Elegant Extracts in Poetry

That bids defiance to th' united pow'rs
Of fashion, dissipation, taverns, stews.
Now, blame we most the nurslings or the nurse?
The children, crook'd, and twisted, and deform'd
Through want of care, or her, whose winking
And slumb'ring oscitancy mars the brood? [eye
The nurse, no doubt. Regardless of her charge,
She needs herself correction; needs to learn,
That it is dang'rous sporting with the world,
With things so sacred as a nation's trust,
The nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge.

$128. Happy the Freedom of the Man whom
Grace makes free-His Relish of the Works
of God—Address to the Creator. COWPER.
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,
And all are slaves beside. There's not a chain
That hellish foes confed' rate for his harm
Can wind around him, but he casts it off
With as much ease as Samson his green withes.
He looks abroad into the varied field
Of Nature; and though poor, perhaps, compar'd
With those whose mansions glitter in his sight,
Calls the delightful scen'ry all his own.
His are the mountains, and the valleys his,
And the resplendent rivers; his t'enjoy
With a propriety that none can feel
But who, with filial confidence inspir'd,
Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say-My Father made them all:
Are they not his by a peculiar right?
And by an emphasis of int'rest his,
Whose eye they fill with tears of holy joy,
Whose heart with praise, and whose exalted

mind

So cloth'd with beauty, for rebellious man?
Yes-ye may fill your garners; ye that reap
The loaded soil, and ye may waste much good
In senseless riot; but ye will not find
In feast or in the chace, in song or dance,
A liberty like his, who, unimpeach'd
Of usurpation, and to no man's wrong,
Appropriates nature as his Father's work,
And has a richer use of yours than you.
He is indeed a freeman; free by birth
Of no mean city, plann'd or ere the hills
Were built, the fountains open'd, or the sea,
With all his roaring multitude of waves.
His freedom is the same in ev'ry state;
And no condition of this changeful life,
So manifold in cares, whose ev'ry day
Brings its own evil with it, makes it less:
For he has wings that neither sickness, pain,
Nor penury can cripple or confine;
No nook so narrow but he spreads them there

His works. Admitted once to his embrace,
Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before:
Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart,
Made pure, shall relish with divine delight,
Till then unfelt, what hands divine have
wrought.

Brutes graze the mountain-top with faces prone
And eyes intent upon the scanty herb
It yields them, or, recumbent on its brow,
Ruminate, heedless of the scene outspread
Beneath, beyond, and stretching far away
From inland regions to the distant main.
Man views it and admires, but rests content
With what he views. The landscape has his
praise,

But not its Author. Unconcern'd who form'd
The paradise he sees, he finds it such;
And, such well-pleas'd to find it, asks no more.
Not so the mind that has been touch'd from
heav'n,

And in the school of sacred wisdom taught
To read his wonders, in whose thought the world,
Fair as it is, existed ere it was:

Not for its own sake merely, but for his
Much more who fashion'd it, he gives it praise;
Praise that, from earth resulting, as it ought,
To earth's acknowledg'd Sovereign, finds at

once

Its only just proprietor in Him.

The soul that sees him, or receives sublim'd
New faculties, or learns at least t'employ
More worthily the pow'rs she own'd before,
Discerns in all things, what, with stupid gaze
Of ignorance, till then she overlook'd,
A ray of heavenly light gilding all forms
Terrestrial, in the vast and the minute,
The unambiguous footsteps of the God
Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing,

And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds.
Much conversant with Heaven, she often holds
With those fair ministers of light to man,
That fill the skies nightly with silent pomp,
Sweet conference! inquires what strains were
they
[haste
With which heaven rang, when ev'ry star, in
To gratulate the new-created earth,

Sent forth a voice, and all the sons of God
Shouted for joy-" Tell me ye shining hosts,
"That navigate a sea that knows no storms,
"Beneath a vault unsullied with a cloud,
"If from your elevation, whence ye view
Distinctly scenes invisible to man,
"And systems, of whose birth no tidings yet
"Have reach'd this nether world, ye spy a race
"Favor'd as ours, transgressors from the womb,
"And hasting to a grave, yet doom'd to rise,
"And to possess a brighter heaven than yours?
"As one who, long detain'd on foreign shores,

