A spark, which upward tends by nature's A stream diverted from its parent source; Was I with hope of endless days deceiv'd? Let all the great, the rich, the learn'd, the Let all the shades of Judah's monarchs rise, Has once revers'd th' immutable decree worm The damask cheek devour, the finish'd On the pale rose of blasted beauty feed, Of holy prophets, and of seers divine? And silent as his lyre great David lies. Now speak'st repentance to a guilty land, As Nebat's son, who taught the land to sin! And shall I then be spar'd? O monstrous pride! Shall I escape when Solomon has died? If all the worth of all the saints were vain— Peace, peace, my troubled soul, nor dare complain! Lord, I submit. Complete thy gracious For if Thou slay me, I will trust Thee still. THE SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS: A PASTORAL DRAMA FOR YOUNG LADIES. -To rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot, To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, To breathe th' enliv'ning spirit, and to fix The gen'rous purpose in the female breast.-Thomson., TO MRS. GWATKIN. DEAR MADAM,-As the following poem turns chiefly on the danger of delay or error in the important article of education, I know not to whom I can, with more propriety, dedicate it than to you, as the subject it inculcates has been one of the principal objects of your attention in your own family. Let not the name of dedication alarm you: I am not going to offend you by making your eulogium. Panegyric is only necessary to suspicious characters: Virtue will not accept it; Delicacy will not offer it. The friendship with which you have honoured me from my childhood, will, I flatter myself, induce you to pardon me for venturing to lay before you this public testimony of my esteem, and to assure you how much I am, dear madam, THE object of the following poem, which was written in very early youth, was an earnest wish to furnish a substitute for the improper custom, which then prevailed, of allowing plays, and those not always of the purest kind, to be acted by young ladies in boarding schools. And it has afforded a serious satisfaction to the author to learn that this little poem, and the preceding sacred dramas, have very frequently been adopted to supply the place of those more dangerous amusements. If it may be still happily instrumental in promoting a regard to Religion and Virtue in the minds of young persons, and afford them an innocent, and perhaps not altogether unuseful, amusement, in the exercise of recitation, the end for which it was originally composed, and the author's utmost wish in its republication, will be fully answered. PROLOGUE. SPOKEN BY A YOUNG LADY. Is these grave scenes, and unembellish'd | Or fail the poet's meaning to imbibe ; Where neither sly intrigue nor passion reigns; No fierce Roxana takes by storm your hearts; No father cheated, and no friend deceiv'd; scenes To private life? to misses in their teens? In either case your blame we justly raise, strain! If well-how bad to be the thing we feign! 'Twould be a fairer tribute to her name, Scene-A Grove, EUPHELIA, CLEORA, PASTORELLA, LAU RINDA. Cle. WELCOME, ye humble vales, ye flow'ry shades, Ye crystal fountains, and ye silent glades! From the gay mis'ry of the thoughtless great, The walks of folly, the disease of state; Its dark suspicions and its hoard of pains; URANIA, an ancient shepherdess. ELIZA, S FLORELLA, a young shepherdess. And dull Satiety succeeds Delight; And guilty revels scare the phantom Sleep; Euph. Not the tir'd pilgrim all his dan- For, sure, these oaks, which old as Time Past, How the description with the scene agrees! Here lowly thickets, there aspiring trees; The hazel copse excluding noon-bays beam, The tufted arbor, the pellucid stream; The blooming sweet-briar, and the hawthorn shade, The springing cowslips, and the daisy'd mead, Cle. Long have we search'd throughout this bounteous isle, With constant ardour and with ceaseless toil; The various ways of various life we've try'd; The wild luxuriance of the full blown fields, But still the bliss we seek has been deny❜d. Which Spring prepares, and laughing Sum-We've sought in vain through ev'ry diff'rent mer yields. Euph. Here simple Nature strikes th' enraptur'd eye With charms, which wealth and art but ill supply; The genuine graces, which without we find, Display the beauty of the owner's mind. Lau. These embow'ring shades conceal the cell, Where sage Urania and her daughters dwell: Florella too, if right we've heard the tale, state; The murm'ring poor, the discontented great. If Peace, and Joy, in palaces reside, If Wit, if Science, teach the road to bliss, Whom do I see? ye beauteous virgins say By Prudence guided, and by Virtue warm'd, What chance conducts your