6 And, O thou fluggard! tell me why the ant, Her ftores; and, bringing home the corny ear, It might elude the forefight of her care? Diftinct, in either infect's deeds, appear The marks of thought, contrivance, hope, and fear. 'On the young gnat, or new-engender'd fly; To crawl; thy fellow-creatures, abject man! Like thee they breathe, they move, they tafte, they fee; They show their paffions, by their acts, like thee: Darting their ftings, they previously declare Defign'd revenge, and fierce intent of war. Laying their eggs, they evidently prove The genial pow'r and full effect of love. Has limbs and finews, blood, and heart, and brain, 'Life and her proper functions to fuftain, Tho' the whole fabrick fmaller than a grain! Prone to enlarge, or ftudious to contra&; 'Now forms her work too fmall, now too immenfe, And fcorns the measures of our feeble fenfe. The object, fpread too far, or rais'd too high, 'Denies it's real image to the eye; } } • Too Too little, it eludes the dazzled fight, • Becomes mix'd blackness or unparted light: • Water and air the varied form confound; The ftraight looks crooked, and the fquare grows round. And endless shapes, which the mysterious queen As from our loft purfuit fhe wills to hide • Her clofe decrees, and chaften human pride. He feeks his keeper's flesh, and thirfts his blood: And answer to the fpur, and own the bit; Stretch their glad mouths to meet the feeder's hand, "Pleas'd with his weight, and proud of his command. Again the lonely fox roams far abroad, On fecret rapine bent and midnight fraud; Now haunts the cliff, now traverses the lawn, • While the kind spaniel, and the faithful hound, • Refufes thro' thefe cliffs and lawns to roam, By what immediate cause they are inclin'd, In many acts, 'tis hard, I own, to find. } • I fee in others, or I think I fee, • That strict their principles and ours agree. Evil, like us, they fhun, and covet good, That Reason guides our deed, and Instinct theirs. • When the effects entirely are the fame? 'For, tell me, when the empty boaster's word Does he not tremble left the lion's paw Should join his plea against the fancy'd law? • Would not the learned coward leave the chair, • If in the schools or porches fhould appear The fierce hyæna or the foaming bear? The combatant too late the field declines, When now the fword is girded to his loins. When the fwift veffel flies before the wind, Too late the failor views the land behind: ' And 'tis too late now back again to bring Inquiry, rais'd and tow'ring on the wing; • Confider with me this ætherial space, Yielding to earth and fea the middle place: Anxious, I ask ye how the penfile ball • Should never ftrive to rife, nor never fear to fall? I } . When When I reflect how the revolving fun • Does round our globe his crooked journies run, Or herd of beast or colony of man : The rage of Arctos and eternal frost. May not the pleasure of Omnipotence, • The various heav'n of an obliquer sphere; • While, by fix'd laws, and with a just return, They feel twelve hours that shade for twelve that burn; And praise the neighb'ring fun, whofe conftant flame Enlightens them with seasons still the fame ? And may not thofe, whose distant lot is caft • North beyond Tartary's extended waste, And fix fucceeding urge their dusky flight, • Obscur'd with vapours, and o'erwhelm'd in night; May not, I afk, the natives of these climes, (As annals may inform fucceeding times) To our quotidian change of heav'n prefer • Their own viciffitude and equal share Of day and night difparted thro' the year? May they not fcorn our fun's repeated race, To narrow bounds prefcrib'd and little space; • Haft'ning from morn, and headlong driv'n from noon, Half of our daily toil yet fcarcely done? } • May May they not justly to our climes upbraid • Shortnefs of night and penury of shade; • That, ere our wearied limbs are justly blefs'd ⚫ With wholesome fleep and necessary reft, • Another fun demands return of care, • The remnant toil of yesterday to bear? • Whilft, when the folar beams falute their fight, • Bold and fecure in half a year of light, Uninterrupted voyages they take To the remoteft wood and fartheft lake, Manage the fishing, and pursue the course • With more extended nerves and more continu'd force; ' And when declining day forfakes their sky, • When gath'ring clouds speak gloomy winter nigh, • With plenty for the coming feafon blefs'd, • Six folid months (an age!) they live, releas'd From all the labour, procefs, clamour, woe, • Which our fad scenes of daily action know : They light the fhining lamp, prepare the feast, • And with full mirth receive the welcome guest; • Or tell their tender loves (the only care Which now they fuffer) to the lift'ning fair; And, rais'd in pleasure, or repos'd in ease, • They bless the long nocturnal influence, shed The hungry crocodile and hiffing fnake, Lurk in the troubled ftream and fenny brake; • And man untaught, and rav'nous as the beast, Does valley, wood, and brake, and stream, infest: • Deriv'd these men and animals their birth From trunk of oak or pregnant womb of earth? |