Or is thy judgment by thy heart misled
To deem that certain, which thy hopes fuggeft?
To deem them full of life and f luftihead,
Whose cheeks in Hebe's vivid tints are drest,
And with Joy's carelefs mien, and dimpled fmiles imprest?
Thy unfufpecting heart how nobly good
I know, how fanguine in thy country's caufe!
And mark'd thy virtue, fingly how it stood
Th' affaults of mighty CUSTOм, which o'er-awes
The faint and timorous mind, and oft withdraws
From Reason's lore th' ambitious and the vain
By the fweet lure of popular applaufe,
Against their better knowledge, to maintain
The lawless throne of Vice, or Folly's childish reign.
LXXV.
How vaft his influence! how wide his sway!
Thy felf ere-while by proof didft understand:
And faw'ft, as through his realms thou took'st thy way,
How Vice and Folly had o'er-spread the land.
And can't thou then, O Fairy's Son, demand
The reason of my woe? or hope to ease
The throbbings of my heart with fpeeches bland,
And words more apt my forrows to increase,
The once-dear names of Wealth, and Liberty, and Peace?
f Luftihead, ftrong health, vigour.
Peace, Wealth, and Liberty, that nobleft boon,
Are bleffings only to the wife and good.
To weak and vicious minds their worth unknown,
And thence abused but serve to furnish food ·
For riot and debauch, and fire the blood
With high-spiced luxury; whence strife, debate,
Ambition, envy, Faction's vip'rous brood,
Contempt of order, manners profligate;
The fymptoms of a foul, difeafed and bloated state.
LXXVII.
Ev'n Wit and Genius, with their learned train
Of Arts and Mufes, though from heav'n above
Defcended, when their talents they prophane
To varnish folly, kindle wanton love,
And aid excentric fceptic Pride to rove
Beyond cæleftial Truth's attractive sphere,
This moral fyftem's central fun, aye prove
To their fond votaries a curse severe,
And only make mankind more obftinately err.
LXXVIII.
And ftand my fons herein from cenfure clear?
Have They confider'd well, and understood
The use and import of those bleffings dear,
Which the great Lord of Nature hath bestow'd
As well to prove, as to reward the good?
Whence are these torrents then, these billowy feas
Of vice, in which, as in his proper flood,
The fell leviathan licentious plays,
And upon fhip-wreck'd faith, and finking virtue preys ?
LXXIX.
To you, ye Noble, Opulent and Great!
With friendly voice I call, and honeft zeal!
Upon your vital influences wait
The health and fickness of the common-weal;
The maladies you cause, yourselves must heal.
In vain to the unthinking harden'd crowd
Will Truth and Reafon make their just appeal ;
In vain will facred Wisdom cry aloud;
And Justice drench in vain her vengeful fword in blood.
LXXX.
With You must reformation first take place:
You are the head, the intellectual mind
Of this vast body politic; whose base,
And vulgar limbs, to drudgery confign'd,
All the rich ftores of Science have refign'd
To You, that by the craftsman's various toil,
The fea-worn mariner, and fweating hind,
peace
and affluence maintain'd, the while
You, for yourselves and them, may dress the mental foil.
Bethink you then, my children, of the truft
In you repos'd; ne let your heav'n-born mind
Confume in pleasure, or unactive ruft ;
But nobly roufe you to the task affign'd,
The godlike task to teach and mend mankind:
Learn that ye may inftruct: to virtue lead
Yourselves the way: the herd will crowd behind,
And gather precepts from each worthy deed:
"Example is a leffon, that all men can read."
LXXXII.
But if (to All or Most I do not speak)
In vain and fenfual habits now grown old,
The ftrong Circæan charm you cannot break,
Nor re-affume at will your native & mould,
Yet envy not the ftate, you could not hold :
And take compaffion on the rifing age:
In them redeem your errours manifold;
And, by due difcipline and nurture fage,
In Virtue's lore betimes your docile fons engage.
You chiefly, who like me in fecret mourn
The prevalence of CUSTOM lewd and vain ;
And you, who, though by the rude torrent borne
Unwillingly along you yield with pain
To his behefts, and act what you disdain,
Yet nourish in your hearts the gen'rous love
Of piety and truth, no more reftrain
The manly zeal; but all your finews move
The prefent to reclaim, the future race improve!
LXXXIV.
Eftfoons by your joint efforts fhall be quell'd
Yon haughty GIANT, who fo proudly sways
A fceptre by repute alone upheld;
Who where he cannot dictate strait obeys.
Accuftom'd to conform his flattering phrase
To numbers and high-plac'd authority,
Your party he will join, your maxims praise,
And drawing after all his menial fry,
Soon teach the general voice your act to ratify.
LXXXV.
Ne for thatchievement of this great emprize
The want of means or counsel may ye dread;
From my TWIN-DAUGHTERS' fruitful wombs fhall rife
A race of letter'd fages, deeply read
In Learning's various writ: by whom y-led
Through each well-cultur'd plot, each beauteous grove, Where antique Wisdom whilom wont to tread,
With mingled glee and profit may ye rove,
And cull each virtuous plant, each tree of knowledge prove.
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