Ogilvie. Thus bleft, thus harmless, till fuperior Powers,
Once more descending to th' abodes of man,
Mark a new Eden, and transported join
To mortal strains the high feraphic lay!

Thus from the feeling heart, with joy inspir'd, The ftream of rapture How'd. - The power of

thought

Smil'd with confenting mien. Bleft is the man,
Who hears the voice of Nature; who retir'd
From buftling life, can feed the gladdening beam,
The hopes that breathes of Paradife. Thy deeds,
Sweet Peace, are music to th' exulting mind;
Thy prayer, like incense wafted on the gale
Of Morning, spreads ambrofia, as the cloud
Of spicy fweet perfumes the whispering breeze
That fcents Arabia's wild. Yon rural train,
In careless indolence reclin'd; the field,
Gay with the hues of Summer; the loofe herds
That roam the pasture, and diffus'd o'er all,
The fmile of Innocence, the guileless blush
Of fimple Nature; let thefe fcenes recall
The prime of days, when in its vernal bloom,
Earth robed in verdure, from the Maker's hand
Came warm and genial; and her peaceful fons
Knew not the lore of Luxury. Serene
Thou feeft them; various in the rural tafk
Employ'd; or fporting on the lillied lawn;
Or ftretch'd at eafe beneath the mantling bough,
Hymning the great Creator. Happy tribe!
But perfect Happiness to man's frail race

7

Pertains not.

-

1

Drink inftruction, and be wife.

He spoke; and fudden as I gaz'd around, Bright in the glittering Eaft *) a form appear'd

Di

*) It was from that part of the world, alternately conquered by the Greeks and the Romans, that the luxury and effeminacy, which finally ruined both these nations, was originally derived.

Ogilvie.

Divinely beauteous, whofe rich plumage gleam'd

Gay to the dazzling fun: beyond the race
Of mortals fair, beyond the human fize
Rais'd, with fuperior dignity 1 he trod;
And feem'd a Goddefs from celeftial climes
To man defcending, that her lenient hand
Might point the path to Happiness. Her head
A crown encircled: o'er her limbs a robe
Floated in eafy majefty; a ftar

Beam'd from her brow; and on her arm fhe bore
A polish'd mirror, where the forms of things
Reflected, with tranfcendant luftre flam'd.
Age in the glafs beheld its wrinkled front
Smooth as the cheek of Hebe. Beauty fhone
With angel radiance; and Deformity,
(Had fhrunk Deformity been there,) had vy'd
With Helen ftruggling in the arms of Love
Sweetly reluctant. Such the Goddess fhone.

Not long fhe trod the plain, when gathering
round

The rural tribe, yet innocent, beheld

Her form with wonder; eyed her purple plumes,
Her crown, her ftature, and her magic glafs,
Curious, amaz'd, delighted.
But when near

She held the mirror up, and fhow'd the face
That glow'd celestial, foft as fancy paints
Bright Venus orient from the filver wave;
The throng obfequious to the powerful charm
Purfued her step, nor knew that all the scene
Was falfe and hollow; nor behind the veil
Difcern'd Temptation; till fhe led them on,
Where, rob'd in vivid green, a meadow spread
Its velvet mantle to the fun. All-wild
They rufh'd along, till in the fecret fnares
Spread o'er the fmiling lawn, their slippery feet
Befet, the Fiend fecured them as her prey.

Loft then at once were all the native charms Of tender Innocence; the heart no more

Ogilvie. Whisper'd its dictates to the fimple tongue;
But fmooth Deceit, familiar in the robe

Of Virtue, then first taught the gentle smile
To veil the rankiing thought. Caught in the net
Of Vice, debilitating Sloth unnerved

Each manly effort; and Corruption, fure

As fome dark Miner, fapp'd the mounds of Truth,
And gave the throng to wanton o'er the mead,
Enlarg'd, and fcreen'd from fight the powerful
chains

Unfelt, that held them in the Tyrant's power.

Now mark, (thus ferious fpoke the hoary fire,*)
How vain the boaft of Reason, that prefumes
Its powers adequate to difclofe the truths

Reveal'd by Wisdom. - To themfelves thou
faw'ft

Yon tribes abandon'd, free to chase their path
On Nature's common, as the judging mind
Approv'd or cenfur'd from impartial view.
Whence then by Patfion's lawless arms fubdu'd
Thus unrefifting fall they? Why reprefs'd
Before Temptation's guileful glance, fubfides
The voice of Reafon? His deep-fearching eye
Had feen the fraud of yon deceitful glafs,

Had warn'd the throng to fhun th' infidious fhare,
Had kept them innocent, didft thou defcribe
His sphere with truth. But how this leading

Guide

Shields the firm thought from Pleasure's gilded lure,
Thou feeft; unequal to the tafk, he fhrinks
Back from the field, or yielding takes the fide
Of Paffion, or faint-whispering, if his voice
Difluades from peril; yet its found unheard
Amid the tumult of the madning mind
Neglected dies; as, when the thunder roars,
The gentle murmur of the purling rill
Strikes not retentive on the thrilling ear.

*) The genius of Contemplation

Since then unfit from fmooth Temptation's fmile, Ogilvie. To fave its Votaries, in the trying hour Decoy'd by Pleafure; fince his feeble glance Difcerns not Vice behind the mantling veil Of borrowed charms; or dimly feen, his voice Detains not from the chace: Is Reafon then Thus weak, to nobler works adequate, bold To fearch th' Eternal in his work, or known In Truth's ftrait path to guide the reftive mind, When fway'd by Fancy in his choice, or dup'd By Paffion in his purfuit? Let thy thought Weigh the full proof, and pondering judge the whole,

Hay

Hayley.

Hayley.

(William Hayley, vor einigen vierzig Jahren in der Grafschaft Sussex geboren, hat unter den jezt lebenden eng lischen Dichtern, vornehmlich in der didaktischen Gattung den meisten Ruhm erworben, und verdient denselben durch die edeln Gesinnungen, den geläuterten Geschmack, die ins teressanten Charakterifirungen, und die angenehme Schreibs art, wodurch alle seine Gedichte belebt find. Die besten dar: unter gehören in die zweite Klasse von Lehrgedichten, scientis fischen und technischen Inhalts, und werden unten vorkom: men. Hier nur von feinem Gedichte, The Triumphs of Temper, in sechs Gesången, welches zuerst einzeln im J. 1781. gr. 4. und hernach im fünften Bande seiner 1785 in 6 Oktav: bånde gesammelten Poems and Plays, abgedruckt wurde. Et fuchte in diesem Gedichte Erzählung, Allegorie und Lehrpoefie mit einander in Ein Ganzes von neuer Art zu verbinden, und das Glück der gefeßten Seelenstimmung und einer feften, ruhigen Besonnenheit in dem Charakter, und einer sehr einfach angelegten Geschichte Serena's zu schildern. Und so ift sein Gedicht, gleich seinen übrigen, mehr beschreibend als didaktisch geworden, und interessirt die Phantasie mehr, als das Herz. Folgende Stelle schließt die im dritten Gefange enthaltne Erzählung von einem Traumgesichte, worin Seres na von ihrem Schuhgeist zu den Wohnungen des Mißvers gnügens, und vornehmlich zum Aufenthalte des Spleen, oder der Milzsucht, geführt wird.)

THE TRIUMPHS OF TEMPER.

Canto III, v. 499 0.

,,But hafte we now (the heavenly Leader cries)

To where this penal world's last wonder lies" She spoke; and led the Nymph thro deeper dells, Low-murmuring vaults, and horror-breathing cells. And now they pass a perforated cage,

Where rancorous fpeêtres without number rage.