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NOT that the Soul at once her Freedom fees;
The mighty Work is form'd by flow Degrees:
First wholesom Rules reftrain unheedful Youth,
And reconcile the fickly Mind to Truth:
Duty enforc'd, and Vertue's facred Lore
Timely imbib'd, will fovereign Health restore.
'Tis true, an high Defcent, an antient Line,
And th' envy'd Honours of a Race Divine,
Th' ambitious Soul to generous Acts incline:
The purer Blood with nobler Warmth infpires,
And vertuous Sons defcend from vertuous Sires.
But ah! neglected Blooms will foon decay;
A thousand Baits unguarded Youth betray,
Till kind Inftruction has the Mind improv'd;
(For Truths oft taught are not with ease remov❜d.)
But if this first great Task be left undone,
We foon fhall mourn a loose degenerate Son;
The Work is ruin'd, tho fo well begun.

SAY therefore, are not thofe abfurdly vain,
Who caufe their Children's Fate, and then complain;
Who with a hopeful beauteous Offspring bleft,
Forget themselves, and hire unwholefom Breafts;
And to fome common Wretch commit the Care
Of Infant-Calia, or the future Heir?
Befide Difeafes, and unnumber'd Ills,
That latent fpread, and flow in milky Rills,
That from bad Teats, and putrid Channels pafs,
And taint the Blood, and mingle with the Mafs;

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The noxious Food conveys a greater Curfe,
Even the meaner Paffions of the Nurfe;

Th' unthinking Babe fucks in the deadly Bane,
And new-form'd Lufts the native Vertue stain :
Who draws the flaggy Breafts of wanton Dames,
Shall bafe Defires.imbibe, and burn with guilty Flames.

THUS the Great Founder of the Roman State
Was fam'd for brutal Rage, and boundless Hate,
Which crufh'd a Brother with untimely Fate:
By Rapes he peopled what he built with Blood,
And Rome to mighty Guilt her Grandeur ow'd:
The favage Dam had four'd with wolfish Spleen
The manly Soul, diftain'd with Luft unclean :
Hence wild Revenge glow'd in his Royal Breaft;
Who was his Nurfe, his Actions plain confest,
And whofe the Pap which first the Infant prest.

BUT when the kind, the prudent Dame is found,
Wholesome and chafte, in Mind and Body found;
The next great Leffon bids, with early Pain,
Inform the Infant-mind, and mould the yielding Braip.
For tho a Wretch to foul Attempts incline,
Merely by Nature urg'd, and not Defign;
Tho tainted Juices in the Womb prevail,
And ftain the Birth, and fecret Guilt entail;
(As oft ill Humours will affect the Mind,
While fhut in Body, and to Earth confin'd)
Yet vertuous Rules will new Defires inftil,
And straiten to themselves the warping Will:

Precepts

Precepts well-urg'd will rifing Luft controul,
Give a new Turn, and Beauty to the whole,
And from its winding Tract restrain the byafs'd Soul

THUS Socrates was obftinately good,
Vertuous by Force, by Inclination leud;
When fecret Movements drew his Soul afide,
He quell'd his Luft, and stem'd the swelling Tide
Suftain'd by Reafon ftill, unmov'd he stood,

And fteddy bore against th' oppofing Flood:

He durft correct what Nature form'd amifs,

And forc'd unwilling Vertue to be his ::

Fame circling flies thro ev'ry. Grecian Town; .
Proclaims the Sage, and makes the Hero known
Applaufe from Men might not alone fuffice;
They ftil'd him Good, but Heaven pronounc'd him Wife.

BUT if the painful Mufe with anxious Care,
Should ev'ry Truth, or ev'ry Rule declare,
And on each Branch with tedious Nicenefs dwell,
To endless Tomes the mighty Task would swell;
Yet those first Maxims, which will Vice remove,
Childhood correét, and blooming Youth improve,
The Verfe fhall tell ; and with what ftudious Care,
Indulgent Parents form the growing Heir:
While yet the helpless Babe, unthinking, lies
Still mute, but when he tells his Pain in Cries;
While yet the Parts with foftning Moifture fill'd,
Sink at the Touch, and to Impreffion yield:
While the lax Sinews have no vigorous Spring,
Then mould, and shape the soft and tender Thing.
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In Little let the future Man be seen,

And form the Body to a graceful Mien:

Nought now demands the Parents daily Care,
But how to warm, and feed the Infant Heir:
By easy Motion, and indulgent Arts,

Now fhape the Limbs, and fix the hardning Parts.
No time as yet to teach, or change the Will;
No bufy Thoughts diftinguish Good from Ill.
Unus'd to Clay, a-while th' imprifon'd Mind
Is at a loss to think, when thus confin'd;
But flumb'ring lies, and pent in Darkness shows
No active Force; no Spark of Reafon glows,
And scarce the Soul her own Existence knows.

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So when the coming Morn looks faintly bright, And gilds the Mountain-tops with weaker Light; When first the Sun, unwilling, leaves the Sea, And ruddy Dawn begins the early Day; The watry Drops ftill hang upon his Beams, And trembling Light breaks in imperfect Gleams. But when the God has fhook his dewy Head, And cooling Moisture falls on ev'ry Mead, His brighter Orb its wonted Force regains, And spreads diffusive Heat, and cheers the smiling Plains.

BUT when the stronger Limbs to firmness grow,
And Babes begin their Parents Voice to know;
When toying Childhood grateful Mirth affords,
And tells its trifling Senfe in faultring Words,

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Then ftrengthen too the Mind, as yet but weak,
Teach then the confcious Soul her God to feek,
And let her lifp the Praise fhe cannot speak.
Oft talk of Him, and tell the awful Name,
And how this All from that First Being came,

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And whofe kind Influence ftill preferves the beauteous

Frame.

When bursting Vapours eccho in the Skies,

And flashing Lightnings ftrike the trembling Eyes;
Tell him, 'tis Heaven incens'd that thus repeats
Affrighting Sounds, and fpeaks in angry Threats,
When heedless Men forget the facred Law:
Thus teach the Child, and thus the Infant awe.
These early Traces in the tender Brain,
Will fix the Notions which will long remain.

MERE Reason, by its own Reflection taught,
May find a God, and feek the nobler Thought;
May searching guess the Origin of Man,
And how itself, and how the World began.
But ah! if not improv'd by friendly Art,
Reafon untaught thefe Truths will flow impart.
Thus in the Weftern World, fo lately found,
Tho circling Years have past their conftant Round;
Tho tedious Ages have fucceffive roll'd,
No length of Time could this great Truth unfold.
Here all her Pride has bounteous Nature Ihown,
And sports herself in Forms to us unknown.
But tho each blushing Fruit, or smiling Flow'r
Declares a God, and speaks his awful Pow'r,

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