§ 64. In what Manner Princes ought to be taught. MALLET.

LET truth and virtue be their earliest teachers; Keep from their ear the syren-voice of flattery, Keep from their eye the harlot form of vice, Who spread in every court their silken snares, And charm but to betray. Betimes instruct them,

Superior rank demands superior worth;
Pre-eminence of valor, justice, mercy:
But chief, that, though exalted o'er mankind,
They are themselves but men-frail suffering
dust;

From no one injury of human lot

Exempt; but fever'd by the same heat, chill'd By the same cold, torn by the same disease, That scorches, freezes, racks, and kills the beg

gar.

§ 65. True End of Royalty. MALLET. -O WITNESS, Heaven!

Whose

eye

the heart's profoundest depth ex

plores, That if not to perform my regal task; To be the common father of my people, Patron of honor, virtue, and religion; If not to shelter useful worth, to guard His well-earn'd portion from the sons of rapine, And deal out justice with impartial hand; If not to spread on all good men my bounty,

The treasures trusted to me, not my own;

If not to raise anew our English name
By peaceful arts, that grace the land they bless,
And generous war to humble proud oppressors:
Yet more, if not to build the public weal
Both time and chance, fair liberty and law;
On that firm base, which can alone resist
If I for these great ends am not ordain'd—
May I ne'er poorly fill the throne of England.

$66. The real Duty of a King. Rowe.

-Tis true I am a king:

Honor and glory too have been my aim,
But though I dare face death and all the dangers
Which furious war wears in its bloody front;
Yet could I choose to fix my name by peace,
By justice, and by mercy; and to raise
My trophies on the blessings of mankind :
Nor would I buy the empire of the world,
With ruin of the people whom I sway,
Or forfeit of my honor.

The good exalted, and depress'd the bad : He spurn'd the flattering crew, with scorn rejected

[selves, Their smooth advice, that only means themTheir schemes to aggrandize him into baseness, Well knowing that a people in their rights And industry protected; living safe Beneath the sacred shelter of the laws; Encourag'd in their genius, arts, and labors; And happy each as he himself deserves, Are ne'er ungrateful. With unsparing hand They will for him provide: their filial love And confidence are his unfailing treasury, And every honest man his faithful guard.

$68. The Guilt of bad Kings. MALLET. WHEN those whom Heaven distinguishes o'er millions,

And show'rs profusely pow'r and splendor on
them,
[they,
Whate'er th' expanded heart can wish: when
Accepting the reward, neglect the duty,
Or, worse, pervert those gifts to deeds of ruin,
Is there a wretch they rule so base as they?
Guilty, at once, of sacrilege to Heaven,
And of perfidious robbery to man!

§ 69. The true End of Life. THOMSON.

WHO, who would live, my Narva, just to breathe

This idle air, and indolently run,
Day after day, the still returning round
Of life's mean offices and sickly joys?
But in the service of mankind to be
A guardian god below; still to employ
The mind's brave ardor in heroic arms,
Such as may raise us o'er the grovelling herd,
And make us shine for ever-that is life.

§ 70. The same. S. JOHNSON. REFLECT that life and death, affecting sounds,

Are only varied modes of endless being.
Reflect that life, like every other blessing,
Derives its value from its use alone;
Nor for itself, but for a nobler end,
Th' Eternal gave it, and that end is virtue.
When inconsistent with a greater good,
Reason commands to cast the less away;
Thus life, with loss of wealth, is well preserv'd,
And virtue cheaply sav'd with loss of life.

§ 71. A Lion overcome by a Man. LEE.

THE prince in a lone court was plac'd, Unarin'd, all but his hands, on which he wore A pair of gantlets.

At last, the door of an old lion's den
Being drawn up, the horrid beast appear'd:
The flames which from his eye shot glaring
red,

Made the sun start, as the spectators thought,
And round them cast a day of blood and death.
The prince walk'd forward: the large beast des-
cried

§ 73. Virtue the only true Source of Nobility. THOMSON.

I TELL thee, then, whoe'er amidst the sons
Of reason, valor, liberty, and virtue,
Displays distinguish'd merit, is a noble
Of nature's own creating. Such have risen,
Sprung from the dust, or where had been our
honors?

And such, in radiant bands, will rise again
In yon immortal city; that, when most
Deprest by fate, and near apparent ruin,
Returns, as with an energy divine,

On her astonish'd foes, and shakes them from her.

747

up;

And, looking tow'rds the neighbouring pastures, raise

Their voice, and bid their fellow brutes good

more;

Warbling she charms it each returning night,
And loves it with a mother's dear delight.

$79. A worthless Person can claim no Merit
from the Virtues of his Ancestors. ROWE.
WERE honor to be scann'd by long descent
From ancestors illustrious, I could vaunt
A lineage of the greatest; and recount,
Among my fathers, names of ancient story,
Heroes and godlike patriots, who subdu'd
The world by arms and virtue.
But that be their own praise;

Nor will I borrow merit from the dead,
Myself an undeserver.

Virtue.

THOMSON. His only plot was this: that, much pro

vok'd,

He rais'd his vengeful arm against his country:

And lo! the righteous gods have now chastis'd him

Even by the hands of those for whom he fought.

