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Stupendous rocks in wild confufion ftand,
Lift their tall cliffs, and fadden all the ftrand.
Before Aurora gilds the eastern skies

The fun-burnt tenants of the cottage rife;
With many a yawn their drowsy comrades hail,
Rub their dim eyes, and taste the morning-gale.
Some bear the basket, plenteously supply'd
With hooks and lines, the able fisher's pride;
Others with dextrous hands the toils display,
Well kill'd to circumvent the scaly prey;
With wide-extended nets the fhores they fweep,
Or man the bark, and plough the finny deep.
The happy islander, return'd at night,
Recounts the day's adventures with delight;
Aftonishes the lift'ning croud with tales
Of rocks avoided, and of dang'rous gales ;
Of groupers who, deluded by the bait,
Shar'd many a former grouper's wretched fate;
And rock-fif, who had tugg'd the well-ftretch'd line,
Oblig'd their pond'rous carcafe to refign.
The little urchin, playing on the ftrand,
At distance kens the bark return'd to land,
He hies impatient, views the scaly ftore,
And bids his parent welcome to the fhore.

• Meanwhile the housewife decks the cleanly board
With all her homely cottage can afford;
Her little brood are feated to their wish,
And taste the bleflings of the fmoking dish;
Of childish stories prattle all the while,
Regarding either parent with a fmile;
The finny monster's grateful taste admire,
And for it blefs their providential fire.
He with delight the youthful tribe surveys,
His gladden'd eyes ftill brighten as they gaze;
Of earthly joys he knows no higher pitch,
And bids the prince be great, the mifer rich.

• Where rifing Phoebus darts the morning ray,
The verdant hills a diff'rent fcene difplay;
Promifcuous houfes in the vale are seen,
Whose decent white adorns the lively green.
The weary peasant here, reclin'd at eafe,

Beneath his fig tree courts the fouthern breeze;

Or, while the great, at fruitless cares, repine,

He fits the monarch of his little vine.

There fcatter'd ifles, whose banks the waters lave, Grace with their herbage the pellucid wave,

The lordly bullock there, unus'd to toil,

Securely ftalks the tyrant of the foil;

While tender lambkins on the margin play,
And sport and gambol 'midft the funny day.

From early infancy inur'd to toil,
Rough as the rocks that bound his native foil,

The

The sturdy craftsman, with laborious hand,
Fells the tall tree, and drags it to the strand:
Refounding fhores return the hammer's blows,
Beneath the ftroke the gaudy pinnace grows,
Launch'd, and completely mann'd, in queft of gain,
Spreads her light fails, and tempts the wat'ry main.'

It is, we doubt not, with unfeigned rapture, that he dwells
on the beauties of the particular spot which gave him birth:
• Beneath my bending eye, ferenely neat,
Appears my ever bleft paternal feat.
Far in the front the level lawn extends,
The zephyrs play, the nodding cypress bends;
A little hillock ftands on either fide,
O'erspread with evergreens, the garden's pride.
Promiscuous here, appears the blushing rofe,
The guava flourishes, the myrtle grows,
Upon the furface earth-born woodbines creep,
O'er the green beds the painted 'fturtians peep,
Their arms aloft triumphant lilacs bear,
And jeffamines perfume the ambient air.
The whole is from an eminence display'd,
When the brown olive lends his penfive fhade.
When zephyrs, there the noon-tide heat affwage,.
Oft have I turn'd the meditative page,
And calmly read the ling'ring hours away,
Securely fhelter'd from the blaze of day.
At eve refresh'd, I trode the mazy walk,
And bade the minutes pafs in chearful talk,
With many a joke my brothers wou'd affail,
Or chear my fifters with the comic tale;
While both fond parents pleas'd, the group furvey'd,
Attentive heard, and fmil'd at all they said.

Thrice happy feat! here once were centred all
That bind my heart to this terrestrial ball;

The fight of thefe each gloomy thought destroys,
And ties my foul to fublunary joys!

