wear; Far from the rank that elevates mankind, To fhow their eyes the good they left behind: As from the Alps, the trav'ller, tott'ring flow, Bends o'er his native fields that smile below; And, while the ftorm oft pauses o'er the plain, Afks back his cottage and his crook in vain! He cares not where Ambition's maniacs rave; No royal flatt'rer, and no titled flave; But fpurns behind him, as to light he fprings, The pomp of courtiers and the pride of kings. "Nor finks his manly foul to ruder joys, That love the vulgar, vanity and noise. Ye fceptred Neros, pageants of an hour, Whose god is Mammon, and whose idol Pow'r; Say, can your bofoms fmooth Contentment know, With Peace be gentle, or with Virtue glow? Can hot Intemp'rance cool your boiling veins, And yield to Virtue Reason's trampled reins? Can fhrivell'd Av'rice fmooth the brow And yacant Ign'rance ftares among her fools See Difcontent her mutt'ring lips conceal, And loud Contention threat the public weal; See Fith difgufting wallow in her mire, And Noife and Riot light eternal fire! And, ah! let Pity turn her dewy eyes, Whoe gafping Penury unfriended lies; Where wild-ey'd Hunger bows her fainting head, And Sickness fwouons upon her tatter'd Fed!... There no mild hand uprears the drooping form, No meek Benevolence averts the form! Soft-pillow'd Eafe, that flumbers off the day, And haughty Grandeur, turn in fcorn away; Till he, whom Fortune never call'd her own, Sinks in the filent grave, unpitied and unknown." P. 37. VALOUR, AN ODE. "WHEN Valour, fearless maid, was born, She wander'd friendless and forlorn; "Wilmot Earl of Rochefter." "Queen Elizabeth." Till once, in Greece, when firft it rofe war, To throw the lance, and drive the car; 'T was Valour every bosom fir'd, Fill'd high with courage, warm'd, infpir'd, Taught the bold warrior how to die, And bade the vanquifh'd fcorn to fly; Gave to her fav'rite Greece the fway, And bade each circling fhore obey. "Each state its hero then could boaft, The king and guardian of its coaft; And Argos faw her children brave The terrors of the foaming wave: E'en gods were jealous at the fight, And crowded on th' Olympian height; And when the Colchian prize was won, They fnatch'd above each Argive fon. "From ancestors renown'd as these, Who neither fought nor funk to ease, An hardy race of heroes rofe, Alike regardless of repofe; And Perfia's fons beheld the day, When on Platea's plains they lay; And faw, and faw alore to mourn, The laurel from their temples torn. "On Mycale's fea-circled shore, Again they heard the battle roar; Unnerv'd to fight, afraid to die, Again the Perfian turn'd to fly. Then Xerxes rofe, and left behind His millions, but a grave to find; And while the coward monarch fled, Greece rent the turban from his head. "Ah! loft to all her patriot fame, Where now is Græcia's glorious name? "Tis fled;—and Sparta's hardy race Show but a female's languid face. Their bofom now no ardour fires, No courage warms, no zeal infpires; And Valour's felf, to roam no more, Has come to Albion's white-cliff'd fhore!" P. 110. TO TRUTH. "TRUTH, fairest virgin of the sky, With robes of light, and beaming eve, And temples crown'd with day; + "Henry VII.” And O thou of all the cherub choir, per Difpofition of the Heart towards That boaft'ft to wake the sweetest lyre, God.-III. On the moral Character And chant the fofteft lay: By him, who 'midft his country's tears Stood movelefs to a thousand fears, And fmil'd at racks and death; By Perfia's turban'd heroes bold, And all the Spartan chiefs of old, That bow'd thy fhrine beneath; "By holy Virtue's veftal flame, By laurell'd Honour's ftately name, And cheek-bedimpled Love; O lift from thy majestic head The veil that o'er its treffes spread, Doubt's fairy fingers wove. "Thee chafte Religion's virgin breast, And Hope, with fair unruffled veft, Their lovely fifter hail; Simplicity with lilied crown, And Innocence untaught to frown, And Peace that loves the vale. "The dæmon that ufurps thy day, And cafts upon its blemish'd ray The poifon of his tongue; His kindred fiends among. Nor haunt thy path ferene; While Guilt, on ev'ry fullen wind, Starts pale and trembling from behind His wild and wizard mien. "Then o'er thy flow'r-enamell'd way Shall Youth, in artlefs frolic gay, His ruftic hymns increafe; While Britain, raptur'd at the found, Shouts to her echoing fhores around, 'Truth, Liberty, and Peace'!" P. 115. LXII. Sermons, by HUGH BLAIR, D.D. F. R. S. Ed. one of the Minifters of the High Church, and ProfefTor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the University of Edinburgh. 5 vols, Vol. V. To which is annexed, a fhort Account of the Life and Character of the Author, by JAMES FINLAYSON, D. D. The Second Edition. 8vo. PP. 475. 75. Cadell and Davies. CONTENTS. SERMON I. On Hopes and Difappointments.-II. On the pro ous. of Chrift.-JV. On the Wounds of the Heart.-V. On all Things working together for Good to the Righte-VI. On the Love of our Country.- -VII. On a contented Mind. VIII. On drawing near to God.-X. On Wisdom in religious Conduct.-X. On the Immortality of the Soul, and a future State.