Classic Poem

I.

While beauty and pleasure are now in their prime,
And folly and fashion expect our whole time,
Ah! let not those phantoms our wishes engage;
Let us live so in youth, that we blush not in age.

II.

Though the vain and the gay may allure us a while,
Yet let not their flatt'ry our prudence beguile;
Let us covet those charms that will never decay,
Nor listen to all that deceivers can say.

III.

" How the tints of the rose and the jasmine's perfume!
" The eglantine's fragrance, the lilac's gay bloom,
" Though fair and though fragrant unheeded may lie
" For that neither is sweet when Florella is by. "

IV.

I sigh not for beauty, nor languish for wealth,
But grant me, kind Providence, virtue and health;
Then, richer than kings, and as happy as they,
My days shall pass sweetly and swiftly away.

V.

When age shall steal on me, and youth is no more,
And the moralist Time shakes his glass at my door,
What charm in lost beauty or wealth should I find?
My treasure, my wealth, is a sweet peace of mind.

VI.

That peace I'll preserve then, as pure as was given,
And taste in my bosom an earnest of heaven;
Thus virtue and wisdom can warm the cold scene,
And sixty may flourish as gay as sixteen.

VII.

And when long I the burden of life shall have borne,
And death with his sickle shall cut the ripe corn,
Resign'd to my fate, without murmur or sigh,
I'll bless the kind summons, and he down and die.

Eu. Thus sweetly pass the hours of rural ease!
Here life is bliss, and pleasures truly please!
Par. With joy we view the dangers we have past,
Assur'd we've found felicity at last.
Flo. Esteem none happy by their outward air;
All have their portion of allotted care.
Though wisdom wears the semblance of content,
When the full heart with agony is rent,
Secludes its anguish from the public view,
And by secluding learns to conquer too:
Denied the fond indulgence to complain,
The aching heart its peace may best regain.
By love directed, and in mercy meant,
Are trials suffer'd and afflictions sent;
To stem impetuous passion's furious tide,
To curb the insolence of prosp'rous pride,
To wean from earth; and bid our wishes soar
To that blest china where pain shall be no more;
Where wearied virtue shall for refuge fly,
And ev'ry tear be wip'd from ev'ry eye.
Cle. List'ning to you, my heart can never cease
To rev'rence virtue, and to sigh for peace.
Flo. Know, e'en Urania, that accomplish'd fair,
Whose goodness makes her Heav'n's peculiar care,
Though burn to all that affluence can bestow,
Has felt the deep reverse of human wo;
Yet meek in grief, and patient in distress,
She knew the hand that wounds has pow'r to bless.
Grateful she bows, for what is left her still,
To Him whose love dispenses good and ill;
To Him who, while his bounty thousands fed,
Had not himself a piece to lay his bend;
To Him who, that he might our wealth insure,
Though rich himself, consented to be poor.
Taught by his precepts, by his practice taught,
Her will submitted, and resign'd her thought,
Through faith, she looks beyond this dark abode
To scenes of glory near the throne of God.

