COUNTRY-LIFE.

HAPPY the man, whom bounteous gods allow With his own hands paternal grounds to plough! Like the first golden mortals, happy he, From bus'nefs and the cares of money free! No human ftorms break off at land his fleep, No loud alarms of nature on the deep: From all the cheats of law he lives fecure, Nor does th' affronts of palaces endure. Sometimes the beauteous marriageable vine He to the lufty bridegroom elm does join: Sometimes he lops the barren trees around, And grafts new life into the fruitful wound: Sometimes he fhears his flock; and fometimes he Stores up the golden treasures of the bee. He fees the lowing herds walk o'er the plain, While neighb'ring hills low back to them again. And when the feafon, rich as well as gay, All her autumnal bounty does display, How is he pleas'd, th' increafing ufe to fee Of his well-trufted labours bend the tree! Of which large ftores, on the glad facred days, He gives to friends, and to the gods repays. With how much joy does he, beneath some shade, By aged trees' rev'rend embraces made, His careless head on the fresh green recline, y His head uncharg'd with fear, or with defign!-Cowley, GOD made the country and man made the town. What wonder, then, that health and virtue, gifts That can alone make sweet the bitter draught That life holds out to all, fhould most abound, And least be threatened, in the fields and groves? Poffefs ye, therefore, ye who, borne about In chariots and fedans, know no fatigue But that of idleness, and taste no scenes But fuch as art contrives-poffefs ye Your element: there only can ye shine: There only minds like yours can do no harm, Our groves were planted to confole at noon The penfive wand'rer in their fhades. At eve, The ioon-beam fliding foftly in between The fleeping leaves, is all the light they wish; Birds warb'ling all the mufic. We can spare

ftill

Country-Maiden.--Contempt.

The fplendor of your lamps: they but eclipfe
Our fofter fatellite. Your fongs confound
Our more harmonious notes. The thrufh departs
Scar'd, and th' offended nightingale is mute.
There is a public mifchief in your mirth:
It plagues your country.
Folly fuch as your's,
Grac'd with a fword, and worthier of a fan,
Has made, what enemies could ne'er have done,
Our arch of empire, ftedfaft but for you,
A mutilated ftructure, foon to fall.—Cowper.

COUNTRY-MAIDEN.

63

How happy is the harmlefs country-maid, Who, rich by nature, fcorns fuperfluous aid! Whofe modeft clothes no wanton eyes invite But, like her foul, preferve the native white : Whofe little ftore her well-taught mind does pleafe; Not pinch'd with want, nor cloy'd with wanton ease: Who, free from ftorms, which on the great ones fall, Makes but few wishes, and enjoys them all. No care, but love, can difcompofe her breast, Love, of all cares, the fweetcft and the best !-Rofcommon.

CONTEMPT.

A

CONTEMPT of others is the trueft fymptom of a base and bad heart. While it fuggefts itself to the mean and the vile, and tickles their little fancy on every occafion, it never enters the great and good mind, but on the ftrongest motives: nor is it then a welcome guest; affording only an uneafy fenfation, and bringing always with it a mixture of concern and compaffion.-Fielding.

CONTEMPT is a kind of gangrene, which, if it feizes one part of a character, corrupts all the reft by degrees.Johnson.

THERE is not in human nature a more odious difpofition' than a pronenefs to contempt, which is a mixture of pride and ill nature. Nor is there any which more certainly denotes a bad mind; for in a good and benign temper there can be no room for this fenfation. That which conftitutes an object of contempt to the malevolent, becomes the object of other paffions to a worthy and good-natured man; for in such a perfon, wickedness and vice muft raife hatred and abhorrence; and weakness and folly will be fure to excite compaffion; fe

that he will find no object of his contempt in all the actions of men.-Fielding:

THE bafelt and meaneft of all human beings, are generally the most forward to defpife others. So that the most contemptible are generally the moft contemptuous.-Idem. f CONGRESS of 1774. (A vifion.)

HIGH on the foremost feat, in living light,
Majeftic Randolph caught the hero's fight:
Fair on his head the civic crown was plac'd,
And the first dignity his fceptre grac❜d.
He opes the caufe, and points in profpect far,
Thro' all the toils that wait th' impending war-
But, hapless fage, thy reign muft foon be o'er,
To lend thy luftre, and to fhine no more.
So the bright morning ftar, from shades of ev'n,
Leads up
the dawn, and lights the front of heav'n,
Points to the waking world the fun's broad way,
Then veils his own, and fhines above the day.
And fee great Washington behind thee rife,
Thy following fun, to gild our morning skies;
O'er fhadowy climes to pour the enliv'ning flame,
The charms of freedom, and the fire of fame.
Th' afcending chief adorn'd his fplendid seat,
Like Randolph, enfign'd with a crown of state;
Where the green patriot bay beheld, with pride,
The hero's aurel fpringing by its fide.
His fword hung ufelefs on his graceful thigh,
On Britain still he cast a filial eye;
But fov'reign fortitude his vifage bore,
To meet their legions on th' invaded shore.

