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and free from the chains of party spirit, he is f formed for the Law, giver, not of a single community only, but of nations.

Since to know the laws, by which we are governed, and to yield to them a free obedience, is an essential part of the science and duty of life I have thought, that their study ought to be in introduced into our University, and and make part of its liberal institutions. Two of the learned professions receive there all the advantages which can be derived from books, and from Professors, who add to the knowledge of ancient learning the embellishments of modern grace, and elegance. The benefactors, whose names are mentioned with due encomiums on its annual solemnity, have laid rich foundations for the study of the other sciences. Private munificence has recently established ap institution for the culture of Botany. Eloquence likewise, under the auspices of the American Quintilian, the ornament both of the senate and the chair, and able to exhibit a model as well as to give the

From Aikin's Annual Review, WE maintain that the poets, who have flourished during the reign of George III, have produced as great a quantity of lasting poetry, as those who flourished during the reign of Elizabeth, or any other half-century of the British annals. The tragedies of that age live; so will the comedies of ours. Our chorus-dramas, and our ballads, are decidedly superiour to those of our ancestors: so are our elegies, and songs,and odes, One good translation, Fairfax's Tasso, has been bequeathed to us from the times of Elizabeth we have Sothe. by's Oberon, and several other masterpieces, whose collective weight makes a counterpoise.

And why should a rude age he favourable to the production of good poetry? Rudeness implies a publick of bad criticks; an ignorance of history,of antiquities,, of the limits of nature, likely to tolerate the absurdest violations of truth, costume, geography, and proba

precepts of his art, has just joined the fraternity. But when, I ask, are wit, learning, richness of language, harmony of utterance and all the treasures of eloquence, most honourably employed? Surely when defining the boundaries of right and wrong, when defending innocence, when pursuing guilt, when, in fine, they are subservient to that science, "which employs in its theory the noblest faculties of the soul, and exerts in its practice the cardinal virtues of the heart." A new object presents itself for the munificence of our fellow citizens. Can they render a more valuable service to their country, than by contributing to the excellence of its laws, and to the purity of their administration? Soon then may there be enrolled among the publick benefactors of that University some generous patron of Ju risprudence, whose name shall be encircled with wreaths of perpet, ual honour, and from whom there may constantly flow rays of a divine quality for the ornament of the state and for the happiness of the citizens.

vol. 4th, page 563. bility. Accordingly, the poets of rude ages, who are no more nor less likely than others to have genius, commonly offend by want of taste: and this frequently in so great a degree, as to condemn their works to be refashioned; in which case,the modernizer runs away with the praise. Homer indeed originated early, but was probably corrected by a good critick, in an age of taste. Tasso, who has produced the next best poem to Homer, flourished in the au tumn, not the spring, of Italian culture. Virgil bloomed in an age of refinement, and Claudian was still a poet. The fu neral song of Hacon is a fine ode: but. so is the bard of Gray. The tragedies of Schiller, the fabliaux of Wieland, were composed at the very close of the eighteenth century; just before the French revolution had blunted the acme of human refinement. The proportion of good specimens of poetry produced in rude times is very small.

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For the Monthly Anthology. EXPERIENCE ; OR, “ FOLLY AS IT FLIES.” A POEM, DELIVERED Before The BK SOCIETY, AT CAMBRIDGE, AUG,

28, 1806.

• BY BENJAMIN WHITWELL.

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ARGUMENT.

PROVIDENCE having directed that man should be ignorant of future events, he is stimulated to proceed through life by the hope of enjoyment still to be at. tained. It is the moral of the poem to represent, if the same motives and passions actuate us which have governed others, that by observation of the course, which they have followed, we may learn where our own will terminate; that similar conduct will produce similar consequences; that neglect and oblivion will be the fate of the indolent and profligate ; fame the reward of 'industry and enterprise. These remarks are intended to be illustrated by an allegory. Life is represented

as the journey of a day ; the traveller, man, having passed the stage of infan. cy, and arrived near the close of youth, just verging on manhood, we find him encircled by Health, Love, and Beauty, eager to distribute their blessings. Discontented with his situation, he rejects them all

