Religion! ere the hand of Fate
Shall make reflection plead too late,

My erring senses teach,
Amidst the flatt'ring hopes of youth,
To meditate the solemn truth

These awful relics preach.

Thy penetrating beams disperse
The mist of error, whence our fears
Derive their fatal spring:

"Tis thine the trembling heart to warm,
And soften to an angel form

The pale terrific king.

When, sunk by guilt in sad despair,
Repentance breathes her humble pray'r,

And owns thy threat'nings just;
Thy voice the shudd'ring suppliant cheers,
With mercy calms her torturing fears,
And lifts her from the dust.

Sublim'd by thee, the soul aspires
Beyond the range of low desires,
In nobler views elate :

Unmow'd her distant change surveys,
And, arm'd by faith, intrepid pays
The universal debt.

In death's soft slumber lull'd to rest,
She sleeps by smiling visions blest,

That gently whisper peace;
Till the last morn's fair op'ning ray
Unfolds the bright eternal day
Of active life and bliss.

$ 60.

Written at Midnight in a Thunder

Storm. Carter.
LET coward Guilt, with pallid fear,
To shelt'ring caverns fly,
And justly dread the vengeful fate
That thunders through the sky.
Protected by that hand, whose law
The threat'ning storms obey,
Intrepid Virtue smiles secure,
As in the blaze of day.

In the thick cloud's tremendous gloom,
The lightning's lurid glare,
It views the same all-gracious Pow'r
That breathes the vernal air.
Through Nature's ever-varying scene,
By different ways pursued,

The one eternal end of Heav'n
Is universal good:

With like beneficent effect

O'er flaming æther glows,
As when it tunes the linnet's voice,
Or blushes in the rose.

By reason taught to scorn those fears
That vulgar minds molest,
Let no fantastic terrors break

My dear Narcissa's rest.

Thy life may all the tend'rest care
Of Providence defend;

And delegated angels round
Their guardian wings extend!

When thro' creation's vast expanse

The last dread thunders roll, Untune the concord of the spheres, And shake the rising soul; Unmov'd mayst thou the final storm Of jarring worlds survey, That ushers in the glad serene Of everlasting day!

§. 61. The Vanity of Human Wishes.
Johnson.
In Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal.
LET observation with extensive view
Survey mankind, from China to Peru;
Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,
And watch the busy scenes of crowded life:
Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate,
O'erspread with snares the clouded maze of fate,
Where wav'ring man, betray'd by vent'rous
pride

To tread the dreary paths without a guide;
As treach'rous phantoms in the mist delude,
Shuns fancied ills, or chases airy good :
How rarely reason guides the stubborn choice,
Rules the bold hand, or prompts the suppliant

voice :

How nations sink by darling schemes opprest,
When vengeance listens to the fool's request.
Fate wings with ev'ry wish th' afflictive dart,
Each gift of nature, and each grace of art;
With fatal heat impetuous courage glows,
With fatal sweetness elocution flows;
Impeachment stops the speaker's powerful breath,
And restless fire precipitates on death. [bold
Butt, scarce observ'd, the knowing and the
Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold;
Wide-wasting pest, that rages unconfin'd,
And crowds with crimes the records of mankind!
For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws,
For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws;
Wealth heap'd on wealth nor truth nor safety
The dangers gather as the treasures rise. [buys;

Let hist'ry tell, where rival kings command, And dubious title shakes the madden'd land, When statutes glean the refuse of the sword, How much more safe the vassal than the lord: Low sculks the hind beneath the rage of pow'r, And leaves the wealthy traitor in the Tower, Untouch'd his cottage, and his slumbers sound, Though confiscation's vultures hover round.

The needy traveller, serene and gay, Walks the wild heath, and sings his toil away. Does envy seise thee? crush th upbraiding joy; Increase his riches, and his peace destroy. New fears in dire vicissitude invade, The rustling break alarms, and quiv'ring shade; Nor light nor darkness brings his pain relief, One shows the plunder, and one hides the thief.

Yet still one gen'ral cry the skies assails, And gain and grandeur load the tainted gales; Few know the toiling statesman's fear or care, Th' insidious rival and the gaping heir. * Ver. 1-11. + Ver. 12-22. Ver. 23-27.