Sage Franklin next arofe, in awful mein;
And fmil'd, unruff'd, o'er th' approaching scene.
High, on his locks of age, a wreath was brac'd,
Palm of all arts, that e'er a mortal grac'd;
Beneath him lies the fceptre, kings have borne,
And crowns and laurels from their temples torn.
Nah, Rutledge, Jefferfon, in council great,
And Jay and Laurens op'd the rolls of fate,
The Living tons, fair Freedom's gen'rous band,
The Lees, the Houftons, fathers of the land,
O'er climes and kingdoms turn'd their ardent eyes,
Bude all the opprefs'd to fpeedy vengeance rife;

Congress of 1774-Gare.

All pow'rs of ftate, in their extended plan,
Rife from confent to fhield the rights of man.
Bold Wolcott urg'd the all-important caufe;
With steady hand the folemn fcene he draws;
Undaunted firmnefs with his wifdom join'd,
Nor kings nor worlds could warp his stedfast mind.
Now, graceful rifing from his purple throne,
In radiant robes, immortal Hofmer fhone;
Myrtles and bays his learned temples bound,
The ftatefman's wreath, the poet's garland crown'd:
Morals and laws expand his liberal foul,
Beam from his eyes, and in his accents roll.
But lo! an unfeen hand the curtain drew,
And fnatch'd the patriot from the hero's view;
Wrapp'd in the fhroud of death, he fees defcend
The guide of nations and the mufes' friend.
Columbus dropp'd a tear. The angel's eye
Trac'd the freed fpirit mounting thro' the sky.

Adams, enrag'd, a broken charter bore,
And lawless acts of minifterial pow'r;
Some injur'd right in each loofe leaf appears,
A king in terrors, and land in tears;
From all the guileful plots the veil he drew,
With eye retortive look'd creation through;
Op'd the wide range of nature's boundless plan,
Trac'd all the fteps of liberty and man;
Crowds rofe to vengeance, while his accents rung,
And Independence thunder'd from his tongue.-Barlow.

CARE.

What, in this life, which foon must end,
Can all our vain defigns intend?
From fhore to fhore why fhould we run,
When none his tire fome felf can fhun?
For baneful care will fill prevail,
And overtake us under fail:

'Twill dodge the great man's train behind,
Out-run the doe, out-fly the wind.
If then-thy foul rejoice to-day
Drive far to-morrow's cares away.
In calm content let all be drown'd;
No perfect good is to be found -Otway.

CENSORIOUSNESS.

O that the too-cenforious world would learn This wholesome rule, and with each other bear! But man, as if a foe to his own fpecies, Takes pleafure to report his neighbour's faults, Judging with rigor every fmall offence, And prides himself in fcandal. Few there are Who, injur'd, take the part of the tranfgreffor, And plead his pardon, ere he deigns to afk it.-E. Haywood.

CONVERSATION.

THE converfation of moft men is difagreeable, not fo much for want of wit and learning, as of good breeding and difcretion.

If you refolve to pleafe, never fpeak to gratify any particular vanity or paffion of your own, but always with a defign either to divert or inform the company. A man who only aims at one of thefe, is always eafy in his difcourfe. He is never out of humour at being interrupted, because he confiders that thofe who hear him, are the beft judges whether what he was faying eculd either divert or inform them.

A modeft perfon seldom fails to gain the good will of thofe he converfes with; because nobody envies a man who does not appear to be pleased with himself.

We fhould talk extremely little of ourfelves. Indeed what can we fay? It would be as imprudent to discover our faults, as ridiculous to count over our fancied virtues. Our private and domelic affairs are no lefs improper to be introduced in converfation. What does it concern the company, how many horfes you keep in your ftables? Or whether your fervant is moft knave or fool?

A man may equally affront the company he is in, by engroffing all the talk, or obferving a contemptuous filence.

Before you tell a ftory, it may be generally not amiss to draw a fhort character, and give the company a true idea of the principal perfons concerned in it; the beauty of most things confifling not fo much in their being faid or done, as in their being faid or done by fuch a particular perfon, or on fuch a particular occafion.

Notwithstanding all the advantages of youth, few young people pleafe in converfation. The reafon is, that want of experience makes them pofitive, and what they fay is rather with a defign to please themfelyes than any one else.