Not tamely yields to wear a fervile chain;
Force may attempt it, and attempt in vain-
Nervous and bold, by native valour led:
His prowefs ftrikes the proud invader dead,
By force nor fraud from freedom's charms beguil'd,
He reigns fecure the monarch of the wild.-Idem.
FLY.
BUSY, curious, thirty fly,
Drink with me, and drink as I:
Freely welcome to my cup,
Couldst thou fip, and fip it up.
Make the most of life you may,
Life is fhort, and wears away.
Both alike are mine and thine,
Haft'ning quick to their decline:
Thine's a fummer, mine no more,
Though repeated to threefcore:
Threefcore fummers, when they're gone,
Will appear as fhort as one.
FASTING.
THE mifer fafts, because he will not eat;
The poor man fafts, because he has no meat;
The rich man falls, with greedy mind to spare;
The glutton fafts, to eat the greater flare,
The hypocrite, he falls, to feem more holy;
The righteous man, to punish fin and folly.
FRAILTY.
THE best of men appear fometimes to be flrange compounds of contradictory qualities: and, were the accidental overfights and folly of the wifeft man,--the failings and imperfections of a religious man,-the hafly acts and paffionate words of a meek man; were they to rife up in judgment again!! them,and an ill-natured judge be fuffered to mark, in this manner, what has been done amifs--what character fo unexceptionable as to be able to ftand before him?-Sterne.
FREEMAN.
HE is the freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are flaves befide. There's not a chain That hellifh foes confed'rate for his harm
Freeman.-First Pair.
Can wind around him, but he cafts it off
With as much eafe as Samfon his green withes.
He looks abroad into the varied field
Of Nature; and tho' poor, perhaps, compar'd
With those whofe manfions glitter in his fight,
Calls the delightful scenery all his own.
His are the mountains, and the vallies his,
And the refplendent rivers; his t' enjoy
With a propriety that none can feel,
But who, with filial confidence inspir'd,
Can lift to Heav'n an unprefumptuous eye,
And fmiling fay-My father made them all.
Are they not his by a peculiar right;
And by an emphafis of int'reft his,
Whofe eye they fill with tears of holy joy,
Whofe heart with praise, and whose exalted mind
With worthy thoughts of that unwearied love
That plann'd, and built, and still upholds a world,
So cloth'd, with beauty, for rebellious man?-Cowper.
FIRST PAIR.
(
THE wide earth finish'd, from his western throne,
In fplendid beauty look'd the gladfome fun;
Calm were the skies; the fields with luftre crown'd,
And nature's incenfe fill'd th' etherial round,
Enfhrin'd in facred light, the Maker stood,
Complacent fmil'd, and own'd the work was good.
Then from his hand, in filent glory, came
A nobler form, and man his destin’d name;
Erect, and tall, in folemn pomp he stood,
And living virtue in his vifage glow'd.
Then, too, a fairer being fhow'd her charms;
Young beauty wanton'd in her fnowy arms;
The heav'ns around her bade their graces fly,
And love fat blooming in her gentle eye.
O pair divine! fuperior to your kind;
To virtue fashion'd, and for bliss design'd!
He, born to rule, with calm uplifted brow,
Look'd down majestic on the world below;
To heav'n, his manfion, tura'd his thoughts fublime,
Or rov'd far onward thro' the fcenes of time;
O'er nature's kingdom cast a searching eye,
And dar'd to trace the fecrets of the sky;
On fancy's pinions fcann'd the bright abode,
And claim'd his friend, an angel, or a God.
Her he endu'd with nature more refin'd,
A lovelier image, and a fofter mind.
To her he gave to kindle fweet defire,
To roufe great thoughts, and fan th' heroic fire;
At pity's gentle call to bend his ear;
Το prompt for woe the unaffected tear;
In fcenes refin'd his foft'ning foul improve,
And tune his wifhes with the hand of love.
To her he gave with sweetness to obey,
Infpire the friend and charm the lord away;
Each bleeding grief with balmy hand to heal,
And teach his rending finews not to feel;
Each joy t' improve, the pious wish to raise,
And add new raptures to his languid praise.
