The Works of the British Poets

Wretched viciffitude! for, after all
His tinfel dreams of empire and renown,
Fortune, capricious dame, withdraws at once
The goodly profpect, to his eyes prefents
Her, whom his confcious foul abhorr'd, and fear'd.
Lo pushing through the crowd, a meagre form,
With hafty step, and visage incompos'd!
Wildly the ftar'd rage sparkled in her eyes,
And poverty fat fhrinking on her cheeks.
Yet through the cloud that hung upon her
A faded luftre broke, that dimly shone
Shorn of its beams, the ruins of a face,
Impair'd by time, and fhatter'd by misfortunes.
A froward babe hung at her flabby breast,

"And fortune's frowns have blafted all my charms;
"If here no rofes grow, no lilies bloom,
"Nor rear their heads on this neglected face;
"If through the world I range a flighted fhade,
"The ghost of what I was, forlorn, unknown;
"At least know thefe. See! this fweet fimpering
"babe,

"Dear image of thyself; fee how it fprunts
"With joy at thy approach! fee, how it gilds
brows," Its loft fmooth face, with false paternal smiles!
"Native deceit, from thee, base man, deriv'd!
"Or view this other elf, in every art
"Of filing fraud, in every treacherous leer,
"The very Hobbinol! ah! cruel man!

And tugg'd for life; but wept, with hideous moan,
His fruftrate hopes, and unavailing pains.
Another o'er her bending shoulder peep'd,
Swaddled around with rags of various hue.
He kens his comrade twin with envious eye,
As of his share defrauded; then amain
He alfo fcreams, and to his brother's cries
In doleful concert joins his loud laments.
O dire effect of lawless love! O ting
Of pleasure paft! As when a full-freight ship,
Bleft in a rich return of pearls or gold,
Or fragrant fpice, or filks of coftly dye,
Makes to the wifh'd-for port with fwelling fails,
And all her gaudy trim difplay'd; o'erjoy'd
The master smiles; but if from foe fmall creek,
A lurking corfair the rich quarry spies,
With all her fails bears down upon her prey,
And pales of thunder from her hollow fides
Check his triumphant courfe; aghast he stands
Stiffen'd with fear, unable to refift,
And impotent to fly; all his fond hopes
Are dafh'd at once! nought now, alas! remains
But the fad choice of flavery or death!
So far'd it with the hapless Hobbinol,
In the full blaze of his triumphant joy
Surpris'd by her, whofe dreadful face alone
Could thake his ftedfast soul. In vain he turns,
And shifts his place averse; she haunts him still,
And glares upon him, with her haggard eyes,
That fiercely spoke her wrongs. Words fwell'd
with fighs

At length burft forth, and thus fhe ftorms enrag'd.
"Know'it thou not me? falfe man not to

"know me

"Argues thyfelf unknowing of thyself,

* Puff'd up with pride, and bloated with fuccefs.
"Is injur'd Mopfa then so soon forgot?
"Thou knew'st me once, ah! woe is me! thou

"didft.

"But if laborious days and fleepless nights, "If hunger, cold, contempt, and penury, Infeparable guests, have thus difguis'd

Wicked, ingrate! and could't thou then fo
"foon,

"So foon forget that pleasing fatal night,
"When me, beneath the flowery thorn furpris'd
Thy artful wiles betray'd? was there a star,
"By which thou didst not fwear? was there a

"curfe,

"A plague on earth, thou didst not then invoke
"On that devoted head; if e'er thy heart
"Prov'd haggard to my love, if e'er thy hand
"Declin'd the nuptial bond? but, oh! too well,
"Too well, alas! my throbbing breaft perceiv'd
"The black impending storm; the conscious

"Veil'd in a fable cloud her modest face,
"And boding owls proclaim'd the dire event.
"And yet I love thee.-Oh! could't thou behold
"That image dwelling in my heart! but why,
"Why waste I here these unavailing tears?
"On this thy minion, on this tawdry thing.
"On this gay victim, thus with garlands crown'd,
"All all my vengeance fall! ye lightnings, blast
"That face accurs'd, the fource of all my woe!
"Arm, arm, ye furies! arm; all hell break loose!
"While thus I lead you to my just revenge,
"And thus"-Up ftarts th' aftonish'd Hobbinol
To fave his better half. "Fly, fly," he cries,
Fly, my dear life, the fiend's malicious rage."
Borne on the wings of fear, away fhe bounds,
And in the neighbouring village pants forlorn.
So the cours'd hare to the close covert flies,
Stil trembling, though fecure. Poor Hobbinol
More grievous ills attend: around him press
A multitude, with huge Herculian clubs,
Terrific band! the royal mandate these
Infulting fhow: arrested, and amaz'd,
Half dead he ftands; no friends dare interpose,
But bow dejected to th' imperial fcroll :
Such is the force of law. While confcious shame
Sits heavy on his brow, they view the wretch
To Rhadamanth's august tribunal dragg'd.
Good Rhadamanth to every wanton clown

