Live above all moft infinitely wretched.
Ifmena too!-Nay then, avenging Heaven
[Limena enters.
Has vented all its rage.O wretched maid!
Why doft thou come to fwell my raging grief?
Why add to forrows, and embitter woes?
Why do thy mournful eyes upbraid my guilt?
Why thus recal to my afflicted foul
The fad remembrance of my godlike son,
Of that dear youth my cruelty has murder'd?
O gods, your reddeft bolts of fire
Had dealt lefs torment to my fuff'ring frame
Than that deftructive word hath given my heart.
Life yields beneath the found.
Ifm. Ruin'd! O all ye pow'rs! O awful
Thefeus!
Say, where's my lord? fay, where has fate dif-
pos'd him?
O fpeak! the fear distracts me.
Thef. Gods! can I speak?
Can I declare his fate to his Ifmena?
O lovely maid! couldft thou admit of comfort,
Thou shouldft for ever be my only care,
Work of my life, and labour of my foul.
For thee alone my sorrows, lull'd, shall ceafe,
Ceafe for a while to mourn my murder'd fon;
For thee alone my fword once more shall rage,
Reftore the crown of which it robb'd your race.
Then let your grief give way to thoughts of
empire;
At thy own Athens reign. The happy crowd
Beneath the cafy yoke with pleasure bow,
And think in thee their own Minerva reigns.
Ifm. Muft I then reign, nay, muft I live
without him?
Not fo, O godlike youth! you lov'd Ifimena:
You, for her fake, refus'd the Cretan empire,
And yet a nobler gift, the royal Phædra.
Shall I then take a crown, a guilty crown,
From the relentless hand that doom'd thy
death?
O'tis in death alone I can have eafe,
And thus I find it.
My fword, into thy breast?
Hip. I aim'd it there,
But turn'd it from myfelf, and flew Cratander;
The guards, not trufted with his fatal orders,
Granted my with, and brought me to the king.
I fear'd not death, but could not bear the thought
Of Thefeus' forrow, and Ifmena's lofs;
Therefore I hasten'd to your royal prefence,
Here to receive my door.
Thef. Be this thy doom,
To live for ever in Ifmena's arms.
Go, heavenly pair, and with your dazzling virtues,
Your courage, truth, your innocence and love,
Amaze and charm mankind; and rule that
empire,
For which in vain your rival fathers fought.
Ifm. O killing joy!
Hip. O ecftafy of blifs!
Am I poffefs'd at last of my Ifmena?
Of that celeftial maid? O pitying gods!
How fhall I thank your bounties for my
fuff'rings,
For all my pains, and all the pangs I've borne?
Since 'twas to them I owe divine Ifmena,
To them I owe the dear confent of Thefeus.
Yet there's a pain lies heavy on my heart,
For the difaftrous fate of hapless Phædra!
Thef. Deep was her anguifh for the wronge
fhe did you.
She chofe to die; and in her death deplor'd
Your fate, and not her own.
Hip. I've heard it all. Unhappy Phædra!
had not paflion fullied her renown,
None e'er on earth had fhone with equal luftre!
So glorious liv'd, or fo lamented died.
Her faults were only faults of raging love,
Her virtues all her own.
Im. Unhappy Phædra!
Was there no other way, ye pitying pow'rs,
No other way to crown Iimena's love?
Then must I ever mourn her cruel fate,
[Offers to ftab berfelf. And in the midst of my triumphant joy,
Evin in my hero's arms, confefs fome forrow.
Thef. O tender maid! forbear with ill-tim'd
grief
Hip. O forbear, Ifmena! Forbear, chafte maid, to wound thy bofom.
To damp our blettings, and incenfe the gods;
But let's away, and pay kind Heaven que
§ 49. The Happiness of a free Government.
S. JOHNSON.
IF there be any land, as fame reports,
Where cominon laws restrain the prince and
fubject,
A happy land, where circulating pow'r
Flows thro' each member of th embodied ftate;
Sure, not unconfcious of the mighty blefling,
Her grateful fons fhine bright with ev'ry virtue;
Untainted with the luft of innovation,
Sure all unite to hold her league of rule
Unbroken as the facred chain of nature,
That links the jarring elements in peace.
