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THE SHEPHERD AND THE PHILOSOPHER

REMOTE from cities lived a swain,
Unvexed with all the cares of gain,
His head was silvered o'er with age,
And long experience made him sage.
In summer's heat and winter's cold,
He fed his flock and penned his fold;
His hours with cheerful labour flew,
Nor envy nor ambition knew;
His wisdom and his honest fame,
Through all the country raised his name.

A deep philosopher, whose rules
Of moral life were drawn from schools,
The shepherd's homely cottage sought,
And thus explored his reach of thought:
Whence is thy learning, hath thy toil
O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
Hast thou old Greece and Rome surveyed,
And the vast sense of Plato weighed ?
Hath Socrates thy soul refined?
And hast thou fathomed Tully's mind?
Or, like the wise Ulysses, thrown
By various fate on realms unknown;
Hast thou through many cities strayed,
Their customs, laws, and manners weighed ?'
The shepherd modestly replied,

'I ne'er the paths of learning tried;
Nor have I roamed in foreign parts,
To read mankind, their laws, and arts;
For man is practised in disguise,
He cheats the most discerning eyes;

THE SHEPHERD AND THE PHILOSOPHER.

Who by that search shall wiser grow,
When we ourselves can never know?
The little knowledge I have gained
Was all from simple nature drained.
Hence my life's maxims took their rise
Hence grew my settled hate to vice.
The daily labours of the bee
Awake my soul to industry;
Who can observe the careful ant,
And not provide for future want?
My dog (the trustiest of his kind)
With gratitude inflames my mind;
I mark his true, his faithful way,
And in my service copy Tray.
In constancy and nuptial love
I learn my duty from the dove ;
The hen, who from the chilly air,
With pious wing protect's her care,
And every fowl that flies at large,
Instructs me in a parent's charge.

From nature, too, I take my rule,
To shun contempt and ridicule :
I never with important air,
In conversation overbear.

Can grave and formal pass for wise,
When men the solemn owl despise ?
My tongue within my lips I rein,
For who talks much, must talk in vain.
We from the wordy torrent fly:
Who listens to the chattering pye?
Nor would I with felonious fight

By stealth invade my neighbour's right;

25

Rapacious animals we hate,

Kites, hawks, and wolves deserve their fate;
Do not we just abhorrence find

Against the toad and serpent kind?
But envy, calumny and spite,
Bear stronger venom in their bite.
Thus every object of creation
Can furnish hints to contemplation;
And from the most minute and mean
A virtuous mind can morals glean.'
Thy fame is just,' the sage replies;
'Thy virtue proves thee truly wise;
For he who studies nature's laws,
From certain truths his maxims draws :
And truth and piety suffice

To make men moral, good, and wise.'

THE MAN OF ROSS.

ALL our praises why should lords engross?
Rise, honest Muse! and sing the Man of Ross :
Pleased Vaga echoes through her winding bounds,
And rapid Severn hoarse applause resounds.

Who hung with woods yon mountain's sultry brow?
From the dry rock who bade the waters flow?
Not to the skies in useless columns tost,

Or in proud falls magnificently lost,

But clear and artless, pouring through the plain
Health to the sick and solace to the swain.
Whose causeway parts the vale with shady rows?
Whose seats the weary travellers repose?

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Who taught that heaven-directed spire to rise?
'The man of Ross,' each lisping babe replies.
Behold the market-place with poor o'erspread!
The Man of Ross divides the weekly bread:
He feeds yon alms-house, neat, but void of state,
Where age and want sit smiling at the gate;
Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans blest,
The young who labour, and the old who rest.
Is any sick? The Man of Ross relieves,
Prescribes, attends, the medicine makes and gives.
Is there a variance? Enter but his door,
Balked are the courts, and contest is no more.
Despairing quacks with curses fly the place,
And vile attorneys, now a useless race.
Thrice happy man! enabled to pursue
What all so wish, but want the power to do!
Oh say, what sums that generous hand supply!
What mines to swell that boundless charity!
Of debts and taxes, wife and children clear,
This man possessed-five hundred pounds a year.
Blush grandeur, blush! proud courts withdraw your blaze!
Ye little stars! hide your diminished rays.

'TOO LATE.'

1.

Too late to rise-too late for school,
Too late to keep by each good rule;
The sluggard soon becomes a fool;
Oh never be 'too late.'

2.

Oh use the precious hours to-day,
To gather knowledge while you may,
For quickly hasteth Time away;
Then never be 'too late.'

3.

And grateful to your parents be,
For tenderly they've cared for thee,
And soon on earth you may them see
No more and mourn-' too late.'

4.

And to thy suffering brother-man,
Give aid and comfort while ye can,
Aye like the good Samaritan;

Ere yet it be too late.'

5.

To all, Death hasteth on apace,

Then seek thy Heavenly Father's face, Through life to guide thee by His grace; Ere yet it be too late.'

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