** Thy once-belov'd, thy handmaid dear; if thine Severe, indulgent to himself alone.

Hhüj

In foaming floods of rapturous eloquence

Let loose the storm, and thunder through the nofe
The threaten'd vengeance every muse profane
Is banish'd hence, and, Heliconian streams
Deferted, the fam'd Leman lake supplies
More plenteous draughts, of more divine import.
Hail, happy youths! on whom indulgent Heaven
Each grace divine beftows, nor yet denies
Carnal beatitudes, fweet privilege
Of faints elect! Royal prerogative!
Here in domestic cares employ'd, and bound
To annual fervitude, frail Tabitha,

Her priftine vigour loft, now mourns in vain
Her sharpen'd vifage, and the fickly qualms
That grieve her foul; a prey to love, while grace
Slept heedlefs by! Yet her undaunted mind
Still meditates the prize, and still she hopes,
Beneath th' unwieldy load, her wonted speed.
Others of meaner fame the stately muse
Records not; on more lofty flights intent,
She fpurns the ground, and mounts her native fkies.
Room for the master of the ring; ye fwains!
Divide your crowded ranks. See! there on high
The glittering prize, on the tall ftandard borne,
Waving in air; before him march in files
The rural minstrelfy, the rattling drum
Of folemn found, and th' animating horn,
Each hutsman's joy; the tabor and the pipe,
Companion dear at feafts, whofe cheerful notes
Give life and motion to th' unwieldy clown.
Ev'n age revives, and the pale puking maid
Feels ruddy health rekindling on her checks,
And with new vigour trips it o'er the plain.
Counting each careful ftep, he paces o'er
Th' allotted ground, and fixes at the goal
His standard, there himself majestic swells.
Stretch'd in a line, the panting rivals wait
Th' expected fignal, with impatient eyes
Measure the space between, and in conceit
Already grafp the warm contested prize.
Now all at once rush forward to the goal,
And step by step, and fide by fide, they ply
Their bufy feet, and leave the crowd behind.
Quick heaves cach breaft, and quick they shoot
along,
Eplain.
Through the divided air, and bound it o'er the
To this, to that, capricious fortune deals
Short hopes, fhort fears, and momentary joy.
The breathlefs throng with open throats purfue,
And broken accents fhout imperfect praife.
Such noife confus'd is heard, fuch wild uproar,
When on the main the fwelling furges rife,
Dash o'er the rocks, and, hurrying through the
flood,

Drive on each other's backs, and crowd the strand.
Before the reft till Tabitha was feen,
Stretching amain, and whirling o'er the field;
Swift as the fhooting ftar that gilds the night
With rapid tranfient blaze, fhe runs, the flies;
Sudden fhe ftops, nor longer can endure
The painful course, but drooping finks away,
And, like that falling meteor, there fhe lies
A jelly cold on earth. Fufca, with joy,
Beheid her wretched plight; o'er the pale corfe

Exerting all her speed, ftep after step,
At Ganderetta's elbow urg'd her way,
Her shoulder preffing, and with poisonous breath
Tainting her ivory neck Long while had held
The sharp conteft, had not propitious Heaven,
With partial hands, to such transcendent charms
Difpens'd its favours. For as o'er the green
The carelefs gypfy, with incautious speed,
Fufh'd forward, and her rival fair had reach'd
With equal pace, and only not o'erpass'd.
Hably the treads, where late the merry train,
In wafteful luxury, and wanton joy,
Lavish had fpilt the cyder's frothy flood,
And mead with custard mix'd. Surpris'd, appall'd,
And in the treacherous puddle ftruggling long,
She flipp'd, fhe fell, upon her back supine
Extended lay; the laughing multitude
With noify fcorn approv'd her ju✨ disgrace.
As the fleek leveret skims before the pack,
So flies the nymph, and fo the crowd purfue.
Borne on the wings of wind, the dear one flies,
Swift as the various goddess, nor lefs bright
In beauty's prime; when through the yielding air
She darts along, and with refracted rays
Paints the gay clouds; celeftial messenger,
Charg'd with the high behels of Heaven's great
queen!