. Care persuades him that he is a slave to the restraint of parental authority, and Hope whispers that Time will bring release. Time arrives, leaves Experience ; the traveller, still advancing, requests Experience to direct his course, who answers, It is only my duty to advise, by the decree of fate ; I must follow where you shall lead, and instruct you in your course, whether you shall yield to the persuasions of pleasure, or obey the dictates of wisdom. Observe this mirrour, oppose it to the past, and the reflection exhibits the future. They differ more in name than in reality, being alike to the eye of Omniscience. The traveller inspects the mirrour, and discovers a concourse of people spread

over a flowery plain and a rugged mountain ; the beauty of the plain exclusively engrosses his attention, and, at his request, Experience explains the different objects which it presents. It is inhabited by the proud and indolent, who usurp the honours and rewards due to virtue and industry. Among these are the votarics of wealth and of fashion. After describing the court of Fashion, still proceeding in their journey, they successively view various parts of the plain. The pretenders to science, the literary fop, the itinerant, the lawyer, and the apostate politician described. This last character contrasted with that of the upright statesman, terminating with a respectful tribute to

the late President Adams. When Experience ceases, the traveller again examines the objects which wer

first presented; he discovers a path leading through the plain to the mountain, on wliich the temple of Fame is erected. He is eager to ascend the summit. Experience replies, You must now be undeceived; having spent the day with Fashion and Folly, your strength is exhausted, and Time, having nearly finished his course, the attempt would be fruitless. It was my duty to teach this lesson, that the future resembles the past. To impress this truth, your senses have been deceived by presenting to your view only the vacant frame of a mir. rour ; objects, which appeared reflected, were represented in distant prospect; you have not been an idle spectator, but an actor in those scenes of vice and pleasure. Had you chosen to have explored the mountain, which promised glory, and not to have wandered through the plain, which offered transient delight, my advice and instruction would have been as readily offered to have

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acquainted you with the various paths which lead to the summit. Farewell; and remember, it is the fate of man, that Time flies too soon, and Experience arrives too late.

The traveller, having reviewed his course, observes before him Time, at a distance, on the edge of the horizon, descending with the western sun; not like him again to appear in the east ; for as Time recedes, the eternal night of Death approaches.

'TIS Heaven's decree, in mercy, that mankind
Should to their future destiny be blind;
Impatient man rejects his present state
With eager step to meet approaching fate;
Yet would the future, in perspective cast,
Display the exact resemblance of the past;
When o'er the scene of human life we range,
The scenes continue, but the actors change.

Is Life to man the journey of a day?
10 Let us pursue the traveller on his way,
To overtake him ere his course incline
Where the high roads of youth and manhood join.

Now Health invites, behold the laughing hours
Have strewed his path, and spread his couch with flowers ;
Desire is breathing on his cheek, and throws

The blush collected from the fernal rose,
The vestal flames of love his eye suffuse
His lip is fragrant with ambrosial dews,
Languid with ecstasy soft pleasure sings,
20 Joy thrills the Jute, and rapture tunes the strings.

Whence is the stifled sigh of discontent ?
The faded cheek, the brow with wrinkles bent?
His ear no sound, his eye no visions move;
Cold is his bosom to the torch of love.
Within the rosy wreath which twines his head,
The wizard Care tormenting thorns has spread;
The scene around with gloomy vapour chills,
When cheerful sunshine warms the distant hills,
Persuades the wretch the soft and silken band
80 Of love parental rudely chafes his hand;

That Time his pinion poised, his sands have stopt,
And from his feeble grasp the scythe has dropt.
For Hope had whispered, " tardy Time shall bring
Freedom, and peace, and rapture on his wing :"
When Time arrived, he gave desired release,
And, with exchange of sorrow, brought increase;
He left Experience there, a reverend sage,
Of youthful strength, with outward signs of age,
Like an old oak, successive centuries crowned,
40 The bark decayed, the root and heart are sound.

To him the traveller now approaching cried, "^orra
Wilt thou direct my path? The sage replied,
Advice is all I give...so fate decreed

For me to follow...thou alone must lead:

As we advance, each course shall be displayed
Where wisdom guides, or pleasure would persuade.
I mark the flight of Time through every stage
Of human life, from infancy to age.

