, to guard thy foul from wrong.
By virtuous ufe thy life and manners frame,
Manly and fimply pure, and free from blame.
Provoke not envy's deadly rage, but fly
The glancing curfe of her malicious eye.
Seek not in needlefs luxury to waste
Thy wealth and fubftance with a spendthrift's hafte.
Yet flying thefe, be watchful, left thy mind,
Prone to extremes, an equal danger find,
And be to fordid avarice inclin'd.
Distant alike from each, to neither lean,
But ever keep the happy Golden Mean.
Be careful ftill to guard thy foul from wrong,
And let thy thought prevent thy hand and tongue.
Let not the stealing God of Sleep furprize,
Nor creep in flumbers on thy weary eyes,
Ere every action of the former day
Strictly thou doft and righteously survey.
With reverence at thy own tribunal stand,
And answer juftly to thy own demand.
Where have I been? In what have I trangrefs'd? 115 What good or ill has this day's life exprefs'd?
Where have I fail'd in what I ought to do?
In what to God, to man, or to myself I owe?
Inquire fevere what-e'er from first to last,
From morning's dawn, till evening's gloom,has paft. 120
If evil were thy deeds, repenting mourn,
And let thy foul with ftrong remorse be torn.
If good, the good with peace of mind repay,
And to thy fecret felf with pleasure fay,
Rejoice, my heart, for all went well to-day.
Thefe thoughts, and chiefly these thy mind fhould
Employ thy ftudy, and engage thy love.
These are the rules which will to Virtue lead,
And teach thy feet her heavenly paths to tread.
This by his name I swear, whofe facred lore
First to mankind explain'd the mystic Four,
Source of eternal nature and almighty power.
In all thou dost first let thy prayers ascend,
And to thy gods thy labours first commend:
From them implore fuccefs, and hope a profperous end.
So fhall thy abler mind be taught to foar,
And wisdom in her fecret ways explore;
To range through heaven above and earth below,
Immortal gods and mortal men to know.
So fhalt thou learn what power does all control,
What bounds the parts, and what unites the whole:
And rightly judge, in all this wondrous frame,
How univerfal Nature is the fame;
So fhalt thou ne'er thy vain affections place
On hopes of what shall never come to pass.
Man, wretched man, thou shalt be taught to know, Who bears within himself the inborn cause of woe. Unhappy race! that never yet could tell,
How near their good and happiness they dwell.
Depriv'd of fenfe, they neither hear nor fee;
Fetter'd in vice, they seek not to be free,
But ftupid, to their own fad fate agree:
Like ponderous rolling-ftones, opprefs'd with ill,
The weight that loads them makes them roll on still,
Bereft of choice and freedom of the will;
For native ftrife in every bofom reigns,
And fecretly an impious war maintains :
Provoke not this, but let the combat ceafe,
And every yielding paffion fue for peace.
Would't thou, great Jove, thou father of mankind,
Reveal the Dæmon for that task affign'd,
The wretched race an end of woes would find.
A yet be bold, O man, divine thou art,
And of the gods celeftial effence part.
Nor facred nature is from thee conceal'd,
But to thy race her myftic rules reveal'd.
Thefe if to know thou happily attain,
Soon fhalt thou perfect be in all that I ordain.
Thy wounded foul to health thou shalt reftore,
And free from every pain the felt before.
Abftain, I warn, from meats unclean and foul,
So keep thy body pure, fo free thy foul;
So rightly judge; thy reafon fo maintain ;
Reafon which heaven did for thy guide ordain,
Let that beft reafon ever hold the rein.
Then if this mortal body thou forfake,
And thy glad flight to the pure æther take,
Among the gods exalted fhalt thou shine,
Immortal, incorruptible, divine:
The tyrant death fecurely fhalt thou brave,
And fcorn the dark dominion of the grave
B 4
'HILE kings and nations on thy counfels wait,. And Anna trufts to thee the British state; While fame, to thee, from every foreign coast, Flies with the news of empires won and loft, Relates whate'er her bufy eyes beheld, And tells the fortune of each bloody field; While, with officious duty, crowds attend, To hail the labours of thy god-like friend, Vouchfafe the Mufe's humbler joy to hear; For facred numbers shall be still thy care;
Though mean the verfe, though lowly be the ftrain, Though least regarded be the Muse, of all the tuneful train,
Yet rife, neglected nymph, avow thy flame,
Affert th' infpiring god, and greatly aim
To make thy numbers equal to thy theme.
From heaven derive thy verfe; to heaven belong
The counfels of the wife, and battles of the strong.
To heaven the royal Anna owes, alone,
The virtues which adorn and guard her throne;
Thence is her juftice wretches to redress,
Thence is her mercy and her love of peace;
Thence is her power, her fceptre uncontrol'd,
To bend the stubborn, and repress the bold;
Her peaceful arts fierce factions to asswage,
To heal their breaches, and to footh their rage;
Thence is that happy prudence, which prefides
In each defign, and every action guides;
Thence is fhe taught her fhining court to grace,
And fix the worthiest in the worthiest place,
To truft at home Godolphin's watchful care,
And fend victorious Churchill forth to war.
Arife, ye nations rescued by her fword,
Freed from the bondage of a foreign lord,
Arife, and join the heroine to bless,
Behold the fends to fave you from diftrefs;
Rich is the royal bounty the bestows,
'Tis plenty, peace, and safety from your foes.
And thou, Iberia! rous'd at length, difdain
To wear inflav'd the Gallic tyrant's chain.
For fee! the British genius comes, to chear.
Thy fainting fons, and kindle them to war.
With her own glorious fires their fouls fhe warms,
And bids them burn for liberty and arms.
Unhappy land! the foremost once in fame,
Once lifting to the stars thy noble name,
In arts excelling, and in arms fevere,
The western kingdoms' envy, and their fear :
Where is thy pride, thy confcious honour, flown,
Thy ancient valour, and thy first renown?
How art thou funk among the nations now!
How haft thou taught thy haughty neck to bow,
And dropt the warrior's wreath inglorious from toy
brow!
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