$ 50. The Killing of a Boar. OTWAY. FORTH from the thicket rufh'd another boar,
So large, he seem'd the tyrant of the woods,
With all his dreadful briftles rais'd up high;
They feem'd a grove of spears upon his back:
Foaming he came at me, where I was posted,
Whetting his huge long tufks, and gaping wide,
As he already had me for his prey;
Till, brandishing my well-pois'd javelin high,
With this bold executing arm I ftruck
The ugly brindled monster to the heart. ›
§ 51. Defcription of a populous City. THIS ancient city,
§ 54. The firft Feats of a young Eagle. Rowe.
S
the eagle,
[Jove,
That bears the thunder of our grandfire
With joy beholds his hardy youthful offspring
Forfake the neft, to try his tender pinions
In the wide untrack'd air; till, bolder grown,
Now like a whirlwind on a fhepherd's fold
He darts precipitate, and gripes the prey;
Or fixing on fome dragon's fcaly hide,
Eager of combat, and his future feast,
Bears him aloft, reluctant, and in vain
Wreathing his fpiry tail.
How wanton fits the amid ft nature's fmiles!
Nor from her higheft turret has to view
But golden landscapes and luxuriant fcenes,
A waste of wealth, the store-houfe of the world;
Here fruitful vales far ftretching fly the fight,
There fails unnumber'd whiten all the ftream,
While from the banks full twenty thousand cities
Survey their pride, and fee their gilded towers
Float on the waves, and break against the fhore.To bear with accidents, and every change
855. The true End of Education. Rowe. AND therefore wert thou bred to virtuouť knowledge,
As in a fea, yet not confin'd in space,
But fireaming freely thro' the fpacious streets,
Which fend forth millions at each brazen gate;
Whene'er the trumpet calls, high over head
On the broad walls the chariots bound along.
§ 52. Rural Courtship. DRYDEN.
HE preferr❜d me
Above the maidens of my age and rank;
Still fhunn'd their company, and still fought inine.
I was not won by gifts, yet ftill he gave;
And all his gifts, tho' fmall, yet fpoke his love:
He pick'd the earliest ftrawberries in the woods,
The cluster'd filberts, and the purple grapes :
He taught a prating ftare to speak my name;
And when he found a neft of nightingales,
Or callow linnets, he would fhew 'em me,
And let me take 'em out.
And wifdom early planted in thy foul,
That thou might't know to rule thy fiery paffions;
To bind their rage, and stay their headlong course;
Of various life; to ftruggle with adverfity;
To wait the leifure of the righteous Gods,
Till they, in their own good appointed hour,
Shall bid thy better days come forth at once;
A long and fhining train; till thou, well pleas'd,
Shalt bow, and blefs thy fate, and say the Gods
are juft.
$56. Filial Piety. MALLET.
FER fince reflection beain'd her light upon me,
You, Sir, have been my ftudy. I have plac'd
Before mine eyes, in every light of life,
The father and the king. What weight of duty
Lay on a fon from fuch a parent fprung;
What virtuous toil to fhine with his renown;
Has been my thought by day, my dream by night.
But firft and ever nearest to my heart
Was this prine duty, fo to frame my conduct
Tow'rd fuch a father, as, were 1 a father,
My foul would wish to meet with from a fon. And may reproach tranfmit my name abhorr'd To latest time-if ever thought was mine Unjuft to filial reverence, filial love!
$ 57.
HAVE I then no tears for thee, my father'
Can I forget thy cares, from helpless years
Thy tenderness for me? An eve fill beam'd
With love? A brow that never knew a frown?
Nor a harsh word thy tongue? Shall I for theft
Repay thy ftooping venerable age
With thame, difquiet, anguifh, and dishonour?
It must not be!-thou firft of angels! come,
Sweet filial piety! and firm my breaft:
Yes, let one daughter to her fate fubmit,
Be nobly wretched-but her father happy.
§ 61. Defeription of a Hag. Orway, a clofe lane, as I puified my journey, I fpied a wither'd hag, with age grown double, Picking dry flicks, and mumbling to liurfelf; Her eyes with folding theum were gail'd and red. Cold palty hook her head, her hands feem'd wither'd,
At every flender twig of nice diftinctions.
Thefe for the unfeeling vulgar may do well:
But thofe whole fouls are by the nicer rule
,Of virtuous delicacy only fway'd,
Stand at another bar than that of laws.
§ 64. In rubat Manner Princes ought to be MALLET. taught.
