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He from thick films fhall purge the visual ray,
And on the fightless eye-ball pour the day.
'Tis he th' obftructed paths of found shall clear,
And bid new mufic charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb fhall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh no murmur the wide world shall hear,
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.

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In adamantine chains fhall death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good9fhepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks fresheft pafture and the pureft air,
Explores the loft, the wand'ring sheep directs,
By day o'er fees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bofom warms;
Thus fhall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd 10 father of the future age.
No more fhall nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes.
Nor fields with gleaming fteel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindlé rage no more;
But ufelefs lances into fcythes fhall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow share end.
Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful 12 fon

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Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd fire begun ;

Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield,

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And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field.
The fwain in barren 13 deserts with furprize

See lillies fpring, and fudden verdure rise;

Ver. 67. The fwain in barren defarts, &c.]

Virg. E. 4. ver. 28. Molli paulatim flavefcit campus arifta,

Incultifque rubens pendebit fentibus uva,

Et duræ quercus fudabunt rofcida mella..

The fields fhall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape fhall bang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks fhall diftill honey like

der.

Ifaiah, ch. xxxv. ver. 7. The parched ground shall become a pool,. and the thirty land fprings of water: In the babitations where dragons lay, fhall be grafs, and reeds, and rushes. Ch. lv. ver. 13. Instead of the thorn fhall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar fhall come up the myrtle-tree.

8. Ch. xxv. ver. 8. ver. 6.

9 Ch. xl. ver. 1I.`
10 Ch. ix.
12 Ch. lxv. ver. 21, 22..

11 Ch. ii. ver. 4. 13 Ch. xxxv. ver. 1, 7.

The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.

And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,

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Waste fandy 14 vallies, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and shapely box adorn;

The leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ry palms fucceed,

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And od❜rous myrtle to the noisom weed.

The 15 lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead,

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Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales survey,

And with their forked tongue fhall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial 17 Salem rise!
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!

See, a long 18

race thy fpacious courts adorn; See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,

Ver. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.]

Virg. E. 4. v. 21. Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capellæ

85

Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones----
Occidet & ferpens, et fallax herba veneni

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The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diftended with milk: nor Pall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent shall die, and the berb that conceals poison shall die.

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Ifaiah, ch. xi. ver. 16, &c. The wolf fhall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child fhall lead them And the lion fhall eat firaw like the ox. And the fucking child fhall play on the kole of the afp, and the weaned child fhall put his hand on the den of the

cockatrice.

Ver. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, &c.]

The thoughts of Ifaiab, which compofe the latter part of the poem, ate wonderfully elevated, and much above those general exclamations of Virgil, which makes the loftieft parts of his Pollio.

Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordo!
toto furget gens aurea mundo!

incipient magni procedere menfes !

Afpice, venturo latentur ut omnia fæclo! &c.

The reader need only turn to the paffages of Isaiah, here cited.

14 Ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. Iv. ver. 13.

16 Ch. lxv. ver. 25.

15 Ch. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8.

17 Ch. lx. ver. 1.

18 Ch. lx. ver. 4.

In crouding ranks on ev'ry fide arise,

Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous 19 nations at thy gates attend,

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Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;

And heap'd with products of 20 Sabaan Springs!
For thee Idume's fpicy forefts blow,

See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,.

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And feeds of gold in Ophyr's mountains glow.
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day.
No more the rifing 21 fun shall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn;
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts: the light himself fhall fhine
Reveal'd and God's eternal day be thine!
The 22 feas fhall wafte, the skies in fmoak decay,
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains;

Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own Meffiab reigns!

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21 Ch. lx. ver. 20.

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T

CHA P. XII.

Of the EPISTLE.

HIS fpecies of writing, if we are permitted to lay down rules from the examples of our best poets, admits of great latitude, and folicits ornament and decoration; yet the poet is ftill to confider that the true character of the Epiftle is eafe and elegance; nothing therefore fhould be forced or unnatural, laboured, or affected, but every part of the compofition breathe an eafy, polite, and unconttrained freedom.

