Then, like a bow long forced into a curve,

The mind, released from too constrained a nerve,

Flew to its first position, with a spring

That made the vaulted roofs of Pleasure ring.

625

His court, the dissolute and hateful school

Of Wantonness, where vice was taught by rule,

Swarmed with a scribbling herd, as deep inlaid
With brutal lust as ever Circe made.

630

From these a long succession, in the rage

Of rank obscenity, debauched their age
Nor ceased till, ever anxious to redress

The abuses of her sacred charge, the press,

The Muse instructed a well nurtured train
Of abler votaries to cleanse the stain,
And claim the palm for purity of song,,
That Lewdness had usurped and worn so long.
Then decent Pleasantry and sterling Sense,
That neither gave nor would endure offence,
Whipped out of sight, with satire just and keen,
The puppy pack that had defiled the scene.
In front of these came ADDISON.
Humour in holiday and sightly trim,
Sublimity and Attic taste combined,
To polish, furnish, and delight the mind.
Then POPE, as harmony itself exact,

In him

635

640

645

In verse well disciplined, complete, compact,
Gave Virtue and Morality a grace,

That, quite eclipsing Pleasure's painted face,

Levied a tax of wonder and applause,

650

E'en on the fools that trampled on their laws.

That constellation set, the world in vain

660

Must hope to look upon their like again.

A. Are we then left-B. Not wholly in the dark:

Wit now and then, struck smartly, shows a spark,
Sufficient to redeem the modern race

From total night and absolute disgrace.

665

While servile trick and imitative knack

Confine the million in the beaten track,

Perhaps some courser who disdains the road,
Snuffs up the wind and flings himself abroad.
Contemporaries all surpassed, see one,
Short his career, indeed, but ably run;

670

CHURCHILL, himself unconscious of his powers,
In penury consumed his idle hours,

And, like a scattered seed at random sown,
Was left to spring by vigour of his own.
Lifted at length, by dignity of thought
And dint of genius, to an affluent lot,
He laid his head in LUXURY's soft lap,
And took, too often, there his easy nap.

675

If brighter beams than all he threw not forth,

680

'Twas negligence in him, not want of worth.
Surly and slovenly, and bold and coarse,
Too proud for art and trusting in mere force,
Spendthrift alike of money and of wit,
Always at speed, and never drawing bit,

685

He struck the lyre in such a careless mood,
And so disdained the rules he understood,
The laurel seemed to wait on his command,
He snatched it rudely from the Muse's hand.
Nature exerting an unwearied power,

690

Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower,
Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads

The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads,

She fills profuse ten thousand little throats

With music, modulating all their notes,

695

And charms the woodland scenes, and wilds unknown,
With artless airs and concerts of her own;

But seldom (as if fearful of expense)
Vouchsafes to man a poet's just pretence-
Fervency, freedom, fluency of thought,
Harmony, strength, words exquisitely sought;
Fancy that from the bow that spans the sky,

700

Brings colours dipped in Heaven, that never die;
A soul exalted above Earth, a mind
Skilled in the characters that form mankind;
And as the sun in rising beauty dressed,

705

Looks to the westward from the dappled east,
And marks whatever clouds may interpose,
Ere yet his race begins, its glorious close;
An eye like his to catch the distant goal,
Or ere the wheels of verse begin to roll,
Like his to shed illuminating rays

710

On every scene and subject it surveys:

Thus graced, the man asserts a poet's name,

And the world cheerfully admits the claim.
Pity Religion has so seldom found

715

A skilful guide into poetic ground!

The flowers would spring where'er she deigned to stray,

And every Muse attend her in her way.

Virtue indeed meets many a rhyming friend,

720

And many a compliment politely penned,
But unattired in that becoming vest
Religion weaves for her, and half undressed,
Stands in the desert shivering and forlorn,
A wintry figure, like a withered thorn.

The shelves are full, all other themes are sped,
Hackneyed and worn to the last flimsy thread;
Satire has long since done his best, and curst
And loathsome Ribaldry has done his worst,
Fancy has sported all her powers away

725

730

In tales, in trifles, and in children's play;

And 'tis the sad complaint, and almost true,

Whate'er we write, we bring forth nothing new. 'Twere new indeed to see a bard all fire,

Touched with a coal from Heaven, assume the lyre,

735

And tell the world, still kindling as he sung,
With more than mortal music on his tongue,
That He who died below, and reigns above,
Inspires the song, and that his name is Love.
For, after all, if merely to beguile,

By flowing numbers and a flowery style,
The tædium that the lazy rich endure,

Which now and then sweet Poetry may cure,

740

Or, if to see the name of idol self,

Stamped on the well-bound quarto, grace the shelf, 745
To float a bubble on the breath of Fame,
Prompt his endeavour, and engage his aim,
Debased to servile purposes of Pride,
How are the powers of genius misapplied!
The gift whose office is the Giver's praise,

750

To trace Him in his word, his works, his ways!

Then spread the rich discovery, and invite

Mankind to share in the divine delight;
Distorted from its use and just design,
To make the pitiful possessor shine,
To purchase, at the fool-frequented fair
Of Vanity, a wreath for self to wear,

755

Is profanation of the basest kind

Proof of a trifling and a worthless mind.

A. Hail, Sternhold then, and, Hopkins, hail!

B. Amen.

760

If Flattery, Folly, Lust, employ the pen;

If Acrimony, Slander, and Abuse,

Give it a charge to blacken and traduce;

Though Butler's wit, Pope's numbers, Prior's ease,
With all that Fancy can invent to please,

765

Adorn the polished periods as they fall,

One madrigal of theirs is worth them all.

A. 'Twould thin the ranks of the poetic tribe,

To dash the pen through all that you proscribe,

B. No matter;-we could shift when they were not; 770 And should, no doubt, if they were all forgot.

THE PROGRESS OF ERROR.

'Si quid loquar audiendum.'

HOR. Lib. iv. Od. 2.

[ARGUMENT:-Origin of error, 1-Man endowed with free will, 23Motives for action, 45—Allurements of pleasure, 57—Music, 63—The chase, 82-Such amusements unsuited to the clergy, 96-Occiduus, 124 -Force of example, 142-Sabbath desecration, 152—Cards and dancing, 169-Drunkenness and trifling, 199—Gluttony, 209-Virtuous pleasures, 243-Excess in pleasure pernicious, 269-Corrupt works of imagination, 307-Lord Chesterfield, 335-Importance of early education, 353Foreign travel, 369-Accomplishments in the place of virtues, 417— Qualifications of the Biblical critic, 452-Power of the Press, 460— Effects of enthusiasm, 470-Partiality of authors for their literary progeny, 516-The dunce impatient of contradiction, 536—Moral and intellectual errors produce each other, 564-Force of habit, 580.]

SING, Muse, (if such a theme, so dark, so long,

May find a Muse to grace it with a song)

By what unseen and unsuspected arts

The serpent Error twines round human hearts;
Tell where she lurks, beneath what flowery shades,

5

That not a glimpse of genuine light pervades,
The poisonous, black, insinuating worm
Successfully conceals her loathsome form.
Take, if ye can, ye careless and supine,
Counsel and caution from a voice like mine!
Truths that the theorist could never reach,
And observation taught me, I would teach.
Not all whose eloquence the fancy fills,
Musical as the chime of tinkling rills,

ΤΟ