1

Now kindred merit fills the sable bier,
Now lacerated friendsbip claims a tear.
Year chases year, decay pursues decay,
Still drops some joy from with’ring life away:
New forms arise, and diff'rent views engage,
Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage;
Till pitying nature signs the last release,
And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

But few there are whom hours like these await,
Who set unclouded in the gulfs of fate.
From Lydia's monarch should the search descend,
By Solon caution’d to regard his end,
In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise !
From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,
And Swift expires a driv’ller and a show.

The teeming mother, anxious for her race,
Begs for each birth the fortune of a face :
Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring ;
And Sedly curs’d the form that pleas'd a king.
Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,
Whom pleasure keeps too busy to be wise ;
Whom

joys

with soft varieties invite,
By day the frolic, and the dance by night;
Who frown with varity, who smile with art,
And ask the latest fashion of the heart;
What care, what rules your heedless charms shall save
Each nymph your rival, and each youth your slave?
Against your fame with fondness hate combines,
The rival batters, and the lover mines.
With distant voice neglected virtue calls ;

Less heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls ; - Tir'd with contempt, she quits the slipp’ry rein,

And pride and prudence take her seat in vain.
In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,
The harmless freedov., and the private friend.
The guardians yield, by force superior ply'd,
To int'rest, prudence ; and to flatt'ry, pride.
Here beauty falls betray'd, despis'd, distrest;
And hissing infamy proclaims the rest.

Where then shall hope and fear their objects find ?
Must dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind?
Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,
Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?

Must no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,
No cries invoke the mercies of the skies?
Inquirer, cease ; petitions yet remain
Which Heav'o may hear ; nor deem religion vain
Still raise for good the supplicating voice;
But leave to Heaven the measure and the choice.
Safe in his pow'r, whose eyes discern afar
The secret ambush of a specious pray'r,
Implore bis aid, in his decisions rest,
Secare whate'er he gives, he gives the best,
Yet when the sense of Sacred Presence fires,
And strong devotion to the skies aspires,
Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,
Obedient passions, and a will resign'd;
For love, which scarce collective man cap fill ;
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill ;
For faith, that, panting for a happier seat,
Counts death kind nature's signal of retreat :
These goo

for man the laws of Heav'n ordain,
These goods be grants, who grants the pow'r to gain ;
With these celestial wisdom calms the mind,
And makes the happiness she does not find.

DR. JOHNSON

APPENDIX:

Containing Biographical Sketches of the authors mentioned in the " IR

troduction to the English Reader," “ The English Reader" itself, and the “ Sequel to the Re er.” With Occasional Strictures on their writings.

After re

ADDISON, Joseph, one of the most celebrated men in English literature, was born in the year 1672. ceiving the rudiments of his education at different schools, he was admitted into Queen's College, Oxford. In 1693, he took his degree of Master of Arts, and was eminent for his Latin poetry. He distinguished himself by several small pieces; and in 1669, obtained from king William a pension of 3001. a year, to enable him to travel. He went leisurely through France and Italy, improving his mind to the best ad vantage ; as 'appears from his “ Letter to Lord Halifax," esteemed the most elegant of his poetical performances; and his - Travels in Italy.

His celebrated “Campaign,” procured him the appointment of a commissioner of appeals. In 1706 he was made under secretary to the secretary of state ; and in 1709, the Marquis of Wharton being appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, took Addison with him, as his chief secretary. In 1716 he married the countess dowager of Warwick. This marriage neither found nor made the parties equal : and Addison has left behind him no encouragement for ambitious love. In 1717, he rose to his highest elevation, being made secretary of state to George the First. His insuperable diffidence, and his want of talent for public speaking, joined to his declining health, induced him soon afterwards to solicit his dismission from office. This was granted, with a pension of 15001. a year.

