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Goods fo fuperior, fuch exalted blifs!

See with what seeming ease, what labour'd peace He, hapless hypocrite! refines his nail,

His chief amusement ! then how feign'd, how forc'd,
That care-defying fonnet, which implies

His debts discharg'd, and he of half a crown
In full poffeffion, uncontested right

And property! Yet ah! whoe'er this wight
Admiring view, if fuch there be, diftruft
The vain pretence; the fmiles that harbour grief,
As lurks the ferpent deep in flow'rs enwreath'd.
Forewarn'd, be frugal; or with prudent rage
Thy pen demolish; chufe the trustier flail,
And bless thofe labours which the choice infpir'd.
But if thou view'ft a vulgar mind, a wight
Of common fenfe, who feeks no brighter name,
Him envy, him admire, him, from thy breast,
Prefcient of future dignities, falute

Sheriff, or may'r, in comfortable furs

Enwrapt, fecure: nor yet the laureat's crown
In thought exclude him! He perchance shall rife
To nobler heights than forefight can decree.

When fir'd with wrath, for his intrigues display'd
In many an idle fong, Saturnian Jove
Vow'd fure deftruction to the tuneful race;
Appeas'd by fuppliant PHOEBUS, "Bards, he faid,
Henceforth of plenty, wealth, and pomp debarr'd,
But fed by frugal cares, might wear the bay
Secure of thunder."-Low the Delian bow'd,
Nor at th' invidious favour dar'd repine.

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The

RUIN'D ABBY;

OR,

The EFFECTS of SUPERSTITION.

A

T length fair peace with olive crown'd regains

Her lawful throne, and to the facred haunts
Of wood or fount the frighted mufe returns.
Happy the bard, who, from his native hills,
Soft-mufing on a fummer's eve, furveys
His azure stream, with penfile woods enclos'd!
Or o'er the glaffy surface, with his friend,
Or faithful fair, thro' bord'ring willows green
Wafts his fmall frigate. Fearless he of shouts,
Or taunts, the rhetoric of the wat❜ry crew
That ape confufion from the realms they rule!
Fearless of these; who shares the gentler voice
Of peace and mufic; birds of sweetest song
Attune from native boughs their various lay,
And chear the foreft; birds of brighter plume
With bufy pinion skim the glitt'ring wave,
And tempt the fun; ambitious to display
Their feveral merit, while the vocal flute,
Or number'd verfe, by female voice endear'd,
Crowns his delight, and mollifies the scene.
If folitude his wand'ring steps invite

To fome more deep recess, (for hours there are,
When gay, when focial minds to friendship's voice,
Or beauty's charm, her wild abodes prefer)
How pleas'd he treads her venerable shades,

Her

Her folemn courts! the center of the grove!
The root-built cave, by far-extended rocks
Around embosom'd, how it foothes the foul!
If scoop'd at firft by fuperftitious hands
The rugged cell receiv'd alone the fhoals.
Of bigot-minds, religion dwells not here,
Yet virtue pleas'd, at intervals, retires:
Yet here may wisdom, as he walks the maze,
Some serious truths collect, the rules of life,
And serious truths of mightier weight than gold!

I afk not wealth; but let me hoard with care,
With frugal cunning, with a niggard's art,
A few fix'd principles; in early life,
Ere indolence impede the fearch, explor'd,
Then like old LATIMER, when age impairs
My judgment's eye, when quibbling schools attack
My grounded hope, or fubtler wits deride,
Will I not blush to shun the vain debate,

And this mine answer; "Thus, 'twas thus I thought.

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My mind yet vigorous, and my foul entire; "Thus will I think, averse to liften more "To intricate difcuffion, prone to ftray.

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Perhaps my reafon may but ill defend

My fettled faith; my mind, with age impair'd, "Too fure its own infirmities declare.

"But I am arm'd by caution, studious youth,
"And early forefight; now the winds may rise,
"The tempeft whistle, and the billows roar;
"My pinnace rides in port, defpoil'd and worn,

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"Shatter'd by time and ftorms, but while it fhuns
"Th' inequal conflict, and declines the deep,
"Sees the strong veffel fluctuate lefs fecure."

Thus while he ftrays, a thousand rural fcenes
Suggest instruction, and inftructing please.
And fee betwixt the grove's extended arms
An abby's rude remains attract thy view,
Gilt by the mid-day fun: with ling'ring ftep
Produce thine axe, (for, aiming to deftroy
Tree, branch, or fhade, for never fhall thy breaft
Too long deliberate) with timorous hand
Remove th' obftructive bough; nor yet refuse,
Tho' fighing, to deftroy that fav'rite pine,
Rais'd by thine hand, in its luxuriant prime
Of beauty fair, that screens the vast remains.
Aggriev'd but conftant as the Roman fire,
The rigid MANLIUS, when his conqu❜ring fon
Bled by a parent's voice; the cruel meed
Of virtuous ardor, timelessly display'd;
Nor cease till, thro' the gloomy road, the pile
Gleam unobstructed; thither oft thine
eye
Shall sweetly wander; thence returning, foothe
With pensive scenes thy philofophic mind.

These were thy haunts, thy opulent abodes,
O fuperftition! hence the dire disease,
(Ballanc'd with which the fam'd Athenian pest
Were a fhort head-ach, were the trivial pain
Of tranfient indigestion) feiz'd mankind.

Long time fhe rag'd, and scarce a fouthern gale
Warm'd

3

Warm'd our chill air, unloaded with the threats
Of
tyrant ROME; but futile all, till fhe,
ROME's abler legate, magnify'd their pow'r,
And in a thoufand horrid forms attir'd.

Where then was truth, to fanctify the page
Of British annals? if a foe expir'd,

The perjur'd monk fuborn'd infernal fhrieks,
And fiends to fnatch at the departing foul
With hellish emulation. If a friend,
High o'er his roof exultant angels tune

Their golden lyres, and waft him to the fkies.
What then were vows, were oaths, were plighted faith?
The fovereign's juft, the fubjects loyal pact
To cherish mutual good, annull❜d and vain,
By Roman magic, grew an idle fcroll
Ere the frail fanction of the wax was cold.

With thee, *PLANTAGENET, from civil broils
The land awhile refpir'd, and all was peace.
Then BECKET rofe, and impotent of mind,
From regal courts with lawlefs fury march'd
The church's blood-ftain'd convicts, and forgave;
Bid murd❜rous priests the fov'reign frown contemn,
And with unhallowed +crofier bruis'd the crown.
Yet yielded not fupinely tame a prince
Of HENRY's virtues; learn'd, courageous, wife,
Of fair ambition. Long his regal foul
Firm and erect the peevish priest exil'd,
And brav'd the fury of revengeful Rome.

In

X 4

* HENRY II.

+R.CHAND I.

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