Her at the goal with open arms receiv'd
Fond Hobbinol with active leap he feiz'd
The coftly prize, and laid it at her feet.
Then paufing tood, dumb with excess of joy,
Expreffive filence for each tender glance
Betray'd the raptures that his tongue conceal'd.
Lefs mute the crowd, in echoing shouts, applaud
Her speed, her beauty, his obfequious love.

Upon a little eminence, wh fe top
O'erlook'd the plain, a steep, but short afcent,
Plac'd in a chair of state, with garlands crown'd,
And loaded with the fragrance of the fpring,
Fair Ganderetta fhone; like mother Eve
In her gay fylvan lodge, delicious bower!
Where nature's wanton hand, above the reach
Of rule, or art, had lavish'd all her store,
To deck the flowery roof; and at her side.
Imperial Hobbinol, with front fublime,
Great as a Roman conful, just return'd
From cities fack'd, and rovinces laid wafte,
In his paternal wicker fat, enthron'd.
With eager eyes the crowd about them press,
Ambitious to behold the happy pair.
Each voice, each inftrument, proclaims their joy
With loudest vehemence: fuch noife is heard,
Such a tumultuous din, when, at the call
Of Britain's fovereign, the ruftic bands
O'erfpread the fields; the fubtle candidates
Diffembled homage pay, and court the fools
Whom they defpife; each proud majestic clown
Looks big, and shouts amain, mad with the tafte
Of power fupreme, frail empire of a day!
That with the setting fun extinct is loft.

Nor is thy grandeur, mighty Hobbinol
Of longer date. Short is, alas! the reign
Of mortal pride; we play our parts a while,
And ftrut upon the ftage; the fcene is chang'

Wretched viciffitude! for, after all
His tinfel dreams f empire and renown,
Fortune, capricious dame, wi'hdraws at once
The godly profpect, to his eyes prefents
Her, whom his confcious foul abhorr'd, and fear'd.
Lo pushing through the crowd, a meagre form,
With hafty step, and visage incompos'd!
Wildly fhe ftar'd rage fparkled in her eyes,
And poverty fat fhrinking on her cheeks.

Yet through the cloud that hung upon her brows,
A faded luftre broke, that dimly fhone
Shorn of its beams, the ruins of a face,
Impair'd by time, and fhatter'd by misfortunes.
A froward babe hung at her flabby breast,
And tugg'd for life; but wept, with hideous moan,
His fruftrate hopes, and unavailing pains.
Another o'er her bending shoulder peep'd,
Swaddled around with rags of various hue.
He kens his comrade twin with envious eye,
As of his fhare defrauded; then amain
He also screams, and to his brother's cries
In doleful concert joins his loud laments.
O dire effect of lawless love! O ting

Of pleasure paft! As when a full-freight ship,
Bleft in a rich return of pearls or gold,
Or fragrant fpice, or filks of coftly dye,
Makes to the wifh'd-for port with swelling fails,
And all her gaudy trim difplay'd; o'erjoy'd
The mafter smiles; but if from fome fmall creek,
A lurking corfair the rich quarry spies,
With all her fails bears down upon her prey,
And pales of thunder from her hollow fides
Check his triumphant courfe; aghast he stands
Stiffen'd with fear, unable to refift,
And impotent to fly; all his fond hopes
Are dafh'd at once! nought now, alas! remains
But the fad choice of flavery or death!
So far'd it with the hapless Hobbinol,
In the full blaze of his triumphant joy
Surpris'd by her, whofe dreadful face alone
Could thake his stedfast soul. In vain he turns,
And shifts his place averse; she haunts him still,
And glares upon him, with her haggard eyes,
That fiercely spoke her wrongs. Words fwell'd
with fighs

At length burft forth, and thus she storms enrag'd.
"Know'st thou not me? falfe man not to
"know me

"Argues thyself unknowing of thyself,
"Puff'd up with pride, and bloated with fuccefs.
"Is injur'd Mopfa then fo foon forgot?
"Thou knew'ft me once, ah! woe is me! thou
"didft.