steps this lone-Perhaps Florella can direct our youth, ly way? And point our footsteps to the paths of Truth. Do you pursue some fav'rite lambkin stray'd? Or do yon alders court you to their shade? Declare, fair strangers! if aright I deem, No rustic nymphs of vulgar rank you seem. Cle. No cooling shades allure our eager sight, [vite. Nor lambkins lost, our searching steps inFlo. Or is it, hap'ly, yonder branching vine, Whose tendrils round our low roof cottage twine; Whose spreading height, with purple clusters crown'd, Attracts the gaze of ev'ry nymph around? Have these lone regions aught that charms beside? [pride. Yours are my shades, my flow'rs, my fleecy Euph. Florella! our united thanks receive, Sole proof of gratitude we have to give : And since you deign to ask, O courteous fair! The motive of our unremitting care: Know then, kind maid, our joint researches tend To find that sovereign good of life, a friend; From whom the wholesome counsel we may gain, How our young hearts may happiness obtain. By Fancy's mimic pencil oft portray'd, VI. The springs of life shall gently cease, And angels point the way to peace. Ura. Ye tender objects of maternal love, Ye dearest joys my widow'd heart can prove; Come taste the glories of the new-born day, Joy's glad emotions to the pure in heart; Invoke thy mercies, and proclaim thy pow'r. If you this morn have rais'd your hearts in pray'r? Say did you rise from the sweet bed of rest, Your God unprais'd, his holy name unblest? Syl. Our hearts with gratitude and rev'rence fraught, By those pure precepts you have ever taught; By your example more than precept strong Of pray'r and praise have tun'd their matin song. Eliz. With ever new delight, we now attend The counsels of our fond maternal friend. Enter FLORELLA, with EUPHELIA, CLEO- Makes each event a lesson to the heart! stand: Improvement and delight go hand in hand. Here's the happy she, No more with this vain world perplex'd, Whom Heav'n most favour'd when it gave Thou shalt prepare me for the next; her thee. Ura. But who are these, in whose attrac-| Yet still some cause of wretchedness I tive mien, So sweetly blended, ev'ry grace is seen? Flor. Invited hither by Urania's fame, came. Straying alone at morning's earliest dawn, love : Which brings such guests to grace my lowly cell? [small, My pow'r of serving, though indeed but Such as it is, you may command it all. Cle. Your counsel, your advice, is all we ask; And for Urania that's no irksome task. 'Tis Happiness we seek : O deign to tell Where the coy fugitive delights to dwell! Ura. Ah, rather say where you have sought this guest, This lovely inmate of the virtuous breast? Declare the various methods you've essay'd To court and win the bright celestial maid. But first, though harsh the task, each beauteous fair Her ruling passion must with truth declare. From evil habits own'd, from faults confess'd, Alone we trace the secrets of the breast. Euph. Bred in the regal splendours of a court, Where pleasures, dress'd in every shape, resort, I try'd the pow'r of pomp and costly glare, Nor e'er found room for thought, or time for pray'r: In diff'rent follies ev'ry hour I spent ; I shunn'd Reflection, yet I sought Content. My hours were shar'd betwixt the park and play, And music serv'd to waste the tedious day; If some more graceful dancer were admir'd. No sounds but flatt'ry ever sooth'd my ear: Ungentle truths I knew not how to bear. "The anxious day induc'd the sleepless night, And my vex'd spirit never knew delight; Coy Pleasure mock'd me with delusive charms, Still the thin shadow fled my clasping arms: found, Some barbed shaft my shatter'd peace to wound. Perhaps her gay attire exceeded mineWhen she was finer, how could I be fine? Syl. Pardon my interruption, beauteous maid! Can truth have prompted what you just have said? What! can the poor pre-eminence of dress Ura. So close our nature is to vice allied, Our very comforts are the source of pride; And dress, so much corruption reigns within, Is both the consequence and cause of sin. Sought in a diff'rent path, but sought in vain! On daring wing my mountain spirit soar'd, And Science through her boundless fields explor❜d: I scorn'd the salique laws of pedant schools, Which chain our genius down by tasteless rules, I long'd to burst these female bonds, which held My sex in awe, by vanity impell'd: Like Swift, with strongly pointed ridicule, Or build, with Milton's art, the lofty rhyme;' Through Fancy's fields I rang'd; I strove to hit Melmoth's chaste style, and Prior's easy wit: Thy classic graces, Mason, to display, And ev'ry charm of Otway's melting page. Ura. Who aims at ev'ry science, socn will find The field how vast, how limited the mind! Cle. Abstruser studies soon my fancy caught, |