Nor less, shall thy fair ones to glory ascend,
    And Genius and Beauty in harmony blend;
    The graces of form shall awake pure desire,
    And the charms of the soul ever cherish the fire;
    Their sweetness unmingled, their manners refin’d,
    And virtue’s bright image, instamp’d on the mind,
    With peace, and soft rapture, shall teach life to glow,
    And light up a smile in the aspect of woe.

    Thy fleets to all regions thy pow’r shall display,
    The nations admire, and the ocean obey;
    Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold,
    And the east and the south yield their spices and gold. 
    As the day-spring unbounded, thy splendor shall flow,
    And earth’s little kingdoms before thee shall bow;
    While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurl’d,
    Hush the tumult of war, and give peace to the world.

    Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars o’erspread,
    From war’s dread confusion, I pensively stray’d—­
    The gloom from the face of fair heav’n retir’d;
    The winds ceas’d to murmur; the thunders expir’d;
    Perfumes, as of Eden, flow’d sweetly along,
    And a voice, as of angels, enchantingly sung: 
    “Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
    The queen of the world, and the child of the skies”

THE CHOICE OF A RURAL LIFE.

A POEM,

Written by W.L.  Esq.  Gov. of N.J.

THE ARGUMENT.

The subject proposed.  Situation of the author’s house.  His frugality in his furniture.  The beauties of the country.  His love of retirement, and choice of his friends.  A description of the morning.  Hymn to the sun.  Contemplation of the Heavens.  The existence of God inferred from a view of the beauty and harmony of the creation.  Morning and evening devotion.  The vanity of riches and grandeur.  The choice of his books.  Praise of the marriage state.  A knot of modern ladies described.  The author’s exit.

PHILOSOPHIC SOLITUDE, &c.

    Let ardent heroes seek renown in arms,
    Pant after fame, and rush to war’s alarms;
    To shining palaces let fools resort,
    And dunces cringe to be esteem’d at court: 
    Mine be the pleasure of a rural life,
    From noise remote, and ignorant of strife;
    Far from the painted belle, and white-glov’d beau,
    The lawless masquerade and midnight show;
    From ladies, lap-dogs, courtiers, garters, stars,
    Fops, fiddlers, tyrants, emperors, and czars.

    Full in the centre of some shady grove,
    By nature form’d for solitude and love;
    On banks array’d with ever-blooming flow’rs,
    Near beaut’ous landscapes, or by roseate bow’rs,
    My neat, but simple mansion I would raise,
    Unlike the sumptuous domes of modern days;
    Devoid of pomp, with rural plainness form’d,
    With savage game, and glossy shells adorn’d.