It is fuitable to every fubject; for as the Epiftle takes place of difcourfe, and is intended as a fort of diftant converfation, all the affairs of life and researches into nature may be introduced. Those however which are fraught with compliment or condolence, that contain a

defcription of places, or are full of pertinent remarks, and in a familiar and humourous way defcribe the manners, vices, and follies of mankind are the best; because they are most suitable to the true character of Epiftolary writing, and (business fet apart) are the ufual fubjects upon which our letters are employ'd.

All farther rules and directions are unneceffary, for this kind of writing, is better learned by example and practice, than by precept. We fhall therefore in conformity to our plan select a few Epiftles for the reader's imitation; which, as this method of writing has of late much prevailed, may be best taken perhaps, from our modern poets.

The following letter from Mr. Addison to lord Halifax, contains an elegant defcription of the curiofities and places about Rome, together with fuch reflections on the inestimable bleffings of liberty, as muft give pleasure to every Englishman, especially when he fees them thus placed in direct oppofition to the baneful influences of flavery and oppreffion which are ever to be seen among the miserable inhabitants of thofe countries.

A Letter from Italy to the Right Honourable Charles Lord
Halifax, in the Year 1701. By Mr. ADDISON.

While you, my lord, the rural fhades admire,
And from Britannia's public pofts retire,
Nor longer, her ungrateful fons to please,
For their advantage facrifice your ease;
Me into foreign realms my fate conveys,
Through nations fruitful of immortal lays,
Where the foft feason and inviting clime
Confpire to trouble your repofe with rhime.

For wherefoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes,
Gay gilded scenes and shining profpects rife,
Poetic fields incompass me around,
And ftill I feem to tread on claffic ground;
For here the muse so oft her harp has trung,
That not a mountain rears its head unfung,
Renown'd in verfe each fhady thicket grows,
And ev'ry ftream in heav'nly numbers flows.
How am I pleas'd to fearch the hills and woods
For rifing fprings and celebrated floods;

To view the Nar, tumultuous in his courfe,
And trace the smooth Clitumnus to his fource,
To fee the Mincio draw his watry store,

Through the long windings of a fruitful fhore,
And hoary Albula's infected tide

O'er the warm bed of smoking fulphur glide.
Fir'd with a thoufand raptures I furvey
Eridanus through flow'ry meadows ftray,
The king of floods! that rolling o'er the plains
The tow'ring Alps of half their moisture drains,
And proudly fwoln with a whole winter's fnows,
Diftributes wealth and plenty where he flows.
Sometimes, mifguided by the tuneful throng,
I look for ftreams immortaliz'd in song,
That loft in filence and oblivion lie,

(Dumb are their fountains and their channels dry) Yet run for ever by the mufe's skill,

And in the smooth description murmur still.
Sometimes to gentle Tiber I retire,

And the fam'd river's empty fhores admire,
That deftitute of ftrength derives its course
From thirsty urns, and an unfruitful source;
Yet fung fo often in poetic lays,

With fcorn the Danube and the Nile furveys;
So high the deathless muse exalts her theme!
Such was the Boyn, a poor inglorious ftream,
That in Hibernian vales obfcurely stray'd,
And unobserv'd in wild Meanders play'd;
Till by your lines and Nafau's fword renown'd;
Its rifing billows through the world resound.
Where'er the hero's godlike acts can pierce,
Or where the fame of an immortal verse.

Oh cou'd the mufe my ravish'd breast inspire With warmth like yours, and raise an equal fire, Unnumber'd beauties in my verse should shine, And Virgil's Italy fhould yield to mine!

See how the golden groves around me smile, That fhun the coafts of Britain's ftormy ifle, Or when tranfplanted and preferv'd with care, Curfe the cold clime, and ftarve in northern air. Here kindly warinth their mounting juice ferments To nobler tastes, and more exalted scents:

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