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SCENE XVIII.-The Quadrangle of the New

Royal Exchange.

The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, Aldermen, and
Visitors discovered.

Enter Democritus as Motley.

Democritus.

[graphic]

HE Pageant o'er, the Banquet sped,
And London's lordly Bishop fled,
For this one day shall Motley play
The part episcopal, and say,

94 In the present troubled times of the Church, assailed as she is by faction from without, and by contumacy from within, the position of this great ornament of the Christian Hierarchy has been, and continues to be, a most painful and trying one. To preach discipline to a slipshod clergy who wear their gowns loosely, to enjoin the due observance of sacred rites that by culpable negligence have become obsolete, is neither prelatical tyranny nor papistical innovation. An insolent and refractory priest who beards his Bishop is received with open arms by Infidels who hate all Religion, and Sectaries whose hatred is especially aimed at the Established Church. If the Zeal of God's House hath not eaten up these sanctimonious revilers it hath devoured (as Dryden said of Collier and his canting crew) some part of their good-manners and civility....

If not out of time and place,
This apology for Grace?
Are your coffers overcharged?
Be your bounty then enlarged! 95

93 The neutral character boasts that if he does no good, he does no harm. No harm? All the sins mentioned by Our Saviour in his description of the Last Judgment, are sins of Omission.

Long the ground encumbering
Thou a blank hast stood,
A nondescript, and numbering
Nor with the bad nor good-

Thou might'st have been (thus slumbering)

A block of stone or wood!

Is this man's only mission,
Just to live and die?
His being's sole condition?
Alas! for the reply

When one day thy petition

For pardon pleads on high.-Uncle Timothy.

96 66 Man, alas! was only born

To tread a path of brier and thorn!
To the flattering dreams of youth
Manhood tells this blighting truth,
And to manhood wither'd age
Opens a still darker page
Of Life's weary pilgrimage!"
Thus moody Melancholy cried,
And thus a gentle voice replied.

"Helpless man is not his own,

From his first to his last sigh
He, unseen, but not unknown,
Has a guardian ever nigh,

Do your riches overflow?

Turn their stream to human woe!

Emulate that glorious river,

Type of every Good the Giver ! 96

One who does benignly shed
Boundless blessings on his head,
Blessings that should all his days
Turn his humble prayers to praise !

Grandeur, in the skies that glow-
Beauty, in the flowers that blow-
Brightness, in the morning beams—
Music, in the woods and streams—
Plenty, in the golden ear—
And, throughout the varied year,
Hearing, motion, sense, and sight,
Air to breathe, and day and night
For labour, pastime, sweet repose
The sovereign balm for many woes!
Are his-and, richer than the ore
That sparkles on Golconda's shore,
Eternal Truth, to soar away
To regions of celestial day!

As they on Alpine heights who dwell
Feel not their mysterious spell,
Know not their altitude, nor see
Their grandeur, beauty, majesty;
Man, to whom the heavens unroll
Their bright prophetic wondrous scroll,
And with a paradise in view

That seers foretold, but never knew,

Still blindly creeps, when he might climb

Yon Cross-crown'd mountain's brow sublime!

Say not in this transient scene

Rays of light and spots of green

Blessing, by its rich redundance,

Barren deserts with abundance !

The Scene closes.

SCENE the Last.-Windsor Forest.

Enter Democritus in his ancient costume,

A

and Puck.

Democritus.

GAIN in this embowering wood
We taste the sweets of solitude!
Courteous Spirit! thanks to thee
For thy gaiety and glee!

For thy sympathetic art

When sorrow play'd the scenic part,

Do not sometimes intervene !
When evening drops her dusky veil
Sweetest sings the nightingale,
And when moonless is the night
The stars shine more intensely bright,
And when sorrow deepens round

Inward light does most abound."

Uncle Timothy.

97 Humility is not humiliation-the one descends from greatness, the other crouches to it-the one is the attribute of kings, the other the penalty of slaves!

"Who were below him

He used as creatures of another place;

And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks,
Making them proud of his humility,

In their poor praise he humbled."..

And when rose the vision higher,
Thanks for thy ethereal fire!
Better pleased was never visitor
Than I, who had the rare good luck
(Mr. Motley the Inquisitor!)

To find a Pylades in Puck.
Farewell, fantastic sprite! farewell
Robin with the Protean spell!
Merry mischief! moonlight spark!
Doors unlocking in the dark!
O, could thy enchanted KEY
Hearts but open! men would see
Selfish bosoms, lock'd before,
All their hidden springs outpour!
Had thy voice this powerful charm
To humble pride," revenge" disarm,

98 Kneel not to me:

The power that I have on you is to spare you; The malice towards you, to forgive you. Live, And deal with others better.".. Shakespeare.

To

Let the Grave be neutral ground,
Anger yield to grief profound;
Bending o'er this honour'd bier
Peace be with us, pardon, here!
While our tears together blend,
I, the Father! thou, the Friend!
Let the Spirit, in her flight,
Reconcile us, reunite!

I forgive thee all thy wrong,
Deeply felt and suffer'd long!

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