(Points which We rather may dispute, than know)! Come on, Thou little Inmate of this Breaft,

Which for Thy Sake from Paffions I diveft:

For thefe, Thou fay'ft, raife all the ftormy Strife,
Which hinder Thy Repofe, and trouble Life.
Be the fair Level of Thy Actions laid,

As Temp'rance wills, and Prudence may perfwade:
Be Thy Affections undisturb'd and clear,
Guided to what may Great or Good appear;
And try if Life be worth the Liver's Care.

Amafs'd in Man there juftly is beheld What thro' the whole Creation has excel'd:

The Life and Growth of Plants, of Beafts the Senfe,
The Angel's Forecaft and Intelligence:

Say from these glorious Seeds what Harveft flows:.
Recount our Bleffings, and compare our Woes.
In it's true Light let cleareft Reason fee

The Man dragg'd out to Act, and forc'd to Be;
Helpless and Naked on a Woman's Knees
To be expos'd or rear'd as She may please;
Feel her Neglect, or pine from her Disease.
His tender Eye by too direct a Ray
Wounded, and flying from unpractis'd Day;

Cor tenerum, multumque tremit, pulfuque frequenti
Æftuat. Ut variâ perculfus imagine rerum

Obftupet! ut pavet attonitus! Membra irrequieta
Luctantem interius produnt augentque dolorem:
Et gemitu queritur molli lacrymifque mifellis,
Dum nondum fractas voces mutilataque verba
Effari didicit, quibus intima fenfa laborans
Exprimat, occultófque enarret pectoris æftus.
Mox ut paulatim affurgit puerilibus annis,
Garrulitate rudi crepitat, vanofque timores
Concipit à nugis: cum firma adoleverit ætas,
Publica fcena vocat, populifque frequentibus infert
Implicitum; longo curarum ibi volvitur orbe;
Et tacitæ fraudes & aperta pericula cingunt
Infelix latus: hinc Hoftis vindicta ferocis,
Hinc fævi magis amplexus fallacis Amici.
Quin facta inquirit Populus; laudesque maligno
Ore filet; minimam gaudet diffundere labem.
Nec cætu in turpi maculis afpergere famam
Derifor parcit mordax, quique audet apertis
Virtutem opprobriis petere, invifamque fateri.
Si vero his laffus turbis fecreta ferarum

Luftra petat folus, populofque urbefque relinquat;

Mens

His Heart affaulted by invading Air,
And beating fervent to the vital War,

To his Young Senfe how various Forms appear;
That ftrike his Wonder, and excite his Fear?
By his Distortions he reveals his Pains;

He by his Tears, and by his Sighs complains;
'Till Time and Ufe affift the Infant Wretch,
By broken Words, and Rudiments of Speech,
His Wants in plainer Characters to show,
And paint more perfect Figures of his Woe,
Condemn'd to facrifice his childish Years
To babling Ign'rance, and to empty Fears:
To pass the riper Period of his Age,
Acting his Part upon a crowded Stage;
To lafting Toils expos'd, and endless Cares,
To open Dangers, and to fecret Snares;

To Malice which the vengeful Foe intends,
And the more dangerous Love of feeming Friends.
His Deeds examin'd by the People's Will,
Prone to forget the good, and blame the ill:

Or fadly cenfur'd in their curs'd Debate,

Who in the Scorner's, or the Judge's Seat

Dare to condemn the Virtue which They hate. s.. Or would he rather leave this frantic Scene;

Mens tamen umbrarum in latebras tacitofque receffus
Addit fe comitem; innumeris Mens ufque fecuta
Turbat Imaginibus: palantemque implicat Error,
Ceu nemorum ambage illufum; aut torrentis iniqui
More ruens, rapido premit acrior impete Cura.
Multa animo verfans, varioque exercitus æftu,
Dulce mifer Socii alloquium defiderat; audit
Attonitus mæftos faxa ingeminare dolores,
Seque fugit trepido deferta per avia curfu.

Hinc adeo, variæ quocunque in tramite vitæ,
Vexamur cæcis animorum Affectibus: atris
Jam cineti nebulis, cur fpem foveamus inanem,
Fulfuros olim meliori lumine Soles?
Inftabiles Hominum Senfus, trepidantia ut Ægri
Somnia, profiliunt volucres; curfuque citato
Semper amant amota fequi, fugientiaque ardent
Arripere: ufque adeo, fomni fallacis Imago,
Spes malesuada levi vigilantes decipit umbrâ.
Sed flexis poft terga oculis, ut dira dolorum
Agmina refpicimus, trepidâ formidine Senfus
Horrefcunt, miferamque viam remeare recufant.
Accedunt curis curæ, fcenâque priori

Scena fuperveniens magis & magis atra videtur;

And Trees and Beafts prefer to Courts and Men?
In the remotest Wood and lonely Grott
Certain to meet that worst of Evils, Thought;
Diff'rent Ideas to his Mem'ry brought:

Some intricate, as are the pathless Woods;
Impetuous fome, as the defcending Floods :
With anxious Doubts, with raging Paffions torn,
No sweet Companion near, with whom to mourn:
He hears the Echoing Rock return his Sighs;
And from himself the frighted Hermit flies.

Thus, thro' what Path foe'er of Life We rove,
Rage companies our Hate, and Grief our Love:
Vex'd with the prefent Moment's heavy Gloom,
Why feek We Brightness from the Years to come?
Difturb'd and broken like a fick Man's Sleep,
Our troubled Thoughts to diftant Profpects leap:
Defirous ftill what flies us to o'ertake:

For Hope is but the Dream of Thofe that wake:
But looking back, We fee, the dreadful Train
Of Woes, a-new which were We to fuftain,

We should refuse to tread the Path again..
Still adding Grief, ftill counting from the Firft;
Judging the latest Evils ftill the worft;