A. 'Twould thin the ranks of the poetic tribe,
To dash the pen through all that you profcribe.
B. No matter we could shift when they were not, And should no doubt if they were all forgot.
Si quid loquar audiendum. HoR. LIB. 4. Od. 2.
SING mufe (if fuch a theme, fo dark, fo long,
May find a mufe to grace it with a fong)
By what unfeen and unfuspected arts,
The ferpent error twines round human hearts;
Tell where the lurks, beneath what flow'ry fhades,
That not a glimpse of genuine light pervades ;
The pois'nous, black, infinuating worm,
Successfully conceals her loathfome form.
Take, if ye can, ye careless and fupine!
Counsel and caution from a voice like mine;
Truths that the theorist could never reach,
And obfervation taught me, I would teach.
Not all whofe eloquence the fancy fills,
Mufical as the chime of tinkling rills,
Weak to perform, though mighty to pretend,
Can trace her mazy windings to their end;
Difcern the fraud beneath the fpecious lure,
Prevent the danger, or prescribe the cure.
The clear harangue, and cold as it is clear,
Falls foporific on the listless ear;
Like quickfilver, the rhet'ric they display,
Shines as it runs, but grasp'd at, flips away.
Plac'd for his trial on this bustling stage, From thoughtless youth to ruminating age, Free in his will to chufe or to refuse,
Man may improve the crifis, or abuse;
Elfe, on the fatalifts unrighteous plan,
Say, to what bar amenable were man?
With nought in charge, he could betray no trust,
And if he fell, would fall because he must;
If love reward him, or if vengeance strike,
His recompence in both, unjust alike.
Divine authority within his breast
Brings every thought, word, action, to the test,
Warns him or prompts, approves him or restrains,
As reason, or as paffion, takes the reins.
Heav'n from above, and confcience from within,
Cries in his ftartled ear, abftain from fin.
The world around folicits his defire,
And kindles in his foul a treach'rous fire,
While all his purposes and steps to guard,
Peace follows virtue as its fure reward ;
And pleasure brings as furely in her train,
Remorfe and forrow and vindictive pain.
Man thus endued with an elective voice,
Must be supplied with objects of his choice.
Where'er he turns, enjoyment and delight,
Or present, or in prospect, meet his fight;
These open on the spot their honey'd store,
Those call him loudly to purfuit of more.
His unexhausted mine, the fordid vice
Avarice fhows, and virtue is the price.
Here, various motives his ambition raise,
Pow'r, pomp, and splendor, and the thirst of praise;
There beauty wooes him with expanded arms,
E'en Bacchanalian madnefs has its charms.
Nor thefe alone, whofe pleasures lefs refin'd,
Might well alarm the most unguarded mind,
Seek to fupplant his unexperienc'd youth,
Or lead him devious from the path of truth;
Hourly allurements on his paffions prefs
Safe in themselves, but dang'rous in th' excess,
Hark! how it floats upon the dewy air,
O what a dying, dying close was there!
'Tis harmony from yon fequefter'd bow'r,
Sweet harmony that foothes the midnight hour;
Long ere the charioteer of day had run
His morning courfe, the enchantment was begun,
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