With ease, and is at large. Th'oppressor holds" Pants to return, and when he sees afar

"His country's weather-bleach'd and batter'd

His body bound, but knows not what a range
His spirit takes, unconscious of a chain,
And that to bind him is a vain attempt,
Whom God delights in, and in whom he dwells."
Acquaint thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste

"rocks

"From the green wave emerging, darts an eye
Radiant with joy towards the happy land;
"So I with animated hopes behold,

"And many an aching wish, your beamy fires, | Thou art the source and centre of all minds,
"That show like beacons in the blue abyss,
"Ordain'd to guide th' embodied spirit home
"From toilsome life to never-ending rest.
"Love kindles as I gaze. I feel desires
"That give assurance of their own success,
"And that infus'd from heav'n must thither
"tend."

So reads he nature, whom the lamp of truth
Illuminates; thy lamp, mysterious Word!
Which whoso sees no longer wanders lost,
With intellects bemaz'd, in endless doubt,
But runs the road of wisdom. Thou hast built,

With means that were not, till by thee employ'd,$
Worlds that had never been, hadst thou in
strength

Been less, or less benevolent than strong.
They are thy witnesses, who speak thy pow'r
And goodness infinite, but speak in ears
That hear not, or receive not their report.
In vain thy creatures testify of thee
Till thou proclaim thyself. Theirs is indeed
A teaching voice; but 'tis the praise of thine,
That whom it teaches it makes prompt to learn,
And with the boon gives talents for its use.
Till thou art heard, imaginations vain
Possess the heart, and fables false as hell,
Yet deem'd oracular, lure down to death
The uninform'd and heedless sons of men.

Their only point of rest, Eternal Word!
From thee departing, they are lost, to rove
At random, without honor, hope, or peace.
From thee is all that soothes the life of man,
His high endeavour, and his glad success,
His strength to suffer, and his will to serve.
But, Oh! thou bounteous Giver of all good,
Thou art of all thy gifts thyself the crown!
Give what thou canst, without thee we are
poor;

And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away.

129.

That Philosophy which stops at Secon dary Causes reproved.

COWPER

HAPPY the man who sees a God employ'd
In all the good and ill that chequer life!
Resolving all events, with their effects
And manifold results, into the will
And arbitration wise of the Supreme.
Did not his eye rule all things and intend
The least of our concerns (since from the least
The greatest oft originate); could chance
Find place in his dominion, or dispose
One lawless particle to thwart his plan ;
Then God might be surpris'd, and unforeseen
Contingence might alarm him, and disturb
The smooth and equal course of his affairs.

We give to chance, blind chance, ourselves as This truth, philosophy, though eagle eyed

blind,

The glory of thy work, which yet appears
Perfect and unimpeachable of blame,
Challenging human scrutiny, and prov'd
Then skilful most when most severely judg'd.
But chance is not, or is not where thou reign'st:
Thy providence forbids that fickle pow'r
(If pow'r she be that works but to confound)
To mix her wild vagaries with thy laws.
Yet thus we dote, refusing, while we can,
Instruction, and inventing to ourselves
Gods such as guilt makes welcome, Gods that
sleep,

Or disregard our follies, or that sit
Amus'd spectators of this bustling stage.
Thee we reject, unable to abide
Thy purity, till pure as thou art pure,
Made such by thee, we love thee for that cause
For which we shunn'd and hated thee before.
Then we are free: then liberty, like day,
Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from hea-

In nature's tendencies, oft overlooks;
And having found his instrument, forgets
O disregards, or, more presumptuous still,
Denies the pow'r that wields it. God proclaims
His hot displeasure against foolish men
That live an atheist life; involves the heaven
In tempests; quits his grasp upon the winds,
And gives them all their fury; bids a plague
Kindle a fiery bile upon the skin,

And putrefy the breath of blooming health.
He calls for famine; and the meagre fiend
Blows mildew from between his shrivell'd hips,
And taints the golden ear: he springs his mine,
And desolates a nation at a blast.
Forth steps the spruce philosopher, and tells
Of homogeneal and discordant springs
And principles; of causes, how they work
By necessary laws their sure effects,
Of action, and re-action. He has found
The source of the disease that Nature feels,
And bids the world take heart and banish feat
Thou fool! will thy discovery of the cause
Suspend th' effect, or heal it? Has not God
Still wrought by means since first he quade the

ful.

