By the strong strokes of lab'ring hinds subdū'd,
Loud groans her last, and rushing from her height,
In cumb'rous ruin, thunders to the ground:

The conscious forest trembles at the shock,

5 And hill, and stream, and distant dale resound.*

Young. 8. Genius and art, ambition's boasted wings, Our boast but ill deserve.

If these alone

Assist our flight, fame's flight is glory's fall.
10 Heart-merit wanting, mount we ne'er so high,
Our height is but the gibbet of our name.
A celebrated wretch when I behold,
When I behold a genius bright, and base,
Of tow'ring talents, and terrestrial aíms;

15 Methinks I see,, as thrown from her high sphere,
The glorious fragments of a soul immortal,
With rubbish mixt, and glittering in the dust.
Struck at the splendid, melancholy sight,
At once compassion soft, and envy rise-
20 But wherefore envy? Talents angel-bright,
If wanting worth, are shining instruments
In false ambition's hand, to finish faults
Illustrious, and give infamy renown.

Great ill is an achievement of great pow'rs.

25 Plain sense but rarely leads us far astray.
Means have no merit, if our end amiss.
Hearts are proprietors of all applausė.

Right ends, and means, make wisdom: Worldly-wise
Is but half-witted, at its highest praise.

*In all the following Exercises, the sign of transition and other marks of modulation are occasionally used.

Let genius then despair to make thee great;
Nor flatter stàtion: What is station high?
'Tis a proud mendicant'; it boasts and begs;
It begs an alms of homage from the throng,
5 And oft the throng denies its charity.

Monarchs and ministers, are awful names;
Whoever wear them, challenge our devoir.
Religion, public order, both exact
External homage, and a supple knee,
10 To beings pompously set up, to serve
The meanest slave; all more is merit's due,
Her sacred and inviolable right,

Nor ever paid the monarch, but the màn.
Our hearts ne'er bow but to superior worth;
15 Nor ever fail of their allegiance there.
Fools, indeed, drop the man in their account,
And vote the mantle into majesty.

Let the small savage boast his silver fur;
His royal robe unborrow'd and unbought,
20 His own, desending fairly from his sires.
Shall man be proud to wear his livery,
And souls in ermine scorn a soul without?
Can place or lessen us, or aggrandize ?

Pygmies are pygmies stíll, though perch'd on 'Alps;

25 And pyramids are pyramids in vales.

Each man makes his own stature, builds himself;
Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids :

Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall.
-Thy bosom burns for pow'r;

30 What station charms thee? I'll install thee there ;

"Tis thine. And art thou greater than before?
Then thou before wast something less than man.

Has thy new post betray'd thee into pride?
That treach'rous pride betrays thy dignity;
That pride defames humanity, and calls

The being mean, which staffs or strings can raise.
5 High worth is elevated place: "Tis mòre;
It makes the post stand candidate for thee;
Makes more than monarchs, makes an honest màn;
Though no exchequer it commands,, 'tis wealth;
And though it wears no ríbband, 'tis renown;
10 Renown, that would not quit thee, though disgràc'd,
Nor leave thee pendant on a master's smile.
Other ambition nature interdicts;

Nature proclaims it most absurd in man,.
By pointing at his origin, and end; -

15 Milk, and a swathe, at first his whole demand ;
His whole domain, at last, a turf, or stone;

To whom, between, a world may seem too small.

Young.

9. Nothing can make it less than mad in man To put forth all his ardour, all his art, 20 And give his soul her full unbounded flight, But reaching Him, who gave her wings to fly. When blind ambition quite mistakes her road, And downward pores, for that which shines above, Substantial happiness, and true renown;

25 Then, like an idiot, gazing on the brook,

We leap at stars, and fasten in the mud;

At glory grasp, and sink in infamy.

Ambition! pow'rful source of good and ill! Thy strength in man, like length of wing in birds, 30 When disengag'd from earth, with greater ease

And swifter flight transports us to the skies;
By toys entangled, or in guilt bemir'd,

It turns a curse; it is our chain, and scourge,
In this dark dungeon, where confin'd we lie,
5 Close grated by the sordid bars of sense;
All prospect of eternity shut out;
And, but for execution, ne'er set free.

In spite of all the truths the muse has sung, Ne'er to be priz'd enough! enough revolv'd! 10 Are there who wrap the world so close about them, They see no farther than the clouds? and dance On heedless vanity's fantastic toe?

Till, stumbling at a straw, in their career,

Headlong they plunge, where end both dance and

song.

15 Are there on earth,--(let me not call them men,) Who lodge a soul immortal in their breasts; Unconscious as the mountain of its ore;

Or rock, of its inestimable gem ?

When rocks shall melt, and mountains vanish, these 20 Shall know their treasure; treasure, then, no more. Are there, (still more amazing!) who resist

The rising thought? Who smother, in its birth, The glorious truth? Who struggle to be brutes? Who through this bosom-barrier burst their way, 25 And, with revers'd ambition, strive to sink? Who labour downwards through th' opposing pow'r Of instinct, reason, and the world against them, To dismal hopes, and shelter in the shock. Of endless night? night darker than the grave's! 30 Who fight the proofs of immortality?

With horrid zeal, and execrable arts,
Work all their energies, level their black fires,
To blot from man this attribute divine,

(Than vital blood far dearer to the wise)

5 Blasphemers, and rank atheists to themselves?

Young.

10. Look nature through, 'tis revolution all: All change; no death. Day follows night; and night The dying day; stars rise, and set, and rise;

Earth takes th' example. See, the Summer gay,

10 With her green chaplet, and

Droops into pallid Autumn

ambrosial flowers,
Winter grey,

Horrid with frost, and turbulent with storm,

Blows Autumn, and his golden fruits, away;Then melts into the Spring: Soft Spring, with breath 15 Favonian, from warm chambers of the south, Recalls the first. All, to re-flourish, fades; As in a wheel, all sínks, to re-ascend. Emblems of man, who passes, not expires.

Look down on earth.--What seest thou? Wondrous things!

20 Terrestrial wonders, that eclipse the skies.

What lengths of labour'd lands! what loaded seas!
Loaded by man, for pleasure, wealth, or war!
Seas, winds, and planets, into service brought,
His art acknowledge, and promote his ends.
25 Nor can the eternal rocks his will withstand :

What levell'd mountains! and what lifted vales!
O'er vales and mountains, sumptuous cities swell,
And gild our landscape with their glitt'ring spires.
Some 'mid the wond'ring waves majestic rise;