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Ye pow'rs fupreme, who rule the fpangled sky,

On whofe protection firmly they rely,

Grant them each blifs the fertile mind can form,
And lift them high above Misfortune's storm!'

There are some touches of pleasantry in the following portrait of his fchoolmafter :

Near yonder hill, above the ftagnant pool,
My ftern preceptor taught his little school":
Dextrous t'apply the fcientific rod,
The little truants fhudder'd at his nod;
When-e'er he came, they all fubmiffive bow'd,
All feann'd their tasks induftriously loud;
And, fearful to excite the mafter's rage,
With trembling hands produc'd the blotted page.

Skilful

Skilful he was, and dabbled in the law,

Bonds, notes, petitions any thing could draw:
'Twas even whisper'd, and 'tis ftrictly true,
He claim'd acquaintance with the Mufes too,
And, by the goddeffes infpir'd, at times,
His lofty genius mounted into rhymes.
Great bard! what numbers can thy praife rehearse,
Who turn'd Qui mihi into English verfe;
Taught the fmug epigram with art to glide,
And e'en at lines of heav'nly Maro try'd?
Though many an epitaph of thine was known
To grace the cold commemorating ftone,
Thy own remains, in fome neglected spot,
Now lie unfung, unheeded, and forgot!'

A refpectable Correspondent mentioning this poem, obferves, that if it does not rife to that fublimity, nor flame with that enthufiafm, which the Cataract of Niagara, or the hurricanes which fweep thofe torrid climes might inspire, it is because the objects where Nature appears oftentatious of the grand and terrible, did not fall immediately within the Author's plan." But we think it could have been no way foreign from his defign, to have introduced a description of thofe fublimely dreadful thunder-ftorms, and lightnings, which are common in the WestIndies, and by which, it is faid, the very rocks of Bermudas have been frequently rent afunder. Mr. Tucker's attention, however, feems to have been confined to fofter fcenes, and more pleafing ideas; and perhaps his genius may more naturally lead him into fuch flowery paths as thofe which he has here fo fondly and harmoniously delineated.

ART. VIII. Mifcellanies of the late ingenious and on hiftorical, theological, and critical Subjects. French, by E. Harwood, D. D. 8vo. 6s.

celebrated M. Abauzit, Translated from the Becket. 1774.

MOTTO. No! this age of philofophy will not flow without having produced one true philofopher. I know one, and I freely own, but one; but what is much more, and which I regard as the highest point of happiness, it is in my own country that he refides: Shall I prefume to name him, to name him whose true glory it is to have studied to remain almost in obfcurity?—The wife and modest Abauzit. NOUVELLE HELOISE.

M

R. Rouffeau's eulogy on the late M. Abauzit, above-quoted, feems to be the first circumftance that drew on this Writer the notice of the world. On perusing his works we confess that we do not wonder at it. His time and abilities feem to have been devoted to religious fubjects; and religion is, by the wits of the prefent times, ranked with aftrology, alchymy, and other exploded fciences.

In the laft age, Abauzit would probably have been among the firft literati of Europe. In the prefent, we fear his admirers Bb 4

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muft endure to fee his works difregarded. Dr. Harwood has generally employed himself in a fimilar manner; and is one of the most induftrious champions of what the church would call the heretical faith. He found in the works of Abauzit things after his own heart; and he imagined it would promote what he thought the intereft of religion, but what the orthodox confider as the intereft of Satan, by tranflating the tracts of Abauzit. He has prefixed a preface, and fome memoirs of the Author, who died in the year 1767, at the age of 88.

The following tracts are learned and ingenious; but will not greatly inform or entertain an English reader who has been converfant in the writings of a Locke, a Clarke, a Foster, or an Abernethy. This is the order in which they occur; viz.

