Unhappy wretch! wrapt up in thin disguise! (25.) Perfect would be our nature and our joy If man could ev'ry year one vice destroy 76 77, Withdraw thee from the sins that most assail, And labour where thy virtues least prevail78. (26.) False joys elate, and griefs as false controul The little pismire with an human soul79 : (27.) To wail and not amend a life mispent Means to confess, but means not to repent: Tongue-penitents, like him who too much owes, Run more in debt, and live but to impose. (28.) Deem not th' unhappy, vicious; nor de vote To sarcasm and contempt the thread-bare coat. Oft have we seen rich fields of genuine corn Edg'd round with brambles, and begirt with thorn. The pow'rs of Zeuxis' pencil are the same, Enclos'd in gilded, or in sable frame. (29.) The down that smoothes the great man's anxious bed, Was gather'd from a quiet poor man's shed: Content and peace are found in mean estate, And Jacob's dreams on Jacob's pillow wait. So Tekoa's swain, by no vain glories led, Nurtur'd his herds with leaves, and humbly fed81. (30.) Good turns of friends we scribble on the But injuries engrav'd on marble stands. [sand, (31.) With pray'rs thy ev'ning close, thy morn begin; But Heav'n's true sabbath is to rest from sin. (32.) An hermit once cry'd out in private pray'r, "Oh, if I knew that I should persevere !" Do now 83, what thou intendest then to do, 74 Isaiah, c. lix, v. 4. 75 Matth. c. x, v. 28. 76 Imitat. of Christ, L. I, c. 11. L. II, c. 23. 77"Instead of standing still, going backward, or deviating, always add, always proceed: not to advance, in some sense is to retire. It is better to creep in the right way than fly in the wrong way." St. August. in Serm. 78 Imitat. of Christ, L. I, c. 25. 79 Man. 80" And Jacob took the stones of that place and put them for his pillows." Gen. c. xxxviii, v. 2. 81 Amos c. vii, v. 14. 82 Kempisii dictum commune. "Beneficia pulveri; si quid mali patimur, marmori insculpimus." 83A Christian hath no to morrow; that is to say, a Christian should put off no duty till to morrow." Tertull. Imitat. of Christ, L. I, c. 25. They like the paradise, but shun the cross. Few have the faith to suffer for his sake93. 85 Imitat. of Christ, L. II, c. 28. See John c. ii, v. 28. 86 There is a sort of seeming good, which, if a rational mind loves, it sinneth; inasmuch as it is an object beneath the consideration of such a mind." St. August. de Ver. Relig. "Whatever is not loved on account of its own intrinsic worth, is not properly loved." Idem in Soliloq. L. I, c. 13. 87"In this life there is no virtue but in loving that which is truly amiable. To choose this, is prudence; to be averted from it by no terrifying circumstances, is fortitude. To be influenced by no sort of temptation, is temperance; and to be affected by no ambitious views, is considering the thing with impartial justice as we ought to do." Idem de Ver. Felicitat. L. II. 88 Imitat. of Christ, L. II, c. 11, No. 1. 89 lbid. 90 Ibid. 91 Matth. c. viii, v. 34. 92 Ibid. "It is common for man to ask every blessing that God can bestow, but he rarely desires to possess God himself." Aug. in Psalm lxxvi. 93 Imitat. of Christ, L. II, c. 2. No. 1. 94 Ibid. See also c. 12. Way dwells my unoffended eye On The high-arch'd church is lost in sky, Earth's womb, half dead to Ceres' skill, The scurf-grown moss, and tawdry weeds. Yet health, and strength, and ease we find : Tremble, and yonder Alp behold, Supremely gracious Deity, Bless me! how doubly sharp it blows, Supremely gracious Deity, Then, in exchange, a month or more For Nature rarely form'd a soil Son of Sirach:-"When the cold north wind bloweth, and the water congealed into ice, he poureth the hoar frost upon the earth. It abideth upon every gathering together of water, and clotheth the water with a breast-plate. It devoureth the mountain, and burneth the wilderness, and consumeth the grass as fire." c. xliii, v. 19, 21. ↑ A glaciére, or ice-mountain. Cuncta gelu, canâque æternùm grandine tecta, Atque ævi glaciem cohibent: riget ardua montis Æthenii facies, sargentique obria Phæbo Duratas nescit flammis mollire pruinas. Sil. Ital. 5"The Sun parcheth the country, and who can abide the burning heat thereof? A man blowing a furnace is in works of heat, but the Sun burneth the mountains three times more; breathing out fiery vapours, and sending forth bright beams, it dimmeth the eves." Ecclus, ch. xliii, v. 3, 4, Each earth at length to culture yields, 6 Thus the Corycian nurst his fields", Heav'r gave th' increase, and he the pains. Supremely gracious Deity, Scipio sought virtue in his prime, He serv'd the state with zeal and force, Supremely gracious Deity, When Dioclesian sought repose, Cloy'd and fatigu'd with nauseous pow'r, For fools t' admire, and rogues devour: He $, who had rul'd the world, exchang'd Supremely gracious Deity, Thus Charles, with justice styled the Great", And from a throne to shades withdraws; In vain (to soothe a monarch's pride) In vain the Saracen comply'd, And fierce Northumbrians stain'd with gore. 6 Du Hamel; Elem. d'Agricult. Patullo; Meliorat, des Terres. 