HORACE. Book the 2d.

ODE the 10th.

I.

RECEIVE, dear friend, the truths I teach,

So fhalt thou live beyond the reach

Of adverfe Fortune's power; Not always tempt the diftant deep, Nor always timorously creep

Along the treacherous shore.

II.

He, that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between

The little and the great,

Feels not the wants, that pinch the poor,

Nor plagues, that haunt the rich man's door,
Imbittering all his state.

III.

The tallest pines feel moft the power
Of wintry blafts; the loftieft tower
Comes heaviest to the ground;

The bolts, that spare the mountain's fide,
His cloud-capt eminence divide,

And spread the ruin round.

IV.

The well informed philosopher
Rejoices with an wholesome fear,
And hopes, in spite of pain;
If winter bellow from the north,

Soon the sweet spring comes dancing forth,
And nature laughs again.

V.

What if thine heaven be overcaft,
The dark appearance will not laft;
Expect a brighter sky.

The God, that ftrings the filver bow,
Awakes fometimes the mufes too,
And lays his arrows by.

VI.

If hindrances obftruct thy way,
Thy magnanimity display,

And let thy ftrength be seen ;
But oh! if Fortune fill thy fail
With more than a propitious gale,
Take half thy canvass in.

A

REFLECTION

ON THE FOREGOING OPE.

AND is this all? Can reafon do no more
Than bid me fhun the deep, and dread the shore?
Sweet moralift! afloat on life's rough sea,

The Chriftian has an art unknown to thee.

He holds no parley with unmanly fears;
Where duty bids he confidently fteers,
Faces a thousand dangers at her call,

And, trufting in his God, surmounts them all.

THE LILY AND THE ROSE,

I.

THE nymph muft lose her female friend,
If more admired than fhe-

But where will fierce contention end,

If flowers can disagree?

II.

Within the garden's peaceful scene

Appeared two lovely foes,

Afpiring to the rank of queen,
The Lily and the Rofe.

III.

The Rofe foon reddened into rage,

And, fwelling with difdain, Appealed to many a poet's page To prove her right to reign.

IV.

The Lily's height bespoke command,
A fair imperial flower;

She feemed defigned for Flora's hand,

The fceptre of her power.

V.

This civil bickering and debate
The goddess chanced to hear,
And flew to fave, ere yet too late,

The pride of the parterre ;
VI.

Yours is, fhe faid, the nobler hue,
And yours the statelier mien;

And, till a third furpaffes you,

Let each be deemed a queen.

VII.

Thus, foothed and reconciled, each seeks

The faireft British fair.

The feat of empire is her cheeks,

They reign united there.