From thee to nothing-On superior pow'rs
Were we to press, inferior might on ours:
Or in the full creation leave a void.

Were, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd
From nature's chain whatever link you strike,
Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.
And if each system in gradation roll,
Alike essential to th' amazing whole,
The least confusion but in one, not all
That system only, but the whole, must fall.
Let earth unbalanc`d from her orbit fly,
Planets and suns run lawless through the sky;
Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurld,
Being on being wreck'd, and world on world;
Heaven's whole foundation to their centre nod,
And nature tremble, to the throne of God!
All this dread Order break-for whom? for thee?
Vile worm!-oh madness! pride! impiety!

What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread,

Or hand to toil, aspir d to be the head?
What if the head, the eye, or ear, repin'd,
To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?
Just as absurd for any part to claim
To be another, in this gen'ral frame:
Just as absurd to mourn the tasks or pains,
The great directing Mind of all ordains.
All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul!
That chang'd through all, and yet in all the same;
Great in the earth, as in the ætherial frame;
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through al: life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent ;
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;
As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mouras
As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns:
To Him no high, no low. no great. no small;
He fills, and bounds, connects, and equals all.

Cease then, nor Order imperfection name;
Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
Know thy own point; this kind, this due degree
Of blindness, weakness, heav'n bestows on thee.
Submit-in this, or any other sphere,
Secure to be as bless'd as thou canst bear :
Safe in the hand of one disposing pow'r,

Or in the natal or the mortal hour.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance direction, which thou can'st not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good:

And spite of pride in erring reason's spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

19

CHAPTER CXIX.

THE COMMON LOT.

ONCE in the flight of ages past,
There lived a man; and who was he?
Mortal! howe er thy lot be cast,
That man resembled thee.

Unknown the region of his birth,
The land in which he died unknown;
His name has perished trom the earth,
This truth sur лves a one;

That joy and grief, and hope and fear,
Alternate triumph'd in his breast;
His bliss and woe-a smile, a tear,
Oblivion hides the rest

The boun ing pulse. the languid limb,
The changing spirits rise and fall;
We know that these were felt by him,
For these are felt by all.

He suffer d-but his pangs are o'er
Enjoy d-but his delights are fled;
Had friends-his friends are now no more;
And foes-bis foes are dead.

He loved-but whom he loved the grave
Hath lost in its unconscious womb:
O he was fair-but nought could save
Her beauty from the tomb.

The rolling seasons, day and night,
Sun, moon and stars. the earth and main,
Ere while his portion, life and light,
To him exist in vain

He saw whatever thou hast seen,
Encounter'd all that troubles thee,
He was whatever thou hast been,
He is what thou shalt be.

The clouds and sunbeams, o'er his eye, That once their shades and glory threw, Hath left in yonder silent sky

No vestige where they flew.

The annals of the human race,

Their ruins, since the world began,
Of HIM afford no other trace
Than this--There lived a man!

CHAPTER CXX.

THE CHOICE.

WHAT is ambition's soul deceiving power, That we should strive the phantom to pursue? 'Tis but the passing pageant of an hour, That leaves its victim then his hopes to rue.

Let the gay world at pleasure's clam'rous call, Obey the summons, join the giddy dance : And while her notes re-echo through the hall, Let her blind vot'ries the sound advance.

Be mine the shaded walks where stillness reigns,
Or moral harmonies in concert blend :
Remote from dissipation s crowded scenes,
Give me the hallow'd converse of a friend.

But should no feeling bosom beat to mine,
Still for content 'midst clouds I'll never look:
Forbid on friendship's pillow to recline,
I'll draw my lonely solace from a book.

CHAPTER CXXI.

CANDOUR.

SWEET to the scent's the smiling briar, Yet touch'd it gives us pain;

The streamlet we so much admire

Is oft distained with rain.

The painting that delights the eye,

To shade its beauty owes;

(n the same shrub, conjoin'd we 'spy

The thorn and blushing rose.

No mortal ever yet was made

From imperfection free;

Angels, themselves, have some small shade

Heaven wille it thus to be.

Mercy, to others' failings show,

As you would be forgiven;

The best man's lot, alas! were woe,
Were mercy not in heaven.

