While Nature tir'd, her midnight sabbath keeps,
And ev'ry thought, but pure Devotion, sleeps:
The smiling Stars roll on, the dazzling Moon
In pomp advances to her silent noon;

While thy sweet voice, soft as the midnight air,
Dispels the gloom of ev'ry earthly care,
Unfolding boundless prospects of delight
Before the piercing intellectual sight.

Beneath the sacred mount, by thee inspir'd,
The Hebrews' glorious Leader sat retir'd;
The new made world, and Eden's blooming pride,
In various scenes before him lay describ'd.

O princely Swain, how didst thou then despise
Th' Egyptian court, how worthless in thy eyes!
What were the grandeurs of a royal fate
To the distinctions of thy present state!
While Paradise, in all its charming views,
For thee the great creating Voice renews:
For thee again the morning Stars rejoice;
Again for thee they raise the tuneful voice;
The sons of God touch the melodious lyre,
And all the wide creation join the choir,

Lead me, Propitious Spirit, lead me far,
Where I no more the voice of man may hear;
You charming Visions, how you fire my soul,
And ev'ry thought of earthly things controul!
Through what enchanting paths, what flow'ry ways,
My fancy led, with boundless freedom strays!
Reveal'd the avenues of Pleasure ly,

And wide the crystal portals fly;

open

Immortal Beauty smiles, angelic pow'rs,

In soft responses, sing from rosy bow'rs.

You will not blame me, being got here, if I have no inclination to descend. But mortality will pre

vail; I sink to my native element again; where, as long as I am confined, believe me to be

Your Lordship's

Most obliged humble servant,

LYSANDER.

LETTER XII.

The sequel of the story of ROSELLA, in the last letter of the First Part of Letters Moral and Entertaining. WHEN I was in the West, four years since, I wrote you word that I had made an acquaintance in a family who lived in a little retirement at the foot of a hill a few miles from my house. I then gave you an account of the piety and beauty of those exemplary recluses, and owned that I had not at that time forgot the charms of Melissa; but I did not tell you that they had made an impression on me which could never be erased by all the modish schemes of interest and alliances; nor could that darling (but mistaken) notion of liberty hold me out against the desire I had to call her mine, and make her so by the strongest and happiest ties, those of marriage. I struggled with my own heart, and would fain have terrified it by the laugh I should raise among my acquaintance, when they heard that I, in the gayest bloom of life, and with four thousand pounde

2-year at my command, should leave all the fashionable maxims of mankind, and fall in love with a young woman who had only beauty, and the sanctity of her manners, to recommend her: for tho' her birth is noble, she has only three thousand pounds, which I design to present to Honoria her mother the day after our marriage, which will be solemnized as soon as my lawyer can finish a deed, by which I give Melissa a thousand pounds a-year rent-charge for her life, in case she should survive

me.

Now I have told you my happiness, I cannot help making you acquainted with Rosella's, whose story, you often said, touched you. I went to the house of Honoria the day after I came hither, (for now it was my only business.) As soon as I alighted, a clean footman, in a frock turned up with green, took my horse; I expected from this to find an alteration in the family, (for when I was there first they had no livery-servant.) As soon as I came into the hall I saw a beautiful young man, whose dress was entirely plain; his hair hung in natural curls without any powder, and his air and appearance seemed to suit with the simplicity and elegance of the other inhabitants of that happy dwelling. Rosella was sitting by a table, and had a boy of about fourteen months old in her lap, rosy and smiling as a Cherubim, who was playing with some flowers with which Melissa was going

to dress a bason. Rosella immediately rose, and, coming towards me, desired I would give her leave to present her husband Alonzo to me. I was rejoiced at the sound, and congratulated her upon the change of her fortune in a manner that might convince her how sincerely I shared in all that related to her. The lovely Melissa seemed glad to see me, and ran to call Honoria with an obliging haste. After a few compliments were over, I inquired what had produced the alteration I saw. Honoria told me, that about two years and a half ago, Alonzo's father fell dangerously ill, and that he expressed an ardent desire to see his son; upon which his wife wrote to a nephew she had in London (who was the most intimate friend Alonzo had upon earth,) in hopes that he might possibly be acquainted with the place of his retreat; and begged of him, if he knew how to direct a letter, that he would write, and desire him to come and see his dying father. The nephew immediately dispatched an express to Alonzo, who was retired into a little village in Lancashire, where he boarded in the house of an old clergyman, who had not other family than himself and his wife, and who were glad to have Alonzo with them, as he appeared a modest, sober, young man; for their circumstances were too plentiful to want the advantage of a boarder. He immediately left the old people, and came home about four days before

2-year at my command, should leave all the fashionable maxims of mankind, and fall in love with a young woman who had only beauty, and the sanctity of her manners, to recommend her: for tho' her birth is noble, she has only three thousand pounds, which I design to present to Honoria her mother the day after our marriage, which will be solemnized as soon as my lawyer can finish a deed, by which I give Melissa a thousand pounds a-year rent-charge for her life, in case she should survive

me.

Now I have told you my happiness, I cannot help making you acquainted with Rosella's, whose story, you often said, touched you. I went to the house of Honoria the day after I came hither, (for now it was my only business.) As soon as I alighted, a clean footman, in a frock turned up with green, took my horse; I expected from this to find an alteration in the family, (for when I was there first they had no livery-servant.) As soon as I came into the hall I saw a beautiful young man, whose dress was entirely plain; his hair hung in natural curls without any powder, and his air and appearance seemed to suit with the simplicity and elegance of the other inhabitants of that happy dwelling. Rosella was sitting by a table, and had a boy of about fourteen months old in her lap, rosy and smiling as a Cherubim, who was playing with some flowers with which Melissa was going