$130. Rural Sounds as well as Sights delight-Through downright inability to rise,
COWPER. Till the stout bearers lift the corpse again.
These speak a loud memento. Yet even these
Themselves love life, and cling to it; as he
That overhangs a torrent, to a twig.
They love it, and yet loath it; fear to die,
Yet scorn the purposes for which they live.

NOR rural sights alone, but rural sounds
Exhilarate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid Nature. Mighty winds,
That sweep the skirt of some far-spreading

wood

Of ancient growth, make music not unlike
The dash of ocean on his winding shore,
And lull the spirit while they fill the mind;
Unnumber'd branches waving in the blast,
And all their leaves fast flutt'ring all at once.
Nor less composure waits upon the roar
Of distant floods, or on the softer voice
Of neighb'ring fountain, or of rills that slip
Through the cleft rock, and chiming as they

fall

Upon loose pebbles, lose themselves at length
In matted grass, that with a livelier green
Betrays the secret of their silent course.
Nature inanimate employs sweet sounds,
But animated nature sweeter still,
To soothe and satisfy the human ear.
Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one
The live-long night: nor these alone, whose

notes

Nice-finger'd art must emulate in vain,
But cawing rooks, and kites, that swim sublime
In still repeated circles, screaming loud,
The jay, the pie, and e'en the boding owl
That hails the rising moon, have charms for me.

Then wherefore not renounce them! No-the dread,

The slavish dread of solitude, that breeds
Reflection and remorse, the fear of shame,
And their invet'rate habits-all forbid.

Whom call we gay? That honor has been long,

The boast of mere pretenders to the name.
The innocent are gay-the lark is gay,
That dries his feathers, saturate with dew,
Beneath the rosy cloud, while yet the beams
Of day-spring overshoot his humble nest.
The peasant too, a witness of his song,
Himself a songster, is as gay as he.
But save me from the gaiety of those
Whose head-achs nail them to a noon-day bed;
And save me too from theirs whose haggard
eyes

Flash desperation, and betray their pangs
For property stript off by cruel chance;
From gaiety that fills the bones with pain,
The mouth with blasphemy, the heart with

woe.

Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh, § 132. Satirical Review of our Trips to France.

Yet, heard in scenes where peace for ever

reigns,

And only there, please highly for their sake.

$131. The Wearisomeness of what is com-
monly called a Life of Pleasure. CowPER.
THE spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns;
The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown,
And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort,
And mar the face of beauty, where no cause
For such immeasurable woe appears;
These Flora banishes, and gives the fair
Sweet smiles and bloom, less transient than her
It is the constant revolution, stale [own.

And tasteless, of the same repeated joys,
That palls and satiates, and makes languid life
A pedlar's pack, that bows the bearer down.
Health suffers, and the spirits ebb; the heart
Recoils from its own choice-at the full feast
Is famish'd-finds no music in the song,
No smartness in the jest, and wonders why.
Yet thousands still desire to journey on,
Though halt, and weary of the path they tread.
The paralytic, who can hold her cards,
But cannot play them, borrows a friend's hand
To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort
Her mingled suits and sequences, and sits
Spectatress both and spectacle, a sad
And silent cipher, while her proxy plays.
Others are dragg'd into the crowded room
Between supporters; and, once seated, sit,

COWPER.

Now hoist the sail, and let the streamers float
Upon the wanton breezes. Strew the deck
With lavender, and sprinkle liquid sweets,
That no rude savor maritime invade
The nose of nice nobility. Breathe soft,
Ye clarionets, and softer still ye flutes,
That winds and waters, lull'd by magic sounds,
May bear us smoothly to the Gallic shore.
True, we have lost an empire-let it pass.
True, we may thank the perfidy of France,
That pick'd the jewel out of England's crown,
With all the cunning of an envious shrew:
And let that pass-'twas but a trick of state.
A brave man knows no malice, but at once
Forgets in peace the injuries of war,
And gives his distrest foe a friend's embrace.
And, sham'd as we have been, to the very beard
Brav'd and defied, and in our own sea prov'd
Too weak for those decisive blows that once
Insur'd us mast'ry there, we yet retain
Some small pre-eminence: we justly boast
At least superior jockeyship, and claim
The honors of the turf as all our own.