Ur. Since, gentle nymphs, my friendship to obtain,
You've sought with eager step this peaceful plain,
My honest counsel with attention hear,
Though plain, well meant, imperfect, yet sincere;
What from maturer years alone I've known,
What time has taught me, and experience shown;
No polish'd phrase my artless speech will grace,
But unaffected candour fill its place:
My lips shall flatt'ry's smooth deceit refuse;
And truth be all the eloquence I'll use.
Know then, that life's chief happiness and we,
From good or evil education flow;
And hence our future dispositions rise;
The vice we practise, or the good we prize.
When pliant nature nay form receives,
That precept teaches, or example gives,
The yielding mind with virtue should be graced,
For first impressions seldom are effaced.
Then holy habits, then chastis'd desires,
Should regulate disorder'd nature's fires.
If ignorance then her iron sway maintain,
If prejudice preside, or passion reign,
If vanity preserve her native sway,
If selfish tempers cloud the op'ning day,
If no kind hand impetuous pride restrain,
But for the wholesome curb we give the rein;
The erring principle is rooted fast
And fix'd the habit that through life may last.
Pas. With heartfelt penitence we now deplore
Those squander'd hours, that time can ne'er restore.
Ur. Euphelia sighs for flattery, dress, and show:
Too common sources these of female wo!
In beauty's sphere pre-eminence to find,
She slights the culture of th' immortal mind:
I would not rail at beauty's charming pow'r,
I would but have her aim at something more;
The fulrest symmetry of form or face,
From intellect receives its highest grace:
The brightest eyes ne'er dart such piercing fires
As when a soul irradiates and inspires.
Beauty, with reason needs not quite dispense,
And corn! lips may sure speak common sense;
Beauty makes virtue lovelier still appear;
Virtue makes beauty more divinely fair!
Confirms its conquest o'er the willing mind,
And those your beauties gain, your virtues bind.
Yet would ambition's fire your bosom fill,
Its flame repress not — be ambitious still;
Let nobler views your best attention claim,
The object chang'd, the energy the same:
Those very passions which our hearts invade,
If rightly pointed, blessings may be made.
Indulge the true ambition to excel
In that best art — the art of living well.
But first extirpate from your youthful breast
That rankling torment which destroys your rest:
All other faults may take a higher aim,
But hopeless envy must be still the same.
Some other passions may he turn'd to good,
But envy must subdue, or be subdued.
This fatal gangrene to our moral life,
Rejects all palliatives, and asks the knife;
Excision spared, it taints, the vital part,
And spreads its deadly venom to the heart.
Eu. Unhappy those to bliss who seek the way
In pow'r superior, or in splendour gay!
Inform'd by thee, no more vain man shall find
The charm of flattery taint Euphelia's mind:
By thee instructed, still my views shall rise,
Nor stop at any mark beneath the skies.
Ur. In fair Laurinda's uninstructed mind,
The want of culture, not of sense, we find.
Whene'er you sought the good, or shunn'd the ill,
'Twas more from temper than from principle:
Your random life to no just rules reduced,
'Twas chance the virtue or the vice produced.
The casual goodness Impulse has to boast,
Like morning daws, or transient showers, is lost;
While heav'n-taught virtue pours her constant tide,
Like streams by living fountains still supplied.
Be wisdom still, though late, your earnest earn,
Nor waste the precious hours in vain despair:
Associate with the good, attend the sage,
And meekly listen to experienced age,
What, if acquirements you have fail'd to gain,
Such as the wise may want, the had attain;
Yet still Religion's sacred treasures lie
Inviting, open, plain to ev'ry eye;
For ev'ry age, for ev'ry genius fit,
Nor limited to science nor to wit;
Not bound by taste, to genius not confin'd,
But all may learn the truths for all design'd.
Though low the talents, and th' acquirements small,
The gift of grace divine is free to all;
She calls, solicits, courts you to be blest,
And points to mansions of eternal rest.
And when, advanced in years, matur'd in sense,
Think not with farther care you may dispense;
'Tis fatal to the interests of the soul
To stop the race before we've reach'd the goal;
For nought our higher progress can preclude
So much as thinking we're already good.
The human heart ne'er knows a state of rest;
Bad leads to worse, and better tends to best.
We either gain or lose, we sink or rise,
Nor rests our struggling nature till she dies;
Then place the standard of perfection high;
Pursue and grasp it, e'en beyond the sky.
Lau. Oh, that important Time could back return
Those mis-spent hours whose loss I deeply mourn!
Accept, just Heav'n, my penitence sincere,
My heartfelt anguish, and my fervent pray'r.
Ura. I pity Pastorella's hapless fate,
By nature gentle, generous, mild, and great:
One false propension all her powers confin'd,
And chain'd her finer faculties of mind;
Yet ev'ry virtue might have flourish'd there
With early culture and maternal care.
If good we plant not, vice will fill the place,
And rankest weeds the richest soils deface.
Learn how ungovern'd thoughts the mind pervert,
And to disease all nourishment convert.
Ah! happy she, whose wisdom learns to find
A healthful fancy, and a well-train'd mind!
A sick man's wildest dreams lass wild are found
Than the day-visions of a mind unsound.
Disorder'd phantasics indulg'd too much,
Like harpies, always taint whate'er they touch.
Fly soothing solitude! fly vain desire!
Fly such soft verse as fans the dangerous fire!
Seek action; 'tis the scene which virtue loves:
The vig'rous sun not only shines, but moves.
From sickly thoughts with quick abhorrence start,
And rule the fancy if you'd rule the heart:
By active goodness, by laborious schemes,
Subdue wild visions and delusive dreams,
No earthly good a Christian's views should bound,
For ever rising should his aims be found.
Leave that fictitious good your fancy feigns
For scenes where real bliss eternal reigns;
Look to that region of immortal joys,