Once more, Democritus, arise on earth,
With cheerful wisdom and instructive mirth,
See motley life in modern trappings drest,
And feed with varied fools th' eternal jest:
Thou who couldst laugh where want enchain'd
caprice,

Toil crush'd conceit, and man was of a piece;
Where wealth unlov'd without a mourner died;
And scarce a sycophant was fed by pride;
Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate,
Or seen a new-made mayor's unwieldy state;
Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws,
And senates heard before they judg'd a cause;
How wouldst thou shake at Britain's modish tribe,
Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe?
Attentive truth and nature to descry,
And pierce each scene with philosophic eye,
To thee were solemn toys or empty show,
The robes of pleasure and the veils of woe:
All aid the farce, and all thy mirth maintain,
Whose joys are causeless, or whose griefs are vain.
Such was the scorn that fill'd the sage's mind,
Renew'd at ev'ry glance on human kind;
How just that scorn ere yet thy voice declare,
Search ev'ry state, and canvass ev'ry pray'r.
+ Unnumber'd suppliants crowd Preferment's
gate,

Athirst for wealth, and burning to be great ;
Delusive Fortune hears th' incessant call,
They mount, they shine, evaporate, and fall.
On ev'ry stage the foes of peace attend,
Hate dogs their flight, and insult mocks their end.
Love ends with hope, the sinking statesman's door
Pours in the morning worshipper no more;
For growing names the weekly scribbler lies,
To growing wealth the dedicator flies;
From ev'ry room descends the painted face,
That hung the bright palladium of the place,
And smok'd in kitchens, or in auctions sold,
To better features yields the frame of gold;
For now no more we trace in ev'ry line
Heroic worth, benevolence divine:
The form distorted justifies the fall,
And detestation rides th' indignant wall.
But will not Britain hear the last appeal,
Sign her foes' doom, or guard her fav'rites' zeal?
Thro Freedom's sons no more remonstrance rings,
Degrading nobles, and controlling kings;
Our supple tribes repress their patriot throats,
And ask no questions but the price of votes ;
With weekly libels, and septennial ale,
Their wish is full to riot and to rail,

In full-blown dignity, see Wolsey stand,
Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand:
To him the church, the realm, their pow'rs con-
Thro' him the rays of regal bounty shine; [sign,
Turn'd by his nod the stream of honor flows,
His smile alone security bestows:

Still to new heights his restless wishes tow'r; Claim leads to claim, and pow'r advances pow'r;

* Ver. 28-55.

† Ver. 56–107.

Till conquest unresisted ceas'd to please,
And rights submitted left him none to seize.
At length his sov'reigh frowns-the train of state
Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to
hate.

Where'er he turns he meets a stranger's eye, His suppliants scorn him, and his followers fly:

Now drops at once the pride of awful state,
The golden canopy, the glitt'ring plate,
The regal palace, the luxurious board,
The liv'ried army, and the menial lord.
With age, with cares, with maladies opprest,
He seeks the refuge of monastic rest.
Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings,
And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings.
Speak thou, whose thoughts at humble peace
repine,

Shall Wolsey's wealth with Wolsey's end be thine?
Or liv'st thou now, with safer pride content,
The wisest justice on the banks of Trent?
For why did Wolsey, near the steeps of fate,
On weak foundations raise th' enormous weight?
Why but to sink, beneath misfortune's blow,
With louder ruin to the gulphs below?

What gave great Villiers to th' assassin's knife, And fix'd disease on Harley's closing life? What murder'd Wentworth, and what exil'd Hyde,

By kings protected, and to kings ally'd?
What but their wish indulg'd in courts to shine,
And pow r too great to keep, or to resign?

