With conscious guilt he saw him start, Extortion gnaws his throbbing heart, And never, or in thought or dream, His breast admits one happy gleam. "May Jove," he cries, "reject my pray'r, And guard my life from guilt and care! My soul abhors that wretch's fateOh keep me in my humble state! But see, amidst a gaudy crowd, Yon minister so gay and proud; On him what happiness attends, Who thus rewards his grateful friends!" "First take the glass," the god replies; "Man views the world with partial eyes." "Good gods!" exclaims the startled wight, "Defend me from this hideous sight Corruption, with corrosive smart, Lies cankering on his guilty heart. I see him with polluted hand Spread the contagion o'er the land. Now Avarice with insatiate jaws, Now Rapine with her harpy claws, His bosom tears; his conscious breast Groans, with a load of crimes opprest. I see him, mad and drunk with power, Stand tottering on Ambition's tower. Sometimes, in speeches vain and proud, His boasts insult the nether crowd; Now, seized with giddiness and fear, He trembles lest his fall is near.

Was ever wretch like this?" he cries, 'Such misery in such disguise!

The change, O Jove! I disavow—
Still be my lot the spade and plough."
He next, confirm'd by speculation,
Rejects the lawyer's occupation;
For he the statesman seem'd in part,
And bore similitude of heart.

Nor did the soldier's trade inflame

His hopes, with thirst of spoil and fame:
The miseries of war he mourn'd,

Whole nations into deserts turn'd.

By these have laws and rights been braved;
By these was free-born man enslaved :
When battles and invasion cease,

Why swarm they in the lands of peace?
"Such change," says he, "may I decline-
The scythe, and civil arms, be mine!"
Thus, weighing life in each condition,
The Clown withdrew his rash petition.
When thus the god: "How mortals err!
If you true happiness prefer;
'Tis to no rank of life confined,

But dwells in every honest mind.
Be justice, then, your sole pursuit—
Plant virtue, and content's the fruit.”
So Jove, to gratify the Clown,

Where first he found him, set him down.1

(1) The prayer of Agur, the son of Jakeh, recorded in Prov. xxx. 8, touches upon most of the evils alluded to here. "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:" he also introduces the courtier, and the lawyer, when he says, "Remove from me vanity and lies."

The former, added to "vexation of spirit," comprehends, in Solomon's idea, the sum total of human pleasure, and what can any one do, "after the king?" It is not that a man may not possess wealth, and yet be happy, but the natural

tendency of all excess is evil, and some professions necessarily engender it. Lord Chesterfield, disgusted with life, morosely declared his resolution, "to sleep in the carriage during the remainder of his journey:" the Duke of Athol, gorged with wealth, was thirty years a lunatic. Many have even felt disease, a boon, and a deliverance from worse cares. There is a crook in each one's lot, and here the wisest man is he, who bears the curse under which, we all live, with most equanimity, and, like Samson, to use a metaphor, extracts honey out of the carcase of the lion!

THE MAN, THE CAT, THE DOG, AND THE FLY.

HAIL, happy land! whose fertile grounds
The liquid fence of Neptune bounds;
By bounteous Nature set apart,
The seat of Industry and Art.
O Britain! chosen port of trade,
May luxury ne'er thy sons invade!
May never minister (intent

His private treasures to augment)

Corrupt thy state!1 If jealous foes
Thy rights of commerce dare oppose,
Shall not thy fleets their rapine awe?
Who is't prescribes the ocean law?
Whenever neighbouring states contend,
"Tis thine to be the general friend,
What is 't who rules in other lands? 2
On trade alone thy glory stands:
That benefit is unconfined,
Diffusing good among mankind:
That first gave lustre to thy reigns,
And scatter'd plenty o'er thy plains:
"Tis that alone thy wealth supplies,
And draws all Europe's envious eyes.
Be commerce, then, thy sole design-
"Keep that, and all the world is thine.

When naval traffic ploughs the main,
Who shares not in the merchant's gain?
'Tis that supports the regal state,
And makes the farmer's heart elate:
The numerous flocks that clothe the land
Can scarce supply the loom's demand;
Prolific culture glads the fields,
And the bare heath, a harvest yields.
Nature expects mankind should share

The duties of the public care.

Who's born for sloth? 3 To some we find

The ploughshare's annual toil assign'd;

the former fables be just, this apostrophe is very much like "shutting le door after the horse is stolen." It is, of course, like the expression, land," employed before-a poetic fiction!

his line, clearly, refers to a time when, the name of England, was reabroad. (3) Barrow.