Whatever private views and passions plead,
No cause can justify so black a deed:
These, when the angry tempest clouds the soul,
May darken reason and her course control;
But when the prospect clears, her startled eye
Must from the treach'rous gulf with horror fly,
On whose wide wave by stormy passions tost,
So many helpless wretches have been lost.
Then be this truth the star by which we steer:
Above ourselves our country shall be dear.

$82. In what Philosophy really consists. THOMSON.

-PHILOSOPHY consists not In airy schemes or idle speculations. The rule and conduct of all social life Is her great province. Not in lonely cells Obscure she lurks, but holds her heavenly light To senates and to kings, to guide their counsels, And teach them to reform and bless mankind. All policy but hers is false and rotten; All valor not conducted by her precepts Is a destroying fury sent from hell, To plague unhappy man, and ruin nations.

Our seas with commerce throng'd, our busy ports

With cheerful toil. Our Enna blooms afresh;
Afresh the sweets of thymy Hybla blow.
Our nymphs and shepherds, sporting in each
vale,

Inspire new song, and wake the pastoral reed.

$85. Providence. THOMSON. --THERE is a Pow'r

Unseen, that rules th' illimitable world,
That guides its motions from the brightest star
To the least dust of this sin-tainted mould;
While man, who madly deems himself the
lord

Of all, is nought but weakness and depend

§ 87. Description of Ships appearing at a Distance, and approaching the Shore. DRYDEN. Guiom. As far as I could cast my eyes Upon the sea, something, methought, did rise Like blueish mists, which still appearing more, Took dreadful shapes, and thus mov'd tow'rds the shore:

The object I could first distinctly view, Was tall, straight trees, which on the water flew :

Wings on their sides instead of leaves did grow, Which gather'd all the breath the winds could blow;

And at their roots grew floating palaces, Whose out-blow'd bellies cut the yielding seas. Montezuma. What divine monsters, O ye gods! are these,

upon

--O BEAUTEOUS Peace! Sweet union of a state! what else but thou Gives safety, strength, and glory, to a people? I bow, Lord Constable, beneath the snow Of many years; yet in my breast revives A youthful flame. Methinks I see again Those gentle days renew'd, that bless'd our isle Ere by this wasteful fury of division, Worse than our Ætna's most destructive fires, It desolated sunk. I see our plains Unbounded waving with the gifts of harvest:

All turn'd their sides, and to each other spoke : I saw their words break out in fire and smoke. Sure 'tis their voice that thunders from on high, And these the younger brothers of the sky: Deaf with the noise, I took my hasty flight; No mortal courage can support the fright.

§88. Virtue preferable to Rank. Rowe. WHAT tho' no gaudy titles grace my birth; Titles, the servile courtier's lean reward!

Sometimes the pay of virtue, but more oft The hire which greatness gives to slaves and sycophants:

Yet Heaven, that made me honest, made me

more

Than e'er a king did when he made a lord.

§89. Description of an ancient Cathedral. CONGREVE.

Tis dreadful:
How rev'rend is the face of this tall pile
Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads,
To bear aloft its arch'd and ponderous roof,
By its own weight made steadfast and immove-
able!

Looking tranquillity; it strikes an awe
And terror to my aching sight! The tombs
And monumental caves of death look cold,
And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart.

$90. Description of a Triumph.

LEE. -HE comes, and with a port so proud, As if he had subdu'd the spacious world: And all Sinope's streets are fill'd with such A glut of people, you would think some god Had conquer'd in their cause, and them thus rank'd, [heads! That he might make his entrance on their While from the scaffolds, windows, tops of houses,

Are cast such gaudy show'rs of garlands down, That e'en the crowd appear like conquerors, And the whole city seems like one vast meadow Set all with flow'rs, as a clear heaven with

stars.

Nay, as I have heard, ere he the city enter'd,
Your subjects lin'd the way for many furlongs;
The very trees bore men: and as our God,
When from the portal of the east he dawns,
To welcome him with all their warbling throats
And prune their feathers in his golden beams;

So did your subjects, in their gaudy trim,
Upon the pendant branches speak his praise.
Mothers, who cover'd all the banks beneath,
Did rob the crying infants of the breast,
Pointing Ziphares out, to make them smile;
And climbing boys stood on their fathers' shoul-
ders,
[cries,
Answering their shouting sires with tender
To make the concert up of general joy.

$91. A Shepherd's Life happier than a King's. HILL.

TH' unbusied shepherd, stretch'd beneath the hawthorn,

His careless limbs thrown out in wanton ease, With thoughtless gaze perusing the arch'd heavens,

And idly whistling while his sheep feed round him,

Enjoys a sweeter shade than that of canopies Hemm'd in with cares, and shook by storms of

treason.

$92. Virtue its own Reward. ROWE. GREAT minds, like Heav'n, are pleas'd with doing good,

Are barren in return.
Though the ungrateful subjects of their favors
Virtue does still

With scorn the mercenary world regard,
Where abject souls do good, and hope reward.
Above the worthless trophies man can raise,
She-seeks not honor, wealth, nor airy praise,
But with herself, herself the goddess pays.

$93. No Difficulties insuperable to the Prudent and Brave. ROWE.

THE wise and active conquer difficulties By daring to attempt them: sloth and folly Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and hazard, And make th' impossibility they fear.