Which now and then sweet poetry may cure ;
Or, if to see the name of idle self,
Stamp'd on the well-bound quarto, grace the shelf
To float a bubble on the breath of fame,
Prompt his endeavour, and engage his aim,
Debased to servile purposes of pride,
How are the powers of genius misapplied !
The gift, whose office is the giver's praise,
To trace him in his word, his works, his ways!
Then spread the rich discovery, and invite
Mankind to share in the divine delight;
Distorted from its use and just design,
To make the pitiful possessor shine,
To purchase at the fool-frequented fair
Of vanity a wreath for self to wear,
Is profanation of the basest kind-
Proof of a trifling and a worthless mind.
A. Hail, Sternhold, then ; and, Hopkins, hail-

B. Amen.
If flattery, folly, lust, employ the pen;
If acrimony, slander, and abuse,
Give it a charge to blacken and traduce;
Though Butler's wit, Pope's numbers, Prior's ease,
With all that fancy can invent to please,
Adorn the polish'd periods as they fall,
One madrigal of theirs is worth them all.

A. 'Twould thin the ranks of the poetic tribe, To dash the pen through all that you proscribe. B. No matter—we could shift when they were

not ; And should, no doubt, if they were all forgot.

THE PROGRESS OF ERROR

Si quid loquar audiendum.

HOR. LIB. IV. OD. 2.

Bing, muse (if such a theme, so dark, so long,
May find a muse to grace it with a song),
By what unseen and unsuspected arts
The serpent Error twines round human hearts ;
Tell where she lurks, beneath what flowery shaden
That not a glimpse of genuine light pervades,
The poisonous, black, insinuating worm
Successfully conceals her loathsome form.
Take, if ye can, ye careless and supine!
Counsel and caution from a voice like mine;
Truths, that the theorist could never reach,
And observation taught me, I would teach.

Not all, whose eloquence the fancy fills,
Musical as the chime of tinkling rills,
Weak to perform, though mighty to pretend,
Can trace her mazy windings to their end;
Discern the fraud beneath the speciowu lure,
Prevent the danger, or prescribe the cure.
The clear harangue, and cold as it is clear,
Falls soporific on the listless ear;
Like quicksilver, the rhetoric they display
Shines as it runs, but grasp'd at, slips away

Placed for his trial on this bustling stage, From thoughtless youth to ruminating ago, Free in his will to choose or to refuse, Man ay improve the crisis, or abuse; Else, on the fatalist's unrighteous plan, Say to what bar amenable were man? With nought in charge he could betray no trust; And, if he fell, would fall because he must; If love reward him, or if vengeance strike, His recompense in both unjust alike. Divine authority within his breast Brings every thought, word, action, to the test; Warns him or prompts, approves him or restrains As reason, or as passion, takes the reins Heaven from above, and conscience from within, Cries in his startled ear-Abstain from sin!' The world around solicits his desire, And kindles in his soul a treacherous fire; While, all his purposes and steps to guard, Peace follows virtue as its sure reward; And pleasure brings as surely in her train Remorse, and sorrow, and vindictive pain.

Man, thus endued with an elective voice, Must be supplied with objects of his choice. Where'er he turns, enjoyment and delight, Or present, or in prospect, meet his sight: These open on the spot their honey'd store; Those call him loudly to pursuit of more. His unexhausted mine the sordid vice Avarice shows, and virtue is the price.

Here various motives his ambition raise- (praise; Power, pomp, and splendour, and the thirst of There beauty woos him with expanded arms; E'en bacchanalian madness has its charms.

Nor these alone, whose pleasures less refined Might well alarm the most unguarded mind, Seek to supplant his inexperienced youth, Or lead him devious from the path of truth ; Hourly allurements on his passions press, Safe in themselves, but dangerous in the excess.

Hark! how it floats upon the dewy air ! O what a dying, dying close was there ! 'Tis harmony from yon sequester'd bower, Sweet harmony, that soothes the midnight hour! Long ere the charioteer of day had run His morning course the enchantment was begun; And he shall gild yon mountain's height again, Ere yet the pleasing toil becomes a pain.

Is this the rugged path, the steep ascent, That virtue points to ? Can a life thus spent Lead to the bliss she promises the wise, Detach the soul from earth, and speed her to the Ye devotees to your adored employ, [skies ? Enthusiasts, drunk with an unreal joy, Love makes the music of the blest above, Heaven's harmony is universal love; And earthly sounds, though sweet and well comAnd lenient as soft opiates to the mind, [bined, Leave vice and folly unsubdued behind.

Gray dawn appears ; the sportsman and his Speckle the bosom of the distant plain ; [train

'Tis he, the Nimrod of the neighbouring lairs ;
Save that his scent is less acute than theirs,
For persevering chase, and headlong leaps,
True beagle as the staunchest hound he keeps.
Charged with the folly of his life’s mad scene,
He takes offence, and wonders what you mean ;
The joy the danger and the toil o'erpays—
'Tis exercise, and health, and length of days.
Again impetuous to the field he flies ;
Leaps every fence but one, there falls and dies ;
Like a slain deer, the tumbrel brings him home,
Unmiss'd but by his dogs and by his groom.

Ye clergy, while your orbit is your place,
Lights of the world, and stars of human race ;
But if eccentric ye forsake your sphere,
Prodigious, ominous, and view'd with fear:
The comet's baneful influence is a dream;
Yours real, and pernicious in the extreme.
What then !—are appetites and lusts laid down
With the same ease that man puts on his gown
Will avarice and concupiscence give place,
Charm'd by the sounds—Your Reverence, or

your Grace ?

No. But his own engagement binds him fast;
Or, if it does not, brands him to the last,
What atheists call him-a designing knave,
A mere church juggler, hypocrite, and slave.
Oh, laugh or mourn with me the rueful jest,
A cassock'd huntsman, and a fiddling priest !
He from Italian songsters takes his cue:
Set Paul to music, he shall quote him too.