Where then is found TRUE HONOUR, heavenly fair?
Ask, LONSDALE, ask your heart-fhe dictates there.

Yes: 'tis in VIRTUE:That alone can give
The lasting honour, and bid glory live:
On virtue's bafis only fame can rife,

To stand the storms of age, and reach the skies:
Arts, conqueft, greatnefs, feel the ftroke of fate,.
Shrink fudden, and betray th' incumbent weight;
Time with contempt the faithlefs props furveys,
"And buries madmen in the heaps they raise."

'Tis Virtue only can the bard inspire,

And fill his raptur'd breast with lafting fire:
Touch'd by th' etherial ray each kindled line

Beams ftrong: ftill Virtue feeds the flame divine;
Where-e'er the treads the leaves her footsteps bright,
In radiant tracts of never-dying light;

These shed the luftre o'er each facred name,

Give SPENCER's clear, and SHAKESPEAR's noble flame;
Blaze to the skies in MILTON's ardent song,

455

And kindle the brifk-fallying fire of You NG;
Thefe gild each humble verse in modest GAY;
These give to SWIFT the keen, foul-piercing ray;
Mildly thro' ADDISON's chafte page they fhine,
And glow and warm in 'POPE's immortal line.

Nor lefs the fage muft live by Virtue's aid;
Truth muft fupport him, or his glories fade;

160

Verfe 138. The foundation of true Honour is Virtue only. Verfe 153. It is Virtue only that gives the poet lafling glory: this proved by inflances.

And

And truth and virtue differ but in name:
Like light and heat--distinguish'd, yet the fame.
To truth and virtue the afcent is fure;
The wholfome ftream implies the fountain pure;

165

To tafte the spring we oft' effay in vain :

Deep lies the fource, too fhort is reafon's chain;
But thofe the iffues of pure truth we know,

Which in clear Arength thro' virtue's channel flow;
Error in vain attempts the foul difguife,

170

Still tafted in the bitter wave of vice;

Drawn from the springs of Falsehood all confess
Each baleful drop that poifons happiness;

G-rd-n's thin fhallows, Tindal's muddy page,
And Morgan's gall, and Woolfton's furious rage;

Verfe 164. The philofopher can only hope for true glory from the fame fource; because Truth is his object, and nothing can be Truth that tends to defroy Virtue and Happiness.

Verfe 174. Hence appears the madness, infamy, and falsehood of thofe deftructive schemes fet on foot by the fect called FreeThinkers.

REMARK S.

G-rd-n's thin Shallows.] The Work here chara&erized is entitled, "The independent Whig, or a Defence of our ecclefiafti "cal Eftablishment:" Yet it may be truly affirmed, that there is not one inftitution of the Church of England, but what is there mifreprefented, and ridiculed with the lowest and most despicable fcurrility.

Tindal's muddy page.] Alluding to the confufion of Ideas, which that dull writer labours under.

Morgan.] His character is thus drawn by an excellent writer Who by the peculiar felicity of a good choice, having "learned his Morality of our Tindal, and his Philofophy of your [the fews] Spinoza, calls himself, by the courtesy of " England

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Th' envenom'd stream that flows from Toland's quill,
And the rank dregs of Hobbes and Mandeville.
Detefted names! yet fentenc'd ne'er to die ;
Snatch'd from oblivion's grave by infamy!
Infect-opinions, hatch'd by folly's ray,
Bask in the beam that wing'd them, for a day:
Truth, phoenix-like immortal, tho' fhe dies,
With ftrength renew'd shall from her ashes rise,
See, how the luftre of th' ATHENIAN † fage
Shines thro' the lengthen'd gloom of many an age!
Virtue alone fo wide the beam cou'd spread,
And throw the lasting glory round his head.
See NEWTON chase conjectures's twilight ray,
And light up nature into certain day!

England, a Moral Philofopher." WARB. Div. Leg. of Mofes dem. Vol. II. Ded. p. zo.

Toland] A noted advocate for that fpecies of Atheism commonly called Pantheifm.

Hobbes.] It is confeffed he was a man of Genius and Learning: Yet thro' a ridiculous affectation of being regarded as the founder of new Syftems, he has advanced many things even below confutation.

Mandeville.] The Author of that monftrous heap of contradiction and abfurdity, "The Fable of the Bees, or private Vices "publick Benefits." The reader who is acquainted with the writings of thofe Gentlemen, will probably obferve a kind of climax in this place; afcending from those who have attempted to defroy the feveral fences of virtue, to the wild boars of the wood that root it up.

Verfe 180. Falsehood fhort-lived: Truth eternal.

Verfe 184, &c. Examples of the two moft illuftrious philofophers that ever adorned the world; the one excellent in moral, the other in natural knowledge.

+ SOCRATES.

He

He wide creation's trackless mazes trod;
And in each atom found the ruling God.
Unrival'd pair! with truth and virtue fraught!
Whofe lives confirm'd whate'er their reafon taught !
Whofe far-stretch'd views, and bright examples join'd
At once t' enlighten and perfuade mankind!
Hail names rever'd! which time and truth proclaim
The first and faireft in the lift of fame.

Kings, statesmen, patriots, thus to glory rise;
On virtue grows their fame, or foon it dies ;
But grafted on the vigorous stock, 'tis seen
Brighten'd by age, and fprings in endless green :
Pride, folly, vice, may bloffom for an hour,
Fed by court-fun-fhine, and poetick show'r ;
But the pale tendrils, nurs'd by flattery's hand,
Unwearied tendance, fresh fupplies demand;
By heats unnatural pufh'd to fudden growth,
They ficken at th' inclement blafts of truth;
Shook by the weakest breath that paffes by,
Their colours fade, they wither, droop, and die.

'Tis Virtue only that shall grow with time,
Live thro' each age, and fpread thro' every clime.
See god-like patriots, gen'rous, wife, and good,
Stand in the breach, and ftem corruption's flood!

190

195

200

205

210

Verfe 198, &c. Kings, ftatesmen, and patriots, must build their fame on Virtue.

Verfe 204. Flattery cannot raife folly or vice into true glory.

See martyr-bishops at the ftake expire,
Smile on the faggot, and defy its fire!
How great in exile HYDE and TULLY fhone!
How ALFRED's virtues brighten'd all his throne!
From worth like this unbidden glories fream;
Nor borrow'd blaze it asks, nor fortune's beam;
Affliction's gloom but makes it ftill more bright,
As the clear lamp fhines clearest in the night.

Thus various honours various states adorn,
As different stars with different glories burn;
Their orbs too wider, as their sphere is higher;
Yet all partake the fame celestial fire.

See then heav'n's endless bounty, and confess,
Which gives in Virtue fame and happiness!
See mankind's folly, who the boon despise,
And grasp at pain and infamy in Vice!

Not fo the man who mov❜d by Virtue's laws,
Reveres himself and gains, not feeks applause;
Whofe views concenter'd all to Virtue tend;
Who makes true glory but his fecond end:

REMARK S.

215

220

225

230

See martyr-bishops, &c.] The catalogue of thefe heroes, through the feveral ages of Chriftianity, is too large to be inferted in a work of this nature: Those of our own Country were RIDLEY, LATIMER, and the good (the less fortunate) CRANMER.

Verfe 222. Thus it appears that every one has the power of obtaining true honour, by promoting the happiness of mankind in his proper ftation.

Verfe 226. And thus the love of fame, tho' often perverted to bad ends, is naturally conducive to virtue and happine's.

Verse 230, Sc. True bonour characteriz?d and exemplify'd.

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