SECTION XIII.

Ode to Adverfity.

DAUGHTER of heaven, relentless power,
Thou tamer of the human breast,
Whofe iron fcourge, and tort'ring hour,
The bad affright, afflict the best!
Bound in thy adamantine chain,
The proud are taught to tafte of pain,
And purple tyrants vainly groan
With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone..
When first thy fire to fend on earth
Virtue, his darling child, defign'd,
To thee he gave the heavenly birth,
And bade to form her infant mind.
Stern, rugged nurse thy rigid lore
With patience many a year the bore.
What forrow was, thou bad'ft her know;
And from her own fhe learnt to melt at others' wo.
Scar'd at thy frown terrific, fly
Self-pleafing foily's idle brood,

Wild laughter, noife, and thoughtlefs joy,
And leave us leifure to be good.

Light they difperfe; and with them go
The fummer friend, the flatt'ring foe.

By vain profperity receiv'd,

To her they vow their truth, and are again believ’d.

Wisdom, in fable garb array'd,

Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound,

And melancholy, filent maid,

With leaden eye that loves the ground,

Still on thy folemn steps attend

Warm charity, the gen'ral friend,

With juftice, to herself fevere,

And pity, dropping soft the sadly pleafing tear.

Oh, gently on thy fuppliant's head,

Dread power, lay thy chaft'ning hand!

Not in thy gorgon terrors clad,

Nor circled with the vengeful band,

(As by the impious thou art feen,)

With thundering voice, and threat'ning mien, With fcreaming horror's funeral cry, Despair, and fell disease, and ghastly poverty.

Thy form benign, propitious, wear,
Thy milder influence impart ;
Thy philofophic train be there,
To foften, not to wound my heart.
The generous fpark extinct revive;
Teach me to love and to forgive;
Exact my own defects to fcan;

What others are to feel; and know myself a man.

SECTION XIV.

The Creation required to praife its Author.
BEGIN, my foul, th' exalted lay!
Let each enraptur'd thought obey,

And praise th' Almighty's name:
Lo! heaven and earth, and feas and skies,
In one melodious concert rife,

To fwell th' inspiring theme.

Ye fields of light, celeftial plains,
Where gay transporting beauty reigns,
Ye fcenes divinely fair!

Your Maker's wondrous power proclaim,
Tell how he form`d your fhining frame,
And breath'd the fluid air.

Ye angels, catch the thrilling found!
While all th' adoring thrones around
His boundless mercy fing:

Let every lift'ning faint above
Wake all the tuneful foul of love,
And touch the fweeteft ftring.

Join, ye loud fpheres, the vocal choir;
Thou dazzling orb of liquid fire,
The mighty chorus aid :

Soon as gray ev'ning gilds the plain,
Thou, moon, protract the melting train,
And praise him in the fhade.

Thou heaven of heavens, his vait abode;
Ye clouds, proclaim your forming God,

Who call'd yon worlds from night:
"Ye thades, difpel !"-th' Eternal said ;
At once th' involving darkness fled,
And Nature fprung to light.

Whate'er a blooming world contains,
That wings the air, that ikims the plains,

GRAY.

United praise bestow;

Ye dragons, found his awful name
To heaven aloud; and roar acclaim,
Ye fwelling deeps below.

Let every element rejoice;

Ye thunders, burt with awful voice
To HIM who bids you roll:
His praife in fofter notes declare,
Each whifp'ring breeze of yielding air,
And breathe it to the foul.

To him, ye graceful cedars, bow;
Ye tow'ring mountains, bending low,
Your great Creator own;

Tell, when affrighted Nature shook,
How Sinai kindled at his look,

And trembled at his frown.

Ye flocks that haunt the humble vale,
Ye infects fluttering on the gale,
In mutual concourse rise;
Crop the gay rofe's vermil bloom,
And waft its fpoils, a sweet perfume,
In incenfe to the fkies.

Wake, all ye mounting tribes, and fing;
Ye plumy warblers of the fpring,
Harmonious anthems raise

TO HIM who fhap'd your finer mould,
Who tipp'd your glitt'ring wings with gold,
And tun'd your voice to praise.
Let man, by nobler paffions fway'd,
The feeling heart, the judging head,
In heavenly praise employ ;
Spread his tremendous name around,

Till heaven's broad arch rings back the found,
The general burst of joy.

Ye whom the charms of grandeur please,
Nurs'd on the downy lap of ease,

Fall proftrate at his throne :

Ye princes, rulers, all adore ;

Praife him, ye kings, who makes your power
An image of his own.

Ye fair, by nature form'd to move,
O praise th' eternal SOURCE OF LOVE,
With youth's enliv'ning fire:

Let age take up the tuneful lay,
Sigh his blefs'd name: then foar away,
And ask an angel's lyre.

SECTION XV.

The Univerfal Prayer.

FATHER OF ALL! in every age,
In every clime, ador'd,

By faint, by favage, and by fage,
Jehovah, Jove or Lord!

OGILVIE.

Thou GREAT FIRST CAUSE, leaft understood,
Who all my fenfe confin'd
To know but this, that Thou art good,
And that myself am blind d;
Yet gave me in this dark eftate,
To fee the good from ill;
And binding nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will.

What confcience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,
This teach me more than hell to fhun,
That more than heaven pursue.
What bleffings thy free bounty gives
Let me not caft away;

For God is paid, when man receives;
T' enjoy is to obey.

Yet not to earth's contracted fpan

Thy goodness let me bound,
Or think thee Lord alone of man,
When thousand worlds are round.
Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Prefume thy bolts to throw ;
And deal damnation round the land,
On each I judge thy foe.

If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to stay;
If I am wrong, oh teach my heart
To find that better way!

Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious difcontent,

At aught thy wifdom has deny'd,
Or aught thy goodness lent.

Teach me to feel another's wo,

To hide the fault I fee;
That mercy I to others fhow,
That mercy fhow to me.
Mean tho' I am, not wholly fo,
Since quicken'd by thy breath;
O lead me wherefoe'er I go,

DY

R

Thro' this day's life or death!
This day, be bread and peace my lot;
All elfe beneath the fun

Thou know't if best bestow'd or not,
And let thy will be done.

To thee, whofe temple is all space,
Whose altar, earth, sea, skies !
One chorus let all beings raise !
All nature's incenfe rife.

Otreach'rous confcience! while fhe feems to fleep
On rofe and myrtle, lull'd with firen fong;
While fhe feems, nodding o'er her charge, to drop,
On headlong appetite the flacken'd rein,

And give us up to license unrecall'd,
Unmark'd; fee from behind her fecret stand,

The fly informer minutes ev'ry fault,
And her dread diary with horror fills.

Not the grofs act alone employs her pen;
She reconnoitres fancy's airy band.

A watchful foe! the formidable spy,

Life'ning, o'erhears the whispers of our camp;

Our dawning purposes of heart explores,
And steals our embryos of iniquity.

As all rapacious ufurers conceal

Their doomsday book from all confuming heirs ;
Thus, with indulgence moft fevere, fhe treats

Us fpendthrifts of ineftimable time;

Unnoted, notes each moment mifapply'd ;
In leaves more durable than leaves of brass,
Writes our whole hiftory; which Death fhall read
In ev'ry pale delinquent's private ear;

And judgment publish; publish to more worlds
Than this; and endless age in groans refound.

POPE

YOUNG.