ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

"And art thou then Acafto's dear remains? "She, whom my reftlefs gratitude has fought, "So long in vain? O heavens! the very fame, "The foftened image of my noble friend, "Alive his every look, his every feature, "More elegantly touch'd. Sweeter than fpring! "Thou fole furviving bloffom from the root "That nourish'd up my fortune! Say, ah where, "In what fequefter'd defart, haft thou drawn “The kindest aspect of delighted Heaven ? "Into fuch beauty spread, and blown fo fair! "Tho' poverty's cold wind, and crushing rain, "Beat keen, and heavy, on thy tender years? "O let me now, into a richer foil,

"Tranfplant thee fafe! where vernal funs, and showers,

"Diffuse their warmeft, largeft influence; "And of my garden be the pride, and joy! "Ill it befits thee, oh it ill befits

"Acafto's daughter, his whofe open ftores, "Tho' vaft, were little to his ampler heart, "The father of a country, thus to pick

"The very refuse of those harvest-fields,

"Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy. "Then throw that fhameful pittance from thy hand, "But ill apply'd to fuch a rugged task;"The fields, the mafter, all, my fair, are thine; "If to the various bleffings which thy houfe "Has on me lavish'd, thou wilt add that blifs, "That dearest blifs, the power of blefling thee!"*

[blocks in formation]

Here ceas'd the youth: yet still his speaking eye Express'd the facred triumph of his foul,

With confcious virtue, gratitude, and love,
Above the vulgar joy divinely rais'd.
Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm
Of goodness irrefiftible, and all

In sweet disorder loft, fhe blush'd confent.
The news immediate to her mother brought,
While, pierc'd with anxious thought, fhe pin'd away
The lonely moments for Lavinia's fate;

Amaz'd and fcarce believing what she heard,
Joy feiz'd her wither'd veins, and one bright gleam
Of fetting life fhone on her evening-hours:
Not lefs enraptur'd than the happy pair;
Who flourish'd long in tender bliss, and rear'd
A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves,
And good, the grace of all the country round,

ESSAY

GOLIAH of GATH.

PASSAGE.

AND DAVID SAID UNTO SAUL, LET NO MAN'S HEART FAIL BECAUSE OF HIM THY SERVANT WILL GO AND FIGHT WITH THIS PHILISTINE.

IT is very remarkable, that all those perfonages of facred memory, whofe transactions are recorded in the biographical parts of the Bible, have diftinguished themselves for personal bravery in the most early periods of life. Thus, Mofes, yet a child, fmote the Egyptian in defence of his brother; and, in the cafe before us, the youth David, who was, even before this time, fo enchanting a musician, as to vanquish an evil spirit by the melody of his harp, commences an illuftrious and warlike character all at once, by fubduing the

man

man, of whom, whole armies were afraid, in fingle combat. This hiftory, is, likewife, fruitful of very fine things, and favourable to the remark of a commentator. There is a fkill obfervable in the conduct of the facred narratives rarely, if ever, feen in other writings and it fhall be the bufinefs of this illuftration to fhew, that the chain of real circumstances relating to the duel betwixt David and Goliah, is, from the beginning to the end, from the first fyllable to the laft, a match for any compofition whatever-fetting afide the matter of Scripture even in point of what the dramatifts call fable. And I am thus particularly earneft to difplay, in this work, the literary excellence of the Holy Bible, because I have reafon to apprehend it is too frequently laid by, under a notion of its being a dull, dry, and unentertaining sys tem; whereas the fact is quite otherwise : it contains all that can be wifhed, by the. trueft intellectual tafte; it enters more fa-. gaciously, and more deeply, into human nature; it developes character, delineates

manner,

manner, charms the imagination, and warms the heart more effectually than any other book extant and if once a man would take it into his hand, without that ftrange prejudicing idea of its flatness, and be willing to be pleafed, I am morally certain het would find all his favourite authors dwindle in the comparison, and conclude, that he was not only reading the most religious, but the most entertaining book in the world.

.

It is my prefent defign, therefore, to difplay the story now under confideration as a performance, written with the greatest art, and managed with the most masterly judgment. This will beft be done, by felecting, from the whole matter, particular paffages, and making a few comments thereupon.

The very exordium of the ftory prefents us with an image, that prepares us for fomething extraordinary.

"Saul

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »