PART II.

PIECES IN POETRY

CHAPTER I.

SELECT SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS.

T

SECTION 1.

SHORT AND EASY SENTENCES.

Education.

IS education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin❜d.

Candour.

With pleasure let us own our errors past;
And make each day a critic on the last.

Reflection.

A soul without reflection, like a pile
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.

Secret Virtue.

The private path, the secret acts of men,
If noble, far the noblest of their lives.

Necessary Knowledge Easily Attained.
Our needful knowledge, like our needful food,
Unheg'd lies open in life's common field;
And bids all welcome to the vital feast.

Disappointment.

Disappointment lurks in many a prize,

As bees in flow'rs; and stings us with success.

NOTE.

In the first chapter, the Compiler has exhibited a considerable variety of poetical construction for the young reader's preparatory exercise.

Virtuous Elevation.

The mind that would be happy, must be great ;' Great in its wishes; great in its surveys. Extended views a narrow mind extend,

Natural and Fanciful Life.

Who lives to nature, rarely can be pure':
Who lives to fancy never can be rich.
Charity.

In faith and hope, the world will disagree
But all mankind's concern is charity.

The Prize of Virtue.

What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy
Is virtue's prize.

Sense and Modesty Connected.
Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks;
It still looks home, and short excursions makes;
But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks.
Moral Discipline Salutary.

Heav'n gives us friends to bless the present scene;
Resumes them to prepare us for the next.
All evils natural are moral goods;
All discipline, indulgence, on the whole.

Present Blessings Undervalueds

Like birds whose beauty languish, half conceal'd,
Till mounted on the wing, their glossy plumes
Expanded shine with azure green, and gold,
How blessings brighten as they take their flight!
Hope.

Hope, of all passions most befriends us here:
Passions of prouder name befriend us less.
Joy has her tears, and transport has her death;
Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though strong,
Man's heart, at once, inspirits and serenes.

Happiness Modest and Tranquil.
-Never man was truly blest,

But it compos'd and gav e him such a cast

As folly might mistake for want of joy

A cast unlike the triumph of the proud;
A modest aspect, and a smile at heart.
True Greatness.

Who noble ends by noble means obtains,
Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains,
Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed
Like Socrates, that man is great indeed.
The Tear of Sympathy.

No radiant pearl, which crested fortune wears,
No gem that twinkling hang from beauty's ears,
Nor the bright stars, which night's blue arch adorn,
Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn,

Shine with such lustre, as the tear that breaks
For others' woe, down virtue's mauly cheeks.

SECTION II.

VERSES IN WHICH THE LINES ARE OF DIFFERENT Y LENGTH.

Bliss of Celestial Origin.

RESTLESS mortals toil for nought;

Bliss in vain from earth is sought;

Bliss, a native of the sky,

Never wanders. Mortals, try;
There you cannot seek in vain ;
For to seek her is to gain.

The Passions.

The passions are a numerous crowd,
Imperious, positive, and loud.

Curb these licentious sons of strife;
Hence chiefly rise the storms of life:
If they grow mutinous, and rave,
They are thy masters, thou their slave.
Trust in Providence Recommended

Tis Providence alone secures,

In ev'ry change, both mine and yours.
Safety consists not in escape
From dangers of a frightful shape:
An earthquake may be bid to spare
The man that's strangled by a hair.
Fate steals along with silent tread,
Found oft'nest in what least we dread
Frowns in the storm with angry brow,
But in the sunshine strikes the blow.

Epitaph.

How lov'd, how valu'd once, avails thee not,·
To whom related, or by whom begot :

A heap of dust alone remains of thee;

Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be

Fame.

All fame is foreign, but of true desert;

Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. One self-approving hour whole years outweighs

Of stupid starers, and of loud buzzas ;

And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels,
Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels.

Virtue the Guardian of Youth.
Down the smooth stream of life the stripling darts,
Gay as the morn; bright glows the vernal sky;
Hope swells his sails, and passion steers his course.
Safe glides his little bark along the shore,
Where virtue takes her stand: but if too far
He launches forth beyond discretion's mark,
Sudden the tempest scowls, the surges roar,
Blot his fair day, and plunge him in the deep.
Sunrise.

But yonder comes the powerful king of day,
Rejoicing in the east. The less'ning cloud,
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow,
Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach
Betoken glad. Lo, now, apparent all
Aslant the dew-bright earth, and color'd air,
He looks in boundless majesty abroad;
And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays
On rocks, and hills, and tow'rs, and wand'ring streams,
High gleaming from afar.

Self-Government.

May I govern my passions with absolute sway,
And grow wiser and better as life wears away.

The Virtuous Man.

I saw the virtuous man contend
With life's unnumber'd woes;
And he was poor, without a friend,
Assail'd by numerous foes.

I saw the passions' pliant slave,
In gallant trim, and gay ;

His course was pleasure's placid wave,
His life a summer's day.

There surely is some guiding Power,

Who rightly suffers wrong;

Gives vice to bloom its little hour,

But virtue late and long.

Hope.

We'll bid the radiant dawn of hope appear;

Thro' its fair dawn we'll view the opening years

And while we hope-we're blest.

Shepherd.

On a mountain, strech'd beneath a hoary willow,

Lay a shepherd swain, and view'd the rolling billow.

SECTION III.

VERSES CONTAINING EXCLAMATIONS, INTERROGATIONS, AND

PARENTHESIS.

Competence.

A COMPETENCE is all we can enjoy :

Oh! be content, where Heav'n can give no more!,
Reflections Essential to Happiness.

Much joy not only speaks small happiness,
But happiness that shortly must expire.
Can joy unbottom'd in reflection, stand?
And, in a tempest, can reflection live?

Friendship.

Can gold gain friendship? Impudence of hope
As well mere man an angel might beget.
Love, and love only, is the loan for love.
Lorenzo pride repress; nor hope to find
A friend, but what has found a friend in thee,
All like the purchase; few the price will pay,
And this makes friends such miracles below.
Patience.

Beware of desp'rate steps. The darkest day
(Live till tomorrow) will have pass'd away.

Luxury.

-O luxury !-

Bane of elated life, of affluent states,

What dreary change, what ruin is not thine
To the soft entrance of thy rosy cave,
How dost thou lure the fortunate and great !
Dreadful attraction!

Virtuous Activity.

Seize mortals! seize the transient hour;
Improve each moment as it flies:
Life's short summer-man a flow'r;
He dies-Alas! how soon he dies!