She makes familiar with a Heaven unseen,
And shows him glories yet to be reveal❜d.
Not slothful he, though seeming unemploy'd,
And censured oft as useless. Stillest streams
Oft water fairest meadows, and the bird
That flutters least, is longest on the wing.
Ask him, indeed, what trophies he has raised,
Or what achievements of immortal fame
He purposes, and he shall answer-None.
His warfare is within. There unfatigued
His fervent spirit labours. There he fights,
And there obtains fresh triumphs o'er himself,
And never-withering wreaths, compared with which
The laurels that a Cæsar reaps are weeds.
Perhaps the self-approving haughty world,
That, as she sweeps him with her whistling silks,
Scarce deigns to notice him, or, if she see,
Deems him a cipher in the works of God,
Receives advantage from his noiseless hours,
Of which she little dreams. Perhaps she owes
Her sunshine and her rain, her blooming spring
And plenteous harvest, to the prayer he makes,
When, Isaac like, the solitary saint
Walks forth to meditate at eventide,
And think on her, who thinks not for herself.
Forgive him then, thou bustler in concerns
Of little worth, and idler in the best,
If, author of no mischief and some good,
He seek his proper happiness by means
That may advance, but cannot hinder, thine.
Nor, though he tread the secret path of life,
Engage no notice, and enjoy much ease,
Account him an encumbrance on the state,
Receiving benefits, and rendering none.

926

940

950

His sphere though humble, if that humble sphere
Shine with his fair example, and though small
His influence, if that influence all be spent
In soothing sorrow and in quenching strife,
In aiding helpless indigence, in works
From which at least a grateful few derive
Some taste of comfort in a world of woe;
Then let the supercilious great confess
He serves his country, recompenses well
The state beneath the shadow of whose vine

He sits secure, and in the scale of life
Holds no ignoble, though a slighted, place.

960

970

The man whose virtues are more felt than seen,

Must drop indeed the hope of public praise;
But he may boast, what few that win it can,
That, if his country stand not by his skill,
At least his follies have not wrought her fall.
Polite Refinement offers him in vain
Her golden tube, through which a sensual world
Draws gross impurity, and likes it well-
The neat conveyance hiding all the offence.
Not that he peevishly rejects a mode
Because that world adopts it. If it bear
The stamp and clear impression of good sense,
And be not costly more than of true worth,
He puts it on, and for decorum sake
Can wear it even as gracefully as she.
She judges of refinement by the eye,
He by the test of conscience, and a heart
Not soon deceived; aware that what is base
No polish can make sterling; and that vice,
Though well perfumed and elegantly dress'd,
Like an unburied carcase trick'd with flowers,

980

990

Is but a garnish'd nuisance, fitter far
For cleanly riddance than for fair attire.

So life glides smoothly and by stealth away,
More golden than that age of fabled gold
Renown'd in ancient song; not vex'd with care
Or stain'd with guilt; beneficent, approved
Of God and man, and peaceful in its end.
So glide my life away! and so at last,
My share of duties decently fulfill'd,
May some disease, not tardy to perform
Its destined office, yet with gentle stroke,
Dismiss me weary to a safe retreat,

Beneath the turf that I have often trod.

It shall not grieve me, then, that once, when call'd
To dress a Sofa with the flowers of verse,

I play'd awhile, obedient to the fair,

With that light task; but soon, to please her more
Whom flowers alone I knew would little please,
Let fall the unfinish'd wreath, and roved for fruit;
Roved far, and gather'd much: some harsh, 'tis true,
Pick'd from the thorus and briers of reproof,
But wholesome, well digested; grateful some
To palates that can taste immortal truth;
Insipid else, and sure to be despised.
But all is in His hand whose praise I seek.
In vain the poet sings, and the world hears,
If He regard not, though divine the theme.
'Tis not in artful measures, in the chime
And idle tinkling of a minstrel's lyre,

To charm His ear, whose eye is on the heart;
Whose frown can disappoint the proudest strain,
Whose approbation-prosper even mine!

993

1000

1010

1020

TIROCINIUM; OR, A REVIEW OF

SCHOOLS.

Κεφαλαίον δὴ παιδείας ὀρθὴ τροφή.-PLATO.
̓Αρχὴ πολιτείας ἁπάσης, νέων τροφά.-DIOG. LAERT.

To the Rev. William Cawthorne Unwin, Rector of Stock in Essex, the tutor of his two sons, the following poem, recommending private tuition in preference to an education at school, is inscribed, by his affectionate friend, WILLIAM COWPER.

Olney, Nov. 6, 1784.

THE ARGUMENT.

Man's supremacy over the inferior creation not derived from his outward form, but from the soul, 1-Creation in vain, unless subservient to the purposes of an immortal being, 35—Heavenly truth not difficult to discover, 73— Man made to discover and declare it, 100-Duty of making it known to the young, 103-Importance of infant instruction, 109-Nursery knowledge, 127-Pilgrim's Progress, 131-Happy if such studies were approved in riper years, 147-Too often scorned and repudiated, 155-The gospel contemned, false philosophy prevails, and early religious impressions are effaced, 185-Corrupting influence of large schools, 201-Effects of pernicious example on the young, 220-College, 240-Errors in education arise from following established precedents, 255-Teachers connive at vices in the young which they practised themselves, 269Degeneracy of schools, 279-Causes of this, 290-Early school associations, 296-Parents recounting their early follies to their children, 318— Advancement in the world expected from friendships formed at school, 393-Prosecuted by unworthy means, and tending to fatal results, 404— School friendships not always permanent, 436-Emulation a questionable motive of action, 458-Its evil consequences on the heart and temper, 470 -Great and small schools alike, 515-Beauty of parental confidence and companionship, 537 — Why resign the task of parental instruction to strangers? 551-The effect of absence in destroying confidence between father and son, 561—A faithful hand necessary to disperse the follies of youth, 591-The classics not enough, 605-Study of nature, 630-A private tutor recommended, 658-Danger of association with servants,

TIROCINIUM; OR, A REVIEW OF SCHOOLS.

343

688-A worthy tutor to be treated with respect, 706-Where there is bad example at home, board in some retired spot recommended, 735— The author's advice not likely to be followed, 779-The middle ranks addressed on the disorders which prevail in the world as the result of school-breeding, 807-Earnestly warned against committing their sons to schools, 871-Which should be "better managed or encouraged less,"

922.

It is not from his form, in which we trace
Strength join'd with beauty, dignity with grace,
That Man, the master of this globe, derives
His right of empire over all that lives.
That form, indeed, the associate of a mind
Vast in its powers, ethereal in its kind-
That form, the labour of Almighty skill,
Framed for the service of a freeborn will,
Asserts precedence, and bespeaks control,
But borrows all its grandeur from the soul.
Hers is the state, the splendour, and the throne,
An intellectual kingdom, all her own.
For her the Memory fills her ample page
With truths pour'd down from every distant age;
For her amasses an unbounded store,

The wisdom of great nations, now no more;

Though laden, not encumber'd with her spoil;
Laborious, yet unconscious of her toil;
When copiously supplied, then most enlarged;
Still to be fed, and not to be surcharged.
For her, the Fancy roving unconfined,
The present Muse of every pensive mind,
Works magic wonders, adds a brighter hue
To Nature's scenes than Nature ever knew:
At her command, winds rise and waters roar,
Again she lays them slumbering on the shore;
With flower and fruit the wilderness supplies,
Or bids the rocks in ruder pomp arise.