PIECES IN POETRY.

CHAPTER I.

SELECT SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS.

SECTION I.

SHORT AND EASY SENTENCES.

Education.

'Tis education forms the common mind;
Juft as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd.
Candour.

With pleasure let us own our errors paft;
And make each day a critic on the laft.

Reflection.

A foul without reflection, like a pile
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.

Secret Virtue.

The private path, the fecret acts of men,
If noble, far the nobleft of their lives.

Necessary knowledge easily attained.

Our needful knowledge, like our needful food,
Unhedg'd, lies open in life's common field;
And bids all welcome to the vital feast.

Disappointment.

Disappointment lurks in many a prize,

As bees in flow'rs; and ftings us with fuccefs.

NOTE.

In the first chapter, the Compiler has exhibited a considerable varie. ty of poetical construction, for the young reader's preparatory exercise.

Virtuous elevation.

The mind that would be happy, muft be great ;.
Great in its wifhes; great in its furveys.
Extended views a narrow mind extend.

Natural and fanciful life..

Who lives to nature, rarely can be pure:
Who lives to fancy, never can be rich.

Charity.

In faith and hope the world will disagree;
But all mankind's concern is charity.

The prize of virtue.
What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy,
The foul's calm funshine, and the heart felt joy,
Is virtue's prize.

Sense and modesty connected.
Diftruftful fenfe with modeft caution fpeaks;
It ftill looks home, and fhort excurfions makes;
But rattling nonfenfe in full volleys breaks. *

Moral Discipline salutary.

Heav'n gives us friends to blefs the prefent fcene;
Refumes them to prepare us for the next.
All evils natural are moral goods;

All difcipline, indulgence, on the whole.

Present blessings undervalued.

Like birds, whose beauties, languish, half conceal'd,
Till, mounted on the wing, their gloffy plumes
Expanded shine with azure, green, and gold,
How bleffings brighten as they take their flight!

Hope.

Hope, of all paffions moft befriends us here;
Paffions of prouder name befriend us lefs.
Joy has her tears, and transport has her death;
Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though ftrong,
Man's heart, at once, infpirits and ferenes.

Happiness modest and tranquil.

-Never man was truly bleft,

But it compos'd, and gave him such a cast

As folly might mistake for want of joy :

A caft unlike the triumph of the proud;
A modest aspect, and a smile at heart.
True greatness.

Who noble ends by noble means obtains,
Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains,
Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed
Like Socrates, that man is great indeed.
The tear of fympathy.

No radiant pearl, which crefted fortune wears,
No gem that twinkling hangs from beauty's ears,
Nor the bright stars, which night's blue arch adorn,
Nor rifing funs that gild the vernal morn,

Shine with fuch luftre, as the tear that bres,
For others' wo, down Virtue's manly cheeks.

SECTION II.

VERSES IN WHICH THE LINES ARE OF DIFFERENT LENGTH.

Bliss of celestial origin

RESTLESS mortals toil for nought;

Blifs in vain from earth is fought;

Blifs, a native of the sky,

Never wanders. Mortals, try;

There you cannot feek in vain ;

For to feek her is to gain..

The Passions.

;

The paffions are a numerous croud,
Imperious, pofitive, and loud.
Curb thefe licentious fons of ftrife
Hence chiefly rife the ftorms of life:
If they grow mutinous, and rave,
They are thy mafters, thou their flave.

Trust in Providence recommended.

'Tis Providence alone fecures,

In ev'ry change, both mine and yours.
Safety confifts not in efcape

From dangers of a frightful fhape :
An earthquake may be bid to fpare
The man that's ftrangled by a hair.

Fate fteals along with filent tread,
Found oft'neft in what least we dread;
Frowns in the ftorm with angry brow,

But in the funfhine ftrikes the blow.

Epitaph.

How lov'd, how valu'd once, avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot :
A heap of duft alone remains of thee;
'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.
Fame.

All fame is foreign, but of true defert ;

Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
One felf-approving hour whole years outweighs
Of stupid ftarers and of loud huzzas ;
And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels,
Than Cæfar with a fenate at his heels.

Virtue the guardian of youth. Down the smooth stream of life the ftrippling darts, Gay as the morn; bright glows the vernal sky, Hope fwells his fails, and paffions fteers his course. Safe glides his little bark along the shore, Where virtue takes her ftand: but if too far He launches forth beyond difcretion's mark, Sudden the tempeft fcowls, the furges roar, Blot his fair day, and plunge him in the deep.

Sunrise.

But yonder comes the pow'rful king of day,
Rejoicing in the east. The lefs'ning cloud,
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow,
Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach
Betoken glad. Lo, now, apparent all
Aflant the dew-bright earth, and colour'd air,
He looks in boundlefs majefty abroad;

And sheds the fhining day, that burnished plays
On rocks, and hills, and tow'rs, and wand'ring streams
High gleaming from afar.

Self-Government.

May I govern my paffions with abfolute fway;
And grow wifer and better as life wears away.

Shepherd.

On a mountain ftretch'd beneath a hoary willow,

Lay a fhepherd fwain, and view'd the rolling billow.

SECTION III.

VERSES CONTAINING EXCLAMATIONS, INTERROGATIONS, AND PARENTHESIS.

Competence.

A COMPETENCE is all we can enjoy :

Oh! be content, where Heav'n can give no more!
Reflection essential to happiness.

Much joy not only speaks fmall happiness,
But happiness that fhortly must expire.
Can joy unbottom'd in reflection ftand?
And, in a tempeft, can reflection live?

Friendship.

Can gold gain friendship? Impudence of hope!
As well mere man an angel might beget.
Love, and love only, is the loan for love:
Lorenzo! pride reprefs; nor hope to find
A friend, but what has found a friend in thee,
All like the purchase; few the price will pay :
And this makes friends fuch miracles below.

Patience.

Beware of defp'rate steps. The darkest day (Live till tomorrow) will have pafs'd away.

Luxury.
O luxury!

Bane of elated life, of affluent states,

What dreary change, what ruin is not thine!
How doth thy bowl intoxicate the mind!
To the foft entrance of thy rofy cave,
How doft thou lure the fortunate and great!
Dreadful attraction!

Virtuous activity.

Seize mortals! feize the tranfient hour;

Improve each moment as it flies:

Life's a fhort fummer-man a flower;
He dies-Alas! how foon he dies!