"But if laborious days and fleepless nights,
"If hunger, cold, contempt, and penury,
Infeparable guests, have thus disguis'd

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Borne on the wings of fear, away fhe bounds,
And in the neighbouring village pants forlorn.
So the cours'd hare to the close covert flies,
Still trembling, though fecure. Poor Hobbinol
More grievous ills attend: around him press
A multitude, with huge Herculian clubs,
Terrific band! the royal mandate these
Infulting fhow: arrested, and amaz'd,
Half dead he ftands; no friends dare interpose,
But bow dejected to th' imperial fcroll :
Such is the force of law. While confcious shame
Sits heavy on his brow, they view the wretch
To Rhadamanth's august tribunal dragg'd.
Good Rhadamanth. to every wanton clown

Thy once-belov'd, thy handmaid dear; if thine Severe, indulgent to himself alone.

Hhij

« Involat inque oculos et provolat, atque capaces
"Expandens per inane finus, caligine denfă,
"Horribili que fupervolitans cœlum obruit umbra.
"Nec minor intereà obfiftit: fublimis ut illa,
"Hæc humilis fic terga volans premit et latue
urge't:

"Neve gradu.u referat tetrò, et veftigia vertat,
"Seu caprea aut cervus fefe tulit obvius illis,
"Roftro atque ungue minax vetat, et cum com-
pare vir es

THE feveral acts of parliament in favour of Falconry are an evident proof of that high esteem our ancestors had conceived for this noble diverfion. Our neighbours, France, Germany, Italy, and all the rest of Europe, have feemed to vie with one another, who fhould pay the greatest honours to the courageous falcon. Princes and ftates were her protectors; and men of the greatest genius, and most accomplished in all forts of literature, "Alternat focias, artemque remunerat arte. with pleasure carried the hawk on their fifts. But "Nec mora, nec requies: furiis exterrita tantis the princes of Afia, Turks, Tartars, Perfians, In"Donec in infidias cæcâ convalle locatas dians, &c have greatly out-done us Europeans in "Precipitet rabidis fera mox lanianda Moloffis." the fplendor and magnificence of their field-pa- I am very much ob liged to thofe gentlemen who rades, both as huntsmen and falconers. For though have read with favour my poem upon hunting: the defcription of flying at the flag and other wild their goodness has encouraged me to make this beafts with eagles, may be thought a little in-fhort fupplement to the Chafe, and in this poem to credible, yet permit me to affure the reader that give them fome account of all the more polite enit is no fiction, but a real fact. All the ancient tertainments of the field. books of falconry give us an account of it, and the relations of travellers confirm it. But what I think puts it out of all difpute, is the defcription the famous Monfieur de Thou has given us in his Latin poem, "De Re Accipitrariâ," lately reprinted at Venice in 1735, with an Italian tranflation and notes.

THE ARGUM. ENT.

Introduction, ver. 1. Defcrip tion of flying at the
ftag with eagles, after the manner of the Afiatic
princes, 7. Defcription of he 'n-hawking, too.
Of flying at the river, 179. Pat 'tridge-hawking,
232. Daring the lark with an hobby just men-
tioned, 235. Shooting flying, 241. Setting, 245,
Angling, 261. Conclufion, 271.

Proftrate to pay his homage at your feet
ONCE more, Great Prince, permit an humble bard
Then, like the morning lark from the low ground
Sing the heart-cheering pleasure of the fields,
Towering aloft, fublime to foar, and sing;
The choice delight of heroes and of kings.

In earlier times, monarchs of eastern race
In their full blaze of pride, as story tells,
Train'd up th' imperial eagle, facred bird!
Hooded, with jingling bells, the perch'd on high;
Not as when crft on golden wings she led

ΙΣ

The Roman legions o'er the conquer'd globe,
Mankind her quarry; but a docile flave,
Tam'd to the lure, and careful to attend
Her master's voice. Behold the man renown'd,
Abbas the Great (whom all his fawning flaves
Deem'd king of kings; vain fools! They fure
forgot

Greater Leonidas, and those fatal straits [heaps
Blood-ftain'd, where flaughter'd Perfians fell on
A dreadful carnage!) See his numerous hoft 20
Spread wide the plains, and in their front upborne
Each on her perch, that bends beneath her weight,
Two fifter eagles, stately ponderous birds!
The air's a defert, and the feather'd race
Fly to the neighbouring coverts dark retreats.
The royal pair on wing, this whirls around
In circles wide, or like the swallow skims
The ruffet plain, and mimics as the flies
(By many a fleepless night instructed well)
The hound's loud openings, or the spaniel's queft.
What cannot wakeful industry subdue!
Mean while that mountson high, and feems to view
A black afcending cloud; when pierc'd the gloom
Of vapours dank condens'd, the fun's bright beams
Pain not her fight: fhe with expanded fails
Works through th' etherial fluid; then perhaps
Sees through a break of clouds this felf-pois'd
orb

