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Or, like the wise Ulysses,* thrown,
By various fates, on realms unknown,
Hast thou through many cities stray'd,
Their customs, laws, and manners weigh'd ?"
3. The shepherd modestly replied,
"I ne'er the paths of learning tried;
Nor have I roam'd in foreign parts,
To read mankind, their laws and arts;
For man is practis'd in disguise,
He cheats the most discerning eyes.
Who by that search shall wiser grow?
By that ourselves we never know.
The little knowledge I have gain'd
Was all from simple nature drain'd;
Hence my life's maxims took their rise,
Hence grew my settled hate of vice.

4. "The daily labors of the bee
Awake my soul to industry.
Who can observe the careful ant,
And not provide for future want?
My dog (the trustiest of his kind)
With gratitude inflames my mind.
I mark his true, his faithful way,
And in my service copy Tray;
In constancy and nuptial love,
I learn my duty from the dove.
The hen, who from the chilly air,
With pious wing protects her care,
And every fowl that flies at large,
Instructs me in a parent's charge.

5. "From nature too, I take my rule,
To shun contempt and ridicule.
I never, with important air,
In conversation overbear.

Can grave and formal pass for wise,
When men the solemn owl despise ?
My tongue within my lips I rein;
For who talks much, must talk in vain.
We from the wordy torrent fly;
Who listens to the chatt'ring piet?

*A Grecian commander at the siege of Troy.
+ Pie, the magpie, a chattering bird resembling a crow.

Nor would I, with felonious flight,
By stealth invade my neighbor's right.
6. "Rapacious animals we hate;
Kites, hawks, and wolves, deserve their fate.
Do not we just abhorrence find
Against the toad and serpent kind?
But envy, calumny, and spite,
Bear stronger venom in their bite.
Thus ev'ry object of creation
Can furnish hints to contemplation?
And from the most minute and mean,
A virtuous mind can morals glean."
7. "Thy fame is just," the sage replies,
"Thy virtue proves thee truly wise.
Pride often guides the author's pen,
Books as affected are as men :
But he, who studies nature's laws,
From certain truth his maxims draws;
And those without our schools, suffice
To make men moral, good, and wise."

LESSON XLVII.

The Youth and the Philosopher.-WHITEHEAD.

1. A GRECIAN youth, of talents rare,
Whom Plato's philosophic care
Had formed for virtue's nobler view,

By precept and example too,

Would often boast his matchless skill,

To curb the steed, and guide the wheel;
And as he pass'd the gazing throng,

With graceful ease, and smack'd the thong,
The idiot wonder they express'd,

Was praise and transport to his breast.

2. At length, quite vain, he needs would show His master what his art could do;

And bade his slaves the chariot lead

To Academus** sacred shade.

Academus, a man who owned a place near Athens, surrounded with high trees, and adorned with spacious walks. Here Plato opened his school of philosophy, and from this, every place sacred to learning, has been called Academia.

The tren.bling grove confess'd its fright,
The wood-nymphs started at the sight;
The muses drop the learned lyre,

And to their inmost shades retire.

3. Howe'er the youth with forward air,
Bows to the sage and mounts the car.
The lash resounds, the coursers spring,
The chariot marks the rolling ring;
And gath'ring crowds, with eager eyes
And shouts, pursue him as he flies.

4. Triumphant to the goal* return'd,
With noble thirst his bosom burn'd;
And now along the indented plain
The self-same track he marks again,
Pursues with care the nice design,
Nor ever deviates from the line.
Amazement seiz'd the circling crowd;
The youths with emulation glow'd;
Ev'n beardedt sages hail'd the boy;
And all but Plato gaz'd with joy.

5. For he, deep-judging sage, beheld
With pain the triumphs of the field;
And when the charioteer drew nigh,
And flush'd with hope, had caught his eye,
"Alas! unhappy youth," he cry'd,
"Expect no praise from me," and sigh'd.
6. With indignation I survey
Such skill and judgment thrown away:
The time profusely squandered there,
On vulgar arts beneath thy care,
If well employ'd, at less expense,
Had taught thee honor, virtue, sense;
And rais'd thee from a coachman's fate
To govern men and guide the state."

LESSON XLVIII.

Naval Action.

1. MR. Richard Hornby, of Stokesly, was master of a merchant ship, the Isabella of Sunderland, in which he sailed from the coast of Norfolk for the Hague, June 1, 1774, in company with three smaller vessels recommended to his care.

