LXXXVI. Yourselves with virtue thus and knowledge fraught Of what, in ancient days of good or great Hiftorians, bards, philofophers have taught; Join'd with whatever elfe of modern date Maturer judgment, search more accurate Discover'd have of Nature, Man, and God, May by new laws reform the time-worn state Of cell-bred difcipline, and smoothe the road That leads through Learning's vale to Wisdom's bright abode. LXXXVII. By you invited to her fecret bow'rs Then fhall PÆDîA reafcend her throne On this prime fcience, as the final end Her Her tender pupils for the various war, Then shall my youthful fons, to Wisdom led With willing feet the paths of Duty tread; Whose foul-invigorating influence Shall purge their minds from all impure allays Of fordid felfifhnefs and brutal fenfe, And fwell th' ennobled heart with bleft benevolence. Then also fhall this emblematick pile, By magick whilom fram'd to fympathize With all the fortunes of this changeful isle, Still, as my fons in fame and virtue rife, Grow with their growth, and to th' applauding skies It's radiant crofs up-lift; the while, to grace The multiplying niches, fresh supplies Of worthies fhall fucceed, with equal pace Aye following their fires in virtue's glorious race. XCI. Fir'd XCI. Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame Who for their various merit erft renown'd, In this bright fane of glory shrines of honour found. On thefe that royal dame her ravish'd eyes Forth from the ground the length'ning structure rife Thofe fculptur'd chiefs did fhew, and their great lives explain.r r Great lives explain.] I cannot forbear taking occafion from these words to make my acknowledgements to the writers of Biographia Britannica, for the pleasure and profit I have lately received from perufing the two first volumes of that ufeful and entertaining, work, of which the monumental ftructure above mentioned, decorated with the ftatues of great and good men, is no improper emblem. This work, which contains the lives of the moft eminent perfons, who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, down to the present time, appears to me, as far as it has hitherto gone, to be executed with great spirit, accuracy, and judgment; and deferves, in my opinion, to be encouraged by all, who have at heart the honour of their country, and that of their particular families and friends; and who can any ways affift the ingenious and laborious authors, to render as perfect as poffible, a defign fo apparently calculated to ferve the publick, by Jetting in the truest and fulleft light the characters of perfons already generally, though perhaps too indiftinctly known; and reviving from obfcurity and oblivion, examples of private and retired merit, which, though less glaring and oftentatious than the former, are not, however, of a lefs extenfive or less beneficial influence. To thofe, who may happen not to have seen this repofitory of British glory, I cannot give a better idea of it, than in the following lines of Virgil: Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi; Virg. Æn. L. 6. The End of the FIRST CANTO. VOL. IV. D PEN PENS HUR S T. INSCRIBED TO WILLIAM PERRY, Efq; AND The Honourable Mrs. ELIZABETH PERRY. By the late Mr. F. COVENTRY. ENIUS of Penshurst old! GE Who faw'ft the birth of each immortal oak, Here facred from the stroke ; And I thyal tenants of yon turrets bold, Infpir'ft to arts or arms; Where a Sidney his Arcadian landscape drew, Genuine from thy Doric view; And patriot b Algernon unfhaken rose Above infulting foes; And Sacchariffa nurs'd her angel charms: a Sir Philip Sidney. b Algernon Sidney. O fuffer 5 |