course

MYSTERIOUS Thoughts! say, whither Soon as he saw thee quit thy guardian would ye tend?

[path,

shield,
How have ye won me from each brighter Thy hold of refuge, strongest when alone
Each soothing hope that late with radiant On Heav'n thy stay was rested, and thy
beam

[life!
trust

[thence,
Pour'd comfort down to bless the toils of Repos'd secure--weakest when, erring
Say, is it thus ye teach memis it here Thy gidily feet would 'tempt the dang'rous
Ye bring my wand'ring footsteps--to a maze

maze, Where Hope expires, a wilderness of Woe, The thorny lab'rinth of bewild’ring Doubt, A gloomy labyrinth that tires with Doubt, Of Myst'ries seeming dark, and hidden And distant far, and farther yet would lead, things Till Heav'n itself were slırouded from the That stagger each enquirer, not confirm, view,

(soul Because not understood and must we And deep'ning horrors plunge the fainting

thence

(slaves In all the hideous gulf of black Despaird- Proclaim them false? Oh! ye the hapless Oh, Reason ! godlike only when with God Of baneful Error, and of foul Mistrust, Thou walkest-glorious only, great, and Ye toiling crowds who long have vainly wise,

sought
When trusting in his goodness and his pow'r! To pierce with mortal ken the sacred gloom,
Depart from these, forget the mighty skill Throwide Creation roll the searching
That rear'd Creation from insensate void, glance,

[coit
Forget the sparkling Sun, the lucid Orbs And say, can still your stubborn hearts re-
That gleam refulgent thro' the silent Night From wonders such as these, when, scat-
As rolling on they speed their circling

ter'd round

On ev'ry side, equal or greater far
Still as in ages past, nor devious yet Burst on the ravish'd view, if right esteem'd
Have marrd with erring flight their destin'd The works ye gaze at? Oft in secret move
track,

[Sky, The wise intents and purposes of Hear'n, Forget the beauteous Earth, the vaulted Alike beyond the stretch of human thought The varied seasons, and with impious E’eu as of human sight-perhaps conceald, tongue

Nor yet divulg'd, that they may serve on
Dispute the feebler wonders of thy God,

Earth
And mock them as the idle tale of things As trials of that Paith we justly owe,
Beyond the reach of Nature, Truth, or As covenants ordain'd 'twixt God and Man,
Pow'

[appland The synıbols of our Piety and Trust!
The World may style thee Wisdom! and Parent of Light and Life! forbid that e'er
Thy bold research, that fain would seem to Reason, thy noblest gift, should madly
judge

[ing hand
seek

(thought The works of Heav'n-may praise the dar. To mar thy blest design? quell the proud That, stretch'd aloft, would burst the sa- That fain would judge the secrets of thy cred bonds

Word;

[Fold Of rigid Virtue, and exalting high Recall the straggling Wand'rers froin thy The grosser thoughts, the proud conceits Back 10 thyself, and teach the erring heart of Man,

(yoke 'Tis Wisdom to adore thee!--Nature sings Shake from his stubborn neck the hallow'd Thro'all her works of thee--in all display'd Of pious rev'rence to the better will I view thy boundless Pow'r, in all I trace Of Him that made us-round thy rebel Thy Goodness and thy Mercy shining fair ! throne,

Come then, bright Faith! thou guardian Elate and tow'ring as in Freedom's joy,

Seraph, come,

(wide May gladly flock, obsequious to thy word, And shedding down thy radiance, scatter And, heedless following where thy voice The shades of impious Doubt-unclouded directs,

pour
Pronounce thee fit, unaided and alone, Full on my darken'd soul thy kindling ray,
To trace the line of Error and of Truth! And ev'ry hope exalting, ev'ry hope
Mistaken Guide ! shall Wisdom be the Confirming, that on Heav'n would lean for

[far

rest,
Thy merits ask? methinks 't were juster So rule my beart that I may learn to bow
To call thee Madness! Reason thou art not, In merk subjection to the will of Him
Or Reasou chang'd indeed,and ah! like him Who forin'd us for his Glory and our own
Who erst “defied ih’Omnipotent to arms," A glory best bestow'd, and best acquir'd,
A fallen Angel! fallen from the height When must we seek to praise Him—when
Of native splendour, und befitting well

estrang'd

(paths · The snbile purpose of that wary Foe From ev'ry human pride, we tread the Who long had watch'd thee, and with envy Of holy Virtue, still reposing firin pin'd,

[theu Our trust in Him, whose goodness and whose With malice and with rage ; nor wanting

pow'r, Glad triumph and delighted victory Confest thro'all his wonders,reign supreme.

M. E.

name

PREFACE

TO THE

FIRST PART OF THE EIGHTY-THIRD VOLUME.

-.

* Magnos motus rerum circa se frementium securus aspiciat, et dura pla

cidè ferat, et secunda moderate."-Seneca.

THE above is one of the characteristics which Seneca gives of Wisdom; and certain it is, that they whose situation in more recent times has exposed them to any degree of responsibility, must necessarily have been involved in the universal agitation which has disturbed the World. We are not at all disposed to use the language of ostentatious vaunting ; but we may securely appeal to our Prefatory Addresses to our Friends and Correspondents for many preceding years, in proof, that, notwithstanding the triumphs of Despotism, and the dark rollings of many a tempestuous storm, which ever and anon threatened to burst over our heads, we never flinched from the firmness of our confidence in that All-wise and Almighty Being who regulates the affairs of Nations. We have invariably felt and expressed the honest confidence of Britons, rejected all emotions of despondency, and encouraged the golden vision of Hope; nor have we been disappointed. The British Eagle once more towers aloft above its foes; the Leopard, which was to have fled at the sight of Napoleon's Banners, has sprung upon his aggressors, and inficted no common vengeance. But we forbear too unlimited an indulgence of

2004

our

Barire sorel