When § first the college rolls receive his name, The young enthusiast quits his ease for faine; Resistless burns the fever of renown,

Caught from the strong contagion of the gown:
O'er Bodley's dome his future labors spread,
And | Bacon's mansion trembles o'er his head.
Are these thy views? proceed, illustrious youth,
And Virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth!
Yet should thy soul indulge the gen'rous heat,
Till captive Science yields her last retreat;
Should Reason guide thee with her brightest ray,
And pour on misty Doubt resistless day:
Should no false kindness lure to loose delight,
Nor praise relax, nor difficulty fright;
Should tempting Novelty thy cell refrain,
And Sioth effuse her opiate fumes in vain;
Should Beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,
Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;
Should no disease thy torpid veins invade,
Nor Melancholy's phantoms haunt thy shade;
Yet hope not life from grief or danger free,
Nor think the doom of man revers'd for thee:
Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,
And pause a while from learning, to be wise:
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
See nations slowly wise, and meanly just,
To buried merit raise the tardy bust.

Ver. 108-113.

If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.
Nor deem, when Learning her last prize be-

stows,

The glitt ring eminence exempt from foes;
See, when the vulgar 'scapes, despis'd or aw'd,
Rebellion's vengeful talons seise on Laud.
From meaner nines, tho' smaller fines content,
The plunder'd palace, or sequester'd rent;
Mark 'd out by dang'rous parts, he meets the shock,
And fatal Learning leads him to the block:
Around his tomb iet Art and Genius weep,
But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and
sleep.

The+festal blazes, the triumphal show,
The ravish'd standard, and the captive foe,
The senate's thanks, the gazette's pompous tale,
With force resistless o'er the brave prevail.
Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Asia whirl'd,
For such the steady Romans shook the world;
For such in distant lands the Britons shine,
And stain with blood the Danube or the Rhine;
This pow'r has praise, that virtue scarce can warm
Till fame supplies the universal charm,

Yet Reason frowns on War's unequal game,
Where wasted nations raise a single name.
And mortgag'd states their grandsires' wreaths
regret,

From age to age in everlasting debt;
Wreaths which at last the dear-bought right
To rust on medals, or on stones decay. [convey
On what foundation stands the warrior's
pride,

How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide;
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labors tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his widę domain,
Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain;
No joys to him pacific sceptres yield,
War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field;
Behold surrounding kings their pow'r combine,
And one capitulate, and one resign;

Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;

"Think nothing gain'd, he cries, till nought remain,

"On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly, "And all be mine beneath the polar sky." The march begins in military state, And nations on his eye suspended wait; Stern Famine guards the solitary coast,

And Winter barricades the realms of Frost;

He comes, nor want nor cold his course delay;—
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day:
The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands,
And shows his miseries in distant lands,
Condemn'd a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no subverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destin'd to a barren strand,
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand;
He left the name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

All times their scenes of pompous woes afford,
From Persia's tyrant, to Bavaria's lord.
In gay hostility, and barb'rous pride,
With half mankind embattl'd at his side,
Great Xerxes comes to seize the certain prey,
And starves exhausted regions in his way;
Attendant Flatt'ry counts his myriads o'er,
Till counted myriads sooth his pride no more;
Fresh praise is try'd till madness fires his mind,
The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind;
New pow'rs are claim'd, new pow'rs are still
bestow'd,

Till rude resistance lops the spreading god;
The daring Greeks deride the martial show,
And heap their valleys with the gaudy foe;
Th' insulted sea with humbler thoughts he gains,
A single skiff to speed his flight remains:
Th' incumber'd oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast
Through purple billows and a floating host.

The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour,
Trics the dread summits of Cæsarean pow'r,
With unexpected legions bursts away,
And sees defenceless realms receive his sway;
Short sway! fair Austria spreads her mournful
charms,

The queen, the beauty, sets the world in arms;
From hill to hill the beacon's rousing blaze
Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise;
The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar,
With all the sons of ravage crowd the war;
The baffled prince, in honor's flatt'ring bloom,
Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom;
His foes' derision, and his subjects' blame,
And steals to death from anguish and from shame,
Enlarge my life with multitude of days;'
In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays;
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,
That life protracted is protracted woe.

Ver. 133-146.

Ver. 188-288.

Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy,
And shuts up all the passages of joy:
In vain their gifts their bounteous seasons pour,
The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r
With listless eyes the dotard views the store,
He views, and wonders that they please no more;
Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns.
Approach, ye minstrels, try the soothing strain,
Diffuse the tuneful lenitives of pain :
No sounds, alas! would touch th' impervious ear,
Though dancing mountains witness'd Orpheus
Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow'rs attend, [near;
Nor sweeter music of a virtuous friend :
But everlasting dictates crowd his tongue,
Perversely grave, or positively wrong.
The still returning tale, or ling ring jest,
Perplex the fawning niece and pamper'd guest,
While growing hopes scarce awe the gathering
And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear; [sneer,
The watchful guests still hint the last offence,
The daughter's petulanee, the son's expence,
Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill,
And mould his passions till they make his will.
Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade,
Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade;
But unextinguish'd Avʼrice still remains,
And dreaded losses aggravate his pains;
He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,
Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.

But grant, the virtues of a temp'rate prime
Blest with an age exempt from scorn or crime;
An age that melts with unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modest innocence away;
Whose peaceful day Benevolence endears,
Whose night congratulating Conscience cheers;
The gen'ral fav'rite as the gen'ral friend:
Such age there is, and who shall wish its end?
Yet ev'n on this her load Misfortune flings,
To press the weary minutes' flagging wings;
New sorrow rises as the day returns,
A sister sickens, or a daughter mourns.
Now kindred Merit fills the sable bier,
Now lacerated Friendship claims a tear.
Year chases year, decay pursues decay,
Still drops some joy from with'ring
life
away;
New forms arise, and diff'rent views engage,
Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage,
Till pitying Nature signs the last release,
And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

But few there are whom hours like these await, Who set unclouded in the gulphs of Fate. From Lydia's monarch should the search descend, By Solon caution'd to regard his end, In life's last scene what prodigies surprise, Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage And Swift expires a driv'ler and a show. [flow, The teeming mother, anxious for her race, Begs for each birth the fortune of a face;

• Ver. 289-345.

Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring:
And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king.
Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,
Whom Pleasure keeps too busy to be wise,
Whom joys with soft varieties invite,
By day the frolic, and the dance by night,
Who frown with vanity, who smile with art,
And ask the latest fashion of the heart,
What care, what rules your heedless charms
shall save,
[slave?
Each nymph your rival, and each youth your
Against your fame with fondness hate combines,
The rival batters, and the lover mines.
With distant voice neglected Virtue calls,
Less heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls;
Tir'd with contempt, she quits the slipp'ry rein,
And Pride and Prudence take her seat in vain.
In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,
The harmless freedom, and the private friend.
The guardians yield, by force superior ply'd;
To Int'rest, Prudence; and to Flatt'ry, Pride.
Here beauty falls betray'd, despis'd, distrest,
And hissing Infamy proclaims the rest.

Wheret then shall Hope and Fear their objects. find?

Must dull Suspense corrupt the stagnant mind?
Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,
Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
Must no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,
No cries invoke the mercies of the skies?
Enquirer, cease, petitions yet remain
Which Heav'n may hear, nor deem religion vain;
Still raise for good the supplicating voice,
But leave to Heav'n the measure and the choice,
Safe in his pow'r, whose eyes discern afar
The secret ambush of a specious pray`r,
Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,
Secure whate'er he gives, he gives the best.
Yet when the sense of sacred presence fires,
And strong devotion to the skies aspires,
Pour forth thy fervors for a healthful mind,
Obedient passions, and a will resign'd;
For love, which scarce collective man can fill ;
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill;
For faith, that, panting for a happier seat,
Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat :
These goods for man the laws of Heav'n ordain,
These goods he grants, who grants the pow'r to
gain;

With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind,
And makes the Happiness she does not find.

So oft have tripp'd in her fantastic train,
With hearts as gay, and faces half as fair:
For she was fair beyond your brightest bloom,
(This envy owns, since now her bloom is fled;)
Fair as the forms that, wove in Fancy's loom,
Float in light vision round the poet's head.
Whene'er with soft serenity she smil'd,

Or caught the orient blush of quick surprise,
How sweetly mutable, how brightly wild,
The liquid lustre darted from her eyes!
Each look, each motion, wak'd a new-born grace,
That o'er her form its transient glory cast:
Some lovelier wonder soon usurp'd the place,
Chas'd by a charm still lovelier than the last.
That bell again! It tells us what she is;

On what she was, no more the strain prolong; Luxuriant fancy, pause! an hour like this Demands the tribute of a serious song. Maria claims it from that sable bier,

