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THE

FIRST B O O K

"E fons of men, with just regard attend,

YE

Obferve the preacher, and believe the friend,
Whofe ferious Mufe infpires him to explain,
That all we act, and all we think, is vain.
That in this pilgrimage of feventy years,
O'er rocks of perils, and through vales of tears
Deftin'd' to march, our doubtful fteps we tend,.
Tir'd with the toil, yet fearful of its end.
That from the womb we take our fatal fhares
Of follies, paffions, labours, tumults, cares:
And at approach of death shall only know
Thetruths, which from thefe penfive numbers flow,
That we pursue false joy, and fuffer real woe.
Happiness, object of that waking dream,
Which we call life, mistaking: fugitive theme
Of my pursuing verfe, ideal fhade,
Notional good, by fancy only made,

And by tradition nurs'd, fallacious fire,
Whofe dancing beams miflead our fond defire,
Cause of our care, and error of our mind:
Oh! hadft thou ever been by heav'n defign'd
To Adam, and his mortal race, the boon
Entire had been referv'd for Solomon:

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On me the partial lot had been bestow'd;
And in my cup the golden draught had flow'd.
But O! ere yet original man was made;
Ere the foundations of this earth were laid;
It was opponent to our fearch, ordain'd,
That joy, ftill fought, fhould never be attain❜d.
This fad experience cites me to reveal;
And what I dictate, is from what I feel.

Born as I was, great David's fav'rite fon;
Dear to my people, on the Hebrew throne,
Sublime my court with Ophir's treasures bleft,.
My name extended to the fartheft east,
My body cloth'd with ev'ry outward grace,
Strength in my limbs, and beauty in my face,
My fhining thought with fruitful notions crown'd,
Quick my invention, and my judgment found.
Arife (I commun'd with myfelf) arife :
Think, to be happy; to be great, be wife:
Content of spirit muft from fcience flow;
For 'tis a godlike attribute, to know.

I faid; and fent my edict through the land
Around my throne the letter'd Rabbins stand,
Hiftoric leaves revolve, long volumes spread,
The old difcourfing, as the younger read:
Attent, I heard, propos'd my doubts, and said:
The vegetable world, each plant and tree,
Its feed, its name, its nature, its degree
I am allow'd, as Fame reports, to know,.
From the fair cedar, on the craggy brow
Of Lebanon nodding supremely tall,
To creeping mofs, and hyop on the wall:

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Yet juft and confcious to myself, I find
A thousand doubts oppose the searching mind.

I know not why the beach delights the glade
With boughs extended, and a rounder shade;
Whilft tow'ring firs in conic forms arife,
And with a pointed fpear divide the fkies:
Nor why again the changing oak fhould thed
The yearly honour of his ftately head;
Whilft the diftinguifh'd yew is ever feen,
Unchang'd his branch, and permanent his green.
Wanting the fun why does the caltha fade?
Why does the cypress flourish in the fhade?
The fig and date, why love they to remain
In middle station, and an even plain;
While in the lower marth the gourd is found.;
And while the hill with olive-fhade is crown'd?
Why does one climate, and one foil endue
The blushing poppy with a crimfon hue;
Yet leave the lily pale, and tinge the violet blue?
Why does the fond carnation love to shoot
A various colour from one parent root;
While the fantastic tulip ftrives to break
In two-fold beauty, and a parted 'ftreak ?
The twining jafmine, and the blufhing rofe,
With lavish grace their morning fcents difclofe :
The smelling tub’rose and junquele declare,
The ftronger impulfe of an evening air.
Whence has the tree (refolve me) or the flower
A various instinct, or a diff'rent power?

Why should one earth, one clime, one ftream, one breath

Raife this to strength, and sicken that to death?

Whence does it happen, that the plant which well We name the fenfitive should move and feel? Whence know her leaves to answer her command, And with quick horror fly the neighb'ring hand.? Along the funny bank, or wat'ry mead,

Ten thoufand ftalks their various bloffoms fpread:
Peaceful and lowly in their native foil,
They neither know to spin, nor care to toil;
Yet with confefs'd magnificence deride
Our vile attire, and impotence of pride.
The cowflip fmiles, in brighter yellow drefs'd,
Than that which veils the nubile virgin's breast.
A fairer red ftands blufhing in the rofe,

Than that which on the bridegroom's vestment flows.
Take but the modeft lily of the field;

And if our pride will to our reafon yield,
It must by fure comparison be shown
That on the regal feat great David's fon,
Array'd in all his robes and types of power
Shines with lefs glory, than that fimple flow'r.

Of fishes next, my friends, I would enquire,
How the mute race engender, or refpire;
From the fmall fry that glide on Jordan's ftream
Unmark'd, a multitude without a name,
To that Leviathan, who o'er the feas
Immenfe rolls onward his impetuous ways,
And mocks the wind, and in the tempeft plays.
How they in warlike bands march gently forth
From freezing waters, and the colder north,
To fouthern climes dire&ing their career,
Their ftation changing with th' inverted year.

How all with careful knowledge are indu'd,
To chufe their proper bed, and wave, and food:
To guard their spawn, and educate their brood.
Of birds, how each according to her kind
Proper materials for her nest can find;

And build a frame, which deepest thought in man
Would or amend, or imitate in vain.

How in fmall flights they know to try their young,
And teach her callow child her parent's fong.
Why these frequent the plain, and these the wood,
Why ev'ry land has her fpecific brood,

Where the tall crane, or winding /wallow goes,
Fearful of gathering winds, and falling fnows;
If into rocks, or hollow trees they creep,
In temporary death confin'd to fleep;
Or conscious of the coming evil, fly
To milder regions, and a fouthern sky.

Of beafts and creeping infects fhall we trace
The wond'rous nature, and the various race;
Or wild or tame, or friend to man or foe,
Of us what they, or what of them we know?

Tell me, ye ftudious, who pretend to fee
Far into nature's bofom, whence the beein
Was first inform'd her vent'rous flights to fteer
Through trackless paths, and an abyss of air.
Whence the avoids the flimy marfh, and knows
The fertile hills, where fweeter herbage grows,
And honey making flow'rs their opening buds dif-
clofe.

How from the thicken'd mift, and fetting fun
Finds the the labour of her day is done?

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