Her winning voice the youth attentive caught: He gaz'd impatient on the fmiling maid;

Still gaz d, and liften'd: then her name be-
1 fought:

"My name, fair youth, is Happiness, she said.
Well can my friends this envy'd truth main-
tain:

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They fhare my blifs; they beft can speak my praise:

Tho' flander call me floth · Detraction vain! „Heed not what flander, vain detracter, fays: „Slander, ftill prompt true merit to defame; To blot the brightest worth, and blaft the fairest name."

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XI.

By this arriv'd the fair majestic maid: (She all the while, with the fame modeft pace, Compos'd advanc'd) ,,Know, Hercules, fhe faid With manly tone," thy birth of heav'nly race; ,,Thy tender age that lov'd inftruction's voice, "Promis'd the generous, patient, brave and wife, When manhood fhould confirm thy glorious choice.

"Now expectation waits to fee thee rife.

,,Rife, youth! Exalt thyfelf, and me: approve "Thy high defcent from heav'n; and dare be wor

thy Jove,

XII.

„But what truth promts, my tongue shall not difguife;

The steep afcent must be with toil fubdu'd:
Watchings and cares muft win the lofty prize
Propos'd by heav'n; true blifs, and real good.
Honour rewards the brave and bold alone;

"She

,,She fpurns the timorous, indolent, and base:
„Danger and toil ftand ftern before her throne;
And guard (fo Jove commands,) the facred place,
Who feeks her, muft the mighty cost suftain,
And pay the price of fame; labour, and care, and

pain.

,, Wou'dft thou engage the gods peculiar care? "O Hercules, th' immortal powers adore!

,

With a pure heart, with facrifice and pray'r Attend their altars; and their aid implore.

„Or wou'dft thou gain thy country's loud applaufe,

"Lov'd as her father, as her god ador'd?

„Be thou the bold affertor of her caufe; „Her voice, in council; in the fight, her fword. „In peace, in war, purfue thy country's good! For her bare thy bold breaft, and pour thy generous blood.

"

XIV.

Wou'dft thou, to quell the proud and lift th' op-
preft,

In arts of war and matchless strength excel?
,, Firft conquer thou thyfelf. To eafe, to reft,
To each foft thought of pleasure, bid farewel.

"

The night alternate, due to fweet repose,

"In watches wafte; in painful march, the day:

,, Congeald, amidst the rigorous winter's fnows; ,,Scorch'd, by the fummer's thirft in flaming ray.

„Thy harden'd limbs fhall boaft fuperior might: "Vigour fhall brace thine arm, refiftlefs in the fight.

XV.

"Hear'ft thou, what monfters then thou must en

Dr. Lowth.

"

Dr. Lowth. What dangers, gentle youth, fhe bid's thee prove? (Abrupt fays floth),,ill fit thy tender age „Tumult and wars: fit age, for joy and love.

Turn, gentle youth, to me, to love and joy! To thefe I lead: no monsters here shall stay Thine easy course; no cares thy peace annoy: „I lead to bliss a nearer, fmoother way.

"

Short is my way: fair, easy, smooth, and plain: „Turn, gentle youth! With me eternal pleafures reign.«

XVI.

"What pleasures, vain mistaken wretch, are thi
ne!

(Virtue with fcorn reply'd:),,Who fleep'ft in ease
„Infenfate; whofe foft limbs the toil decline,
That feafons blifs, and makes enjoyment please.
,,Draining the copious bowl, ere thirst require;
Feafting, ere hunger to the feast invite:
"Whofe tafslefs joys anticipate defire;
Whom luxury fupplies with appetite.

Yet Nature loaths; and you employ in vain
Variety and art to conquer her disdain.

XVII.

The fparkling nectar, cool'd with, fummer
fnows;

The dainty board, with choiceft viands spread,
To thee are taftelefs all! Sincere repofe
Flies from thy flow'ry couch and downy bed.
„For thou art only tir'd with indolence:

Nor is thy fleep with toil and labour bought;

Th' imperfect fleep that lulls thy languid sense „In dull oblivious interval of thought:

That kindly fteals th' inactive hours away From the long, ling'ring space, that lengthens out the day.

XVIII.

From bounteous nature's unexhaufted ftores Flos the pure fountain of fincere delights:

Averfe to her, you waste the joyless hours; Sleep drowns thy days, and riot rules thy nights. Immortal tho' thou art, indignant Jove

Hurl'd thee from heaven, th' immortals blissful place;

„For ever banish'd from the realms above, ,,To dwell on earth, with man's degenerate race: „Fitter abode! On earth alike difgrac'd;

,, Rejected by the wife, and by the fool embrac'd,

XIX.

„Fond wretch, that vainly weeneft all delight To gratify the fense referv'd for thee!

"Yet the most pleafing object to the fight, „Thine own fair action never did'ft thou fee,

Tho' lull'd with fofteft founds thou lieft along: Soft mufic, warbling voices, melting lays; „Ne'er did'st thou hear, more sweet than sweetest

fong

Charming the foul, thou ne'er did't hear thy praife!

"No

to thy revels let the fool repair:

To fuch go fimooth thy fpeech; et spread thy tempting fnare.

XX.

„Vast happiness enjoy thy gay allies! „A youth of follies; an old age of cares:

"9

Young, yet enervate; old, yet never wife; Vice waftes their vigour, and their mind impairs; Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtless ease

Referving woes for age their prime they spend; ,,All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days "With forrow to the verge of live they tend,

Dr. Lowth..

Dr. Lowth..

"

Griev'd with the prefent; of the past asham'd, "They live, and are defpif'd: they die, nor more

are nam'd.

XXI.

,,But with the gods, and godlike men I dwell: Me, his fupreme delight, th' almighty Sire „Regards well pleas'd: whatever works excel, „All or divine or human, I inspire.

"

,, Counsel with ftrength, and induftry with art, „In union meet conjoin'd, with me refide:

„My dictates arm, inftru&t, and mend the heart: The fureft policy, the wifeft guide.

,,With me, true friendfhip dwells: fhe deigns to bind

,,Thofe generous fouls alone, whom I before have join'd.

XXII.

Nor need my friends the various coftly feast; Hunger to them th' effects of art supplies; ,,Labour prepares their weary limbs to reft; „Sweet is their fleep: light, chearful, ftrong they

rife.

,, Thro' health, thro' joy, thro' pleasure and re

nown,

"They tread my paths; and by a foft defcent,
„At length to age all gently finking down,
,,Look back with transport on a life well-fpent:
In which no hour flew unimprov'd away:
In which fome generous deed diftinguifh'd every
day.

30

XXIII.

And when, the deftin'd term at length compleat, Their ashes reft in peace, eternal fame

,,Sounds wide their praife: triumphant over fate In facred fong, for ever lives their name.