LXXVI.

Peace, Wealth, and Liberty, that noblest boon,
Are bleffings only to the wife and good.

To weak and vicious minds their worth unknown
And thence abufed but serve to furnish food
For riot and debauch, and fire the blood
With high-fpiced luxury; whence ftrife, debate,
Ambition, envy, Faction's vip'rous brood,
Contempt of order, manners profligate;

The symptoms of a foul, difeafed and bloated ftate.
LXXVII.

Ev'n Wit and Genius, with their learned train
Of Arts and Mufes, though from heav'n above
Defcended, when their talents they prophane
To varnish folly, kindle wanton love,
And aid excentrick sceptic Pride to rove
Beyond cæleftial Truth's attractive sphere,
This moral fyftem's central fun, aye prove

To their fond votaries a curse severe,

And only make mankind more obftinately err.

LXXVIII.

And ftand
my fons herein from cenfure clear?
Have They confider'd well, and understood
The ufe and import of those bleffings dear,
Which the great Lord of Nature hath bestow'd

Aş

As well to prove, as to reward the good?
Whence are these torrents then, these billowy feas
Of vice, in which, as in his proper flood,

The fell leviathan licentious plays,

And upon fhip-wreck'd faith, and finking virtue preys?
LXXIX.

To you, ye Noble, Opulent and Great!
With friendly voice I call, and honeft zeal!
Upon your vital influences wait

The health and fickness of the common-weal;
The maladies you cause, yourselves must heal.
In vain to the unthinking harden'd croud
Will Truth and Reafon make their just appeal;
In vain will facred Wifdom cry aloud;

And Justice drench in vain her vengeful sword in blood,
LXXX.

With You must reformation first take place: You are the head, the intellectual mind Of this vaft body politick; whose base, And vulgar limbs, to drudgery confign'd, All the rich ftores of Science have refign'd To You, that by the craftsman's various toil, The fea-worn mariner, and sweating hind, In peace and affluence maintain'd, the while You, for yourselves and them, may drefs the mental foil. LXXXI. Be

LXXXI.

Bethink you then, my children, of the trust
In you repos'd; ne let your heav'n-born mind
Confume in pleasure, or unactive ruft;

But nobly rouse you to the task affign'd,
The godlike task to teach and mend mankind:
Learn that ye may inftruct: to virtue lead
Yourselves the way; the herd will croud behind,
And gather precepts from each worthy deed:
Example is a leffon, that all men can read.
LXXXII.

But if (to All or Moft I do not speak)
In vain and fenfual habits now grown old,
The ftrong Circaan charm you cannot break,
Nor re-affume at will your
native* mould,

Yet

envy not the state, you could not hold;
And take compaffion on the rifing age:
In them redeem your errours manifold;
And, by due difcipline and nurture fage,
In Virtue's lore betimes

your docile fons engage.
LXXXIII.

You chiefly, who like me in fecret mourn
The prevalence of CUSTOM lewd and vain ;

And you, who, though by the rude torrent borne
Unwillingly along you yield with pain

*Mould, fhape, form.

Το

To his behefts, and act what you disdain,
Yet nourish in your hearts the gen'rous love
Of piety and truth, no more restrain

The manly zeal; but all your finews move
The present to reclaim, the future race improve!
LXXXIV.

Eftfoons by your joint efforts shall be quell'd
Yon haughty GIANT, who so proudly sways
A fceptre by repute alone upheld;
Who where he cannot dictate strait obeys.
Accuftom'd to conform his flattering phrase
To numbers and high-plac'd authority,
Your party he will join, your maxims praise,
And drawing after all his menial fry,
Soon teach the general voice your act to ratify.
LXXXV.

Ne for th' atchievment of this great emprize
The want of means or counsel may ye dread.
From my TWIN-DAUGHTERS' fruitful wombs shall rife
A race of letter'd fages, deeply read

In Learning's various writ: by whom y-led

Through each well cultur'd plot, each beauteous grove, Where antique Wisdom whilom wont to tread,

With mingled glee and profit may ye rove,

And cull each virtuous plant, each tree of knowledge prove

LXXXVI.

Yourselves with virtue thus and knowledge fraught
Of what, in ancient days of good or great
Hiftorians, bards, philofophers have taught;
Join'd with whatever elfe of modern date
Maturer judgment, search more accurate
Discover'd have of Nature, Man, and God,
May by new laws reform the time-worn ftate
Of cell-bred difcipline, and smoothe the road
That leads through Learning's valeto Wisdom's bright abode.
LXXXVII.

By you invited to her fecret bow'rs
Then shall PÆDîA reafcend her throne
With vivid laurels girt and fragrant flow'rs;
While from their forked mount defcending down
Yon fupercilious pedant train shall own
Her empire paramount, ere long by Her
Y-taught a leffon in their schools unknown,
"To Learning's richeft treasures to prefer

"The knowledge of the world, and man's great business there. LXXXVII.

On this prime science, as the final end
Of all her discipline, and nurturing care,
Her eye PÆDIA fixing aye shall bend
Her every thought and effort to prepare

Her