7. Hast thou e'er felt the cutting gale,
The sleety show'r, the biting hail;
Beheld bright snow o'erspread the plains;
The water, bound in icy chains?
8. Hast thou the various beings seen,
That sport along the valley green;
That sweetly warble on the spray,
Or wanton in the sunny ray;
9. That shoot along the briny deep,
Or under ground their dwellings keep;
That through the gloomy forest range,
Or frightful wilds and deserts strange ?
10. Hast thou the wondrous scenes survey'd
That all around thee are display'd?
And hast thou never rais'd thine eyes
TO HIM who caus'd these scenes to rise?
11. 'Twas GOD who form'd the concave sky,
And all the shining orbs on high:
Who gave the various beings birth,
That people all the spacious earth.
12. 'Tis HE that bids the tempest rise,
And rolls the thunder through the skies.
His voice the elements obey:
Thro' all the earth extends his sway.
13. His goodness all his creatures share :
But man is his peculiar care.-
Then, while they all proclaim his praise,
Let man his voice the loudest raise.
Praise due to God for his wonderful works.
1. My God! all nature owns thy sway;
Thou giv'st the night, and thou the day!
When all thy lov'd creation wakes,
When Morning, rich in lustre, breaks,
And bathes in dew the op'ning flow'r,
To thee we owe her fragrant hour;
And when she pours her choral song,
Her melodies to thee belong!
2. Or when, in paler tints array'd,
The Ev'ning slowly spreads her shade;
That soothing shade, that grateful gloom,
Can, more than day's enliv'ning bloom,
Still ev'ry fond and vain desire,
And calmer, purer thoughts inspire;
From earth the pensive spirit free,
And lead the soften'd heart to thee.
3. In ev'ry scene thy hands have dress'd,
In ev'ry form by thee impress'd,
Upon the mountain's awful head,
Or where the shelt'ring woods are spread;
In ev'ry note that swells the gale,
Or tuneful stream that cheers the vale,
The cavern's depth, or echoing grove,
A voice is heard of praise and love.
4. As o'er thy work the seasons roll,
And sooth, with change of bliss, the soul,
O never may their smiling train
Pass o'er the human scene in vain!
But oft, as on the charm we gaze,
Attune the wond'ring soul to praise ;
And be the joys that most we prize,
The joys that from thy favour rise!
SECTION XXVII.
The happy end.
1. WHEN life's tempestuous storms are o'er,
How calm he meets the friendly shore,
Who liv'd averse to sin!
Such peace on virtue's path attends,
That, where the sinner's pleasure ends,
The good man's joys begin.
2. See smiling patience smooth his brow!
See the kind angels waiting now,
To lift his soul on high!
While eager for the blest abode,
He joins with them to praise the God,
Who taught him how to die.
Those sorrows which the wicked feel,
In vain their gloom display;
For he who bids yon comet burn,
Or makes the night descend, can turn
Their darkness into day.
4. No sorrow drowns his lifted eyes;
No horror wrests the struggling sighs;
As from the sinner's breast:
His God, the God of peace and love,
Pours sweetest comforts from above,
And sooths his heart to rest!
A kind and gentle temper of great importance to the happiness of life.
1. SINCE trifles make the sum of human things,
And half our mis'ry from our foibles springs;
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease,
And few can save or serve, but all can please;
Oh! let th' ungentle spirit learn from hence,
A small unkindness is a great offence.
2. Large bounties to bestow, we wish in vain :
But all may shun the guilt of giving pain.
To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth,
With pow'r to grace them, or to crown with health,
Our little lot denies; but Heav'n decrees
To all the gift of minist'ring to ease.
3. The gentle offices of patient love,
Beyond all flatt'ry, and all price above;
The mild forbearance of another's fault;
The taunting word suppress'd as soon as thought?
On these Heav'n bade the sweets of life depend;
And crush'd ill fortune when it made a friend.
4. A solitary blessing few can find ;
Our joys with those we love are intertwin'd:
And he whose wakeful tenderness removes
Th' obstructing thorn which wounds the friend he loves,
Smooths not another's rugged path alone,
But scatters roses to adorn his own.
5. Small slights, contempt, neglect, unmix'd with hate, Make up in number what they want in weignt : These, and a thousand griefs, minute as these, Corrode our comforts, and destroy our peace.
SECTION XXIX.
Simplicity.
1. HALL, artless Simplicity, beautiful maid,
In the genuine attractions of nature array'd:
Let the rich and the proud, and the gay and the vain,
Still laugh at the graces that move in thy train.
2. No charm in thy modest allurements they find
The pleasures they follow a sting leave behind.
Can criminal passion enrapture the breast,
Like virtue, with peace and serenity blest?
3. O would you Simplicity's precepts attend,
Like us, with delight at her altar you'd bend;
The pleasures she yields would with joy be embrac'd;
You'd practice from virtue, and love them from taste.
4. The linnet enchants us the bushes among :
Tho' cheap the musician, yet sweet is the song;
We catch the soft warbling in air as it floats,
And with ecstacy hang on the ravishing notes.
5. Our water is drawn from the clearest of springs,
And our food, nor disease nor satiety brings:
Our mornings are cheerful, our labours are blest,
Our ev'nings are pleasant, our nights crown'd with rest.
6. From our culture yon garden its ornament finds;
And we catch at the hint of improving our minds:
To live to some purpose we constantly try;
And we mark by our actions the days as they fly.
7. Since such are the joys that simplicity yields,
We may well be content with our woods and our fields.
How useless to us then, ye great, were your wealth,
When without it we purchase both pleasure and health
SECTION XXX.
Care and Generosity.
1. OLD Care, with industry and art,
At length so well had play'd his part,
He heap'd up such an ample store,
That av'rice could not sigh for more.
2. Ten thousand flocks his shepherd told,
His coffers overflow'd with gold;
The land all round him was his own,
With corn his crowded gran'ries groan.
3. In short, so vast his charge and gain,
That to possess them was a pain:
With happiness oppress'd he lies,
And much too prudent to be wise.
4. Near him there liv'd a beauteous maid,
With all the charms of youth array'd;
Good, amiable, sincere, and free;
Her name was Generosity.
5. 'Twas her's the largess to bestow On rich and poor, on friend and foe. Her doors to all were open'd wide; The pilgrim there might safe abide. 6. For th' hungry and the thirsty crew, The bread she broke, the drink she drew. There sickness laid her aching head, And there distress could find a bed. 7. Each hour, with an all-bounteous hand, Diffus'd the blessings round the land. Her gifts and glory lasted long,
And num'rous was th' accepting throng. 8. At length pale penury seiz'd the dame, And fortune fled, and ruin came;
She found her riches at an end,
And that she had not made one friend. 9. All blam'd her for not giving more, Nor thought on what she'd done before. She wept, she rav'd, she tore her hair, When io! to comfort her, came Care; 10. And cried, " My dear, if you will join Your hand in nuptial bonds with mine,
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