The linnet enchants us the bushes among.
Though cheap the musician, yet sweet is the song;
We catch the soft warbling in air as it floats,
And with ecstacy hang on the ravishing notes.
Our water is drawn from the clearest of springs,
And our food, nor disease nor satiety brings;
Our mornings are cheerful, our labours are blest,
Our ev'nings are pleasant, our nights crown'd with rest.
From our culture yon garden its ornament finds,
And we catch at the hint for improving our minds;
To live to some purpose we constantly try,
And we mark by our actions the days as they fly.
Since such are the joys that Simplicity yields,
We may well be content with our woods and our
How useless to us then, ye great, were your wealth, When without it we purchase both pleasure and health! [They retire into the cottage.
SCENE-A rural Entertainment.
FLORELLA, EUPHELIA, CLEORA, LAURINDA,
PASTORELLA.
FLORELLA (sings.)
While beauty and pleasure are now in their prime,
And folly and fashion expect our whole time,
Ah! let not those phantoms our wishes engage;
Let us live so in youth, that we blush not in age.
Though the vain and the gay may allure us awhile,
Yet let not their flatt'ry our prudence beguile;
Let us covet those charms that will never decay,
Nor listen to all that deceivers can say.
'How the tints of the rose and the jasmine's perfume!
"The eglantine's fragrance, the lilac's gay bloom, Though fair and though fragrant unheeded may lie, "For that neither is sweet when Florella is by.'
I sigh not for beauty, nor languish for wealth,
But grant me, kind Providence, virtue and health;
Then, richer than kings, and as happy as they,
My days shall pass sweetly and swiftly away.
When age shall steal on me, and youth is no more, And the moralist Time shakes his glass at my
What charm in lost beauty or wealth should I
My treasure, my wealth, is a sweet peace of mind.
That peace I'll preserve then, as pure as was given,
And taste in my bosom an earnest of heaven;
Thus virtue and wisdom can warm the cold scene,
And sixty may flourish as gay as sixteen.
And when long I the burden of life shall have borne,
And death with his sickle shall cut the ripe corn,
Resign'd to my fate, without murmur or sigh,
I'll bless the kind summons, and lie down and die.
Eu. Thus sweetly pass the hours of rural ease! Here life is bliss, and pleasures truly please!
Pas. With joy we view the dangers we have past, Assur'd we've found felicity at last.
Flo. Esteem none happy by their outward air;
All have their portion of allotted care.
Though wisdom wears the semblance of content,
When the full heart with agony is rent,
Secludes its anguish from the public view,
And by secluding learns to conquer too:
Denied the fond indulgence to complain,
The aching heart its peace may best regain.
By love directed, and in mercy meant,
Are trials suffer'd and afflictions sent;
To stem impetuous passion's furious tide,
To curb the insolence of prosp'rous pride,
To wean from earth, and bid our wishes soar
To that blest clime where pain shall be no more;
Where wearied virtue shall for refuge fly,
And ev'ry tear be wip'd from ev'ry eye.
Cle. List'ning to you, my heart can never cease To rev'rence virtue, and to sigh for peace.
Flo. Know, e'en Urania, that accomplish'd fair, Whose goodness makes her Heav'n's peculiar care, Though born to all that affluence can bestow, Has felt the deep reverse of human wo; Yet meek in grief, and patient in distress, She knew the hand that wounds has pow'r to bless. Grateful she bows, for what is left her still, To Him whose love dispenses good and ill; TO HIM who, while his bounty thousands fed, Had not himself a place to lay his head; TO HIM who, that he might our wealth insure, Though rich himself, consented to be poor. Taught by his precepts, by his practice taught, Her will submitted, and resign'd her thought, Through faith, she looks beyond this dark abode To scenes of glory near the throne of God.
Enter URANIA, SYLVIA, ELIZA.
Ur. Since, gentle nymphs, my friendship to obtain, You've sought with eager step this peaceful plain, My honest counsel with attention hear,
Though plain, well meant, imperfect, yet sincere;
What from maturer years alone I've known,
What time has taught me, and experience shewn ;
No polish'd phrase my artless speech will grace,
But unaffected candour fill its place:
My lips shall flatt'ry's smooth deceit refuse;
And truth be all the eloquence I'll use.
Know then, that life's chief happiness and wo,
From good or evil education flow;
And hence our future dispositions rise;
The vice we practise, or the good we prize.
When pliant nature any form receives,
That precept teaches, or example gives,
The yielding mind with virtue should be graced,
For first impressions seldom are effaced.
Then holy habits, then chastis'd desires,
Should regulate disorder'd nature's fires.
If ignorance then her iron sway maintain,
If prejudice preside, or passion reign,
If vanity preserve her native sway,
If selfish tempers cloud the op'ning day,
If no kind hand impetuous pride restrain,
But for the wholesome curb we give the rein;
The erring principle is rooted fast
And fix'd the habit that through life may last.
Pas. With heartfelt penitence we now deplore Those squander'd hours, that time can ne'er restore. Ur. Euphelia sighs for flattery, dress, and show: Too common sources these of female wo! In beauty's sphere pre-eminence to find, She slights the culture of th' immortal mind: I would not rail at beauty's charming pow'r, I would but have her aim at something more;
The fairest symmetry of form or face,
From intellect receives its highest grace;
The brightest eyes ne'er dart such piercing fires
As when a soul irradiates and inspires.
Beauty with reason needs not quite dispense,
And coral lips may sure speak common sense;
Beauty makes virtue lovelier still appear;
Virtue makes beauty more divinely fair!
Confirms its conquest o'er the willing mind,
And those your beauties gain, your virtues bind.
Yet would ambition's fire your bosom fill,
Its flame repress not-be ambitious still;
Let nobler views your best attention claim,
The object chang'd, the energy the same:
Those very passions which our heart invade,
If rightly pointed, blessings may be made.
Indulge the true ambition to excel
In that best art-the art of living well.
But first extirpate from your youthful breast
That rankling torment which destroys your rest:
All other faults may take a higher aim,
But hopeless envy must be still the same.
Some other passions may be turn'd to good,
But envy must subdue, or be subdued.
This fatal gangrene to our moral life,
Rejects all palliatives, and asks the knife;
Excision spared, it taints the vital part,
And spreads its deadly venom to the heart.
Eu. Unhappy those to bliss who seek the way,
In pow'r superior, or in splendour gay!
Inform'd by thee, no more vain man shall find
The charm of flattery taint Euphelia's mind:
By thee instructed, still my views shall rise,
Nor stop at any mark beneath the skies.
Ur. İn fair Laurinda's uninstructed mind, The want of culture, not of sense, we find. Whene'er you sought the good, or shunn'd the ill, "Twas more from temper than from principle:
|