Retains its pow'r, and can, with equal ease,
Remove it?
Can you diş-çern' another's mind?
Why is't you envy? Envy's blind.
Tell envy, when she would annoy,
That thousands wânt what you enjoy.
The wish.
I sigh not for beauty, nor languish for wealth;
But grant me, kind Providence, virtue and health:
Then, richer than kings, and more happy than they,
My days shall pass sweetly and swiftly away.
Censoriousness reproved.
In other men we faults can spy,
And blame the mote that dims their eye;
Each little speck and blemish find,
To our own stronger ĕrrours blind.
Ere we remark another's sin,
Let our own conscience look within
Ungovern'd wrath, and fell resentment fly:
They rend the soul, as tempests rend the sky.
Shun peevish hu'mours: they corrode the breast,
And cloud the brow; àre childish at the best.
Learn to control your tongue, that restless thing!
Of mis'chief oft and shame the fatal spring.
Inscription on a sun dial.
Mark well my shade, and seriously attend
The silent lesson of a common friend :-
Since time and life speed hastily ǎway,
And no one can recall the former day,
Improve each fleeting hour before 'tis păst;
And know, each fleeting hour may be thy lăst.
An open and a generous heart,
Refin'd from selfishness and art;
Patience which mocks at for'tune's* pow'r,
And wisdom neither sad nor sour.
Love to God produces love to men.
Let gratitude in acts of goodness flow;
Our love to God, in love to man below.
Be this our joy-to calm the troubled breast,
Support the weak, and succour the distrest;
Direct' the wand'rer, dry the widow's tear;
The orphan guard, the sinking spirits cheer..
Though small our pow'r to act, though mean our skill,
God sees the heart; he judges by the will.
Men mutually helpful.
Nature expects mankind should share
The duties of the publick care.
Who's born to sloth? To some we find
The ploughshare's annual toil assign'd.
Some at the sounding anvil glow;
Some the swift sliding shuttle throw :
Some, studious of the wind and tide,
From pole to pole, our commerce guide :†
While some, with geniust more refin'd,
With head and tongue assist mankind.
Thus, aiming at one common end,
Each proves to all a needful friend.
To bless, is to be blest.
When young, what honest triumph flush'd my breast,
This truth once known,-To bless, is to be blest!
I led the bending beggar on his way;
(Bare were his feet, his tresses silver gray ;)
Sooth'd the keen pangs his aged spirit felt,
And on his tale with mute attention dwelt.
As in his scrip I dropp'd my little store,
And wept to think that little was no more,
He breath'd his pray'r,--" Long may such goodness liv "Twas all he gave, 'twas all he had to give.
Epitaph on a young woman.
In dawn of life she wisely sought her God;
The bad she censur'd by her life ǎlōne;
Blind to their faults, severe upon her own:
In others' griefs a tender part she bore,
And with the needy shar'd her little store:
At distance view'd the world with pious dread,
And to God's temple for protection fled;
There sought that peace which heaven ălōne can give,
And learn'd, to die ere others learn to live.
The looking Glass; or, ill hæmour corrected.
1. THERE was a little stubborn dame,
Whom no authority could tame;
Restive by long indulgence grown,
No will she minded but her own,
At trifles oft she'd scold and fret;
Then in a corner take a seat,
And sourly moping ail the day,
Diş-dain' alike to work or play.
2. Pa-pà all softer arts had tried,
And sharper remèdies applied;
But both were vain; for every course
He took still made her worse and worse.
3. Mam-mă observ'd the rising läss,
By stealth retiring to the glass,
To practise little airs unseen,
In the true gen'ius of thirteen:
On this a deep design she laid,
To tame the hu'mour of the maid;
Contriving like a prudent mother,
To make one folly cure another.
4. Upon the wall, against' the seat
Which Jes'sy us'd for her retreat,
Whene'er by accident offended,,
A looking-glass was straight suspended,
That it might show her how deform'd'
She look'd, and frightful, when she storm'd;
And wårn her, as she priz'd her beauty,
To bend her hu'mour to her duty.
5. All this the looking-glass ǎchiev'd;
Its threats were minded and believ'd.
The maid, who spurn'd at all advice,
Grew tame and gentle in a trice:
So when all other means had fail'd,
The silent monitor prevail'd.
The Butterfly and the Snail; or, elevation renders little mi proud and insolent.
1. ALL upstarts, insolent in place,
Remind us of their vulgar race.
As in the sunshine of the morn,
A Butterfly (but newly born)
Sat proudly pěrk'ing on a rose;
With pert conceit his bo'şóm glows:
His wings (all glorious to behold)
Bedropt with a'zūre,* jet, and gold,
Wide he displays; the spangled dew
Reflects his eyes, and various hue.
2. His now forgotten friend, a Snail,
Beneath his house, with slimy trail
Crawls o'er the grass; whom when he spies,
In wiặth he to the gard'ner cries:
"What means yon peasant's daily toil,
From choking weeds to rid the soil?
Why wake you to the morning's care?
Why with new arts correct the year?
Why grows the peach with crimson hue?
And why the plum's inviting blue?
Were they to feast his taste design'd,
That věr'min of voracious kind?†
Crush then the slow, the pilf'ring race;
So purge thy garden from disgrace."
3. "What arrogance!" the snail replied;
"How in'solent is upstart pride!
Hadst thou not thus with insult vain
For scarce nine suns have wak'd the hours,
To swell the fruit, and paint the flow'rs,
Since I thy hum'bler life survey'd,
In base and sordid guise* array'd':
A hideous insect, vile, unclean,
You dragg'd a slow and noisome train;
And from your spider bowels drew
Foul film, and spun the dirty clue.
4. I own my humble life, good friend;
Snail was 1 born, and Snail shall end.
And what's a butterfly? At best,
He's but a caterpillar drest :
And all thy race, (a numerous seed,)
Shall prove of caterpillar breed.”
The Brother and Sister; or mental excellence superiour 1
sonal beauty.
1. WARN'D by our counsel oft beware,
And look into yourselves with care.
There was a certain father had
A homely girl and comely lad.
These being at their childish play
Within their mother's room one day,
A looking-glass was in the chair,
And they beheld their faces there.
2. The boy grows prouder as he looks,
The girl is in a rage, nor brooks
Her boasting brother's jests and sneers,
Affronted at each word she hears.
Then to her father down she flies,
And urges all she can devişe
Against the boy, who could prēşûme
To meddle in a lady's room.
3. At which embracing each in turn
With most affectionate concern',
"My dears," said he, "you must not påss-
A day without this useful glass;
You, lest you spoil a pretty face,
By doing things to your disgrace-
You, by good conduct to correct
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