LET truth and virtue be their carlieft teachers.
Keep from their car the fyren-voice of flattery, Keep from their eye the harlo-form of vice, Who fored in every count, their filken fnares, And chifem but to betray. Betimes inftruct them, Superior Tank demands fuperior worth; Pre-eminence of talour, juftice, mercy : But chief, that, though exalted o'er mankind, They are themfelves bur men-frail fuffering
duft; From: o cãe cae injury of human lot Exempt; but fever'd by the fame heat, chill'd By the fime cold, torn by the fame difeafe, That fcorches, freezes, racks, and kills the beggar.
$ 65. True End of Royalty. MALLET. WITNESS, Huaven!
Whofe eye the heart's profoundeft
depth explores,
That if not to perform my regal taik;
To be the common father of my people,
Patron of honour, virtue, and religion;
If not to fhelter ufeful worth, to guard
His well-carn'd portion from the fons of rapine,
And deal out juffice with impartial hand;
if not to spread on all good men thy bounty,
The treafures trufted to me, not my own;
If not to raife anew our English name,
3y peaceful arts, that grace the land they blefs,
And on her crooked fhoulders had the wrapp'd
The tatter'd remnants of an old ftrip'd hanging,
Which ferv'd to keep her carcafe from the cold:And generous war to humble proud oppreffors:
So there was nothing of a picse about her.
Her lower weeds were all o'er coarfely patch'd
With different-colour'd rags, black, red, white,
yellow,
And feem'd to fpeak variety of wretchedness.
Yet more, if not to build the public weal
On that firm bafe, which can alone refift
Both time and chance, fair liberty and law;
If I for thefe great ends am not ordain'd-
May I ne'er poorly fill the throne of England.
§ 67. Charakter of a good King.
YES, we have lot a father!
The greatest blefling Heaven beftows
on mortals,
And feldom found amidst thefe wilds of time,
A good, a worthy king!-ear me, my Tancred,
And I will tell thee, in a few plain words,
How he deferv'd that beft. that glorious title.
'Tis nought complex, 'tis clear as truth and virtue
He lov'd his people, deem'd them all his children;
The good exalted, and deprefs'd the bad :
He fpurn'd the flattering crew, with fcorn ejeed
Their fmooth advice, that only means themselves,
Their fchemes to aggrandize him into bafenels:
Well knowing that a people in their rights
And industry protected; living fafe
Beneath the facred fhelter of the laws;
Encourag'd in their genius, arts, and labours;
And happy each as he himfelf deferves;
Are ne'er ungrateful. With unparing hand
They will for him provide: their filial love
And confidence are his unfailing treafury,
And every honeft man his faithful guard.
The happy fhepherds leave their homely huts,
And with their pipes proclaim the new-born day
The lufty fwain comes with his well-fill'd fcrip
Of healthful viands, which, when hunger calls,
With much content and appetite he eats,
To follow in the field his daily toil,
And drefs the grateful glebe that yields him fruits:
The beafts, that under the warm hedges flept,
And weather'd out the cold bleak night, are up;
And, looking tow'rds the neighbouring pastures,
raise
Their voice, and bid their fellow brutes good
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Ev'n by the hands of thofe for whom he fought.
Whatever private views and pallions plead,
No caufe can justify fo black a deed:
Thefe, when the angry tempeft clouds the foul,
May darken reafon, and her courfe control;
But, when the profpect clears, her startled eye
Muft from the treach'rous gulph with horror fly,
On whofe wild wave, by ftormy paffions toft,
So many helpless wretches have been loft.
Then be this truth the ftar by which we fteer:
Above ourselves our country fhall be dear.
§ 81. The fame. LEARN hence, ye Romans, on how fure a
The patriot builds his happinefs; no stroke,
No keeneft, deadliest, shaft of adverse fate,
Can make his generous bofom quite despair,
But that alone by which his country falls.
And nature fuffer when our children bleed:
Grief may to grief in endless round fucceed,
Yet ftill fuperior muft that hero prove,
Whose first, beft paffion is his country's love.
82. In what Philofophy really confifts. THOMSON.
PHILOSOPHY confifts not
In airy schemes, or idle fpeculations: The rule and conduct of all focial life Is her great province. Not in lonely cells Obfcure the lurks, but holds her heavenly light To fenates and to kings, to guide their councils,
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