She strikes rebounding; whence the shatter'doak | The troubled mind's fantastic dress, So fierce a shock unable to withstand, 1 they pray; (Vain efforts!) still the batt'ring waves rush in, Implacable; till, delug'd by the foam, The ship sinks found'ring in the vast abyss. § 98. An Epistle to a Lady. NUGENT. CLARINDA, dearly lov'd, attend The counsels of a faithful friend; Who with the warmest wishes fraught, Feels all, at least, that friendship ought! But since, by ruling Heaven's design, Another's fate shall influence thine; Oh may these lines for him prepare, A bliss, which I would die to share! Man may for wealth or glory roam But woman must be blest at home; To this should all her studies tend, This her great object and her end. Distaste unmingled pleasures bring, And use can blunt Affliction's sting; Hence perfect bliss no mortals know, And few are plung'd in utter woe : While Nature, arm'd against Despair, Gives pow'r to mend, or strength to bear; And half the thought content may gain, Which spleen employs to purchase pain. Trace not the fair domestic plan Thy share alone is meant for thee; Admit whatever trifles come; Which madness titles Happiness; While the gay wretch to revels bears The pale remains of sighs and tears; And seeks in crowds, like her undone, What only can be found in one. But chief, my gentle friend! remove Far from thy couch seducing Love: Oh shun the false magician's art, Nor trust thy yet unguarded heart! Caarm'd by his spells fair Honor flies, And thousand treach'rous phantoms rise; Where Guilt in Beauty's ray beguiles, And Ruin lurks in Friendship's smiles. Lo! where th' enchanting captive dreams Of warbling groves and purling streanis; Of painted meads, of flow'rs that shed Their odors round her fragrant bed. Quick shifts the scene, the charin is lost, She wakes upon a desert coast; No friendly hand to lend its aid, No guardian bow'r to spread its shade; Expos'd to ev'ry chilling blast, She treads th' inhospitable waste; And down the drear decline of life Sinks, a forlorn, dishonor'd wife. Neglect not thou the voice of Fame, But, clear from crime, be free from blame Tho' all were innocence within, 'Tis guilt to wear the garb of sin; Virtue rejects the foul disguise : None merit praise who praise despise. Slight not, in supercilious strain, Long practis'd modes, as low or vain! The world will vindicate their cause, And claim, blind faith in Custom's laws.. | Safer with multitudes to stray, Than tread alone a fairer way; To mingle with the erring throng, Than boldly speak ten millions wrong.. Beware of the relentless train Who forms adore, who forms maintain! Lest prudes demure, or coxcombs lond, Accuse thee to the partial crowd; Foes who the laws of honor slight, A judge who measures guilt by spite. Behold the sage Aurelia stand, Disgrace and fame at her command; As if Heaven's delegate design'd, Sole arbiter of all her kind. Whether she try some favor'd piece By rules devis'd in antient Greece; Or whether, modern in her flight, She tells what Paris thinks polite: For much her talents to advance, She studied Greece, and travell'd France; There learn'd the happy art to please With all the charms of labor'd ease; Thro' looks and nods, with meaning fraught, To teach what she was never taught. By her each latent spring is seen; The workings foul of secret spleen; The guilt that skulks in fair pretence; Or folly veil'd in specious sense Aad And much her righteous spirit grieves, Mere forms the fool implicit sway, Hence gentle Anna, ever gay, §99. Alexander's Feast; or the Power of Music. An Ode on St. Cecilia's Day. DRYDEN. 'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won, By Philip's warlike son: Aloft in awful state The godlike hero sate On his imperial throne: His valiant peers were plac'd around; Their brows with roses and with myrtle bound; So should desert in arms be crown'd. The lovely Thais by his side None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair. Timotheus, plac'd on high Amid the tuneful choir, With flying fingers touch'd the lyre: The song began from Jove: When he to fair Olympia press'd, of the world. Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he Drinking is the soldier's pleasure; Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure; Sweet is pleasure after pain. Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain; And thrice he routed all his foes; and thrice he slew the slain. The master saw the madness rise: Soft pity to infuse : With downcast look the joyless victor fate, The mighty master smil'd to see Softly sweet, in Lydian measures, Never ending, still beginning, Take the good the gods provide thee, The many rend the skies with loud applause; So love was crown'd, but music won the cause, The prince, unable to conceal his pain, Gaz'd on the fair Who caus'd his care, And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd, At length, with love and wine at once oppress'd, And amaz'd, he stares around! of thunder. Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries, See the furies arise, How they hiss in the air, And the sparkles that flash from their eyes! [slain These are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were Behold how they toss their torches on high, Thais led the way, And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy. Ere heavenly bellows learnt to blow, [sire Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft de § 100. An Epistle from Mr. Phillips to the flow. What present shall the Muse to Dorset bring, + Ere Ere yet the clouds let fall the treasur'd snow, Or winds begun thro' hazy skies to blow, At ev'ning a keen eastern breeze arose; And the descending rain unsullied froze. Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew, The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view The face of nature, in a rich disguise, And brighten'd ev'ry object to my eyes : For ev'ry shrub, and ev'ry blade of grass, And ev'ry pointed thørn, seem'd wrought in glass; In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show, While thro' the ice the crimson berries glow. The thick-sprung reeds the wat'ry marshes yield Seem polish'd lances in a hostile field. 'The flag, in limpid currents, with surprise Sees crystal branches on his forehead risé. The spreading oak, the beech, and tow'ringpine, Glaz'd over, in the freezing æther shine. The frighted birds the rattling branches shun, That wave and glitter in the distant sun. When, if a sudden gust of wind arise, The brittle forest into atoms flies: The crackling wood beneath the tempest bends, And in a spangled show'r the prospect ends; Or, if a southern gale the region warm, And by degrees unbind the wintry charm, The traveller a miry country sees, And journey sad beneath the dropping trees. Like some deluded peasant Merlin leads Thro' fragrant bow'rs, and thro' delicious meads; While here enchanting gardens to him rise, And airy fabrics there attract his eyes, His wand'ring feet the magic paths pursue; And, while he thinks the fair illusion true, The trackless scenes disperse in fluid air, And woods, and wilds, and thorny ways appear, A tedious road the weary wretch returns, And, as he goes, the transient vision mourns. §101. The Man of Sorrow. GREVILLE. AH! what avails the lengthening ricad, Along the vale of flow'rs! That glads the midnight hours! For me, alas! the god of day, See how the sturdy peasants stride. By gay contentment drest. Content, fair daughter of the skies, She visits oft the hamlet cot, But see-or is it Fancy's dream? Shot sudden thro' the groves; More mild than Paphian doves! Welcome, oh welcome, Pleasure's queen! And see, along the velvet green The jocund train advance: With scatter'd flow'rs they fill the air; The wood-nymph's dew-bespangled hair Plays in the sportive dance. Ah! baneful grant of angry Heaven, When to the feeling wretch is given A soul alive to joy! Joys fly with every hour away, And leave th' unguarded heart a prey To cares that peace destroy. And see, with visionary haste (Too soon) the gay delusion past, Reality remains! Despair has seis'd my captive soul.; And horror drives without control, And slackens still the reins. Ten thousand beauties round me throng;. To the distemper'd soul ? Ye were for misery made.- § 102. Monody to the Memory of a Young Lady SHAW. YET do I live? Oh how shall I sustain She, in whose life my hopes were treasur'd all, Is gone for ever fled - These eyes, these tear-swoln eyes beheld her fall. Come then, some Muse, the saddest of the train Thus, haply, as I paint My soul may own th' impassion'd line: To wound my ears with the sad tales you tell; Of maumers most engaging, most refin'd! No piteous object could she see, But her soft bosom shar'd the woe, While smiles of affability Still shone conspicuous in her eyes, And, oh the boast how rare! In secret silence lodg'd inviolate there. Oh feeble words - unable to express Relentless death! that, steel'd to human woe, With murd'rous hands deals havoc on mankind. Why (cruel!) strike this deprecated blow, But oh, fell tyrant! yet expect the hour But, ah! in vain-no change of time or The memory can efface [place Of all that sweetness, that enchanting air, Now lost; and nought remains but anguish and despair. Where were the delegates of Heav'n, oh where Appointed Virtue's children safe to keep? Had Innocence or Virtue been their care, She had not died, nor had I liv'd to weep: Mov'd by my tears, and by her patience mov'd, To see or force th' endearing smile, My sorrows to beguile, When Torture's keenest rage she prov'd; Sure they had warded that untimely dart, Which broke her thread of life, and rent a husband's heart. How shall I e'er forget that dreadful hour, When, feeling Death's resistless pow'r,, My hand she press'd, wet with her falling tears, And thus, in falt'ring accents, spoke her fears: "Ah, my lov'd lord, the transient scene is o'er, "And we must part, alas! to meet no more! "But oh! if e'er thy Emma's name was dear, "If e'er thy vows have chara'd my ravish'd " ear; "If, from thy lov'd embrace my heart to gain, "Proud friends have frown'd, and Fortune "smil'd in vain; "If it has been my sole endeavour still "To act in all obsequious to thy will; "To watch thy very siniles, thy wish to know, "Then only truly blest when thou wert so; "If I have doated with that fond excess, "Nor Love could add, nor Fortune make it less; "If this I've done, and more-oh then be kind "To the dear lovely babe I leave behind. "When time my once-lov'd memory shall efface, "Some happier maid may take thy Emma's "place, "With envious eyes thy partial fondness see, "And hate it, for the love thou bor'st to me: " My dearest Shaw, forgive a woman's fears; "But one word more - I cannot bear thy tears"Promise-and I will trust thy faithful vow "(Oft have I tried, and never found thee true) "That to some distant spot thou wilt remove "This fatal pledge of hapless Emma's love, "Where safe thy blandishments it may partake, "And, oh! be tender, for its mother's sake. "Wilt thou? "I know thou wilt-sad silence speaks assent, "Aud, in that pleasing hope, thy Emma dies "content." I, who with more than manly strength have bore The various ills impos'd by cruel Fate, Sustain the firmness of my soul no more, But sink beneath the weight: [Jay When thou no more shall blot the face of day, Just Heav'n! I cried, from memory's earliest Misfortune still, with unrelenting sway, Nor mortals treinble at thy rigid sway. Alas the day!-where'er I turn my eyes, Nocomfort has thy wretched suppliant known Some sad memento of my loss appears; I fly the fatal house-suppress my sighs, Resolv'd to dry my unavailing tears: Has claim'd me for her own. Vain |