To charm th' enliven'd soul! what tho' not all This fair-inspir'd delight: her temper'd pow'rs ? Would the forms These lesser graces, she assumes the port Whom nature's work can charm, with God himself AKENSIDE. 0000000 CHAP. XXVII. SLAVERY. HARK! heard ye not the piercing cry, From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound, ward In Stretch your strom, for ye have power to save! Throned in ne vaulted heart, his dread resort, Inexorable Ccience holds his court; small voice the plots of Guilt alarms, Bares his mask'd brow, his lifted hand disarms; But wrapp'd in night with terrors all his own, He speaks in thunder, when the deed is done. Hear him, ye Senates! hear this truth sublime, He, who allows oppression, shares the crime.' No radiant pearl, which crested Fortune wears, No gem, that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears, Not the bright stars, which Night's blue arch adorn, Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, Shine with such lustre as the tear, that breaks For other's woe down Virtue's manly cheeks. DARWIN. BOOK IV. ARGUMENTATIVE PIECES. CHAP. I. ON ANGER. QUESTION. Whether Anger ought to be suppressed entirely, or only to be confined within the bounds of moderation ? THOSE who maintain that resentment is blameable only in the excess, support their opinion with such arguments as these. The Since Anger is natural and useful to man, entirely to banish it from our breast, would be an equally foolish and vain attempt for as it is difficult, and next to impossible to oppose nature with success; so it were imprudent, if we had it in our power, to cast away the weapons with which she has furnished us for our defence. best armour against injustice is a proper degree of spirit, to repel the wrongs that are done, or designed against us but if we divest ourselves of all resentment, we shall perhaps prove too irresolute and languid, both in resisting the attacks of injustice, and inflicting punishment upon those, who have committed it. We shall therefore sink into contempt, and by the tameness of our spirit, shall invite the malicious to abuse and affront us. Nor will others fail to deny us the regard which is due from them, if once they think us incapable of resentment.To remain unmoved at gross injuries, has the appearance of stupidity, and will make us despicable and mean, in the eyes of many who are not to be influenced by any thing but their fears. And as a moderate share of resentment is useful in its effects, so it is innocent in itself, nay often commendable. The virtue of mildness is no less remote from insensibility,on the one hand, than from fury on the other. It implies, that we are angry only upon proper occasions, and in a due degree; that we are never transported beyond the bounds of decency, or indulge a deep and lasting resentment; that we do not follow, but lead our passion, governing it as our servant, not submitting ourselves to it as our master. Under these regulations it is certainly excusable, when moved only by private wrongs and being excited by the injuries which others suffer, it bespeaks a generous mind, and deserves commendation. Shall a good man feel no indignation against injustice and barbarity? not even when he is witness to shocking instances of them? when he sees a friend basely and cruelly treated; when he observes Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes; shall he still enjoy himself in perfect tranquility? Will it be a crime, if he conceives the least resentment? Will it not rather be somewhat criminal, if he is destitute of it? In such cases we are commonly so far from being ashamed of our anger, as of something mean, that we are proud of it, and confess it openly, as what we count laudable and meritorious. The truth is, there seems to be something manly, and we are bold to say, something virtuous, in a just and well conducted resentment. In the mean time, let us |