Pronounced gole, a starting post.

+ Pronounced Beerd ́-ed

2. Next day they made Gravesend steeple, in the Hague; but while they were steering for their port, the Brancas, a French privateer, that lay concealed among the Dutch fishing boats, suddenly came against them, singling out the Isabella, as the object of attack, while the rest dispersed and escaped.

3. The strength of the two ships was most unequal; for the Isabella mounted only four carriage guns and two swivels, and her crew consisted of only five men, three boys, besides the captain; while the privateer, commanded by Captain Andre had ten carriage guns and eight swivels, with seventy-five men and three hundred small arms. Yet Captain Hornby was nothing daunted.

4. Having animated his little crew by an appropriate address, and obtained their promise of standing by him to the last, he hoisted the British colors, and with his two swivel guns returned the fire of the enemy's chase guns. The Frenchman, in abusive terms, commanded him to strike.*

5. Hornby coolly returned an answer of defiance, on which the privateer advanced, and poured such showers of bullets into the Isabella, that the captain found it prudent to order his brave fellows into close quarters. While he lay thus sheltered, the enemy twice attempted to board him on the larboard+ quarter; but by the dexterous turn of the helm, he frustrated both attempts, though the Frenchman kept firing upon him both with guns and small arms.

6. At two o'clock, when the action had lasted an hour, the privateer, running furiously in upon the larboard of the Isabella, entangled her bowsprit among the main shrouds, and was lashed fast to her. Captain Andre now bawled out in a menacing tone, "You English dog, strike." Captain Hornby challenged him to come on board and strike his colors if he dared.

7. The exasperated Frenchman instantly threw in twenty men on the Isabella, who began to hack and hew into close quarters; but a general discharge of blunderbusses forced the assailants to retreat as fast as their wounds would permit. The privateer, being now disengaged from the Isabella, turned about and made another attempt on the starboard|| side, when the valiant Hornby and his mate, shot each his man, as the enemy were again lashing the ships together.

* Strike, to let down the flag or ensign.

+ Larboard, the left hand side of the ship.

+ Blunderbuss, a short gun, with a large bore, capable of sholding a number of balls.

Starboard, the right hand side of the ship.

8. The Frenchman once more commanded him to strike; and the brave Englishman returning another refusal, twenty fresh men entered, and made a fierce attack on the close quarters with hatchets and pole axes, with which they had nearly cut their way through in three places, when the constant fire kept up by Captain Hornby and his crew, obliged them a second time to retreat, carrying their wounded with them, and hauling their dead after them with boat hooks.

9. The Isabella continued still lashed to the enemy, the latter with small arms, firing repeated volleys into her close quarters; but the fire was returned with such spirit and effect, the Frenchman repeatedly gave way.

10. At length Captain Hornby, seeing them crowding behind their mainmast for shelter, aimed a blunderbuss at them, which, being by mistake doubly loaded, containing twice twelve balls, burst in the firing, and threw him down, to the great consternation of his little crew, who supposed him dead. 11. In an instant, however, he started up again, though greatly bruised, while the enemy, among whom the blunderbuss had made dreadful havoc, disengaged themselves from the Isabella, to which they had been lashed an hour and a quarter, and sheered off with precipitation, leaving their grapplings, and a quantity of pole-axes, pistols, and cutlasses behind them.

12. The gallant Hornby now exultingly fired his two starboard guns into the enemy's stern. The indignant Frenchman 'immediately returned and renewed the conflict, which was carried on yard-arin and yard-arm, with great fury for two hours together.

13. The Isabella was shot through her hull* several times, her sails and rigging were torn to pieces, her ensign was dismounted, and every mast and yard damaged; yet she still bravely maintained the conflict, and at last, by a fortunate shot which struck the Brancas between wind and water, obliged her to sheer off and careen.†

14. While the enemy were retiring, Hornby, and his little crew, sallied out from their fastness, and, erecting their fallen ensign, gave three cheers. By this time, both vessels had driven so near the English shore, that immense crowds had assembled to be spectators of the action.

15. The Frenchman, having stopped his leak, returned to the combat, and poured a dreadful fire into the stern of the Hull, the body of a ship, exclusive of her masts, yards, and rigging. + Careen, to lie on one side.

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