Hard by her hand-maid moon. She looks beneath
Contemptuous, and beholds from far this earth,
This mole-hill earth, and all its bufy ants
Labouring for life, which lasts so short a day
Juft blazing and extinct. So thou, my soul,
That breath of life, which all men must perceive
But none diftinctly know, when once escap'd
From this poor helpless corfe, and when on high
Borne on angelic wings, look down with scorn
On this mean leffening world, and knaves grown
rich;

By chance, or fraud, or infolence of power.
Now from her highest pitch, by quick degrees,
With lefs ambition nearer ears. The tends,
As yet scarce visible; and high in air
Pois'd on extended wings, with sharper ken
Attentive marks whate'er is done below.
Thus fome wife general from a rifing ground
Obferve th' embattled foe, where ferried ranks
Forbid access, or where their order loose
Invites th' attack, and points the way to fate.
All now is tumult, each heart fwells with joy,
The falconers fhout, and the wide concave rings,
Tremble the forefts round, the joyous cries
Float through the vales; and rocks, and woods,
and hills

Return the varied founds. Forth bursts the stag,
Nor trufts the mazes of his deep recefs:
Fear hid him close, ftrange inconsistent guide!
Now hurries him aghaft, with busy feet
Far o'er the spacious plain; he pants to reach
The mountain's brow, or with unsteady step
To climb the craggy cliff: the gray-hounds ftrain
Behind to pinch his haunch, who scarce evades
Their gaping jaws. One eagle wheeling flies 70
In airy labyrinths, or with eafier wing
Skims by his fide, and stuns his patient car

With hideous cries, then peals his forehead broad, Or at her eyes his fatal malice aims. The other, like the bolt of angry heaven, Darts down at once, and fixes on his back Her griping talons, ploughing with her beak His pamper'd chine: the blood, and sweat diftill'd From many a dripping furrow, ftains the foil. Who pities not this fury-haunted wretch Embarrass'd thus, on every fide distress'd? Death will relieve him: for the gray-hounds fierce, Seizing their prey, foon drag him to the ground: Groaning he falls; with eyes that fwim in tears He looks on man, chief author of his woe, And weeps, and dies. The grandees prefs around To dip their fabres in his boiling blood; Unfeemly joy! 'Tis barbarous to infult A fallen woe. The dogs, and birds of prey Infatiate, on his reeking bowels feast, But the ftern falconer claims the lion's fhare. Such are the sports of kings, and better far Than royal robbery, and the bloody jaws Of all devouring war. Each animal, By natural instinct taught, spares his own kind : But man, the tyrant man, revels at large, Free-booter unreftrain'd, deftroys at will The whole creation, men and beafts his prey, These for his pleasure, for his glory those. Next will I fing the valiant falcon's fame Aerial fights, where no confederate brute Joins in the bloody fray; but bird with bird Jufts in mid air. Lo! at his fiege the hern, Upon the bank of fome small purling brook, Obfervant ftands to take his fcaly prize, Himself another's game. For mark behind The wily falconer creeps; his grazing horse Conceals the treacherous foe, and on his fift Th' unhooded falcon fits: with eager eyes She meditates her prey, and, in her wild Conceit, already plumes the dying bird. Up fprings the hern, redoubling every stroke, Confcious of danger ftretches far away, With bufy pennons and projected beak, Piercing th' opponent clouds: the falcon fwift Follows at fpeed, mounts as he mounts, for hope Gives vigour to her wings. Another foon Strains after to fupport the bold attack, Perhaps a third. As in fome winding creek, On proud Iberia's shore, the cɔrfairs fly Lurk waiting to surprise a British fail, Full freighted from Hetruria's friendly ports, Or rich Byzantium; after he r:ney fcud, Dafhing the fpumy waves with equal oars, And spreading all their shrouds; the makes the main

Inviting every gale, nor yet forgets

120

To clear her deck, and tell th' infulting foe,
In peals of thunder, Britons cannot fear.
So flies the hern purfu'd, but fighting flies.
Warm grows the conflict, every nerve's employ'd;
Now through the yielding element they foar 13
Afpiring high, then fink at once, and rove
In trackiefs mazes through the troubled fky.
No rett, no peace. The falcon hovering flies
Balanc'd in air, and confidently bold
Hangs o'er him like a cloud, then aims her blow

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The Works of the British Poets: With Prefaces, Biographical and ..., Volumen8