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CONFU

SION.

A nymph of quality admires our knight.
He marries; bows at court; and grows polite;
Leaves the dull cits, and joins (to please the fair)
The well-bred cuckolds in St. James's air.
First, for his fon a gay commiffion buys,

Who drinks, whores, fights, and in a duel dies.
His daughter ftruts a viscount's tawdry wife;
And bears a coronet, and p-x for life.
In Britain's fenate he a feat obtains;
And one more penfioner St. Stephen's gains.
My lady takes to play, fo bad her chance,
He must repair it. Takes a bribe from France.
The house impeach him. Coningsby barangues.
The court forfake him; and Sir Balaam bangs.
Wife, fon, and daughter, Satan! are thy own;
His wealth, yet dearer, forfeit to the crown.
The Devil and the king divide the prize.
And fad Sir Balaam curfes God, and dies.

XXXVII.

XXXVII.

ANXIETY. RESOLUTION.

Cato fitting in a thoughtful posture. In his hand Plato's book on the immortality of the foul. A drawn fword on the table by him. After a long pause, he lays down the book, and fpeaks.

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T must be fo-Plato, thou reafon'st well-
Elfe whence this pleafing hope, this fond defire*,
This longing after immortality?

Or whence this fecret dread, and inward horror
Of falling into nought ?-Why fhrinks the foul
Back on herself, and startles at deftruction?
'Tis the Divinity that ftirs within us;

'Tis Heav'n itself that points out an Hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.

DEEP

CONTEMPL.

COMFORT.

DESIRE.

FEAR.

AwE.

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dreadful t

thought!

* SATISF. † APPRE.

Through what variety of untry'd being,
Through what new fcenes and changes must we
pass?

The

a" this fond defire," may be spoken with the right band laid on the breaft.

b " Eternity!-thou pleafing," &c. requires an eye fixed, with profound thoughtfulness, on one point, throughout this

line.

CURIOSITY.

ANXIETY. * COUR. + VENE.

SATISFAC.
ANXIETY.

• COUR.

FIRMNESS.

APPRI.
COMFORT.

NOBLE.

PRIDE.

TRIUMPH.

it.

The wide, th' unbounded profpect lies before me;
But fhadows, clouds, and darkness, rest upon
*Here will I bold. † If there's a Pow'r above us;
And that there is, all nature cries aloud

Through all her works-He must delight in
virtue,

And that, which He delights in, must be happy. But when!-or where!--- This world was made for Cafar.

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I'm weary of conjectures--- This must end them.
[Laying his hand on his fword.]
Thus am I doubly arm'd. My death, my life;
My bane and antidote, are both before me;
This---in a moment, brings me to an end.
Whilft this informs me, I fhall never die.
The foul, fecur'd in her exiftence, fmiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars fhall fade away, the fun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature fink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,

e

f

Unburt

"My death, my life," &c. Long paufes between, and pointing, or looking at the fword in pronouncing "my "death,” and at the book in pronouncing "my life," and fo in my bane, and antidote," and in the two following lines.

"The foul, &c. may be pronounced with the right hand laid upon the breaft.

"The stars," &c. may be fpoken with the eyes raifed toward heaven, and the arms moderately spread.

thoufhalt flourish," &c. The right hand upon the

breast.

* Unburt amidst the war of elements,

The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

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Satan's fpeech to Death ftopping his paffage through the gate of Hell; with the answer. [Milt. PARAD. Lost, B. II. v. 681.]

WHENCE, and what art thou, execrable shape! QUEST. That dar'ft, though grim and terrible, ad

vance

Thy mifcreated front athwart my way

with ANGER.

CONF.
THREATEN

To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, RESOL.
That be affur'd, without leave afk'd of thee.
Retire; or tafte thy folly, and learn by proof,
Hel-born, not to contend with spirits of Heav'n.

To whom the goblin full of wrath reply'd.
"Art thou that traitor Angel, art thou He,
Who first broke peace in Heav'n, and faith, till

ING.

ANGER.

" then

« Unbroken,

8 « Unhurt," &c. The arms spread again as before. h" the cru," &c. The hands brought together with force.

« Retire;" is to be spoken as a whole fentence, and with the greatest force of threatening. See Anger, page 23.

CONTEMPT with ANGER.

PRIDE.

"Unbroken, and in proud, rebellious arms
"Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's fons,
"Conjur'd against the Higheft, for which both thou
"And they, outcaft from God, are here condemn'd
"To waste eternal days in woe and pain?
"And reckon'st thou thyself with spirits of Heav'n,
"Hell-doom'd, and breath'st defiance here, and fcorn,
"Where I reign king, and to enrage thee more,

Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment, THREATEN-"Falfe fugitive, and to thy Speed add wings, "Left with a whip of fcorpions I pursue

ING.

"Thy ling'ring, or with one stroke of this dart
"Strange horror feize thee, and pangs unfelt before."

k" and to thy speed," &c. to be spoken quick.

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