By active goodness, by laborious schemes,
Subdue wild visions, and delusive dreams.
No earthly good a Christian's views should bound,
For ever rising should his aims be found.
Leave that fictitious good your fancy feigns,
For scenes where real bliss eternal reigns:
Look to that region of immortal joys,
Where fear disturbs not, nor possession cloys;
Beyond what Fancy forms of rosy bow'rs,
Or blooming chaplets of unfading flow'rs;
Fairer than e'er imagination drew,
Or poet's warmest visions ever knew.
Press eager onward to those blissful plains
Where life eternal, joy perpetual reigns.
Pas. I mourn the errors of my thoughtless youth,
And long, with thee, to tread the paths of truth.
Ura. Learning is all the bright Cleora's aim;
She seeks the loftiest pinnacle of fame;
On interdicted ground presumes to stand,
And grasps at Science with a vent'rous hand;
The privilege of Man she dares invade,
And tears the chaplet from his laurel'd head.
Why found her merit on a foreign claim?
Why lose a substance to acquire a name?
Let the proud sex possess their vaunted pow'rs;
Be other triumphs, other glories, ours!
The gentler charms which wait on female life,
Which grace the daughter and adorn the wife,
Be these our boast; yet these may well admit
Of various knowledge, and of blameless wit;
Of sense, resulting from a nurtur'd mind,
Of polish'd converse, and of taste refin'd:
Of that quick intuition of the best,
Which feels the graceful, and rejects the rest;
Which finds the right by shorter ways than rules:
An art which Nature teaches not the schools.
Thus conqu'ring Sévigné the heart obtains,
While Dacier only admiration gains.
Know, fair Aspirer, could you even hope
To speak like Stonhouse, or to write like Pope,
To all the wonders of the Poet's lyre,
Join all that taste can add, or wit inspire,
With every various pow'r of learning fraught,
The flow of style and the sublime of thought;
Yet, if the milder graces of the mind,
Graces peculiar to the sex design'd,
Good nature, patience, sweetness void of art;
If these embellish'd not your virgin heart,
You might be dazzling, but not truly bright;
Might glare, but not emit a useful light;
A meteor, not a star, you would appear;
For Woman shines but in her proper sphere.
Accomplishments by Heav'n were sure design'd,
Less to adorn than to amend the mind:
Each should contribute to this gen'ral end,
And all to virtue, as their centre, tend.
Th' acquirements, which our best esteem invite,
Should not project, but soften, mix, unite:
In glaring light not strongly be display'd,
But sweetly lost, and melted into shade.
Cle. Confus'd with shame, to thy reproofs I bend,
Thou best adviser, and thou truest friend:
From thee I learn to judge and act aright,
Humility with Knowledge to unite :
The finish'd character must both combine;
The perfect woman must in either shine.
Ura. Florella shines adorn'd with every grace,
Her heart all virtue as all charms her face:
Above the wretched and below the great,
Kind Heav'n has fix'd her in a middle state;
The demon Fashion never warp'd her soul,
Her passions move at Piety's control;
Her eyes the movements of her heart declare,
For what she dares to be, she dares appear;
Unlectur'd in Dissimulation's school,
To smile by precept, and to blush by rule;
Her thoughts ingenuous, ever open lie,
Nor shrink from close Inspection's keenest eye;
No dark disguise about her heart is thrown; .
'Tis Virtue's int'rest fully to be known;
Her nat❜ral sweetness ev'ry heart obtains;
What Art and Affectation miss, she gains.
She smooths the path of my declining years,
Augments my comforts, and divides my cares.
Pas. O sacred Friendship! O exalted state!
The choicest bounty of indulgent fate!
Ura. Let Woman then her real good discern,
And her true int'rests of Urania learn ;
As some fair violet, loveliest of the glade,
Sheds its mild fragrance on the lonely shade,
Withdraws its modest head from public sight,
Nor courts the Sun, nor seeks the glare of light;
Should some rude hand profanely dare intrude,
And bear its beauties from its native wood,
Expos'd abroad its languid colours fly,
Its form decays, and all its odours die;
So Woman, born to dignify retreat,
Unknown to flourish, and unseen be great,
To give domestic life its sweetest charm,
With softness polish, and with virtue warm,
Fearful of Fame, unwilling to be known,
Should seek but Heav'n's applauses, and her own;
Hers be the task to seek the lonely cell
Where modest want and silent anguish dwell;
Raise the weak head, sustain the feeble knees,
Cheer the cold heart, and chase the dire disease.
The splendid deeds, which only seek a name,
Are paid their just reward in present fame :
But know, the awful all-disclosing day,
The long arrear of secret worth shall pay;
Applauding Saints shall hear with fond regard,
And HE, who witness'd here, shall there reward.
Euph. With added grace she pleads Religion's
Who from her life her virtuous lesson draws.
Ura. In vain, ye fair, from place to place you roam, For that true peace which must be found at home; Nor change of fortune, nor of scene can give The bliss you seek, which in the soul must live. Then look no more abroad; in your own breast Seek the true seat of happiness and rest. Nor small, my friends, the vigilance I ask ; Watch well yourselves; this is the Christian's task. The cherish'd sin by each must be assail'd, New efforts added, where the past have fail'd; The darling error check'd, the will subdu'd, The heart by penitence and pray'r renew'd.
Nor hope for perfect happiness below;
Celestial plants on earth reluctant grow:
He who our frail mortality did bear,
Though free from sin, was not exempt from care.
Cle. Let's join to bless that Pow'r who brought us
here,
Adore his goodness, and his will revere:
Assur'd that Peace exists but in the mind,
And Piety alone that peace can find.
Ura. In its true light this transient life regard :
This is a state of trial, not reward.
Though rough the passage, peaceful is the port,
The bliss is perfect, the probation short.
Of human wit beware the fatal pride:
A useful follower, but a dang'rous guide:
On holy Faith's aspiring pinions rise;
Assert your birth-right, and assume the skies.
FOUNTAIN OF BEING, teach us to devote
To Thee each purpose, action, word, and thought!
Thy grace our hope, thy love our only boast,
Be all distinctions in the Christian lost!
Be this in ev'ry state our wish alone,
Almighty, Wise, and Good, Thy will be done.
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