To this lov'd pair a blefs'd retreat was given,
A feat for angels, and an humbler heaven;
Fair Eden nam'd: in fwift fucceffion, there
Glad fcenes of rapture led the vernal
year;
Round the green garden, living beauty play'd;
In gay profufion earth her treasures spread;
The air breath'd fragrance: streams harmonious rung,
And love, and tranfport, tun'd the aerial fong.-Dwight.
FRUGALITY.
FRUGALITY may be termed the daughter of prudence, the fifter of temperance, and the parent of liberty. He that is extravagant, will quickly become poor; and poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption. It will almost always produce a paffive compliance with the wickedness of others: and there are few who do not learn by degrees to practise thofe crimes which they cease to cenfure.-Rambler.
THOUGH in every age there are fome who, by bold adventures or by favourable accidents, rife fuddenly into riches, the bulk of mankind muft owe their affluence to fmall and gradual profits, below which their expence must be refolutely reduced.-Idem.
FAVOUR.
BESTOWING one favour on fome men they think is giving them a right to afk a fecond. The first they look upon as a gift-the reft are payments.-Fielding.
FORGIVENESS.
THE brave only know how to forgive;-it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at. Cowards have done good and kind actions,-cowards have even fought, nay fometimes, even conquered; but a coward never forgave. It is not in his nature;--the power of doing it flows only from a ftrength and greatness of soul, confcious of its own force and fecurity, and above the little temptations of refenting every fruitlefs attempt to interrupt its happinefs.-Sterne.
WHOEVER confiders the weaknefs both of himself and others, will not long want perfuafives to forgiveness. We know not to what degree of malignity any injury is to be imputed, or how much its guilt, if we were to inspect the mind of him that committed it, would be extenuated by mistake, precipitance, or negligence. We cannot be certain how much more we feel than was intended, or how much we increase the mischief to ourselves by voluntary aggravations. We may charge to defign the effects of accident. We may think the blow violent, only because we have made ourselves delicate and tender; we are, on every fide, in danger of error and guilt, which we are certain to avoid only by speedy forgiveness.-Rambler.
FAME.
THE evil that men do, lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.-Shakespear
ILL fhall we judge, if from the mouth of fanie
We mark the characters of vice and virtue,
Here pageants rife, made by tradition heroes,
Form'd by the poet or the loose historian;
There you behold imaginary gods,
Rais'd by the venal breath of flaves to heav'n,
Swoln with the praife of fools, ignobly great,
By luft, ambition, tyranny or rapine;
While the good prince, whofe foft indulgent natur
Delights in peace, and bleffes all with plenty
Who fmile beneath him, is revil'd and cenfur'd,
As an inactive, ufelefs, idle drone.-C. Johnfon
FATE.
THERE is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in fhallows, and in miferies.
On fuch a full fea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it ferves,
Or lofe our ventures. Shakespeare.
MAN makes his fate according to his mind:
The weak low fpirit fortune makes ber flave,
But he's a drudge when hector'd by the brave.
If fate weave common thread, he'll change the doom,
And with new purple spread a nobler loom.-Dryden.
HEAV'N has to all allotted, foon or late,
Some lucky revolution of their fate;
Whofe motions if we watch and guide with skill,
(For human good depends on human will)
Our fortune rolls as from a fmooth defcent,
And from the first impreffion takes its bent;
But if unfeiz'd, fhe glides away like wind,
And leaves repenting folly far behind;
Now, now the meets you with a glorious prize,
And fpreads her locks before her as fhe flies.-Iden
FIGHTING. (for native Country.)
TO fight, Æmilius,
In a juft caufe, and for our country's fafety,
Is the beft office of the belt of men;
And to decline it when thefe motives urge,
Is infamy beneath a coward's bafenefc.--Havard.
FLATTERY.
OF all wild beafts, preferve me from a tyrant,
And of all tame, a flatterer.-Johnfon.
-CEASE, ceafe this flatt'ry!
'Tis a mean, vicious habit those contract,
Who hide the fetil'd purpose of their fouls
Under its fmooth and glitt'ring ornaments,
As they difdain'd the honeft company
Of plain and native truth Marfb.
HE that is much flattered, foon learns to flatter himself. We are commonly taught our duty by fear or fhamie; and how can they act upon the man who hears nothing but his own praifes-Life of Swift.
NEITHER our virtues or vices are all our own. If there were no cowardice, there would be little infolence. Pride
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