Diftrefs came always fmiling from thy door;
For God had made the agent to the poor;
Had form'd thy feelings on the nobleft plan,
To grace at once, the Poet, and the Man.

A

EXTRACT FROM

MONO DY

ON THE DEATH OF

DR. OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

DARK as the night, which now in dunnest robe,

Ascends her zenith, o'er the filent globe;
Sad melancholy wakes, awhile to tread,

With folemn step, the manfions of the dead:
Led by her hand, o'er this yet recent shrine
I forrowing bend; and here effay to twine
The tributary wreath of laureat bloom,

With artless hands, to deck a poet's tomb;

The tomb where Goldfmith fleeps. Fond hopes,

adieu !

No more your airy dreams fhall mock my view:
Here will I learn ambition to controul,

And each afpiring paffion of the foul:

E'en

E'en now, methinks, his well-known voice I hear,

When late he meditated flight from care,
When as imagination fondly hied

To fcenes of fweet retirement, thus he cried.

"Ye fplendid fabricks, palaces and towers, "Where diffipation leads the giddy hours, "Where pomp, disease, and knavery reside, "And folly bends the knee to wealthy pride; "Where luxury's purveyors learn to rife, "And worth, to want a prey, unfriended dies; "Where warbling Eunuchs glitter in brocade, "And hapless Poets toil for fcanty bread: "Farewel! to other scenes I turn my eyes, “Embosom'd in the vale where Auburn lies, "Deferted Auburn, thofe now ruin'd glades,

"Forlorn, yet ever dear and honour'd fhades. "There though the Hamlet boasts no smiling train, "Nor sportful paftime circling on the plain;

"No needy villains proul around for prey,

"No flanderers, no fycophants betray;

"No gaudy foplings fcornfully deride

"The swain, whose humble pipe is all his pride. "There will I fly to feek that soft repofe,

"Which folitude contemplative bestows:

.. Yet,

"Yet, oh fond hope! perchance there ftill remains "One lingering friend behind, to bless the plains;

"Some hermit of the dale, infhrined in ease,

Long loft companion of my youthful days;

"With whose sweet converfe in his focial bower, "I oft may chide away fome vacant hour; "To whofe pure fympathy, I may impart "Each latent grief, that labours at my heart, "Whate'er I felt, and what I faw, relate, "The sholes of luxury, the wrecks of state; "Those busy scenes, where science wakes in vain, "In which I fhar'd, ah! ne'er to share again. "But whence that pang? does nature now rebel?

Why faulters out my tongue the word farewel? "Ye friends! who long have witness'd to my toil, "And feen me ploughing in a thankless foil, "Whose partial tenderness hufh'd every pain, "Whose approbation made my bosom vain : ""Tis you, to whom my foul divided hies "With fond regret, and half unwilling flies; Sighs forth her parting wifhes to the wind, "And lingering leaves her better half behind. "Can I forget the intercourfe I fhar'd,

"What friendship cherish'd, and what zeal endear'd?

"Alas!

"Alas! remembrance ftill muft turn to you,

"And to my latest hour, protract the long adieu.
"Amid the woodlands, wherefoe'er I rove,
"The plain, or secret covert of the grove,
"Imagination fhall fupply her ftore

"Of painful blifs, and what she can restore;
"Shall ftrew each lonely path with flowrets gay,
"And wide as is her boundless empire ftray.
"On eagle pinions traverse earth, and skies,
"And bid the loft and distant objects rise.
"Here, where encircled o'er the floping land
"Woods rife on woods, fhall Ariftotle stand;
"Lyceum round the godlike man rejoice,
"And bow with reverence to wisdom's voice.
"There, spreading oaks shall arch the vaulted dome,
"The Champion, there, of liberty, and Rome,
"In attick eloquence fhall thunder laws,
"And uncorrupted fenates fhout applause.
"Not more extatic vifions rapt the foul

"Of Numa, when to midnight grots he ftole,"And learnt his lore, from virtue's mouth refin'd, "To fetter vice, and harmonize mankind.

"Now ftretch'd at eafe befide fome fav'rite stream,

Elyfium, feats of art, and laurels won,

"The Graces three, and * Japhet's fabled fon :
"Whilft Angelo fhall wave the mystic rod,
"And fee a new creation wait his nod;

"Prefcribe his bounds to Time's remorfelefs power,
"And, to my arms, my abfent friends reftore,
"Place me amidst the group, each well-known face,
"The fons of fcience, lords of human race;
"And as oblivion finks at his command,
"Nature shall rife more finish'd from his hand,
"Thus fome Magician fraught with potent skill,
'Transforms, and moulds each varied mass at will;
"Calls animated forms of wonderous birth,
"Cadmean offspring, from the teeming earth,
"Uncears the ponderous tombs, the realms of night,
"And calls their cold inhabitants to light;
"Or, as he traverfes a dreary fcene,

"Bids every sweet of nature there convene,

"Huge mountains skirted round with wavy woods, "The shrub-deckt lawns, and filver sprinkled floods, "Whilft flowrets fpring around the fmiling land, "And follow on the traces of his wand.

* Prometheus.

"Such