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He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the fightless eye-ball pour the day.
'Tis he th' obstructed paths of found shall clear,
And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb shall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh no murmur the wide world shall hear,
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.

In & adamantine chains shall death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air,
Explores the loft, the wand'ring sheep directs,
By day o'er fees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,

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Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd father of the future age.
No more shall nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes.
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindlé rage no more;
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow share end.
Then palaces shall rise; the joyful 12 fon
Shall finish what his short-liv'd fire begun;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the fame hand that fow'd, shall reap the field.
The swain in barren 13 deserts with furprize
See lillies spring, and sudden verdure rise;

Ver. 67. The frwain in barren defarts, &c.]
Virg. E. 4. ver. 28. Molli paulatim flavescit campus arista,
Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva,
Et duræ quercus sudabunt roscida mella..

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The fields shall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape shal! bang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks shall diftill honey like

dew.

Isajah, ch. xxxv. ver. 7. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: In the babitations where dragons lay, shall be grass, and reeds, and rushes. Ch. lv. ver. 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree.

8. Ch. xxv. ver. 8.

ver. 6.

10 Ch. ix. 12 Ch. lxv, ver. 21, 22.

9 Ch. xl. ver. 11.

11 Ch. ii, ver. 4.

13 Ch. xxxv. ver. 1, 7.

And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste sandy 14 vallies, once perplex'd with thorn,

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The spiry fir and shapely box adorn;

The leafless shrubs the flow'ry palms succeed,

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And od'rous myrtle to the noisom weed.

The 15 lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead,

And boys in flow'ry bands the tyger lead!

The steer and lion at one crib shall meet

And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.

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The smiling infant in his hand shall take

The crested bafilisk and speckled snake,

Pleas'd the green lustre of the scales survey,

And with their forked tongue shall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial 17 Salem rise !

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Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!

See, a long 18 race thy spacious courts adorn ;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,

Ver. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.]

Virg. E. 4. v. 21. Ipfæ lacte domum referent distenta capellæ

Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones----
Occidet & ferpens, et fallax herba veneni
Occidet

The goats shall bear to the fold their udders distended with milk: nor shall the berds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent shall die, and the berb that conceals poison shall die.

And the

Ifaiah, ch. xi. ver. 16, &c. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them lion shall eat firaw like the ox. And the fucking child shall play on the kole of the afp, and the weaned child shall put bis band on the den of the

cockatrice.

Ver. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, &c.]

The thoughts of Ifaiab, which compose the latter part of the poem, ate wonderfully elevated, and much above those general exclamations of Virgil, which makes the loftiest parts of his Pollie.

Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordo !

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- toto furget gens aurea mundo!

incipient magni procedere menfes !

Afpice, venturo latentur ut omnia fæclo! &c.

The reader need only turn to the passages of Ifaiab, here cited.

14 Ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. lv. ver. 13.

16 Ch. lxv. ver. 25. 17 Ch. lx. ver. 1.

15 Ch. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8.

18 Ch. lx. ver. 4.

In crouding ranks on ev'ry side arise,

Demanding life, impatient for the skies!

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See barbarous 19 nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;

See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,

And heap'd with products of 20 Sabean springs!

For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,

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And feeds of gold in Ophyr's mountains glow,
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day.
No more the rising 2 fun shall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn;
But lost, dissolv'd in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts: the light himself shall shine
Reveal'd and God's eternal day be thine !
The 22 seas shall waste, the skies in smoak decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his saving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Meffiab reigns!

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21 Ch. lx. ver. 20.

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CHAP. XII.

Of the EPISTLE.

HIS species of writing, if we are permitted to lay down rules from the examples of our best poets,. admits of great latitude, and folicits ornament and decoration; yet the poet is still to consider that the true character of the Epistle is ease and elegance; nothing therefore should be forced or unnatural, laboured, or affected, but every part of the composition breathe an easy, polite, and unconstrained freedom.

It is suitable to every subject; for as the Epistle takes place of discourse, and is intended as a sort of diftant conversation, all the affairs of life and researches into nature may be introduced. Those however which are fraught with compliment or condolence, that contain a description of places, or are full of pertinent remarks, and in a familiar and humourous way describe the manners, vices, and follies of mankind are the best; because they are most suitable to the true character of Epistolary writing, and (business set apart) are the usual subjects upon which our letters are employ'd.

All farther rules and directions are unnecessary, for this kind of writing, is better learned by example and practice, than by precept. We shall therefore in conformity to our plan select a few Epistles for the reader's imitation; which, as this method of writing has of late much prevailed, may be best taken perhaps, from our modern poets.

The following letter from Mr. Addison to lord Halifax, contains an elegant description of the curiosities and places about Rome, together with such reflections on the inestimable blessings of liberty, as must give pleasure to every Englishman, especially when he sees them thus placed in direct opposition to the baneful influences of slavery and oppression which are ever to be seen among the miferable inhabitants of those countries.

A Letter from Italy to the Right Honourable Charles Lord Halifax, in the Year 1701. By Mr. ADDISON.

While you, my lord, the rural shades admire,

And from Britannia's public posts retire,
Nor longer, her ungrateful fons to please,
For their advantage sacrifice your ease;
Me into foreign realms my fate conveys,
Through nations fruitful of immortal lays,
Where the foft season and inviting clime
Conspire to trouble your repose with rhime.

For wheresoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes,
Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise,
Poetic fields incompass me around,
And still I seem to tread on classic ground;
For here the muse so oft her harp has strung,
That not a mountain rears its head unsung,
Renown'd in verse each shady thicket grows,
And ev'ry stream in heav'nly numbers flows.
How am I pleas'd to search the hills and woods
For rifing springs and celebrated floods;

To view the Nar, tumultuous in his course,
And trace the smooth Clitumnus to his source,
To see the Mincio draw his watry store,
Through the long windings of a fruitful shore,
And hoary Albula's infected tide
O'er the warm bed of smoking sulphur glide.

Fir'd with a thousand raptures I survey
Eridanus through flow'ry meadows stray,
The king of floods! that rolling o'er the plains
The tow'ring Alps of half their moisture drains,
And proudly swoln with a whole winter's snows,
Distributes wealth and plenty where he flows.

Sometimes, misguided by the tuneful throng, I look for streams immortaliz'd in fong, That lost in filence and oblivion lie, (Dumb are their fountains and their channels dry) Yet run for ever by the muse's skill, And in the smooth description murmur still. Sometimes to gentle Tiber I retire, And the fam'd river's empty shores admire, That deftitute of strength derives its course From thirsty urns, and an unfruitful source; Yet fung fo often in poetic lays, With scorn the Danube and the Nile surveys; So high the deathless muse exalts her theme! Such was the Boyn, a poor inglorious stream, That in Hibernian vales obfcurely stray'd, And unobserv'd in wild Meanders play'd; Till by your lines and Nassau's sword renown'd; Its rifing billows through the world resound. Where'er the hero's godlike acts can pierce, Or where the fame of an immortal verse.

Oh cou'd the muse my ravish'd breast inspire With warmth like yours, and raise an equal fire, Unnumber'd beauties in my verse should shine, And Virgil's Italy should yield to mine!

See how the golden groves around me smile, That shun the coasts of Britain's stormy isle, Or when transplanted and preserv'd with care, Curse the cold clime, and starve in northern air. Here kindly warinth their mounting juice ferments To nobler tastes, and more exalted scents :

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