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THE PRAISE

PHILOSOPHY.

UT now let other themes our care engage,

BUT

For lo, with modeft, yet majestic grace,

To curb imaginations lawless rage,

And from within the cherifh'd heart to brace,
Philofophy appears. The gloomy race

By indolence and moping Fancy bred,
Fear, Difcontent, Solicitude give place,

And Hope and Courage brighten in their ftead,
While on the kindling foul her vital beams are fhed.

Then waken from long lethargy to life
The feeds of happiness and powers of thought;
Then jarring appetites forego their ftrife,
A ftrife by ignorance to madness wrought,
Pleasure by favage man is dearly bought
With fell revenge, lust that defies controul,
With gluttony and death. The mind untaught
Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempefts howl!
As Phoebus to the world, is Science to the foul.

And Reason now through Number, Time, and Space,
Darts the keen luftre of her serious eye,

And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace,
Whofe long progreffion leads to Deity.
Can mortal strength prefume to foar so high!
Can mortal fight, fo oft bedim'd with tears,
Such glory bear!-for lo, the shadows fly

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From nature's face; Confufion disappears,
And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears.

In the deep windings of the grove, no more
The hag obscene, and grifly phantom dwell;
Nor in the fall of mountain ftream, or roar
Of winds, is heard the angry spirit's yell ;
No wizards mutters the tremendous fpell,
Nor finks convulfive in prophetic fwoon;
Nor bids the noife of drums and trumpets fwell,
To eafe of fancied pangs the labouring moon,
Or chase the shade that blots the blazing orb of noon.

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Many a long lingering year, in lonely ifle,
Stunn'd with th' eternal turbulence of waves,
Lo, with dim eyes, that never learn'd to fmile,
And trembling hands the famish'd native craves,
Of Heaven his wretched fare: fhivering in caves,
Or fcorch'd on rocks, he pines from day to day;
But Science gives the word; and lo, he braves
The furge and tempest, lighted by her ray,
And to a happier land wafts merrily away.

And even where Nature loads the teeming plain
With the full pomp of vegetable store,

Her bounty, unimproved, is deadly bane

Dark woods and rankling wilds from shore to fhore,
Stretch their enormous gloom; which to explore
Even Fancy trembles, in her fprightlieft mood;
For there each eye-ball gleams with luft of

gore,

Neftles each murderous and each monftrous brood, Flague lurks in every fhade, and fteams from every flood.

'Twas

'Twas from Philofophy man learn'd to tame
The foil by plenty to intemperance fed,

Lo, from the echoing axe, and thundering flame,
Poison and plagae and yelling rage are fled.
The waters, bursting from their flimy bed,
Bring health and melody to every vale :

And, from the breezy main, and mountain's head,
Ceres and Flora, to the sunny dale,

To fan their glowing charms, invite the fluttering gale.

What dire neceffities on every hand

Our heart, our ftrength, our fortitude require!
Of foes inteftine what a numerous band

Against this little throb of life confpire !
Yet Science can elude their fatal ire
Awhile, and turn afide Death's levell'd dart,

Sooth the fharp pang, allay the fever's fire,

And brace the nerves once more, and cheer the heart, And yet a few soft nights and balmy days impart.

Nor lefs to regulate man's moral frame
Science exerts her all-compofing sway.
Flutters thy breast with fear, or pants for fame,
Or pines to Indolence and Spleen a prey,
Or Avarice a fiend more fierce than they?

Flee to the fhade of Academus' grove;
Where cares moleft not, difcord melts away

In harmony, and the pure paffions prove

How fweet the words of truth breathed from the lips of love.

What cannot Art and Industry perform,

When Science plans the progrefs of their toil!

They smile at penury, disease, and ftorm ;

And oceans from their mighty mounds recoil.

When

When tyrants scourge, or demagogues embroil
A land, or when the rabble's headlong rage
Order transforms to anarchy and spoil.
Deep-versed in man the philofophic fage
Prepares with lenient hand their phrenzy to affuage..

"Tis he alone, whofe comprehenfive mind,
From fituation, temper, foil, and clime
Explored, a nation's various powers can bind
And various orders, in one form fublime
Of polity, that 'midst the wrecks of time,
Secure fhall lift its head on high, nor fear
Th' affault of foreign or domeftic crime,
While public faith, and public love fincere,
And Industry and Law maintain their fway fevere

HAPPINESS.

HAPPINESS.

ANT and vision are to the ear and the eye, the fame as tickling

CANT

is to the touch. Thofe entertainments and pleasures we moft value in life, are fuch as dupe and play the wag with the fenfes. For if we take an examination of what is generally understood by happiness, as it has refpect either to the understanding or the fenfe, we shall find all its properties and adjuncts will herd under this fhort definition: that it is a perpetual poffeffion of being well deceived. And first, with relation to the mind or understanding, it is manifeft, what mighty advantages fiction has over truth; and the reason is just at our elbow, because imagination can build nobler fcenes, and produce more wonderful revolutions, than fortune or nature will be at expence to furnish. Nor is mankind fo much to blame in his choice thus determining him, if we confider that the debate merely lies between things paft, and things conceived: and so the question is only this; whether things that have place in the imagination, may not as properly be faid to exift, as those that are feated in the memory; which may be juftly held in the affirmative, and very much to the advantage of the former, fince this is acknowledged to be the womb of things, and the other allowed to be no more than the grave. Again, if we take the definition of happiness, and examine it with reference to the fenfes, it will be acknowledged wonderfully adapt. How fading and infipid do all objects accoft us that are not conveyed in the vehicle of delufion! how fhrunk is every thing, as it appears in the glass of nature; fo that if it were not for the affiftance of artificial mediums, falfe lights, refracting angles, varnish and tinfel; there would be a mighty level in the felicity and enjoyments of mortal men. If this were feriously confi

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