Where cold and wan the slumb'rer rests her head;

In still small whispers to reflection's ear

She breathes the solemn dictates of the dead. O catch the awful notes, and lift them loud! Proclaim the theme by sage, by fool rever'd, Hear it, ye young, ye vain, ye great, ye proud! 'Tis Nature speaks, and Nature will be heard. Yes; ye shall hear, and tremble as ye hear,

While, high with health, your hearts exulting E'en in the midst of pleasure's mad career, [leap; The mental monitor shall wake and weep! For say, than Coventry's propitious star,

What brighter planet on your births arose? Or gave of fortune's gifts an ampler share, In life to lavish, or by death to lose? Early to lose! While, borne on busy wing,

Ye sip the nectar of each varying bloom; Nor fear, while basking in the beams of spring, The wint❜ry storm that sweeps you to the tomb; Think of her fate! revere the heavenly hand That led her hence, tho' soon by steps so slow; Long at her couch Death took his patient stand, And menac'd oft, and oft withheld the blow. To give reflection time, with lenient art,

Each fond delusion from her soul to steal! Teach her from folly peaceably to part, And wean her from a world she lov'd so well. Say, are you sure his mercy shall extend

To you so long a span? Álas, ye sigh! [friend, Make then, while yet ye may, your God your And learn with equal ease to sleep or die! Nor think the Muse, whose sober voice ye hear, Contracts with bigot frown her sullen brow; Casts round religion's orb the mists of fear, [glow. Or shades with horrors what with smiles should No-she would warn you with seraphic fire,

Heirs as ye are of heaven's eternal day; Would bid you boldly to that heaven aspire, Nor sink and slumber in your cells of clay.

Know, ye were form'd to range yon azure field,

In yon ethereal founts of bliss to lave: Force then, secure in faith's protecting shield,

The sting from death, the vict'ry from the grave! Is this the bigot's rant? Away, ye vain! [steep: Your hopes, your fears, in doubt, in dullness Go sooth your souls in sickness, grief, or pain, With the sad solace of eternal sleep!

Yet will I praise you, triflers as you are,

More than those preachers of your fav'rite creed, Who proudly swell the brazen throat of war, Who from the phalanx, bid the battle bleed, Nor wish for more; who conquer but to die. Hear, Folly, hear, and triumph in the tale! Like you they reason, not like you enjoy The breeze of bliss, that fills your silken sail: On pleasure's glitt'ring stream ye gaily steer

Your little course to cold oblivion's shore; They dare the storm, and thro' th inclement year Stem the rough surge, and brave the torrent's

roar.

Is it for glory? That just Fate denies ;

Long must the warrior moulder in his shroud, Ere from her trump the heaven-breath'd accents That lift the hero from the fighting crowd! [rise Is it his grasp of empire to extend?

To curb the fury of insulting foes? Ambition, cease! the idle contest end: "Tis but a kingdom thou canst win or lose. And why must murder'd myriads lose their all, (If life be all), why desolation low'r With famish'd frown on this affrighted ball,

That thou mayst flame the meteor of an hour? Go, wiser ye, that flutter life away, [high? Crown with the mantling juice the goblet Weave the light dance, with festive freedom gay,

And live your moment, since the next ye die! Yet know, vain sceptics! know, th' Almighty Mind,

Who breath'd on man a portion of his fire, Bade his free soul, by earth nor time confin'd, To heav'n, to immortality aspire.

Nor shall the pile of hope his mercy rear'd

By vain philosophy be e'er destroy'd: Eternity, by all or wish'd or fear'd,' Shall be by all or suffer'd or enjoy'd!

NOTE. In a book of French verses, intitled, Ouvres du Philosophe de Sans Souci, and lately reprinted at Berlin by authority, under the title of Poesies Diverses, may be found an Epistle to Marshal Keith, written professedly against the immortality of the soul. By way of specimen of the whole, take the following lines : De l'avenir, cher Keith, jugeons par le passé : Comme avant que je fusse il n'avoit point pensé ; De même, après ma mort, quand toutes mes parties Par la corruption seront anéanties,

Par un même destin il ne pensera plus!
Non, rien n'est plus certain, soyons en convaincu.