--XI. On overcoming Evil with Good. XII. On a Life of Diffipation and Pleafure.-XIII. On the Confcience void of Offence!--XIV. On the Afcenfion of Chrift.-XV. On a peaceable Difpofition.-XVI. On re ligious Joy, as giving Strength and Support to Virtue.-XVII. On the Folly of the Wisdom of the World, -XVIII. On the Government of human Affairs by Providence.-XIX. On Prayer.-XX. On the laft Judgment. The Life of Hugh Blair. EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF "DR. Hugh Blair was born in Edinburgh on the 7th day of April 1718. His father, John Blair, a refpectable merchant in that city, was a defcendant of the ancient family of Blair, in AyrRobert Blair, minifter of St. Andrew's, fhire, and grandfon of the famous Mr. chaplain to Charles I. and one of the moft zealous and diftinguished clergymen of the period in which he lived." P. 455. "The views of Dr. Blair, from his earlieft youth, were turned towards the church, and His education received a fuitable direction. After the ufual grammatical course at school, he entered the humanity clafs in the univer fity of Edinburgh, in October 1730, and spent eleven years at that celebrated feminary, affiduously employed in the literary and fcientific ftudies prefcribed by the church of Scotland to all who are to become candidates for her license to preach the Gofpel. During this important period, he was diftinguished among his companions both for diligence and proficiency; and obtained from the profeffors under whom he studied, repeated teftimonies of approbation. One of them deferves to be mentioned particularly, becaufe, 342 in his own opinion, it determined the bent of his genius towards polite literature. An effay, Iligì rou naλou, or, On the Beautiful, written by him when á ftudent of logic in the ufual courfe of academical exercifes, had the good fortune to attract the notice of Profeffor Stevenson, and, with circumstances honourable to the author, was appointed to be read in public at the conclufion of the feffion. This mark of distinction made a deep impreflion on his mind; and the effay which merited it, he ever after recollected with partial affection, and preferved to the day of his death as the firft earneft of his fame. "At this time Dr. Blair commenced a method of study which contributed much to the accuracy and extent of his knowledge, and which he continued to practife occafionally even after his reputation was fully eftablifhed. It confifted in making abftracts of the most important works which he read, and in digefting them according to the train of his own thoughts. Hiftory, in particular, he refolved to study in this manner; and, in concert with fome of his youthful affociates, he conftructed a very comprehenfive fcheme of chronological tables, for receiving into its proper place every important fact that should occur. This fcheme devised by this young ftudent for his own private ufe was afterwards improved, filled up, and given to the public by his learned friend Dr. John Blair, prebendary of Weftminfter, in his valuable work, The Chronology and Hiftory of the World'." P.456. "About the time in which he was occupied in laying the foundations of this ufeful inftitution *, he had an opportunity of conferring another important obligation on the literary world, by the part which he acted in refcuing from oblivion the poems of Offian. It was by the folicitation of Dr. Blair and Mr. John Home that Mr. Macpherson was induced to publish his Fragments of ancient Poetry;' and their patronage was of effential fervice in procuring the fubfcription which enabled him to undertake his tour through the Highlands for collecting the materials of Fingal, and of thofe other delightful productions which bear the name of Offian. To the fe productions Dr. Blair applied the teft of genuine criticifm, and foon after their publication gave an eftimate of their merits in A Differtation,' which, for beauty of language, delicacy of tafte, and acutenets of critical investigation, has few parallels. It was printed in 1763, and fpread the reputation of its author throughout Europe. "The great objects of his literary ambition being now attained, his talents were for many years confecrated folely to the important and peculiar employments of his ftation. It was not till the year 1777 that he could be induced to favour the world with a volume of the Sermons which had fo long furnished inftruction and delight to his own congregation. But this volume being well received, the public approbation encouraged him to proceed: three other volumes followed at different intervals; and all of them experienced a degree of fuccefs of which few publications can boaft. They circulated rapidly and widely wherever the English tongue extends; they were foon tranflated into almost all the languages of Europe; and his prefent Majefty, with that wife attention to the interefts of religion and literature which diftinguifhes his reign, was graciously pleafed to judge them worthy of a public reward. By a royal mandate to the Exchequer in Scotland, dated July 25th, 1780, a penfion of zool. a-year was conferred on their author, which continued unaltered till his death." P. 462. "The Sermons which