Where fear disturbs not, nor possession cloys;
Beyond what fancy forms of rosy how'rs,
Or blooming chaplets of unfading flow'rs;
Fairer than e'er imagination drew,
Or poet's warmest visions ever knew.
Press anger onward to those blissful plains
Where life eternal, joy perpetual reigns.
Pas. I mourn the errors of my thoughtless youth
And long, with thee, to trend the paths of truth.
Ura. Learning is all the bright Cleora's aim;
She seeks the loftiest pinnacle of fame;
On interdicted ground presumes to stand,
And grasps at science with a vent'rous hand:
The privilege of man she dares invade,
And tears the chaplet from his, inural'd head.
Why found her merit on a foreign claim?
Why lose a substance, to acquire a name?
Let the proud sex possess their vaunted pow'rs;
Be other triumphs, other glories, ours!
The gentler charms which wait on female life,
Which grace the daughter and adorn the wife,
Be these our boast! yet these may well admit
Of various knowledge, and of blameless wit:
Of sense, resulting from a nurtur'd mind,
Of polish'd converse, and of taste refin'd:
Of that quick intuition of the best,
Which feels the graceful, and rejects the rest:
Which finds the right by shorter ways than rules:
An art which nature teaches — not the schools,
Thus conq'ring Sevigne the heart obtains,
While Dacier only admiration gains.
Know, fair aspirer, could you even hope
To speak like Stonhouse, or to write like Pope,
To all the wonders of the poet's lyre,
Join all that taste can add, or wit inspire,
With ev'ry various pow'r of learning fraught,
The flow of style, and the sublime of thought;
Yet, if the milder graces of the mind,
Graces peculiar to the sex design'd,
Good-nature, patience, sweetness void of art;
If these embellish'd not your virgin heart,
You might be dazzling, but not truly bright;
Might glare, but not emit a useful light;
A meteor, not a star, you would appear;
For woman shines but in her proper sphere.
Accomplishments by heav'n were sure design'd
Less to adorn than to amend the mind;
Each should contribute to this gen'ral end,
And all to virtue, as their centre, tend.
Th' acquirements which our best esteem invite,
Should not project, but soften, mix, unite;
In glaring light not strongly he display'd,
But sweetly lost, and melted into shade.
Cleo. Confus'd with shame, to thy reproofs I bend,
Thou best adviser, and thou truest friend!
From thee I'll learn to judge and act aright,
Humility with knowledge to unite:
The finish'd character must both combine,
The perfect woman must in either shine.
Ur. Florella shines adorn'd with every grace,
Her heart all virtue, as all charms her face:
Above the wretched, and below the great,
Kind heav'n has fix'd her in a middle state;
The demon fashion never warp'd her soul,
Her passions move at piety's control:
Her eyes the movements of her heart declare,
For what she dares to he, she dares appear;
Unlectur'd in dissimulation's school,
To smile by precept, and to blush by rule:
Her thoughts ingenuous, ever open lie,
Nor shrink from close inspection's keenest eye;
No dark disguise about her heart is thrown;
'Tis virtue's interest fully to be known;
Her nat'ral sweetness ev'ry heart obtains;
What art and affectation miss, she gains.
She smooths the path of my declining years,
Augments my comforts, and divides my cares.
Pas. O sacred friendship! O exalted state!
The choicest bounty of indulgent fate!
Ur. Let woman then her real good discern,
And her true interests of Urania learn:
As some fair violet, loveliest of the glade,
Sheds its mild fragrance on the lonely shade,
Withdraws its modest head from public sight,
Nor courts the sun, nor seeks the glare of light;
Should some rude hand profanely dare intrude,
And bear its beauties from its native wood,
Exposed abroad its languid colours fly,
Its form decays, and all its adours die;
So woman, born to dignify retreat,
Unknown to flourish, and unseen he great,
To give domestic life its sweetest charm,
With softness polish, and with virtue warm,
Fearful of fame, unwilling to be known,
Should seak but Heaven's applauses, and her own;
Hers be the task to seek the lonely cell
Where modest want and silent anguish dwell;
Raise the weak head, sustain the feeble knees,
Cheer the cold heart, and chase the dire disease.
The splendid deeds, which only seek a name,
Are paid their just reward in present fame;
But know, the awful, all-disclosing day,
The long arrear of secret worth shall pay;
Applauding saints shall hear with fond regard,
And He, who witness'd here, shall there reward.
En. With added grace she pleads religion's cause,
Who from her life her virtuous lesson draws.
Ur. In vain, ye fair, from place to place you roam,
For that true pence which must be found at home:
Nor change of fortune, nor of scene can give
The bliss you seek, which in the soul must live.
Then look no more abroad, in your own breast
Seak the true seat of happiness and rest.
Nor small, my friends! the vigilance I ask;
Watch well yourselves , this is the Christian's task.
The cherish'd sin by each must be assail'd,
New efforts added, where the past have fall'd:
The darling error check'd, the will subdued,
The heart by penitence and prayer renew'd.
Nor hope for perfect happiness below;
Celestial plants on earth reluctant grow:
He who our frail mortality did bear,
Though free from sin, was not exempt from care,
Cle. Let's join to bless that Power who brought us here,
Adore his goodness, and his will revere;
Assur'd, that pence exists but in the mind,
And piety alone that peace can find.
Ur. In its true light this transient life regard
This is a state of trial, not reward.
Though rough the passage, peaceful is the port,
The bliss is perfect, the probation short.
Of human wit beware the fatal pride;
A useful follower, but a dang'rous guide:
On holy faith's aspiring pinions rise;
Assert your birthright, and assume the skies.
Fountain of Being! teach us to devote
To Thee each purpose, action, word, and thought!
Thy grace our hope, thy love our only boast,
Be all distinctions in the Christian lost!
Be this in ev'ry state our wish alone,
Almighty, Wise, and Good, Thy will be done!