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"Tis furer much, they brought thee there; and they,
And thou, their charge, went finging all the way.
Pardon, my mother church, if I confent
That angels led him, when from thee he went
For even in error fure no danger is,
When join'd with so much piety as his.

Ah, mighty God, with fhame I speak't, and grief,
Ah that our greateft faults were in belief!
And our weak reason were ev'n weaker yet,
Rather than thus our wills too ftrong for it!
His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might
Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right [b],
And I myself a catholic will be,

So far at leaft, great faint, to pray to thee.

Hail, bard triumphant [i]! and fome care bestow On us, the poets militant below!

[b] Hence the famous lines of Mr. Pope, which have given fuch scandal to fome, and triumph to others, only because both parties have been more in hafte to apply than understand them —

"For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, "His can't be wrong, whofe life is in the right." [i] Hail, bard triumphant !] Hence the apoftrophe of Mr. Pope, but not fo happily applied, as here—

"Hail, bards triumphant, born in happier days!",

Effay on Crit. ver. 189.

Oppos'd

Oppos'd by our old enemy, adverse chance,
Attack'd by envy, and by ignorance,

Enchain'd by beauty, tortur'd by defires,

Expos'd by tyrant-love to favage beafts and fires [k].
Thou from low earth in nobler flames didft rife,
And, like Elijah, mount alive the skies.

Elifha-like (but with a wifh much less,
More fit thy greatnefs, and

my littleness)
Lo here I beg (I whom thou once didit prove
So humble to esteem, fo good to love)
Not that thy spirit might on me doubled be,
I afk but half thy mighty fpirit for me.

And, when my Mufe foars with fo ftrong a wing, 'Twill learn of things divine, and firft of thee, to fing.

IX.

Imitation of MARTIAL [], Lib. V. Ep. xxi.

"SI tecum mihi, care Martialis, "Securis liceat frui diebus ;

[k] Expos'd by tyrant-love to savage beafts and fires.] As the primitive Chriftians were, by the tyrant-hate of their pagan perfecutors. ANON.

[1] Ed. Maittaire, Lond. 1716.

K 4

<< Si

"Si difponere tempus otiofum,
"Et veræ pariter vacare vitæ :
"Nec nos atria, nec domos potentum,
"Nec lites tetricas, forúmque triste
"Noffemus, nec imagines fuperbas :
"Sed geftatio, fabulæ, libelli,

"Campus, porticus, umbra, virgo, thermæ
"Hæc effent loca femper, hi labores.
"Nunc vivit fibi neuter, heu, bonófque
"Soles effugere, atque abire fentit ;
"Qui nobis pereunt, & imputantur.
"Quifquam vivere cùm fciat, moratur?”

IF, dearest friend, it my good fate might be
T' enjoy at once a quiet life and thee;
If we for happiness could leisure find [m],
And wandering time into a method bind;
We should not sure the great man's favour need,
Nor on long hopes, the court's thin diet, feed..

[m] If we for happiness could leisure find] An exquifite line! of which Mr. Gray felt, and has expreffed, all the pathos, when, in his Hymn to Adverfity, he faid

"Scar'd at thy frown terrific, fly

"Self-pleafing Folly's idle brood,

"Wild Laughter, Noife, and thoughtless Joy,
"A leave us leifure to be good."

ANON.

We should not patience find, daily to hear
The calumnies, and flatteries, fpoken there.
We should not a lord's table humbly use,
Or talk, in ladies chambers, love and news;
But books and wife difcourfe, gardens and fields,
And all the joys that unmix'd nature yields.
Thick fummer fhades, where winter ftill does lye;
Bright winter fires, that fummer's part supply.
Sleep, not controll'd by cares, confin'd to night;
Or bound in any rule, but appetite,

Free, but not favage or ungracious mirth ;
Rich wines, to give it quick and easy birth.
A few companions, which ourselves should chuse,
A gentle mistress, and a gentler Muse,

Such, dearest friend, fuch, without doubt, should be

Our place, our business, and our company.
Now to himself, alas, does neither live,
But fees good funs, of which we are to give
A ftrict account, fet and march thick away:
Knows a man how to live, and does he stay

[blocks in formation]

X.

ANACREONTICS[n]:

OR,

Some Copies of Verfes tranflated Paraphraftically out of A NACREON.

I.

LOVE.

I'LL fing of heroes, and of kings;
In mighty numbers, mighty things.
Begin, my Mufe; but lo, the ftrings
To my great fong rebellious prove;
The strings will found of nought, but love,
I broke them all, and put on new;
'Tis this, or nothing fure, will do.
These fure (said I) will me obey;
These sure heroic notes will play.

[n] Thefe Anacreontics fhew, that the author wanted neither ease of expreffion nor the grace of numbers, when he followed the bent of his own tafte and genius.

Straight

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