• Reflections on Idolatry. Of Mysteries in Religion.-Letter to a Lady of Dijon, in regard to the Doctrines of the Church of Rome. Of the Confequences of the firft Tranfgreffion.— An Enquiry, whether the Doctrine of the Trinity be found in a Paffage of Genefis ?-A Reply to a Profeffor, who had attempted to prove the Deity of Chrift from a Paffage in the Epiftle to the Romans, chap. ix. ver. 5.-A Paraphrase on some Verfes in the first Chapter of St. John.

M. Abauzit has here given rather a critical commentary, which he has concluded with the following paraphrase ;

The TEXT.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 2. The fame was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were made by him, and withput him was not any thing made that was made. 4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5. The light hineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not, &c."

PARAPHRASE.

1. There is an eternal reason, a fovereign wisdom, which hath exifted from all ages: this wifdom hath ever been infeparable from God, or to speak properly, it is God himfelf. 2. In the beginning of the world, it was then with God, who never does any thing without confulting it. 3, And he employed it in the creation of the univerfe. In effect, there is no creature, in which one doth not fee fome trace of this wifdom shine, fo that without it things would never have attained that point of beauty which we admire. 4. Wisdom is the fource of life and of true happiness, and not merely this; it ferves moreover as a light to conduct us to them. 5. This light efpecially hath fhone forth in our days; but how capable foever it were of difpelling the fhades of ignorance, blind martals chofe rather to wander in error, than follow the counfels of pure and unclouded reafon. 14. And if the Divine Wisdom hath appeared in the works of the creation, one may fay that it

hath

hath no lefs difplayed its 'fplendor under the gofpel. It hath rendered itself fenfible and palpable in Jesus Christ, by his means it hath never ceased to do good to men: we have been witnesses of the miracles which were effected by this wisdom, and of the glory with which Jefus Chrift was invefted, a glory much greater than what appeared in Mofes and the Prophets, fuch as was proper to be the glory of the only begotten Son of God.' . This is followed by an explication of the fourth and fifth verfes of the seventeenth chapter of St. John: An explanation of the thirteenth verfe of the third chapter of St. John: An explanation of a paffage in the first Epiftle of St. John: An explication of a paffage in the eighth chapter of St. John: An illuftration of the first chapter of the Epiftle to the Hebrews: An explication of a paffage in the Epistle to the Phillippians, who being in the form of God, &c. Of the honour due to Jefus Chrift: Of the knowledge which Jefus Chrift attributes to himself when he fays, All the churches shall know that I am he who search the reins and hearts, and I will give unto every one according to his works: Of the power which Jefus Chrift afcribes to himself when he says to the paralytic, Thy fins be forgiven thee: Of the holy fpirit→

The holy spirit, or the fpirit of God (fays this heterodox, but honeft and ingenious Writer) in the primary and natural fenfe, fignifies only the power of God, or the virtue by which he operates. To be convinced of this, it would be fufficient to attend to the etymology of the word, which in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, means the breath of God, and which feems to denote rather a quality, than a perfon diftinct from God himself.-But various paffages of fcripture put this beyond a doubt. "When thou hideft thy face, fays the Pfalmift, the creatures die; but if thou fendeft thy Spirit they are immediately created." "The fpirit of God made me, fays Elihu, and the breath of the Almighty quickened me." "God, fays Job, made the heavens by his Spirit, that is, by his power and agency, as the fequel fhows."-This term hath preserved the fame fignification in the New Teftament. "The holy fpirit, fays the angel to Mary, fhall come upon thee from on high, and the power of the Most High fhall overshadow thee." The holy spirit, and the power of the Moft High, as it is here evident, is one and the fame thing in the style of the angels. "I am going to fend you, faid Chrift to his apoftles, what my Father promised me, but do you stay in Jerufalem till you be endowed, with power from on high." This is what our Saviour calls the holy fpirit, which was to defcend on the apostles upon the day of Pentecoft, "You know, fays St. Peter, how God animated Jefus of Nazereth with the Holy Ghost and with power."

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