By curious

eyes and judgments ill-inform'd, To me is odious as the nasal twang

Heard at conventicle, where worthy men,

Misled by custom, strain celestial themes
Through the press'd nostril, spectacle-bestrid.

Some decent in demeanour while they preach, 440
That task perform'd, relapse into themselves;
And, having spoken wisely, at the close

Grow wanton, and give proof to ev'ry eye,

Whoe'er was edified, themselves were not!
Forth comes the pocket mirror.-First we stroke
An eyebrow; next compose a straggling lock;
Then with an air most gracefully perform'd
Fall back into our seat, extend an arm
And lay it at it's ease with gentle care,
With handkerchief in hand depending low;
The better hand more busy gives the nose
It's bergamot, or aids th' indebted eye
With opera glass, to watch the moving scene,
And recognize the slow-retiring fair.-

450

Now this is fulsome; and offends me more

Than in a churchman slovenly neglect

And rustic coarseness would. A heav'nly mind
May be indiffrent to her house of clay,

And slight the hovel as beneath her care;
But how a body so fantastic, trim,

And quaint, in it's deportment and attire,
Can lodge'a heav'nly mind-demands a doubt.

He, that negotiates between God and man
As God's ambassador, the grand concerns
Of judgment and of mercy, should beware
Of lightness in his speech. "Tis pitiful

To court a grin, when you should woo a soul;
To break a jest, when pity would inspire

Pathetic exhortation; and t' address

460

The skittish fancy with facetious tales,

470

When sent with God's commission to the heart!

So did not Paul. Direct me to a quip

Or merry turn in all he ever wrote,

And I consent you take it for your text,

Your only one, till sides and benches fail.

No: he was serious in a serious cause,
And understood too well the weighty terms

That he had tak'n in charge. He would not stoop
To conquer those by jocular exploits,

Whom truth and soberness assail'd in vain.

480

O Popular Applause! what heart of man
Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms?
The wisest and the best feel urgent need
Of all their caution in thy gentlest gales;

But swell'd into a gust-who then alas!
With all his canvass set, and inexpert,

And therefore heedless, can withstand thy pow'r?
Praise from the rivell'd lips of toothless bald
Decrepitude, and in the looks of lean

And craving Poverty, and in the bow

490

Respectful of the smutch'd artificer,

Is oft too welcome, and may much disturb

The bias of the

purpose.

How much more,

Pour'd forth by beauty splendid and polite,
In language soft as adoration breathes!

Ah
spare your idol! think him human still.
Charms he may have, but he has frailties too!
Dote not too much, nor spoil what ye admire.

499

All truth is from the sempiternal source Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome, Drew from the stream below. More favour'd we Drink, when we choose it, at the fountain head. To them it flow'd much mingled and defil'd With hurtful errour, prejudice, and dreams Illusive of philosophy, so call'd,

But falsely. Sages after sages strove

In vain to filter off a crystal draught

Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd

The thirst than slak'd it, and not seldom bred
Intoxication and delirium wild.

In vain they push'd inquiry to the birth

510

And springtime of the world! ask'd, Whence is

man?

Why form'd at all? and wherefore as he is?

Where must he find his Maker? with what rites

Adore him? Will he hear, accept, and bless?

Or does he sit regardless of his works?
Has man within him an immortal seed?

Or does the tomb take all? If he survive

His ashes, where? and in what weal or wo?
Knots worthy of solution, which alone

A Deity could solve. Their answers, vague

And all at random, fabulous and dark,

520

Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life. Defective and unsanction'd, prov'd too weak

To bind the roving appetite, and lead
Blind nature to a God not yet reveal'd.
"Tis revelation satisfies all doubts,

Explains all mysteries, except her own,
And so illuminates the path of life,

That fools discover it, and stray no more.

530