CHAPTER CXXII.

THE DROP OF WATER-A FABLE.

A CLOUD, in ambient air suspended,
Light offspring of the lucid wave,
By force of sudden gales distended,
Back to the seas its treasures gave.

One shining drop that join'd the ocean,
Was heard in sorrow to complain,
Ah! what am I, 'midst this commotion!
How insignificant! how vain!

Scarce had the tiny globule ended,

Its slight existence to bemoan.
When lo! (as if by fate intended)
An oyster claim'd it for his own.

Within whose she'l, sad habitation,
Long time the drop reluctant lay;
When sudden ends its lamentation--
A brighter pearl ne'er saw the day.
Now Persia's diadem its glory
Completes, where blazing diamonds shine.
Take you the moral of the story--
Whate'er your station, ne'er repine.

CHAPTER CXXIII.

SONNET TO SENSIBILITY.

DEAR poignant source of ecstacy and woe!
Imperious sovereign of my pliant frame!
Through every nerve quick shoots thy vivid glow,
And every sense subservient owns thy claim :-
I know thee-mighty as the lightning's stroke,

That vibrates through the sky to rend the knotted oak.
Shewn in terrific magnitude of form,

By thy keen optics human ills appear; By thee I see the yet impending storm,

And, for each shaft prepare a ready tear.
With envy, malice, or aversion fraught,

I pierce the film that veils the doubtful eye;—
Alas! how seldom has this heart been taught
To read the presage sweet of rosy-dawning joy.

CHAPTER CXXIV.

TO MRS. L,

ON THE SUDDEN DEATH OF HER INFANT CHILD.

THO' dark the ways of heaven, yet still we view
Enough to assure us they are just, and true.
Those dispensations, which to mortal eyes
Seem illa, are only "blessings in disguise."
And what we fancy oft with bliss replete,
Ends in vexation, sorrow, and regret.
Had heaven prolong'd thy lovely infant's date,
Who knows the perils of its riper state?
What ills might vex it, and what woes await!
Heaven saw thro' all, and with the lightning's speed,
Sent the kind mandate, and the pris ner freed.

As some blest swain, to whom his sov reign yields
His blooming gardens, groves, and flow'ry fields,
To nurse the plants, to graft the inserted fruit,
And teach the obedient branches how to shoot;
If while he blissful roams, some lovelier bloom

Of richer foliage. texture, and perfume,
Attract his eye-anxious lest some rude blast
Should nip the tender blossom, and lay waste,
He hasty plucks it, young and immatur d,
And bears the grateful present to his lord.
So when the guardian angel of thy race

Saw this sweet flow r adorn'd with blooming grace,
Fearful of future harms and heavier fate,

By Heaven's permission, circumscrib'd its date;
And pleas d above the ambrosial gift to bring,
The garden enter d with impatient wing,
And cropt and bore it to the eternal king.

CHAPTER CXXV.

OUR SAVIOUR'S PASSION.

given

The full, low, and manly tone of voice is so absolutely necessary those who wish to excel in reading, that the following poem is to the scholar, in which he may practice it to the greatest advantage and effect.

Let there be a dignified solemnity in your voice, and let your look cesrespond with the gravity of the scene

BEHOLD the astonish'd sun starts back,

No light his blacken'd beams display ;
Darkness her sable wings expands,
And gloomy night invades the day;
But yet though night maintains her reign,
No planets sail along the skies,

No moon, the lovely queen of night,

No glorious constellation rise;

(1) One dark, black, dismal gloom of clouds

Broods o er the earth from pole to pole;

One face of horror spreads around,
And veils the universal whole.
See how the rending clouds divide;
How forky lightnings glaring fly !
Hrk! how the awful thunders roar,
And grumble through the angry sky.(2)
The frighted rocks are burst in twain;
The everlasting mountains shake;
The yarning earth her womb distends,
And from their graves the dead awake.
Ten thousand furious whir wind rage;
Along the trembling ground they sweep;
And swell from its immense abyss

The surges of the belowing deep. (8)

(1) Very solemn, and your voice low and full.

(2) Mark with emphasis such words that keep up the awful grandeur of the scene, (3) Emphasise the words marked, as before recommended