he has given to the world are univerfally admitted to be models in their kind; and they will long remain durable monuments of the picty, the genius, and found judgment of their author. But they formed only a small part of the dif courfes he prepared for the pulpit. The remainder, modefty led him to think unfit for the prefs; and, influenced by an excufable folicitude for his reputation, he left behind him an explicit injunétion that his numerous manufcripts fhould be deftroyed. The greatnefs of their number was creditable to his profeffional character, and exhibited a convincing proof that his fame as a public teacher had been ho * "A profefforship of rhetoric and belles lettres in the university of Edin burgh." nourably 1 nourably purchased, by the most unwearied application to the private and unfeen labours of his office. It refted on the uniform intrinfic excellence of his difcourfes, in point of matter and compofition, rather than on foreign attractions; for his delivery, though diftinct, ferious, and impreffive, was not remarkably diftinguished by that magic charm of voice and action which captivates the fenses and imagination, and which, in the estimation of fuperficial hearers, conftitutes the chief merit of a preacher." P. 464. "Dr. Blair had been naturally of a feeble conftitution of body; but as he grew up, his conftitution acquired greater firmness and vigour. Though liable to occafional attacks from fome of the sharpeft and most painful difeafes that afflict the human frame, he enjoyed a general state of good health; and, through habitual cheerfulness, temperance, and care, furvived the ufual term of human life. For fome years he had felt himfelf unequal to the fatigue of inftructing his very large congregation from the pulpit; and, under the impreffion which this feeling produced, he has been heard at times to fay with a figh, that he was left almoft the laft of his cotempo'raries.' Yet he continued to the end in the regular difcharge of all his other official duties, and particularly in giving advice to the afflicted, who, from different quarters of the kingdom, folicited his correfpondence. His laft fummer was devoted to the preparation of this volume of Sermons; and, in the course of it, he exhibited a vigour of understanding and capacity of exertion equal to that of his best days. He began the winter pleased with himfelf on account of the completion of this work; and his friends were flattered with the hope that he might live to enjoy the acceffion of emolument and fame which he expected it would bring. But the feeds of mortal difeafe were lurking unperceived within him. On the 24th of December 1800, he complained of a pain in his bowels, which, during that and the following day, gave him but little uneafinefs; and he received as ufual the vifits of his friends. On the afternoon of the 26th, the symptoms became violent and alarming: he felt that he was approaching the end of his appointed courfe: and retaining to the last mo ment the full poffeffion of his mental faculties, he expired on the morning of the 27th, with the compofure and hope which become a Christian pastor.” P. 468. ON EXTRACTS. HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS. "ON the lot of fome men Providence is pleased to bestow a longer continuance of profperity than on that of others. But, as the term of that continuance is hidden from us, all flattering and confident expectations are without foundation. At one period or another, it is certain that the calm is to be troubled, and the dark cloud is to arife; and how foon that period is to come, you cannot tell. In your health, or your fortune, or among your connexions and friends, be affured that fome trial awaits you. For human life never ftands ftill for any long time. It is by no means a fixed and steady object, like the mountain or the rock which you always find in the fame fituation; it is a river continually moving and flowing. Neither is it the ftill and smooth stream which glides along with the fame conftant tenour; but a river which for a time may hold a regular courfe within its banks, till, being interrupted by rocks, it foams into a torrent, or, fwoln by foreign currents, it lays wafte the neighbouring plains. Amidft fuch viciffitudes of time and life, who has any title to reckon upon the future? To faults, all are fubject; to troubles, all are expofed. As that man is the most virtuous who can be charged with the feweft faults, fo that life is the happiest which fuffers the feweft troubles. To look for entire exemption from them is to court difappointment." P. 3. "We are not to expect, from our intercourfe with others, all that fatiffaction which we fondly with. What the individual either enjoys or suffers by himself, exhibits only an imperfect view of his condition. In the present ftate of human affairs, we are all fo clofely interwoven with one another, that a very material part of our happinefs or mifery arifes from the connexions which we have with those who are around us, and the relations in which we ftand to them. Thefe, therefore, open a field within which our withes and expectations find an ample range. |