thee and overtake thee. Curfed fhalt thou be in the City, and Curfed fhalt thou be in the Field. Curfed fhall be thy Basket and thy Store. Curfed fhall be the Fruit of thy Body, and the Fruit of thy Land, the Increase of thy Kine, and the Flocks of thy Sheep. Curfed fhalt thou be when thou comest in, and Curfed fhalt thou be when thou goeft put, &c. &c.

ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ. Know Yourfelf.

HAT am I? how produc'd? and for what end?

WH

Whence drew I being? to what period tend?
Am I th'abandon'd orphan of blind chance;
Dropt by wild atoms in diforder'd dance?
Or from an endlefs chain of caufes wrought?
And of unthinking fubftance, born with thought?
By motion which began without a caufe,
Supreamly wife, without defign or laws,
Am I but what I feem, meer flesh and blood;
A branching channel, with a mazy flood?
The purple ftream that through my veffels glides,
Dull and unconfcious flows like common tides:
The pipes through which the circling juices ftray,
Are not that thinking I, no more than they :
This frame, compacted with transcendent skill,
Of moving joints obedient to my will;
Nurs'd from the fruitful glebe, like yonder tree,
Waxes and waftes; I call it mine, not me :
New matter ftill the mould'ring mass fuftains,
The mansion chang'd, the tenant ftill remains;

And

And from the fleeting ftream repair'd by food,
Diftinct, as is the fwimmer from the flood.
What am I then? fure, of a nobler birth,
Thy parents right, I own a mother, earth;
But claim fuperior lineage by my SIRE,
Who warm'd th'unthinking clod with heavenly fire:
Effence divine, with lifelefs clay allay'd,
By double nature, double inftinct sway'd;
With look erect, I dart my longing eye,
Seem wing'd to part, and gain my native fky;
I ftrive to mount, but ftrive, alas! in vain,
Ty'd to this maffy globe with magick chain.
Now with fwift thought I range from pole to pole,
View worlds around their flaming centers roll:
What steady powers their endless motions guide,
Thro' the fame tracklefs paths of boundlefs void!
I trace the blazing comet's fiery trail,
And weigh the whirling planets in a scale:
Thofe godlike thoughts, while eager I pursue,
Some glitt'ring trifle offer'd to my view,
A gnat, an infect, of the meanest kind,
Erafe the new-born image from my mind;
Some beaftly want, craving, importunate,
Vile as the grinning maftiffs at my gate,
Calls off from heav'nly truth this reas'ning me,
And tells me I'm a brute as much as he.
If on fublimer wings of love and praise,
My foul above the ftarry vault I raise,
Lur'd by fome vain conceit, or shameful luft,
I flag, I drop, and flutter in the dust.
The tow'ring lark thus from her lofty ftrain,
Stoops to an emmet, or a barley grain.
By adverse gufts of jarring instincts tost,
I rove to one, now to the other coaft;
To blifs unknown my lofty foul afpires,
My lot unequal to my vaft defires.

As

As 'mongst the hinds a child of royal birth
Finds his high pedigree by confcious worth;
So man, amongst his fellow brutes expos'd,
Sees he's a king, but 'tis a king depos'd:
Pity him, beafts! you by no law confin'd,
Are barr'd from devious paths by being blind;
Whilft man, through op'ning views of various ways
Confounded, by the aid of knowledge ftrays;
Too weak to choose, yet choofing still in hafte,
One moment gives the pleasure and distaste;
Bilk'd by paft minutes, while the prefent cloy,
The flatt'ring future ftill muft give the joy.
Not happy, but amus'd upon the road,
And (like you) thoughtless of his laft abode,
Whether next fun his being fhall restrain,
To endless nothing, happiness, or pain.
Around me, lo, the thinking thoughtless crew,
(Bewilder'd each) their different paths purfue;
Of them I afk the way; the firft replies,
Thou art a god; and fends me to the skies.
Down on this turf (the next) thou two-legg'd beaft,
There fix thy lot, thy blifs, and endless reft:
Between those wide extreams the length is fuch,
I find I know too little or too much.

"Almighty pow'r, by whofe moft wife command,
Helplefs, forlorn, uncertain here I ftand;
Take this faint glimmering of thy felf away,
Or break into my foul with perfect day!
This faid, expanded lay the facred text,
The balm, the light, the guide of fouls perplext:
Thus the benighted traveller that ftrays

'Through doubtful paths, enjoys the morning rays; The nightly mist, and thick defcending dew, Parting, unfold the fields, and vaulted blue. "O truth divine! enlightened by thy ray, "I grope and guess no more, but fee any way;

"Thou

"Thou clearedft the fecret of my high defcent, "And told me what those myftic tokens meant ; "Marks of my birth, which I had worn in vain, "Too hard for worldly fages to explain; "Zeno's were vain, vain Epicurus' schemes,

Their fyftems falfe, delufive were their dreams; "Unfkill'd my twofold nature to divide,

"One nurs'd by pleafure, and one nurs❜d by pride: "Thofe jarring truths which human art beguile, 66 Thy facred page thus bid me reconcile. Offpring of God, no lefs thy pedigree,

What thou once wer't, art now, and still may be,
Thy God alone can tell, alone decree ;
Faultless thou dropt from his unerring skill,
With the bare pow'r to fin, fince free of will:
Yet charge not with thy guilt, his bounteous love,
For who has power to walk, has power to rove;
Who acts by force impell'd, can nought deferve;
And wifdom fhort of infinite, may fwerve.
Born on thy new-imp'd wings, thou took'ft thy flight,
Left thy creator, and the realms of light;
-Difdain'd his gentle precept to fulfi!;

And thought to grow a god by doing ill :
Though by foul guilt thy heav'nly form defac'd,
In nature chang'd from happy manfions chac❜d,
Thou ftill retain'ft fome fparks of heav'nly fire,
Too faint to mount, yet reftlefs to afpire;
Angel enough to feek thy blifs again,
And brute enough to make thy fearch in vain.
The creatures now withdraw their kindly use,
Some fly thee, fome torment, and fome feduce
Repaft ill fuited to fuch diff'rent guests,
For what thy fenfe defires, thy foul diftaftes;
Thy luft, thy curiofity, thy pride,
Curb'd, or deferr'd, or balk'd, or gratify'd,

Rage

Rage on, and make thee equally unblefs'd,
In what thou want'ft, and what thou haft poffeft;
In vain thou hop'ft for blifs on this poor clod,
Return, and feek thy father, and thy God:
Yet think not to regain thy native sky,
Born on the wings of vain philofophy;
Myfterious paffage! hid from human eyes;
Soaring you'll fink, and finking you will rife:
Let humble thoughts thy wary footsteps guide,
Regain by meekness what you loft by pride.

HUYGENS de Ratiociniis in Ludo Alea: Tranflated into English by Dr. ARBUTHNOT.

I

The PREFACE.

Tis thought as necessary to write a Preface before a Book, ass judged civil, when you invite a Friend to Dinner, to proffer him a Glafs of Hock beforehand for a Whet: And this being maim'd enough for want of a Dedication, I am refolved it shall not want an Epistle to the Reader too. I shall not take upon me to determine, whether it is lawful to play at Dice or not, leaving that to be difputed betwixt the Fanatick Parfons and the Sharpers; I am fure it is lawful to deal with Dice as with other Epidemic Diftempers; and I am confident that the writing a Book about it, will contribute as little towards its Encouragement, as Fluxing and Precipitates do to Whoring.

It will be to little purpose to tell my Reader, of how great Antiquity the playing at Dice is, I will only let him know, that by the Alex Ludus, the Antients comprehended all Games, which were fubjected to the Determina