Go then, well worthy of the praise ye seek, And show the shame ye might conceal at home,

In foreign eyes!—be grooms, and win the plate, Where once your nobler fathers won a crown!

§ 133. The Pulpit the Engine of Reformation. If haply from his guarded breast

COWPER.

The legate of the skies: his theme divine,
His office sacred, his credentials clear.
By him the violated law speaks out
Its thunders, and by him in strains as sweet
As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace.
He stablishes the strong, restores the weak,
Reclaims the wand'rer, binds the broken heart,
And, arm'd himself in panoply complete
Of heavenly temper, furnishes with arms
Bright as his own; and trains, by ev'ry rule
Of holy discipline, to glorious war,
The sacramental host of God's elect.

Should steal the unsuspected sigh; And Memory, an unbidden guest, With former passions fill'd his eye : Then pioùs hope and duty prais'd

The wisdom of th' unerring sway; And while his eye to heaven he rais'd, Its silent waters sunk away.

Life's gayer ensigns once he bore

Ah! what avails the mournful tale?

Suffice it, when the scene was o'er,
He fled to the sequester'd vale.

"What though the joys I lov'd so well,
"The charms," he cry'd, "that youth has
"known,

Fly from the hermit's lonely cell!

Yet is not Armine still my own?

Yes, Armine, yes, thou valued youth! "Midst every grief thou still art mine! "Dear pledge of Winifreda's truth, "And solace of my life's decline.

My Armine, I devote to thee.

"And sure that heaven my hopes shall bless, "And make thee fam'd for virtues fair, "And happy too, if happiness

I VENERATE the man whose heart is warm,
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and"
whose life

Coincident, exhibit lucid proof
That he is honest in the sacred cause.

themselves:

To such I render more than mere respect,
Whose actions say that they respect
But, loose in morals, and in manners vain,
In conversation frivolous, in dress
Extreme, at once rapacious and profuse;
Frequent in park, with lady at his side,
Ambling and prattling scandal as he goes;
But rare at home, and never at his books,
Or with his pen, save when he scrawls a card;
Constant at routs, familiar with a round
Of ladyships, a stranger to the poor;
Ambitious of preferment, for its gold,
And well prepar'd by ignorance and sloth,
By infidelity and love o' th' world,

To make God's work a sinecure: a slave
To his own pleasures, and his patron's pride-
Fm such apostles, O ye mitred heads,
Preserve the church! and lay not careless hands
On sculls that cannot teach, and will not learn

§ 135. Armine und Elvira, a Legendury Tale. CARTWRIGHT,

PART I.

A HERMIT on the banks of Trent,
Far from the world's bewildering maze,
To humbler scenes of calm content
Had fled, from brighter, busier days.

Depend upon a parent's prayer :

Last hope of life's departing day, "In whom its future scenes I ste! "No truant thought shall ever stray "From this lone hermitage and thee." Thus, to his humble fate resign'd,

His breast each anxious care foregoes; All but the care of Armine's mind, The dearest task a parent knows! And well were all his cares repaid; In Armine's breast each virtue grew, In full maturity display'd

To fond Affection's anxious view. Nor yet neglected were the charms To polish'd life that grace impart : Virtue, he knew, but feebly warms Till science humanize the heart. And, when he saw the lawless train

Of passions in the youthful breast, He curb'd them not with rigid rein,

But strove to soothe them into rest. "Think not, my son, in this," he cry'd, "A father's precept shall displease; No-be each passion gratify'd

"That tends to happiness or ease.

Nor shall th' ungrateful task be mine "Their native gen'rous warmth to blame; That warmth, if reason's suffrage join, "To point the object and the aim.

