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 woe:
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.

Ura. Since, gentle Nymphs, my friendship to ol tain,

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 shown,

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 woe,
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 grac'd,
For first impressions seldom are effac'd.
Then holy habits, then chastis'd desires,
Should regulate disorder'd Nature's fires.
If Ignorance, then, her iron sway mantain,
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. Ura. Euphelia sighs for flatt'ry, dress, and show: Too common sources these of female woe. 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 subdu'd.
This fatal gangrene to our moral life,
Rejects all palliatives, and asks the knife;
Excision spar'd, it taints the vital part,
And spreads its deadly venom to the heart.
Eup. 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 flatt'ry taint Euphelia's mind:
By thee instructed, still my views shall rise,
Nor stop at any mark beneath the skies.

Ura. In 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:
Your random life to no just rules reduc'd,
'Twas chance the virtue or the vice produc'd,
The casual goodness Impulse has to boast,
Like morning dews, or transient show'rs, is lost;
While Heav'n-taught virtue pours her constant tide,
Like streams by living fountains still supplied.
Be wisdom still, though late, your earnest care,
Nor waste the precious hours in vain despair:
Associate with the good, attend the sage,
And meekly listen to experienc'd age.

What, if acquirements you have fail'd to gain,
Such as the wise may want, the bad attain;
Yet still Religion's sacred treasures lie
Inviting, open, plain to ev'ry eye;
For ev'ry age, for ev'ry genius fit,
Nor limited to science nor to wit;

Not bound by taste, to genius not confin'd,
But all may learn the truths for all design'd.
Though low the talents, and the acquirements small,
The gift of grace divine is free to all;

She calls, solicits, courts you to be blest,

And points to mansions of eternal rest.

And when advanc'd in years, matur'd in sense,
Think not with farther care you may dispense:
'Tis fatal to the int'rests of the soul

To stop the race before we've reach'd the goal;
For nought our higher progress can preclude
So much as thinking we're already good.

The human heart ne'er knows a state of rest:
Bad leads to worse, and better tends to best.
We either gain or lose, we sink or rise,
Nor rests our struggling Nature till she dies:
Then place the standard of Perfection high ;
Pursue and grasp it, e'en beyond the sky.

Lau. O that important Time could back return Those mis-spent hours whose loss I deeply mourn! Accept, just Heav'n, my penitence sincere, My heartfelt anguish, and my fervent pray'r. Ura. I pity Pastorella's hapless fate, By nature gentle, gen'rous, mild, and great: One false propension all her pow'rs confin'd, And chain'd her finer faculties of mind; Yet ev'ry virtue might have flourish'd there With early culture and maternal care.

If good we plant not, Vice will fill the place,
And rankest weeds the richest soils deface.
Learn, how ungovern'd thoughts the mind pervert,
And to disease all nourishment convert.

Ah! happy she, whose wisdom learns to find
A healthful fancy, and a well train'd mind.
A sick man's wildest dreams less wild are found
Than the day-visions of a mind unsound.
Disorder'd phantasies indulg'd too much,
Like harpies, always taint whate'er they touch.
Fly, soothing Solitude! fly, vain Desire!
Fly such soft verse as fans the dang'rous fire!
Seek action; 'tis the scene which virtue loves:
The vig'rous sun not only shines, but moves.
From sickly thoughts with quick abhorrence start,
And rule the fancy if you'd rule the heart: