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 Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon? What now avails that noble thirst of fame, Which stung thy fervent breast? That treasur'd store Of knowledge, early gain'd? That eager zeal To serve thy country, glowing in the band Of, who sustain her name? What now, alas! that life-diffusing charm Of sprightly wit? that rapture for the Muse That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy, Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile? Ah! only shew'd, to check our fond pursuits, And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain!

in some deep retirement would I pass, The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant soul. Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspir'd: With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame Was call'd, late-rising from the void of night, Or sprung eternal from th' ; Its springs, its laws, its progress, and its end. Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole Would, gradual, open on our opening minds; And each diffusive harmony unite, In full perfection, to th' astonish'd eye. Then would we try to scan the moral World, Which, tho' to us it seems embroil'd; moves on In higher order; fitted, and impell'd, By finest hand, and issuing all In general Good. The sage historic Muse Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time: Shew us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell, In scatter'd states; what makes the nations smile, Improves their soil, and gives them double suns; And why they pine beneath the brightest skies, In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd, Our