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'But rous'd to rage, indignant heaves
Huge rocks of ice upon its waves;
While dread tornados lift on high
'The broad Atlantic to the sky..
'I rule the elemental roar,

' And strew with shipwrecks ev'ry shore: 'Nor less at land my pow'r is known'

• From Zembla to the burning zone.

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I bring Tartarian frosts to kill

'The bloom of summer; when I will
• Wide desolation doth appear
"To mingle and confound the year:
'From cloudy Atlas wrapt in night,
'On Barca's sultry plains I light,
'And make at once the desert rise

In dusty whirlwinds to the skies;
'In vain the trav'ller turns his steed
And shuns me with his utmost speed;
'I overtake him as he flies,

'O'erblown he strugglesį, pants and dies. 'Where some proud city lifts in air 'Its spires, Imake a desert bare

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And, when I chuse, for pastime's sake, Can with a mountain shift a lake; The Nile himself, at my command,. 'Oft hides his head beneath the sand, ' And 'midst dry deserts blown and toss'd, For many a sultry league is lost. 'All this I do with perfect ease, 'And can repeat where'er I please:

• What merit makes you then pretend: With me to argue and contend, • When all you, boast of force on skill Is scarce enough to turn a mill, Or help the swain to clear his corn, The servile tasks for which you're born?'

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Sir,' quoth the Breaze, if force alone Must pass for merit, I have none ;; At least, I'll readily, confess

That your's is greater, mine is less.. 'But merit rightly understood

* Consists alone in doing good;

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And, therefore, you yourself must see • That preference is due to me:

'I cannot boast to rule the skies 'Like you, and make the ocean rise, 'Nor e'er with shipwrecks strew the shore, For wives and orphans to deplores. • Mine is the happien task, to please The mariner, and smooth the seas,. "And waft him, safe from, foreign harme To bless his consort's longing arms. "With you, I boast not to confound 'The seasons, in their annual round.

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'And mar that harmony in nature
'That comforts ev'ry living creature..
'But oft, from warmer climes I bring
'Soft airs to introduce the Spring;
'With genial heat unlock the soil,
'And urge the ploughman, to his toil:

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'I bid the op'ning blooms unfold foergy cons • Their streaks of purple, blue and gold, pite odT 'And waft their fragrance to impart 'That new delight to ev'ry heart, 'Which makes the shepherd all day long • To carol sweet his vernal song: sono The summer's sultry heat to cool, From ev'ry river, lake and pool, 'I skim fresh airs. The tawny swain, 'Who turns at noon the furrow'd plain, 'Refresh'd and trusting in my aid,

• His task pursues and scorns the shade: 'And e'en on Afric's sultry coast,

Where such immense exploits you boast, 'I blow to cool the panting flocks

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''Midst deserts brown, and sun-burnt rocks,
'And health and vigour oft supply
To such as languish, faint and die:
Those humbler offices you nam'd,"
'To own I'll never be asham'd,
'With twenty others that conduce
To public good, or private use:
The meanest of them far outweighs
• The whole amount of all your praise;
'If to give happiness and joy,
Excels the talent to destroy."

The Tempest, that, till now, had lent
Attention to the argument,

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Again began (his patience lost)
To rage, to threaten, huff and boast:

to A 7 bah

1993

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Since reasons fail'd, resolv'd in course
The question to decide by force,
And his weak opposite to brave—
The Breeze retreated to a cave
To shelter, till the raging blast
Had spent its fury and was past.

FABLE XXVIII.

THE BOY AND THE RAINBOW.

By Wilkie,

DECLARE, ye sages, if ye find
'Mongst animals of every kind,
Of each condition, sort, and size,
From whales and elephants, to flies,
A creature that mistakes his plan,
And errs so constantly as man.
Each kind pursues his proper good,
And seeks for pleasure, rest and food,
As nature points, and never errs
In what it chuses and prefers;
Man only blunders, tho' possess'd
Of talents far above the rest.
Descend to instances, and try;
An ox will scarce attempt to fly,

Quoth he, The solo which ye

heard

• In public should not have appear'd ;' 'The trifling of an idle hour,

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'To please my mistress once when sour: 'My voice, that's somewhat rough and strong, Might chance the melody to wrong, But, tried by rules, you'll find the grounds 'Most perfect and harmonious sounds.' He reason'd thus; but, to his trouble, At ev'ry word the laugh grew double, At last, o'ercome with shame and spite, Away he flew far out of sight.

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FABLE XXVII.

THE BREEZE AND THE TEMPEST.

By Wilkie.

THAT nation boasts a happy fate
Whose prince is good, as well as great,
Calm peace at home with plenty reigns,
The law its proper course obtains;
Abroad the public is respected,
And all its int'rests are protected:
But, when his genius, weak or strong,
Is by ambition pointed wrong,

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