Loves of his own, and raptures fwell the note.
The bounding fteed you pompously beftride,
Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride.
Is thine alone the feed that strews the plain?
The birds of heav'n fhall vindicate their grain.
Thine the full harvest of the golden year?
Part pays, and juftly, the deserving steer.
The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labours of this lord of all.

Know, nature's children all divide her care;
The fur that warms a monarch, warm'd a bear.
While man exclaims, "See all things for my use !"
"See man for mine!" replies a pamper'd goofe.
And just as fhort of reason he must fall,

Who thinks all made for one, not one for all.
"Grant that the powerful ftill the week control;
Be man the wit and tyrant of the whole :
Nature that tyrant checks; he only knows,
And helps another creature's wants and woes.
Say, will the falcon, stooping from above,
Smit with her varying plumage fpare the dove?
Admires the jay, the infects gilded wings?
Or hears the hawk when Philomela fings?
Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods,
To beafts his pastures, and to fish his floods;
For fome his int'reft prompts him to provide,
For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride
All feed on one vain patron, and enjoy
Th' entenfive bleffing of his luxury.
That very life his learned hunger craves;
He faves from famine, from the favage faves;
Nay, feafts the animal he dooms his feaft;
And, till he ends the being, makes it bleft:
Which fees no more the ftroke, nor feels the pain,
Than favour'd man by touch etherial flain.
The creature had his feast of life before 3
Thou too must perish, when thy feaft is o'er !

POPE

The purpose of to day,

Woven with pains into his plan,

Tomorrow rends away.

The bow well bent, and fmart the spring,

Vice feems already flain;

But paffion rudely fnaps the ftring,

And it revives again.

Some foe to his upright intent
Finds out his weaker part;
Virtue engages his affent,

But pleafure wins his heart.

'Tis here the folly of the wife,
Through all his art, we view;
And while his tongue the charge denies,
His confcience owns it true.

Bound on a voyage of awful length,
And dangers little known,
A tranger to fuperior ftrength,
Man vainly trufts his own.

But oars alone can ne'er prevail
To reach the diftant coaft;

The breath of heav'n muft fwell the fail,

Or all the toil is loft.

SECTION XII.

Ode to Peace.

COME, peace of mind, delightful gueft!
Return, and make thy downy neft
Once more in this fad heart:

Nor riches I, nor pow'r purfue,

Nor hold forbidden joys in view;
We therefore need not part.

Where wilt thou dwell, if not with me,
From av'rice and ambition free,

And pleafure's fatal wiles;

From whom, alas! doft thou prepare
The fweets that I was wont to fhare,
The banquet of thy fmiles?

The great, the gay, fhall they partake
'The heav'n that thou alone canft make;

COWPER.

And wilt thou quit the stream,

That murmurs through the dewy mead,
The grove and the fequefter'd fhade,
To be a gueft with them?

For thee I panted, thee I priz'd,
For thee I gladly facrific'd

Whate'er I lov'd before;

And fhall I fee thee ftart away,

And helplefs, hopeless, hear thee fay-
Farewell! we meet no more?

SECTION XIII.

Ode to Adversity.

DAUGHTER of heav'n, relentless power,
Thou tamer of the human breast,
Whofe iron fcourge, and tort'ring hour,
The bad affright, afflict the beft!
Bound in thy adamantine chain,
The proud are taught to tafte of pain,
And purple tyrants vainly groan
With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.
When first thy fire to fend on earth
Virtue, his darling child, defign'd,
To thee he gave the heav'nly birth,
And bade to form her infant mind.

Stern rugged nurse thy rigid lore
With patience many a year fhe bore.

What forrow was, thou bad'ft her know;

COWPER.

And from her own fhe learn'd to melt at others' we.

Scar'd at thy frown terrific, fly

Self pleafing folly's idle brood,

Wild laughter, noife, and thoughtless joy,

And leave us leifure to be good.

Light they difperfe; and with them go
The fummer friend, the flatt'ring foe.

By vain profperity receiv'd,

To her they vow their truth, and are again believ'd.

Wisdom, in fable garb array'd,

Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound,

And melancholy, filent maid,

With leaden eye, that loves the ground.

Still on thy folemn fteps attend;
Warm charity, the gen'ral friend,
With juftice to herself fevere,

And pity, dropping foft the fadly pleafing tear.
Oh, gently on thy fuppliant's head,
Dread pow'r lay thy chaft'ning hand!
Not in thy gorgon terrors clad,
Nor circled with the vengeful band,
As by the impious thou art feen,)
With thund'ring voice and threat'ning mien,
With fcreaming horror's funeral cry,
Defpair, and fell disease, and ghaftly poverty.
Thy form benign, propitious wear,
Thy milder influence impart ;
Thy philofophic train be there,
To foften not to wound my heart.
The generous fpark extinct revive;
Teach me to love and to forgive;
Exact my own defects to scan;

What others are to feel; and know myself a man.

SECTION XIV.

The Creation required to Praise its Author.

BEGIN, my foul, th' exalted lay!

Let each enraptur'd thought obey,

And praise th' Almighty's name:

Lo! heaven and earth, and feas and fkies,
In one melodious concert rife,

To fwell th' infpiring theme.

Ye fields of light celeftial plains,
Where gay tranfporting beauty reigns,
Ye fcenes divinely fair!

Your Maker's wond'rous pow'r proclaim,
Tell how he form'd your fhining frame,
And breath'd the fluid air.

Ye angels, catch the thrilling found!
While all th' adoring thrones around
His boundless mercy fing:

Let ev'ry lift'ning faint above

GRAY.

Wake all the tuneful foul of love,

And touch the fweeteft ftring.

Join, ye loud fpheres, the vocal choir;
Thou dazzling orb of liquid fire,
The mighty chorus aid :
Soon as gray ev'ning gilds the plain,
Thou, moon, protract the melting strain,
And praise him in the fhade.

Thou heav'n of heav'ns, his vaft abode ;
Ye clouds, proclaim your forming God,

Who call'd yon worlds from night :
"Ye fhades, difpel!'-th' Eternal faid;
At once th' involving darkness fled,
And nature sprung to light.

Whate'er a blooming world contains;
That wings the air, that skims the plains,
United praise bestow :
Ye dragons, found his awful name
To heav'n aloud; and roar acclaim,
Ye fwelling deeps below.

Let ev'ry element rejoice;

Ye thunders burft with awful voice
To HIM who bids you roll :

His praise in fofter notes declare,
Each whifp'ring breeze of yielding air,
And breathe it to the foul.