7 Virg. Georg. IV, v. 127, &c. 8 Dioclesian. Heart's-ease, viola tricolor; called also by our old poets Love in idleness; pansy (from the French pensée, or the Italian pensieri); three faces under a hood; herb Trinity; look up and kiss me; kiss me at the gate, &c. One Gallic farm his cares confin'd; Supremely gracious Deity, Observant of th' Almighty-will, The moss-grown Haran's flinty soil 12: -Formidine nulla; Stat. Theb. IV. v. 489. THE VISION OF DEATH. Imperfecta tibi elapsa est, ingrataque vita; Mille modis leti miseros Mors una fatigat. ADVERTISEMENT. As this poem is an imperfect attempt to imitate Dryden's manner, I have of course admitted more triplets and Alexandrine verses than I might otherwise have done. Upon the whole, many good judges have thought, (and such was the private opinion of my much honoured friend Elijah Fenton in particular) that Dryden has too many Alexandrines and triplets, and Pope too few. The one by aiming at variety (for his ear was excellent) was betrayed into a careless diffusion; and the other, by affecting an over-scrupulous regularity, fell into sameness and restraint. We speak this with all due deference to the two capital poets of the last and present century: and say of them, as the successor of Virgil said of Amphiaraüs and Admetus; AMBO BONI, CHARIQUE AMBO.- INTRODUCTION. DRYDEN, forgive the Muse that apes thy voice 10 Spiræa, named also in ancient English poe-Freer than air, yet manacled with rhyme ? 1 Charlemagne. VOL. XVI, 12 Gen. ch. xii, v. 31. Nehem. ch. ix, v. 7. Judith, ch. v. 7. Acts, ch. vii, v. 2—11. Bb Thou mak'st each quarry which thou seek'st thy No sameness of a prattling stream is thine. (So Huron-leeches, when their patient lies Of all the pow'rs the human mind can boast, Alike in shape; unlike in strength and size;→ More still I think, and more I wish to say; In those fair vales by Nature form'd to please, Gave room to make thy laurels show the more 4. And, leaving Olivarez to sustain "About his wreaths the vulgar muses strive, From limbs of this great Hercules are fram'd Whole groups of pigmies, who are verse-men nam'd: Each has a little soul he calls his own, 1 Layer,lair, and lay.-The surface of arable or grass-lands. Chaucer; Folkingham, 1610; Dryden. Laire also signifies the place where beasts sleep in the fields, and where they leave the mark of their bodies on young corn, grass, &c. 2 Voyages du Baron La Hontan. 3 Milton. The verses of Robert Waring, (a friend of Dr. Donne's) on a poet in the beginning of the last century, may be applied to Dryden: Younger with years, with studies fresher Th' encumbring fasces of ambitious Spain, Yet all these charms could never luil to rest Whisper'd no peace to calm this nervous war; I sought my bed, in hopes relief to find: Yet free from grief was I, and void of pain. When nothing makes them sick but too much wealth, Or wild o'er-boiling of ungovern'd health; Most men, like David, wayward in extremes, Languish for Ramah's cisterns, and her streams: The bev'rage sought for comes; capricious, they Loathe their own choice, and wish the boon away 3. Such was my state. "O gentle Sleep," I "Why is thy gift to me alone deny'd? [cry'd, Mildest of beings, friend to ev'ry clime, Where lies my errour, what has been my crime? Beasts, birds, and cattle feel thy balmy rod; The drowsy mountains wave, and seem to nod The torrents cease to chide, the seas to roar, And the hush'd waves recline upon the shore." Perhaps the wretch, whose god is wealth and care, Rejects the precious object of my pray'r: * Currit agens mannos ad villam hic præcipitanter, Auxilium tectis quasi ferre ardentibus instans. Lucret. L. III. v. 1076. See Sandy's Trav. p. 137, and 1 Chron. ch. xi, v. 17, &c. All the verses in this paragraph marked with So spoke I restless; and, then springing light From my tir'd bed; walk'd forth in meer despite. What impulse mov'd my steps I dare not say; Perhaps some guardian-angel inark'd th' way: By this time Phospher had his lamp withdrawn, And rising Phoebus glow'd on ev'ry lawn. The air was gentie, (for the month was May,) And ev'ry scene look'd innocent and gay. In pious matins birds with birds conspire,Some lead the notes, and some assist the choir. The goat-herd, gravely pacing with his flocks, Leads them to heaths and bry❜rs, and crags and rocks. Th' impatient mower with an aspect blythe (Whilst humbler olives, intermix'd between, Wand'ring still on, at length my eyes survey'd A painted seat, beneath a larch-tree's shade. I sate, and try'd to dose, but slumber fled; I then essay'd a book, and thus I read 9: "Suppose, O man, great Nature's voice should To thee, or me, or any of us all; [call 'What dost thou mean, ungrateful wretch! thou Thou mortal thing, thus idly to complain? [vain, If all the bounteous blessings I could give, Thou hadst enjoy'd; If thou hadst known to live (And pleasure not leak'd thro' thee like a sieve); Why dost thou not give thanks as at a plenteous feast, [take thy rest? Cramm'd to the throat with life, and rise and But, if my blessings thou hast thrown away, If indigested joys pass'd thro' and would not stay, Why dost thou wish for more to squander still? If life be grown a load, a real ill, And I would all thy cares and labours end, inverted commas are imitated from a famous Lay down thy burthen, fool! and know thy passage in Statius, never yet translated into our language. The original perhaps is as fine a morsel of poetry as antiquity can boast of: Crimine quo merui juvenis placidissime divum Et simulant fessos curvata cacumina somnos. friend. The best species of this grass, hitherto known, is in Andalusia. 6 Alfalsa (from the old Arabian word alfalsa. fat) lucerne-grass. At present the Spaniards call it also ervaye. 7 A sort of ever-green laryx: Pinus Cembra. This beautiful tree grows wild on the Spanish Appennines, and is raised by culture in less mountainous places. What name the natives give it I have forgotten; but the French in the Briançois call it meleze, and the Italians in the bishopric of Trente, in Fiume, &c. give it the name of cirmoli, not lariché. |