Give audience, then, with no unheeding ear.
O hafte, no beedlefs auditors ftand here,
With ftrong defire, in dread fufpenfe we wait,
So great the blessing, and the bane fo great.
Inftant, he rais'd his oratorial hand,
And said (our eye he guided with a wand)
Behold life's pencil'd scene, the natal gate,
The numbers thronging into mortal state..
Which danger's path, and which to fafety bears,
That ancient, Genius of mankind, declares.
See him aloft, benevolent he bends,
One hand is pointing, one a roll extends
Reason's imperial code; by heav'n imprest
In living letters on the human breast.
Oppos'd to him, Delufion plies her part,
With fkin of borrow'd fnow, and blush of art,
With hypocritic fawn, and eyes askance
Whence foft infection steals in every glance,
Her faithlefs hand presents a crystal bowl,
Whofe pois'nous draught intoxicates the foul.
Error and ignorance infus'd, compofe
The fatal beverage which her fraud bestows.
Is that the hard condition of our birth?
Muft all drink Error who appear on earth?
All; yet in fome their measure drowns the mind,
Others but tafte, lefs erring and lefs blind.
e Th' Opinions, and Defires, and Pleasures rife
Behind the gate, thick-glitt'ring on our eyes;
Thick as bright atoms in the folar ray,
Diverse their drap'ry and profufely gay.
These tempting forms, each like a mistress drest,
Our early steps with powerful charms arreft;
Soon as we enter life, with various art
Of dalliance they affail th' unguarded heart,
All promise joy, we rush to their embrace;
To blifs or ruin here begins our race.
Happy, thrice happy, who intruft their youth,
To right Opinions, and afcend to Truth:
Whom Wisdom tutors, whom the Virtues hail,
And with their own fubftantial feast regale.
The rest are harlots: by their flatt'ries won,
In chace of empty sciences we run :
Or Fortune's vanities purfue, and stray
With fenfual Pleafure in more dang'rous way.
See the mad rounds their giddy followers tread,
Delufion's cup ftrong-working in their head.
Faft as one fhoal of fools have delug'd thro',
Succeeding fhoals the bufy farce renew.
Who on that globe ftands ftretching to her flight?
Wild feems her afpect, and bereav'd of fight.
Fortune, blind, frantic, deaf. With reftlefs wings
The world the ranges, and her favours flings:
The firft court, or the fenfual life.
Flings and refumes, and plunders and bestows,
Caprice divide the bleffings and the woes.
Her grace unstable as her tott'ring ball,
Whene'er fhe fmiles fhe meditates our fall.
When most we truft her, we are cheated moft,
Some, in the act of wildeft rapture, leap,
In agony fome wring their hands, and weep.
Th' unreas'ning crowd; to paffion's fequel blind,
By paffion fir'd and impotent of mind;
Competitors in clamorous fuit, to share
The toys fhe toffes with regardless air;
Trifles, for folid worth by moft pursu'd,
Bright-colour'd vapours and fantastic good:
The pageantry of wealth, the blaze of fame,
Titles, an offspring to extend the name,
Huge ftrength, or beauty which the ftrong obey,
The victor's laurel, and defpotic sway.
These, humour'd in their vows, with lavish praise
The glory of the gracious goddess raise :
Those other, lofers in her chance-full game,
Shorn of their all, or frustrate in their aim,
In murmurs of their hard mishap complain,
And curfe her partial and malignant reign.
Now, further ftill in this low fenfual ground, Traverse yon flow'ry mount's sequester'd bound, In the green centre of those citron fhades,
Mong gardens, fountains, bow'ry walks, and glades, 140 Voluptuous Sin her pow'rful spells employs,
Souls to feduce, feducing the deftroys.
See! Lewdness, loosely zon'd, her bofom bares,
See! Riot her luxurious bowl
There stands Avidity, with ardent eye,
There dimpling Adulation fmooths her lye,
There ftation'd to what end?
Fortune's infatuate favourites of a day.
These they caress, they flatter, they entreat
To try the pleasures of their soft retreat,
Life difencumber'd, frolickfom, and free,
All eafe, all mirth, and high felicity.
Whome'er by their inveigling arts they win
To tread that magic paradise of Sin,
In airy dance his jocund hours fkim round,
Sparkles the bowl, the feftal fongs refound:
His blood ferments, fir'd by the wanton glance,
And his loofe foul diffolves in am'rous trance.
While circulating joys to joys fucceed,
While new delights the sweet delirium feed ;
The prodigal, in raptur'd fancy, roves
O'er fairy fields and thro' Elyfian groves :
Sees glitt'ring vifions in fucceffion rife,
And laughs at Socrates the chafte and wife.
"Till, fober'd by diftrefs, awake, confus'd,
Amaz’d, he knows himself a wretch abus'd ;
A fhort illufion his imagin'd feast,
Himself the game, himself the slaughter'd beaft.
Now, raving for his fquander'd wealth in vain,
Slave to those tyrant jilts he drags their chain :
Compell'd to fuffer hard and hungry need,
Compell'd to dare each foul and defp'rate deed.
Villain, or knave, he joins the fharping tribe,
Robs altars, or is perjur'd for a bribe:
Stabs for a purfe, his country pawns for gold,
Το every crime of blackest horror fold.
Shiftlefs at length, of all refource bereft,
In the dire gripe of Punishment he's left.
Obferve this ftrait-mouth'd cave: th' unwilling light Just fhews the dismal deep descent to night.
In centry fee these haggard crones, whofe brows
Rude locks o'erhang, a frown their forehead plows:
Swarthy and foul their shrivell'd skin behold,
And flutt'ring fhreds their vile defence from cold.
High-brandishing her lafh, with ftern regard,
Stands Punishment, an ever-waking ward;
While fullen Melancholy mopes behind,
Fix'd, with her head upon her knees inclin❜d:
And, frantic with remorfeful fury, there
Fierce Anguish ftamps, and rends her fhaggy hair.
|