With distant voice neglected virtue calls,
Less heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls;
Tir’d with contempt, she quits the slipp’ry reign,
And pride and prudence take her seat in vain. 
In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,
The harmless freedom, and the private friend. 
The guardians yield, by force superiour ply’d: 
To int’rest, prudence; and to flatt’ry, pride. 
Here beauty falls, betray’d, despis’d, distress’d,
And hissing infamy proclaims the rest.
  [ff]Where then shall hope and fear their objects find? 
Must dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind? 
Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,
Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate? 
Must no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,
No cries invoke the mercies of the skies? 
Inquirer, cease; petitions yet remain
Which heav’n may hear; nor deem religion vain. 
Still raise for good the supplicating voice,
But leave to heav’n the measure and the choice. 
Safe in his pow’r, whose eyes discern afar
The secret ambush of a specious pray’r;
Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,
Secure, whate’er he gives, he gives the best. 
Yet, when the sense of sacred presence fires,
And strong devotion to the skies aspires[gg],
Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,
Obedient passions, and a will resign’d;
For love, which scarce collective man can fill;
For patience, sov’reign o’er transmuted ill;
For faith, that, panting for a happier seat,
[hh]Counts death kind nature’s signal of retreat: 
These goods for man the laws of heav’n ordain;
These goods he grants, who grants the pow’r to gain;
With these celestial wisdom calms the mind,
And makes the happiness she does not find.

FOOTNOTES [a] Ver. 1—­11. [b] Ver. 12—­22. [c] In the first edition, “the bonny traitor!” an evident
    allusion to the Scotch lords who suffered for the rebellion in 1745.
[d] Clang around. [e] New fears. [f] Ver. 23-37. [g] Yet still the gen’ral cry. [h] Ver. 28-55. [i] Ver. 56—­107. [Transcriber’s note:  There is no Footnote [j]] [k] The richest landlord. [l] Ver. 108—­113. [m] Ver. 114—­132. [n]
  Resistless burns the fever of renown,
  Caught from the strong contagion of the gown.

    Mr. Boswell tells us, that when he remarked to Dr. Johnson, that
    there was an awkward repetition of the word spreads in this passage,
    he altered it to “Burns from the strong contagion of the gown;” but
    this expression, it appears, was only resumed from the reading in
    the first edition.
[o] There is a tradition, that the study of friar Bacon, built on an
    arch over the bridge, will fall, when a man greater than Bacon shall
    pass under it.  To prevent so shocking an accident, it was pulled
    down many years since.
[p] And sloth’s bland opiates shed their fumes in vain. [q] The garret and the