"This suffrage wanting, know, fond boy, "That every passion proves a foe: "Though much it deal in promis'd joy, "It pays, alas! in certain woe.

Complete Ambition's wildest scheme; "In Power's most brilliant robes appear; "Indulge in Fortune's golden dream; "Then ask thy breast if Peace be there. "No: it shall tell thee, Peace retires

"If once of her lov'd friends depriv'd; "Contentment calm, subdu'd desires, "And happiness that 's self-deriv'd." To temper thus the stronger fires

Of youth he strove; for well he knew, Boundless as thought though man's desires, The real wants of life were few. And oft revolving in his breast

Th' insatiate lust of wealth or fame, He, with no common care opprest,

To fortune thus would oft exclaim: "O Fortune! at thy crowded shrine "What wretched worlds of suppliants bow! "For ever hail'd thy power divine,

"For ever breath'd the serious vow. "With tottering pace and feeble knee, "See age advance in shameless haste, "The palsy'd hand is stretch'd to thee

For wealth he wants the power to taste. "See, led by Hope, the youthful train,

Her fairy dreams their hearts have won ; "She points to what they ne'er shall gain, "Or dearly gain-to be undone. "Must I too form the votive prayer,

"And wilt thou hear one suppliant more? "His prayer, O Fortune! deign to hear, "To thee who never pray'd before.

"O may one dear, one favor'd youth, May Armine still thy power disclaim; "Kneel only at the shrine of Truth,

❝ Count freedom wealth, and virtue fame!" Lo! to his utmost wishes blest,

The prayer was heard; and freedom's flame, And truth the sunshine of the breast,

Were Armine's wealth, were Armine's fame. His heart no selfish cares confin'd,

He felt for all that feel distress; And, still benevolent and kind,

He bless'd them, or he wish'd to bless. For what though Fortune's frown deny With wealth to bid the sufferer live, Yet Pity's hand can oft supply

A balm she never knew to give: Can oft with lenient drops assuage

The wounds no ruder hand can heal, When grief, despair, distraction, rage, While Death the lips of love shall seal. Ah then, his anguish to remove, Depriv'd of all his heart holds dear,

How sweet the still surviving love

Of Friendship's smile, of Pity's tear! This knew the sire: he oft would cry, "From these, my son, O ne'er depart! "These tender charities that tie

"In mutual league the human heart. "Be thine those feelings of the mind, "That wake at Honor's, Friendship's call • "Benevolence, that unconfin'd

"Extends her liberal hand to all. "By Sympathy's untutor❜d voice "Be taught her social laws to keep; "Rejoice if human heart rejoice,

"And weep if human eye shall weep. "The heart that bleeds for others' woes "Shall feel each selfish sorrow less; "His breast, who happiness bestows, "Reflected happiness shall bless. "Each ruder passion still withstood "That breaks o'er virtue's sober line, "The tender, noble, and the good,

"To cherish and indulge be thine. "And yet, my Armine, might I name "One passion as a dangerous guest, "Well mayst thou wonder when I blame "The tenderest, noblest, and the best. "Nature, 'tis true, with love design'd "To smooth the race our fathers ran; "The savage of the human kind

By love was soften'd into man. "As feels the ore the searching fire, Expanding and refining too,

"So fairer glow'd each fair desire,

"Each gentle thought so gentler grew. "How chang'd, alas! those happy days! "A train how different now succeeds! "While sordid Avarice betrays,

"Or empty Vanity misleads. "Fled from the heart each nobler guest, "Each genuine feeling we forego; "What nature planted in the breast

"The flowers of love, are weeds of woe "Hence all the pangs the heart must feel "Between contending passions tost, "Wild Jealousy's avenging steel,

"And life, and fame, and virtue lost! "Yet falling life, yet fading fame,

"Compar'd to what his heart annoy "Who cherishes a hopeless flame,

"Are terms of happiness and joy. "Ah, then, the soft contagion fly! "And timely shun th' alluring bait!" The rising blush, the downcast eye, Proclaim'd-the precept was too late.

PART II.

DEEP in the bosom of a wood,
Where art had form'd the moated isle,

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Elegant Extracts in Poetry: Selected for the Improvement of Young Persons