He had for some time been afflicted with an asthmatic disorder, which ended in the dropsy. He employed the leisure of his closing life, in supporting those religious principles, which had accompanied the whole course of it. He drew up a “Defence of the Christian Religion," which was pub

lished in an unfinished state after his death. When all hopes of prolonging life were at an end, Addison sent for a young man, nearly related to himn, (supposed to have been his stepson the earl of Warwick,) and grasping his hand, said to him with tender emphasis, " See in what peace a Christian can die.” He expired in 1719, in the 48th year of his life.

The writings of Addison are, chiefy, poetical, critical and moral. He had a large share in the Tatler, Spectator, Guardian, and other periodical works. His Hymns are much ad. mired for their ease, elegance, and harmony, as well as for the cheerful and correct strain of piety that pervades them. * The Spectator" stands at the head of all publications of a similar kind. With the happiest combination of seriousness and ridicule, these papers discuss the smaller morals and the decencies of life, elegance and justness of taste, the regulation of temper, and the improvement of domestic society. In some of them, Addison takes the higher tone of a religious monitor. All the enchantments of fancy, and all the cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real interest, the care of pleasing the Author of his being. His papers in “ The Spectator," are marked by some one of the letters composing clio. The popularity of this work rose to such a height, that, in a much less reading age than the present, twenty thousand of the papers were sometimes sold in a day.

As a poet, Addison claims a high praise, though not the highest. Generally elegant, sometimes strong, and frequently ingenious, he has but little of that vivid force and sublime conception, which characterize a poet of the first rank ; nor has he that fine polish and dazzling brilliance, which give a title to an exalted place, in the second. It is from bis own original vein of humour, and of ingenious invention, displayed in his periodical works, that Addison derives his highest and most durable literary fame. As a model of English prose, his writinge merit the greatest praise. “Whoever," says Dr. Johnson, "wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison."

AKENSIDE, Mark,-an English poet and physician, was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1721. His father was a substantial butcher, who gave his son a liberal education, intending to qualify him for the office of a dissenting minister. The son, however, preferred the study of physic, and in 1744 took the degree of Doctor.

year

of his age.

In this year appeared bis capital poem, " On the Pleasures of the Imagination;" which was received with great applause, and at once raised the author to poetical fame. In 1745, he published ten odes, on different subjects, and it a style and manner much diversified. These works characterized him as a zealous votary of Grecian philosophy and classical literature, and an ardent lover of liberty.

He wrote several medical treatises, which increased his practice and reputation. But it is said he had a baughtiness, and ostentation of manner, which were not calculated to ingratiate him with his brethren of the faculty, or to render him generally acceptable. He died of a putrid fever, in 1770, in the 49th

The rank which Akenside holds among the English classics, is principally owing to his didactic poem, on the “Pleasures of the Imagination," a work finished at threeand-twenty, and which his subsequent performances never equalled. Its foundation is the elegant, and even poetical papers, on the same subject, by Addison, in the Spectator; but he has so expanded the plan, and enriched the illustrations from the stores of philosophy and poetry, that it would be injurious to deny him the claim of an original writer. No poem of so elevated and abstracted a kind was ever so popular. It is thought by some persons of fine taste, to be the most beautiful didactic poem that ever adorned the English language.

ARMSTRONG, John,--a poet and physician, was born in Scotland, about the year 1709. He studied in the university of Edinburgh; and took his degree with reputation, in 1732. He settled in London, where he appeared in the double capacity of author and physician : but his success in the former, as has frequently been the case, seems to have impeded his progress in the latter. He wrote several small pieces, both in prose and verse. But his reputation, as a poet, is almost solely founded on his “ Art of preserving Health ;" for his other pieces scarcely rise above mediocrity. This may well rank among the first didactic poems in the English language. Though that class of poetry is not of the highest order, yet the variety incident to his subject, has given him the opportunity of displaying bis powers on some of the most elevated and interesting topics; and they are found fully adequate to the occasion. The work is adopted into the body of English classics, and has often been printed, both separately and in collections