Nor his, who for the bane of thousands born, And stab religion with a sly side-thrust; Strong judgment labouring in the Scripture mine, *DEO EREXIT VOLTAIRE. In Voltaire's bed-room at Ferney is a sort of monument in bad taste, with something like an urn in the middle, and these words,-Son esprit est partout, et son cœur est,-ici it would have said, but the heart was not there, any more than the manes which some verses above had engaged to be there also. In a grove some hundred yards distant there is a flat black marble monument thus inscribed: Au Chantre du Père des Bourbons. de Ferney. This monument is covered with a black pyramid of wood, to preserve it from the weather. Some devotee of the arch-infidel had chalked upon this covering with great precision of hand an eulogistic epigram quite worthy of being written in chalk upon wood : Voltaire, des hommes la gloire et le flambeau, et s'il etoit dans son tombeau les lauriers y croitroient d'eux-mêmes. The offerings which had recently been placed on the top of this pyramidal covering, (not in derision,) were literally a withered laurel wreath, a worse quill than ever pen was made of, and a child's penny trumpet. -MS. Journal. 1817. Till authors hear at length one general cry, The loud demand from year to year the same, Friends, (for I cannot stint as some have done, And keep the polish of the manners clean, I praise the Frenchman,† his remark was shrewd,— "I fear not man nor devil; but, though odd, The two last lines of some brave man's answer to a challenge, which have stuck in my memory ever since I was at school; but the other two have slipped out of it, P. Bruyère. But grant me still a friend in my retreat, Not knowing thee, we reap with bleeding hands These and a thousand plagues that haunt the breast, Fond of the phantom of an earthly rest, Divine communion chases, as the day Drives to their dens the obedient beasts of prey. "Tis love like his that can alone defeat The grain or herb or plant that each demands; And share the joys your bounty may create; To mark the matchless workings of the power That shuts within its seed the future flower, Bids these in elegance of form excel, In colour these, and those delight the smell, Or lay the landscape on the snowy sheet; Employs, shut out from more important views, THE TASK. ADVERTISEMENT. THE history of the following production is briefly this. A lady, fond of blank verse, demanded a poem of that kind from the author, and gave him the Sofa for a subject. He obeyed; and having much leisure, connected another subject with it; and pursuing the train of thought to which his situation and turn of mind led him, brought forth at length, instead of the trifle which he at first intended, a serious affair,-a Volume. In the poem on the subject of Education he would be very sorry to stand suspected of having aimed his censure at any particular school. His objections are such as naturally apply themselves to schools in general. If there were not, as for the most part there is, wilful neglect in those who manage them, and an omission even of such discipline as they are susceptible of, the objects are yet too numerous for minute attention; and the aching hearts of ten thousand parents, mourning under the bitterest of all disappointments, attest the truth of the allegation. His quarrel therefore is with the mischief at large, and not with any particular instance of it. BOOK I. THE SOFA. ARGUMENT. A Historical deduction of seats, from the stool to the Sofa. schoolboy's ramble. A walk in the country. The scene described. Rural sounds as well as sights delightful. Another walk. Mistake concerning the charms of solitude corrected. Colonnades commended. Alcove, and the view from it. The Wilderness. The Grove. The Thresher. The necessity and the benefits of exercise. The works of nature superior to and in some instances inimitable by art. The wearisomeness of what is commonly called a life of pleasure. Change of scene sometimes expedient. A common described, and the character of crazy Kate introduced. Gipsies. The blessings of civilized life. That state most favourable to virtue. The South Sea islanders compassionated, but chiefly Omai. His present state of mind sup |