In ftudy fome protract the filent hours, The body, fresh and vigorous from repose, In hectic languor; and a flow disease He then points out the reason why those who labour obtain fo much refreshment from fleep, while the indolent hardly find any relief. By toil fubdu'd, the warrior and the hind Feel the fresh impulse and awake the foul. Elunt every fenfe, and pow'rlefs every limb. This paffage he concludes, by recommending a hard matrafs, or elastic couch, to those who are too much prone to fleep, in order to wean them from floth. But he justly obferves, that some people require more, others less sleep, and that all changes of this fort are to be brought about by gentle means. And Slow as the fhadow o'er the dial moves, As it was neceffary under this article to say something about cloathing the body, the author makes a few juft obfervations on the variations of the seasons; which he concludes with these lines. The cold and torrid reigns, And the black fates deform the lovely spring. Glides harmless by; and autumn, fick to death We have already obferved, that allufions to ancient fables or historical facts have a fine effect in preceptive poems. In this before us the author, when confidering the different shapes in which death approaches the human race, takes notice of the blood fpilt by the Plantagenets, and of the sweating fickness, which fwept off fuch amazing numbers of Englishmen in every clime, and of Englishmen only; for foreigners, tho' refiding in this country, were no ways affected with that disorder: and this, tho' a fubject incapable, as it were, of ornament, he has wrought up with so much art, that it is both pathetic and pleafing. What he has faid on the paffions, the fubject of the fourth book, begins with the following reflection, which is truly philofophical, and very properly introduces the fentiments that follow it. There is, they say, (and I believe there is) A fpark within us of th' immortal fire, That animates and moulds the groffer frame ; It thrills with pleasure, or grows mad with pain, The body's woes and joys, this ruling power By its own toil the grofs corporeal frame But 'tis not thought, as he obferves, (for every mo. ment the mind is employ'd) 'tis painful thinking; 'tis the anxiety that attends fevere ftudy, difcontent, care, love, hatred, fear and jealoufy, that fatigues the foul and impairs the body. Hence the lean gloom that melancholy wears; Of fore revenge the canker'd body hence For reading he gives us a precept that may be extremely useful to the ftudious. While reading pleases, but no longer, read; The cheft fo exercis'd improves its ftrength; And quick vibrations thro' the bowels drive What posture fuits: To ftand and fit by turns, 'Tis the great art of life to manage well After this the poet gives us a ftriking picture of the dreadful effects of our misguided paffions, which is heightened with many admirable reflections, fome of which I fhall here infert. For while yourself you anxiously explore, And what avails it, that indulgent heaven Of what may fpring from blind misfortune's womb, Serene, and mafter of yourself, prepare For what may come; and leave the reft to heav'n. And those chronic paffions which spring from real woes, and from no diforder in the body, are not to be reafon'd down, as he obferves, but to be cured by fuch diverfions or bufinefs as will fill the mind, or remove it from the object of its concern. Go, foft enthufiaft! quit the cypress groves, Your fad complaint. Go, feek the chearful haunts New to your eyes, and shifting every hour. He then inveighs against drinking, the common refource in diforders of this kind, and obferves, that, tho' the intoxicating draught may relieve for a time; the pains will return with ten-fold rage. And this he illustrates with a beautiful fimile. But foon your heav'n is gone, a heavier gloom So, when the frantic raptures in your breast You lavish'd more than might fupport three days. He then points out the mischiefs that attend drunkennefs; fuch as lofing friends by unguarded words, or doing rafh deeds that are never to be forgotten (but which may haunt a man with horror to his grave) the lofs of money, health and decay of parts; and then pays a grateful filial tribute to the memory of his father; whose advice on the conduct of life he thus recommends. How to live happiest; how avoid the pains, |