Behold this mirrour, whose reflective power, 50 Just like the past, presents the future hour; The opposing figures differ but in name,

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To the omniscient eye they are the same.
He looked, and there beheld a numerous train,
Whose wandering feet impressed a flowery plain;
Beyond their path a rugged mountain spread,
Steep the ascent; a temple crowned its head.
The flowery plain, alone with visions bright,
Swims in gay splendour on his ravished sight.
Commence thy task, Experience, now describe
60 The life and manners of each varied tribe.
The sage begins :...On yonder plain reside
The progeny of Indolence and Pride.
Those, who, without desert or labour, claim
The just reward, reserved for virtuous fame.
Here Errour lurks in ambush for his prey,
Skilled to decoy the victim, then betray.
Here blindfold reason gropes, by him misted,
Falls in the net seducive pleasure spread.
Wealth rolls his wave, and rising from the stream,
70 A swarm of follies sport in Fortune's beam ;
Let the wind rise, and clouds the sky o'er-cast,
The fluttering insects scatter in the blast.
Here Fashion reigns, her silken banner flies,
Bright with a thousand ever-changing dies.
In paradise was born the imperial dame,
Sin was her mother, and her sire was Shame.
Her hands, instructed by her tútress Taste,
First shaped the modest fig-leaf to the waist,
The cestus next her graceful fingers wove,
80 Lent to Saturnia to reclaim her Jove;

The gallant chivalry of England wears
That truant garter she adorned with stars.
The frail, the noble Salisbury blushed to own
This rich tiara' of Britannia's crown....

....Like Jove dethroned her sire, she then designed
The universal conquest of mankind.

Thus her edict..." a traitor him proclaim,
Whose cheek shall wear the livery of Shame.
None but the vulgar blush...our sovereign word

90 Expelled the demon to the swinish herd...

• The cestus, the girdle of Venus, is described in the Iliad, book XV.

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The Graces, maids of honour to the queen,
And modest Virtue, fearful to be seen,
And Pleasure and the muses here resort,
The lover's pantheon is Fashion's court.
A rainbow diadem her temples crowns,
And a cameleon zone her waist surrounds ;
With every motion, her caprice so strange,
Her robes, their size, and shape, and colour change ;

In graceful folds around her feet they wind, 100 Or fall in flowing negligence behind.

Now in transparent drapery displayed,
Increase the beauties they pretend to shade.
By Pleasure's band the court of Fashion graced,
If Virtue deign to guide the hand of Taste,
Her sovereign power both Wit and Wisdom own,
And kneeling, swear allegiance at her throne.
But this inconstant, this capricious power
Removes a favourite every passing hour,

When Vice beneath the mask of Pleasure sways, 110 Indignant Virtue suļlenly obeys.

Then mingled ranks no marks distinct express,
Opposed in manners, but alike in dress,
In like array, the sportive, the demure,
The spotless vestal, and the frail impure.
Thus the same light transparent paintings claim,
For the cold moonbeam and the furnace flame.
If Vice appear, she comes in deep disguise,
The garb which wit adorned by taste supplies ;

Then she conceals her wild, licentious air, 120 Her boisterous accent, her intrepid stare,

Her rough salute, her cheek with rouge imbued,
Which mocks the flush of innocence subdued.
Let folly, pleasure, whim, alternate reign,
So Vice be banished with her lawless train.
Be not, my pupil, sage Experience said,
By her insidious blandishment misled ;
Like him who sailed the syren shore along,
Deaf be thine ear, nor list the witching song.

For when such meteors baneful influence shed, 130 Fools gape and gaze at mischief, wise men dread.

Be thou advised ; and if thy curious eye
Pursue their course eccentrick through the sky,
When o'er the disk of decency they pass,
“ See but in part, and darkly through a glass."

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Tired of this prospect, be the scenery changed ;
Far on the plain see yonder crowd arranged.
The mercenary troop are clothed and paid
By Science, not for service, but parade ;

Who scorns in secret her degenerate train, 140 Their wisdom cunning, and their art chicane.

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